Good morning Angels fans, enjoying the winning streak? Good, have some links!
Angels News
The Angels beat Cleveland, again, and almost had a shutout… again. I am rather happy about this turn of events.
Not only was it a good win, but Patrick Sandoval has still refused to allow a run. It is the first time in Angels history that a starter has struck out 20 and had 3 straight scoreless starts to start a season.
Reading these links early? Good. You have a few hours left to buy this Ward Topps Card. If you want to.
Around Baseball
Does hitting seem a bit down? Statistics show that yes, you are correct! Specifically, batted balls do not seem to be behaving right…
Wait a second, balls? Manfred admits that yes, the baseballs are different. AGAIN! Specifically, they are the dampened ones that was supposed to be used last year.
However, the meddling doesn’t fix the issue of the baseballs themselves having no grip. Bassitt calls MLB out on this.
Remember Michael Hermosillo? Angels OF prospect a few years back. Yeah, he is on the Cubs now and made a great catch.
So, a court order allowed a letter to be opened that basically laid out that the Yankees cheated in sign stealing. It gets complicated, so here is a thread that breaks it down.
Andrew McCutchen stole his 200th base. He now joins Mike Trout in the 200/200 club.
NBC is showing MLB on Peacock, their streaming service. However, unlike Apple, NBC is using real announcers, specifically, one from each team.
Anything I missed? Post below for upvotes!
Good news everybody; the Mariners just lost to the Rays, 3-2. So, if we can win tonight we will be alone in 1st place !!!
Go Halos !!!
It’s funny how Bobby Valentine has completely disappeared from these broadcasts.
Mark Langston and Gubi is a vast improvement
Sam has an article today about the development of Taylor Ward on the athletic and it made me think…..
We’re seeing Ward progress
Sandoval progress
Walsh was a late round nobody to an all star
Adell and Marsh are showing positive signs
Can we drop the narrative that the angels can’t develop anybody or yall just mentally stuck on trAdition?
If they can sustain their success then I will be happy. Others may disagree since it is so fun to gripe.
Sustaining the success is the key. Look at all the guys who for a brief moment appeared they could be transcendent; such as Yasiel Puig, but then fizzled out. I think these guys have to put in two good, full seasons before you can say they are real. As for Walsh, he sure looks like the real deal. I don’t expect him to fall apart, primarily because he is fundamentally very solid. But even if this season is subpar for him he will have to come back in 2023 and have another strong campaign, otherwise last season will be for naught.
I also have high hopes for Ward. I like his swing alot. But of course he and Walsh are both already 28 yrs old, so they have less leeway. They pretty much have to produce now. It is now or never for them. In terms of Marsh and Adell (who are 24 and 23 respectively) they could in theory each have an average campaign, or a good one followed by a bad one next year and not be written off. Youth obviously buys you time in most cases.
Probably an unpopular opinion but here goes.
Without Matt V for the last week I have found the broadcasts to be much easier to watch. Given that, they might as well just let him out of/terminate his contract.
I agree with you. I’m not a big Patrick O’Neil fan by any stretch, but Matty V just doesn’t seem to have the baseball gravitas for me. Good voice…everything else goes downhill after that. I want the announcer to at least seem like he knows more about baseball than me.
I don’t watch the pregame show much so probably missed the info, but what happened to Valentine? Not a big fan but all this jacking around with the telecasts creates a really bad impression. What’s up?
Careful, your gonna piss off “all” the folks who like having Matty V.
I gotta say, I liked him a lot more before he took the Angels job.
Agreed. And I don’t feel like he ever actually took the Angels job. I feel like he dropped in when he could, collected his check, and didn’t really care.
Completely agreed.
Never thought I’d miss Bud Selig but here we are.
Same thing I said about Frank McCourt… only guy who could make Fox look good as owners.
Last night Dust Devils 1-0 win, both 2021 draft picks pitching well so far.
Braden Olthoff 7 innings, 2 hits, 0 walks, 8 Ks
Ryan Costeiu 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 walks, 3 K’s
Season
Ryan Costeiu this season
1.42 ERA, 4 app, 12.2 innings, 5 hits, 5 walks, 15 Ks, 0.79 whip
Braden Olthoff
1.80 ERA, 4 starts, 20.0 innings, 12 hits, 5 walks, 26 Ks, 0.85 whip
If I recall Braden was quite a character and had a great mound presence coming out of Tulane. But he’s 23 years old. I could see the Angels moving him up to the Trash Pandas within the next month or so.
After drafting all college kids last year except for one, makes that age window tighter. You’ve brought the “age issue” several times and you are correct.
Hope they have a plan to develop these kids. Interesting to see where they all end up at the end of this season.
This just confirms the amount of favoritism that certain franchises enjoy around the league and, I can assure that the Angels aren’t one of them. https://theathletic.com/3271479/2022/04/26/what-the-yankees-letter-reveals-about-rob-manfreds-decision-making/
I have a few ward autos. Just need a 1st bowman rc auto. Offered a dude $50 on ebay and got denied lol
I started really believing in Sandoval last year. Never thought he’d be this good, but I think the talent level is definitely there for him to repeat his ERA+ of 122 from last year. Hopefully he can do that over 120 innings instead of 87.
That’s solid work behind the two horses of Thor and Ohtani.
if you include Lorenzen that would give us 4 Horses of the Angel apocalypse
It would be nice if we could start getting some winns from Suarez and Detmers
More length and keep us in games should be #1.
This Baseball team known as The Angels (You add the town, city or state as you please) is a ton of fun to watch and I am so pleased to be watching them this year. I am a true team fan. My love affair started on Opening Day in 1961 and has lasted for 61 seasons I’m proud to say. Somehow this team has gotten to the core of the Baseball Soul, and I am sure we will make the playoffs. So if I come off as exorbitant in my comments and unintentionally upset you fans here you then have my sincere apologies and I will back down and tone down my feelings. But the Train, the Angels Winning Train is for you too, so don’t be late.
Your being an Angels fan from the beginning and, like me, suffering through all of the hard and painful years of watching the Angels underperform until the miracle of 2002 occurred, Grandpa, you’ve earned the right to express yourself unfiltered. You’ve seen a lot of Angels baseball, the tragic, the ugly, 2002, and your perspective is special because it takes in the whole panorama of Angels baseball from the beginning.
Don’t worry about these young, superstitious, whippersnappers out there who were pooping in their diapers when Mitt Witt threw his perfect game. They are ignorant – not because they are superstitious – but because they don’t have enough wisdom to respect their elders.
Grandpa, we appreciate your perspective and your comments.
You’ve earned the right to say exactly what you think.
When is the official cutoff of when you’re allowed to share your thoughts and opinions on the angels? 4000 games?
Only if you’re Lyle.
Boom shakalaka.
You can’t hide your Lyle Eyes
And 4000 games is no surprise
I thought by now, you’d realize
There ain’t no way to hide your Lyle Eyes
Fantastic
4000 games?
That’s only 24 or 25 seasons worth of baseball.
Rookie numbers
It’s a meme…. Lyle Spencer once tweeted something about “watching 4000 games with his own eyes”
He said he didn’t need numbers to justify his view that Mathis was a good player. Seeing 4000 games was all he needed.
What a pompous ass.
But look at all the content its given us since he vomited all that ill-informed elitism out.
You can’t put a price on that.
And Mathis was NOT a good player. Mike Napoli was. Lyle Spencer is a doofus
Nah, keep them coming.
This is a fun place and your takes, while sometimes long, are always on topic. The passion is fun, too.
I too, am a Halo fan since the inception, my overarching sense of doom says it all.
I’m a little too young for the inception, but a fan since 67/68. (I was born in ’62).
I will now proceed to get off of yours and Grandpa’s lawns.
you old-timers have me beat. 1977 for me.
I was born in ’61 but did not start my Angel penance until 1973.
On July 3rd, 1970, I listened, on my 9 volt transistor radio, to Clyde Wright no-hit the A’s for the Angels while I’d been dragged off to the LA Zoo. I was so young it was the day I realized that a no-hitter was a rare and special thing. When Clyde’s son, Jaret, became a big-time MLB pitcher I felt really old. And even when Jaret started Game 7 of the ’97 WS and left with a 2-1 lead after 6 1/3, but the Indians lost…even that feels like it was a long time ago.
Into the 1970s, I was both an Angels fan and a Dodgers fan. I followed both religiously, and whichever team was at home, I’d listen to the Angels with Dick Enberg, or the Dodgers with Vin Scully, using my beloved transistor radio under my pillow on school nights. I’d read so much baseball history I knew the Dodgers has already had a massive history and had been in, even won, some WS titles. The Dodgers stretched back to the 19th century! Meanwhile, the Angels were in the other league, which never played the Dodgers…unless they might meet in the WS, which seemed so unlikely I’m not sure I ever entertained the thought for more than a few seconds.
But the Angels had never even been IN a WS, and they usually sucked. It was like different levels of baseball “reality.” I remember the Dodgers losing to the A’s in the WS in ’74. I remember very well the back-to-back years where the Yankees and Dodgers met in the WS. (When Rupert Murdoch bought the Dodgers, I had developed a political consciousness and could not be a Dodger fan anymore. I’ve stayed that way.)
However, the 1986 ALCS loss to Chowds will always be the most “down” I’ve ever felt as an Angels fan. Just reading the Wikipedia entry, game-by-game…I get mild flashbacks. Remember: heading into Game 5 all we needed was ONE win…Oh…hell! Henderson’s smiling, odd running gait as he parked it over that old Anaheim Stadium wall. Donnie Moore…heading back to Fenway. I think I was really effed up for about a month after that series. I did watch the WS that year (Mets, Buckner and Mookie Wilson, etc), but I was very…detached.
Yup, 1986 was rough…. One out away and Donnie coughs up the Hendu Home run. It cost Donnie Moore his life.
I feel your pain in being an Angels fan for all of those pre-2002 years.
But, this year feels a little different. The team has a bit of swagger. I can watch and enjoy Angels baseball as long as they put a good product out on the field – a team that will battle and play hard and play with some grit.
The Donnie Moore story just kept up the feeling of being haunted. Gawd, that is some dark, egregiously sad stuff.
I was NEVER that kind of fan: to haunt a player. BTW, I still think a very underrated film is The Fan, which is about the NFL, not baseball. But it’s about those kinds of fans who truly don’t “have a life” outside of their rabid fandom. It deserves a watch for those who’ve known guys like that (and almost always: they are dudes), or who wonder about that endemic sickness in our culture. Fandom so extreme it’s pathological. I always had a “life” to escape to after a rough Angels loss: books, girlfriends, music…
The Fan is a Baseball movie about a Giants fan (Robert De Niro)
My bad: Big Fan (2009), with Patton Oswalt as the sick fan. Oddly casted, but it works.
Sad thing is, it wasn’t even a bad pitch. And the Halos had a chance to win it all afterwards, anyways.
It was a split finger that didn’t spilt
I was born already bald.
Exposed to the virus in ’78, I was infected in ’79.
1979, 1982, and 1986 were extremely exciting Angels teams/years. But after 1986, I was a different kind of fan: eternally damaged, hoping against hope, never truly “believing”…until 2002. I remember walking out a gigantic sports bar on the Santa Monica Promenade after Erstad made the catch to end the series. I was with my brother. I was floating. For at least a week I’d wake up and banish the thought that it was all a dream. Yes: the Angels – had won it all. I guess I never really believed they would ever win it.
Best 40th birthday present ever, for me. I even got a chance to thank Salmon for it (and explained the birthday present thing).
’86 was so long ago, it’s hard for me to realize I was dating Mrs. red at the time.
Was at a work conference in San Diego, staying at the pointy hotel by the marina. Stayed in my hotel room instead of partaking in the conference concert that night so I could watch game 7. No way I was going to miss that game. After Erstad caught he final out, I called my dad and we just couldn’t believe it had happened!
“Floating” is about right. It was so dreamlike. Is this real? (I thought). Not quite as great as the day I got married but not that far from it.
I used to refer to myself as a multi-state tragedy having been born in Miss. (no MLB team) and raised inn Chicago watching day games (Cubs) and night games (Sox on UHF). But when I completed my military service I relocated to SoCal and adopted the California Angels as my team and through the years (now in NoCal) with multiple names (all ending in Angels) good or bad they will continue to be the team that I will root for. They are my team.
Sorry but I do believe that I am the senior citizen of this site, even older than GP
Manfred has told more stories every year since he directed MLB to purchase Rawlings Sporting Goods than I can possibly remember. Spaulding made MLB Baseballs for decades and made few changes, Manfred changes the Baseballs every season and some years a couple times a season. Why do we need different baseballs? Some years he wants HRs hit at record level with the thought being to put fannies in the seats. Then, as now, HRs don’t do the trick let’s try for better pitching. In 2020 we want balls keep in humidifiers or humidors to control the moisture levels that way the baseballs are the same in every Stadium. That’s really over control imho.
I have said this before, Robert Manfred is very bad for MLB.
So, Jeff Passan feels that there is different levels or different types of cheating. We all taught our kids about different levels and types of cheating, didn’t we? There is different types of cars, different types of ice cream, different types of screw drivers, so naturally there must be different types of cheating. Passan even goes on to say that I would be wrong if I understood that cheating is just cheating.
Afterall there is different types of murder, different degrees of theft, even different types of speeding. But when it comes to lying, cheating, and yes stealing, you are dealing with character faults that define who you are.
A few years ago I closed down a business that I owned that used a lot od lumber that I purchased locally. We have only one real lumber yard currently here. When a bigger lumber yard closed I went to the smaller lumber yard and they quoted me certain prices. After the first delivery they jacked up the prices, charged me for delivery and when confronted said “We didn’t quote you a set price”. From that moment on I bought from a business in Fontana and paid a delivery charge to bring it up the hill. So what kind of cheating and lying was that. Do I need to have a small book in my rear pocket to check?
Why did Bonds cheat and Papi doing the same thing not cheat? Is Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe more guilty than Roger Clemens or Mark McGwire, or is cheating cheating?
This type and kind of thinking results in make sure you have it in writing, btw, with the Lumber Co. I did have it in writing for all the good that did.
There also is another issue with Passan as he believes you can point out bad behavior to justify bad behavior. Well, Houston used thrash cans and the other team used Apple Watches so….. Or one team used such and such and the other team used this and that. So the conclusion is such and such is worse than this and that when it comes down to cheating. You draw your own conclusion to Jeff Passan’s story. Is cheating simply different degrees or levels or is cheating of any kind still cheating.
Is Passan a Chowd lover? That would explain a lot.
It depends on what your definition of is is.
Is that you Bill?!
Anticipating the return of Fletcher on Friday according to the Angels website. I was looking at his BA for 2022 minors and right now it is at .176
Maybe he might need some of Joboo’s voodoo (Major League)?
I have openly supported Fletcher since he was a rookie for a half season and correctly predicted that he would lead the team in hits and doubles the following season. I an a fan of his big time. Fletcher needs to stay in AAA until he looks at hundreds of hours of tape and practices his mechanics which has turned radically different since 2018. He is not a major league hitter currently. He is the best fielding second baseman on the planet, and very good with the glove at short too. No one will be more excited about Fletcher returning to the ’19-’20 model than me. Fletcher returning to the upper part of the order would show he has the confidence of Joe again. But a Fletcher hitting .260 just does not get it done with an OPS of .600 and we know he is better than that because we have seen it.
Rendon is having a solid home stand, 5-for-18, 4x BB, 2x 2B, 1x HR. Let’s hope this is a sign he’s feeling better.
Mike Trout is the greatest player I’ve ever and will probably ever see (I’m 27 fwiw)
Such a treat to have Trouty on our team. Assuming health holds up, it feels like this will be the goat Trout season (minus SBs of course cuz he is fat now :p )
I was at a game with my dad and my son last year and I thought “Mike Trout is almost certainly the greatest player any of us has or will see in our lifetimes.”
I still stand by it.
I did see some of the greats from the 50s and 60s late in their careers but by then they were pretty much in the decline.
No doubt in my mind that Trout is likely to be the best I will have seen through his entire career.
Love me some Sandy.
As commentary, generally (not entirely) this Board has been very negative about Eppler. But I think we should all agree that in his tenure he did some incredible things – including winning the Ohtani sweepstakes and some excellent trades such as the one that brought this team Sandy. There was also the Stassi trade, the Marsh draft choice, arguably the Adell draft pick and other moves/decisions that have to be put in the positive column.
My point being that extreme negativity (as well as extreme positivity) rarely is well placed particularly in baseball. It is a sport built on being slightly more successful than not. Teams that go 3-2 over a 162 game season end up winning 96 games. It makes little sense to get too angry during a short losing stint if the team is playing hard.
The same can be said for player performance. Even during MVP seasons, Trout has gone through slumps – sometimes lasting as long as a month. It is important to look at performance over a season before making broad or extreme declarations about a players performance.
That is why this beautiful game spans 162 regular season games. It is the true game of inches – which means even the best teams will lose a number of games and the worst teams will win a number of games. Things balance out over time and the cream rises to the top. It’s a beautiful process which we watch from Spring to Fall.
In a game like baseball where the difference between winning and losing can be a ground ball with eyes, players and GMs performances need to be evaluated with the benefit of time and sample size.
So, my advice for the overall mental health of some of the contributors on this site is to chill out with the extreme downs and ups. Happiness with a win – bummed with a loss – all normal and understandable. But extreme anger or elation – declaring the team or player the best or worst based on a game or 3 – makes no sense. That said, I realize this is a fan site.
Funny stuff.
Don’t tell me what to do and get off of my misery train. 😎
Just a suggestion 😂
-Cartman
Everyone has their hits and misses. A philosophy built on high risk players will definitely have more misses, but the hits will be bigger.
I think it is completely fair to blame Eppler for the complete lack of pitching depth in the organization. I also think it is fair to credit him for the good trades and the athletes that have turned out to be good baseball players.
Agree. But the overall picture is that Eppler was decent- not great, not terrible. I realize that doesn’t inspire much passion but it is far more accurate.
And I would say Eppler bringing in Sho and Sandy were moves that significantly improved the pitching staff. But his overall record on pitching, particularly bullpen arms, was pretty meh.
The major difference I see is Billy attempted to acquire and develop talented players and athletes through a whole array of sources. While Perry has focused primarily on building a team.
If we’re going down this road, let me put in a word for DiPoto. We will never know what might have been had Arte chosen Jerry over Mike, but looking at what he has accomplished so far in Seattle, you have to be impressed.
My big problem with Dipoto will always be his walking out mid-season. That’s some weak-ass stuff.
That is my second biggest problem with Dipoto. My first biggest problem with the JeDi is Roberto Baldoquin.
Relative to his (projected) Seattle success, I’m not sure Jerry is all that at drafting and developing players. most all the talent he has now was picked up from trades free agent signings or was already in the organization when he arrived in 2016.
Yes Baldoquin was a HUGE mistake – but those happen. Walking out was an intentional act which reveals his (lack of) character.
Blasphemy.
Sandy’s changeup was already a thing last year, but he is building upon it.
BTW Beautiful ERA
