Are you guys as disappointed in this team as I am?

[TroutField]

Doing everything they can to erase that win streak. It seems like they are never well prepared for big series. They didn't even show up in Houston. It feels like a long shot to salvage a game. Or are we writing this off as Trout is out and needs to get healed.

[Troutstanding]

Yeah, they didn't even show up in Houston... Ugh. /s

[DoubleOffTheWall]

Im not surprised. We don't have a championship core. We just have trout and some spare parts and a bunch of solid pitchers.

Every championship team has a core that is clearly visible.

The Giants have Bumgarner, Posey, Cain, Panda and now Belt, Pence, and a few others.

The Red sox had lester, ortiz, pedroia and before them schilling and ramirez.

Shit even the Royals have a solid well known core now in cain, hosmer, Gordon, the three bullpen guys.

You can't win without a core. Too many moving parts that don't come through together on alot of nights.

[TroutField]

Wouldn't our core be Trout, Calhoun, Pujols, and Richhards? I see what you're saying but we do have a nice core. It's our secondary players that are just total crap. It's a huge drop off from the core to the role players

[tomsred]

Readjust your expectations because the next three games could also be ugly - Kazmir followed by Kershaw and Grienke.  Then CJ Wilson pitches again.  They will only go as far as their pitching can carry them, and right now they are over matched.  I really like the offensive changes, but the real game right now is pitching.  When your facing some of the hottest starters in baseball there isn't much of a chance.  There is still over two months to go, and things can change in a heartbeat, we just need to hang in there some way, some how.

[DoubleOffTheWall]

Calhoun isn't good enough to be a core player. He is just decent. He has looked totally lost the last 2 days.

A core has to have some damn nice players, The Cardinals a few years ago had pujols, molina, wainwright, carpenter, jeez.

[TroutField]

If they can't get through this stretch they don't deserve to be a playoff team in my opinion. Playoff teams find a way to win no matter who is pitching

[ten ocho recon scout]

Yes, im as disappointed. We lost all the momentum for the anual post ASB swoon.

But lets not get carried away. Every other team supposedly better than us has its up and downs too, as evident by the standings. I dont see us turning it around this weekend unfortunately, but its been like one bad week of baseball. Once its hits two or three is when ill get worried.

Still wish we had grabbed a bigger bat, but it is what it is.

[ukyah]

calhoun is every bit deserving of inclusion as a "core player", he may not be a franchise player, but few are, and to be honest few teams have one. my expectations for this season remain unchanged. i saw the angels as an above average team offensively, but dependent on homeruns with a thin starting pitching staff. albert pujols and heaney/wilson have alleviated much of the pain of those shortcomings. i thought the angels would be a playoff team, most likely division winner, before the season, but would suffer their shortcomings in the postseason. basically a repeat of last year. i still think that's the end result. that doesn't keep me from cheering the team on and hoping they can find a way to be the upset champion.

 

i've said many times that i think we're being fooled by our pitching success, personally i don't believe it's sustainable. conversely, i didn't think our offensive stats were sustainable in the negative also. i think we lack a real #1 and i think it's going to cost us. counterintuitively the angels should have been looking for as big a starter that they could get, a late bullpen arm, and a platoon situation in left.

Edited July 30, 2015 by ukyah

[tomsred]

If they can't get through this stretch they don't deserve to be a playoff team in my opinion. Playoff teams find a way to win no matter who is pitching

There is way too much of a season left to make this kind of judgement. You're putting too much emphasis on 6 games in July. I'll reserve my judgements until the regular season ends, and a proper evaluation can be made of the entire season. Kansas City got racked tonight by Cleveland 12-1, there is nothing to conclude from that.

Edited July 30, 2015 by tomsred

[ettin]

I guess when we don't go on a 7-game win streak every day we're on a 3-game losing streak.

[Jason]

Wouldn't our core be Trout, Calhoun, Pujols, and Richhards? I see what you're saying but we do have a nice core. It's our secondary players that are just total crap. It's a huge drop off from the core to the role players

Trout and Aybar for sure. This is the only decent season Pujols has had in an Angel uniform, Calhoun is a bit overrated and Richards had one really good year and isn't much better than the other pitchers this season. It's a very small core

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Trout, Richards, Calhoun is our core.

 

Pujols should be part of it, but is too streaky for me to consider him the core.

 

Heaney is working his way into the core.

 

Like stated above, there is just too big of a drop off from Trout, Calhoun, and to an extent Pujols. Its embarrassing. We need one more MOTO bat and we are going to continue to need that. We needed it last year and didn't get it and we are gonna it at the end of this season and probably going into next year.

 

EDIT: I completely forgot about Aybar. I like Aybar, he's part of the core. We need LF, DH, 2B (long term), and 3B (long term)...just too much.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Angels_Make_Me_Drink

[ten ocho recon scout]

Trout and Aybar for sure. This is the only decent season Pujols has had in an Angel uniform, Calhoun is a bit overrated and Richards had one really good year and isn't much better than the other pitchers this season. It's a very small core

bit harsh. Pujols was actually very good in 12, ad pretty good last year too. His hurt year was his only bad year.

Hes obviously never been st louis pujols but that doesnt make him below decent in any way

[Jason]

bit harsh. Pujols was actually very good in 12, ad pretty good last year too. His hurt year was his only bad year.

Hes obviously never been st louis pujols but that doesnt make him below decent in any way

I'll say decent based on expectations then. Pujols is a core player because his bat is always a threat even when he gets super pull happy

Edited July 30, 2015 by Angels N Skins

[Punk]

No. I came into this season with low expectations.

[UndertheHalo]

Im disappointed that we have lost the last two games. I'm a bit concerned about Richards because he just doesn't look as dominant as he was last year. I am not disappointed in the team tho or the year, we are in pretty good shape going forward and just need to win this last game in Houston to get tied back up, the situation with the new players is still new and we don't have Trout (of course that matters a lot) get out of here with a tie and we'll take care of the Astros at home.

[QuinlansMinion]

We are tied in the loss column on July 30th.  How is that disappointing?  This team controls their own destiny to win the division, thats not a bad situation to be in.

[AngelsFanSince86]

They were killing it for a while and have now struggled a bit, but that will always happen. It doesn't help that their best player, who happens to be THE best player, got injured in the middle of it.  I still believe this team can be pretty solid.  I would have liked a MOTO bat, but I'd rather them sign one in the offseason if the price isn't right, which it clearly isn't.  The team has the potential to be really good in the upcoming years and holding onto their young talent will be a part of that. This just doesn't seem like the type of year you go all in.  As is, this team is most likely going to get at least a wild card spot.

 

Calhoun isn't good enough to be a core player. He is just decent. He has looked totally lost the last 2 days.

A core has to have some damn nice players, The Cardinals a few years ago had pujols, molina, wainwright, carpenter, jeez.

 

Calhoun has a 2.4 WAR, higher than Carpenter and on track for about 4, which is about what Carpenter had last year.  He is on pace for 21 HR, 90 RBI, 71 runs scored, and he plays solid defense.  He is also hitting .350 with RISP this year.  As a matter of fact he is hitting .350 with men on any base.  He was worth 3.7 WAR last year so he is definitely better than decent.  The guy has a bad week and now all of the sudden he is mediocre.  He is hitting .261 over his last 5 games, but is hitting .333 over his last 6 and also .333 for the last month.  

[Guest]

This team's highs and lows have been established for some time now. blame the front office for not bolstering the team

[Inside Pitch]

This team's highs and lows have been established for some time now. blame the front office for not bolstering the team

 

Your re-imagining and deification of Jerry Dipoto is really pretty funny.

[AngelsSurfer]

Calhoun's defense is exemplary. He's saved quite a few runs for the team with those diving catches. For that alone, aside from his hitting, he's core. And he and Trout work extremely well together in the OF. 

 

As for Richards, he's only been back in the lineup for three months after a very serious injury, and he's still managed to put up a decent ERA and work deep into games. He'll get there.

[Redondo]

It's not just that we are losing.

 

It's who we are losing to and how.

[CanadianHalo]

bashing Calhoun!!!!! "C'mon man!"...

Kole is a rock solid role player, every team needs guys like KC. Kole plays hard every night and is a huge reason why we're as good as we are. If we would properly address the LF position I think we'd be in a good place. DeJesus, Murphy, Victorino are nice pieces to have coming off the bench but I don't think a full time platoon is the answer.

Hopefully Shoe and Weave both bring that competitive/bulldog mentality they each have down the home stretch here.

Edited July 30, 2015 by CanadianHalo

[bloodbrother]

I'm disappointed in that it looked like the team was finally starting to hit its stride only to just completely stumble immediately after. That 7 game win streak is all but erased with this current 1-5 stretch. Things aren't gonna get any easier the rest of this week, either

 

Seems like that's been the story with this team all year long. Win 5 straight, follow it up by losing 5 straight, etc.

Edited July 30, 2015 by bloodbrother