Who? Most of you aren’t boxing fans so you haven’t heard of Jerry Quarry. But unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. Jerry fought and lost to Ali twice, the first being close enough to warrant a second in many eyes. He lost to Frazier in a barnburner. Foreman wouldn’t fight him.
What does this have to do with the Angels? Well, outside of losing to Hall of Famers, Quarry racked up 59 career wins including some decent names. He just couldn’t beat the really good ones, hence the 9 career losses. He was good, he was tough, he just wasn’t quite good enough.
That’s a pretty good description of the Angels. Good, tough, just not good enough. That’s what gets you a great record against mediocre and bad teams and a horrible record against good ones. We are Jerry Quarry.
Unfortunately for the Angels, the Rockies, Twins, Rangers portion of the schedule is over and we run into the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Astros and Yankees next. It is going to get rough.
But are there signs that in 2022 we might be a real contender?
One major reason for the Angels plight of .500 is injury and we learned this week that Anthony Rendon is out for the year after hip surgery.
A healthy Rendon and a healthy Trout should be about 15 WAR (5 and 10 respectively) which makes a huge difference.
Shohei Ohtani is everything we could hope for and more and he’ll be back.
Another major reason for the mediocre year is the bullpen. I’ve often heard that every team thinks their bullpen is the worst. The agony of blown late leads just burns into our brains. But late inning leads are becoming less and less secure across baseball.
Perhaps this is more reason to extend AL Reliever of the Month Raisel Iglesias. Other fan bases are already clamoring for him.
The real difference between a genuine contender and what we’ve been for the last half decade or so will be the youth movement.
Jo Adell has a new loading mechanism that makes him much quicker to the ball and off the charts athleticism. He torched the Rangers in his 2021 debut.
Brandon Marsh is struggling, but so have many rookies.
The key is really the youngsters on the mound.
Patrick Sandoval had a great July and is off to a phenomenal start to the unofficial second half. He’s young, taken some big league lumps, and is getting better.
Reid Detmers got his first MLB taste and took a right cross to the jaw. He’s young, still a little raw, but like Quarry he didn’t back down while facing a formidable Oakland team. And he’s shown some really dominant stuff in the minors.
Jaime Barria, Jose Suarez? These guys are making a case to be part of the next Angels team and will be given plenty of time to sink or swim.
And how about the 2022 schedule? Some interesting games and road trips on tap. I might have to catch the Angels on one of those trips and cross another ballpark off the list.
Around baseball…
Dodger fan went Dodger fan all over the place this week.
Trevor Bauer’s administrative leave will be extended another week. His attorneys released text messages from his alleged victim. Not to be outplayed in the press, the victim’s lawyers have published a picture of her face after the encounter with Bauer. Warning, that picture is tough to look at.
The Giants activated Brandon Belt from the IL. The first baseman had been out for six weeks.
The story of this year’s draft will undoubtedly be Kumar Rocker. Fangraphs has an interesting take on fixing the draft.
Astros legend J. R. Richard passed away at age 71. Just before my time but the video of his pitching is amazing. A career ended too soon due to a stroke and now a family in mourning. RIP.
Team USA downed South Korea to advance to the Gold Medal game against host Japan. At worst, the Scioscia led squad of prospects and MLB cast offs is guaranteed a silver medal.
They weren’t afraid of blowing up their World Series Championship rosters and starting over 💪  💪  🤘  The Cubs even traded Craig Kimbrel across town to the ChiSox!!
Flagged – offensive
For the large Red Sox logo.
Nothing wrong with the Cubs.
pujols faces the angels for the first time since may 2010
He ruins baseball for me.
Laureano was just hit with an 80 game suspension for steroids. The a’s won’t have him this year when The Angels face them nor in the opening series of next season. Ooooops
HA HA!
I think he tested positive for the Angelkillerosolene steriod
Good riddance.
Damm have you turned
I wonder what you’ll say about Mike Trout in 2023 especially if he’s injured often or wants to be traded!!
😳?
It looks like you picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd1ciPnTGKg
Can we retroactively get those HRs he robbed us of, and those runs at the plate when he threw us out?
I’m disappointed in him because he’s made such great fielding plays and now I think he’s a jerk.
Jerk indeed.
He is now saying that something he ate (ingested) must have been “contaminated,” lol.
How stupid do these guys think we are? Every one of the cheaters just happens to be accidentally tainted. Yeah, right!
He gives this whole speech about “I would never cheat the game,” etc etc.
Get lost Ramon. And we won’t be seeing you in that four game series to open the 2022 season.
It must have been that pork burrito again.
Ha ha. I guess the Astros aren’t the only team of cheaters in the AL West.
Remember, Frankie Montas also got popped for PED’s and missed a full season.
Not surprised about Laureano. Now with Chapman out (injured) and this their offense is taking a hit. Too bad those things could not have happened earlier before we played them all those games.
Maybe we would not have been 4-12 against them….
Doesn’t matter. You can’t win if you don’t score runs. We scored, what, 1 run in the last 5 games against them?
True. But in some of the earlier games they beat us by scoring alot of runs, (even though we also scored) particularly that 3 game set in Anaheim.
Hopefully we don’t have any roid cheaters on this team. You think that’s why the angels released Alex Claudio?
It’s like the A’s knew, or were given a heads up -that’s I’m thinking- that roids were in their system with the pick up of Marte just in time for the suspension.
Yeah, I think they knew too. Only thing that makes their deadline moves make sense. Hell maybe Laureano tipped them off that he may test dirty.
That’s hilarious. I just commented how the majority of the A’s players are in phenomenal shape and that something was up.
in that Memories thing in Facebook, up popped my comment that ran thusly, from August 6, 2012:
“Jered Weaver with a shutout is now 15-1. 15 and 1!!”
Weave finished 20-5, 2.81 ERA. That helped us to 3rd place in the West, 5 games behind Oakland and 4 behind Texas.
I look at the various ERAs of the pitchers and sigh heavily. Can’t we have a bullpen like that again?
I really couldn’t care less what other teams think of their bullpen. Our bullpen is by far the worsiest.
#1 worsiest
https://youtu.be/zdv9yFIoLPk
The Fangraphs article by Brendan Gawlowski, about Kumar Rocker and the Mets draft debacle ends up coming off as kind of a “I would like it if they did a free for all like the NCAA so I could have stuff to write about that I already have a template for”. The owners would game his system he proposes and you would have an even larger issue.
The Rocker issue is as much, if not more, Boras fault than the The Mets. All Boras had to do was provide the medicals for his client, like most players and agents do, to all the prospective teams before the draft. Sure, Rocker would not have been offered as large of a signing bonus after the medicals were reviewed, but he probably would have gotten fairly close by some team willing to take a gamble, maybe somewhere in the 3.5 to 5 million zone, unless his shoulder is minced hamburger.
I was a bit surprised at his solution. Being Fangraphs, I was expecting some analytical idea that I had never thought of, not “just do what the NCAA does”. I understand that it would give the power to the players instead of the owners, but there is an argument to be made for competitive balance. Would we really want MLB to have a couple teams like Alabama’s football team, where even the third string guys should be starters in other legit teams? The AL East would essentially be the SEC. No thanks. Just increase compensation for minor league players and up the minimum salary for pre-arb players.
I found the solution to be weak, too. But it was the only thing on Rocker that hasn’t been beaten to death.
The one difference between FG idea and the NCAA, though, is money. In this scenario the Angels have the same amount of bonus pool money and could decide for themselves how many players to recruit.
The obvious pitfall is that a huge number of undrafted free agents would be created so owners would need to be limited on how much they can pay them.
The solution really is simple. If the drafting team doesn’t offer a contract with x% of the slot value, the player becomes a free agent.
The Mets rightfully didn’t have to make an offer to get their compensation pick, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a rule that says if they don’t make an offer the player gets to be a free agent.
Don’t care for that idea. You would see players purposely not signing with the lesser organizations.
But the trigger is the offer, so if they purposely don’t sign, they don’t become free agents.
Choice for the teams: Make a legitimate offer or let other teams do so.
Choice for the player: Accept a legitimate offer or be locked out from signing with any team.
A return to the Pre draft New York Yankees.
So, what you’re saying is…
This is all Boras.
Boras is all this
All this is Boras?
perhaps I misunderstood but I thought the Mets had talked about that $6mil but then wanted to renegotiate it down to somewhere in that 3.5-5mil range and Boras wouldn’t budge.
I think that is pretty much what happened, Boras played chicken with them and they did not blink. Seems something in the medicals led The Mets organization to think he would be on the shelf for awhile, possibly getting something surgically repaired, and thy did not want to pay above slot value just to watch him rehab and hope he comes back as a dominant pitcher. ZERO dollars for you this year Kumar, take your chances next year I guess.
What’s odd is that the Mets didn’t hedge this bet by taking a tough sign high school kid in the later rounds, like we did. With the Rocker contract not going through they could have offered that kid an extra million bucks to skip college like we did.
Just further proof of how well Perry played this draft, IMO.
Perry did well? Unpossible!
I knew I’d be triggered
The obvious reason we passed on Kumar Rocker was Scott Boras. B*lly Epp*** also took a chance on damaged goods with Griffin Canning. We almost didn’t come to signing terms with Jered Weaver back in 2004 with Boras and would’ve had to settle for a compensation round pick. Back then you had almost a full year to try and sign your draft picks ( May 2005 signing deadline ). Signabilty also matters big and we would’ve passed on Rocker no matter even if he had Hellboy’s arm and hand.
I agree with all this. Angels were just avoiding him. What matters now is Bachman and how well he performs.
Hopefully, he’ll be takin’ care of business.
In Overdrive
Every day!
Boras wasn’t Canning’s agent when the Angels drafted him. Casey Wasserman was. Come on 2002, stop being so G.A. about you’re Player Porn pics and postings and do some honest to goodness research for once.
That was reported but I believe it turned out to be not true…the Mets ended up not making an official offer.
That’s what I interpreted as well. No offer. At some point they decided they were better off with the #11 pick next year.
Ok thanks. That sounds right
So Bauer’s alleged victim clearly consented to sex – and maybe even rough sex. But that’s a lot different than consenting to get the snot beaten out of her. It seems to be that her texting it was ‘consensual’ is being taken out of context. She seems to be sayin in her texts that she was not raped, but she never expected to be beaten.
I typically don’t judge fetishes – what people do in privacy is their own business. However, beating a woman is behavior I cannot handle or accept even if it’s part of a sexual fetish.
Some of the “activity” occurred while she was unconscious. No way you can say that was consensual.
I always thought Bauer was a weird dude, but man, he’s super f’n weird to get off on stuff like this. He choked her with her own hair until she was unconscious. He’s got a lot of pent up rage.
Anyone think he ever pitches again for the Dodgers? I think he’ll def pitch again, not sure if he will for the Dodgers though.
Yeah, I’m generally non judgmental on bedroom activities and I’m no psychologist but if punching a woman in the face gets you off, get some help.
He’ll likely plead down and settle, keeping him eligible to continue his career. Houston is the first team that pops to kind.
If punching a woman gets you off, you’re not far from killing a woman, and you very likely don’t have the empathic reach to understand when a partner is saying “no”.
Yeah, I’m wondering if this is a pattern/fantasy that has escalated over the years. Where it takes more and more rough stuff over time to satisfy him and he’s now reached a point of outright violence. Which, as you said, is a pattern that leads to horrible things.
I can’t believe he does that shit and has a sister.
Someone should pop his mind.
I’m just glad he never ended up with us.
Agreed and I’ve said as much; what two people do behind closed doors is between them until it crosses the line of criminality. Two black eyes, in my non-lawyer opinion, crosses the line of criminality. I have a hard time believing that anyone consents to two black eyes.
That so much of this is tied up in litigation of “consent” instead of motivation, intent and character is frustrating.
Even at face value, Bauer is searching far and wide for a sufficiently mentally imbalanced partner to let him beat, choke and generally torture her – well beyond any typical safeword S&M activity. That’s borderline serial killer shit, just a touch away from “she wanted me to kill her”, which seems like just one possible outcome if this damaged dude keeps on his current track.
In an industry that’s coming to terms with sexual harassment in many forms, how does this guy have a career? He’s seeking out women to torture, for his own pleasure, and whether or not some poor soul “consents” or not seems beside the point. How would a creep as broken as Bauer possibly possess the discrimination to even know?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am sure DIGGING this QUARRY comparison.
Well. played.
Quarry grew up where I did, only rougher. Jerry and his brother went to school with my mom and aunts.
He’s laid to rest just a few gravesites from my grandpa, who was one hell of a bar fighter back in his day. Seems fitting to me.
Bring on the Dodgers! I say we have a puncher’s chance!
John Lennon and his original band enjoyed the reference as well.
Great boxing reference, but the Angels are not heavyweights. We are more of a middleweight like Marvin Hagler, a smaller, more athletic fighters, Fletch, Adell, Marsh, Sho. Our only Fat Man Heavyweight is Trout. We can’t beat the good teams, but like Hagler, the Angels haven’t been knocked out, Marvelous was never knocked out. We are still a winning streak away from being a contender, when most of us, many times thought we were down for the count, somehow we get back up…..If we get Jack Johnson’ed this weekend by the Doyers, never mind.
As an Angel fan I only have one thing to say about this past decades failings:
No Mas.
Hagler was my first favorite fighter. One of my all time favorites. We are definitely more in the mold of him than a big bruiser. But he beat several Hall of Fame guys and held onto his title for years. We wish we were Hagler.
Dude! How did I not guess Marvelous was your favorite as a kid? He was mine too. I friggin loved that guy as a little boy, he just seemed EXACTLY like my childhood mind thought a heroic tough guy boxer should be.
He was about perfect. On balance at all times, power in both hands, head movement. Could box your ears off or just knock you out. Didn’t talk much, just won.
After Hagler retired I was all about Holyfield, then Gatti, then Cotto. I have a lot of guys I like now, but nobody I absolutely love like I did those guys.
I was an adult, but I preferred Hagler to both Sugar Ray and Hearns.
Yeah, Chick wasn’t that good.
Hope Marsh gets a long leash to figure stuff out. Seems really important to the 2022 Angels that he either has room to make those adjustments this season when games aren’t as important or show a team interested in a trade in the offseason that he made those adjustments.
Seems like part of why Maddon came out and said Marsh was going to be with the main club long term (which I read as all season). He isn’t taxi squad fodder – this is the move.
We’ll see. Maddon is typically very vocally supportive of the kids; trying to build and/or maintain their confidence.
Wait. Are you saying we can’t take Maddon at his word?
This is not unique to Joe Maddon.
Pretty much ALL managers do this. It is very rare when a manager does not have the back of his players.
In doing archival research for a book on Roger Angell, a friend of mine (Joe Bonomo) found a scrap of paper, on which Angell had written that “James Rodney Richard—pitches like a man falling out of a tree.”
Discovered Angell’s books in a big bookstore full of remainders in Covina back when I first became an Angels fan. That man could write. Brilliant stuff.
Just ordered a copy of your friend’s book (new, so he gets paid). Looks excellent.
Let’s beat that other LA team that bought up all our shit!
You mean stole?
Stolen land for their stadium. Stolen logo for their hats.
I normally write stole but wanted to be a little more accurate to the $3 million purchase from O’Malley to take away what the PCL Los Angeles angels had already established.
I do want to go to the game tonight and wear my LA angels swag but know better.
I’ve worn Angels gear there in recent years. Not since becoming a father, though. My boss had great seats and, most importantly, VIP parking. I wasn’t really worried inside the stadium because of the good seats. But that parking lot is horrifying. We parked close enough that I felt OK.
You all hiring?!
I’ve had batteries and nickels thrown at me (good seats, Guerrero years and during preseason) so haven’t been back in 15+ years. With proper seats and parking I’d do it, but I could get decent angels season seats for the price of that.
we will need to fight for what is ours…
https://twitter.com/AustralianAstr2/status/1423141505900769284?s=20
It looks like that shithead Dodgers fan just walked up and sucker head butted that guy as he is walking up the stairs.
It’s pretty amazing how winning just amplifies the asshole in a fanbase. No joke, when I was a little kid some of the coolest fans I knew were Red Sox fans. They LOVED a team that gave them nothing to brag on. They had cool heroes like Dwight Evans, Luis Tiant, Jim Rice, Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk. Cool stadium. Really smart fans, even the “chowd” types were pretty knowledgeable. But then they won…..
Los Doyers fans are even worse. It’s like a shit eating grin grew legs.
Do Doyer fans know how much they have to suck to make me actually root for the Astros?
I was actually thinking that too, I found myself rooting for houston. Even when/if the Dodgers have likes me players the fan base sets a new low at every turn
I was disappointed that the Moderately Sized Meteor didn’t crash into Chavez Latrine.
I was happy they threw out that bastard and also ejected #13 who threw away the Astro fan’s hat.
chicken shit Dodger fans. The guy is being escorted and lumpy feels the need to chest bump him
It wasn’t just a “chest bump.” If you watch closely he tries to head-butt him.
Ha. The Dodger dude tried to head-butt that Astros fan.
Idiots…all of them…Idiots