Johnny Giavotella

[tdawg87]

[ettin]

I agree and concur with the opening line, body, and closing of your post.

[QuinlansMinion]

Johnny is doing what Howie Kendrick never could, get clutch hits for this team.  For years ive wanted Kendrick off this team for the simple fact that he is absolutely useless in a playoff series, or in any big game.  When Johnny steps up to the plate I always feel he will have a good at bat or at least put his best swing at the ball, and not flail at crap like that choker we used to have.  

[Make Angels Great Again]

My face right now

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

One of tdawg's finest literary efforts. Dead on, concise and to the point.

[Blarg]

What the team needs is more Gia to win tonight.

[laagamer]

Sadly it won't matter for jack ****in' shit.

[HeavenlyHalos]

Lol, good thing we kept Featherston and his .459 OPS on the roster all season (thats an OPS+ of 30). At least McDonald last season was a damn good defender. 

[Stradling]

Thanks Dipoto

[QuinlansMinion]

Thanks Dipoto

Do you ever blame the manager, for anything?  He constantly screws this team with his decisions and yet you act like you dont see it.  

[HeavenlyHalos]

He actually does and he has said multiple times that he would be fine with Scioscia not returning as manager. IMO, and I could certainly be wrong on this, is that he likes to take the contrarian view to how pissed off and reactionary most of this board gets towards Scioscia, myself included. In reality, he does make some good points and if you watch a lot of other teams, their managers also make a lot of mistakes where you find yourself scratching your head. 

 

For me, my frustration with Scioscia is I don't see him adapting to a game that is developing rapidly with advanced statistics. For instance, one thing that will never ever make sense to me is his love of the contact play. I have no idea what Scioscia sees in it. The veteran love is also incredibly frustrating and he really needs to realize that some players are so past their prime they hinder the team immensely.

 

In the end however, I really worry about his potential stranglehold over organizational values in a sport where the manager/head coach has far less to do with a team's success on the field than say football, basketball or soccer does. I do not want to return to the Reagins era.

[Stradling]

Do you ever blame the manager, for anything? He constantly screws this team with his decisions and yet you act like you dont see it.

No I don't blame the manager for Featgerston being on the team considering that's what I was responding to. Do you ever blame anyone other than Scioscia?

[Stradling]

He actually does and he has said multiple times that he would be fine with Scioscia not returning as manager. IMO, and I could certainly be wrong on this, is that he likes to take the contrarian view to how pissed off and reactionary most of this board gets towards Scioscia, myself included. In reality, he does make some good points and if you watch a lot of other teams, their managers also make a lot of mistakes where you find yourself scratching your head.

For me, my frustration with Scioscia is I don't see him adapting to a game that is developing rapidly with advanced statistics. For instance, one thing that will never ever make sense to me is his love of the contact play. I have no idea what Scioscia sees in it. The veteran love is also incredibly frustrating and he really needs to realize that some players are so past their prime they hinder the team immensely.

In the end however, I really worry about his potential stranglehold over organizational values in a sport where the manager/head coach has far less to do with a team's success on the field than say football, basketball or soccer does. I do not want to return to the Reagins era.

I blame Scioscia but to guys like QM if you don't hate Scioscia or think he's the reason for all bad things Angels related then you are a Scioscia hater or apologist. It's laughable but it's to be expected from a guy like him. At least he's consistent, except when he's not.

I haven't read the game day thread because I went to the game. I wonder who was to blame, the players who made the errors or Sosh.

I don't think Sosh should have taken out Gia when he did but both guys made errors that led to three runs each.

[QuinlansMinion]

No I don't blame the manager for Featgerston being on the team considering that's what I was responding to. Do you ever blame anyone other than Scioscia?

Who put Featherston into the game?  Are you gonna keep ignoring that part?

[Stradling]

Lol, good thing we kept Featherston and his .459 OPS on the roster all season (thats an OPS+ of 30). At least McDonald last season was a damn good defender.

QM, read this. That is what I was responding to. Thanks.

[tomsred]

Who put Featherston into the game?  Are you gonna keep ignoring that part?

 

He put Featherston in the game because the other second baseman teed up three unearned runs with the same kind of mistake that Featherston made.  I blame Giavotella for his sloppy play, Featherston for his sloppy play, and Scioscia for picking the player who was one dimensional (supposedly defense, at least Giavotella could make up for it with his bat to some degree).  Then I'd balme Trout for not cutting off that hit in the eigth inning, and Cron for not stopping a ball hit through his wickets.  I won't even get into the relief pitchers, that would be like picking on crippled people, they showed their youth and inexperience tonight.  They had so many chnces to finish off hitters and couldn't do it.

 

I certainly agree with Stradling, Dipoto set up the plan for Featherston staying on the roster for the full year.  I hope the next GM learns never to employ that kind of plan again.  It was an big failure, and not because of tonight's error but because of how little he contributed to the whole season.  You need 45-50 players to win a championship, it's hindsight but Featherston shouldn't have been one of the 45-50 players who were trying to make it happen.  And by the way, I also blame Green for being a fielding dunce, and Rutledge for being pretty much nothing up until his trade.

[Angel_Fan_4_Life]

tdawg....your posting is a masterpiece.

 

Well done, sir, well done.

[ettin]

I agree and concur with the opening line, body, and closing of your post.

The funniest thing is when I first responded to tdawg's posting my work security system wouldn't let me see the picture so all I saw was a blank post.

[Troll Daddy]

I love Gia but needs to work on his defense in the off season. You can't blame Scioscia for putting in a upgrade defensively with the lead in hand.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Troll Daddy

[tennischmp]

I love Gia but needs to work on his defense in the off season. You can't blame Scioscia for putting in a upgrade defensively with the lead in hand.

You can't blame him but I can

[Angels Lifer]

I am grateful for the clutch hits and fire Gia has brought to the team this year, but it's been a perfect storm for him that will be impossible to replicate. He's a .260-70 hitter who seems to come up with clutch hits almost every time he's in a big spot. The problem is his defense is so bad, his clutch hitting is a wash most of the time. You can't be weak up the middle in baseball. C, SS, 2nd and CF have to be solid defenders. Giavotella has looked better lately and is a gamer but he has no instincts on defense. When he has a throw to make he usually lobs it over to first because he is so unsure of himself. His quick throws are usually extremely unpredictable. If you look at WS champions and contenders over the years, they are very strong defensively up the middle.

[Jim]

I won't even get into the relief pitchers, that would be like picking on crippled people.

lol

[Jim]

I love Gia but needs to work on his defense in the off season. You can't blame Scioscia for putting in a upgrade defensively with the lead in hand.

Replacing him in the 7th inning with a two run lead, and Giovetella having another at bat coming. Yeah there's some criticism to be had. It's not like Featherston has been nails this year.

[tomsred]

We probably should have traded Featherston to Boston for Victorino, and kept Rutledge for late inning work.  Having a somehat veteran guy would have been better than a AA player.  That is all hindsight, and I don't like to do that, but it shows how little mistakes sometimes bite your butt at the wrong time.

Edited October 1, 2015 by tomsred

[Oz27]

Rutledge is probably worse defensively than Giavotella. He'd make Featherston look like Orlando Cabrera.