They might as well have fired up the old 7th inning stretch song during this homestand. Fresh off a 5 game winning streak, the Angels faced their two division foes from Texas at home this week and came away with exactly two wins.
That’s not to say all was bad. There were some really nice contributions at the plate.
Big innings are proving costly for the Angels. Losing due to defensive lapses at this level is unacceptable. Yes some guys are playing in new spots, but our third baseman isn’t and his throws need to improve.
I’d expect the defense to solidify with Walsh at first base. His range and soft hands turn errant throws into outs at a decent rate. Walsh begins a rehab assignment tonight in Sacramento and a decision on his return will be made after the weekend.
Side note, I spent many an evening at the ballpark in Sacramento. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Nice park, the food options were great, and the delta breeze usually makes for a really pleasant experience.
There’s a lot of injury news and updated for the Angels. Interesting that Chad Wallach is on the concussion list but the Angels never said he suffered a concussion, just a sore neck. Max Stassi is listed as returning in May, which could be big for this team.
The Athletic took a look at the Angels lack of catching depth. Personally I think any team that loses their 1,2, and 4 catchers would look thin at the position.
Fortunately, Matt Thaiss has been crushing the ball as of late. The kid was drafted for his advanced bat and was immediately met with endless swing changes by the crack Angels development team. Perry replaced most of those coaches and now Thaiss is hitting well again. Coincidence?
Mike Trout might be human, or turning into one, after all.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani is at least half deity.
Amidst all the chaos of the season, Perry bought another lottery ticket in the form of Reyes Moronta.
The biggest news out of the AL West this week was the A’s changing sites for their Las Vegas playground. I had some good times at the Tropicana but it is pretty archaic so a ballpark right next to the fight capital of Vegas sounds good to me.
In the meantime, the A’s are absolutely terrible. How do the players and coaches approach each day in a year like this? That’s a better read than my link would indicate.
Good and bad news out of the Twin Cities. On the bad front, Tyler Mahle is joining a few Angels in the Tommy John room. On the plus side, Joey Gallo is bashing again thanks to a new approach.
Talk about tough. Kyle Farmer will return to the Twins after getting hit in the face with a fastball. He required 35 stitches, 4 root canals, and wires to put his teeth back in place.
I wonder why guys don’t wear a mouthpiece while batting. The one I use for sparring isn’t the most comfortable, but it is a lot more comfortable than losing teeth. It has a little storage case that easily fits in a pocket. I’d probably wear one if I faced guys throwing 95 MPH.
Stop me if this sounds familiar: a Yankee fan reached over the wall and pulled a live ball over the fence for a home run and the umps allowed it.
Last week’s festivities at the Big A were great. I’m loving sharing tee ball with my son. Going to keep linking the fun side of baseball: kids. My friend Victor nailed it here, and the song is perfect.
Enjoy your weekend and please link anything I missed. Let’s hope for a decent road trip.
The Trout whiff stats confirm what I have been seeing and saying: I’d give Trout a steady diet of fastballs, especially with two strikes.
Hmm. Bump
In a couple months, we might be seeing Shohei Ohtani suited up for a team other than the Angels. To prepare us against that possible soul crushing event, I thought it might help to ease into it by looking at a photo of a beloved Angel who left the fold way too soon.
First up is Leon Wagner, who from 1961-63 was the Angels’ first slugging star. Traded to the Cleveland Indians, he had an OPS+ of 122 over the next three seasons for the Tribe, averaging 27 HRs, 82 RBI, and 90 runs scored per year.
The first photo was too small. This one will do. He kept his number 27 he wore with the Angels.
Don’t think so… Arte has said in no uncertain terms that he’s not trading Shohei. In this case I actually believe him… If he leaves it will be in FA at the end of the season…
Even in the delay, ‘twill be a tough pill to swallow.
Yes, I agree. It will be painful. I just hope it is not the Dodgers as that would be especially painful.
“If we are in contention”?
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1657101267536347136?s=20
Sorry, I lose track of all the roster rules.
Now that Moniak is up, are we stuck in the position that to send him back down we’ll lose him, or does he still have options?
Moniak and Adell can both be sent to the minors this year. Your scenario will become reality after this season.
Man, wouldn’t it be cool if both Moniak and Adell turned out to be keepers next year? 4 man OF of Ward, Trout, Moniak, Adell? Don’t have to pay Renfroe or some other guy? That’d be nice.
It would be nice, and allow us to spend on pitching (or sign Ohtani, perhaps). That said, Renfroe has been good so far.
Ward’s playing. Is this just cause we’re 6 weeks in, OF will be needing a little rest, Rengifo is a last resort and can’t play CF and Phillips can’t hit? Plus Moniak is raking?
I’m cool with that. Likely makes Phillips the man leaving when Walsh comes back?
This is Rendon’s explanation of his third straight year of under-performance. I’ll give him credit, he sure is easy on himself, while simultaneously lowering expectations:
• Anthony Rendon hit 10 years of service time on Wednesday, which was celebrated in the Angels clubhouse. He also spoke to reporters before the game and was asked about his performance this year. He has one homer in 96 at-bats. On the lack of power, Rendon quipped that he’s not known as “Tony Four Bags” — a reference to the “Tony Two Bags” moniker he adopted in Washington. He said he felt he was contributing in other ways offensively. He also noted that he was getting a lot of “bad hops” defensively and that his luck would change.
He should have just punched himself in the face and torn his blouse the way most players do when asked about the bad parts of their current game.
Amazing fresh Rendon take.
Better than punching some drunk Oakland fan who hurt his itty bitty feelings with bad words and getting himself suspended. He also forgot to mention he throws like a girl with bad aim.
And yet, still, so much better than his critics in every way. God it must be frustrating, no wonder you have to bring it up every day like Rainman brings up Qantas Airlines and K Mart boxer shorts.
*10 minutes to Wapner
Weak. The more he opens his mouth, all doubt that he’s an ass is being eliminated.
and, and, and….. he’s making more $$$$ this year than Mike Trout!
Plus my wife hasn’t touched me with any passion in her eyes since he arrived!
Okay Rendon. Then where are all the doubles?!
He’s rebranded as Tony Walks a Lot.
Todays Lineup:
Ward
Trout
Ohtani
Rendon
Renfroe
Drury
Urshela
Thaiss
Neto
Halo Power Baby!!
So the poisoned wall didn’t kill Ward. Cool.
The world is running out of pitchers and I don’t care. The Braves just signed Justus Sheffield for gah sake. Mad Max sucks and has to cheat. Someone needs TJS every other day now. Believe it or not, the Angels actually have “pitching depth” compared to a bunch of teams. This season is FAR FROM OVER and we are probably gonna see some random team, maybe two, who manages to just have fairly good/healthy pitchers overtake the wild card race later this season.
Pitchers are gonna blame the pitch clock. I don’t care if pitchers drop dead from exhaustion, you big tough athletes are NOT taking away my precious pitch clock. I think that would be an actual thing they could do to make me actually stop watching baseball all that much.
Pretty mind blowing that the Orioles look like “the tough part” of the rest of “tough month” here. I like those guys. I like the IndiGirds too. They should both win lots of games after collapsing against us. Twins, Red Sox, Marlins, White Sox. That’s the rest of the month. The month I was crossing my fingers and hoping to finish .500. I think we can do it, then June is a mixed bag of losers and good teams with square goes at Texas, Houston and Seattle. I think THAT’s actually the month we could use a hot streak. Beat on the weak teams, win the series against our division, good shape.
Mets fans must be enjoying the near certainty of a title that Crazy Steve the Unicorn has bought them. amiright?
No. Perry didn’t fail at anything thus causing our catching problem. If anything having O’Hoppe, Wallach and Thaiss perform as they have is a pretty big win in generally managing that roster spot. Hope Stassi comes back strong and happy. Though Thaiss has pretty much guaranteed himself employment somewhere.
I am enjoying bizzaro world AL East with the Rays and O’s dominating. The Red Sux and Boo Jays and Yankees need to catch the sads and fall out of the wild card race.
Jared Walsh. Mas Macho.
Nice comment
Well, for those of you who are thinking that the Angels can get well at the hands of a less than stellar Guardians team, you might want to think again. That is after you read what I am about to share with you……
And for those who think I am just being negative you should consider that I almost always have stats to back up my comments and claims. Here is no different.
The baseball team from Cleveland has experienced nothing short of total domination of the Angels in recent years when we have played in their ballpark. In fact, they have won a stunning 9 straight games against us, and over the course of the last 7 seasons the Angels have played games there they have accumulated an almost unbelievable and amazing record of 21-1 !
That’s right. You read it correctly, and it was not a misprint. The Angels have won only one single game of their last 22 contests played in Cleveland. That includes being swept six times !!!
In short, things likely will be getting worse for the Halos before they get better…
Im curious..do you believe this is a result of a curse that is passed down upon successive Angel teams, season to season?
Did I say or write anything, anything at all in that comment that suggests I believe it is a curse?
Just wondering, since it seems to me like you just pulled that out of your ass.
I am the one that believes in Ju Ju.
The baseball gods hate us…prove me wrong
That’s pretty much how it works. I’m pretty sure I’m kind of certain.
I thought it was Jobu you believed in?
im not gonna judge if you believe in the occult.
Did I say anything that indicates that ?
If you flip a coin eight times and it comes up heads all eight times, the odds are that on the ninth flip the coin will turn up tails.
right… but what if the coin is cursed.
Also…. not right at all… I think that’s what he’s getting at. The odds are the same every new coin flip.
unless the coin was cursed, then it would continue to come up heads irrespective of previous outcomes.
That is completely untrue.
The odds are still 1/2 for each coin flip. The coin doesn’t care how it landed on previous flips.
I know it’s counter-intuitive, but statistics predict that after eight consecutive heads, the ninth flip will likely be tails. It is easy to get heads two times in a row, very difficult to get heads nine times in a row.
unless there is a curse, correct?
When it comes to gambling, you bet the streak to continue….until it doesn’t
When it comes to curses/magical thinking, math/statistics don’t work.
hahhaha
Statistics do not predict that it will come up differently. Still 1/2. Gotta call up your stat teacher and either fire them or get it set straight. In the long run there is usually a regression, on an individual flip, it is always 50/50 chance.
I think what he’s trying to say is that if you have a large sample (a large number of incidents) that the occurrence of either heads or tails will move closer and closer to 50%. And he is right about that. The larger the number of flips the closer to 50% it becomes (with everything else being equal).
I think he was pretty specific about it being only the 9th flip.
It’s called “Due theory”. Sometimes it is correct. Sometimes not. Repeat on the 10th flip
Due Theory: The Gambler thinks the odds change because of past events that have no effect on the current event.
Nice one Twebur.
50% of the time, its right every time
I get it, but I stated that “I think what he’s trying to say is…”
He was explicit, but you think what you want.
What if it lands on it’s edge, it could happen, maybe
Might the reason just be that during that period Cleveland has generally had strong pitching and the Angels have fielded very uneven and top heavy lineups? Versus a curse or luck/random change. Lol
Well, if you look at the scores of those games (and I have) there is a common denominator… It is that we in fact DID NOT SCORE alot of runs… So in answer to your question, YES, I do think the strong Cleveland pitching has played a big part of it… We were shutout in alot of those games, and have for whatever reason had trouble scoring runs at Jacob’s Field…
BTW, I never said in any way shape or form that it was a curse, lol.
I simply provided the facts.
appreciate the facts, however, the only logical explanation is that this is a curse if the trend continues.
If you choose to believe that it’s your choice. I don’t think I’ll follow you down that road however…
So true.
or… they just had a better team/organization.
Nope. It’s definitely a curse.
imagine coming to that conclusion after jack laid out the facts.
lol, my best guess is that the Angels have upgraded a bit while the Guards have deteriorated a bit but there are a lot of guys who know baseball more than me on here.
Amen brutha. We got heads on the 9th roll!!!!
Jack is a sad donkey. Remember how I said that since way back and I’m right? I said that, and I have the stats to back it up.
Dude, you seriously need to change your screen name to “Why Bother?”. No one is saying you need to be mindlessly optimistic, but jeeez.
I’m not sad at all. Have you ever met me? Have you ever seen my face to be able to read sadness? For all you know I could have created a character here on CTPG and am playing it out… Maybe my name isn’t really Jack Frost.
You don’t know shit.
Bitter. Angry. Not playing. Probably not an actual donkey. Can totally tell. Don’t need to meet you. I totally know shit.
Name calling is always a sign of a lack of intelligence. Although he does know baseball.
Eh. Everyone does name calling. It’s efficient.
You’re saying that rather than coming up with a rational, intelligent answer, you’ll just call somebody a name because it’s easier. No sense in talking to you anymore.
I’ll agree to disagree.
Is that what I’m saying?
That’s what he does. It is who he is. It reveals his narcissism and underlying lack of self-esteem
🤣
So true. Good job, you used narcissism in a sentence. You are ready to be on a survivors panel on a daytime talk show now. You know, where sad hurt people go to talk.
And I have so much self es steam that it’s like the friggin Congo inside me. Just a wet misty mess in there. There’s a pretty long walk between a narcissist with low self-esteem (how does that work?) and a guy who is very confident while disagreeing with your kind of sensitive yet domineering poopy stick in the mud statements.
See, I know I’m a joke. If thinking you’re an even bigger joke makes me a narcissist then fk it, I’m Ted Bundy. If you want people like me to stop pointing and laughing at your crotch then stop flopping your huge weird balls outcha pants trying to be “real” on people all the time.
Or don’t. In my world, where I am a god, either option will entertain me.
While I don’t think the Angels are as good as I would like them, I think they have a much more well rounded team and like their chances (without looking at recent stats) against the Spider… Indians… Guards?
We’ll see. This Cleveland team does not appear to be as strong as ones they’ve had in recent years, but Francona is still the manager and he has a certain style of managing games and he’s been pretty successful against us over the years, either with Boston or Cleveland…
thanks Jack for the heads up.
i guess i wont be watching this road trip then
Watch if you like … and hey, sometimes baseball surprises us.
If the Angels end up winning the series (or winning the series in Baltimore) it would not be the first time something unexpected happened in baseball. However, the odds don’t favor it…
At some point their luck is going to change, if anything history shows that all things even out at some point, it might not be this weekend, maybe not this year, or next, but at some point things will return to the norm (not to Norm, I think he still is on his stool at Cheers), but to normal.
Damn. What a thread this was!!!! 🏅
Now 2-21 I guess.
Gonna be tails again tomorrow
Some Angels action today before Cleveland:
Optioned Jake Lamb
Signed C Meibrys Viloria to Minor League deal.
Just Sayin’
https://twitter.com/Jared_Tims/status/1657031211917664257
We know what happened after last year’s wall encounter.
Friggin walls. Walls are the enemy.
And don’t forget Home Run lines on the wall are evil too. So, lines and walls……and Arte…are evil.
Yeah, lines screwed up Tony Phillips in 1995 too.
Torii Hunter missed some games after taking on walls.
Why don’t they just make the walls softer. I would think this would be a no brainer.
Meibrys Viloria – is he The CHOSEN one???
“V” could not field a full team, but it wasn’t relegated to a combo group like Y, U, Z, etc.
is PTP doing us a solid here and closing the gap? Could our long national nightmare be over?
team “V” – per Rev—-
C –
1B – Mo Vaughn
2B – Randy Velarde
3B – Luis Valbuena
SS – Andrew Velasquez
OF – Max Venable
OF – Ellis Valentine
OF – Bobby Valentine
DH – Bill Voss
Detmers featured in an article on The Athletic, breaking down that his underlying metrics indicate he should be pitching to a lower ERA than he has so far.
https://theathletic.com/4510375/2023/05/12/sarris-four-underrated-starting-pitchers/
The analysis on his slider is great. Hopefully he reads this, because I am sure this is significantly more coaching than he is getting from Matt un-Wise and staff
“Detmers is generally throwing well if you look past the ERA.”
haha – that’s good to know Eno.
ugh
Results be damned.
All the metrics indicate it’s a good pitch, yet he fails to execute. Coaching failure?
Or maybe THE PLAYER fails? Maybe? Why do folks think that if some coach would just HURR DUUR DEE DURR at every player that sucks for a few games magic will happen and players will always be good. Is that something that actually happens? Where “coach with CtPG guys thoughts” is constantly stepping in with God like ability to steer 26 guys clear of all their problems every game thus winning the MVP award as the team takes home a championshit?
Or is this fantasy life need to hate on coaching and management just something I have to look forward to myself as I become a bitter old man?
Professional athletes are terrible at sports. Mike Trout is an elite, dedicated baseballer, one of the best in the world? He should be able to hit just about every fastball that these schmos throw him into the outfield or beyond. They’re straight balls. Don’t these professionals practice hitting straight balls and get really good at it?
I blame the Doyers. If they didn’t exist and we weren’t so close to each other, I’d say everyone is pretty much equal. They are the Angel antithesis.
But, the Doyers do cheat with that secret magic juice.
It is not unreasonable to question Matt Wise and the pitching coaches. Especially when it comes to Detmers. Don’t forget that it was our minor league coaches that managed to fix his slider last year.
Some coaches, like the Dodgers staff, appear to elevate the players on their roster. Not 100% of the time, but more often than not.
The Angels feel more tilted in the opposite direction. Not always, but more often than not. Anderson, Loup, Tepera, Quintana.
Dylan Bundy had a 3.29 ERA in 2020. After Wise was promoted to pitching coach, his ERA ballooned to 6.06.
Same with Mike Mayers – 2.10 ERA in 2020, 3.84 ERA in 2021.
Heaney: 4.46 –> 5.27
And none of the pitchers who pitch well for Wise count. I didn’t say it’s unreasonable to question a coach or manager, of course it is. But is it reasonable to ALWAYS question a coach and manager? For a team with plenty of meh players? In a game that is based on failure… and that’s before you even factor in injury?
That strikes me more as baseball providing bitter people with a nice safe punching bag they can use every day of the week, win or lose.
Puss move. Bad Ju Ju.
I didn’t say that none of the pitchers who pitch well don’t count. I just said it feels like more players get worse under Wise than improve under Wise.
I don’t know that there are many vets that have improved under his coaching at all. Most of the players that have improved were young players growing into their ability like Shohei and Sandy.
In terms of vets – Cishek? Estevez so far this year? Maybe Alex Cobb? Raisel for one year?
Thanks for posting the note from Victor. Seriously miss seeing Vic and Gubi on things like Heavy Metal Big Hair Band Night. Not to mention the recitation of the soliloquy from Baseball Bugs (Watch me paralyze this pathetic palooka…).
Vic and Gubby were very successful and it dawned on me the other day the announcers that followed him must have known that and watched tapes of them.
What has resulted is each announcer since is bringing some Victor into the booth with him in his interactions with Gubby..
Anyone else see that? There’s a lot of Vic in Wayne.
I think Wayne is 100000000 times better than Rojas.
what was patty O watching, then?
waynes really good. i hope he doesnt do some bonehead shit like make a public appeal to become the angels GM… lmfaooo what the hell was that
So. Cool. No?
Thaiss currently has a .389 OBP in 54 plate appearances. His career OBP is .313. I am rooting for him. I had to laugh the other night when I saw Thaiss and Ward both in the line up. The old Halos Heaven crew was so upset about drafting catchers back then particularly in the early rounds. Ward, on the other hand, has an OBP this year of .325 compared to .360 last year. I hope that he can regain his walking and hitting ways.
Jo Adell has a .392 OBP in SLC for what that is worth.
Thais started like 0-12 too, right? Even more impressive.
I think 0-14
Let’s draft 10 catchers and turn them into pitchers
OMIGOD… it just hit me….
FOUNDATION BUILDING MATERIALS….
Buttercup is a song by the … FOUNDATIONS.
Foundations… Building Up …. BUTTERCUP
It all makes sense now.
FML
Freaking Bullshit Muchacho
You have cracked the DaArte code!!!
Andrew? Probably.
The Foundation Building Materials’ keystone of the series for this three-game set against the Guardians is “The Story” by Brandi Carlile.
All of these lines across our faces tell the story of who we are. So many stories of where we’ve been and how we’ve got to where we are. So Angels, over these next three days, what stories are you going to tell us? Ones of resilience and fortitude, or ones of despair and exasperation?
https://youtu.be/X6yj2b1UT08
That kid is destined to be the Angels 3rd base coach: “go.stop.go.go.go.stop.get back.go.stop.ah crap, just do what you want”