Griffin Canning gave up three homers in three innings. ( Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts). Hunter Renfroe was a vacuum cleaner at first base but he still couldn’t get past all the maximum homerosity. Jo Adell did rob Max Muncy of another homer in the second.
I could show you the scoring lowlights, but no. Not on my watch. Canning walked Muncy in the third inning and J. D. Martinez doubled to drive him in. It was 4-0 Dodgers after the third inning. Fewer than three innings and more runs given up than innings pitched is not the profile you want to see in your starting pitcher., Canning got yanked at this point. Tyler Anderson came in.
Shohei Ohtani singled to start of of the Angels part of the fourth. Taylor Ward singled (after a successful challenge). Mickey Moniak then homered. 4-3 ballgame. He’s a Moniak, Moniak I know! That’s within range in the fourth inning.
Escobar struck out, Adell grounded out, and Moustakas popped out to end the Angeles half of the inning. I know. I know. I just write it. I don’t make it happen.
In the 5th inning Hunter Renfroe singled to lead things off. Matt Thaiss then grounded into a double play. Folks, they’re not going to win the ball game that way. Andrew Velazquez was out on a grounder to first. Mookie Betts homered again to make it 5-3 Dodgers. Not cool! The Fresh Prince of Bel Air singled on a liner to right. Max Muncy mercifully popped out to short. J.D. Martinez flied out. Cool!
Now we are in the 6th inning and Shohei Ohtani leads off with your basic four pitch walk. It’s almost like they would rather pitch to Taylor Ward. Go figure! They tried to pick Ohtani off, but no dice. Ward lined out to left bringing up Mighty Mickey who struck out on a foul tip. Eduardo Escobar singled to drive Ohtani all the way to second with two outs. (Baby steps) Jo Adell struck out. The sun must have been in his eyes.
Some Rando named Jonny Deluca came up to pinch hit for the Dodgers left fielder and struck out. Jason Heyward grounded out. There was an unsuccessful challenge. Umpire conspiracy against the Dodgers? Nahhh! James Outman singled, although by rights he should have made an out-man. Miguel Rojas walked on four pitches. Mookie Betts doubled to score both Outman and Rojas. 7-3 Dodgers. This is just not our day. You’d think it was Saturday or something. Freddie Freeman popped out.
Mike Moustakas homered. Yes it was a solo shot, but it was better than nothing. 7-4 Dodgers.
Hunter Renfroe grounded out to third but Matt Thaiss singled on a grounder to right. Andrew Velazquez grounded into a force out and managed to be out himself on the same play. Now it was 7-4 and two outs. Shohei Ohtani came up, resulting in a pitcher change. Alex Vesia replaced Tony Gonsolin. He struck out Ohtani to end the Angels seventh.
Will Smith came up and grounded out to the pitcher. Max Muncy flied out to Moniak in Right. J.D. Martinez walked. Jonny Deluca grounded into a force out. Now the Angels are back up for the top of the eighth inning. We’ll get ’em this time for sure! The Dodgers brought in Brusdar Graterol to pitch. He got Taylor Ward out on a grounder to short. Mickey Moniak made up for that by a single to right. Eduardo Escobar popped out to the shortstop Rojas. Jo Adell then struck out to end the Angels half of the eighth inning.
Aaron Loup came in to pitch the ninth inning. He has an interesting “role” now. Pinch hitter Miguel Vargas replaced Jason Heyward. There was a mound visit and then Loup walked him. James Out-man came up and grounded into a force out, Loup to Velazquez. Miguel Rojas doubled to Ward. Out-man scored on the play. 8-4 Dodgers. Aaron Loup intentionally walked Mookie Betts. So now we had two men on and only one out with the Angels behind by four in the eighth. Freddie Freeman grounded into a force out scoring Rojas. A throwing error by Velazquez resulted in Freemen reaching first safely. 9-4 Dodgers. Will Smith homered to make it what like 11- 4 Dodgers? No problem.
In the top of the ninth, Mike Moustakas struck out. I’d gripe, but he did homer earlier. Hunter Renfroe walked. Matt Thaiss grounded into a double play second to short to first. Pinch Hitter Luis Rengifo lined out to center to end the game.
The Angels lost this one 11-4. Uggg!
We’re 1-8 over our last 9; for all intents and purposes this is last year’s 14 game losing streak, but this dismal stretch – bodies littered all over the field, SPs losing their stuff, relief taking a dive, offense long ball or nothing usually nothing, etc – is still ongoing. Maybe after the ASB some injured guys will be back, but hey, it’s the Angels. I suspect we’re out of it again. Yet again. Early July. “It” being the playoffs.
And when I say “suspect” it’s my timeless Never Say Never self. Realistically? We’re foolin’ ourselves if we think we’re playing in Oct this year.
My gawd, you fall apart just when the team brass says “As long as we’re in this, we’re competitive…we’re not trading Ohtani…” At that point I think we were 8 games over.
So now there’s no excuse. I count myself fortunate to have had the best player in history on our hapless HAPLESS team. I’m already wishing he finds a real team to go deep into the playoffs with.
I wonder if he and Trout have ever had a (translated) conversation about the maddening state of the Angels. I imagine Trout saying positive things, but finally saying something like If I’d Have Known At 21 What I Know Now…
Having pre-injury Moore back to bullpen is a huge boost postASG.
https://twitter.com/RhettBollinger/status/1677811283184476160
Not sure what is going on with Devenski (other teams figured him out/ is he tipping his pitches?). But having good trio of Soriano/Moore/Estevez will go a long way.
If they didn’t blow those 4-5 games in April / May , they’d still be 50-40 and feeling ok-ish. I feel like we were all correct when it felt like season ended on Opening Day.
Yeah but they also won games they shouldn’t have. The season has a way of balancing out.
At the start of the season I felt this team healthy had 85ish wins in it.
With the injuries it’s likely more like 79-81ish in my opinion.
You are right. There were about 5-6 games that we came back from behind to win. There were Neto, Wallach, Urshela, Thaiss, Drury, and Moniak, who we did not expect to have clutch hits for those exhilarating wins. Even those we lost, we were competitive right to the end. They were really fun to watch.
The player I miss the most is Urshela. BBRef indicates that Urshela WAR is 0.6, but I swear that he was almost 3 wins worth during April, May, and first half of June. It would be ironical if Angels miss playoff spot by 3 games.
Doesn’t work like that … you can’t just say “there were 5-6 games we came back in that we should not have won,” without ALSO saying we lost a few that we shouldn’t have lost … If you really look at the games in question it probably more or less balances out …
Michael Lorenzen and Alex Cobb to the ASG. Who were they again?
Alex Cobb has had quietly a sound season with 6W-2L with ERA 2.97 FIP 3.04. Kept all rotational turns except for 17 day IL stint with oblique strain in June. What is this, Giants trainer/medical staff are also much better than those of Angels/Asstros?
Apparently a BP for LA:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/_/id/42622
Considering that this resulted in a shut out the last time the Doyers did this to us why no reason not to do it again.
hell may even be 2 combined no hitters in the same day. The was the last time that happened?
I would presume never, so you’re saying we should go for it? Lulz
Pirates actually had no hitter going into the 8th inning against Diamondbacks. Pirates took out the starter Keller, and the relief pitcher gave up a homerun on the second pitch to the first batter he faced. Now they are playing extra innings.
Pirates lost, being walked off by base hit by Corbin Carroll, who I thought was going to be on IL. They must have excellent training/medical staff. They do have Mayo Clinic there, after all. One of my best friends from Hawaii is a gastroenterologist there.
Clearly the thought with Vesia is to neutralize both HR threats of Ohtani and Moniak in the 1st inning by using the LH pitcher as Opener… Though Shohei has had decent success against them this year, if I am not mistaken…..
Isn’t that our entire remaining offense?
Second No-Hitter of the season by combined pitchers of Tigers over Blue Jays. The first one was also PERFECTO by MLB DV rule violater, German.
I count this as blessing that this didn’t occur to the Angels. Unless Michael Groves becomes a Cy-Rookie in throwing PERFECTO, or Dave Roberts tricking Angels again with their stringing 7 or 8 bullpen pitchers to throw PERFECTO. Which would we hate more?
Dave Roberts must be really confident about this game. He confirmed the usage of Cy-Rookie Michael Grove as starter. No announcement of Angels lineup yet.
Official Starting Lineup:
Ohtani DH
Renfroe RH
Moniak CF
Adell LF
Moose 1B
Escobar 3B
Thaiss C
Rengifo 2B
Velazquez SS
Let’s maintain above 0.500 record before ASG!
Moose & Escobar are decent depth pieces, but they’re being cast into starting roles, unfortunately.
I will be watching with curiosity how the Angels batters will be swinging bats against this Cy-Rookie. With patience or aggression?
I’m not necessarily opposed to early swinging so long as the hitter is swinging at clear strikes or it’s “their pitch”.
Just thinking about why all batters have to employ the same approach. Someone mentioned yesterday being predictable gives advantage to the pitcher. How about assign certain batters to be aggressive and others be patient at least early in the count? Of course, they should adjust depending on how the pitcher is throwing. If he is having throwing strikes, then Angels need to be patient and vice versa.
Yes exactly there should be no set approach. The data aka pitch location should determine the approach. By all means go up there looking for a pitch in a certain spot to start the at bat but if that pitch isn’t in that exact location you take the pitch.
What we were doing is literally swinging at the first pitch no matter what. That’s just bad baseball. Also if the batter in front of you makes an out on one pitch you don’t also swing at the first pitch . Even if that pitch is in the spot you had zeroed in on.
What? No Rendon?
Why not IL him and bring up someone like Cabbage.
Angels medical/training staff probably miscalculated that Rendon’s bruise on the shin would heal a bit quicker. Someone like Cabbage may have been at least worth a look.
IL would have been the logical choice as Asstros did with Altuve with his oblique strain, now retrospective from Friday, and would be ready for next Friday against Angels at least on paper.
However, since Asstros medical/trainer staff went to the same online or off shore school that Angels counterpart attended, I will not be too surprised that Altuve may end up not being back from his oblique injury until middle August, though.
Him has a boo-boo.
Well, I need to head to bed… here is hoping that I wake up and don’t see a sarcastic or lamenting post-game title when I login in the morning…
https://twitter.com/steve_wendt/status/1677528971095990272?s=20
So, what’s crack-a-lacking?
Well let’s start with what we do know, are starters are coming apart at the seams, our full Bullpen can’t stop on a bicycle with new brakes, and our batters like to look out at the bases with other Angels camped out there and admire the color red. Other than that, nothing is new as the M*A*S*H tents are starting to send the troops back to the starting front lines soon. So, what’s shaken with you?
Other than that, we’re good.
Anyone know how Walsh is doing at AAA?
He played yesterday, struck out twice, BA at 0.267.
Thank you Sir.
Translates to .150 in the majors.
He’s nothing more than a late innings defensive replacement. He’ll find himself in Pittsburg or KC next season looking for a job.
Playing as well as the parent club is
https://www.milb.com/player/jared-walsh-665120
Thanks: Bummer that productive players like Urshella, Drury, O’Hoppe, Neto, Moore and yes, a diminished Trout, are injured while guys that seem
to be washed are healthy.
A quality baseball team worth following closely and caring about, that’s what is lacking. And I wished I lacked the DNA that makes me a fan of this team. A cruel and crude summer ritual that’s left me disappointed for most of my fandom. Saddest donkey minus.
When’s football season start!
UFC, UFC and UFC. Oh and the Angels later.
Would be a good day for a commanding performance from Patrick today. We kinda sorta need it.
Hopefully Ohtani can get it ramped up today….
I think it is Reid today, sir.
Right you are.
I feel better about Reid so LFG.
Remember last year when we lost a whole bunch of games in a row? Feels like that again…. All-star break can’t come fast enough.
Win today and regroup!!
The really frustrating thing about the Angels losing, for me, is that all of the teams ahead of them (except for the Rays) the Rangers, Astros, Orioles, Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners, Twins, Red Sox all seem very beatable. They don’t seem to be any more talented than the Angels are.
And if the Angels could have been lucky and made it through the season with 90% of their roster avoiding injury, the Angels would easily be the second best team in the AL.
With the rest of the league being so weak, and with some great additions to the Angel roster (O’Hoppe, Neto, Moniak, Drury, Moore, Estevez), this season was their best chance in a very long time to have a great year, but it has all just turned into disconnected grains of sand escaping through our fingers.
The longest losing streak in MLB is Tampa Bay’s 6, while the longest winning streak is Mets’ 6. Baseball certainly bounces in a strangely random manner. Curiouser and curiouser is Tampa Bays present funk commenced when they lost their series with Mariners.
Atlanta Braves is the only team I consider close to a complete team without any deficiency in starting pitching, relief pitching, defense, and most of all, terrific bats from 1 to 9. Orlando Arcia is hitting 0,295/0,430/0.778 with 7HR, and he is 9 hole batter. I thought we had the best 9 hole hitter in Neto, but I now defer that to Arcia.
Some other General Manager once worked in Atlanta but I can’t recall just who it was now ❓
Yep he was the underling on a tremendous President of Baseball Ops.
Now I am reading a lot about then Braves GM John Coppolella, who was banned by Manfraud for life because of tampering with MLB signing rules of both domestic and international players.
I am getting really interested in finding more about internal draft rules. It is deep, and it will take at least few more weeks of reading and comprehending lawyer talks.
This was written back in 2013 in Bleacher Report, when Bud Selig was the commissioner.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1852789-why-mlb-needs-to-create-an-international-draft-and-what-it-would-mean
-If it’s done right, designing and implementing an international draft system that benefits amateur players could both improve the talent pool in already baseball-centric countries and, more importantly, stimulate the growth of the sport worldwide.
-However, developing a draft based on the perceived best interests of amateur players isn’t on MLB’s agenda. Regulating teams’ international spending, on the other hand, remains a top priority. And for that reason, there’s also a growing fear that an international draft would diminish the talent pool in some countries.
-Creating an international draft is a major operation—one that will take years of planning and require complete cooperation from other countries. So, it’s not a coincidence that MLB is actively pursuing change in the free-agent post system of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
-As of now, the fundamental problem—and it’s a big one—with an international draft is that neither MLB nor the MLBPA (actually it is sports agents/lawyers) represents the best interests of international amateur players.
The President of Baseball Ops I was referring to is Alex Anthopoulos.
The former Braves GM that Grandpa was referring to is current Angels’ GM Perry Minasian.
Yes, I am aware of who GP was referring to. That is the reason why wikipediaing of PM led me to John Coppolella, who, because of tampering resulting in subsequent punishments and morale degradement on Braves, left the operation in shambles. I also noted that Mr. Anthopoulos had taken over, and it looks like he has successfully resurrected the baseball operation.
It still does not wipe out the fact that both owners of MLB and baseball agents/lawyers fleecing economically poor countries, territories, and islands of their baseball players.
If Japan, Taiwan, and Korea were not economically sound as they are now, they would have been subjected to the same treatment.
P.S. I also read that Mr. Coppolella is now reinstated by MLB.
P.P.S Nothing against Mr. Coppolella, but it sounds very much like the name of my first college recreational softball team, Coprophilia.
Agreed that the competition is there to he had and few of them appear more talented, on paper, than the Angels.
It would be nice if the team could refrain from breaking their face by continually stepping on rakes.
I did that once when up to shenanigans at 12. Made the sound in my head just like in a cartoon!
Yikes, glad I didn’t watch that calamity. This team is just repeating the 14 game losing streak of last year, that knocked them out of any hope of making the playoffs.
What is the “picture” from this post? It’s bizarre. Computer generated? Honus Wagner inspired, old timey baseball cards?
It looks like a young sickly 1920’s version of Mike trOUT holding a badminton racket with oddly shaped hands and wrists, deformed elbows from all the Tommy John surgery? Dislocated Broken hip? In the picture trOUT obviously has struck out “again” and has that blank, vacant stare as he walks back to the sewage filled team Hovel.
Is this odd distorted body artwork commentary on the injury depleted Angels team? I know these type of pictures have been posted before and I always wondered where it was from.
More information on the artwork, less information on the floundering, predicable, losing, horrible, sad donkey filled team.
AI-generated
I’m interested. Could CTPG create an AI-Generated team which we could follow instead of this one?
SBL…Skynet Baseball League
Second installment of incredible comeback in MLB:
I was in college in upstate New York when I was reading that MFYankees were 14 GB behind Red Sux on July 20, 1978 in newspaper. (I used to read newspaper to peruse box scores and standings every day.) This was 2 years before MTV was launched on cable. This was also 2 years before the Miracle on Ice of USA college hockey players beating Mighty ‘Professional’ Russian team, who got sent to Siberia after their embarrassing loss.
It was the year that Reggie Jackson got suspended in midseason because of showdown with fiery Billy Martin, who also resigned a week later. It was also the year that Yankees games started to be broadcast nationwide via WPIX. Ted Turner started broadcasting Braves games via TBS the year before.
But the Bronx Bombers won 52 of their remaining 73 games and Bucky Dent’s game-winning home run in the one-game tie breaker with the Red Sox (Bucky Dent homerun) gave New York the division. MFYankees won the World Series beating Doyers 4-2.
You mean the ‘78 Yankees with 25 game winner Ron Guidry, 20 game winner Ed Figueroa AND Catfish Hunter?!
Oh and also Munson, Chambliss, Randolph, Bucky Dent, Nettles, Pinella, Reggie Jackson and Mickey Rivers?!
Again, comparing that team to the ‘23 Angels? 😂
Senor Stopper!
The 1978 Angels were an interesting team and a glimpse towards the “Yes We Can” magical 1979 season. I can remember spending a lot of happy time at the Big A those seasons.
Me too…my first year.
That had me look at 1978 California Angels, who finished 2nd in AL West. MLB did not have playoff system then, and BBRef had Royals won AL West with 92 wins. Would have been interesting if they had wild cards then and see how Angels would have done. I see Ryan and Tanana and Fregosi taking over managerial position.
The 1978 Angels were a fun team and a glimpse towards the magical 1979 “Yes We Can!” season. I have great memories of many games at the Big A during those seasons.
Ryan, Tanana, Downing, Baylor, Grich, Lansford – fun stuff!!
Another thing I found interesting about this team according to BBRef is that the team was all composed of 🇺🇸 except for Tony Solalta, who was American Samoan.
Tony has some pop in his bat from the left side. If you look at his career stats, he has a career OPS+ of 120. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/solaito01.shtml
I had no idea that my bringing up 1978 Yankees would lead to discussing 1978-9 Angels, which have triggered numerous positive posts about them. I feel like I have learned an important piece of glorious Angels history. Thank you, everyone.
Loved Papa Jack And don’t forget Dave LaRoche our closer that year who was the first Angel player who said he really wanted to be here because he bled Angel Red. (Screw you Tommy Lasorda)
The Yes We Can cheer was actually born out of that season even though it became more of a rally cry in 1979. I remember first hearing it during a double header sweep against Royals on September 9, 1978 when 2 crazy Angel fans in togas and halos went around the stadium with a sign getting people to cheer .
The team was in a dog fight for the division for most of the season with the Royals until finally starting to fade a week after the DH and then , of course, dealing with the murder of Lyman Bostock in Gary, Indiana a week after that.
I miss the first golden age of Angel baseball, the era from 1978 through1986 when the Angels and Royals were battling each other every year for the AL West title.
Except for Ron Kittle and the Sox in ’83
I say that we talk about the 1979 Angels and not the 2023 Angels. The 1979 Angels were so much fun. I used to score the games while listening on the radio and I still have many scorebooks from that great season. I also used to use a cassette recorder to record the calls from Dick Enberg and Don Drysdale (and Al Wisk).
I am on the field in this video.
We have dirt in a Szabo beer cup.
We collected that night…Holy Grail.
https://youtu.be/tICfzmdkl9E
Wow is the only word I can come with. Obviously fans storming onto the field will never occur again for safety reason, but that must have been amazing sensation to be on the field with your ‘heroes.’
The players were long gone.
They ran into the clubhouse.
We were on the field an hour.
That makes sense, too. They probably did not want to get hurt celebrating on the field with the fans. After all, they still had playoffs to play in. Besides, I am sure ice cold beer and champagne were waiting for them in the clubhouse.
And even back then Carew bobbled it, making it hard for us fans. 😀
Wasn’t there for that one, but I was for the ‘86 clincher when everyone ran on the field 7-1 over the Rangers….and for the clinchers at home between 04 and 09…no fans on the field for those.
Great memories!
Me too…all of them through 2002 ALCS.
Didn’t make W/S due to detached retina.
After 2002 it was hit and miss for playoffs
Did see Vladdy’s clutch 2 run single in 09.
Did you also see that the guy who may have been the best player on that Angel team, outfielder Lyman Bostock, was murdered during the last month of the season?
Yeah that was heartbreaking
I just looked it up. That is really unfortunate tragedy to such a gentle soul.
He was a gentle soul. He was a star player for the Twins who signed a huge (for the time) free agent contract with the Angels during the 1977 off-season. He had a terrible first month of the season with the Angels in 1978, so he went to the owner, Gene Autry, and returned his paycheck for the month because he felt like he had let the team down.
Autry refused to take the check, so Bostock donated the whole check to charity.
I also loved his interactions with Rod Carew.
–“Lyman Bostock was my teammate on the Twins for three years. I knew he was very close to an uncle who lived in Gary, Indiana. Lyman often visited him after games against the White Sox. How senseless. How horrible. I still can’t believe it happened. Everyone really liked Lyman. When we played the Angels [in 1978], he sent the batboy over to me with a newspaper photograph of himself wearing sunglasses with dollar signs on the lenses. Above the picture Lyman had written, Rod, I need help. His average was around .200. So I watched him in the game. I noticed he was lunging at pitches. He was too anxious. His swing wasn’t smooth, as it normally is. I told him I thought he was trying to hit the ball into “holes” between fielders instead of swinging with the pitch. No one can manipulate a bat so well that he can consistently hit the ball into holes. I don’t know if I helped or not, but Lyman picked up and was batting .296 when he died.”
In 1978, the owner of the Twins went to a Lion’s Club meeting where he gave a speech and spewed all kinds of racist nonsense. When Rod Carew found out, he declared that he wasn’t going to work on Calvin Griffith’s plantation anymore and demanded to be traded.
The Twins had deals in the works with the Yankees and Angels. Having to decide between the two, Carew called up his buddy Bostock and asked him how he liked playing for the Angels, and Bostock gave the Angels a glowing recommendation, which is why Carew agreed to be traded to the Halos.
Bobby Grich is another Angel great from that era who almost became a Yankee. During the first year of free agency as we know know it, in the 1976 off-season, Grich met with the Yanks and had a lucrative offer from them that he took with him on his drive back home after the season to California.
He really wanted to be an Angel, but the Angels had already forked over a ton of FA money by signing Don Baylor and Joe Rudi.
Halfway through his drive home, he stopped his car, found a phone, and called his agent and told him to contact the Angels and see if they would be willing to sign a third high profile FA, although he was willing to take less money than the Yanks offered so he could play with his hometown team.
It must have been a long distance phone call from Bostock because by the time Rodney Cline was traded to Anaheim Lyman had already been dead for over 4 months.
The phone call where Lyman gave Rodney a good impression of the Angels must have happened earlier in the year since Griffith gave his horrible speech on Sept 28, five days after Bostock’s death.
Interesting to read about how MLB owners colluded to block Carew from playing for MLB teams again after 1985. It is unfortunate that NPB scouts did not recruit him like they did with Andruw Jones or Warren Cromartie, both of whom flourished in NPB.
Rod Carew would have been loved and worshiped in Japan.
You are right — no one offered him a contract and he was forced to retire, although Carew says that he was ready to retire before then, before he got hit number three thousand, but Reggie Jackson talked him out of it.
Bobby Grich announced his retirement to reporters in the cramped visitor’s clubhouse in Fenway Park after Game Seven of the ALCS.
I was 14 and in my third season as an Angels fan, his murder was shocking to me.
Glad to see a few of you from my era. My dad took me to first Angel games in 75 when I was a little kid. Cherish the memories and still sit in same section I did with him but man sometimes I wish he hadn’t turned his back on LA where he grew up and took me to see the Dodgers. Lol.
I mean we have all these theories and fixes for the Moreno era but the last 6 years or so have just really been soul crushing.
When the Angels generally sucked in our youth it was because the team was awful. A bad team playing poorly is not fun, but you make the best of it.
These particularly frustrating last 6+ seasons have included 2 MVP level
players and big payroll with mediocre (at best) results. A team that is good on paper that plays well below its capabilities is particularly frustrating from a fan standpoint.
I would rather have a bunch of young guys working hard and over-achieving than watch a collection of players under-achieving.
My first favorite player was Dave Chalk. He looked cool. He had an interesting name, and he usually had really good first halves of the season.
Dave Chalk was one of my favorite players in my first 2-3 years as an Angels fan.
I do ask myself how I ended up an Angels fan for 47 years now. Lots of heartache with some really good times sprinkled in now and then.
Just thinking of Dave Chalk now still gets everyone all choked up.
Yeah that was awful
Another interesting sad fact…Lyman is a member of the 27 Club.
basically I agree with you. That was a much better team than the 23 Angels. But… those Skanks have the Championship Shine that makes them seem better than they were, at least individually. Bucky Dent is the most obvious one. He had a .603 OPS and a 72 OPS+. “Sluggers” like Munson and Chambliss were pretty blah. Munson, 6 HRs, a 101 OPS+, Chambliss 12 HRs, 100 OPS+. Reggie’s .834 OPS was the highest on that team.
Looking at the stats it seems they walked a lot. Randolph K’d 51 times, walked 82 times. Nettles 69 Ks, 59 BBs. That team wasn’t saddled with a .298 OBP (Renfroe)….well, except for Dent, that is. Interestingly the highest OPS+ was Reggie at 136 while our having-a-horrible-year star and now he’s hurt, Mike Trout, has a 135 currently. Shohei is at 178 for comparison.
Guidry was phenomenal that year. Being a Yankee hater I kept wanting him to lose and he rarely did. Gossage and Lyle were solid in the pen. Overall, though, they weren’t even close to the 1998 Skanks.
I am predicting Angels lose today.
After finishing a game under 0.500 in the first half, the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals appeared to be en route to a mediocre season.But behind great performances by Bob Gibson (a 3.29 ERA and 13 wins), Bill White (a .938 OPS and 14 home runs) and Lou Brock (a .932 OPS and 11 home runs), the Cardinals surged in the second half. The Birds won 54 games in the second half, including a 21-8 record in September. The team also bested the New York Yankees in the World Series, 4-3.
Let the hate or mashing on Kiyotchan begin! There is nothing good to watch since Andy Murray lost yesterday, anyway.
No hate, just 😂 . 1964 Cardinals?! Dude – that team was stacked and had an unbelievable pitching staff. Wishfully comparing the ‘23 Angels to the ‘64 Cardinals is like comparing filet mignon to hamburger; prime rib to chuck steak. While they are both baseball teams, the comparison really stops there.
‘64 Cards nearly had THREE 20 game winners in Gibson, Simmons and Sadecki.
Not to mention Flood, McCarver, Groat, Beyer, White and Lou friggin Brock. Approx 40 All Star appearances between those players alone!
I mean, come on.
Truth be told, I virtually know nothing about American baseball before 1971 when I came to the US. This is what happens when I google ‘what are the greatest comebacks in MLB history’.
I used to live in Omaha. If you ever visit Omaha, and I highly recommend College World Series, there used to a sports bar called Gibson’s in downtown. (Internet search no longer confirms its existence, so I presume it is no longer there.) I learned that Bob Gibson was born in Omaha, incredible baseball and basketball player.
Omaha is a great place and home to Warren Buffett. Hopefully you invested in Berkshire Hathaway when you were there.
Looking at greatest comebacks is fun but there also has to be context. These teams (‘64 Cards and ‘78 Yankees) were deep in talent and were All-Star level players up and down the lineup and pitching staff. So it’s a tough comparison to the ‘23 Angels.
Berkshire Hathaway could have been bought @$3443 per share in 1987, now worth almost half a million dollars. I was still a grad student, so $3443 would have covered single bedroom apartment rent for a year in Omaha at that time. Maybe I should have been homeless. Winter in Omaha is pretty frigid, though.
Mr. Buffet has owned a modest house in Omaha, I believe he still lives there. I was also told that CEO of Godfather’s Pizza lived in a luxurious mansion with 10 garages, each of which housed latest model Mercedes Bents, Porches and Jaguars in 1987.
This is actually a good prediction from you
Seattle has leapfrogged the Angels in the standings. That’s how bad this has become.
This is very sad indeed.
We all need to hunker down in our Safe Spaces going forward. The Shohei trade debacle, manager being fired, more injuries, player regression. Get your popcorn.
The problem is clearly the ownership, pitching, hitting, coaching, player development, medical staff, front office, scouting, back office, executive staff, media relations, marketing, merchandising, parking attendants, concessions, traveling secretary, club house staff, scoreboard staff, analytics staff, TV announcers, radio announcers, all the assistants and related minions that are doing the dark lord’s bidding.
The field maintenance crew are doing a great job.
Blow up the outside world.
The first 8 things you listed are indeed the top 8 issues of concern and problems. I might however change the order a bit : ownership, scouting, medical staff, front office, pitching, coaching, player development, hitting. The remainder have minimal impact and really come down to attitude and personality — those things are about culture and winning. The main this is that a healthy culture brings in or hires people who FIT that culture, and utimately winning tends to positively impact staff happiness and a having a positive attitude. And those things tend to perpetuate themselves.
Yes. This is where I have landed. What do you do when something you love and care about for so long is toxic and mishandled? At some point you put up big enough boundaries to protect yourself. And you hope for the kind of fundamental change that gives hope that maybe things will be different.
So – after investing a ton of $$ into this organization, I did not renew my season tickets and have placed large boundaries which cause me to not live-or-die this team, I am hoping for the kind of systemic change that can allow me to lower my boundaries and invest in this Org once again.
For that to happen, Arte needs to sell the team and guys like Carpino and Kuhl need to be replaced with baseball ops that are sound and not marketing-centric. Hopefully new ownership would bring a complete overhaul of scouting, player development, strength and conditioning, minor league investment etc.
That is one of the reasons I am hoping for an Ohtani trade. It would be a signal that it is not business as usual and, perhaps, the first sign that Arte is going to truly divest himself of this asset.
I have officially checked out of this season. Wake me up when Nevin gets fired or Arte sells the team.
Only the sale will make a difference.
This is just super sad lmao
Another season where the Black Box data is forthcoming.