Angels' Trout, Pujols, Hamilton a combined 3-for-37 in 3-game ALDS sweep at hands of Royals
A big reason why the Kansas City Royals swept aside the Los Angeles Angels - baseball's highest-scoring team (773 runs) in the regular season - in the American League Division Series: Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton were a combined 3-for-37 in the three-game series.
Pujols managed two hits, including a home run, in 12 at-bats; Trout had one hit - a home run in Game 3 - in 12 at-bats; and Hamilton went hitless in 13 at-bats.
The Angels went cold at the wrong time, and all of a sudden, after dominating baseball for six months, they're done. That's October for you. Credit to the Royals, who pitched well, like they did all season, but the Angels didn't get hits from their stars when they needed them most.
For Trout, the three games were a learning experience, as he played in the postseason for the first time in his career:
Trout's biggest takeaway from postseason: "Controlling your emotions. Sometimes you hear the crowd going, you want to do so much."
— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) October 6, 2014
Pujols, an October veteran, and a champion, was more philosophical about the Angels bowing out to a Royals team that scored 122 fewer runs than Los Angeles during the summer:
Pujols: "Obviously wasn't meant to be. They played well. A lot of things went their way. We had good at-bats & didn’t put things together."
— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) October 6, 2014
Hamilton, meanwhile, continued to look lost at the plate, much like he did in August and limited at-bats in September. He hasn't hit a home run in months, and he doesn't have answers, especially when it comes to next year.
"Who knows? What do you think, I'm a fortune teller?" he said after the Angels were eliminated.
"I wish I could tell you I was going to hit .330 with 130 (RBIs) and 40 (home runs) every year," he added.
So do the Angels, who owe Hamilton, 33, $23 million in 2015, and $30 million in 2016 and 2017.
It's going to be a long summer in Anaheim, as the team looks back on its league-best 98 regular-season wins, and zero October wins. An aging core - save for Trout - will only be another year older in 2015.