Joe Noga
cleveland.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Myles Straw had another encounter with an outfield wall Monday, and this time the wall won in no uncertain terms. But Straw came away with a burgeoning reputation — and even more respect — as the guy in the clubhouse who will do anything for his teammates.
First, the wall. Straw’s effort to track Taylor Ward’s deep drive to right center in the fifth inning came up short as the ball glanced off the scoreboard just above the yellow line indicating a home run.
For a moment, it looked like Straw had the ball in his tracks, but the blast carried just out of his reach. The ricochet bounced up in the air and hung tantalizingly for a moment before the ball and Straw landed in a heap on the warning track.
It’s the second notable encounter with an outfield fence for Straw in the last three games. On Saturday in Yankee Stadium, he confronted unruly fans by scaling a wall in front of the bleachers, coming to the defense of injured teammate Steven Kwan. Straw earned praise for both having his teammate’s back and for exercising enough restraint to prevent the incident from getting out of hand.
@Jomboy_ Here’s the video you were talking about. pic.twitter.com/iPwRRC6Nvf
— DT (@peopleschamp40) April 25, 2022
Ernie Clement even tweeted a screen shot of the encounter with the promise to use it as his “new profile pic.”
“He’s my teammate, he’s my brother and some of the things that were said to him weren’t going to fly,” Straw told reporters later. “My emotions got to me a little bit.”
Emotions were not a factor in Monday’s wall-banger, but gravity was. A video review confirmed it as Ward’s second home run of the season. He added a no-doubter in the seventh to give the Angels a 3-0 win. But the outfielder’s hustle and heart did not go unnoticed by Shane Bieber, who said the fact that Straw got as close as he did on the play was crazy, the kind of handiwork that earns everybody’s respect.
“It’s a testament to his effort and his athleticism,” Bieber said. “I appreciate that, but I don’t want people getting hurt. We need him.”
Straw said he is “always trying to make plays for the boys” when he’s in center.
“Whatever I can do to help the team win, if I’ve got to jump into a wall or if I’ve got to dive, whatever that may be, I’m always going to do it,” Straw said.
After looking at a replay, Straw acknowledged he was a little tardy getting to the spot where the ball was going to land.
“I just kind of got up there a little late,” Straw said. “You learn from those and I’d go for it every time.”
Bieber said he shouldered at least some of the blame, cosmically, after “putting it out there in the universe” that the yellow line might come into play during his pregame warmup in the bullpen.
“I looked up and asked ‘When did they change that yellow line?’” Bieber, a southern California native, said. “I grew up coming here and (a home run) was always at the top of the wall, so once I said that, I was like ‘Oh man, better not get me’ and it ended up getting me.”
The Angels changed the right field home run boundary for the 2018 season, coincidentally the year they signed 2021 American League MVP Shohei Ohtani, a left-handed hitting slugger. The yellow line dropped from the top of the out-of-town scoreboard at 18 feet to the middle of the fence, running along an eight-foot high wall out to center.
The Angels said at the time that the change was decided upon before the club signed Ohtani, but Straw said it probably doesn’t matter.
“He’s going to hit a ton of them out there,” Straw said.
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