ANGELS POSTCAST: Halos SHUT DOWN AGAIN in 2-1 loss to Padres despite strong Walbert Urena start

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1:11Hello Halo Nation, hello Halo Hopefuls, and welcome back. To the latest edition of The Lockdown, Angels Postcast, come natural live, as always, after every single Angels game right here live, The Lockdown Angels, YouTube channel, and after the fact, both on the channel and wherever the heck you get The Lockdown Angels audio podcast feed. If you don't know who I am, what's going to everybody? My name is Gavin Carlson, spent four years as a credentialed journalist in the LA area, more specifically, covering usually sports with the daily brewing and now in year three, with The Lockdown Podcast Network, where it's your team, Every Day, the number one sports podcasting network in the world, and it's all a big thank you to you guys. A big thank you to the sponsor of today's show. It is Fandool. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Head to Fandool.com to get started.

2:13And where we get started today is back to back, frustrating outings for the Angels offense. I feel like I jinxed it, man, we were talking after that Yankee series and after the eight nothing blow out victory over the Padres on Friday night, just talking about how consistently good the Angels offense has been. And sure, the Angels have still not been shut out in 2026, but back to back one run outings, where they just had nothing, man, they just had nothing. And this even worse than yesterday, yesterday it was six hits, but it was the problem was you went one for eight with runners in scoring position. You weren't necessarily getting on via the walk as much as you would want. And you know, obviously the long ball wasn't there. Here we go. Again, this time even worse, just two hits for the Angels today going against a good pitcher and King, who now is three and one with a, you know, that was a two to eight ERA. So Michael King has been very effective to start the year.

3:14But man, we have a surprise start for Robert Urania instead of redephemers. His start gets pushed to tomorrow. And Walbert, Urania was phenomenal. We'll certainly get into that later in the show. But back to back games are the only score one run. And back to back games where it really hurts you, right? If these were two games where you were down seven, nothing and you only scored one run, whatever. But this is back to back games where if the offense shows up, you probably win. And you very easily could win two out of three or maybe even sweep the Padres. The same way you very easily could have won all four in New York. And as much as I still view a two and two series against the Yankees as a success, it hurts a lot more when you go one and two here against San Diego when you again had another opportunity to win a series. What's weird about this game, right? Is that the Angels did get back to their ways in terms of getting on via the walk. Seven walks in this ball game. But the extra base hits weren't there.

4:15Just one double from Oswald Parazo, one base hit up from that. So nothing going. And again, with winners in scoring position, even worse than yesterday. Yesterday, they were one for eight. Today, oh for eight with runners in scoring position. So again, you waste the start from Walbert, Urania. You also waste another performance in which you do draw the walk and get on seven times via the walk. And I mean, I guess we should have known after the way things start in the first inning. Zack Nettle walks, steel second, Mike Trout walks. You got two on. Nobody out. You're thinking you're chilling. But a ground out from Nolan, Sean, well, a strikeout from Jorge Salaire. And I don't know what the heck Sean, well, is doing on the bases, right? That combination of all three, you kill the first inning. And then from there, there was really nothing else. Another walk from Zack Nettle in the third was the only base runner there. And he immediately gets caught stealing, right? So we were a little aggressive on the bases today. I kind of understand it in the sense that the bats were not working. But man, all these walks wasted. Mike Trout, lead off walking the bottom of the fourth.

5:16One out single from Jorge Salaire. You got Moncata and Joe Adele back to back. And Moncata has a good at bat. He gets it all the way to nine pitches, but he's not able to get anything done. And then, of course, Joe Adele pops out, which is frustrating. Yeah, a lot of opportunities. And it hurts when it's the heart of the order that's not coming through, right? It's not like there was rallies that were getting into Darno or something. And then he was killing it, right? We're talking about Joe on Moncata and Joe Adele coming on with two on and one out. And not getting the job done. Nolan Sean will not getting the job done. That's what makes it frustrating, right? It wasn't a certain one guy or two and picking on the bad hitters. This lineup that we've praised for being deep, well, it was consistently poor today, not taking advantage of the few opportunities that we had. I don't know what else to say. I'm not ready to sound any alarms or anything like that. Again, Michael King has been very, very good to start the year. Now, three in one with a 2-2-8 ERA.

6:16Not a guy who's going to strike out everybody, right? 20, what is it? 26 strikeouts and 27 and two-thirds innings. The whip's at a 1.12. He's just a consistently good starting pitcher who's, you know, got a career 3-1-9 ERA down to 2-2-8 to start this year. He's a good pitcher and he's getting the job done. But yeah, it kind of, I don't want to say it is what it is. I'm not ready to freak out or anything like that. But we'll see against the Blue Jays team coming up that struggling would be really, really nice to see the angels get back to their ways. The same way, you know, I didn't want to sound the alarm in good way, I guess, or get way too high after a couple of good offensive performances. I waited until there was four, five, six, what, seven, eight games in a row where you're scoring five runs or you're getting five walks or you're hitting a bunch of home runs. The home run wasn't there today. And yeah, and you weren't able to string together any hits. It's only two games. And like I said, we're coming off a great stretch. So you need way more consecutive poor games in a row before I start getting

7:17truly concerned. But yeah, two hits ain't got to cut it. It just simply ain't gonna cut it. Yeah, see, like people like Paul here saying the bats are dog blank again. Wow, crazy. I'm not ready to say that yet. But you got shut down by a good pitcher. Yeah, that's what you did. We'll see if they can rebound. Again, I guess the only encouraging thing is in years past, they don't even get the seven walks. They don't even give themselves opportunities. Today, they at least stick to their game plan of this year of finding creative ways to get on base. They were a little aggressive on the bases. It did not work out. And it is what it is. Yeah, I'm not going to freak out. I'm truly not going to freak out. One thing I will get really, really, really excited about is what we saw from Walbert, Urania. I'll get to that after the break. But I do got to say, in addition to Walbert, Urania, we'll talk about the bullpen now. We'll kind of go in reverse. I really liked what I saw from Sandboxman. Really like what I saw from him. Brunsuit or whatever, like, you know, he's a lefty, he's old. He was good today, right? So I'm going to give him his credit.

8:17But Sandboxman to come in and have two innings where you give up just one hit, three strikeouts. I feel like he's a forgotten guy in the bullpen. We know how much upside there is for him. And it's just very nice to be reminded of that in even in a loss like this. Because it's not like it was a meaningless appearance. This is a tight, obviously, one run game for most of the game or I guess a two run game for most of the game. But you're right there, right? Excuse me, when Sandboxman comes in in the top of the seventh inning, yes, he does, you know, give up the runs that Walbert, you're in, you put on the bases. But I still thought he was a better performer than you might think just watching the game, right? You see him come in and give up the two RBI single to two Bryce Johnson and your think, or excuse me, the RBI single to Bryce Johnson and you're thinking, hey, really would have been nice for him to get out of that. But other than that, Sandboxman look really good, in my opinion. I don't know why. For whatever reason, obviously got some help with the long fly ball from Tati's.

9:19Joe Adele makes a great catch, but there's some upside there, man. From Sandboxman, I thought today was a good reminder of that, even in a kind of weird outing for him. Paul says, Matic's doing his job, I agree, I do agree. I was fired up by Bachman and after the break, I'll tell you who I'm obviously really fired up about. Walbert, Urania was fantastic. The Angels do fall in this one, two to one. They have now been held to just one run and back to back games. They have lost two in a row, the right back under 500. This is an average baseball team at best. It is what it is. But let's get to the positive here, which is Walbert, Urania and what he did out of nowhere after a break here on the Lockdown Angels postcast. Now, on this Sunday today's show is once again, brought to you by Fan Dual. The NBA playoffs are here, they're well underway at this point, not well underway, but they're underway. Yesterday was exciting and every possession matters, every matchup is magnified and every game can swing a series.

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11:22until the late innings. And again, what did I say about my confidence in the Angels scoring a run or two in late inning moments, even in a game like this where they did nothing? You kept it close. They got a run on the seventh inning. I'm telling you, the Angels just something about them. You know, they're gonna get one in inning seven, eight and nine. The problem is they only got one and they were down two as Michael King shuts down the Angels lineup with what I'd like to see, you know, at least one of those times where you have runners-on base for somebody coming through. I think the first inning really just kind of killed it though when you have such a big opportunity to on nobody out and you don't do anything, you know, the energy was certainly there. I get it like it's a Sunday, you're playing the Padres, always that SoCal rivalry and everything. And it just felt like we kind of were outmatched by their energy. It's not like they were stellar themselves or anything. And it's just a classic pitching duel. So the reason it was a pitching duel outside of Michael King is where we'll go. And even in the loss, I'm confident to say it. Obviously, Michael King was great,

12:23but I'm confident to say this. This is the Lockdown Player of the Game. Player of the game. It's Walbert Uranium, man. I'm very confident in saying that a pitching duel between a guy who's got plenty of starts in his career in his 30 years old in a guy in Walbert, Urania, who has never done this thing before. 22 years old, who we've seen a couple times. Obviously was kind of maybe the most polarizing guy to start the season for the Angels, because clearly Kurt Suzuki loves him, puts him in very difficult situations and he struggled, right? He, no other way to put it. He came in and he got blown up by the Astros. So very surprised to see him come out, be trusted by Kurt Suzuki. And he got the job done, I mean, let's not forget again. In his debut, two thirds of an innings, walks a guy and gives up a hit. And then on March 28th is when there's the blowup, goes a full inning and gives up four hits and six runs. Now, none of the six were earned,

13:25but there was all sorts of chaos going in there. He had two walks, he had his own air and intentional walk. It was just a disaster, right? He immediately gets sent down to, you know, quote unquote, work on things. But not only did he work on things, he got his groove back, he got his confidence back, he actually starts a game for the bees, looks really good, comes up. And man, man, oh man, was he really good? Now, well, I was most impressive, pressed by, you guys tell me what you were most impressed by. I think it was the efficiency, right? We know he's kind of a bullpenish arm who's gonna have some nasty pitches. I mean, that change up to Kill Man in Machado was probably one of the top three pitches I've seen from anybody all season. It was absolutely disgusting. He did that. He blew fastballs by people. He had multiple change ups that were swung over. But what I was most impressed by was the efficiency, right? For a guy this young who you know the controls not always gonna be there, he gets through six full innings without even getting to 95 pitches. I was really impressed by that.

14:25I was really impressed by that. Obviously, he didn't, you know, escape unscathed, gives up to earned runs on four hits. Two walks is honestly okay. And the eight strikeouts, again, shows you the upside that he has. His stuff is nasty. No other way to put it. His stuff is nasty. How big was that one, two, three first inning, right? He just instantly, you know, was kind of oozing confidence after that. Falls it up with one, two, three second. Obviously, the third inning just gives up one double. The fourth inning is when things go wrong. And it's just a lead off single against a lead player in Fernando Tati's that just kind of starts things, right? Because he gets on even though he gets to Merrill out Tati's steel second. And then even though he strikes out meaning Machado, like we said, nasty, nasty stuff. It's a two out base hit from Xander Bogart. I mean, like, that's okay. You know, a really good baseball player in Fernando Tati's during your gets on steel second base. And then there's a two out base hit. I'm not going to kill Urania for that at all. Shout out to him for, you know, after he gives up that second hit to Gavin Sheets, you're thinking, okay, here's where the young guy falls apart. It was a great out bat. He falls behind three, oh, he gets it to three, too.

15:27But then Sheets does get the base hit. And you're thinking, uh oh, you know, he gave up a run, but now there's runners on the corners, two outs against the D H very easily could have exploded. He did not, he gets Mandu Miguel and do hard out and goes right back to, you know, the dugout comes out and has a one, two, three, fifth, and has a one, two, three, sixth after that. So really, really good stuff from him. And the only question is, you know, did Kurt Suzuki maybe wait too long to pull him? I don't actually think so. I know you lead off walk there with Xander Bogart and in hindsight, you think maybe you take him out there, especially with the lefty and Gavin Sheets coming up. But man, we know if there's one thing Kurt Suzuki has proven already in just three appearances for Walbert, Urania, it's how much he loves and trusts this darn guy. So gives him another chance here with after the lead off walk and it was the wrong decision because then he backs it up with a second consecutive walk. This one against Gavin Sheets. And it's first and second nobody out against Sam Bachman comes in and he does his best and immediately gets a pop up and immediately strikes out Drake, Jake Cronin worth, but then it's a two, how two strike base hit.

16:29And that's really going to be the only pitch that killed Sam Bachman from having a perfect performance. He hangs a change up there with two strikes. If that does not happen, the angels stay down one nothing. They tie the game on the bottom of the seventh instead of cutting the lead and they maybe win this baseball game. But I'm not going to kill Sam Bachman and I'm really not going to kill Walbert, Urania. I thought he was very impressive. I thought he was efficient. Again, 92 pitches, two batters into the seventh inning and your first start against a really good lineup. I was really, really impressed with that. Like Aaron says here, back to back walks. He was your result and runs unless you're us. And yes, it did was a result in that run there. But it's not like everyone agrees with me. David says two plus innings pitched in majors before today, right? And facing that lineup phenomenal. Totally agree. And again, he was not great in those two appearances before this. So for him to just out of nowhere be this fantastic. We'll take it. Last name, Charles says Urania was calm and collected for sure. I am certainly excited from what I saw from him. And unfortunately, this is the state of the Angels rotation.

17:32I think that nothing sums it up better than having a 22 year old who's not expected to be a starter right away. And he's coming in and he's suddenly filling at the number three slot in the rotation. Luckily for us, we got Mike Maddox working wonders on guys. And Urania's got big time upside, right? So he gets the job done and it just wasn't enough. But I'm certainly not blaming him for that. We'll see now what Reed Demers can do tomorrow. He'll lead off or he'll open up the series tomorrow night against the blue jays. So things get shifted around there. Certainly, I think Reed Demers has kind of been better than we'd expected outside of a starter too. So hopefully he can keep that going tomorrow. But the big storyline outside the loss will be that Walbert, Urania might have a spot in this rotation until he has a couple blowups because we know Kurt Suzuki trusts him, right? So even if this was an average performance, I think Kurt Suzuki keeps him in there. But with it being a very impressive performance and with how much Kurt Suzuki clearly loves and trusts him, how much Mike Maddox must really like the upside there. I think we should get used to seeing Walbert, Urania for quite some time.

18:33And I thought it was fun too. I thought he just kind of had a little aura to him. I'll be honest, he had the glasses out there on the mound. He was throwing that nasty change up. I like his slide step or how he pitches out of the stretch. I thought he was very exciting in addition to being very intriguing as a prospect and a guy to watch on the mound for the angels. So hopefully he can keep it going. I don't know when the next start would be for him. It certainly wouldn't be in the Toronto series. Probably would see him in Kansas City. Might be a nice opportunity there against an average team at best, right? I know they've kind of had a hot cold stretch here. So excited for his next start, I'll be honest. That's what I leave this game saying. Am I excited to watch the angels play baseball tomorrow? I mean, I'm always excited to see them play baseball. Am I confident in the lineup tomorrow? I'm not, but what I am excited for is for whatever Walbert, Urania starts again. I'm excited to see Redeemer's pitch. I really am. There's a lot of guys in this angels rotation and bullpen that have a lot of upside. And they're exciting and they're intriguing. But again, you shouldn't have an entire rotation and bullpen for them. You should have one or two guys like that

19:34and a bunch of veterans that you can trust. We don't have that right now. So we'll go from Kekuchi who finally has a good start, but has not been good to Urania who out of nowhere does well to redeemer's and then who knows who comes after redeemer's in this Blue J series. But I'll be back here tomorrow night. Appreciate you guys. As always, again, 638 first pitch. Redeemer's on the mound. As the angels look to snap a quick two game losing streak here. Get right back to 500 where they belong and try to win a series at home against the Toronto Blue J. So again, 638 first pitch. I'll be back here live tomorrow night. A lot of hate for Logan O'Hoppy in the chat. I'm going to try to leave off on Roast in the hitters too much. Just two two two poor games from the lineup. Hopefully they can turn things around. The next three against the Blue J's. But I'll see you tomorrow night. Have a great rest of your Sunday. Keep your heads up and shout out while you're in your man for at least giving us some positivity on this Sunday. Again, I would be remiss if I didn't say it one more time. At least rest in peace, Garrett Anderson.

20:34Again, thoughts and prayers to the family. Obviously, this whole weekend, the rest of the season will be devoted to him, but especially this weekend. So have to say that. Keep him in his family and your thoughts and prayers. And go angels, man. Have a great rest of your Sunday. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Take care.