Los Angeles Angels 11, Colorado Rockies 0: Rox offense goes dark in nationally televised blowout loss

The Colorado Rockies were pretty well destroyed today, being held to just two hits by the Los Angeles Angels pitching staff while giving up 15 hits and 11 runs themselves.

The potential no-hitter was broken up in the sixth inning by a catcher I've never heard of named Audrey Perez who took one of the uglier swings of the day; stepping firmly in the bucket and slapping an opposite field single the way pitchers sometimes do. Ben Paulsen hit a more solid seeing eye single later in the game, and that was pretty much it on offense.

There were still some encouraging moments today, though, especially if you consider the glorious fact that this game did not count.

The jury may still be out on Carlos Gonzalez' knees but he showed today that there is absolutely nothing wrong with his arm. His cannon put-out from the right field warning track turned what appeared to be an easy double into an obvious out. This is why CarGo should have been in right field for years, but better late than never.

Nolan Arenado and Rafael Ynoa also showed off some pretty nifty defensive ability including an odd 6-5-3 on-out putout wherein Troy Tulowitzki fired to third in time to beat the runner but Nado wasn't on the bag so instead of going for a tag fired the ball to first in time to get Albert Pujols.

"But nothing surprises me that Nolan does. Pretty good awareness right there, to get that ball away as quickly as he did," said manager Walt Weiss.

It was a pretty ugly day for the Rockies pitching staff which puts Chad Bettis' solid start into an interesting context. The Angels had the bats going today but Bettis allowed only one hit (a double to David Freese) and managed to strike out Mike Trout -- who hit home runs in two of his three other at bats -- in dominant fashion.

David Hale, who is fighting for a bullpen spot, and Brett Marshall took the brunt of the damage giving up four and six runs respectively. Hale did battle enough to get through three innings at least, showing a composure amidst having poor stuff on this day and that could be beneficial as a long reliever, especially at Coors Field.

"Just one of those days," said Weiss. Pretty much. Wash this one off and get excited for Tyler Matzek and Jon Gray tomorrow.