Nobody put up a postgame thread. I don’t blame them.
What is great is: we as fans can tune it all out, just walk away.
What isn’t is these guys cannot.
It is almost 11:30 PM here on the west coast and I thought well, better put something up, memorialize the depth of the valley of the shadow of death through which we currently don’t seem like in a hurry to speed up our walk through…
In the past 38 innings, the Angels have been outscored 30-3.
Still above .500 but wow, what a buzzkill after such a sweet start to the season.
When you’re a fan (never forget it’s short for “fanatic”) of a team, they become an extension of yourself. The team extends “you” into the world. It’s highly irrational, yet millions of us are diehard fans of some team. Every smart fan must come to terms with this.
What we’re going through right now is the flipside of all the euphoria we feel when our team is looking good, playing well, winning. Optimism, giddiness, looking forward to the next game.
All of these feelings are instantiated in our nervous systems. Words like euphoria mean something concrete, like neurotransmitters with names like dopamine. Again: it’s irrational. It’s only other people playing games. At the highest level in the world, but games nonetheless.
I’ve found my “self” is not looking forward to the next game. Because right now it just feels so bad. And this can compound with other difficult things we have going on in our lives. Every nervous system, every one of us, is unique. Hey: ya really gotta try to laff at this predicament: not laff at the Angels losing 9 or 10 straight (or hell: 15 or 20); just for the fact that we’re fanatics for a team that has suddenly, mysteriously, irrevocably “lost it” after playing 7 weeks of really terrific baseball. It was so uncalled for. It was so…buttercup. The “pain” is not described by a few neurotransmitters: it’s anxiety, worry, plus thinking about it all too much.
I don’t like being so fanatically attached to a team that can “do this to me,” “do this to us,” “play such a wicked game of turnabout” on fellow Angels fans like all you guys. But I am fanatically attached, for 50 years. I’m in this. So are most of you.
At this point, you either watch the Angels ironically, or not at all. One of you posted that you’d been a fan for so long they could lose every game and you’d still be a fan. The riff of “trAdition” and the anomalous years of 1979, 1986, 1995 (this team did sorta what we’re doing now, but late in the season), 2002…We incorporate “losers” into ourselves. I would HOPE that is sheer irony, because if the Angels’s bad play makes your overall life more dismal, that’s toxic fandom. Don’t let it infect your “real life!” (Or: seek therapy?)
I don’t know if a team like this – loaded with talent (but psychologically too sensitive?) can make the playoffs. I’ve never really seen anything like this from a team that is, on paper, easily one of the 5 best teams in MLB. I will hang with the team, because they’re an extension of me, as irrational as that sounds. But it’s not feeling good at all. It’s downright effing lousy right now.
Finally: this really is still a VERY good team. Stassi said after yesterday’s loss that his teammates are the kind of guys who take losing very personally, and are pressing, “trying too hard.” I believe him. The overall psychological makeup of a team that all comes down with “I can’t play this game” fever….is…interesting? I wonder if some of you are thinking the same thing: can a team that’s so sensitive also go the other way, and win 10 straight? I’m guessing: no. But we shall see. If you read this tl/dr post: thanks.
Read first sentence.
Barfed in my mouth a little.
Stopped reading.
Went on with my day.
Fully expect the Angels to win some games.
Life’s good even if they don’t.
The Angels only exist in my world to entertain me.
Come to think of it, so do all of you.
Is there a TL:DR version 😉
Where are they loaded with talent at exactly?
They went into this season without two frontline SP’s and a SS. The alleged strength was supposed to be the bullpen, and at least for now it’s collapsed, along with our up the middle infield defense (see Andrew Velazquez’s throwing error that went into our dugout)
Explain to me how this team won 3 WS Championships in the first 5 yrs of the last decade with one great hitter (Buster Posey) and a pretty otherwise mediocre hitting lineup.
Well, first you win some games. Then you go into a series where you have to win some more games. Then you go into a series where you have to win some more games. Then you go into a series where you have to win some more games. Then you do it again. Twice.
Pitching, pitching and pitching
Duffy at leadoff should break us out of this slump
We have 5 guys slumping and 4 who can’t hit
Perhaps this is Ohtani’s problem?
https://www.theonion.com/babe-ruth-comparisons-grow-after-hammered-shohei-ohtani-1848987259
20th pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, meanwhile we chose CJ Cron at #17. Signed a 1yr with the Doyers for $8M 7-0 2.59 ERA…….why doesn’t this ever happen for us?
😭 😠 😥
Surely, you meant Sonny Gray, or Chris Bassit, or Blake Snell (or for that matter, Mookie Betts, Trevor Story, or Marcus Semien).
I mean, at some point, you have to realize what little sense you make.
Because the baseball gods hate you and because stupid modern societal norms won’t let us drag you outside our camp and throw rocks at you until you die, further angering the gods.
Fuck societal norms. Stone him!
Well, we need to find some way to make the gods happy.
Ward had a stinger and could not throw but could hit (yeah right) now he has a hamstring and is day to day. This means they really don’t want to see Jo on a major league field and there is no one at AAA or AA that is better.
PTP and Joe were “keepers” for most in April and May, and now they should be run out of town due to the last 10 games?
It bears repeating that the team was never as good as they were playing in April and early May, and they are clearly not as bad as they look currently.
85 to 87 wins still seems right to me. The last 10 games don’t change that view.
I see them as a .500 team. Is that good enough when you’ve got two generational talents on your team. Not good enough for me.
One’s a DH and the other is a CF.
Not a SS, 3B, or above all a #1 SP.
That’s why we needed to sign Trevor Story and Carlos Rodon which we could’ve done, or at least tried.
Look, your snail of common sense has left a trail of drivel across my screen.
Keep the drivel, take the cannoli
That’s why they didn’t win.
Well…..
“We will be back. Maybe not this century, but we will be back and we will be a better
footballbaseball team.”– John McKay.
What makes you think we’ll be back? We are not like USC in any way.
“We didn’t
tacklepitch well today but we made up for it by notblockinghitting”– John McKay.
Since you seem to like McKay maybe you remember this famous interchange after a particularly putrid game by the Trojans:
Reporter : “How do you feel about your teams’ execution?”
McKay : “I’m in favor of it.”
I think every season there is a moment where I think to myself “this is what it is like to be an Angels fan”.
We have reached that moment and it is particularly buttercup this season due to the significant build me up which is now a bigger let me down.
This, my friends, is what 50 years of Angel fanship is truly like. The 1979, 1986, 2002 seasons and some of the mid-2000s were anomalies. To expect anything different from this Organization is our fault. We create the true buttercup by believing things will be different.
So my solution is to just embrace the suck. Expect it. In fact I may have a t-shirt made:
“TrAdition – Angels Baseball expect the suck”
That way, in the odd chance that the team actually does something good, it’s a pleasant surprise.
Expect the suck is a mantra. It is freedom. Might be a good name to rename this site. ETS.
Put me down for buying an XL of said shirt
You need to add Butter-cupped Again, on the back
I like it!
I agree with you. I’m still fighting against this, but maybe I should just resign myself and stop worrying about us every being a contender again, despite the presence of Trout and Ohtani.
Will those shirts come with a box of pink wine, some essential oils and a copy of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson?
Probably. That’s a good idea!
OK, then I’m totally in.
Perry sucks again….
In The Natural they had this little guy telling the team how losing is a disease, maybe it’s time for Arte and Perry needs to add an exorcist to the medical staff
THE OLIGARCH DEFINES THIS ORGANIZATION……..
Since 2011
YARR! OH NO NO PO BO!
And of course, all the GMs you get so lathered up about are super experienced.
With that said. We are still in the “wild card slot created to get Trout in the playoffs” lead which is cray cray. And I agree they just need to get a damn win to get it going again..They’re in their own heads! Especially #27.
Further more. I understand an elite-ish SS that can’t hit. But golly can we go pitcher mode with Velasquez and have him just bunt EVERYTIME! He is sooo bad at the plate…
I’ll take a dirt dog, defensive whiz over rolling with Wade or Rengifo and their middling average. Velazquez has a batting average with runners in scoring position around 0.275. Not great but his value is at runs saved. Besides, the team depth and the manager are larger team issues than the shortstop position.
Look at Correra, Story and Seager and those mega-contracts and the bang-for-the-buck they provide. Give me Squid.
Agreed. But just bunt the damn ball more often dammit! Dude swings for the fences waaay to much. Just give me productive outs.
It doesn’t help that when made of glass Ward and Rendon go down over and over again we replace them with the corpses of Wade and Lagares! The fact that we have 0 depth anywhere is what kill this team. And the fact that they aren’t giving anyone else a chance besides these obviously overmatched players is gross! 7,8,9 for us is hands down the worst in baseball. Don’t need baseball reference to figure that one out…
Agree with the Rendon take. We would not have to bat Duffy 4th against LH pitchers if Rendon could stay on the field.
Of all the fails, the Rendon one is the worst. The lack of production on the field combined with the salary suck that prevents us from signing other top line players really gets me the most.
“I’d just like to thank Marine Layer for another comfy night living rent free inside his head. It just feels good to know someone out there is obsessed with me.”
Still barely above .500. Gotta stay positive. There’s still a whole helluva lot of games left. Just need to win a game to stop going ludicrous speed to the bottom of the league.
“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor? 😆
Today the losing streak reaches 10 GAMES !!!
Zack Wheeler pitches against a pathetic Angels offense.
Final Score :
Phillies 8
Angels 1
.500?
destiny! destiny! No escaping that for me
Maddon gotta go. Are we waiting to fall to third or 4th place to see if the season is worth saving?
This is year 3 of Maddon with a lot of the same issues. Players gotta perform and the GM has to do his job but it’s not like Maddon has some amazing track record here we should feel obligated to re-discover. What we’re seeing is what its been his whole time here and it looks a lot like the end of his Cubs tensure with similarly loaded, underperforming rosters.
I’ve had 12 hours to think about this.
The game has passed Joe by. He was still cool, maybe 10 years ago. He looks very tired. He needs a rest. Someone needs to put him out of his misery.
Having done that, we will still have a substandard roster to deal with, as well as front office and ownership issues. Arturo is crap, and Minasian is his yes man, ill equipped to handle the job, even if he had the actual authority to do something.
The off-season did not come close to addressing the problems. The Phillies have a ton of hitting, and some good starting pitching, so I think a new manager will actually give them a fresh start, unlike here. Mike Trout and Ohtani are grinding. Walsh too. Ward needs to hit the IL, and get himself right. He can be a key part of the rebuild. There are no other assets in the short-term. Seriously, there’s nothing else. No Bryson Stott type underperforming prospects in the pipeline. And certainly not A Jeremy Peña, let alone a Julio Rodriguez.
The bullpen is still a dumpster fire, and we have a ton of starting pitchers competing for 4-6 in the rotation, with no top end talent beyond Ohtani, who may not be able to handle the two-way work load. That’s an unknown, since no one has ever tried to do it.
It does appear that finding competent front office management, and then trading for young talent may be the only avenue. It would be sad to lose Ohtani, but he’s the only one who might get us that. I wonder how many teams would even want Trouts contract. Let alone Rendon’s? It’s just with Arturo at the top, I just don’t see a realistic way out of this.
Meantime, it might make sense to bring Adell back and let him suck in Anaheim. I think I’d rather see that than watch Juan Lagares for even a day longer. I don’t have any other fixes then to keep through this bad team out in the field, and hope for a different result.
Does this make me a Doomer? I don’t know, maybe it’s just that I’m trying to be realistic.
But the irony is the BP was supposed to be this team’s one shining light strength. We resigned Raisel and added Loup plus we drafted Sam Bachman first in last year’s MLB Draft.
I think the real reason why this organization sucks EVEN AFTER THE BIG 2011 FSW CABLE TV deal is well (my favorite guy in the organization 😢 💩 yeah that guy!). How do you actually get worse when you acquire more resources?
He hired Joe, he interfered and cancelled the trade with the Dodgers for Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling.
The day you figured out the BOLD TEXT function on this site was a big moment for you wasn’t it sparky.
Why so much faith in Ward? He’s 28, and his prior four seasons have been meh jambalaya. Maybe he turned a corner in his 5th season, maybe he regresses to his mean. Honestly, for me he still needing to prove his performance thus far this season isn’t a fluke.
Who else can I have faith in on this roster that isn’t in the $30 million per year plus category.
It took you twelve hours of thought to come out and basically say the same thing you’ve always said?
Okay, so you fire Maddon. Then what? We lose the next game.
What have you achieved? Nothing.
People are angry and looking for a scapegoat. If you want to be angry at a group of people try MLB and the umpires. They totally shifted the outcome of that Blue Jays series by biased and fraudulent ball/strike calls against us. And they threw in a bogus review that turned the Friday night game in Toronto’s favor. THIS was the root of this losing streak.
And in fact we saw more of the strikezone shenanigans last night in the 1st inning against Shohei Ohtani.
Blame MLB, don’t bame Maddon.
Then they’ll do what THE OLIGARCH always does, get another big name to replace Joe (yep Joe Girardi) We’re not gonna give Phil Nevin a shot because that isn’t window dressing. We would replace a guy like Max Scherzer with Michael Lorenzen because that’s who we are since 2009.
Well, they need to do what the Lakers just did, find a high profile assistant with upside.
Like…. Brad Ausmus?
Why do we want Phil Nevin? Cause he yelled at a guy once? Cool. I have yelled at dozens of guys. Can I be manager?
Ah yes, the vast International Umpire Conspiracy to Only Screw the Angels rears its head. Sure can’t be things like other teams having better overall talent, players who perform, and pitchers who pitch.
MLB IS CHEATING!
ONLY THE ANGELS EVER GET SCREWED BY BAD CALLS!
IT’S A CONSPIRACY!
Surely any other fan site will be full of much of the same. Are the Umpires crap sometimes? Of course. But the lack of calling out the outside strikes given to both teams last night, is telling. Do you really believe MLB and the Umpires conspire to screw only the Angels?
Stop whining, pull up your socks, and get in the game.
Nice Strawman there Marcotor. You TOTALLY misrepresented my position while putting words in my mouth. Nice !
I never said or suggested an “International Umpire Conspiracy.” What about biased umpires in MLB makes it “International”? This does not and need not involve the Japanese Pacific League, or Korean baseball, or Australian baseball, Venezuelan baseball or any other league.
In addition, I never said or suggested that umpire shenanigans “only” involve the Angels. Again,nice job of putting words in my mouth in an attempt to discredit me and serve your own defensive purposes. There are MANY examples of biased umpiring in MLB from game to game. Not all of it involves the Angels and I never suggested such a stupid thing.
This is more than umpires being crap. Do you know how long it takes and how hard it is for an umpire to reach the Majors Leagues? It takes an average of 7 to 8 years for an umpire to make it from the minors to the Majors and competition is fierce. https://pbsfonline.com/quick-answer-how-much-does-a-umpire-in-mlb-make/
In addition, despite all the jokes about umpires being blind, they must have 20/20 vision. There are alot of reasons to believe this shit load of bad calls we are seeing in 2022 is not being made by guys who are simply “crap” or incompetent. Do your research.
And stop misrepresenting me and EXAGGERATING MY POSITION WITH ALL CAPS IN AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE ME.
Idiot.
By your logic no manager should ever be fired.
Things like culture are tied to the manager. Maddon is a bit of a front-runner manager. If things are good, he keeps it loose and fun. He’s not great at turning around or motivating players. He has said this straight up: he thinks they are men and he lets them figure it out themselves.
That is his choice. It’s this geezer surfer yoga crap that works when you have Andrew Friedman or Theo Epstein crafting your roster and making your lineups. Not so much when you don’t.
Very well stated. As I said above, getting rid of this manager only addresses one of the many problems.
What evidence do you have that Friedman made the daily lineups? I highly doubt that. Yes, Friedman was very important in building that Rays culture along with Joe, but really they both deserve credit for the way they overachieved with the talent they had.
The Cubs on the otherhand were admittedly a very talented roster, and arguably that team could have won with other managers. But you can’t take away from him what he did in Tampa Bay. There were some really revolutionary things he did there, including the closer by committee thing.
Tell me why you think the calls are biased against us. I’m inclined to believe you, but I’ve got no proof. Wouldn’t MLB want Ohtani to shine since he adds to the profile.
On the surface one would think they would want Ohtani to shine and the Angels to win. But we don’t have all of the information about the motivations of MLB. I have already stated before that it seems clear that MLB wants the Astros to at least be successful in the regular season and be in the playoffs because they play an important roll; they are the villain. Fans love to hate them and that is good for seasonal narratives and that hate drives both attendance at their road games and postseason tv ratings. This would be similar to what happens with the Cowboys on tv in the NFL or other teams people love to hate. They tune in to root against them.
As for the Angels there could be different things going on; some have intimated at the poor relationship between Arte and the MLB offices, there might also be the fact that a strong Angels team competes with the Yankees and Red Sox in the postseason, or there could be the gambling/Vegas influence? Perhaps because of Trout alot of Futures money comes in on the Angels etc.. There could be alot of factors at work here…
Suffice to say that I have a good bullshit detector and I know when something does not look right. How many remember the Angels game against the Red Sox about 10 years ago in Boston when in the bottom of the 9th our pitcher was trying to close it out with two outs and two strikes on the batter. Our pitcher threw a pitch right down the middle for strike three (I believe the batter was Mike Green, but not sure on that name). Yet it was called a ball !!! The Red Sox were kept alive. I was incredulous. I was almost laughing it was so bad. I mean, there is no way anybody could call this a ball. The Angels did manage to close that win out, but boy oh boy…
That is just one example, but there are many, many others like it. We could start with all of the recent pivotal video reviews that have gone against the Angels.
So, no, I don’t know the exact motivation/s but I know when something is not right.
I more or less agree with you. I will forever 2005 when Perzinski faked his way onto first after he struck out, and then Chicago stole the game. No way that happens in reverse.
Wrong. If we replace Scioscia with Maddon all of our problems will be solved. Many many many true Angels fans with years of experience providing coaching and advice to MLB players via internet chat boards told me so.
We’re still hanging on to the 3rd WC slot.
That must be the threshold for Joe to go.