Halos Heaven

it was super painful to watch the last 2 innings...

but i watched… and i’ll be watching again tomorrow… well said

but ...

will you be watching the two replays at 12AM and at 3AM? Huh, will ya? ;)

haha if i didnt have to work at 6 in the morn...

probably no haha

bottom of 5th on the 1st replay

i’ll catch the inns i missed earlier.

At the very least

We get to see the further development (barring any injuries) of Kmo, Kendrick, and Napoli. Wish I could add Wood to that list though.

Fuentes

and whoever hired him.

He is NOT closer material. there’s a reason he was given the boot from Colorado.

ladybug - May 1, 2009 reply

What's Percival been up to?

clover_black - May 1, 2009 reply

44FAN - May 1, 2009 reply

Underestimating K-Rod is the best thing the FO ever did in the off-season.

It accelerated and rushed the other guys into roles they have not been accustomed yet.

Our pen now looks more like the Yankees of 2009 rather than the Yankees of 1996.

Ugh.

'Cause those guys never expected Frankie to leave?

TheTypingFiend - May 1, 2009 reply

More likely the complete descimation of the starting lineup

has accelerated others into roles that they aren’t ready for.

The game is bigger than Franky.

Oh yeah, Fuentes sucks balls.

clover_black - May 1, 2009 reply

Yeah, if Dondo was purely pitching in the 7th

inning, he wouldn’t be getting thoroughly destroyed everytime he took the field. Vice versa for for shields. These jokes are there to get three outs in the 7th 8th or 9th inning. I don’t give a shit which one they are accustomed too, they are downright terrible, their job performance is lousy, and they need to step up and get it done.

bruinbrah - May 1, 2009 reply

Uhhhhhh, didn't ET try to get outs in the 8th tonight?

FAIL!

?

bruinbrah - May 1, 2009 reply

I think even Fuentes tried.

he just FAILED.

?

I think even Fuentes tried.

he just FAILED.

whoa...

deja vu!

I don't even understand this

How did letting K-Rod go force anyone into roles that they are not accustomed to? Everyone is in their same role as last year, with Shields and Dondo being our setup guys. The fact that they both suck at it, and the Fuentes also is sucking, has nothing to do with new roles for these guys. It has to do with a total failure to do their jobs.

I’m hoping every night that they will turn it around!

agreed

stuck in Romania - May 2, 2009 reply

Wow. What a bummer.

Prophecy as told by Zu Long. Fuentes is officially weak.

if i had known this was gonna happen

i would have wanted the game to end in the 6th when it was raining

I feel like when I watch the games, I jinx them.

And then when they lose, it ruins my night. I’m so close to giving up hope. This is the most laughably bad pen in the game.

chairmanofthebar - May 1, 2009 reply

laugh...

i was laughing as soon as Fuentes came to the mound in the 9th… I knew it was over, for some stupid reason.

same

I was hoping Fuentes would make me eat crow

But knew beter

crow sure sounds good right now...

crow

remember that pic of weaver doing yoga a few weeks ago? that was crow pose…

cath619 - May 1, 2009 reply

Isn't there a post around here somewhere saying happy to have Fuentes, see you Frankie?

Not that any of you noticed or care, but I did predict that he will blow 4 of the first ten.
I think I am right on schedule

Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - May 1, 2009 reply

When do we go to Vegas knower of all...

Downing Rules - May 2, 2009 reply

I was optimistic

I knew he would get in trouble like he often does, but I was hoping he would pull through. Any thoughts of winning the game though changed once that lead off walk to Tex occurred.

he had this uncomfortable look out in the pen, tho...

when he finished his warmup and stepped off the pen’s mound. It was foreboding to say the least.

I wasn't able to watch the game due to troubles with the link, so had to rely on gameday

I am glad that I was spared the misery of having to watch

I only saw from the 6th inning on...

woof. I thought I had already seen a year’s worth of stinkers.

Peter: "So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that’s on the worst day of my life.

Shrink: What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?

Peter: Yeah.

Shrink: Wow, that’s messed up.

as fuentes was blowing his load all over this game...

my mind flashed back a couple of seasons ago… to a duel between Krod and Jeter in another tight game between the halos and yanks…. that flashback had a happy ending

darren oliver for interim closer

Teixeira's wife could close the games better than our existing bullpen.

indeed

but she would only be able to be part time closer.

cuz remember she doesnt like califonria

indeed

double post

im a noob

in thought and in deed.

We always have Q's wife to close

Could ruin the concentration of the batters which could lead to outs

How could she close games...

…when she can’t even close her legs?

BA-ZING!

KingF15h - May 2, 2009 reply

All I know...

Is the line score and the box score. On a scale of 1-10, tell me how painful it was to watch…

Figgi4life - May 1, 2009 reply

negative 100

if you look at the line-up only

and not the pitching staff you’ll be in the positive

sounds good...

but too late

Figgi4life - May 1, 2009 reply

Palmer pitching tmmrw

i dont know if thats who u want pitching after you have had the life sucked out of you

big ups to the offense though...

as soon as the starters come back and guys like moseley and loux are most likely sent to the pen things should look up

Bingo

Thats a def. silver lining.

Those boys can’t come back fast enough, though

clover_black - May 1, 2009 reply

And they have to come back and be good...

hope the injuries don’t linger….

jimmuscomp - May 1, 2009 reply

unfortunately...

the 7th belongs to ET and the 8th to Shields…

We have gotten the lead to the 7th plenty of times…neither has been able to do their job! I don’t see how Moseley and Loux in the pen helps those two from blowing me the lead!

Dondo and Shields ...

those guys are the blame of the Month + day

im still not ready to give up on shields ..

he’s pitched effectively for too long to dismiss so early.. he’s always had a funk sometime ech season… he’s having his at the worst possible time for his team right now

I agree, he is in a funk; most likely due to poor season preparation and too much focus on the WBC. They need to ban that even for cryin’ out loud.

event

Shields has been terrible for a long time

I hate him so much

blochead - May 1, 2009 reply

The blockheads were the enemy of Gumby. Don’t tell me you are one of them?

That's the closest I've been to a laugh since the 9th inning

rspencer - May 2, 2009 reply

I'm not ready to give up on any of our guys

Shields, Fuentes, Dondo, Speier, Jepsen, even Bulger. They are too talented to believe that they all just forgot how to pitch. But the relievers have clearly lost their mental edge — it’s like in The Natural, losing is a disease, as contagious as … [add punchline of choice]….

Loux = Set up man, Mose = Closer?

stuck in Romania - May 2, 2009 reply

I just figured it out...this is the curse of Brandon Wood

God says you get nothing and like it til you play Woody full time!

Maybe he can pitch?!

bulger would have gotten the save

No one in the Angels pen

Could have saved the team tonight.

Wow, now that would be a stretch

PieceOfAase - May 1, 2009 reply

HAHAHA!

I laughed my arse off when I saw him warming up out there, too!!! I said “Oh, god, don’t give up the lead, Dondo or else we’re going to have to see Bulging ERA!”

There is no one in the bullpen I trust at this time...

..first time since the mid-70’s.

Yeah…that bad!!!

sothball - May 1, 2009 reply

I kinda corrected myself there. I'm still in shock and didn't read your post correctly

ladybug - May 1, 2009 reply

I think we are all in shock...

…with the same bullpen as last year, we would be 4-5 games over .500 and probably in first place.

The bullpen is just so bad this year…

sothball - May 1, 2009 reply

Saunders can close for Weaver, and vice versa...

stuck in Romania - May 2, 2009 reply

I got it!!!

WOOD FOR CLOSER! Want to get him into the lineup… that’s our only hope.

...couldn't do much worse...

sothball - May 1, 2009 reply

He won't get enough AB's as closer!

I suggested he pitch above! I had time to think about it…. :(

Just get rid of the DH and let him pitch

oh wait we Izturis there.

the sky is falling, the sky is falling

where oh where is my bwood to save the day????

ps. DR and I are accepting any and all of your halos gear/tickets

I think Woody

will be in the lineup tomorrow hopefully. It just brings excitement to the game.

I bet

only if we go a day without mentioning his name!

hey! great idea!

;)

It will never happen...

just like he will never play…so just maaaaaybe this will work.

Wood IS NOT GOING TO PLAY

(wink wink)

….. ….. ….. did it work?

But you still

mentioned his name, so no it did not work…lol

Well relievers are volatile

The Angels have been fortunate enough during most of the 2000s to have a consistently strong bullpen. Unfortunately that has come to an end this year. Welcome Arson Squad 2009

this is what it feels like to be an A'ss fan!

Man not only the A's

every crappy team we’ve laughed at has now come back to bite us in the ass.

The stat weenies are now saying:

“The Angels ‘luck’ has run out!”

Well Fangraphs is sure loving this

Not really.

They know that all this shit has happened to us (‘Faced a decades worth of adversity in one month’ I believe was the term). And our bullpen ERA has been much higher than it should be with our peripherals.

anaheim angels - May 2, 2009 reply

i was just going with divisional rivals

at least our starting “rotation” is not as bad as texas’

Oh ok

well in that case then yeah….I feel their pain.

Volatility Abounds!

Is the hostility abounds guy still around?

it seems like he disappeared

stolenbases - May 2, 2009 reply

he shows up every few days.

he’s all cool with it.

Downing Rules - May 2, 2009 reply

Rec'd for the volatile comment...

We have been very fortunate to turn out such good pens for so long.

Percy, Weber, Levine, Shields, Arredondo, K-Rod, Donnelly, Gregg, Oliver, Carrasco, Lou Pote, Matt Wise, Speier, Shiggy, Holtz, Petkovsek…

That is a pretty damn good group of relievers. Even the Speier’s and Carrasco’s had one really good year. But, the fungibility of relievers is true. Guys like Shields – who are great for 5, 6 or 7 years – are very, very rare.

jimmuscomp - May 1, 2009 reply

Free Brandon Wood!

Funke5ive - May 1, 2009 reply

another positive nugget?

napoli DHing on a day he didnt start… good sign yes

Ahh, just when you think you're off to a great start on the weekend

You come home and watch a particularly ugly bed shitting. I think I’m going to start a rapid-fire workout routine and throw some bullpen sessions. I’m going to apply for a spot in the Angels bullpen — I’ve shat a bed once.

Big Easy Halofan - May 1, 2009 reply

Maybe the Angels

should have an open bullpen tryout…anybody that has balls show up??

Rick Vaughn?

Perfect!

Penal League pitchers are highly encouraged

Did I just say penal?

Big Easy Halofan - May 1, 2009 reply

i think i can still hit the upper 60's

Hey that would work

keep em’ off balance.

i also have some decent rang

and could at least put the bat on the ball… i see a promising future ahead of me!!!!

*range

I can get it up to 85

Maybe I can get a chance LOL

Can Pedro be a reliever?

Let’s get back on the “Sign Pedro” thing and shift focus from the Aybar/Wood fiasco.

what about "Oil Can"?

Did the Ducks win?

Lost to the evil Red Wings

nope 3-2 Wings

nah man

they lost 3-2 bummer… maybe bwood should lace up the skates!

i think pronger should give a good ol check to fuentes

The Ducks

Need to stop this trend of getting outshot by the opponent. Plus 2 goals against Osgood is not going to cut it.

hiller is a beast

but you’re right we gotta stop getting out shot!

The Red Wings outshoot everybody

In the regular season they had more than 200 shots more than the second best team. The Ducks are going to get outshot this series just like they did the last one. They played a pretty good game tonight, but the major penalty in the first killed them. Then the one rebound they left loose all night finished it off. I’m not worried, this is going to be a hell of a series.

leftwing - May 1, 2009 reply

Bobby Ryan FOR CLOSER!

Trade Jeff Mathis for Jonas Hiller

anaheim angels - May 2, 2009 reply

lost 3-2 on a goal in the final minute

essentially like watching an angels bullpen meltdown

angel games are not very fun to watch these days

fuentes is a joke. honestly if a shake up is what we need then lets do it. i think something simply and in house would be to switch arredondo and fuentes’ roles. i think at this point even fuestes knows he shouldnt be a closer. start bringing him in the eighth or late seventh to at least take off some pressure. the closer spot may give jose some much needed confidence because other than ERA, his peripherals are not bad. if anything, we will be grooming a closer for the future. he may get a fire lit under his ass.

then when oliver comes back on monday he can take seventh. speier and shields can take care of the sixth and sometimes seventh roles. this is a manageable shake up that does not require additional help (whcih appears to be impossible anyways). just some simple in house reshuffling. ill tell you one thing, it cant be any worse than status quo.

Uh NOBODY can close right now...

They cannot record outs.

uh i know

this is a possible plan to change that. will it work? god no. but hell at least its different.

http://fromthedugout.freedomblogging.com/2009/05/01/is-jose-arredondo-still-awesome/23091/

just came across this too

http://fromthedugout.freedomblogging.com/2009/04/29/is-brian-fuentes-still-awesome-probably-yes/22967/

this is interesting, too

RE: Fail-tes.

to tell you the truth

he brings up some interesting points. its true, he gets his fastball to where it was then the breaking and fabled change come along with it. the problem may be if this fastball were seeing is his new permanent one. in which case, damn. my proposal at least can go at the confidence angle.

i agree they are shitty and are not worthy of even the travel costs right now, let alone the closer role. all of them. well, maybe not the old lefty. but, i am simply looking at ways to change to see if it jolts them loose.

This one hurts

I am new to the site. For reasons that have already been well discussed, a lot of guys are pitching in roles they are not accustomed to, and the bullpen? Well, it brings back memories of the 70’s…anyone else remember…the Arson Squad? They would have been downright proud of this effort.

Thought I saw Scot Shields picture on a milk carton this morning.

angelbarry - May 1, 2009 reply

You are new...

we’ve already labelled the 2009 ’pen the Arson Squad after like game 3. Welcome aboard, though, it is good to see we all think alike (for the most part).

blochead - May 1, 2009 reply

lol

norcaliangelsfan - May 1, 2009 reply

hahaha

you can put all of their faces on it right now….

haha

thats cold.

Napoli at DH

I’m all in favor of this, but I’m still in shock that it happened with only 2 catchers on the roster. I wonder if they’ll call up Bobby Wilson to replace Wood on the roster and make this a regular thing. Sounds like a good plan to me since Wood clearly isn’t going to be playing. Napoli has been one of our best hitters, so let’s get him in there every night. Mathis has been fine too (he was big tonight). His “new approach” seems to be working. I think he could be a decent hitter with regular ABs. Not good, but certainly not a black hole.

So bring up Wilson to be the backup catcher, let Mathis catch most nights, with Napoli at DH, and play Izturis at short. I like it.

leftwing - May 1, 2009 reply

It's a wait and see according to the OC Register's blog.

"There’s a chance right now in the short term to keep Mike’s bat in the lineup and keep Jeff behind the plate," Scioscia said of the move. "If we were going to do this for an extended period of time, we’d have to make a move to add a third catcher. We can spot this in occasionally and see if it’s something we can use to keep moving forward."

Scioscia said Napoli would be back behind the plate tomorrow against left-hander CC Sabathia.

"Right now, we’re not ready to go and commit in this direction because we have a lot of bats that are important to keep going and keep in the lineup," Scioscia said. "It just fell into place with the day game tomorrow and another lefty."

Nice

Thanks, I hadn’t seen that. Sounds like a pretty solid plan. If Napoli keeps hitting, it has to be more valuable keeping his bat in the lineup every night than having Wood on the bench.

Glad to see the experiment.

leftwing - May 1, 2009 reply

Well

If Mathis gets injured, or has to come out, either Q will become the catcher, or Naps does, and we forfeit the DH spot. If this happens late in teh game, chances are that the spot will come up at most once, meaning we just put in a PH and put in another reliever.

anaheim angels - May 2, 2009 reply

Closing

At this point I hope Escobar gets healthy and we let he close—he’s done it before.

TheGrinch - May 1, 2009 reply

might be on to something

but if we dont have a closer still by the time he actually gets back then it may be a lost cause anyway

http://fromthedugout.freedomblogging.com/2009/05/01/road-trip-to-rancho/23155/

Santana in Rancho Monday night!!!

uh.....yep.......turn the page

norcaliangelsfan - May 1, 2009 reply

Just like Bob Seger

stolenbases - May 2, 2009 reply

My god

Arredondo doesn’t know how to pitch when he’s brought in with runners on! Stop doing it, Scioscia!

Carl Johnson - May 1, 2009 reply

He had NOTHING on his pitches...

they were so hittable, I think my grannie might have had a fighting chance to hit one.

I thought of all last year Arredondo was the heir apparent to K-Rod

Not another guy with a ‘big arm’ and a 10 cent head.

Angels fans said there was nothing to worry about and this guy was going to be dominant out of the bullpen.

you speak non-inclusively about angel fans

As an Angels fan myself, I want to believe the hype too

Especially when he had a damn good rookie year in 2008.

Now, maybe he is going through some rough times.

Still plenty of season left.

Me too

And I still do. I’m willing to give Jose the benefit of the doubt and chalk his early-season struggles up to a minor sophomore slump and/or the fact that everyone else around him is failing to get guys out. I honestly think that it makes it more difficult to do your job as a reliever when your fellow relievers are doing poorly. That’s why I think momentum — negative or positive — is real, and it obviously is not on our side right now.

Hopefully we can get through this and have the tide turn soon.