Are these the darkest days?

[Torridd]

I know some of you have been fans since the inception in 1961. I've "only" been a fan since 1979. Those early days must have been torturous but expected because of the newness. The late 80s/early 90s were a bit opposite of today: good pitching and shoddy hitting. Still, I'm so bummed by these present Angels. I can't quite understand why it's taken so long to win since we have the money and the will. How would you compare this current era (5 years) to the others that were underwhelming?

[Angelsjunky]

I've been a fan since the early 80s, although didn't start following the team closely until 1987. In hindsight, that late 80s-early 90s was super low, although at the time I didn't have perspective. 

For me the darkest moment in Angels history is still that tiebreaker game at the end of 1995, and just that last month or two as a whole. That was our mostly homegrown team finally coming together with a magical first two-thirds of the year, and then it collapsed.

While this season is awful and the last few years have been various shades of disappointment, I'm reasonably hopeful for the future, if only because it is not known - and the Angels do have a solid core of some very good players and prospects to build from. It just might not happen for another 2-3 years.

[Dtwncbad]

I think this seems like the darkest days for me (fan since about 78) because:

1). it feels like this is the longest streak of meaningless seasons I can remember

2). it’s the same problem of lousy starting pitching.  Chinese water torture!

3). the impact of COVID-19 on family, lifestyle and (especially) work has me on edge and impatient, and baseball is not a game for the impatient

4). I can’t see/don’t have confidence that this starting pitching problem is going to get fixed

5). sports overall is less “recreational” and “relaxing” when politics is now omnipresent rather than invisible.  The merits of any individual issue aside, I just prefer sports to be an escape, a treat, a little 3 hour vacation, a “timeout” from real life.

 

[zenmaster]

It's dark when you have the absolute best player in the game and another guy that is top 5 and never even had a shot at the playoffs in a year when more teams make the playoffs then don't.

[DCAngelsFan]

I think the days around the time of Dipoto leaving were worse, in the sense that the future was obvious - we had arguably the worst farm in baseball, we had few tradeable assets - the major league team was a good as it was gonna get - and it was only going to get worse from there -  we were looking at a low, slow, sad decline that would take years to recover from.  

These are better - but not good enough - sure, there's some young talent in the pipeline, but not enough to promote to the team to fill gaps *and* to make trades for impact ML starters.  Everyone knows we need pitching - but everyone needs pitching - no one wants to trade their top-end arms, and FA aces are rare (and usually don't fare well.)  

Going forward, we have holes and so still not much chance of getting there from here.  

We need to draft high, and be brilliant at it.  We need to get lucky in the FA market - some ace pitcher choosing to come here - and actually perform.  We need some take a flyer on some pitcher, and have it pay off.  Maybe get lucky in a NPB posting and pickup a decent pitcher.

We need a hell of a lot to go right for us - and that's not really been our pattern lately, has it?

  

[Inside Pitch]

Personally, not even close.

This is bad play... pure and simple.  They consistently fail to execute, mental errors left and right -- a lot of annoying BS..   Most of this stuff is correctable and I'm hoping Maddon is just using this short season as a testing ground because I'm not liking what I see as far as overall preparedness goes.   Pulling Pena last night was a prime example of the sort of shit Maddon has been doing all year.

Right now this teams needs a front end arm, a shutdown type RP, no way around those two.   Then it has a question mark at 2B, needs depth at C, and needs to finally move on at 1B.  

[Angel Oracle]

This is the SECOND longest under .500 season stretch (5 years).

I hope these end not too long from now.

Agree with Arte stop meddling and stop hiring mediocre GMs.   Even more, stop shorting the scouting and development budget, and stop shorting players on the farm.   You don’t look very knowledgeable when doing that.

[Duren, Duren]

Most disappointing now because there seems to be a lack of spirit and collective team solidarity. So many unforced mental and physical errors all year and little accountability. No anger at failure or continued losing. And no real charismatic personalities to try and shake the team up. If you are losing, go down fighting and clawing. Defeatism seems to have set in.

 

[Palomar]

Hard to top '95 as far as disappointments go.  I even took a baseball break after that.  But, this is a team that does not have a chance because the pitching is not there, bottom line.  You should be able to win a few games once in awhile when you score 3, 4, 5, or even 6 runs.  It has to be devastating for the players to score and it doesn''t even help. And the starting pitchers that do good and leave with a lead (when they are allowed to go at least 5 innings) pretty much know the bullpen will blow it all up (and the opposing hitters are happy to face our pitchers). Of course knowing there is only a few weeks to straighten it out doesn't help.  It makes me sad to even watch.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

I think this seems like the darkest days for me (fan since about 78) because:

1). it feels like this is the longest streak of meaningless seasons I can remember

2). it’s the same problem of lousy starting pitching.  Chinese water torture!

3). the impact of COVID-19 on family, lifestyle and (especially) work has me on edge and impatient, and baseball is not a game for the impatient

4). I can’t see/don’t have confidence that this starting pitching problem is going to get fixed

5). sports overall is less “recreational” and “relaxing” when politics is now omnipresent rather than invisible.  The merits of any individual issue aside, I just prefer sports to be an escape, a treat, a little 3 hour vacation, a “timeout” from real life.

 

Back in the 70s you could walk up to the ticket window and get a good seat at a cheap price. I was fresh out of HS and didn't have a lot of money. My friends and l would usually get the lower view level right behind home for $3.00/ea. We weren't expecting to win the division so we went to see the stars from other teams. 

[stormngt]

19 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Back in the 70s you could walk up to the ticket window and get a good seat at a cheap price. I was fresh out of HS and didn't have a lot of money. My friends and l would usually get the lower view level right behind home for $3.00/ea. We weren't expecting to win the division so we went to see the stars from other teams. 

Remember those days

[kevinb]

These past 5 years have been the darkest days I can remember since I was a kid in the 80's and 90's. Other than Trout there hasn't been much excitement. 

[eligrba]

41 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Back in the 70s you could walk up to the ticket window and get a good seat at a cheap price. I was fresh out of HS and didn't have a lot of money. My friends and l would usually get the lower view level right behind home for $3.00/ea. We weren't expecting to win the division so we went to see the stars from other teams. 

I remember riding my bike to the stadium and being able to buy a ticket, a hot dog and a soda for less than 5.00.

[Erstad Grit]

As a child I remember being stoked we signed Cecel Fielder. I guaranteed 50 hr lol. All we acquired were washed up players. Fernando Valenzuela, Bo Jackson, Eddie Murray, my favorite might be Jose Canseco. We tried once with Mo Vaughn and he immediately fell down the dugout. (Yes he played well after) 

The disappointment now isn't we don't spend. It's we have an incredible, albeit small, core and have for YEARS been unable to properly build around it while be willing to spend. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1 hour ago, eligrba said:

I remember riding my bike to the stadium and being able to buy a ticket, a hot dog and a soda for less than 5.00.

It cost $6.00 for a large coke last time l was at the stadium

[AngelsLakersFan]

They say the night is darkest before the dawn...

[failos]

It's always darkest before dawn

[failos]

damn it @AngelsLakersFan

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, failos said:

damn it @AngelsLakersFan

You earned your name today, son.

[failos]

1 minute ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

You earned your name today, son.

I usually do

[oldguy]

'71 through '77 was a horrible run.  It's what made '79 so exciting.

[Torridd]

4 hours ago, Palomar said:

Hard to top '95 as far as disappointments go.  I even took a baseball break after that.  But, this is a team that does not have a chance because the pitching is not there, bottom line.  You should be able to win a few games once in awhile when you score 3, 4, 5, or even 6 runs.  It has to be devastating for the players to score and it doesn''t even help. And the starting pitchers that do good and leave with a lead (when they are allowed to go at least 5 innings) pretty much know the bullpen will blow it all up (and the opposing hitters are happy to face our pitchers). Of course knowing there is only a few weeks to straighten it out doesn't help.  It makes me sad to even watch.

I felt that '95 hurt but at least we were in the hunt for a playoff seat. This current pitching isn't cutting it. Even one good pitcher (14+ wins) will uplift this team. 

[eligrba]

43 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

They say the night is darkest before the dawn...

 

43 minutes ago, failos said:

It's always darkest before dawn

Once its dark, you don't know whether you are at the beginning or the end......that's how it feels.

[eligrba]

1986, Game 5 ALCS

[Lou]

1 hour ago, eligrba said:

1986, Game 5 ALCS

Lock it up