First it was 2nd time big league starter Garrett Richards who only made 19 pitches before leaving with a groin injury before his Angels lost the opener of this big 4 game series 8-4. And now it was another rookie (although more accomplished) in Tyler Chatwood who couldn’t make it out of the 3rd inning tagged for 5 earned runs on 8 Texas hits and the Angels lost again 7-3 to fall 6 games back of the Rangers with 39 to play (and 8 of those against the first place boys from Arlington).

It was a frustrating night for Chatwood who I chatted with 24 hours earlier about how confident he felt going in, but it didn’t work out how he had planned so we chatted again in front of his locker…

Tyler Chatwood with Ted Sobel:

Halos rightfielder Torii Hunter was one of the few bright spots for the locals on this dismall night going 2-4 with an rbi, a nice catch in the field, and extending his season best hitting streak to 14 games-although as you’ll hear in our conversation, he wanted no part of that discussion due to the usual ballplayer superstition. But he did give me a little (very little) about the after game closed door team meeting called by his manager Mike Scioscia, who may need to turn into Vince Lombardi to get his guys to start hitting more before it’s too late…

Torii Hunter with Ted Sobel: