Come on, let's Go!

[Ohtaniland]

 

 

Are we going to spend the entire season chasing again?

[Stradling]

I hope we are only five games out when we get Calhoun and Hamilton back.

[Homebrewer]

I hope we are only five games out when we get Calhoun and Hamilton back.

This team could easily be 5 or more games under .500 before May1.

[Stradling]

Yep, they could also easily be over .500 by May 1st, with a couple of timely hits.

[Waybackman]

Last year on April 20: 6-10, 5 games back. Just drifting sideways with no improvement in sight. Nothing to get excited about as another year starts out crappy. I wish I could take a pill and become an A's fan because I live in Nor Cal. So tough cheering this bunch of losers on every year hoping by some miracle they'll improve.

[Stradling]

They are just looking out for you WBM, they want to make sure you stay consistent. Haha.

[nando714]

This team could easily be 5 or more games under .500 before May1.

And we could have swept Oakland or at least taken 2 of 3 if we had just a decent pen

[stormngt]

I know we are all worried being five games out. However how many people here believe the A's will play 700 ball for the rest of the season?

[Waybackman]

They are just looking out for you WBM, they want to make sure you stay consistent. Haha.

I'll stay consistently pessimistic as long as they stay consistently crappy. I would love to have a reason to cheer. Keep the faith, S.

[Adios]

Yep. And me too Stradling.  But if we are to be honest, we all know that we won't be JUST 5 games out.  We will dig such a hole in the first month of the season that 2014 will be another lost season.  

[Stradling]

Yea what sucked about that series is it was our two best relievers that cost us those leads.

[Stradling]

Yep. And me too Stradling. But if we are to be honest, we all know that we won't be JUST 5 games out. We will dig such a hole in the first month of the season that 2014 will be another lost season.

Entirely possible and I'm not saying that won't happen. I just think the leashes are going to be shorter this year and we will see change sooner rather than later. Whether or not that helps I don't know.

[Chuck]

I hope we are only five games out when we get Calhoun and Hamilton back.

That's my goal. If we can be that many out even August we're close enough to catch and pass the A's. 

[Angels]

I know we are all worried being five games out. However how many people here believe the A's will play 700 ball for the rest of the season?

They won't. But it counts. Which means the Angels will have to be 6 games better than the A's the rest of the way to have a better record. Not impossible, but the odds aren't in their favor.

[Stradling]

I don't know about August but mid July would be fine.

[Ohtaniland]

That's my goal. If we can be that many out even August we're close enough to catch and pass the A's. 

 

I hope they don't wait that long because August hasn't been very friendly.

 

Angels

August 2012....13-15

August 2113....14-14

 

A's

August 2012....18-11

August 2013....14-13

[tomsred]

I think you guys are projecting way too far ahead.  They have to solve the short term issues right now.  Good right handers are exploiting them without the two big lefty bats in the lineup (Hamilton and Calhoun).  Aybar, Boesch, Shuck, Conger and Ibanez haven't produced much through the first three weeks.  Long isn't tearing up AAA.  Freese is missing in action, and the bullpen remains inconsistent.  Until at least a couple of guys in this group break out offensively we will continue to drift lower.  We get to face a good right hander tomorrow, Roark, so we might very well see more of the same from this group.

 

We just don't have enough quality depth to absorb injuries, and the lapses created by veterans who have been very inconsistent, to downright poor so far.

 

I really wonder what Baylor is thinking about the poor hitting performance in high leverage situations.  During yesterday's game, they mentioned that he's been talking to Scioscia every day about the hitters. 

[Stradling]

I know people will think I am crazy with this next comment but I will say it anyway, it could be way worse. Does anyone really think Aybar will suck all season long? Can't we expect Freese to get somewhere close to his career norms? Shouldn't we expect Ibanez to get closer to .250 than he already is? I would be pretty surprised if all three of these things don't happen. The only way Freese can be this bad is if he is not healthy, because his numbers speak for themselves, and he isn't old. I'm more worried about the Jepsens and Salas's on the team than I am of the offense showing up.

[tomsred]

In 2013 Ibanez hit .158 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs in April.  In May he hit .297 with 7 HRs and 18 RBIs.  Unfortunately in 2013, May was his high water mark.  Can he repeat that performance this year?  It would be a big help if he could, not too long after that we can get Calhoun and Hamilton back.  Then if Ibanez slides away starting in June again, we can park him in a pinch hit role.

 

Jerry can't be very happy about this situation, there are a lot of construction mistakes that were made on this team.  I keep coming back to the same thing, the top 25 players on this team are okay, the players in depth positions 26-45 are not okay.  Some of the players in positions 1-25 are not healthy or are not performing,  and no one in the supporting cast of 26-45 can effectively replace them, at least yet.

Edited April 21, 2014 by tomsred

[YouthofToday]

Baylor going down before the season started should have been a sign to not go long on the Angels 2014 season.

[m0nkey]

Something about the Angels starting 6-14 in 2002

[bloodbrother]

Focus on the wildcard, not the division. A's are a cut above this team

[Quinlanforthewin]

I hope we are only five games out when we get Calhoun and Hamilton back.

 

Meanwhile the A's are missing 2/5ths of their normal starting rotation.  Doesn't matter for them, but we make the excuses and swear like we're the only team with injuries.  

[bloodbrother]

With a better pen, they could be 10-8 or 11-7 right now

 

2 blown games vs the A's after leading through 7 innings....the terrible decision by Sosh to bring in Salas vs the Mets. I wouldn't count today's game, but you can also say the pen blew that one by giving up the winning run(Conger's error put that runner in scoring position, however).

 

 

it all goes back to this pen. Everything else has been good enough.

[Ohtaniland]

The last 300 regular season games.......

 

A's 182-118 .606 pct

 

Angels 157-143 .523 pct

 

If this trend continues we will end up 17 games back.