Sleeping In and Safeguards

[AngelsWin.com]

By Joe Tevelowitz, AngelsWin.com Guest Columnist - 

Last Monday, Matt Joyce had one of those days that all of us fear. Seemingly content in the knowledge that Sunday’s afternoon match-up would be followed by a Monday evening tilt with the Toronto Blue Jays, Joyce kept it comfy on Monday.  Unfortunately, that Monday game was scheduled for 1:07 P.M., thanks to Victoria Day in Canada for the awkward start time, and Joyce was late, resulting in a fine and benching.  

Now, you might think an outfielder who’s hitting below the Mendoza line with only one home run and 11 RBIs on the season isn’t that big of a loss for the Halos during any given game.  However, Joyce’s tardiness might be emblematic of a bigger problem the Angels have faced this year – this team has yet to really be a team. 

Not to absolve Joyce of his struggles, on the field or off, but his lack of knowledge about when the next game would be proves that there are serious communication problems.  The Josh Hamilton escapade should have been the first clue to the lack of organizational unity, from players just wanting to move past his absence to the front office that was seemingly unwilling to put Hamilton in touch with owner Arte Moreno. Joyce’s battle with the bed does not equate to Hamilton’s battles with the bottles, but both show a team that, for whatever reason, has yet to really gel.

Lacking any actual insider knowledge of what is or isn’t going on inside the Angels clubhouse, this lack of cohesion conclusion is based more on personal experience with waking up late, and making sure I had someone around to prevent that. My allegiance to sleeping in is probably second only to my love of the Angels. Actually, third to my Simpsons fandom, but still, I love a good no-alarm weekend as much as the next guy.  That love has caused a share of near-disasters, dating back to a freshman year Poli Sci test that had me sprinting for class in the uncharacteristic California rain while wearing basketball shorts and tank top (aka San Diego formal attire). Still, knowing about my love of extra rest and likelihood to stay in bed longer than I should has allowed me to build in safeguards to my schedule, and most of those safeguards are in the form of friends, parents, girlfriends, mailmen and once a kindly hobo named Gerard who also understood that I needed an extra push sometimes to get to where I needed to be when I needed to be there.

I’m sure Matt Joyce has many friends and family who would serve as safeguards, and with the six alarms he set for Wednesday’s game he probably won’t even need them.  Still, the truer safeguard should be all the guys he sees on the daily, wearing the same outfit as him, supposed to be there at the same time, and working towards the same goal – his team.  What surprised me most about Joyce not knowing the proper game time wasn’t that he slept in (because we’ve all been there, and during the rigors of a 9-5 would love to be there again); the real issue is that, his lack of knowledge about the early start time means A) nobody was talking about Monday’s game after Sunday’s loss and nobody was talking to Matt Joyce before Monday’s game. 

Teammates don’t need to be best friends and not everyone is going to love everyone, but with the whole squad traveling from Baltimore to Toronto, was there no plan to get together for pancakes (or whatever the Canadian equivalent of pancakes is) in the morning? Again, this is not to absolve Joyce of the blame for his misstep, or to point to anyone in particular as being responsible for keeping the team together.  Rather, this is another subtle reminder that, even with the best player in all of baseball, even with a team coming off a season in which the led the league in wins, there is something missing.  The 2002 Champs were not dominant on paper.  What set them apart was a feeling that when you saw that team on the field, they liked playing together and, maybe more importantly, they liked being together.  

Sure, hindsight is 20/20 and maybe the memories of camaraderie from that year are glossed over by the eventual title win.  Maybe this team is a lot closer than meets the eye and the importance of a Torii Hunter or David Eckstein bringing people together through their positive personality and family-first attitude is overstated.  Matt Joyce was late because of an error Matt Joyce made, but teams need safeguards, and thinking that true team success can come without greater unity is just a dream. Hopefully it’s one the Angels will awake from soon.

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[ELEVEN]

I'm pretty certain the Angels could use a kindly hobo.

Where might we obtain said hobo?

[ELEVEN]

Btw, the Canadian equivalent of pancakes is beer.

You're welcome.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

If anyone is interested in early morning beer or cocktails, the Meat Locker is meeting up at Auld Dubliner at 630a tomorrow.

So if you're feeling homophobic and want to bust off a few jokes, the locker will be there.

[EDinTUSTIN]

LOL I'd say your article is quite insightful. Based upon Joyce's explanation,"I assumed we had a night game since it was a day game Sunday and assumed we had a night game Monday since we normally always do," this says a lot about just how committed guys must be to the success of the team. What is he, 12 years old or something? He assumed? LOL  Too bad our GM assumed that Joyce would magically reverse his drop in OPS over the past few seasons and be the missing piece for left field. Gotta love that, an adult being paid big time money, and he assumes rather than knows the proper time and scheduling.

[Docwaukee]

Well written and an interesting train of thought.  Wrong in my opinion, but interesting

 

Because here's the thing.  No one else was late.  Maybe a 30 year old man who has been doing a job since he was 20 should check his schedule for the next day like the rest of us working slugs.  

 

Granted, he owned it, so I don't have much of a problem with it or him for that matter.  Shit happens.  

 

But somehow every other 'employee' found a way to get there on time.  

 

To me, it means that everyone else is a professional and didn't think it was necessary to single any one person out in particular and let them know about the unusual starter time.  Why?  Because this isn't a rec league softball team.  Joyce wasn't going to hustle over to his game after dropping the kids off at soccer practice.  

 

This means nothing about this team being a team.  It means that a guy hitting below the mendoza line gapped it.  So even though he accepted blame for his mistake, the only thing I can take away from this is that Matt Joyce isn't as engaged as he should be and it's no one else's responsibility to get him more interested.

[AngelsSurfer]

It happens. He owned it. He apologized to everyone. It was a different time zone and an unusual time for a game. He's also only been on the team since Spring Training so perhaps he's not BFFs with anyone yet. C'est la vie.

 

What's a question for me: for away games, isn't there usually a team bus? AFAIK aren't the players are supposed to be downstairs at a certain time to get driven to the stadium together? It's interesting that nobody took a head count or noticed he was missing at that point. Although if the philosophy is (as it should be) "we leave at ___ time and we don't wait" it wouldn't have mattered if they knew he was missing.

[Blarg]

24 other players, the entire coaching and training staff along with PR, travel coordinators, television and radio personel, all of the stadium staff and even the fans showed up on time.

Joyce and only Joyce ****ed up. Hard to say there was any communication problem.

*Missed Doc's post which said tge same thing but using a hell of a lot more words.

Edited May 24, 2015 by notti

[Jeff Fletcher]

Wow. Is this piece attempting to say that the Angels don't have team spirit or Matt Joyce has no friends because no one came to wake him up?

(By the way, we don't know he overslept. He may have been awake. He just didn't go to the park because why would he go at 10 am for a 7 pm game?)

[red321]

I didn't know the game started early either....confirms what I already knew...I have no friends.

[ELEVEN]

Where is Joyce's accountability partner?

[ELEVEN]

Btw, what time is today's game?

[EDinTUSTIN]

Btw, what time is today's game?

lol on both posts!

[CaliAngel]

I don't understand why this is still being talked about. Like nobody's ever made a mistake and been late. Get Over it.