The great thing about baseball is there’s a game pretty much every day. 162 little chapters that comprise a full story of a season after 180 days.
The bad thing is this schedule leaves little time to truly appreciate greatness when it occurs. You have a great game in the NFL and there’s a week’s worth of highlights and recaps. We see a truly incredible performance like Ohtani’s on Wednesday and it is back to business as usual right away.
Ohtani was spectacular on both sides of the game on Wednesday. Like, we’d have a hard time believing the best kid in Little League could pull this off. Yet here an MLB’er did against the defending AL champs.
And his pitches were just nasty.
While all eyes will now look towards the weekend set against Baltimore, we should really appreciate what we saw Wednesday. One day, years from now, Ohtani’s stat lines from a single game will pop up and people won’t believe it: 6 IP, 0 R, 12ks, 1 H, 2-3, R, BB, 2 RBI. Insane.
For all the brilliance we’ve already seen from Shohei, he’s actually getting better.
One good thing about looking forward? We get to see the return of the other GOAT on the team.
And while Shohei deserves all the love he receives. People are sleeping a bit on Trout, who has led the league in every meaningful stat since the day he arrived.
Andrew Velasquez is fighting to stay the MLB level and making some ridiculous plays at shortstop. He’s getting the attention of Joe Maddon and the Angels brass.
A big story around the league is the introduction of PitchCom to allow catchers to electronically relay pitch signals to the pitcher. The Angels are still getting the hang of it. Some guys love it, others don’t.
There were rumblings about guys throwing a new pitch in Spring Training. Usually, that’s the time to experiment. Now the sweeper is sweeping across MLB. Here’s all you need to know about the new pitch.
The Nationals Military Appreciation Day went horribly wrong when the US Capitol thought it was again being invaded and ordered an evacuation. Fortunately it was the heroes of the US Army Golden Nights causing the panic. I’m sure some laughs were exchanged among security forces (after some chewing out).
It has been a tough week for broadcasters. First our own Terry Smith fell for a Twitter gag, then the Met’s Gary Cohen said what we all think. Not sure if that’s a sandwich or his foot in his mouth.
We’ve talked about the A’s drawing fewer people than my wedding this week. Yet there are places hungry for baseball, particularly Nashville. Dave Stewart is heading a group trying to bring an expansion team to the Music City.
My two pennies? Let the A’s leave Oakland for Las Vegas and let the Rays leave retirement land for Nashville. Both franchises will get a lift, no expansion needed. Just make sure to put a roof and some serious AC in that Vegas ballpark.
Enjoy the weekend. Look for me at the ballpark on Sunday. I’ll be the guy with the adorable 4 year old son and some ice cream, looking like I won the lottery. Actually, lottery winners have nothing on a Dad spending the afternoon at the ballpark with their sons on a beautiful afternoon.
I’m for expansion since it means no more Texas teams in the al west.
Sean Newcomb coming in for the Cubs in a good spot, the Cubs up 17-0 in the 8th.
Tonight’s Order:
Ohtani
Trout
Rendon
Ward
Duffy
Mayfield
Stassi
Adell
Velazquez
…and, presumably, if we knock out Zimmerman, we see Marsh and Walsh, the two “Shushes”.
No Bobby Valentine today, just turned it on, and Langsford is with him.
Carney?
Quiz answer is Gerald Ford. 😀 😆 😄
Liberty?
There is no need to rip on Grandpa….. I appreciate his perspective AND his enthusiasm for the Halos and the start of the season.
And all of this bullshit about jinxing the team by saying anything positive on this board…!
Really….
There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that any of us says on this board that is going to affect the outcome of an Angels game….
I appreciate the posts on this board that bring some insight, some historical perspective, some enthusiasm for Angels baseball.
I’ve been a fan pretty much since the beginning.
And for all of the haters on this board, you all suck…..
is that why people are downplaying the start? Worried about jinxing the team? Well….that’s not how it works, in case anyone thinks so. Being excited, that’s what keeps the wins coming!!! That’s scientifically proved…or alleged.
Just like wanting to be silent and not say the word “no-hitter” when Ohtani was dealing the other night. Saying it does not influence the outcome.
well, yeah, but…
anyway, I think the tension in the late innings (at least 7th, maybe even wait until the 8th) creates a situation where you don’t want the pitcher thinking too much about it, although not mentioning it might be worse, I don’t know.
I like to mention opposing no-hitters as early as possible, 2nd inning is good enough, just in case there is a jinx involved…which there probably isn’t.
Detmers is gonna get lit the f*ck up tonight. Orioles are gonna FEAST on this weak rookie pitcher.
No optimism here, no sir.
Nice to have some balance once in a while. 🙂
Don’t be Grandpa !
Just know, Jack, if he does get lit up tonight it’s on you!
Why would it be on me ? The jinx happens when you predict a win in advance, it does not happen from predicting a loss or bad performance.
Same thinking applies when not mentioning a Perfect Game or No Hitter.
😉
Because I said so 😤
I like your angry emoji so I will listen to you Mia.
Good choice 😊
I just think you’re adorable anyways…
Jack: please note well that Mia’s a “Legend.” You, sir, with all due respect, are a mere “Super.”
Word to the wise-guy.
signed,
a lowly “Trusted”
Don’t be Grandpa!
Be Grandma!
Detmers finds his groove tonight for the win.
Now see here, kid, let me tell you why it’ll be the opposite.
Let me just add that, having gone over once again the math in Bertrand Russell’s paper co-authored with Alan Turing and Niels Bohr on “Jinx Theory”, that if you even THINK a positive thought about the team (in this case: Angels), you’re doing great harm to their chances of winning. Also: Fletch is starting a rehab assignment for his hip.
Hi Mike, I have no idea who Bertrand Russell is (His mother knows, but she was quoted as not knowing why she named him Bertrand.) As for the Jinx theory, well know that those 3 maybe right on. Every time I leave the house and head for the freeway, I say to myself I hope traffic is moving along fast. If I go to head out to and plan buying lunch at In & Out I’ll say hope the drive thru has no cars in it. And when I think on game day for 7 years running that the Angels will win, well I won’t go there. 😀
Get off my lawn!
Grandpa: There’s an interesting section in the paper in which they hedge (pp.679-683): In matrix algebra, the Jinx Theory looks different, and Turing noted that “In baseball fandom, it appears that to entertain the idea that a jinx is real is harmless fun.”
So: there’s that.
4 innings and 2 runs allowed. 5K’s and 3 BB.
For those of you familair with Jomboy Media Baseball, nice recap of the the ol’ Joe Magoo bases loaded intentional walk trick:
https://youtu.be/F5FlxWpgemQ
God help us
Great job by Jomboy. I loved his lip syncing!
Man I wish I was good at reading lips.
IDGAF, they won the game.
THANK YOU !!
I am fucking sick (April) of people dwelling on this. Get a life !
Uggh. Are you guys ever gonna let this go ?
I mean, we are in 1st place and all, even though it is early. Maybe if we get 4 or 5 games in front people will stop beating this dead horse ?
You feel free to let it go. Me – carrying a grudge is my favorite exercise.
A grudge when we won the game? Excuse me for asking, but what are you actually holding a grudge for ?
I’ve let it go. But for one final thought. I think we should give the nutty professor some props that haven’t been discussed. Despite the ancillary value this issue got making the Angels relevant through media attention (it was on the most all major news sites which many included pictures of Shohei Ohtani) Also have you seen Corey Seager’s career numbers with less than one out and the bases loaded? In 32 PA’s he’s batting .485/.520/.890 . So he doesn’t like to walk, but he likes to swing away with great success. So Joe the Nutty Professor maybe aint so nutty after all.
Thanks for sharing that. The day after it happened I listed four good reasons for doing what he did. Nobody had the courage (or the ammunition) to respond to me ! All they did was cry like grade school kids and create their own little echo chamber of hate for Joe Maddon. None of it was justified.
Again, thanks for sharing some facts Cowboy and adding some intelligence to the discussion instead of blind emotion.
You listed 4 reasons. They were good in your opinion. Not mine.
What I find fascinating is the question whether Joe had took the time to know these splits or whether this was just some gut feeling.
That is the real question
I would think he knew. Pretty much all managers review those things in preparation for a series.
Now, whether they make final decisions based on them is another question….I think Joe usually uses a combination of stats and “human” factors that include his managerial experience and intuition. He is sort of a “hybrid” manager.
“I’m sorry.” “Excuse me.” Even though your sentiments are rudely lacking in perceptiveness, I will answer. My grudge is against really poor management choices
And why exactly was that a “poor” management decision? Maybe bring some facts and numbers to your answer instead of just emotions, thanks.
There’s plenty of explanations in the internet and you will have LOTS of people to debate with so please stop doing this here.
Why are you telling me that? Try talking to Fungo Ale who is still bringing it up. I am not the one linking to articles and starting the discussion all over again a week after the event.
Duh.
Jomboy Media, great baseball productions, put this out video out just yesterday. Offers a pretty entertaining take on the whole half inning that I had not seen. Pretty comical to me. You can choose to not watch it.
Jack, go home. You are drunk. Please don’t drive.
Nope, I’m not a Maddon fanboy! Gonna ride his ass out of town.
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1517594859384676352?s=20&t=numNlrLDl_zBENoPkuvxVw
Who said it?
I watch a lot of baseball on the radio.
was it?
Joe Biden
Gerald Ford
Whitey Ford
Donald Trump
Jerry Coleman.
Im gonna guess Jerry Coleman
I’ll post the answer prior to the game.
Lana it’s right there. Grandpa gives you the answer. Not only is Who on 1st, but Who said it.
Both Tampa and Oakland have had some really great teams and history but the time has long since passed for them to be moved. Nashville and Vegas would be great destinations and would support them better than their current homes. Plus we wouldn’t have to watch/hear games from either the Tampa industrial warehouse space or the Oakland cesspool any longer.
Hoping a new stadium will get built on the waterfront for Oakland. Las Vegas is ok but I really dislike indoor ballparks, another industrial warehouse like the D-Backs. Not sure about Portland but would like to see the As remain in the division if they were to relocate.
Future expansion: Montreal would be great and Nashville is a good target.
Agree with you here. Oakland represents the East Bay Cities, not just Oakland. The A’s should stay and with some type of land assistance in acquisition. They may need new owners to accomplish what would be a fair package of public land and private $ for stadium.
Florida is great for ST but not so much for regular season games and the Rays should move to Nashville or to North Carolina and stay in AL East. There stadium in Tampa makes no sense at all. Wrong part of that Metro area, and a joke of a stadium. Again maybe new owners should be found.
Expansion is so current owners can pull down hundreds of millions for themselves. The current ownership groups and Rob the game Manfred are really hurting the game.
I also dislike indoor baseball. Only went to one game indoors (Phoenix) and it felt wrong.
I can see Fisher’s frustration. He offered to get Oakland off the hook for a ton of bonds, build a new stadium, develop that entire lot, and even pay a bit for it. But Oakland was too busy arguing about what would happen than accept the best offer they’d get.
Tons of A’s fans in Sacramento, too. Only about an hour drive.
I would have hoped that after losing the Raiders and Warriors, the A’s deal would have gotten done with little pain .
Not really sure Vegas is going to be able to come up with the bucks for a new stadium. They are already on the hook for a ton of money for the Raiders’ stadium deal. State of Nevada might not look favorably on another sports stadium extortion.
Isn’t there like a hotel occupancy tax helping to fund the Raiders stadium?
Every day I realize we have generational talents Mike Trout AND Showtime Ohtani brings a smile to my face.
I’ll be happy when we actually win something with them, otherwise they’re just being wasted
Let’s send them to New York so they won’t be wasted.
That’s the clear-thinking view and throw in Thor and Adell and Marsh so we don’t waste them, otherwise we are acting like the Mafia just wasting everyone. How dare we do not save them now while they’re so young. The Angels have such selfish fans.
If Angels fail to win a single playoff game this year, trading Trout should be on the table. I’m a huge Trout fan and hurts to say it, but big picture thinker..
@Jeff, I’ll be there on Sunday in 114.
I’ll be in 131 with my daughter and 300 other people from her softball league. Love little league days at the park!
Nice. You both have my number. Text me if you want to meet up for a minute.
Actually, I don’t. PM me on facebook.
2pints probably does because he has more recs than designatedforassignment.
done.
Got it. Thanks.
Don’t forget, if you’re going to participate in the game thread, it’s pants optional.
We’d like to see you participate in game threads again, DG!
How can we expect to burn the sever down without ya?
They’ve throttled posting, so it will be hard to melt things down. 😠
Sounds like the attitude of a quitter to me!
I didn’t say “impossible”, I said it would be hard.
[voice type=”JFK”]
Designerguy and I melt down the servers and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
[/voice]
Then my original point stands. It’ll be hard to do it without him!
Dead on JFK impression, btw.
Ask not what your server can do for you, ask what you can do for your server!
The “We choose to go to the moon” speech is my favorite.
JFK is one of my favorite historical topics.
Anything from 1935-1980 fascinates me.
And in this case, you’ve got the direction backwards…
Ask not what your server can do to you, ask rather what you can do to your server
That’s fair.
Let’s burn the mother down
I’ll be there with my Daughter’s school, don’t know where though
Jeff – I really enjoy reading your write ups. You can feel your love for your family and how fortunate you feel. We live in a highly charged and materialistic world. It is comforting that you recognize what is truly important and Celeste what is truly important. Thank you for that reminder in a cacophonous world.
As for Ohtani- we live in times where people throw around extreme superlatives – often times too readily. But what we saw on Wed night in the context of the great game of baseball was nothing short of historic. I agree with Taylor Blake – on any given night it is possible you will witness history with Ohtani playing.
Thanks. Appreciate it.
And yes, superlatives are thrown around way too often nowadays. Yet Ohtani actually fits them.
Strongly agreed on relocation over expansion.
The demographics of the league’s fanbase are already trending towards contraction being a possibility 10 years from now. Just get ahead of it and get out of Oakland and Tampa.
The other benefit? Moving two of the most established, productive front offices, scouts and minor league player development systems into these new markets means the teams would be set up to compete legitimately right away.
I hadn’t considered the latter. Great point. Give those front offices a cash infusion and look out.
Then again both netted about $110 million between national tv contracts and revenue sharing in their current locations. So maybe not.
I don’t think the A’s should relocate, I just think they have crappy ownership who doesn’t care about baseball and wants to leverage the team into a massive development deal. It’s all about the $$, does anyone really think they will have more fans in Vegas than they do in Oakland?
Wasn’t the league talking about contracting the Angels once upon a time as a “small market” team? Now that would be dismissed as insane.
The A’s need an ownership group that cares about baseball, the fans AND making money. It can be done, just not by the current set of clowns that own them.
The A’s definitely need better ownership.
Keep in mind each teams split of the national TV contracts this year was $60.1 million. And they brought back revenue sharing so each team put 48% of local revenues into a big pot and took an even 3.3% of that pot out.
All in all the A’s netted about $110 million from those two sources.
To keep their core together they likely would have had an $80-$90 million payroll. The A’s could have added $20 million to their payroll and still been profitable.
They didn’t.
Wow, thanks for the knowledge. Interesting thing is now the A’s are less incentivize to make things work in their local market and the other owners are incentivized to help the A’s make as much local revenue as possible over the long term. Guess they’re as good as gone.
They do return some of that money to the fans, though. The cost of River Cats (Sacramento AAA) games increased substantially when the Giants took over from the As and it wasn’t to fund improvements to the stadium. In fact, they also removed bounce houses from the kids-area, the kids’ menu food vendor from that area, and changed the rules so parents’ can’t pitch to their kids in the HR derby field. The only rhyme and reason for these changes is to reduce liability exposure and increase profits at the cost of the fan experience.
The Giants could put those features back and drop ticket prices and still be profitable, so let’s go after their ownership too.
That sucks. I had a lot of fun at RiverCats games when I lived in Sacramento. Lots of families at the ballpark when I went.
Yes, before the 2002 season, along with the Twinkies. And the ALCS was the “Contraction Series”.
Angels and Expos at the time. Driven by Jackie “we’re a small market” Autry. Made me want to puke seeing her at the 2002 WS celebrations.
It wasn’t just Jackie pushing the small market thought, Disney was also behind it. Disney was looking for a way to rid themselves of owning pro sports franchises, and the MLB payout would’ve turned a profit for Disney shareholders.
It is not like the A’s aren’t used to moving.
Yep. I doubt Philly wants them back and I’m pretty sure K C has been happier with the Royals.
Nice write up. The last paragraph is pretty awesome, you counting your blessings. 👍
Thank you. Just loving life right now. Being a Dad is awesome.
I look forward to taking my son to the Big A at some point. Your ending paragraph resonated with me as well.
Thanks. It will be a great day when you do.
If the Angels win tonight, we get free fries!
But…
If the Angels lose, we still get free fries!
Yeah, but you’ve got to use their dumb-ass app.
Or, we win….then we get 2 fries tonight. Everyone Eats!
Have a great and fun day today and remember to stay positive. The game of Angels Baseball is more fun the more optimistic we see it, and we will always make the big comebacks. Trouty returns tonight!
Windy and cold tonight so if you are headed for the game Jacket and gloves and blanket are in order. I’ll be home with GrammaBaseball with the fireplace going and watching the game and watching the action. Detmers 4.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks 4 K’s. Trout 2 for 4 with 1 walk. 3 runs scored and 1 RBI. We will win 5-3. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 😃 ⚾
But is there crying in baseball?
Wind is bloody howling here in beautiful Twentynine! I got a new TV rigged in the bedroom for SWMBO and we will be watching tonight. She fell for Trouty when he first came up. Woman has good taste in everything but husbands.
Snow in the yard and on the roof, late in the season you ask, yep but we’ll take it anyway. It taint much and I reckon it will melt quick enough.
Enjoy the game at the Big A Jeff, and the experience with the ice cream and your son even more.
Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in the same line up together again, priceless. It will be cold in the Home Park tonight, rest Rendon so he don’t hurt and give Capt. Jack the AB’s.
I find it hard to think we can’t sweep the Orioles at home, but they have some tough pitching to throw at us. It’s the O’s batter’s that will make Detmers look good if he is on tonight. Hope he can go 5 innings.
Time for Walsh to be in the line up against all comers so he can become meaningful once again with the bat. He could be an RBI machine again if left alone in the line up instead of lost like a Deer in the headlights not understanding what comes next.
When Fletch is ready to return I would send him up the Freeway and give him 3 games in San Berdo and work on getting a MLB strike zone back. What could it hurt?
Get the coaches out with Adell and work out LF and a min of 100 fly balls over his head before every game from now on.
I agree with your coaching suggestions re Walsh, Fletch and Adell.
You are in the Big Bear area and have some snow? Rained here (near Dodger stadium)
April 22nd and I was out shoveling at 7:30 am, funny stuff really. We need even more snow and rain up in the mnts. All over SoCal can use the rain but so much of it ends up in the flood channels (Called rivers, now has is that for being funny.) that it seems a waste. But we will have clean air for a couple of days. The Big A has a good drainage system to the field so the OF won’t be soggy (Like Joe?)
It seems Walsh needs to play everyday to get into a rhythm even if hes facing a tough lefty. I feel like he really presses at the plate when he’s been sitting on consecutive days.
Are we facing more lefties than righties so far this year? Seems like it.
So far we have been.
I don’t really buy that Walsh needs to play against lefties. We’re only 13 games into the season and he’s hitting fine this far against RHP (.837 OPS). Walsh has not shown the ability to consistently hit LHP and probably shouldn’t be doing it normally. In his career, he’s hit worse than Jeff Mathis against LHP. This isn’t a knock against Walsh. There have been plenty of lefty sluggers who were pretty ineffective against LHP. While Duffy’s lack of power makes him less than ideal as a platoon mate, he does have a career .344 OBP vs LHP.
I get the idea that you want to get Walsh in a groove, but he creates a pretty big hole in the lineup against LHP. Also, if he’s on the bench in those games, he can come in as a pinch hitter against a RHP and be an actual weapon for an AB.
You’re a LH batter and should be hitting LH pitching but are being held back, so how do you improve? Last season while his numbers were much lower against LHP his production of BB, RS and RBI did not suffer drastically. In order to gain confidence and become productive he really needs to be in there against LHP and gain his timing. LH 1st baseman that drives in 98 runs don’t grow on trees. He also brings stellar “D” when playing out on the field.
More ABs for the Duffman? Oh, yeah!
Walsh sure turned on a heater from LH Aroldis Champan for a grand slam last year, must see TV.
Duffy is not a 1st baseman. We are in the bottom quarter in team defense. Why this management continues to play people out of position is beyond me. We were 2nd to last in defense 2021. Defense matters.
Keep Walsh in the line-up. Until we get player whose natural position is first and can field the position, Walsh is our dude.
I agree. Walsh playing every day should be a no-brainer.
That not only is true, but you can look in his eyes and face and see it.
Thanks. I will enjoy it.