To Win the West the Angels Must Beat the West

[Angelsjunky]

The Angels are now 6-10 against AL West opponents, which of course means that they're 18-10 against everyone else. No good, my friends.

 

In particular, they need to beat up on the weakling of the division, the Houston Astros. So far they're 3-2 against them - OK, I guess, but they need to be stronger against a clearly inferior team.

[Blarg]

They really have to kick the Astros ass and quit being their bitch. This is completely nonsense that they struggle so much with an incompetent team managed by Bo Pitching Change Porter.

[Troll Daddy]

Totally agree with the thread title.

[Stradling]

I do, but I'm not as worried, probably because of how well we've played lately. I truly believe we will play well against the A's the rest of the year. I am blown away at how some teams, like the A's, seem impervious to having that one team that is a thorn in their sides, like the Astros are to the Angels. The A's just grind out wins.

[Troll Daddy]

I'm not fond of two wild cards with a one game playoff. I rather just go back to the one wild card format.

Winning your division is the only way to fly.

[Angelsjunky]

I like the one-off of the new format. Of course it is stressful if one's favorite team is involved, but it makes for exciting baseball - and I think improves the pennant race by making a division title all that more desirable.

[19HALO71]

I agree!! But I think we just ran into a buzz saw last night. Their pitcher was "On". But overall we have been playing much better baseball.

[nando714]

I'm worried

Record speaks for itself. How can you not be worried when we can't beat the teams we play 19 times a piece

[fan_since79]

You would think our pitching coach would be able to prepare our hitters by now to handle soft-tossing lefties.

Edited May 20, 2014 by fan_since79

[jshep]

You would think our pitching coach would be able to prepare our hitters by now to handle soft-tossing lefties.

 

I have to say, this is the most outlandish criticism of Butcher I've seen yet

[Eric]

I agree!! But I think we just ran into a buzz saw last night. Their pitcher was "On". But overall we have been playing much better baseball.

 

Why is it that the Angels seem to have this amazing ability to run into buzzsaws where the other pitcher is "On"?  Is it just a random fluke of statistics happening?

 

I've always been taught that when there's a problem, no matter what the problem is, in order to find a solution, find the common denominator.  Considering this problem the Angels have seems to be league wide, then maybe, just maybe, the problem is in house.

 

Is it the players?  Is it the coaches?  Is it the scouts or their reports?

 

Seems to me that the more green the pitcher the Angels face, the worse they tend to do. I've always joked, if you want to beat the Angels, the surefire way to do that is to call up a pitcher for his Major League debut and you can lock up that W.

 

Seriously, the whole "Angels are facing Cy 'Who?' tonight" is getting old.

[AngelsFaninGA]

Why is it that the 16-28 team is the "buzzsaw", while the team that's won 8 of 10 is the unsuspecting victim that runs into it? We need to turn into the buzzsaw that garbage teams like the Astros run into. 

[Jason]

Last night their guy pitched awesome and ours was less than awesome. It's going to happen from time to time in baseball.

[JAHV76]

Altuve's glove was unbelievable last night. Gotta tip the cap.

[19HALO71]

Not only was Keuchel "ON" last night he is 5-2 with a 2.92 era and 55k's. Also, he pitched a complete game, 7 hit shut out of the Rangers in his last start. Sometimes, believe it or not, you have to "Tip the cap" to the other player or team.

[Richard]

Good chance to even out that record within the next few weeks. 2 more with Hou, 4 @sea, 3 @Oak, 3 @Hou with a returning Hamilton, Calhoun, Burnett, Freese, and hopefully DDLR.

 

Bring on the West!

Edited May 20, 2014 by Richard

[Chimi]

One thing about the Astros is how much they are over managed.  The Astros put the shift on almost every single Angels player and instead of making them pay for it, we hit right into it.  We need our players to start hitting into the holes the Astros give us.

[ScottT]

It'd help, sure, but it isn't like anything can be done about it.  They take the field every night trying to win, no matter what division their opponent is in.

Edited May 20, 2014 by ScottT

[Glen]

One thing about the Astros is how much they are over managed. The Astros put the shift on almost every single Angels player and instead of making them pay for it, we hit right into it. We need our players to start hitting into the holes the Astros give us.

So we have to get our balls in their Astro holes?

[nando714]

One thing about the Astros is how much they are over managed. The Astros put the shift on almost every single Angels player and instead of making them pay for it, we hit right into it. We need our players to start hitting into the holes the Astros give us.

We must respect those things called "unwritten rules" for some reason

[nando714]

Good chance to even out that record within the next few weeks. 2 more with Hou, 4 @sea, 3 @Oak, 3 @Hou with a returning Hamilton, Calhoun, Burnett, Freese, and hopefully DDLR.

Bring on the West!

Or get worse

[fan_since79]

I don't think you can assume all those returning players will immediately be at the top of their game.

[AngelsFaninGA]

Not only was Keuchel "ON" last night he is 5-2 with a 2.92 era and 55k's. Also, he pitched a complete game, 7 hit shut out of the Rangers in his last start. Sometimes, believe it or not, you have to "Tip the cap" to the other player or team.

 

The Astros didn't seem to get the memo that they were supposed to tip their cap to Richards, who was also coming off a great start as well and was putting up numbers better than Cuticle. Seems like our team tipped their cap before the game even started. I refuse to tip my cap to the Astros until they become a relevant franchise, period. 

[dimitrig]

Why is it that the Angels seem to have this amazing ability to run into buzzsaws where the other pitcher is "On"?  Is it just a random fluke of statistics happening?

 

I've always been taught that when there's a problem, no matter what the problem is, in order to find a solution, find the common denominator.  Considering this problem the Angels have seems to be league wide, then maybe, just maybe, the problem is in house.

 

Is it the players?  Is it the coaches?  Is it the scouts or their reports?

 

Seems to me that the more green the pitcher the Angels face, the worse they tend to do. I've always joked, if you want to beat the Angels, the surefire way to do that is to call up a pitcher for his Major League debut and you can lock up that W.

 

Seriously, the whole "Angels are facing Cy 'Who?' tonight" is getting old.

 

We have had our own success with tossing out green pitchers who dominated an opposing team (Shoemaker). It happens.

Edited May 20, 2014 by dimitrig

[ScottT]

I think it is mostly fan imagination and selective remembering.