Rays 8, Angels 3
Let’s take a look at some of the facets of the game. Expected vs. Actual.
#Angels new GM Perry Minasian on AM 830: “Obviously, it’s been talked about. Pitching. Pitching is a need. We know that. Pitching’s gonna be a priority. It’s going to be a major priority.” pic.twitter.com/zahq5PDoV6
— nmbaseball (@nmbaseball) November 13, 2020
Let’s see what happened on the pitching side of things…
Perry Minasian made it clear that defense was a priority, and Iglesias certainly adds defense at a low salary of 3.5 million for 2021. https://t.co/oUUNYqxi5z
— nmbaseball (@nmbaseball) December 3, 2020
Maybe the defense was better?
The #Angels defensive woes are on full display tonight. Their MLB-leading 28th error led to another run being scored.
— Brent Maguire (@bmags94) May 5, 2021
In addition to the errors, the Angels came into tonight next-to-last in Defensive Runs Saved (-15) and had the fifth-worst Ultimate Zone Rating (-5.1).
Throw in a TOOTBLAN for good measure.
Iggy gets Fletch and #Sho in 👏#WeBelieve I @Angels pic.twitter.com/BoN9CK06nj
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) May 5, 2021
Justin Upton also suffered an injury. Max Stassi seemed to as well.
MEDICAL UPDATE:
— Angels PR (@LAAngelsPR) May 5, 2021
Justin Upton exited tonight's game with a left knee contusion.
Mike Trout hit it to the moon. If you stomached the first part of this, you are now rewarded with a Trout bomb.
Eighth homer of the season for, @MikeTrout! pic.twitter.com/EUpd1Zftgr
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) May 5, 2021
The Angels are 13-15. They are Lucy. We are Charlie Brown flat on our backs. There will be a time when they give us hope again, allow us to believe that we can be successful with this group in 2021.
And I’m going to fall for it again.
We are all in a seriously disfunctional relationship with the Angels.
Some of us like disfunctional.
If it was perfect, we might take it for granted and fuck it up!
I hate you for being right.
HT, I too like this very much.
Great write up HT Ennis.
H.T. Ennis:
I appreciate this type of rhetoric: you give citations of what those in charge SAID (or wrote), then you cite what has actually happened. You probably already know this, but it’s called immanent critique. And it rawks. Thanks.
We can all rant emotionally – there’s very little that’s “rational” about being a sportsfan, that I can see – but this sort of thing puts some meat in the equations.
This is unfortunate. It’s taken us 28 games to realize that every move Perry has made has gone bad. Q, Cobb, Cishek, Claudio, Rowen, Raisel, J Iglesias.
Everybody who wrote an “If I Were Perry” post had better ideas. Now it might not be Perry’s fault. He might have been too constrained by Arte’s budget and he might have listened too much to Joe (Q and Cobb).
But all of those posts you guys wrote had a similar budget.
Anyway Trout and Walsh are hitting. Ohtani will be streaky. There are things to enjoy. Maybe we’ll win tomorrow.
“…. it might not be Perry’s fault.”
It is a good bet that Perry would have expressed interest in the high-end pitching talent only to be shot down by Arte. I mean, any GM looking at our roster would have done that. Ultimately our failure to improve the pitching falls right at the feet of Arte Moreno.
Perry better be drafting pitching and more pitching in July.
How T.F. is Pujols still managing this?! Please help me guys. I am convinced that once he’s gone we will succeed. But he literally finds away to tug on EVERY new Coach/GMs heart strings to continue to suck absolute balls and continue to get prime playing time. I have NEVER in my life seen a franchise so absolutely pathetic in letting a player rob them for every penny and instead of saving face and cutting bait they continue let him embarrass every lineup hes in just to feed his ego. I’m so so baffled. We are a laughing stock again and I no longer feel bad for Trout anymore. His personality just falls in line with this suckage. I see no fire from him during these losses. These games are winnable if we give these crap pitchers we have some cushion. Instead they’re waiting till they’re down 4 or 5 to do anything. It’s a joke. Oh and Fletcher thanks for getting that money and turning back into a pumpkin. Typical #HaloWay! Easy money grab franchise. Yea yea so what I’m pissed let me rant dammit!!
Tbh, I don’t think we’d get any better without Pujols, but it would be a huge thing symbolically if they would sit him for me.
The Angels would be better off with 30 mil free and pujols -.5 war not on the team.
We’re different kind of fans here. Just look at the Angels’ fb posts, and the endless love from the people there for Gramps. And unfortunately, that is the majority of Angel fans, who drive up the all-important per caps, because Records! Milestones! Pujols stopped being The Machine before he ever came to the Angels, yet there one finds hundreds of jock-sniffing posts from people who still believe he’s the St. Louis version.
And the slicksters in the Marketing Department have done an excellent job of fooling them into thinking he still is.
Yea I’m convinced Pujols still playing is a bigger drag on the team than just his own stats bringing the team down. It’s like the 25th best player on the team is getting to start because he’s the coach’s son. Pujol’s time has come. Other players may not put up even a 600 OPS, but they might. We KNOW or at least should know Pujols is done. We might catch lightning in a bottle with someone else, but you legitimately can’t catch lightning in a bottle with a guess hitter which Pujols has sadly become.
If Arte bought $500 Wagyu steaks and they sat in transit for 2 weeks and came to him completely rancid, he would never eat the steaks simply because he paid so much for them. But that is exactly what he is doing by playing Pujols. Father time has easily caught up to him. It’s embarrassing to the whole organization that he is still getting significant abs.
Arte does not like admitting mistakes, either to himself or anyone else. In the same way he kept Scioscia well past his expiration date he is keeping Pujols. Everybody could see that the game had passed Soth by, in the same way they can see Pujols floundering out there. And yet Arte will see to it that he is on the field in the same way that he protected Scioscia….
Albert Pujols’ OPS as an Angel
2012 . 859
2013 .767
2014: .790
2015: .787
2016: .780
2017: .672
2018: .700
2019: .734
2020: .665
2021: .622
He started to decline with a .906 OPS in STL in 2011. His career OPS in STL is 1.037.
His OPS as an Angel is .758.
That would be great if he didn’t make so much
After 14+ months of isolation, watching a divided nation become more so and all of the unrest, I just can’t allow myself to get too invested in this team. I have nothing left in the tank for disappointment. My tank is pretty empty. So I’ll be happy when they win and basically apathetic when they lose. It’s out of my control so I’ll be at peace with whatever.
I’ve got nothing to add to this, but I am very much with you, Fansince1971.
I’ve been in the same boat for awhile. In fact I mentioned in one of the gamethreads that as much as I still love baseball, I can’t bring myself to watch Angels games. I just find myself angry that their are issues on this team that should be easily corrected but they aren’t because Pujols still sells 10 jerseys a homestand.
I’ve always been more of a fan of the Angels than the sport of baseball specifically in and of itself. Don’t get me wrong, obviously love baseball, but I rarely will just watch two teams play that I have no interest in if that makes sense. Just the way I became a fan and the history I have with the team I guess.
At any rate, this may be the earliest I’ve started watching the Padres in any season before. Having lived in San Diego for a handful of years I definitely feel like they are my second team, but it is a distant second. That being said, here I am. The Angels will always be my team but I can’t watch their games daily right now.
Part of me wonders if that makes me a Fairweather fan. But part of me honestly believes it’s because I care too much and it’s too frustrating. Why am I letting the decisions of a bunch of Uber Rich people affect me so much? They obviously don’t seem to care very much what I think.
I definitely will be reading articles here daily though. I probably pay more attention to this site than the games during stretches like these. Is that weird?
I think that makes sense. The one thing I’ve opened my perspective of over the last few years is the concept of being a sports fan and what it means. Now, gatekeeping makes no sense to me at all. Everyone is allowed to have takes about sports. If your takes seem lazy or uninformed, I may try to correct you, but since nothing gets resolved on the Internet, usually I just let it slide now.
What comes with that is that everyone is allowed to be a fan in his or her own way. Some are fans of the sport, some are fans of individual teams, and some are fans of individual players. Baseball is especially unique in that you get a lot of fans of the team, but that can easily become derailed if the team is bad/undeserving of love.
The Padres are a helluva lot more competent right now (I wouldn’t say fun, because I still think this Angels team can be very fun, which does not equate to results). I don’t think anyone would begrudge someone who tuned into San Diego games.
It’s a catch-22. This team has a systemic problem that largely derives from a large budget mistake and the owner’s failure to invest in scouting and player development. The only way to punish the owner and force top-down changes is to stop supporting the team, but if you stop supporting the team, you are a “fair weather fan.”
Personally, I’m fine with fair weather fans that support the team during the off season and/or at the start of the season but loses interest when the team starts to flounder. The concept of fair weather fans only benefits bad owners, just like the concept of being a rat only benefits criminals.
SNAFU
This is pain.
I have a new level of understanding of Ty Buttrey.
😅
😆