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Angels Swept By Worst Team In American League

Final Score in Baltimore (hey, that rhymes): Orioles 5, Angels 4

Remember when we all laughed after Baltimore swept Texas in four games? Well, the only positive thing I can say about this one is that at least it was only a three-game sweep.

The Orioles finished off the humiliation with a walk-off win. Dan Haren was hen-pecked for four tough-luck runs over 6 1/3 innings, one of which after he left the game--as his BABIP continues to trend toward new heights of improbability. The Angels entered the top of the eighth inning trailing 4-0, but Torii Hunter completed a rare Angels rally with a two-on, two-out, game-tying home run. Angels fans haven't had that much excitement since...last night. Too bad tonight's result was pretty much the same.

Mike Scioscia refused to deviate from the bullpen flowchart in the bottom of the ninth, bringing in the same Francisco Rodriguez who took the loss in Tuesday's game to pitch through a 4-4 tie. K-Rod the Lesser served up a lead-off double to Matt Wieters and the other Izturis sac-bunted him over to third. Scioscia then elected to go with the five-man infield rather than walk the bases loaded and bring in Fuentes to go after the left-handed hitting Nick Markakis. Corey Patterson promptly blew up that plan with a line drive right up the middle. Game over, Monday morning quarterbacking begins in the comment thread.

The Angels are now 54-56. Forget about Texas, at this rate the Angels should count themselves lucky to finish the season with a winning record. Cheer up, people, 2010 won't last forever.

Pre1_medium 

Poll
Who shall be shunned?
Francisco Rodriguez, for crumbling in the ninth
310 votes
Maicer Izturis, for going 0-for-the-evening with 4 LOB
82 votes
Torii Hunter, for being useless as a fifth infielder
55 votes

447 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  135 comments

Comments

Whoa two post game threads to drown my sorrow

We might as well give Trumbo and/or Conger a shot in the big leagues soon right?

Yes

Might as well

SOOOO embarassing

You know, I was keeping a pretty good attitude about this team’s chances this year until this God-forsaking series. Bring on 2011.

playing for the draft picks

methinks…

at least im no longer angry about this team...

oh sweet sweet apathy.

Might as well pay a visit to the ex.

Angel, that is.

Since no one wrote about it — give it up for Joe Saunders. He threw a complete game one-run victory for Arizona yesterday.

Go Joe!

last night @ the San Jose Giants Game

I was waiting in a long beer line (half price beer) and these idiots were talking about trades and said that saundo was an “over-rated sub-average” starting pitcher. I turned around with my angels shirt and hat and asked him to take it back. He did.

I take it

you’re even scarier in person than here at HH?

i asked politily

i am 5-7 180 of badass
he had to take it back

they must have been scared

of BABY!
(projectile vomit is a bitch)

a bunch of computer nerds

from Yahoo!
it was yahoo day also how i got free tickets
thanks yahoo

How long before we promote Conger and Trumbo?

Trumbo couldn’t be any worse than Abreu out in LF, and if we play him at 1B it will allow us to DH Napoli where’s better than Matsui or put him at catcher where he’s more of a threat than Mathis. I’d very curious to see what Conger does with major league pitching. Chances are he spends all of next year in AAA too, but he seems like he’s close to ready, he’s played great defense this year.

what do you think about Wood

give him the last 2 months @ 3B to see if he really did learn anything sitting on the bench.

if riding the bench worked like that

Willits would hit a god damn homerun

but

Woods had more potential coming up then Willits. if were going to bring up Trumbo and Conger, lets give Wood some AB before we release him just to make sure.

Poor Halowood.

Thanks to that damn fanpost he’s forever going to bear the iron mask that is Brandon Wood. Halowood wears a scarlet letter B on his saucy vest.

what about K

for kohn

There's a rule about how many letters you can put on a vest.
I don't want to hear another F-ing word about "Strength of Schedule".
IZTURIS

needs to start hitting out of the 11th spot.

Wood is young … what’s maicer’s excuse?

oh yah, he’s a goddamned backup utility player that flourishes when playing 4 times a week.

Rangers will fold, too bad it’s going to be the A’s that take advantage

4 games seems like too many for him

2 or 3 and maybe a late inning PH appearance

My LT won’t let this one down once I get back to work on Tuesday… bah.

I'm still processing this series sweep

I was iffy cuz of Bell in game 1, definitely thought Santana would be better than what he showed in game 2 and just not sure what to make of this last game.

I’m curious as to why no Napoli in the lineup today, not even as a PH.

does this make us the worst team in baseball?
That's your job
WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?

do we need to take this outside?

If we fought you'd probably just hurt your back and miss your next shift at Jiffy Lube.
And he'll still find a way to have more children
I lawled
my kids are going to help me beat you up

we will go all cheaper by the dozen on you

i dont work at Jiffy Lube BITCH

i do have a bad back but that would never stop me from kicking your ass
all over the place

Speedy Oil Change all the way

Everyone knows Midas is the best place for oil changes.
Easy man, it's been a hard three days. Have a drink!

Besides, there’s no shame in the fact that your real job is as a fluffer in a gay porn studio in Van Nuys.

Hey I resemble that remark

We here in Van Nuys pride ourselves on the non-gay porn action as well.

how are the little ones?
Cool, but bummed about the Halo's

though not as much as me . . .
How are the DOV little Halo babies?

growing and getting smart

he finds ways of getting past the baby gate and climbing on things to get what he wants.

i am just glad my son will never remember this series of season

My son was spoiled with 2002 (at 5 years old)

but weren’t we all

the past ten years

we have been spoiled

or eight years anyway

very true and a good thing to keep in mind

you seem to know alot about the porn industry?
I just got back from Camden Yards

Not feeling too great…had a few moments of hope in the 8th with Bobby’s two-out rbi and Tori’s 3-run homer but that was short-lived. What was the deal with the extra infielder in the 9th. When Tori came trotting in (we were right behind 1st base in the first row) my wife said “what’s Tori doing, does he feel left out”? Then he stayed in the infield. I have never seen that in baseball. Why didn’t Scosia just load the bases? The world wonders. At least the Orioles fans were happy. We weren’t, me in my Abreu jersey and my wife in her sexy-pretty Angels shirt that I had bought her prior to the game. Well at least we looked good (particularly my wife)

Abreu Jersey?
Yes I wore by Bobby Abreu Jersey to the game

At least he didn’t suck against the Orioles he batted .308 with 2 rbi’s, 3 runs and 2 doubles in the three game series.

Never seen that before?

Scioscia does the 5 man infield a lot in that kind of situation. I can remember a few games where Erstad did it.

I wondered why Torii, I would have taken Abreu out of the game and brought Rivera to the infield, since he has some experience there. Then let Torii play RC and Bourjos play LC. Because a Torii-Bourjos covers 99% as much ground as an Abreu-Bourjos-Torii outfield. But it didn’t matter anyway. I did wonder why, with a 5 man infield, somebody wasn’t playing straight up the middle.

I wondered the same thing...

I saw the ball come off Izturis1.0’s bat and said to myself “whew, we gotta have Torii playing behind 2nd … we got this…” then I see the ball scooting into no man’s land in CF. WTF?

3 decisions that prove Sosh has given up.

1) Letting Bobby Wilson hit
2) Not intentionally walking the bases loaded to have a force at any base
3) Bringing in F-Rod II instead of Fuentes

If Sosh has given up, then so have I. I thought we had a slim chance with a favorable schedule to gain some ground, but this sweep is the final nail. As clover_black says, at least I don’t have to care anymore. I can just watch Bourjos fly and hope they bring up some other kids.

Is anyone else actively rooting for this team to continue losing?

This season has been a big wake-up call for Soth, the FO and Arte. They will undoubtedly go out and improve this team drastically in the off-season.

 And best of all, we are sure to get a protected pick in next years draft, if we continue to play like this.

Realistically

“Improving” for next year will be tough; I’m thinking more and more about 2012 and 2013 and the beginning of the Trout years . . .

I fear they will improve drastically the same way they improved drastically after the disastrous 2006 wake-up call:

By signing Gary Matthews Jr., or the like.

Watch them go give a fat 5-year $80 million deal to David DeJesus.

Dude, DeJesus is due for a breakout season next year.
Dejesus has an affordable option for next year

I’m more afraid of them going after Crawford. Also, I would liken this season more to 03 than 06 because we at least still had a shot in September.

03 was truly disastrous and you know what Arte did? He signed Vlad Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, and Kelvim Escobar. Of course there will be no players of Vlad’s caliber this offseason, but Arte has always been willing to spend the money to improve the team.

I can see them making a strong run at Lee and the other top free-agents on the market because we sure as hell aren’t gonna let Texas go back-to-back without a fight.

I like to liken our season to something more akin to this:

Nothing say FAIL than the oldest, tiredest, most over used kitty pictures on the internet.

+1

It's a loaded pic post!
This is true.

How much of that was due to Arte wanting to impress as the new owner versus improving the team because it sucked, though?

All the same, I have hope that Arte will do the right thing. Hopefully they learned from the GMJ “fiasco.”

Although we havent been showing any interest in Lee

I think the FO will sign a P. There are lots of good ones out there this OS.

There are differences between Crawford and Matthews

Like Matthews was good for one season, Crawford has been good for about 7. Matthews was 32 his first year of the deal, Crawford will be 29.

Signing Crawford will be more like signing Torii: Expensive, but an outstanding player, best available on the market, and worth every penny.

At least Hokie Joe got Ws

JK of course, kinda.

I think we're at that point where we should all start tearing into eachother.

Bring it on you bastards!

Can't do it to you

You were the 2nd HH enthusiast Son of Raaddad and I met in person (after Rev) and you’re just too cool to “tear into.”
(Btw, I’m still wondering why Rev and Missus Rev ran away from me when they 1st saw me outside of Throwbacks???) (lol)

Do you blame them? ; )

I can’t wait for the next one, I had a blast. I’m planning on being sober for it so I can converse with everyone more effectively.

If they play like this next year

I plan on being a lot less sober

Is that even possible Raaddad?

Well, I guess you COULD go Zoe Necrosis on us next time.. =P

We try to provide a good example for you young fellows
wheres he been?

hope hes ok.

Man was he blasted or what?
Way, way overdue for another HH meetup (you listening, Rev?)

plus we can probably get a great deal on tickets at this point. I never realized you were at the first meetup — you must have been either sitting on the opposite side or showed up after I passed out drunk.

Yeah, somehow I got seats away from everyone

It’s probably for the best since I would have embarrassed myself. I was completely shit faced and incoherent by the 2nd inning.

You were right behind Red Floyd weren't you?

You were supposed to join me for Rally Raaddad action
but you chickened out ;)

I think so, it's pretty hazy.

I’m surprised I chickened out, usually I’m game for anything.

Next time!

Dude

you sat in the back row like a wallflower ;)

But hey, it was a different time back in May!

Next year lets do the Yanks or Sux

I wanna be there when Rev cusses those suckers out

Maybe we can scrape up the cash

to buy out a field level section and reclaim our land from the Sux?

Why Rev ran...

Do you really want an answer to that?

Hey Jerk!

Stop being such a jerk, jerkface!

I am ready for you punk

I LOL'd

You jackass.

;-D!

I just did. :)
I guess its time to throw in the towel

Well I guess it was a few weeks ago, but still.

As I said then

Somewhere, a fat lady is singing

dont give up

still two more months of baseball

Yea . . .how bout those Trojans?

Oh . . . that’s right . . .they’re suspended and basically f**ked . . .
How ‘bout those Bruins?
Oh . . .they will probably suck again . . .
How bout those Raidahs?
Oh . . .they will probably suck again . . .
How bout those Bolts?
Oh . . .they’ll just get dusted in the playoffs again . . .

I got nothin’

Yup. Lay off the old crow buddy.
Recommended substitutions?
E&J Brandy and 3 vicodin.
Oh boy

that’ll just put me to sleep faster than listening to Jose Mota

I read Ann Coulters books when I want to go to sleep.
That would just make me violently ill

and wanting to kill someone—preferably her!

49ers all the way

I go to San Jose State
we just hope that our Football team is not demoted to Division II status

I might run into you one day.

My brother goes there and I party with him downtown, mostly at Flames.

i dont party, Flames the resturante?

and with all my damn kids i have to work
so online classes are all i have

Yeah Flames the restaurant. I'm friends with most of the bartenders there.
the one near Wincherster?

just seems like a strange place to party
i go there with my grandma for brunch

It's gets pretty crackin at night.

Bottomless mimosas on Sundays for the win.

i live south in Morgan Hill

our nightlife ends at 9pm
drinking on sunday never a good combo for the early morning mondays

UC Santa Barbara Football, undefeated since 1987
Them and the CSUF Titans
Titan football that is
And UCSD Football

Go Tritons!

Go Tritons!!!

(signed)
   A proud dad of a UCSD student

Nice!

Which college at UCSD does your kid attend? John Muir is the best ;)

And UCSC anything

Go Slugs!!!

Both my parents went to SJ State, DOV

But that was a while ago.

i have been going for 3 years now

this sucks i have been going to college for 6 years now
i should be a doctor
call me Dr. DOV

Clay Aiken is fat?
He was talking about Kate Smith.
I love how excited all the Baltimore fans are...

too bad they are going to be sad when the Angels leave town and they have to play a real team that will slap them back to reality.

Maybe Buck Showalter is a genius

who will transform the Baltimore franchise.

(nah)

Maybe he'll just have his pitchers throw at everybody's head, like he did in Texas.
So we need the Baltimore Transformation thread?
Can anyone name even one player

besides Chone Figgins that seems to do better under the Angels hitting philosophy/Mickey Hatcher????

Seems like no one has come up from the minors and hit consistenly at the major league level. Even when we did have a nice offense last year, the majority of it was bought via domestic or international free agency (K-Mo included)

Aybar hasn’t turned into quite the hitter we would have liked.

Howie has to be considered a moderate/huge disappointment.

Wood has been an even bigger one.

Mathis never hits, is a bad defensive catcher and still he plays, when Napoli who the Angels did develop is walking half as often as when he came up…….

Hopefully Arte goes out and buys a some more offensive players in their prime or they get someone in that actually teaches people how to hit and not hack. I’ve seen enough opposite field flyballs on 3-1, and 2-0 counts the last 5 years for my lifetime.

Mickey Hatcher is just a convenient scapegoat

He really has nothing to do with this team’s offensive struggles. When a player reaches the big leagues after five years of minor league ball, they are pretty much already “made” as a hitter. Obviously young players improve with major-league experience, but the kind of hitter a player is when he finally gets his chance rarely changes much in the bigs. Guys who don’t walk a lot don’t usually learn how to walk a lot, and guys who don’t hit for power hardly ever develop it out of thin air. You pretty much know what you’re getting as soon as the kid takes his first steps on the field, the only question is if he can live up to the potential.

Hatcher is not a teacher. Hitters succeed by doing the same thing over and over, at bat after at bat, and the hitting coach is just there to point out little things the hitter might not notice, like “watch out for the high fastball,” or “you’re bailing out of the box too early.” The players know these things already, but they need minor adjustments from time to time. In the end, it’s all up to the guy in the box and his skill at recognizing pitches and putting good swings on the hittable ones. This is conditioned behavior developed with thousands and thousands of repetitions, not over a few sessions with Mickey down in the batting cages.

Now it may be true that the Angels as an organization have failed to select and train hitters properly. They seem to have a marked preference for drafting young athletic types who can “make things happen,” and it’s possible that their staff emphasizes batting average and contact hitting over patience and power. If that is the problem, which we can’t really know for sure, then it is a systemic problem, and firing Mickey Hatcher won’t help a bit. The Angels would have to overhaul their entire scouting and player development programs, at least on the position player end. That kind of organizational bloodletting just doesn’t seem possible during the Era of Good Feelings the Angels franchise is currently experiencing.

Sorry, but reactionary calls for Mickey Hatcher’s head are totally pointless. I’m not saying there isn’t a problem, but if there is one, Hatcher is probably last on the list of people who are responsible.

I can agree that if it is

an organizational philosophy a lot more is going to have to change than Hatcher going. But seeing Napoli come up drawing walks like crazy and them decreasing year in and year out to me anyway certainly points a pretty big finger at Hatcher. Additionally Casey Kotchman drew walks at a higher rate coming up with the Angels than he did when he left them, and then once he got traded he again started drawing walks a bit better. Maybe he hit 8th in the lineup in front of the pitcher some, I dunno but just seems that Hacker is death on walks.

Plus I always hear him talk about going the opposite way, at least through the Angels announcers which watching most teams they really only go that way consistently with 2 strikes for the most part. Even so many of the Angels players that have been successful go completely away from that philosophy. Salmon very rarely hit XBH to right, Garret didn’t hit for any power to left, Vlad is more of a pull hitter, Torii….. but then we have to hear about him preaching to Naps, Wood and so many others about going the other way.

All I’m sure of though is that whatever the Angels are doing offensively it hasn’t been working relative to how much money they throw at it. The Angels for the past 4 or 5 years have had extremely cheap starting staffs and even bullpens as they got great years before they reached free agency from Lackey, Santana, Saunders, Frankie and Weaver. As the Angels rotation now is quickly becoming VERY expensive I fear the Angels will be in even more of a bind as they won’t be able to spend as much on offense since so much more will have to go to the rotation.

Kendry

Is an example of the Angels having some success developing a hitter. He was 21 when he signed, and very unpolished. Yes, he was further advanced than a high school draftee but no more than a college pick like Glaus or Erstad.

He stunk up the place in 2006 when injuries gave him his first shot at the big leagues. Two more years in AAA where he didn’t yet hit for major power, and then became the team’s best hitter last year.

Kendry was bought off the international free agency market

with a huge deal and just about every prospect analysis saying he was by far the best hitting product to ever come out of Cuba. People used to line up with their babies just so he could touch them and I’m being serious about that. Kendry might have had some mental/emotional growing up to do but the guy most definitely far more polished with the stick than you give him credit for.

Actually I think Kendry is EXACTLY an example of what I’m talking about. He’s a guy that has always been able to hit for average and power and he’s doing that even at the Major League level, but what the Angels don’t emphasize traditionally (walks/patience) K-Mo still walks so few times for a guy with his power. The guy hit 306 last year and barely had an OBP over 350.

It's not as much. . .

that certain players are “underachievers”, but that Scioscia gets a man-crush on players with a limited upside.

Why does Mathis continue to get all this playing time? Let’s make him an honorary Molina brother and send him on his way.

Aybar had a “career” type year last year. There were tons of people here, thinking that he was going to continue project upward, but as it turned out, he might just be another player from the Dominican who simply has no clue about the strike zone. An Orlando Cabrera clone if you will.

Scioscia loves slap hitting infielder types who bunt well and who can’t take walks. These kinds of players are great for role players, but when you end up playing three or four of them at a time, you’re in trouble.

Wood obviously is a huge fail and we’ll probably be debating the reasons for a long time. Will a change of scenery revive him, or is he just one in a long line of 4A players who were highly touted, but who could never cut it in the majors. Every team has players like this, even teams without Mickey Hatcher, and so we are no different.

Francisco Rodriguez is not Francisco Rodriguez!!

He never will be K=Rod. Frankie did great things for the Angels. Having another is highly improbable that he’d be good too.

It’s like the Skankees having Babe Ruth. And then a few years later they have a new guy named Babe Ruth. Not going to be the same.

I don’t know. I’m pissed. I’m awake too late. Can’t get to sleep. This probably makes very little sense.

Damn this damn team.

There's only one good thing about this sweep by the O's...

I’ve been sick as a dog this past week, (although I honestly don’t know how sick dogs can get) so mercifully was spared watching this bad team get whooped by a terrible team. Bring on 2011.

Maicer Izturis

After thinking about it for the last few hours, I still think he should not be hitting 2nd … or starting … or playing more than 4 times a week period.

DISCUSS!

ha, i love that!

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