Before there can be any links, we must acknowledge Jackie Robinson and what he’s meant to this country. If baseball has done anything great it has been to help spearhead the Civil Rights Movement through Jackie Robinson.
Today is the day baseball honors him. Every player will wear a Dodger blue 42. But as a group, we should be eternally grateful.
The MLB regular season is a week old as I type this. Due to the lockout, this season is rather unique. Players should be wrapping up a regular Spring Training routine about now but instead are playing in real games.
Offense is down as a result. Down so much that 14 of the 15 games last Saturday hit the under according to Vegas. One gambler had a 14 leg parlay of unders and turned $50 into a cool quarter million.
So it is no surprise that one of the key takeaways from the Angels opening homestand is that the big bats have yet to get going. I’d be willing to bet Ohtani, Trout, and Rendon don’t continue hitting this poorly for an entire season.
Those guys aren’t the only ones. Fangraphs pegs Jo Adell as a breakout candidate with the bat. And their past history is pretty good.
The picture of Trout on the top of their bust candidates article game me a mild heart attack until I read the piece and saw he’s not listed.
Baseball is a fraternity and the friendships forged go far beyond jerseys, standings, and the sport. Miami Marlins pitcher Anthony Bass and Shohei Ohtani were teammates in Japan and had a cool moment this week.
That term fraternity might not always be the case in baseball. We’ve seen two huge historic events this last week.
First Rachel Balkovec became the first woman to manage an affiliated minor league game. She’s now the first woman to win a game as a manager in an affiliated minor league game.
Then, on Tuesday night, Giants assistant Alyssa Nakken became the first woman in uniform on the field in an MLB game.
I’m looking forward to pointing to these women and others and telling my nieces if Rachel and Alyssa can do it, so can they.
In far less good news for women, Trevor Bauer still breathes. MLB is taking as long as the DA up in LA did in deciding what to do. At some point this will be resolved one way or the other. Then the Dodgers will be left with the Sophie’s Choice of trotting him out there or eating a huge contract.
I had the pleasure of watching Seiya Suzuki make his American debut during my Spring Training trip. He’s all I hoped he’d be and then some so far.
And who could’ve seen this coming? The Phillies, who signed defensive nightmares Nick Castellanos and Kyle Scwarber, might have a bad defense.
Getting back to what is really important in life…I’ve linked this before but it worth reading again or for the first time. Jackie and MLK were friends who inspired each other.
While history looks at Jackie’s MLB time, it is important to note he also broke color barriers in the minor leagues. Here’s an interesting piece on one such occasion.
I haven’t linked this before. This is Jackie just months before his death on the Dick Cavett show. Thoughtful, insightful, personable, and sadly still somewhat applicable to today.
One last note, anybody who has seen the film 42, which I highly recommend, will remember the harassment Jackie faced at the hands of Phillies manager Ben Chapman. It is fair for Chapman to go down in history for that. But it should also be noted Chapman changed his ways in later years.
Jackie often spoke of changing people’s perceptions and attitudes. I think it is fitting that one of Jackie’s biggest adversaries did just that; likely partially due to Jackie himself.
I don’t really like Matty V much, but hell, let’s keep this whole broadcast clown show rolling. I like how enflamed so many of you get over it, raging against the mehchine and such. I wish I had so many extra shits to give.
The line up will be fine once RenTaniTrouWalsh start hitting. If they don’t we were screwed from day one.
Man I wish we’d signed Castellanos or Schwarber and stuck em in the OF so we could mix your sweet, tangy whines about the broadcast team with some more robust, salty bitching about their defense compared to Upton’s…. with just a lemon zest hint of chagrin about the middle IF guys.
So proud of those women doing stuff. Can’t wait till my co-worker Joe’s son Carl becomes the first woman to pitch in organized professional baseball. Meanwhile, Jackie Robinson reminds us all that there was a time when African Americans wanted to play baseball. Frank Robinson was the sh*t. We should have drafted him in 2015 (TootyToo!). Stargell, Morgan, Brock, Gwynn, Mays, Aaron, Gibson… I still say the day’s gonna come when there are more Black guys playing baseball and it’s gonna be awesome. Hell, maybe these guys like Hunter Greene and Jo Adell will kick it off?
I will just say that it’s a good thing MLB has a 162 game season, instead of a 16 game season like the NFL.
Don’t give Manfred any ideas.
Lana – how are you feeling today. Hope you’re recovering quickly.
I am feeling much better today. The first few days were a bit rough but today my fever is gone and my sore throat is almost gone. Covid is nasty, even having had 2 vaccines and a booster! Thanks for asking!
Glad you’re feeling better!
Get well soon.
I guess my question of “Are we good, or are we just playing the Marlins?” so far has an answer I don’t like 😬
Back in 2020 they went to a remote broadcast with Gubi and Victor from a single location and did a pretty good job but doing a split remote location broadcast when a remote broadcast isn’t even necessary is ridicules
Exactly. Vic and Gubi had a decade experience working together and were in the same booth. Drastically different than this setup.
Matty V simply isn’t the Angels broadcaster. He’s a hired gun who pops in from time to time. And that setup isn’t good for anyone.
It’s no different than what Moreno does with his product on the field…..hands out huge free agent contracts to players that underperform. With complete disregard of the poorly developed home grown talent surrounding them.
Now he’s dipped into the high end “announcer” pool, big time voice that will do most of his games, from a studio, out of state. I assume without any thought of how it will sound and look to the audience. I would imagine that most if not all teams have their announcers at least in the same room? Wouldn’t be surprised if the studio technical crew we have is not the best and brightest either. We have a low end shitty owner, that just happens to have a top 10 payroll every year, coupled with a top to bottom, poorly constructed, poorly run, 3rd rate organization.
trAdition
If Arte wants to save money, he could just have Terry Smith and Mark Langston be the radio and TV announcers. I would support that idea.
Or 3 man with Gubi.
He usually gives money to free agents who did perform. They usually just suck once they become Angels.
I hate Arte. He has money and sometimes things don’t happen the way I want them to. I also hate Flamingos. Smug sons of bitches.
And also the Dutch.
I don’t like the Matty V experiment. if he is announcing, I just turn off the volume. If I want sound, I will go to the radio broadcast. Last night’s remote was just horrid. I turned off the sound after about 5 or 6 minutes.
Jeff, you have a bit of an inside connection with the Angels. Have you heard anything about how the office folks feel about Matty V and his remote announcing? Is there anyone to whom you could convey what seems to be close to a unanimous opinion with this community?
There are always some who don’t like the announcer(s). Even Vin Scully had some non- fans, but I think even those of us who are not fans of Matty V would maybe accept him if he was at the games with Gubi. I don’t care for him, but I’d be willing to stop griping if the pxp wasn’t so awful. If attending games with Gubi isn’t an option for him, then he has to go.
I don’t have any insight into this. Nor do I think my connections would say anything on record.
I will reach out to one for an off the record talk, though.
Complaining about Wade on the base paths? this may help
https://twitter.com/BaseballDoesnt/status/1514721787094913026?s=20&t=Coc1Zoh2LSetRgUS4qtxcQ
I’m 67 years old and I know I could beat him in a foot race. Thank you for posting. It made my day.
You know Albert is 66?
I had heard that.😀
Back when I was 67 I could beat him too, but now it would be a tie
I would say that the hitting and defense will come around. It can be explained to some extent by a shortened Spring Training. Give things another week or so and I think we will see improvement. If we don’t, then I’ll start really worrying.
I agree. It’s early but wow – are any of the GOOD teams looking as bad as the Angels right now?
The Braves lost 12-1 last night if that makes you feel better.
Maybe a little. Did they also strike out looking 9 times and make 3 errors?
They did make 3 errors (although only struck out 9 times)…..
Would it make you feel better to know that the A’s with their stripped down roster is ahead of us in the standings?
What I really hate about that is I’m not surprised the A’s outperform with scrubs while the Angels under-perform with stars.
trAdition
The Padres got smoked by SF the other night, the Yanks have been inconsistent, etc.
I’m really worried about the lineup, though. Adell and Marsh are young and should be streaky. Wade, Velasquez, and Fletcher as of late have been horrible. When the youngsters aren’t hitting, this lineup gets really weak really quickly.
It’s really a thin lineup: the top of the lineup should be good when they hit their stride, but it falls off fast around 5th or 6th hole on. (Or even earlier if there’s a lefty).
Everybody had a short spring training. I chalk it up to not really improving the team very much, if at all, while other divisional rivals were busy and Houston still is way better.
Thank you Jackie!
The umps and announcers are not making this team difficult to watch. It’s the on the field product that is exasperating. C’mon – playing defense and catching the damn ball are fundimental skills that are the price of admission to even be drafted.
Thor, “Captain Caveman” and the “East German Secret Police” are doing their part. Trout and Ohtani will eventually start hitting. The rest of the group are just pitiful right now.
I think everyone agrees the on-field product sucks, there’s no argument.
That doesn’t mean the broadcast being shoddy and the team doing this weird double announcer/remote road game thing isn’t an absolute embarrassment of their own making.
Valid points….
And Rendon sure is worth the $37 million he’s being paid.
…and to think we were fixated on Albert’s albatross contract the last few years. Oye.
So this is the one I can focus on now. Think how that money could’ve been redeployed for Carlos Rodon and a real shortstop, while still not hitting the luxury tax threshold.
And if you’re TootyToo we could have had either Castellanos or Schwarber AND TEN!!! Framber Valdezes!
Of course, if we’d just sat on Redon’s money for two years instead of spending it you’d be rage shitting yourself about how cheap Arte is.
Well, Rendon was starting his age 30 season, not the biggest-contract on the market, filled a position of need, is a better defender, had been consistently good for 4 years, and appeared to have just hit his peak. Pujols was 2 (or 5) years older than Rendon, was coming off two years of decline, and was the highest paid free agent.
Rendon’s contract is starting to look just as bad in hindsight, but unlike Pujols, there were no warning signs when the deal was negotiated.
There is also still a chance Rendon will give the Angels 12 +/- 2 WAR over the next 5 seasons.I’ll give him to all-star break before I join the chorus of Ren-done.
This deserves more likes.
END THE EXPERIMENT NOW. 🔬 LIVE BROADCASTERS ONLY 😃 LIVE BROADCASTERS AT THE GAMES ONLY! No more remotes from NYC!! 😡
No more Matt V, live or remote.
Good morning to all suffering Angels fans, upside of last night’s debacle is we will stay win the series because what else can go wrong. Showtime was off his game, Joe and his lousy line-ups can’t continue, can they. Slow hook last night, seriously bad broadcasting, maybe the worst I have ever heard. Some guy I never heard of hitting a Grand Slam off Showtime, Wade the Flash running us out of an inning, but hey, Trout hit the longest HR in Rangers new Park. Bullpen nightmares again. Open roof in Arlington on a windy night with the sound irritating the sound.
Enough said, but it is fun when everyone is running around with their hair on fire and reading who is to blame when we lose so badly. Everyone gets the blame from Arte on down to the Ball boys. Odds are good that we release a pitcher today, won’t be surprised to see him announce his retirement either.
Start of the weekend today and our annual remembrance of #42 and the brave man who wore it, Jackie Robinson. Have a great day today and we will win today, but you already new that.