Dodgers 7, Angels 1
This abridged freeway series with the crosstown Dodgers hasn’t gone exactly to plan for the Angels. We should give them some credit, though. They improved their run differential compared to last game. No, I don’t mean that they won. Rather, I’m talking losing by less.
Jose Suarez mimicked the Angels’ mantra of it’s early, getting chased in the fourth inning after giving up 6 earned runs and 3 home runs, including two to Trea Turner. Max Muncy later added a 3-run jack. The Dodgers had Suarez’s number all night.
They also had Anaheim hitters’ numbers all night. Julio Urias had a sparkling outing, with just one blemish (a Brandon Marsh home run!) across 7 terrific innings. Mike Trout, who was a last-minute scratch despite planning to return from back spasms injury, couldn’t chip in.
While Jo Adell had a nice fielding highlight (a catch-and-throw to 3b to nab the runner), the real highlight for the Angels today was Shohei Ohtani running outfield drills. Breaking the fourth wall here, but how can you not love this guy?
Going to head out to Universal Studios to try to catch Thor at Lids on Citywalk.
success?
I had occasion to go back and look at some old threads (wanted an exact quote of something I remembered), and ran across this comment by Utah Alumnus:
Unfortunately, UA was right… they’re worsier than the 2021 Angels.
Making fettuccine bolognese today, my son is coming to visit before heading to Belgium next week and there’s no Angel game to get angry happy at. Btw angry happy is when you want your team to shit the bed because the season is over, nothing will change going 80-82 and you want them to suffer as much as the fans are.
It’s a good Sunday. Bought a slice of cake to share w/the missus before I dive into a diet next week too!
My Diet has been starting next Week for 10 years now
I just asked in Turks Teeth’s draft story but figure maybe I can get a quicker answer here. How long does each team have for their pick? what time can we expect an Angels selection?
So now the LA Times reports Trout won’t play in the AS game. Here we go.
Thank you for the update .
Imagine the rage that would have ensued if he had said he was gonna play.
Get well soon Mr Trout.
Spring training, 2023. And the circle is complete.
he’ll be ready for spring training
I notice you didn’t mention which year
😬
You rose-colored glasses optimist!
From Keith Law. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for our current top starting pitching prospect and lone Futures Game participant: Angels lefty Ky Bush, their second-round pick in 2021 and perhaps their top healthy pitching prospect, sat 94 with an above-average to plus changeup at 85-86, working from the extreme first base side of the rubber, which should give him a leg up on left-handed batters … but his breaking ball was weak and slurvy, not what he needs to be able to get lefties out like he should. (He’s got a big reverse split so far this year in Double A.)
I wonder how many viables we are going to get out of the 20. The article I saw analyzing them all was not impressed. A lot of injuries and/or control problems.#1 Bachman is very injured/injury prone. Quantity is not necessarily quality.
Still, a lot of 19 have performed well at AA less than one year removed form the draft . Bush, Bachman (when healthy) Silseth, Erla, Torres & Murphy have good to great numbers at AA. I don’t recall the Angels having that much success with a draft this early. Granted we took a lot of low floor/ low ceiling college arms this still has to be encouraging especially if we are trying to build a dominant bullpen and deep starting rotation quickly. Considering the state of the rest of the farm system last year (where a 5.00 + ERA at any level was the norm) I’m not sure the Angel could have done better.
https://theathletic.com/3427556/2022/07/16/angels-all-pitcher-draft-2021/
Sam Blum wrote this behind a paywall analyzing all 19 who are left, #20 never signed. I’d be interested to hear your take on this, if you can access it.
I’ve subscribed to The Athletic for a few years now. Its an excellent publication even now that it’s been sold to The NY Times. The national writers are among the best ( although sometimes they get a little too political for my liking) and even some of the local beat writers provide excellent coverage ( Jourdan Rodrigue does tremendous work covering the Rams) but I’ve been little annoyed about the Athletic’s Angels coverage. Sam’s predecessor ,Fabian was ok but I think he was pining for the Doyers job all along. I almost cancelled my subscription when he left since it took The Athletic forever to replace him. Sam Blum seems ok but I think hes little lazy and he seems to struggle to provide any real insight that he hasn’t derived from canned zoom interviews, press conferences or readily available stats.
This recent article is a case in point. Its just a restatement of minor league stats. there doesn’t seem to be any insight derived from any other sources. There is very little discussion regarding their velocity or stuff or any other quirky tidbits about their first full season of professional baseball I feel like any of us could have written a better article sitting at the kitchen table if we had the time ( and weren’t too GA to write it)
I get there is also a national bias against the Angels minor league system. We’ve earned it. We’ve been so bad for so long now I doubt anyone is really taking an unbiased look at our system. There seems to be some hope with the aforementioned pitchers and even with some long anticipated prospects at AA ( Soto, Adams Jackson) so It would behoove Sam to get off his ass and travel to Madison, Alabama for a week to really check this team out ( although they are now in the midst of a season worst 5 game losing streak)
But the Trash Pandas are not the only bright spot in our system. We have a cluster of 19 & 20 year olds that are opening eyes in San Berdu. Quero, Placencia, Blakely & Calabrese are all holding their own in the IE. Considering their proximity to the Big A you would think Blum could spend some time out there to ascertain what’s really happening without having to spend much effort but like many other Angel related ventures, as bad as this team is right now not sure that many people care.
Fair enough. As I told Turk’s Teeth in the other thread, I believe he was citing ugly stats or injuries are some sort of failure. I literally know nothing about our prospects, but I came away thinking there isn’t going to be much rosterable talent, let alone star talent from this draft. I juxtapose MInasian’s old team that just reach into the junk drawer and pull out a Spencer Strider. Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts.
I chopped through that link. Ultimately, time will tell. Fangraphs is not that high on the bunch so there is that. There looks to be a lot of relief pitchers in the group, we do need those but to really score big, need starters.
luckily we don’t need 19 solid pitchers. The thing about having a farm is you have 50-60 pitchers in total and if 5 during any season are good you can bring them up and have a respectable staff.
I hear you. I’m still waiting for the first one or two to show up as an above average pitcher.
I picked a good time to start irresponsibly drinking…..
Win or lose we booze. Keep your gin up!
Hire him YESTERDAY!!!!
I heard that for several years for Maddon too……
F-this guy. He fostered a toxic environment. Angels dont need another headline in the making.
Winning is a toxic environment? LOL!!!
CTPG is used to losing now poor poor Angel fans
aren’t you an Angel fan too?
Absolutely not.
I’d rather hire the guy that replaced him.
Looking at the photo above … Even Ippei rocks the City Connect!
MB, LR, Lexis, Volvo, Lincoln, Cadillac SUV’s with Doyer. Yankees, RS, Astros stickers all over the Anaheim Stadium parking lot..
Ippei’s cool. I wish we’d suit him up.
He couldn’t do any worse than 80% of the Halos roster right now…
I swear I was the first person to ask for his autograph … he blushed and walked away at Spring Training before the 2018 season when we asked him. Couldn’t get within 20 yards of Shohei at that ST, so I asked Ippei.
We should invite Ippei out to a local izakaya. Get him liquified and maybe he can score some Shohei memorabilia.
I heard somewhere that Ippei’s father is a chef and maybe runs one such izakaya. Thought it’s in the Diamond Bar area.
You beat me to that punch. I wonder if he can pitch or hit at all.
GMTA:
source: https://crashingthepearlygates.com/2022/07/16/angels-vs-dodgers-game-2-gamethread/#comment-186820
Trout still day to day. It really looks like we know where this is headed. No reason to risk him ever playing again, because we’re never playing for anything.
Somebody got a fire lit under their butt after the brawl on the field. Turns out it was Seattle, who now have 13 wins in a row. Meanwhile, we’ve been getting posterized by everyone we play, especially the hated Doyers. Well done, Angels organization.
This is the worst season of Angels Baseball I have lived through.
If we were rebuilding the losses wouldn’t matter, but this team was built to contend(allegedly).
Good god.
Continued hats off to the Dodgers, hell of an organization.
it blows for sure
I will never tip my hat to the Doyers. That’s the kind of guy I am.
Meh. It’s just a game.
To each his own. I remember them sticking giant piles of manure by the Angels ticket office when we were their tenant at Doyers Stadium. Such an organization does not deserve my tipped hat.
Not a single soul that would have been involved in that, if it did happen, is still part of the team management.
That’s like blaming the current POTUS for something JFK did.
But you’re entitled to that opinion.
I never heard any kind of apology coming from that organization, so I assume that indicates at least tacit approval.
You need the current owners/front office to apologize for something decades ago? Idk…
But I can respect the opinion.
Yeah, it would be nice. Mea culpa is always appreciated.
Aside from that, it boils down to rivalry. UCLA/USC. Stanford/Cal. Michigan/Ohio State. Why ever say anything nice about your bitter rival. Just walk away and hope you can beat the crap out of them next time.
But I can respect your opinion, too. After all, it’s only professional sports.
Fuck The Doyers from now through eternity.
That is all.
I guess I just don’t see the Dodgers as a bitter rival.
Texas or Oakland, sure.
I don’t see the Dodgers as a rival at all. I just hate them. I was trained to by my dad.
Do you always do what your daddy tells you?
/s
Embrace the suck. Maybe this awful season will change ownership and leadership’s mind that what they’ve been doing since Moreno bought the team and more so the last 12 years isn’t working.
We can only hope.
I haven’t watched a game all season due to eastern time zone, but the box scores and writeups are telling that this team has zero direction or leadership, which stems from up top. Team has mailed it in.
At least the Kings and Wings are trending upward the future. Can’t say the same for the Halos.
Dear sir. I coined the phrase ‘embrace the suck’ last year. I did not authorize this use. Please immediately cease from using that phrase unless expressly authorized.
Fondly,
Fansince71
😎
Heh … funny!
May 19, 2017…
“(Joe) Maddon is hoping his team will ‘Embrace the suck.’ “
“Maddon sported a camouflage green T-shirt Friday with those words on it, the latest in a line of shirts Maddon has pushed since arriving in Chicago before the 2015 season.”
It’s time to copyright the phrase.
Didn’t the Patriots try to copyright “19-0”? Right before they lost to the New York Giants.
Growing up in a military family, I can assure you that you did not 😉
While I despise this year, 2019 still sticks out in my mind, 70-92. Closed out the final 2-months 16-36. Losing was accepted.The pitching staff was much worse and Puljos was on the team. Ohtani was shleved and Mike Trout’s monster MVP year was not enough. Back then we still had hope Adell and Marsh be be solid starters only to be proven wrong.
this year isn’t done. At the rate we’re going we’ll end up 57-105. Seriously. I didn’t make up that number. We’ve gone 12-36. If we keep playing .250 ball we end up with 57 wins. Maybe 56.
yikes.
HISTORY WATCH:
The franchise record of 95 losses has been reached in 1980 & 1968.
94 losses in 1974
92 in 1999 & 1983
91 in 1996 1993 1969 & 1961!
Thanks for that context. That would be an epic collapse. 100-loses is ground for dismissals when you have the two best players on the planet.
While the second half schedule is more easier, this might be counterbalanced by the Angels trading players for next year purposes, I just don’t see the line-up getting better and pitching will take a hit with the pending Thor deaprture.
Expectations and talent being higher this year seals it for me, but 2019 did suck.
I’m not a huge fan of the All Star Game anymore. But for those who are: after MNT felt his back flare up before tonight’s 7-1 loss, he’s wondering if he should play the ASG in Doyer Stadium.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-07-16/mike-trout-scratched-lineup-angels-seek-better-second-half-of-season
Don’t play Mike.
On May 15th we had 24 wins. Two months later we’ve only added 15 to that total. How’re we doin?
Don’t answer that. Please.
I’d rather win than have superstars. There, I said it.
But what about bragging rights against Yankee, Red Sox and Dodger fans that the Angels have “Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle” on roster?
What about all the kids not being able to line Arte’s pockets from all the Ohtani and Trout merchandise? My gawd man – think about the kids!!!!
Getting rid of the superstar contract will be difficult in Trout’s case and impossible in Rendon’s, who is no superstar. Even if we accomplish that., how can we rebuild with Arturo as the owner and his team of cronies and interns, and his lame two bit organization.
I don’t disagree, but is there really a choice between the two? I mean that’s the reason I’m waffly about trading Ohtani: not obvious at all if trading him would bring us any closer to contention, given what we can see about the current FO. So, unless proven otherwise, the choice is between sucking with a superstar or two and sucking without.
We’d all agree.
But, if we are going to lose, and lose really badly, it’s much better having a Trout or Ohtani on the team.
Dodgers Suck!
They can’t even score 10 runs on a losing Team.
Never fear, we’re going to draft the next Mike Trout tomorrow so everything is going to work out fine….
I’m sure I’d be as bad as any interning GM with the draft pick. I’d like Berry if he’s on the board. Crazy as it sounds, and I think it does, I’d go for Rocker. Hjerpe had an outstanding season for Oregon State but I might be too close there, having followed him all season. Too bad we have no 2nd rounder.
Me too. Just with my picks of what I would have done during the offseason, showed me how I’d have screwed up the team.
I will say that I just hope the Draft Review doesn’t come out later this week saying “Angels: C+: They only had 1 pick on day 1, and they needed to make it count, but they took a pitcher who projects more to the bullpen etc etc etc”.
Also, if I were Perry, I definitely wouldn’t have taken Thor. I was shocked when he took a guy with a QO for a 1 year deal. That made no sense. If you are going to lose a draft pick, then make it count.
Minasian is the sucker at the poker table, and doesn’t even know it.
Yay. We can hope.
Oh – sarcasm detector is alerting me about something.
😂👍
Yes, I want my GM leading a draft as the musky smell of desperation surrounds him….
What should we expect from an inexperienced intern.
Fire Arte. Trade Perry. Sell Nevin. That is all.
The trifecta that will have unicorns dancing on rainbows with the Care Bears.
very hard to follow now. I gave up a couple of times, walking away, then coming back. I could be wrong, I’ll look it up, but this is about the worst I remember in my 46 years of fandom.
It’s the worst and most hopeless. But have you read Jeff fletchers book!!!!?????????
I believe the age of social media/internet has a lot to do with that.
I’m sure you’re right. In the old days before ESPN even, when I lived at the coast I’d get the Oregonian to find out the score of the previous game only to see “Detroit at California (n)”
Ah the good old days when ignorance was bliss