Erick Aybar tosses bats, awakens Angels offense ahead of comeback win

Since scoring 13 runs against the Texas Rangers on July 26, the Los Angeles Angels offense has fallen completely flat. In the eight games that immediately followed, the Angels managed just 20 runs total against the Astros, Dodgers and Indians. If you cut out the first two games of the Houston series, it’s 12 runs in six games.

Granted, they’ve had to face pitchers such as Scott Kazmir, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, but any way you slice it, the offense isn’t doing nearly enough to carry its weight.

During that stretch, the Angels lost seven of eight games, which nearly offset their strong start to July. The Angels had overcome a five-game deficit on July 1 to surge ahead of the Astros on July 12, but entered play on Wednesday at three games back.

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With the reality of the situation weighing heavily on Angels hitters, veteran Erick Aybar decided to take matters into his own hands and do the only logical thing that comes to mind when an offense is struggling: throw everyone’s bats on the ground.

That was the scene in the Angels dugout before Wednesday’s series finale against Cleveland. Aybar took every bat out of the bat rack and tossed it in a pile on the dugout floor. We half expected him to douse them in gasoline and set fire to their punchless lumber, but instead he appeared to be summoning the spirits from above to give life to their offense again.

Perhaps the strangest part of all this? The Angels did eventually wake up on Wednesday and pulled off a thrilling 4-3 victory. Though the offense didn’t immediately respond, it responded when it mattered most, rallying for the three runs in the ninth inning.

Fittingly enough, Aybar was right in the middle of the comeback. After Albert Pujols singled with one out, it was up to Aybar to keep the game alive. He ended up drawing a two-out walk. Pinch-hitter Taylor Featherston followed with his own walk, which extended the game for C.J. Cron. Cron then delivered the equalizer with a single to right center, scoring both Pujols and Aybar.

Now here’s where things really got weird. One batter latter, Indians closer Cody Allen uncorked a wild pitch, which allowed Featherston to race home with the winner. Even if you don’t believe in baseball spirits, higher powers or superstitions, that was certainly a bizarre finish befitting of the Angels bizarre ritual.

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Of course, the reality is this was all a rather strange coincidence. But sometimes in baseball it’s best to ignore reality and focus on whatever helps today make sense. If the Angels think the bat ritual helped, so be it. If they want to do it again on Friday, go for it. If it eases the mind in any way, that’s all that matters, and the Angels’ certainly looked like a relieved squad on Wednesday.

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