Angels News: Lucas Giolito Criticizes Himself for Horrible First Impression With Halos

Not the ideal start to his Angels career...

After a rocky start to his career with the Angels, recent trade acquisition Lucas Giolito spoke about his frustrations following a loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday afternoon.

In a tweet from Sam Blum of the Athletic, Giolito took full responsibility for his lackluster performances to begin his journey in Anaheim so far. 

"I've made about as bad as a first impression as you can. At this point, just stay on my routine, stay confident and go out and give a better performance. I'm the reason the team lost today."

Lucas Giolito:

"I've made about as bad as a first impression as you can. At this point, just stay on my routine, stay confident and go out and give a better performance. I'm the reason the team lost today."

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) August 2, 2023

It's a striking comment from someone the Angels clearly coveted over many other starting options on the trade market before the deadline was up. 

In two starts for the Halos thus far, Giolito has given up 12 earned runs, five homers and 14 hits total across just nine innings of work for his new club. 

While his past start before today was a quality outing against the Blue Jays in Toronto, things were not working for the righty in Wednesday's early afternoon affair against the Atlanta Braves. 

Giolito failed to reach four innings of work and his ERA since donning the red of Anaheim has gone from a 3.79 to now a 4.36 mark. 

This surely isn't what the Angels' front office envisioned when dealing for Giolito from the Chicago White Sox, and it was made even more fatal when it was announced that another Angel starter had been shelved earlier this week. 

As it stands the Angels are 3.5 games back of a wild card spot in the American League and with the franchise going over the luxury tax for the first time in the Arte Moreno era, each game matters in an effort to keep Shohei Ohtani enticed to stay with the team long term. 

With the return of Mike Trout still up in the air from his broken hamate bone he suffered early last month, games like this must be won by the Halos to keep pace in the competitive playoff push. 

While Giolito shouldered the blame for this loss, the team as a whole needs to help pick him up if they want the fans of Anaheim to see October baseball again.