Josh Hamilton reflects on 'frustrating' season, unhappy fans

[Second Base]

You know the funny part about all of this? Josh, however douchy he might be, isn't wrong. It's sort of the mentality being in a war-time situation. You don't fight for your God or your country, you fight for the man next to you because he's doing the same thing for you.

Josh is a total douche. And he says a lot of stupid crisp you shouldn't ever say (a football town). He isn't wrong, but he also isn't smart or someone you really root for.

[NJHalo]

I just watched the Giants win their series, and every player interviewed said how great it is to play in front of their fans.

 

Take note Hamilton

[ScottT]

I don't really like the guy, but the butthurt fans feel when players don't kiss their ass is pretty funny.  

[mancini79]

I don't really like the guy, but the butthurt fans feel when players don't kiss their ass is pretty funny.  

 

This. He spent his first spring training signing TONS of autographs for the fans of his new team. He struggles and fans turn on him. Why would he open himself to more ridicule? Why should he care what the fans think? It's not like the boos are going to help him play. The only one's that have his back are his teammates.

[bloodbrother]

I demand that Josh beckon to my every call and autograph everything I shove in front of his face and if he doesn't then he's an ass hole

[ScottT]

This. He spent his first spring training signing TONS of autographs for the fans of his new team. He struggles and fans turn on him. Why would he open himself to more ridicule? Why should he care what the fans think? It's not like the boos are going to help him play. The only one's that have his back are his teammates.

 

 

Take away the money, and the same guy isn't hated.   Therefore, he doesn't say anything about the fans.   The cycle never starts.  

 

Two kinds of players generally get boo'd.  Players that make a lot of money and relief pitchers.  

[Ohtaniland]

This. He spent his first spring training signing TONS of autographs for the fans of his new team. He struggles and fans turn on him. Why would he open himself to more ridicule? Why should he care what the fans think? It's not like the boos are going to help him play. The only one's that have his back are his teammates.

He's going to have a miserable three years left in Anaheim. He hits .246 lifetime at the Big A.

[Docwaukee]

Josh almost has this sense of forced honesty that may stem from what he has been through in the past.  Like he's required to be completely open about everything he thinks and feels at any given tie regardless of the situation.  

 

Either that or he lacks some inherent trait for self preservation and being uninhibited is just part of who he is.  

 

Maybe he does need a life coach.  

[eligrba]

Exhibit A on why the Angels failed in the post season.

 

Winning teams don't have non-performing douche bags making stupid comments about the fans.

 

Hey Josh, get a hit and the booing will stop.....

[QuinlansMinion]

For as much as we all hate him its time to forget about this season and just hope he remembers how hit next season.  

 

 

 

 

This was kind of disturbing.  Ive never seen a player so happy to be injured, if he really was injured on this play.

[CaliAngel]

Take away the money, and the same guy isn't hated.  

 

Oh good, so he knows what he got himself into by entering into such a bloated contract.

 

Two kinds of players generally get boo'd.  Players that make a lot of money and relief pitchers.  

 

You forgot the 3rd kind -- Overpaid players that fans have seen whiff at 56 foot breaking balls in clutch situations for the past 2 years.

 

I don't know for sure, but I would guess a good amount of people at the game were probably season ticket holders. So they've been paying to watch his crap for two years, and it's understandable how they'd be frustrated. And they finally get to attend a playoff game, and the results are worse. Sure, it wasn't the entire crowd booing, but there were obviously a lot of people who have been watching Josh while he's been here who are pissed and fed up. We're talking 10,000+ people collectively booing the guy, so the 20-30 people on here really aren't isolated in their frustration.

 

Sorry to say, when repetitive crappy results are followed by a persona of "don't really give a f**k anyway" attitude, it's hard to blame them.

[ABC]

full disclosure, i was one of the fans booing him. i'm not a boo bird, but i'll boo anyone when i feel it's warranted. booing is an attending fans only way of saying, this is unacceptable. i stand by my actions. he's done nothing for the angels. 

 

Scioscia should be boo'd for playing him in every game. Josh can only do his best. Sosh's job is too see that he isn't ready and bench him for Cowgill/??.

[Oz27]

Hey Josh, screw you. Please retire.

 

And most importantly...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[stevestevens]

 

“I thought it was pretty funny, after my third at-bat of the first game, I got booed,” Hamilton said. “I’m like, seriously? I’m out for a month, put all kinds of poison in my body to even attempt to play, and get booed. Whatever. It’s kind of comical.

 

 

“There’s no sense in me coming back and having the issue,” Hamilton said. “I can just use the extra days and then play. I know you guys think, ‘Well, he hasn’t had any at-bats, how’s he going to feel, blah blah blah.’ It doesn’t really matter.”

 

------------------------------------

 

Well what is it Josh?  You told us beforehand that it did not matter that you missed time and that you would as you said "ready".  Now after you sucked we are supposed to cut you some slack because you weren't "ready" because you had not played in over a month. 

[Torridd]

Would it be too difficult to say something along the lines as this, instead of taking a shot at the fans?:

 

"We couldn't get it done as a unit, and I pretty much stunk the whole series.  I worked my butt off to get back onto the field, for my teammates, and the fans, but the results are far below what I expect out of myself.  I'll use this experience to light a fire inside me to come back completely healthy next year ready to kick some ass "

Probably, but remember not only the fans get frustrated and say dumb things.

[fan_since79]

Josh Hamilton will be the highest paid player on the 2015 Angels payroll, making $25.4 million,

[VariousCrap]

Josh Hamilton is a mental midget.

 

End of thread.

[Jeff Fletcher]

Been following your responses here and wanted to add a couple things....

In one of the threads Hamilton was criticized for saying he could play or forcing his way into the lineup.

What would you have said if he said "I can't play"? Don't you want players who want to play, who want to push themselves as hard as possible to play? If Hamilton really wasn't ready (and he wasn't), that's on Scioscia/Dipoto for putting him on the roster, not on Hamilton.

By the way, I think what the Angels were thinking was this "what's the upside of having Cowgill/Navarro in there and losing Hamilton for the entire postseason (which is what happens if you don't give him any ABs) vs. What's the upside of letting him have his "rehab assignment" in the no 7 spot for 3-4 games and him finding it and having an impact if we have advance?"

As for his comments about the booing, I'm sure he didn't like it, but he did understand it. He said "I don't take offense."

Maybe he could have found a more tactful way to express it but the guy wasn't sitting there with a PR rep pondering the right answer. He was throwing stuff into his bag while talking to a reporter.

(By the way, don't you all hate Scioscia for saying the politically correct things instead of the truth?)

I'm pretty sure by the end of the conversation he realized he stepped in it a little bit, which is why I didn't portray it as some tirade against the fans. It wasn't even the lead.

[fan_since79]

If he had a proper understanding of the hitting zone and stopped swinging at pitches three feet outside of it, I wouldn't care what he had to say about the fans or anything else.

 

He's getting paid $25 million to hit a baseball, and he's fallen woefully short in that area.

Edited October 8, 2014 by fan_since79

[Jay]

As for his comments about the booing, I'm sure he didn't like it, but he did understand it. He said "I don't take offense."

 

Actually he said it's comical.

[Jeff Fletcher]

“I thought it was pretty funny, after my third at-bat of the first game, I got booed,” Hamilton said. “I’m like, seriously? I’m out for a month, put all kinds of poison in my body to even attempt to play, and get booed. Whatever. It’s kind of comical.

“I don’t take offense to it because they don’t know me. There is no personal interaction.”

[yk9001]

Could this seriously been the first time he's been booed as an Angel?  Outside of April 2014, he has sucked.  I had assumed he'd been booed before.

[T.G.]

It's all about perspective.  When some people look at Josh Hamilton they see a guy who appears to not give a rip. I look at a guy who's probably embarrassed and is trying to figure it all out.  He looks distracted to some and to me he looks bewildered. I believe he wants to figure it out and isn't satisfied with his own performance.

 

Have you ever had one of those times in your life when nothing seems to be going well?  You feel like you're looking into the abyss. You might try to mask it all, but it's haunting you.  I'm guessing that's where Hamilton is. Baseball is a tough game - there is so much failure associated with it.  For much of his life baseball came easily to Hamilton.  That's not the case anymore.  He's trying to adjust.  You might say he's in the fight of his baseball life.  Tack on his daily struggles with his personal demons and try to put yourself in his shoes. 

[Jay]

If I recall correctly he got booed when he struck out in the bottom of the 9th with the score tied in Game 1 of the ALDS with Beckham on 2nd and 1 out.  And he looked bad.  That would have been his 4th AB of the game though.

 

Of course that was no worse than what happened in the previous inning with runners on 1st and 2nd.  Pujols popped up and Kendrick struck out.  They weren't booed.  It was just a nightmare game.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Jay

[Hollyw00d]

It's all about perspective. When some people look at Josh Hamilton they see a guy who appears to not give a rip. I look at a guy who's probably embarrassed and is trying to figure it all out. He looks distracted to some and to me he looks bewildered. I believe he wants to figure it out and isn't satisfied with his own performance.

Have you ever had one of those times in your life when nothing seems to be going well? You feel like you're looking into the abyss. You might try to mask it all, but it's haunting you. I'm guessing that's where Hamilton is. Baseball is a tough game - there is so much failure associated with it. For much of his life baseball came easily to Hamilton. That's not the case anymore. He's trying to adjust. You might say he's in the fight of his baseball life. Tack on his daily struggles with his personal demons and try to put yourself in his shoes.

I'd love to be in his shoes, dude makes more money in a week than some small countries