Gameday Thread: Angels vs. White Sox (Opening Day 4-1-2021)

[AngelsLakersFan]

3 minutes ago, disarcina said:

great.

oh , BTW - it's game ONE.

but then again - we've all been terrible Halos April starts. nice to get this opener win tonight.

Yeah it's one game, and obviously this team has warts, but they showed a gear tonight against a very good white sox team that I haven't seen in years. They made plays, they caught the ball, threw strikes, hit the ball hard and didn't give at bats away.

[Second Base]

Also, it should be noted that Slegers had been a very capable starter at EVERY stop in minor league baseball. 

There could be some starter potential in him. He probably lines up behind Barria and Sandoval in the pecking order, but I love that the Angels have built enough depth that they'll likely have quality pitchers making starts for them 162 times this year. 

You likely won't need to endure any Odirasmer Despagne type of appearances.

[rafibomb]

16 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

I have to say, and maybe @rafibombcan concur, but even with 13,000 in the stadium, it was legitimately loud in the stadium.  You could feel the excitement and it was awesome.  Maybe it was the 18 month layoff, whatever.

Great team win.  Pitching, defense, and a little luck.  I’m stoked, at least for tonight.  

I completely agree. I told my girlfriend the same exact thing. It was electric during that 8th inning! You could hear how much everyone missed being at the stadium.

[bloodbrother]

Dylan Bundy is all of us

 

[Chuck]

Just now, bloodbrother said:

Dylan Bundy is all of us

 

Extension forthcoming....

I mean damn, Bundy pitched every bit as good as Giolito tonight. Went 6, not like that other chump.

[aznhockeyguy]

Solid come from behind win.  Bullpen was lights out. 

[fan_since79]

Trout, postgame with Mota:

"...we have a great group of guys and we're ready to win!"

[T.G.]

Solid win. Solid broadcast. 

I watched about a total of 5 innings of ST baseball, but watched the whole game on my computer tonight... Enjoyed Sutton.  I will miss Victor, but Sutton was solid.  Lots of things to like about the game.  I'm starting to get a little excited about the team, finally.

[Chuck]

21 minutes ago, failos said:

I like Sutton, but he does look Gowdy-esque

I love me some Trey Gowdy. All good in my hood. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

36 minutes ago, failos said:

No Alex Curry? Dafuc

Look on the bright side, you get Jose Mota, hurray...

[stormngt]

23 minutes ago, cvdog said:

You won't be alone. I know it's just one game but this team seams way different then previous years.

The bullpen kept the game close then held/save the game.  That is very different from what I am used to.

[daygloman]

54 minutes ago, Don said:

Real freaking opening day and a huge win with real baseball on my MF’ing birthday! This shit is great!

Happy Birthday!

[failos]

24 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I love me some Trey Gowdy. All good in my hood. 

same

[Chuck]

Guys I'm pumped. Great win tonight! 

[Bronson]

I’m reading through the White Sox forum game day thread right now and it’s nice to see how they have huge respect for our lineup.

Stuff like “This lineup is no joke” and “The Angels lineup is so stacked”

 

And one guy said “they’re probably saying the same thing about our lineup” lol

 

Its just nice to see other fans respect your team.

[AngelsWin.com]

We agree! 

[Don]

22 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Guys I'm pumped. Great win tonight! 

You should be man. It’s real freaking baseball again. We got robbed of this last season, and there is zero reason not to be excited about seeing this team really get going.

[Angelsjunky]

Pujols on pace for 162 RBI.

Eat it, haters.

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Pujols on pace for 162 RBI.

Eat it, haters.

.

.

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Pujols on pace for 162 rbi

 

[Docwaukee]

That's how you draw it up in my book.  Stole a win from a very good team in game one of 162.  

This was the perfect example of why I love good bullpens.  

Hope they can keep it up.  +1 in games that could have gone either way.  Love it.  

[nothing, Nothing]

2 hours ago, Bronson said:

Also did anyone else catch the dude flash the camera behind Mota during the postgame interview?

[tdawg87]

Bullpens of the past would have come in after Bundy and made this a 6 run defecit. Just saying. 

It's one game but it's good to see.

[Warfarin]

5 hours ago, Dochalo said:

That's how you draw it up in my book.  Stole a win from a very good team in game one of 162.  

This was the perfect example of why I love good bullpens.  

Hope they can keep it up.  +1 in games that could have gone either way.  Love it.  

 

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

Bullpens of the past would have come in after Bundy and made this a 6 run defecit. Just saying. 

It's one game but it's good to see.

Yep!  This is actually the opposite of how a game would have gone for us last year.  It felt like last year, we would get an early lead and be up by a run or two heading into the late innings, then either Robles, Buttrey, Bedrosian, etc would blow the game for us.  We kept "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," so to speak.

Last night was a blueprint of how much different this season could be.  It's only one game, but we beat a strong team and weathered a difficult battle against one of the best pitchers in baseball.  Our offense cobbled together a good inning, eked out a lead, and our bullpen pitched 3 shutout innings to seal the victory.

Iglesias and Mayers should form a great 1-2 punch in the late innings.  I'm actually rather optimistic on Slegers as a reliever and think he can be a really solid high-leverage reliever too.  CRod has all the stuff to be one, but we'll have to see, as experience does matter.  The rest (Cishek, Watson, Guerra, Claudio) should be serviceable relievers that can at least avoid meltdowns.

Last season's pen was so bad that towards the end, when we were making our late charge for the playoffs, Maddon was literally just using 3 relievers non-stop every single game (Mayers, Pena, Andriese) and literally nobody else.

On a side note, our defense looks significantly better, too.  I can't believe that Upton actually looks pretty decent out in LF!  He's clearly put in the work and Maddon/the FO has likely helped provide him with guidance as to how to improve.  If he can actually be an average defender in LF, that's huge.  And the quality of his ABs last night were tremendous!  He worked the count, drew a walk, put up good battles.  Even his DP was crushed.  If Upton can hit like he once did and actually play good defense, that's an incredible boost to our team.

[Warfarin]

6 hours ago, Second Base said:

Also, it should be noted that Slegers had been a very capable starter at EVERY stop in minor league baseball. 

There could be some starter potential in him. He probably lines up behind Barria and Sandoval in the pecking order, but I love that the Angels have built enough depth that they'll likely have quality pitchers making starts for them 162 times this year. 

You likely won't need to endure any Odirasmer Despagne type of appearances.

While I'm not sure about him ultimately being a solid starter, I do think he can actually be a really good reliever.  The Rays are absolutely loaded in their bullpen, and in truth when you have so many good players, sometimes you just have to trade some guys to clear some space and to, in truth, give a guy a chance to play.  On the Rays, Slegers was mainly serving as low leverage multi-inning relief duty, but I feel his potential is greater than that and he can be a very good high-leverage reliever for us.

For us, given our options at SP right now, and given our bullpen needs, I'm happy to have him where he's at, and can see him settling into being one of our trusted high-leverage relievers, to go along with Iglesias, Mayers, and perhaps CRod.

[Adam]

5 hours ago, Lou said:

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It’s early