Final Score in Anaheim: Mariners 2, Angels 1 in 10 innings ...
What a game for the pathetic failed prospect known as Jeff Mathis. Once one of many overhyped Angels minor leaguers to give fanboys of Anaheim dreams of glory the already washed up Mathis gave up the game Sunday afternoon and cost the Angels a game in the standings in the process.
The Mariners scored a run in regulation because Mathis could not handle a pitch in the dirt from Ervin Santana. Mathis is behind the plate for his defense. The gutless wonder lollygagged a toss to his pitcher with a close slide at the plate by just another Mariners minor leaguer playing in the big leagues for the Pac-Nor-West 4-A franchise.
Meanwhile Bengie Molina hit for the cycle on Saturday but the fanboys still want Troy Glaus back after Dallas McPherson dashed their dreams. Seeing as many internet shut-ins are the size of Bengie Molina, the self-loathing is projected his way I guess. Meanwhile ugly Mathis is lost at the plate, lost behind the plate and, well, when you look at him... he kinda looks like the guy bumming change at the Shell station on Katella pretending he is waiting for the westbound bus until he sees you walk out of the convenience store dumping that 85 cents change in your pocket. And he is so afraid of being busted by the Shell rent-a-cop he could not throw at a baserunner if his pocket of change depended on it. The Mariners ran on him faster than a Mission Viejo soccer mom gets back in the minivan when the bus-stop bum comes a change-jinglin' at pump number 2...
Jeffo Banjo Bum could not bunt late in the game when the Angels needed him most and the stain of his karma on the team was removed momentarily when Paul McAnulty batted for him in the 10th and drew a walk. But David Aardsma struck out Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick with the tying and winning runs on base and that 4 and a half game deficit was back pretty quick.
And Bobby Abreu is a choker and Kevin Jepsen is not the answer to this team's problems.
0 recs | 111 comments
pretty solid write up.
norcaliangelsfan - July 18, 2010
It just looked like
Mathis’s head wasn’t in the game.
phoenix15 - July 18, 2010
Yah, he had a terrible game. Cost us the game.
His failed bunt attempt probably would have given us the lead. The M’s just ran all over him.
Though he is the BOTG, One bad game does not a man make.
Wally's World - July 18, 2010
How about 4 years of shit?
Does 4 years of shit a man make?
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
your forgetting the LCS last year. When it counted the most, he stepped up.
Wally's World - July 19, 2010
So in Wally's world, one bad game does not a man make, but a few good games does a man make?
Got it.
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
Remember those two games that Wood went 3-4?
Damn he is a great ball player
ryanfea - July 19, 2010
too much positive spin on this write-up
clover_black - July 18, 2010
Is
Sosh willing to come out of retirement?
phoenix15 - July 18, 2010
I'm wondering, though, about your opinion of Jeff Mathis
mattwelch - July 18, 2010
I think he mentions him briefly in the 4th paragraph
ladybug - July 18, 2010
What the hell kind of a question is that?
What do you THINK is his opinion of Jeff Mathis?!
rspencer - July 18, 2010
And for you young'uns
that’s a joke.
rspencer - July 18, 2010
Dave Kingman was NOT lead bass for Minutemen.
Stirrups - July 19, 2010
Look, it's a wacky business.
Who cares?
rspencer - July 19, 2010
So AM I the one who scerwed up?
I got to know!
Stirrups - July 19, 2010
Don't pull any punches Rev, tell us what you really think...
K3YEROUT - July 18, 2010
Sorry, but our 3 and 4 hitters left a runner on 3rd with 0 and 1 outs...inexcusable!
K3YEROUT - July 19, 2010
Which is why I asked about Torii for BOTG.
Of course, in Torii’s case, that was a rifle shot that Wilson was lucky to get, and Howie probably should have waited closer to the base…
red floyd - July 19, 2010
Here is his facebook headline
Why is Jeff Mathis doing anything related to baseball other than delivering a bag of peanuts to you and me in our seats?
MH252525 - July 18, 2010
I fully agree
Put Naps at C, and trade for a 1B than can OPS at least like 750….. That shouldn’t cost too much…
MH252525 - July 18, 2010
Mark Trumbo would cost the minmium
Gokyle45 - July 18, 2010
Why not bring Trumbo up instead of trade him?
His OPS this year stands at .871. I really don’t understand why we brought up McAnulty in the first place.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
true
aldo H - July 18, 2010
So wait
Are you in favor or not in favor of Jeff Mathis? I can’t tell from this piece.
ryanfea - July 18, 2010
I think this game
gave the Halos a reason for another 1st baseman so Naps can catch more. Today was just ridiculous.
phoenix15 - July 18, 2010
if they don't make a trade
I’d like to see Trumbo given a chance, and this coming from a guy who never liked him as a prospect except for that brief time in between signing him and actually seeing his stats. The guy is controlling the strikezone recently with more walks than k’s, and for a guy that can hit the ball a country mile as well that is an accomplishment
MH252525 - July 18, 2010
Trumbo 1B, Napoli C > Napoli 1B, Mathis C, McAnulty PH
Rev Halofan - July 18, 2010
the croc eats the better one?
DAD OF VLAD - July 18, 2010
They can go ahead and send Wilson back down.
That would make room for Trumbo. Wilson hasn’t seen any action in ages anyway.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
Wilson can't be sent down, that's exactly why he's been taking up a roster spot all season
~MMP~ - July 18, 2010
Yep!
More careful planning by the Best Organization in Baseball!
rspencer - July 19, 2010
23% CS rate after today's game.
For an ‘elite’ defender, he’s never exceeded 26% in a season.
According to FanGraphs player valuations, he’s been worth 0 WAR over six seasons, equivalent to zero USD. He’s the FG benchmark for a worthless player.
It’s a shame we don’t have more holistic metrics for catcher defense — we’d likely find he’s worse than worthless.
Turks Teeth - July 18, 2010 via mobile
How can you be worth zero dollars, and still be employed?
He ain’t related to Arte is he?
eyespy - July 18, 2010
Last time I checked, Naps CS was 28%. League avg. is 24%.
I also think Naps has really matured in calling games. Santana in particular has thrown some gems with Naps catching this year. Remember how Ervin used to prefer Mathis? Not after today. We really should consider bringing up Trumbo and relegating Mathis to the bench, maybe in a couple weeks.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
back to 4 1/2
seems like these guys like to stay in the 3-4 games back range… ARGH
oceangate316 - July 18, 2010
Still within striking distance for a panther.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
McAnulty DFA'd, Kazmir to DL, Izturis headed back
http://twitter.com/VictorRojas29/status/18871298007
Wonder who will be starting for Kazmir then
~MMP~ - July 18, 2010
the guy walks in his last ab for us.....
Honestly I’d DFA Aldridge… but that’s splitting hairs with Trumbo in the wings
MH252525 - July 18, 2010
Ya, I'm guessing they prefer Aldridge's ability to play the OF though.
McAnulty will most likely just end up back in Salt Lake though, like Mike Ryan did
~MMP~ - July 18, 2010
with the day off they don't need a 5th starter for a bit
my bet is Bell since his last AAA start was decent and they said they sent him to AAA to be a starter in Anaheim if needed
MH252525 - July 18, 2010
Ya it will probably be Bell, but Palmer seems to be on his way back too
~MMP~ - July 18, 2010
crap
i wanted to see him up against the LF short porch in the Bronx
Rev Halofan - July 18, 2010
so this is as good as it gets eh?
Dono Romantico - July 18, 2010
Greatest. Writeup. Ever.
bc56274 - July 18, 2010
I've been screaming about Mathis for years
The guy is just not any good at anything. In the real world, being as bad at your job as Jeff Mathis is gets you fired. I’ll never understand why he won his arbitration case in the off-season, but then again, I’ll never understand why the Angels tendered him a contract in the first place.
The Angels don’t need a new first baseman. Napoli can hold that down fine. But respectable defensive catchers who don’t hit any worse than Mathis almost literally grow on trees. For example, can’t we just tell Jose Molina we’re sorry? One marginal AA prospect is all it would take to kiss and make up.
Suboptimal - July 18, 2010
Agreed on bringing a Molina back, I’ve never been a Mathis believer (althought from ALCS —> DL he tore it up), I have been of the thought that they should be letting Napoli get regular playtime and have Mathis be a backup, day off, catcher to Napoli. But whatever, Soth makes infuriating decisions that I think hurt the team more than they help.
Dontbatvlad4th - July 18, 2010
Completely agree.
The only thing worse that Mathis’ performance today is the memory of the comments we had to endure in the off-season and beginning of the year about how he magically turned into a good hitter after his postseason performance.
snowhor - July 18, 2010 via mobile
My history of posts may prove that I have been the biggest Napoli proponent.
So many people wet themselves when Mathis strung together a few good hits in the post season. It seemed like the “small sample size” argument has been applicable to almost everyone except Mathis the wonder boy!
I’ve said over and over that I’ve never seen anything that makes him stand out as any better than Napoli or any other catcher. But many of my fellow HHers told me Sosh believes in him, Sosh is smarter than I, and he must see something we don’t. Have faith in Sosh. Blah blah blah. Now, it sounds like a few more people are on my side.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
Hahahahaha
pAthetic, but expected.
Dono Romantico - July 18, 2010
kohn?
DAD OF VLAD - July 18, 2010
King Conger!!!
angelskid2210 - July 18, 2010 via mobile
Title of this post could have been:
“Fed up in Anaheim”
BOTG = Jepsen
vladtheimpaler - July 18, 2010
Does Torii get a pass because it was his birthday?
Because, other than the infield single, he pretty much stunk it up today at the plate.
red floyd - July 18, 2010
he's stunk it up the past three or four days red
44FAN - July 18, 2010
Yeah. Just wondering why he wasn't in BoTG running
red floyd - July 18, 2010
On top of everything "Picture Day" was a clusterflop.
red floyd - July 18, 2010
E freaking nuff
Jeff Mathis sux0rz. I think we can all agree upon that.
But blaming him for this game? Not even close.
The tying run was in scoring position for Erick Aybar — who did nothing the whole game, including striking out with the tying run on second in extras.
This was an offensive fail. And a team composition (i.e. general manager) fail.
scareduck - July 18, 2010
Put it this way
The Angels on May 29, 2010 had a guy who could hit the crap out of the ball. On July 18, 2010, not so much.
scareduck - July 18, 2010
Agreed on Molina
I couldn’t believe it when I heard they released him many moons ago, I thought that was a gigantic mistake (and surprise, surprise). Just like I thought the non-signing of Oliver was a mistake as well.
Dontbatvlad4th - July 18, 2010
we actually traded him for somebody who I think is no longer with the organization
tanana40 - July 18, 2010
Jeff Kennard
He got dumped after 2008. He played for the Reds’ AAA affiliate for awhile last year and is now apparently out of baseball.
Suboptimal - July 18, 2010
He plays in the minors for the cubs now
RexTookMyStash - July 18, 2010
Just noticed something
If i’m reading these stats correctly, Napoli’s CS% is 29% while Mathis is sitting at 26%. However, maybe the “Napoli’s a bad catcher and can’t throw anyone out” is getting in the head of baserunners as Napoli’s being run on more then Mathis. Runners attempted steals 40 times with Naps catching and only 16 times with Mathis.
phoenix15 - July 18, 2010
See # of game played
Naploi 84
Mathis 30
I’d say that’s probably why.
Rally Manatee - July 18, 2010
I'm going to miss McAnulty and his gigantic ass
RexTookMyStash - July 18, 2010
TMI?
rspencer - July 19, 2010
Yeah, Mathis is pretty much garbage
I’ll agree on that. But Bengie Molina has had exactly ONE decent season in the five since he’s been gone. One. Mathis has actually been better than Molina this season, and by a fair amount. I loved Molina when he was with the Angels, but he’s not good any more.
Glaus, on the other hand, has been good.
Gorbachav5 - July 18, 2010
disagree with the 1 in 5 decent season.
Slugging about .450, about 20 jacks , 2 WAR, in three of those seasons.
“he’s not good any more” . . . huh?
Wally's World - July 18, 2010
Are we talking about the same Bengie Molina?
The one whose WAR in those five seasons has gone: .4, .5, 1.6 (his decent season), -.3, and -.4? The one whose OBP in those five seasons has been a robust .306?
That’s not even close to good, especially when you combine it with his terrible baserunning (which has never been good), and his below average defense (which used to be good). So impatient hitter with a bit of power, bad baserunner and bad fielder = not good any more. I don’t think that’s all that controversial.
Gorbachav5 - July 18, 2010
Agreed
hk47 - July 19, 2010
I got my info off of fangraphs. You can take it up with them.
Wally's World - July 19, 2010
Fangraphs doesn't include baserunning value
Which is obviously a very big negative for Bengie. I got my numbers from BBRef, which also has his defense as being worse than Fangraphs shows. Once you account for baserunning and other miscellaneous stuff (reaching on errors and GIDP’s), even averaging the two fielding numbers doesn’t help Molina all that much.
On a side note, it annoys the heck out of me that Fangraphs and BBRef have different WAR numbers. I always use BBRef.
Gorbachav5 - July 19, 2010
If we knew
our 3rd baseman would suck or our 1st baseman will break a leg celebrating a walkoff, Glaus would’ve been perfect. Since he was coming off an injury plagued year with the STL, we would’ve got him for cheap.
phoenix15 - July 18, 2010
Glaus had a great couple of months
But he is really hitting the skids now.
hk47 - July 19, 2010
HEY EVERYBODY!
We just won a series, taking 3 of 4. Not bad. Let’s go kick some Yankee rear end.
Downing Rules - July 18, 2010
^ This ^
LAASurfin - July 18, 2010
Won three out of four and gained no ground on Texas
Let us be angry
ryanfea - July 18, 2010
Mathis is a little league player trapped in an Angels uniform
linkbruin - July 18, 2010
This team is on cruise control the rest of the way
WS in 2011 or bust!
blochead - July 18, 2010
I am on record complaining about this ever since we let Bengie go
This cost saving measure made in hopes that Mathis would be a Joe Mauer clone has cost us dearly. Not only does Bengie hit, he hits in the clutch. Furthermore, I’ll bet that Bengie does not let AJ Pissmeoffski get to 1st base in the ALCS.
Moondoggy - July 19, 2010
Er, that was Josh Paul (not Mathis)
But it’s a good point. We did lose a lot when we let Molina leave and he would’ve made the right play in game 2 of the 2005 ALCS. If we win that game, we probably win that series, and then who knows?
Robviously - July 19, 2010
I kow that it was Paul
But I can’t imagine Soth putting in Paul for Brngie in a big game
Moondoggy - July 19, 2010
You're right, Bengie would have tried to backhand that ball in the dirt, letting it roll to the backstop.
Kelvim would have been charged with a wild pitch (no passed ball since it was in the dirty, luckily for our gold glove catcher) and pierzasshole would have gotten to 2b by the Bengie trotted to the ball.
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
I think letting Bengie walk in favor of Mathis was the right decision
Bengie has made a lot more money than Mathis the past five years and hasn’t been good at all. The problem has been continuing to stick with Mathis long after it’s clear he’s not the player the Angels hoped he would be. They needed to cut their losses, take the chance that he would be a late bloomer somewhere else, and give Napoli the full-time starting job.
I love Scioscia as a manager, but this may be one case where his stubborn refusal to give up on Mathis has cost the team.
Gorbachav5 - July 19, 2010
Excuse me.
I’m looking for the Jeff Mathis appreciation thread. Is this the right place?
halofan4life - July 19, 2010
Win!
LAASurfin - July 19, 2010
To be more fair to Mathis
He started out this season like he ended last season- tearing the cover off the ball. Until his unfortunate injury, he was hitting better than Napoli. He’s an adequate backup catcher and catches too much flak on this site.
Be fair: that was a nasty slider in the dirt by Santana that took a bad bounce. You’re going to blame that on Mathis? Really?
The guy who continues to get off is everyboody’s favorite RP, Kevin Jepsen. However, for all his “stuff” and his 98-mph fastball…he can’t get anyone out. His 4.64 ERA is about to supplant Scot Shields for worst ERA in the pen. I’d rather have Jason Bulger pitching critical situations than Jepsen.
Come on, let’s be real: Kevin Jepsen sucks
hk47 - July 19, 2010
-1
A few good weeks doesn’t overshadow 4 years of bad.
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
-1 for making the same post twice in one thread
Mathis is an adequate backup catcher until Conger is ready.
hk47 - July 19, 2010
And to blame yesterday's loss on Mathis is crazy hyperbole
hk47 - July 19, 2010
It's blamed on him for his inability to lay down the bunt.
Not for the WP by Voodoo
red floyd - July 19, 2010
To be honest, he made one hell of a play to try to get Langerhans at the plate on that WP.
red floyd - July 19, 2010
I agree
Dang near had him
hk47 - July 19, 2010
Damn, you got me.
I think I’m in negative points now.
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
me too
hk47 - July 19, 2010
Kevin Jepsen isn't that bad
He has run into a ton of bad luck. BABIP of .366
ryanfea - July 19, 2010
How many looping, broken bat singles has he given up?
Jepsen’s been okay. He’s definitely pitched better than his ERA indicates.
Gorbachav5 - July 19, 2010
I disagree, he makes his own messes
And he’s done so consistently for two seasons. I don’t get why so many like to defend him so vehemently.
hk47 - July 19, 2010
The defense of him has been a bit over the top
But he’s still clearly the best reliever the Angels have, which makes it tough to lay off the hyperbole, even though being the best in the Angels bullpen is kind of like being the tallest midget.
He has the best K-rate. He’s only given up 2 homeruns. He’s got the second best K/BB rate, behind Fuentes. His GB/FB ratio is good. Subjectively, it’s pretty obvious he has the best pure stuff. His major weakness has been walking a guy every other inning, which does need to get fixed.
We also have to wonder whether his BABiP is going to stay abnormally high, since at this point in his career, it’s sitting at .356. He’s been unlucky, but even with better luck, he’s not going to turn into Joe Nathan all of a sudden. He’s just a decent reliever.
Gorbachav5 - July 19, 2010
rec'd for the tallest midget reference
I agree. Really, the ’pen is an abject disaster this season.
hk47 - July 19, 2010
I can hear Sosh's response now:
“Jeff didn’t have his best game. But we’ll put this behind us, and we will work on some things. Jeff really is an important part of this team, and if you look at his numbers he has been outstanding in his work with our pitchers. It doesn’t always work out the way you want, but when these things happen we regroup and get ourselves ready for the next guy. Right now we are focused on the Yankees and we have our work cut out for us.”
Let’s see. What cliche did I forget?
Stirrups - July 19, 2010
Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team.
snowhor - July 19, 2010 via mobile
turn the page?
norcaliangelsfan - July 19, 2010
No, we're not east of Omaha
red floyd - July 19, 2010
every game is a new day. We don't look back on anything-we only look forward
ladybug - July 19, 2010
More and more
I think Mike strives to be the Anti-Lasorda in his leadership style.
rspencer - July 19, 2010
Vanilla ice cream in a plain wrap container.
No fudge, no nuts, no flavor, no controversy.
sothball - July 19, 2010
We don't look at the standings.
Fred Fredrix - July 20, 2010
... COUGH! ...
Gotta work that in somewhere.
LAASurfin - July 20, 2010
lol u didn’t hold much back….
the game kind of characterizes this year sans the blown save from fuentes
robi s - July 20, 2010
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