I don’t always get let down in life. When I do, it is usually by the Angels.
Oh well, on to something fun. Mike Trout is returning to the East Coast and as an added bonus he gets some weather!
One thing that is actually normal about this year is that Trout is leading early AL MVP voting.
Good thing he can swing the stick. He’s apparently not the best fantasy football commissioner. .
What happened to the good old days of taking a point spread and laying down cash bets? I’m getting old.
As most of you know, Wednesdays loss, err game, was postponed to yesterday due to rain, meaning Mike’s second love (weather) interfered with his first love.
Prior to yesterday’s start, Yahoo ran a piece on how Ohtani’s horrid start in the Bronx Little League Park last year was the catalyst to Ohtani turning into an ace.
Within hours the headlines reverted to “what went wrong?”
This was actually teased in my Mike Gallego interview. He said the team wanted to make “Squid” t shirts and wear them to honor our defensive wizard shortstop. They did.
Looking for help from the farm? It isn’t good there, either. Top prospect Sam Bachman is shut down with back spasms.
I always thought Paul Goldschmidt was overlooked when he played in Arizona. He’s absolutely on fire right now, with the Cardinals, and still underrated.
I love talking with broadcasters because they’ve seen so much over the years. Here nine veteran broadcasters talk about the best game they’ve ever seen pitched. No Angels connections here, but some interesting stories.
What happens when you are a dick? Teammates don’t go out of their way to support you, even when you’re not really in the wrong. Josh Donaldson is going through that now, but doesn’t understand why.
Coming soon, rosters will be reduced a bit and teams will only be allowed to carry 13 pitchers. This should curb pitching and improve offense. But by how much?
And if watching the Angels is getting too depressing right now (I still think we win in the high 80s), the road to the College World Series kicks off this weekend with Regional play. Here’s your guide to how to watch it all.
And speaking of college, I’d like to dedicate this weekend’s links to my oldest nephew Noah who graduated from high school last night and is off to college in the fall. I love you, buddy, and will always cherish the memories we made out a Spring Training. Hopefully they continue.
Lazy ass writers with a file photo of Kole Calhoun in the golf cart………
Actually, you bring up a good point. It would be cool if some of us with know how and access to both MLB and Spring sites where we can get good photos made some effort to get some good shots of the team, coaches etc, gussy em up in photoshop/Lightroom, etc and gave em to our intrepid masthead. If we kind of just did this over the course of time, maybe even fixed up some old photos of Angels past too, we could expand their library of CtPG images.
I’d love to do it but I live far from games and can generally only afford section 2000 row Z.
It’s almost like we do this for fun and not full time. And like subscribing to Getty or AP Images is really expensive.
Yes, I’m working with the team to get us more photos to use.
But in the meantime, there’s no reason to call me lazy.
Waiting to hear that you are one of the patrons of the site – putting your money where your mouth is ……
(The button to contribute to the site is right there ———–>
“”He’s apparently not the best fantasy football commissioner. .””
Perhaps Mr. TrOUT should stay the hell away from “fantasy football” bullcrap and instead focus on his OWN team that right now is playing lousy and be a team leader……….
Yerrr! Herdeee gerrr turd murd fugert abert foobah an meee deedle dee turf tturf!
I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s just the passing of time (even if it’s been less than 24 hours), or maybe it’s just because it’s Friday (TGIF), but there’s a hopium line leak in my house and I’m getting a little more optimistic. We have good players, that’s a fact.
I promise, as more a challenge to myself, not because anybody will care or read it, that I will take a stab at an If I were Perry if they are any more than 2 under .500 at the All-Star break. Never done anything like that before, but puts some skin in the game for me.
Yes, I am feeling better now too after seeing a bunch of people saying rational things. Unlike last night when I felt like the season was over…  😀 
Here’s hoping Ward, Ohtani and Trout show up today
Or I should have said I hope the Angels team shows up today
Hey, Jahmai Jones is available…
Is Granderson?
Why are some of us here so against and down on Minasian? He has done in2 years what no one prior has done working for Moreno has done. We have seen Reagins, Jedi, Billy Epp’s all take a hike. All have one thing in common, they didn’t work out for whatever reasons. PTP (affectionately) has us close to being a winning team late season with backups until September, this year we will see just yet, but it’s a good bet we will still make the playoffs. He has put his neck on the line with taking a whole draft and making it about pitching and it looks like it will pay off. The Angels were at the very bottom of the heap with the Minor League system, and he has raised it up. Right or wrong by Arte, Perry has taken what he inherited and worked within the given budget and signed players that gave the team some depth. A few weeks ago, we had top 10 starting staff, top 10 relief staff, number 1 in a slew of MLB and American League offensive numbers.
Now just what has happened in the last two weeks? A couple short term injuries, one long term injury, but basically the same team as two weeks ago. What then has happened? The luster is gone for sure, but it’s still Trout and the same gang, right? Imho the difference must be in what you and I are unaware of possibly. In war is always falls back the field General, and in war he will get remove and someone else is pushed to the front, i.e., the Phillies. All I do know are just the facts ma’am, just the facts. Weird line-ups, bullpen choices inserted into games, uninspired at bats by the team as a whole, bad base running, too many strikeouts, fielding mistakes. So, who is in charge? Before the streak started the team was struggling, was it not. If your name was on the door that says manager what would you do? Our the Angels player’s waiting for some sort of guidence? Are changes taking place right now that we don’t know about or at least are not privy too? I hope so.
The player’s are a huge part of this certainly. Where are their leaders right now and what are they doing? Are they assuming their roles are not that important? I can’t, you can’t, and coaches can’t make the hitter’s hit, the pitcher’s pitch or fielders field if those said player’s do not take responsibility.
Yes meetings are important, but only if they address the problems and issues that bring on an eight game losing streak, other wise why waste your time. Only the “Team” can fix what is really wrong. Now is the time for those that need to, to step up.
If the team goes 81-81, then I’ll be happy because they’ve at least stopped the hemorrhaging of consecutive losing seasons. This just isn’t a playoff level team yet and very much still a work in progress. I also believe the strategy for this draft should be on cherry picking for 3 high level positions (3B, SS, #1 SP) as opposed to the 20 pitchers of last yr which went to mostly reliever types. PTP is somehow gonna have to convince THE OLIGARCH to build ourselves into being good at Moneyball tactics too, since we all can’t be like THE BIG 3 of MLB.
I like your draft plan, though I’d grab a catcher as a “cherry” too if any of the good ones in this next draft fall to us. We’ll need a catcher soonish and, like SS and 3B, catchers who fail at their position make solid corner OF.
There really shouldn’t be a “good” reason for anyone to be down on PTP, yet. The three big signings were Iglesias, Tapera, and Loup…who, unfortunately, were key vontrivutors to the recent skid. But, fiw, these were 3 of the best relievers on the market and they were signed at likely market rate and, as far as I can tell, there hadn’t been a sign that there’s something fundamentally wrong with them. Yes, it is true that we didn’t get the results for about 10 days. But, sometimes, bad things happen just because.
PS. Our current problem is not a lack of expensive SS. Combustible bullpen is, but there’s nothing that could have been done to avert it.
Agree. The pen was overachieving the first five weeks of the season. Maybe one or two of these losses in the last ten to thirteen games could have been averted by a different bullpen game decision, but overall Ortega was due to have a bad game or two, as were Loup and Tepera etc.
If we had not blown several games in the 8th-9th over the last week we would be fine as far as record and standings go…
This is CtPG. Was PTP hired by Arte? Yes. Then was the day after he was hired the perfect time to decide that PTP sucks? Absolutely.
A little adversity isn’t necessarily bad. It can help down the road. Can we catch the Astros over 162 games? Maybe not. If not then we need to grab one of the three wild card spots….which we currently have!
Loup, Tep, and Iggy will rebound. Trout will hit. It’s kind of funny. When the team was winning we had some who said it couldn’t last and now there’s a feeling (among some) that this losing streak is the real thing…when it’s just as much a fluctuation.
The Angels will get hot again. Tonight’s a good place to start.
It’s the players, stupid!
Hitting last 15 games: .245 avg, .308 obp, .391 slg.
Pitching last 15 games: 5.14 era, 1.40 whip, .268 batting avg against
Hitting last 7 games: .237 avg, .323 obp, .399 slg.
Pitching last 7 games: 7.07 era, 1.90 whip, .320 batting avg against
Man, who ever that team is I bet they didn’t win many over the last 15 games. If only their owner would show up in their clubhouse with a couple old stubble faced white dudes from past teams and force them to have grit. Problem? Solved.
“Whatever the problem, grit is the solution” John Wayne
Unless it’s chafing.
Of course John Wayne was only an actor and some pimply faced writer in a dark writers room in Pasadena probably wrote that line.
Draft Dodger too…..said Dalton Trumbo
Never a “Duke” Fanatic
True what you say about John Wayne. And btw how bout we rename the team from Chavez Ravine the “Draft Dodgers?”
I made up the quote. It’s not real. …and I’m not a pimply faced writer in a dark writers room in Pasadena…. 🤓
Shoulda attributed that to Jimmy Stewart, although that seems rather uncharacteristic. 😛
We’re saved.
It’s not a good idea to be emulating anything the Fillies do. Just sayin’
Girardi gets fired but Maddon gets a free pass. So does Minasian. I thought his roster moves made little sense and that is still the case. Instead of Rodon and Story, a legit front end starter and the middle infielder we desperately need, we acquired a bunch of junk except Lorenzen who is at least credible as a low end starter. We once again need to blow up the bullpen behind Iglesias, and it leaves me wondering whether his contract makes any sense. Every day I look at the Rendon contract it makes me wonder if there’s any that would take it on thinking about the 2019 version of Rendon that no longer exists.
No team is as bad as the this Angels team with the current 8 game losing streak, but it just has the look and feel of a .500 team. Extreme changes need to be made. Is having Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon signed to massive contracts, with nothing else but Ward, Walsh, and maybe Marsh a viable strategy going forward? Every time I see players like Rengifo and Lagares getting regular playing time, it makes me want to throw in the towel on being an Angels fan this last 62 years.
You want to fire Maddon and Perry because the Angel’s had an 8-game losing streak that leaves them in 2nd place, fighting for a wild card?
Incidentally, at the start of the losing streak the Angels were in 2nd place fighting for a wild card.
Yes, because this roster isn’t strong enough to contend and Maddon is doing a terrible job of maximizing what we do have.
The best move would be to fire Arturo, but I don’t believe that’s possible.
You realize Minasian has only had 2 offseasons? He inherited Rendon’s contract and has been constrained by it. Iggy’s on him, but without Iggy the bullpen would be even worse.
I’m disappointed that the Angel’s big splash was a 1-year, high-cost tryout for Syndergaard, but I don’t think that was a bad move, it just wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, I think that goes to the budget, not to Minasian’s efforts.
Story would have been a terrible pickup. He looks good against lefties in Boston, but take him out of Fenway (or Colorado) and he’d be just another overpaid average hitter. Yes, I would have liked to see some quality help at middle infielder, but there just wasn’t any to be had in the offseason.
Story is a lot cheaper than Cory Seager and Marcus Semien and don’t forget our favorite villain in Minnesota paid a lot for Carlos Correa.
Don’t confuse the least bad option (among free agents) with a good one.
How much better would we be with Story and Rodon than Snydergaard, Loup, Tepera, and Velasquez/Rengifo?
Well, looks like about 4 wins…. not 400.
Trevor Story was the best option.
David Fletcher was never a good option (was the best lousy option……not enough range, arm or HR power that the position calls for in today’s game. Thus it’s the most mission critical position in MLB today just like QB in football and PG in basketball.)
Correa’s on the COVID IL. A lot of good he’d be doing us.
How many years does he need? The team is directionless, trapped in the middle, 500 purgatory. If the goal was to deliver Mike Trout a supporting cast to get to the playoffs in his prime, he gets a non-passing grade. If his goal is to remain in purgatory, he can keep doing what he’s doing.
The team will need some years. Then they will win some games. If the players actually do their jobs, including Trout, then we will win more games. If they don’t, purgatory, and you will need to find another source of success to attach yourself to.
If you look at the org as a whole, Manasian’s doing a pretty good job and if he keeps it up the team should be in pretty solid long term shape…. just in time to move to Nashville.
They’ve already had eight years, how many more do they need?
Well, it’s going to take at least as many years as it takes. I’m pretty sure of that.
we really cannot wait that long.
At least Snydergaard revealed himself to be completely average or below before Arturo and his lapdog Minasian awarded him another huge non-performing contract.
If they extend Syndergaard will you give up and become a Padres fan? How about if Rendon and Syndergaard become best friends and are seen laughing and hugging and wearing the same socks in the dugout all the time? Would that help make you more cowboy and less hat?
I’ve been an Angels fan since 1961 when I attended my first game at Wrigley Field. I have continued to be a fan after the signings of Pujols, Matthews, Hamilton. CJ, Upton, and Rendon and the rest. Will I be happy? No. Will I remain a fan? Yes. I’ll continue as a fan if players like Rendon and Snydergaard drive them more toward the bottom than the top, enjoying their large contracts.
We need a Angel’s fan to invent a jersey like the Brown’s fan did with all the QB’s since 1999.
I’ve been around forever too and remember 1995.
I’m not sweating 27-25 with an 8-game losing streak in June.
Angels 1995…….wow what a horrible memory.
I remember I had gone to lunch and was sitting in the parking lot of the local Carl’s Jr listening to my radio freaking out.
My parents were cool and let me get out of school early to watch that game…. it was like getting taken out of class and driven to the circus so a carney could kick me in my tender young balls.
And yet, even as a little kid, it didn’t turn me into a Mama Soprano fan.
So…. you’ve been a fan since 1961 and Rendon’s contract is what’s broken you?
Gotta love it. Now Lorenzen is a solid starter. We need to pay Trevor Story 23M for six years to sometimes be a little better than Squid. Annnndddd…. the famous “guy didn’t sign with us, thus it is obviously The Angels who decided they didn’t want to sign him, while he was just waiting, hoping the Angels would send him a contract.” bullshit.
Plus, if this team just finishes .500 (what is that? A nine game jump in wins?) then this season is a FAILURE!
My advice? Yes, throw in the towel. They’re gonna pay Ohtani (or at least try to). They will not be paying former all stars at every position plus 5 pitchers ever. Even if they did, you’d find a way to hate a couple of them. If you don’t want to be miserable, and that will make you miserable, then you should go buy yourself a nice new Yankee/Dodgers hat and enjoy life.
Or just suck it up.
No, but at least he appears to be about league average. A treading water move, but I’m happy to acknowledge it as a treading water move. Story is a LOT better than Velasquez, he’s a top 5 shortstop. Rodon is way better than Thor.
I want to root for a championship contender. You apparently do not. To each his own
It’s true. I hate winning. Yuck. Winning.
I want the Angels to build a winning org again. I am also a grown ass man. I don’t expect a team who has sucked for years, and won what? 72 games last year, to suddenly become a WS contender.
I wanted them to retain Trout, check. I want them to build a new SoCal stadium, ummm poop. I want them to build the farm and it looks like they’ve got a good start on that. I want the Angels to finish above .500, even if it’s 82 wins, then build from there…. we’ll see.
“BUT IT”S BEEN SO LONG! I HAVE PTSD FROM ALL THE DISAPPOINTMENT! WE”VE HEARD THINGS BEFORE! TROUT’s WINDOW! OHTANI’s WINDOW! FAILED CONTRACTS! DASHED HOPES! FAN IS SHORT FOR FANATIC YA KNOW!”
That’s life. That’s baseball. If you want all your gushy stinking feelings to qualify as a solid excuse for being a wanker all the time take it to Jada’s Red Table and tell her all about it. Or just sign on with the 1% who don’t have to face these problems and root for the Dodgers.
Or suffer sometimes… you know, like most baseball fans.
You do you, I’ll do me.
Thor has had 2 bad starts. Take those away and he has a 2.23 ERA. Rodon has had 1 bad start. Take that away and he has a 2.29 ERA. So, at best, Rodon has been 1 more win than Thor. Over the course of the season, that’s 3-4 wins.
Story is a much better hitter than Velasquez and a better defender than Rengifo and Duffy, but he’s still just one player. At most, he’s worth 5 extra wins over the course of 162 games.
Now, that’s not too shabby. Rodon/Story might be the difference between being the top wild card finisher and fighting for the last spot. I absolutely wish the Angels had signed Rodon. I’m not convinced on Story. If the Angels had signed him I think we would regret it by the end of next year.
Like I said above, I was certain that we were going to sign Rodon, and I think we needed to, and I couldn’t believe that we missed that.
I also admit that I was really for signing Story, but it is very possible I would have been wrong there. He isn’t looking like he will be meeting the value of that contract.
(Even worse, early in the offseason I was really hoping for Semien for SS, because I figured he would cost less and be a shorter contract than Seager/Correa and give us a huge bat….. well good thing I wasn’t the GM there)
What made you certain we were gonna sign Rodon? Other than just really wanting to sign Rodon…
I suppose that I felt certain because there was so much pressure to improve our pitching after years of futility, and all we had done so far was to sign 1 guy who hadn’t pitched in 2 years, and Rodon was available and was a pretty good risk (and no QO I think). And lots of speculation was circulating that he was the next (and last) good pitcher available.
So I figured “surely this must be the guy that Perry is targeting, because otherwise this is all he did during the offseason…”.
So certain isn’t a logical word to use. I should have said “strongly expect”.
And yet, all it takes is Rodon deciding he’d rather pitch for the Giants in their pitcher career rejuvenation chamber and none of us get what we want even if PTP sent him the finest chocolates.
Man, this bullshit is too factual and data driven.
I’ll admit, I was absolutely certain that Perry was going to sign Rodon when the lockout ended. There was some budget left, he said there were “no limits” (not sure if we believe that), and we still could have really used a solid starter. I couldn’t believe it when we didn’t, and I was super dubious about this team when the season started. Having our one pitcher acquisition being a guy who hasn’t pitched for 2 years seemed insane, especially giving our history with health issues. Then we played really well, and it made me forget all my concerns.
Mike Trout is 4 for his last 31 at bats. That’s a .129 average which directly corresponds to the Angels eight-game skid. If Trout comes alive, so will the team.
Yup. Him and Ohtani can’t play the “I’m tired of losing” card thus putting fear into fans that they want to leave when they’re the problem as well. No production/ leadership right now.
It’s true. Raisel, Trout, Rendon (IL), Ohtani, Noah, Loup… these are the big pieces and they are all failing. You can’t really blame Rengifo, Duffy, Stassi, Marsh, Ward, Walsh, Squid, Herget, Ortega, Detmers etc… sure they all have lapses, but they are support players, and those supporting rolls have, for the most part, been covered fairly well.
I agree. The top of our lineup has been one of the main causes of the losing streak. I can’t count how many times we have a man on and up comes one of our big hitters, and I got to the point I was just hoping “please just a 1B would be nice here” and they just made an out. Meanwhile every time the opposing team was up, their good hitters caused damage.
I’m not sure how all of them went cold at once, but oh well.
Anybody care to argue with me about the fact that MLB MANAGERS DON’T MATTER!?!!!
Was also the highest paid field manager too!! Bye!!!
 💪  💪  💪  💪 
So wait, signing Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos didn’t lead to glorious glorious victory? Cause the Phillies are basically your test case…. other than developing a magical draft/IFA time machine, no one has that yet.
Neither did signing Michael Lorenzen, Aaron got thrown for a Loup, Nowa Sindergard, and Matt Harvey.
Oh. That changes everything. Your plan to add Castellanos and Schwarber to a team that already has a DH and had Upton at the time was brilliant now that you told us this.
Isn’t 0-8 the functional equivalent of 6-14?
Maybe it’s the DISfunctional equivalent
And of course. Phillies fire Girardi right before our series…gonna play a fired up team leading to another sweep…smdh. #fireMaddon
If we fire Maddon will we get another 10 win bonus like when we got rid of Scioscia?
I think Perry and Joe are safe.
Wise and Reed…not so much.
That’s why we already have Joe’s replacement at 3B
Go Cal St Fullerton Titans!!!!  💪  💪  💪 
I wanted us to hire him after Brad Ausmus
Agree…at least he has MiLB managerial experience.
Good god, the people around here would love an asshat like Nevin for all of the first two weeks of March.
I’m still waiting to cash in the “Scioscia Reduction Wins” I was promised by so many for so long on Halos Heaven….
Me too, me too.
About time. This was Giradi’s last MLB manager job. I was thinking last night, two managers with less than 1-year left in their current jobs would be squaring off this weekend. Giradi won the prize as to who was first to go. Make no mistake, Maddon is 100% on the ropes. Perry will make a soft exit for him.
Another season, another deflating Angels team
I’m as die hard as anyone but these losses no longer affect me lol. It’s just par for course
Quickly starting to tune out the squad. Our bullpen sucks, SP is regressing like always, Rendon is probably the worst league and Trouty is striking out at an alarming rate
Angels fandom knows no bounds of perpetual sadness
*** Rendon being the worst contract that is
I have an Angels flag that I recently got hanging in my room… but it’s been falling a bit (it’s just taped to my sad barracks room wall) day by day… kind of like the rose in Beauty and the Beast. I fixed It this afternoon. Perhaps that will somehow turn this sinking ship around and they’ll get not just the W today, but a series W. Let’s go Halos.
Good Morning, Baseball’s equivalent to the Titanic is listing to the port side and deck chair are now flying by fast and the call went out for women and children to get seats in the life boats. The proverbial iceberg were the Jays but the Yankees continued to enlarge the hole as the Angels bats were cold as ice (Foreigner, 1979) once again.
We’ve all been aware since day one that in order for this team to succeed that we would have had to avoid Ice Bergs, meaning injuries, and we failed. Everyone in the Angels organization is accountable to some degree. PTP did a wonderful job of putting things together from hitters, defense, pitching, super stars, youth, veterans, everything was great until the depth was exposed and essentially there was no depth.
At this point the 26 guys that make up the Angels have to right the ship themselves, and as a group and individually make the adjustments necessarily to get back to winning. Start with hitting the ball and let the low and away stuff go by and protect yourself with 2 strikes instead of just watching the ball go by. When is the last time one of our batter’s choked up on the bat with 2 strikes?
We will start back to winning before we sinks, me thinks.
The lack of depth is something we all knew and wrote about. If the team stays healthy…then X number of wins.
The thing that I did not anticipate no matter what the injuries is the entire offense going ice cold. That I did not see coming with Trout, Ohtani and Walsh in the lineup
The problem is the lack of consistency and inability to put it all together that had plagued the Angels has returned.
Pitching does well, then the hitters suck and we lose 1-2. Hitting generates some run support for the starter? Then the blowpen gives away a huge lead.Between the offense, starters, and bullpen, 2 of them have been bad every game for the last 8.
Well, the lineup is thin: the top 4-5 are very good, but the bottom 3-4 are subpar by far, at least offensively. Having a few good options on the bench (or in AAA) who can be mixed and matched as necessary would have been a good idea. And we do have one great “bench piece”: Ward. Unfortunately, he is now the starting RF b/c Adell can’t field, bringing us back to the lineup depth problem.
RE: Baseball’s equivalent to the Titanic
And you keep playing symphony as we’re going down. I’m dancing along to your wonderful music, Gramps! Leave the lifeboats for everyone else who wants to get away. 😛
If I was a modern day sportswriter, this Angel’s team along with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions would be my favorites!!
THE OLIGARCH pretty much makes having organizational depth next to impossible. He totally believes in the top heavy few deserve all the support, attention, and resources. He believes in dinosaurs and elephants, rather than a herd of cattle. He’ll pay Trout, Rendon a lot and leaves the rest of the roster at low salaries, and you can also throw into that equation Joe who makes a lot for having won just one World Series with the Cubs. That mentality works in movies and TV where one or two actors can make a lot of money and everybody else in the cast doesn’t, but not in the NFL and MLB.
Better win a couple soon or somebody is going to get canned.
Yeah! That curmudgeonly usher in 522 is most definitely on the hot seat right now.
You know that guy was there in the eighties.