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This team impressed me over the long haul


Chuck

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Remember all the negative threads and hate on the bullpen? Long season.

 

Tough pill to swallow because I thought we had the best team in baseball like '09.

 

I will say a playoff rotation of Richards, Weaver, Shoemaker is pretty beastly.

 

Too bad the offense didn't play close to what they are capable of.

 

It is tough any time your team loses, moreso if the had the best record, but even if had set a record for wins, they would have been unlikely to win the World Series.  

 

It's also tough when you lose Richards, but several teams lost very good players.  

 

It is what it is.  Great teams win 60% of their games.  Playoff teams are all pretty good.  The Angels earned the right to be one of the final eight teams, having a slightly better chance because they had home field advantage. Crapshoot is an accurate assessment, though.    

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It is frustrating to see your team go 10-22 in post-season games since 2004.

How does a team that has had an excellent year in everyone of those seasons (minimum 95 wins save for 2004) end up with such a mediocre record in the post-season over the long haul?

Edited by Angel Oracle
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There's something truly awful about being made to look so bad by a vastly inferior team. The annoying thing is, as bad as we were, we still should have won the first two games. It only took one or two very minor things to go right in each of them and we won them. Hell, even if we only had one, we'd still have had a reasonable chance of taking the series. This team was so much better than what happened over the last four days so it sucks to see it end this way so prematurely against such a mediocre team.

 

The team did well this season, much better than I ever could have imagined. There's some significant holes that need fixing to ensure we can be back there, but if I'm trying to be optimistic (you kind of have to at times like this, right?) things look much better than they did 12 months ago.

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It is frustrating to see your team go 10-22 in post-season games since 2004.

How does a team that has had an excellent year in everyone of those seasons (minimum 95 wins save for 2004) end up with such a mediocre record in the post-season over the long haul?

 

Good question.

 

It baffles me to see them play so hard in the regular season and then look like they laid down in the playoffs. It appears like very little to no fight in the team.

 

All year it seemed that when they had time off due to schedule or ASB it took them a while to get back in the groove. They played their best ball with no rest and playing on consecutive days.

 

Did the time off and the lack of pressure at the end of the season hurt them? Appears that way. Is that the fault of the players, coaching staff or combination of both?

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Yeah, it was a good season overall - best since 2009, clearly. But I think the whole notion of the playoffs being a crapshoot isn't entirely correct, or at least overstated. The definition of a crapshoot is "a risky or uncertain matter" - and in that sense, yes, it is completely a crapshoot. But I think people use it a little differently, more along the lines of "a game that anyone can win and really comes down to luck."

 

In that sense, I don't think the playoffs are entirely a crapshoot. The teams that win the playoffs tend to be those that have not only the talent but the mental capacity to rise to the occasion, to play their best, and to execute in pressure situations. It is that special spark, that the 2002 Angels had, and that the 2014 Royals seem to have, and the 2014 Angels clearly don't have. I think it is somewhat of an excuse to call the playoffs a crapshoot because it diminishes responsibility - Billy Beane did this (although that wildcard game was as close to a crapshoot as you can get).

 

But this past series sweep reveals some gaping holes in this team and management. With regards to management, I think Scioscia let the team relax too much after clinching. They should have been out there trying to win every game; many of this said as much and were a bit uneasy about the lackadaisical attitude they had for the last couple weeks. We knew about the shallow starting rotation, with no reliable starters beyond Weaver and Shoemaker - so that was nothing surprising, but it was only further clarified last night. But what became more clear, which we knew about but hoped was different, was that this team has trouble executing when it really matters, when the pressure is on. We know that Josh Hamilton is a complete and utter shell of himself. We know that Trout isn't the player he was in 2012-13 and has work to do. We know that while the Angels lineup is overall very good, other than Trout there aren't any stars (consider that the second best OPS+ on the team is 125, which is good but nothing spectacular).

 

Going into 2015 I think the needs are clear: Another strong starter and another bat. This is why I'd go after Sandoval or Headley, and one of the big arms: Scherzer, Shields or Lester, or at least Masterson, Peavy, or Liriano. The Angels are good enough that they are contenders next year, but not good enough that can simply stand pat and wait while the farm system fills up again. They need to make a couple changes, or additions.

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It's not a waste, FF. These things happen all the time in the playoffs. 

 

The Mariners 116 win season, they were the best on the field and on paper that year and didn't make it out of the second round. It happens! 

 

 

And we made fun of them here for a decade.

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Losing hurts like hell. Especially when you invest so much time, money and emotion into something for several months.  It's emotionally and mentally draining.  I'm too exhausted to be angry, and too sad to be frustrated.

 

I found a lot to love about this team and a few things to hate.  Overall the good out weighed the bad; however, the bad was still pretty horrific. To see it all end so abruptly is just crushing.  It's one thing to have a poor ending when you don't have any expectations, but most of us had huge expectations.  The let-down is depressing.

 

Next season seems so far away and that's hard too.  It would be so much easier if we could just start over tomorrow.  The road ahead is long and just adds to the misery.

 

I'm going to need a while before I feel like talking about baseball again.  Come spring, I'll have that optimism back where it belongs, but until then... it's going to be tough.

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I loved this season.  The Angels were a ton of fun to watch and root for this year.  This is the type of season I expect from this team.  The Angels also has a lot of players to be excited about:  Richards, Shoemaker, Calhoun and of course, Trout.

 

The playoffs sucked though.  The offense went into a slump at the wrong time.  It happens.

 

As for me, I'd love to see the Angels sign Francisco Liriano for the rotation, maybe get a bullpen arm and if possible, a lead off hitter.

 

Finally, Hamilton and Wilson have got to start to perform as they have done in the past.  This team can't afford another season from these two like this one.

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Sucks that their bats got cold over just a 3-game span after kicking ass over the long haul.

While the outcome was disappointing, I'm really proud of the team.

Too bad you don't get accolades for being the best over 162. It's a crap shoot in the playoffs and I can just say I'm stoked we finally made it back!

While Hamilton & CJ sucked down the stretch, there's so much to look forward to when thinking about this club's chances heading into the 2015 season.

I for one have turned the page and I'm proud of the job Jerry, Scioscia and the players have done this season.

agreed - this was a great season - it hurts today but overall we have to be glad to be s part of a great season from our team I'm hoping this taste of the postseason leaves our guys hungry to get back next year with better results Edited by vlad27
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We're probably still in this series with a healthy Richards in Game 2 and Shoe pitching yesterday. Wilson doesn't even sniff the mound in this series. Garret's absence truly hurt us.

 

I like the look of this team going forward. Add a starter and CJ is less of a liability. Hamilton, on the other hand...not sure what we can do about that.

Edited by fan_since79
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We're probably still in this series with a healthy Richards in Game 3. Wilson doesn't even sniff the mound in this series. Garret's absence truly hurt us.

I like the look of this team going forward. Add a starter and CJ is less of a liability. Hamilton, on the other hand...not sure what we can do about that.

I agree I'm thinking had we had Richards he would habe gone I'm game 2 and yesterday a Shoemaker victory - still would be down 2-1 but sure better than being done
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Has this been stated by the team or are you just predicting this?

 

No... Worst case scenario is he's back before the ASB, sometime in June/July. Best case scenario, and what I'm hearing from Richards' camp, is that he may be ready for the start of the regular season. 

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It is frustrating to see your team go 10-22 in post-season games since 2004.

How does a team that has had an excellent year in everyone of those seasons (minimum 95 wins save for 2004) end up with such a mediocre record in the post-season over the long haul?

 

Since 2004 four of the six years the Angels were eliminated by teams that had a better regular season record. With the exception of 2014, the Angels were up against teams that were every bit their equal and, in some cases, perhaps slightly better.

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Since 2004 four of the six years the Angels were eliminated by teams that had a better regular season record. With the exception of 2014, the Angels were up against teams that were every bit their equal and, in some cases, perhaps slightly better.

 

Thanks for the post and clarification, Coach! 

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Since 2004 four of the six years the Angels were eliminated by teams that had a better regular season record. With the exception of 2014, the Angels were up against teams that were every bit their equal and, in some cases, perhaps slightly better.

 

It would be nice if we could at least win some games in these series, rather than getting woefully swept most of the time. 

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No... Worst case scenario is he's back before the ASB, sometime in June/July. Best case scenario, and what I'm hearing from Richards' camp, is that he may be ready for the start of the regular season. 

 

I like the chances of Richards being ready sometime in April just based off of modern day surgeries and rehab. You have athletes coming back from devastating knee injuries in an off-seasons time. I don't see why Richards should be any different. 

 

By no means should we rush him, but I like the chances of him being ahead of schedule.

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I like the chances of Richards being ready sometime in April just based off of modern day surgeries and rehab. You have athletes coming back from devastating knee injuries in an off-seasons time. I don't see why Richards should be any different. 

 

By no means should we rush him, but I like the chances of him being ahead of schedule.

 

Yeah, as long as it's not his elbow or shoulder...

 

I hear he's supposed to start running in December. If that's true, it's not out of the question he could start throwing off a mound when pitchers and catchers report in February. 

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It is frustrating to see your team go 10-22 in post-season games since 2004.

How does a team that has had an excellent year in everyone of those seasons (minimum 95 wins save for 2004) end up with such a mediocre record in the post-season over the long haul?

It is easy to lose 22 games in the post season when you constantly are matched up with the team that wins it all.

 

Red Sox twice (6 games)

White Sox (four games)

Yankees  (four games)

 

KC to be determined later.

 

Our performance in the playoffs is not as bad as advertised.

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Since 2004 four of the six years the Angels were eliminated by teams that had a better regular season record. With the exception of 2014, the Angels were up against teams that were every bit their equal and, in some cases, perhaps slightly better.

And eliminated by teams winning the World Series!

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