It’s all coming together

[TroutField]

Full Lineup together for the first time all year. Pitching seems to be improving, Canning is blossoming... Middleton should be back in 3 weeks.

 

wow it’s actually exciting to be an angels fan during the season for the first time since 2014! 

[Second Base]

If they want to make a surprise appearance in the playoffs, beating up on the A's would be a really good start. 

[TroutField]

7 minutes ago, Randy Gradishar said:

 

Sorry typing on my phone 

[Taylor]

Five-game losing streak incoming.

[arch stanton]

These guys can score. Going forward they’ll be as good as the starters allow them to be 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, arch stanton said:

These guys can score. Going forward they’ll be as good as the starters allow them to be 

One of the things I like is that the offense is varied. We have guys being patient, and both power and contact. Fun to watch when they have a good night.

What a difference lineup depth is. No more trout the island in a sea of crap.

[Billy_Ball]

55 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Five-game losing streak incoming.

I miss Carrot Anderson!

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, Billy_Ball said:

I miss Carrot Anderson!

and Bumpy Grimes 

[UndertheHalo]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

One of the things I like is that the offense is varied. We have guys being patient, and both power and contact. Fun to watch when they have a good night.

What a difference lineup depth is. No more trout the island in a sea of crap.

At least from the line ups perspective, a shockingly great number of things have broke our way.  Which is new.  I think the first few weeks of the season there was a lot of pessimism around guys like David Fletcher and Tommy LaStella.  Rengifo while he wasn’t up got a lot of “utility” player projections.  I know a lot of us, certainly myself....were extremely skeptical about Calhoun.  And he’s been pretty ok.  <knock on wood> Brian Goodwin has also been pretty  great.  Giving them some solid depth that they have struggled terribly to find for what ? Like 5 or 6 years.

Anyway all three of the infielders I mentioned have not been utility players, but legit MLB regulars and to me that’s the biggest difference.  Particularly Tommy and Fletcher.  Rengifo the arrow is pouring solidly up.  So it’s good to see.  Really the only complete failure in the line up has been Cozart. Even Bour has been decent since he’s come back.  Hopefully this stuff continues going forward.  It certainly looks legit.  

Now if only they can get their shit together with the rotation. 

Edited June 28, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[ten ocho recon scout]

^ good point. IP mentioned over the winter that simply replacing dead weight with average would be a huge boost. Were definetely seeing that. 

Fletcher has been a nice surprise. Goodwin has cooled, but kept us above water early on. Timing is everything.

La Stella has been one of those stories you were always jealous of because it seemed like Oakland always found guys like that. Like Muncy. Never seems to be us. Usually the exact opposite for us.

So weve gotten lucky with some surprises. But beyond that, trout-ohtani-upton-simmons is a super solid core. That alone is huge, especially finally having them all back. With guys like la stella sprinkled in, this is a pretty impressive lineup.

[arch stanton]

I’m always a believer that a good team can’t have weak links. First rule, don’t suck 

[Angel Oracle]

Best thing about this 4 game winning streak is the starting rotation pitching deeper into games, and not taxing the pen so much in general.

[arch stanton]

It’s nice to get a lead big enough that Garcia and Bard can’t piss it away 

[Jay]

Angels are definitely firing on all cylinders right now. Hopefully they can keep it up.

 

[T.G.]

[fan_since79]

All this praise about various players and not one mention of Pujols.

 

[floplag]

Injuries aside its pretty much what most of us here thought, we would see some kids develop which they have had to do under fire thanks to Cahill and Harvey being dumpster fires and that the team would be better second half than first. 
The real question for me is will the front office do anything to help them or is this who we are for the duration. 

[Fish Oil]

In the "What if" category I was thinking last night what if Harvey had continued his second half from last season, Cahill had maintained his form from last season, and Allen had returned to form.
We would certainly be in the thick of the race, perhaps even on Houston's tail. 

[Angel Oracle]

Since starting the year 9-16 (1-6, 7-1, 1-9), they are 33-24 (.578 winning %).

[Angelsfan1984]

[bruin5]

I like the lefty/righty batting order.  In a day when relief pitchers are used liberally it’s nice that we have that variety.  And, most pitchers seem to have a different approach for lefties and righties.  Making them change their approach every batter can’t hurt. 

[Lhalo]

47 minutes ago, floplag said:

Injuries aside its pretty much what most of us here thought, we would see some kids develop which they have had to do under fire thanks to Cahill and Harvey being dumpster fires and that the team would be better second half than first. 
The real question for me is will the front office do anything to help them or is this who we are for the duration. 

I would assume the focus is on next year. They've had a nice run lately but I want the org to target pitching for the future. I'm not saying this year is a waste, I'm just saying that with the right moves this team can have a chance to go deep in the playoffs if they get the right staff. Some guy named Ohtani will be back on the mound as well.

[Angel Oracle]

Buttrey seems to be righting his ship again (3 innings in past 7 days, 1 baserunner, 5 Ks).

Anderson, Ramirez, BedRock Jr., Buttrey, and Robles are all looking good at this point.   

Need a couple of more guys to step it up in the pen.    Middleton returns hopefully by July 20.

Do they try to find another Buttrey via trade in the next few weeks?    Cole, Jewell, and Bard are better served as AAA/MLB depth at this point.

Having the starters continue to average at least 5 2/3 innings/start will also continue to help out the pen. 

[Dick Enberg]

He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one Mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
'Cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now
Over me

Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah

[floplag]

14 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

I would assume the focus is on next year. They've had a nice run lately but I want the org to target pitching for the future. I'm not saying this year is a waste, I'm just saying that with the right moves this team can have a chance to go deep in the playoffs if they get the right staff. Some guy named Ohtani will be back on the mound as well.

none of that justifies not making an effort for this season in my view.  This is what i was complaining about all off season. this is nearly exactly what i anticipated, and everyone told me i was a jackass for it but here we are, well see in the next few weeks i guess.