23 games = 14% of the season - it ain't over yet, folks

[Angelsjunky]

Not time to give up. Remember, the team started 2-8 and has been 7-6 since then. Not great, but respectable.

 

Here's the hope: over the next month or so the team goes from respectable to at least very good. Weaver, Madson, and Jepsen come back to bolster the pitching staff. Vargas, Hanson and Blanton settle down to at least average. Richards and Wilson build on what they've been doing already. Hamilton is going to get hot at some point and there's room for improvement from Trout and Pujols.

 

The point being, at some point this team is going to get hot. There are some kinks to work out, and the pitching will never be great, but the hope is that it can be good enough - average to above average - to give the powerful offense - an offense which hasn't actualized its full potential yet - a chance to win.

 

It isn't time to give up. We just need to wait it out a bit and hope that the Angels can, at the least, continue to play decent ball (which, again, they have been playing for two weeks now) until the pieces all fall into place.

 

I'd be more down on them if they weren't 7-6 over those last 13 games. If we were 6-17 right now I'd be singing a different tune. But they're getting there...albeit slowly.

[CanadianHalo]

I see what your saying and love that your being optimistic, but the bottom line is this team is just too inconsistent. Im sure we will sweep our fair share of teams this year like we did the tigers, but then we lose or at best tie a 4 game series with seattle. We are 2-4 against texas, a team that we cant rely on to just lose to other teams. If we want to catch them we have to beat them.

In the big picture, its still early. But we can only say that for so long. This team is like last years, streaky.

Hopefully we can win today and get on a roll, this is a big series for us with oakland this week.

[tdawg87]

No offense AJ, but we heard the exact same BS last season.

[SCHaloFan]

No offense AJ, but we heard the exact same BS last season.

Yeah, I appreciate the optimism and am trying damn hard to have some myself. But we hear this all the time, and heard well into June last year. A team with this kind of payroll and talent (at least offensively, because we have limited talent in the arms dept) should not be this mediocre. Yet we are year in and year out the model of mediocrity. We have shown no ability to dominate the A's and Rangers, and even lesser teams which we must in order to contend. At this point I am not confident about the makeup of this team to get and stay hot

[Chuck]

No offense AJ, but we heard the exact same BS last season.

While true, the team ended up in contention from May thru September despite the awful start.

Optimism is one thing, factoring in facts as AJ has done is another. While they've been frustrating to watch, this team is the Lion in the closet ready to bust out and go on a rampage.

[fan_since79]

Things can change in a hurry in baseball. The Oakland A's, a team that many were raving about two weeks ago, have lost 8 of their last 10 games.

[Docwaukee]

nice post AJ.  I'm actually feeling more and more optimistic when I think about this team. 

 

Especially if we can get Weaver back soon and move Blanton to mop up or put him on the DL with an 'injury'. 

 

This team is very offense dependent and offensive performance can vary wildly from game to game.  Very momentum driven.  I think our swings will be big this year. 

 

There are things I have liked so far.  I actually have some mild hope for the pen.  Still need one more guy, but Downs, Frieri, Burnett are fine.  Delarosa is pretty decent actually.  Roth can be a LH specialist and when Jep gets back he can be a RH specialist.  Madson or someone with his ability would really solidify things. 

 

The other thing is that they were pretty bad on D early on and have gotten a lot better. 

Their baserunning has been bad without the steals to offset it but that will get better. 

I think Vargas and Wilson will get better and Weaver will be fine. 

 

Seriously, the offense is going to catch fire for about a 6week period before the ASB and we will win a ton of games. 

[Chuck]

The Braves started the season 12-1. They've lost 8 of their last 11 games. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

'm just waiting to see. My expectations at this point are not lofty, but to write off the season before the end of April doesn't make sense. I keep hoping that sometime the Angels will play at least .500 ball in April so we don't spend the rest of the season trying to overcome the first month.

 

It is far too early to declare any of the off-season acquisitions a failure. In the words of the immortal Jose Mota, "Play good enough until last out until also something good happens for you."

[deepdrive]

I think this team has an excessive amount of talent and, even with taking some hits, is going to do well.

But... I think it's a mistake to think all these guys who are injured or struggling are going to come back and have career average years. I expect a season where the Angels record comes up short of what an average year of this level of talent would produce.

[SmallSampleSize]

Holy crap.

 

I didn't realize we're almost 1/5 of the way done with the season.

 

Now I'm actually worried.

[Ohtaniland]

It just sucks having to watch the tortoise try to catch the hare..............again!

[ten ocho recon scout]

The Braves started the season 12-1. They've lost 8 of their last 11 games. 

boom

Good point. Also whoever pointed out Oakland up above.

Its ugly, but there's still lots of time to right the ship. Off topic slightly, but so far washington and cinc are suprisingly 'average'. And so far I've been totally wrong about NY and Bos (wow), but spot on with Toronto. They could turn it around too, but I really didn't buy the hype that taking a group of guys who weren't on fire from one team, taking them to another, and somehow expecting different results.... (like the dodgers)

[RenoHalo]

Yeah, I'm not buying it, I still think they are not very good. I wish I had the optimism some of you guys have, but for me, it's not a 'parts' or 'sum' issue, it's a culture thing. This team has zero swagger, and no one in that locker room seems to be the guy to change that. Of course, I have no idea what goes on inside, but I didn't in 2002 either, and I could see the marbles in Percy, Erstad, Fullmer, Eckstein, etc. just by watching TV. I'm gonna say it again, I think a guy like Bill Hall could tilt that room in a good way. I hope he makes it back up to test that strange theory.

[Mark68]

So...at what point IS it over? When mathematically eliminated?

 

In my view, it will be unofficially officially over well before they're mathematically eliminated.

 

I fear for these next 7 games against the A's and O's. I have a feeling they'll go 2-5 in those games...and that's being optimistic. It's too bad that the A's aren't going to throw Anderson at us, because he'd get really healthy and help my fantasy team...which is looking more and more like the only thing I should give a shit about.