Totally Unwatchable

There are D&D nerds that have scored more than the Angels over the last couple days, and the offensive impotence jokes could continue, but in reality, the Halos have been outscored 17-0 since Tuesday Morning. Simply pathetic.

I wish I could say I've watched more than 5 innings of Angels Baseball over the last few days, but on this most recent losing streak, the Angels are just so miserable, they are impossible to watch for longer than a couple innings.

I'm not going to sit here and try to make excuses, or attempt to resolve these issues with a trade or signing that will never happen. I'm just making a plea to my beloved Angels:

Dear Angels Baseball,

Please stop sucking, and if you are going to lose, at least score some runs.

Love,
-Angels Nation

(PS: David Wright wouldn't hurt)

The Dan Haren Treatment

The Dan Haren Treatment is a term used in baseball for when a Los Angeles Angels pitcher pitches well enough to win the game, but the offense gives him anywhere between 0-2 runs of support, causing the pitcher to get the loss or no decision.

As you can see from the wikipedia entry, this is a totally real thing, and you should all take it very seriously. Today, Joel Pineiro (in his first start this season after coming off the DL) tossed 7 innings, had just 1 run on 4 hits, and ended up with the no decision. If not for a "clutch" RBI ground-out by Kendrick in the top of the 9th, poor Joel would have ended up with the loss. Pineiro's only mistake (other than pitching for a team that refuses to hit consistently?)? A lead-off home run to Matt Joyce in the top of the 5th.

Otherwise, Pineiro was brilliant, giving Angels fans a ton of hope that we actually have a solid pitching rotation past our 1-2 punch of Weaver and Haren. There were a few situations where guys like Bourjos, Amarista and Conger could have come up big and gotten the Halos the lead, but they aren't going to be able to do it all season. I think its time for our 2-3-4 hitters to put up or shut up. Abreu, Hunter and Wells went a combined 1-12 with 12 strikeouts and a run. Pathetic. These are the guys who should already have 5 or 6 homers with 15 RBI (at least). Instead, they are grounding into double plays or just striking out.

If the Angels hope to contend for a Western division title this year, they had better stop giving guys like Haren and Pineiro the Dan Haren Treatment.

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Fact: I started writing this in the top of the 10th, knowing full well Fernando Rodney (or someone else) would blow it in the bottom of the frame, giving us yet another extra inning loss....

Angels Having Worst Season in Team History

At least, that's what reading twitter on a nightly basis, or listening to Terry Smith take call-after-call on Angel Talk after the games would lead you to believe. Don't get me wrong. I'm incredibly glass-half-empty on a number of things, including my beloved Angels, but some of the stuff I've read and heard has been just silly. Between the Bullpen, Vernon Wells, Jeff Mathis, Scott Kazmir and our hitting with RISP, you'd think we were the worst team in baseball. We are 7-5... Is it great? No, but we are only two games back of the Rangers, who started 6-0. But I figured since its an off day, and I'm kinda bored, so lets play along!

So, its pretty clear through 12 games that this team isn't ready for any kind of sustained level of success. The bullpen has been MISERABLE, costing Ervin Santana wins in all three of his starts, and Dan Haren a win in one of his. Its like we gathered the guys scalping tickets on Gene Autry, slapped some random jerseys on their backs, and tossed them into our bullpen to blow our leads. That is, if we even get a lead!

The Angels have been historically bad offensively... I mean, I've got no stats here to back me up, but from what I've seen, with my own eyes, this is a bad team with runners in scoring position. We never come up with the big hits, or any hits at all for that matter. Its like we are taking negative steroids or something. To be honest though, this offensive haphazardness really begins and ends with our "big" off-season grab, Vernon BLEEPING Wells!

I don't think its possible to have a worse start to a season than the one Vernon Wells is having... I mean, isn't he only hitting like .100 now? What a bum! We trade beloved fan favorites Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli for this guy, and he just craps out all over the field. I don't know why he ever got a gold glove, dude plays the same level of defense as 35-year-old Garret Anderson. The Vernon Wells trade might be the worst one we have ever made, if it wasn't for some douche name Scott Kazmir!

(Ok, in all honesty here, I do not like the Scott Kazmir deal, and to be honest, the best option for him at this point is to let him go, eat the final year (years?) of his contract and just wash our hands of the whole thing. Find some sort of starter-by-committee with Palmer, Thompson, Takahashi and Chatwood. The only way out of this mess is to let him go. No foolin..)

So really, at this point, we are actually hoping and praying for the return of Erick Aybar, Joel Pineiro and Kendrys Morales? One guy who plays about the most average defense of anyone on our team, another guy who hasn't even given us a whole season of solid baseball, and a third who broke his leg celebrating? Good Grief. We are going to be lucky if we can squeak past the Mariners for third place...

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This was fun, we should do it again some time.

Tyler Chatwood: Already a Bust?

Of Course Chatwood isn't already a bust. That's just silly talk. Granted, he gave up 4 runs in 5 Innings on Monday Nights loss to the flaming hot Cleveland Indians. But that's not really all that bad. Add an inning and subtract a run, that's a Quality Start! However, there is obviously room for improvement, and he shouldn't be the long term solution for the Halos in 2011, but its pretty clear that he will be a solid option for 2012 and beyond.

It didn't help that the offense gave Chatwood exactly zero runs of support (the Dan Haren Treatment, already?). The Offense looked as bad as it has all season, only coming up with 4 measly hits.

Scott Downs was solid in his return from the DL (and debut in an Angel Uniform), but in a game that was already over, did it really mean anything? Only time will tell. It was another good outing for the Bullpen, however. Zero Earned over 4 innings, one of their best performances of the season.

If nothing else, Chatwood can take this away from his first major league start: At least I'm better than Scott Kazmir and Matt Palmer.

Just Another Disappointing Day in Anaheim

I didn't get to see most of the game, but I heard most of it.. and what a dismal performance. You'd think in a game where we scored 4 runs, I couldn't get on the offenses case, but here we are. They left a ton of runners stranded in Scoring Position, and had numerous instances where they had a runner on second or third with fewer than two outs, and still failed to produce the run.

Equally as depressing as the anemic offense was the play in the field, which pushed across a run on a strikeout. Then the haphazard bullpen, whose star is Kevin Jepsen, put KC over the top for good in the 8th. If Mike Scioscia goes back to Jepsen in a similar set-up situation ever again, his sanity should be questioned. I almost hope that we get all these bullpen kinks worked out now... even if it means we have to start out 1-5, just so we establish the right guys in the right roles before the games start to mean more in August and September.

The only positives today were Alberto Callaspo and Erick Aybar, who went a combined 4-7 (with a walk) and drove in half of the Angels 4 runs. Torii Hunter hit his 2nd home run of the season, and Ervin Santana looked good, but had obvious room for improvement.