Mediocre Comic and Bad Bullpen

Daily Ramble 236: Mediocre Comic and Bad Bullpen

Things got a bit hectic as I was putting things together for this post so I didn’t really finish it. I did get to ramble about the Angels and the comic I read yesterday but I didn’t get a chance to finish rambling about LOTRO so I left that part out.

Bad Bullpen Threw the Game

Facing the pitcher with the 2nd lowest ERA in the majors in a home park where they haven’t been playing very well, the Angels rolled out a rookie by the name of Jaime Barria. Surprisingly, Barria out pitched Garret Cole and the Angel offense chased Cole from the mound in the 6th. He left losing 3–1 and the Angels were hopeful.

Mike Trout was in the leadoff role for a change with Ohtani in the 2 hole to switch things up a bit. It mattered in the 1st as Trout walked and Upton brought him home with a home run to left center. Just like that, the Angels were up 2–0 and they never looked back until the bullpen threw the game.

Barria pitched through 7 innings and the first hitter the bullpen faced smacked a double and the second got a single. After being held to 3 hits all night, the bullpen gave up 2 immediate hits. And this was the bottom of the Houston order. What is up with these relievers? They’re certainly not doing their job. And I really don’t know what Mike Scioscia is thinking with these guys.

The bottom line is that a great outing by Barria got destroyed by the bullpen. And this story is getting old. Too many games the Angels have lost have been the result of the bullpen being unable to hold onto a lead.

While Upton took care of most of the offense, I give my Player of the Game to Barria even though he didn’t get a decision. He still deserved the win that the bullpen gave to Houston.

First Look at Uncanny Avengers #1

An Imperfect Union by Gerry Dugan and Ryan Stegman. Published by Marvel Comics in 2015.

This was not my favorite first issue. It had plenty of cool characters…Spider-Man, Deadpool, Captain America, Rogue, Quicksilver, and Human Torch. But then it had a couple that I’d never seen before, Doctor Voodoo and Synapse.

That wasn’t my problem though, I think I didn’t like the fact that most of the conflict took place between the Avengers rather than between them and the bad guy. And maybe I was missing some of the back story since things started badly with Spider-Man leaving the team because he couldn’t stand Deadpool. But I’ve read stories like that before.

This story just didn’t click for me.

I enjoyed the art and the weird ‘no straight lines’ character drawing but that didn’t impress me enough to make my rating higher than a C.

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.