Gameday Thread: Angels vs. Rangers (4/27/2021) Ohtani in the lineup!

[CaliAngel]

42 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

none of the pitches thrown by Rangers pitchers that were taken by Halos hitters and out of the zone were called strikes.

What?

I watched a couple innings of the game tonight, and against the halos saw at least half a dozen taken pitches --no question out of the zone-- called strikes. They completely change the complexity of the at bats. 

I don't know what Maddon is talking about, I haven't seen "starter" stuff from Quintana this entire season. He falls behind in counts. He has no out pitch. He doesn't look like the kind of guy I would depend on to go out there for 4 of 5 innings and keep this team in the game. 

Rendon needs to go up to the plate ready to swing at strikes, plain and simple. He watches first pitch salami's, gets screwed by the umpire on strike 2, then has to swing at junk to protect. Not a formula for successful at bats. 

[T.G.]

And AW is..... back.

[Stradling]

42 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Looking at the pitch tracker, none of the pitches thrown by Rangers pitchers that were taken by Halos hitters and out of the zone were called strikes.

The hitters have no alibis tonight.   They just sucked with RISP, plain and simple, against a guy with too many letters in his name who allowed EIGHT HRs in 22 innings before tonight.

[failos]

DFA QUINTANA

[failos]

He’s worse than Teheran and all the homers here kept spouting their denial bullshit. The guy sucks and many of us knew it when he was signed, and I hope everyone knows that now.

[sammyscioscia]

8 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Some umps give 'make-up' calls when they're this bad but there weren't any that I recall.  So I am suspicious of this umpire having motive.

[rageous]

12 minutes ago, sammyscioscia said:

Some umps give 'make-up' calls when they're this bad but there weren't any that I recall.  So I am suspicious of this umpire having motive.

I think the main issue was that Quintana couldn't even take advantage with the huge strike zone.

How many more bad starts do we have to deal with. 

We have seen so many of these terrible one year signing pitchers and by the time they move on it's already too late in the season.

[Duren, Duren]

So frustrating seeing so much disparity between ump strike zones and the objective box graphic shown on most game broadcasts. 

Batters traditionally spend a lot of time learning the dimensions of the zone as it applies to their bodies. Once they settle into the box their stance is designed to recognize that zone and react accordingly. Pitchers are also trained to recognize and craft their pitches around each hitters zone.

Of course it isn't an exact science, and there are always fractional  areas around the edges that are too close to complain about. Umps have always been known to have their own definitions of the zone and all that is expected is consistency. 

But I think this unspoken leeway has really morphed into sloppy almost random judgment. So often you see calls that aren't just fractionally off, but way off. In game after game after game. And one bad call often changed a critical at bat, and by extension, an inning or game.

Joey Votto had a book on umpires, and probably studied them as much as anyone. I've seen him this year a few times taking pitches outside his zone called strikes. We've seen Trout (also an astute student of the strike zone) totally frustrated by bad calls. 

No one expects near perfection, but the problem is making a difference. Maybe it's the increased velocity and sharp late breaks of various pitches, but if the human umps are getting worse maybe they need technology to correct things. Perhaps  managerial challenges where they use replay, or have sensors embedded in the ball/plate/uniform. 

The quaint tradition of different zones for different umps needs to be refined and more universally defined. 

[bloodbrother]

Not sure how much longer they can justify trotting Quintana out there with how bad he looks. This is quickly looking like another Cahill/Lincecum/Harvey/Teheran 1yr signing that's a complete bust. Add in Canning looking lost and one month into the season we're already looking at 1/3 of the rotation being damn near automatic losses

[Pancake Bear]

1 hour ago, sammyscioscia said:

It's unfair to say that when the Angels have 6 rhh in a row and 7 total, and the Rangers have a nicely  mixed lineup.  They had the perfect storm to take advantage of that without repercussion.

Maybe don't post ignorant crap without checking up on it?

Angels had 3 LHH (2, 5, 9) and the Rangers had 3 LHH in the lineup tonight (3, 5, 7). The Angels never had more than 3 RHH in a row, while the Rangers had four RHH hitting in a row 8-9-1-2.

Last night the Rangers had 5 LHH (1, 3, 4, 7, 8 ) and 4 RHH and got shut down after the first. The Angels only had 2 LHH (2, 5) and dominated the scoreboard. LH/RH isn't insignificant, but by itself it is way too overhyped. It has zero to do with why the Angels couldn't hit tonight. 

[T.G.]

AW's favorite passtime...

 

[sammyscioscia]

1 hour ago, Pancake Bear said:

Maybe don't post ignorant crap without checking up on it?

Angels had 3 LHH (2, 5, 9) and the Rangers had 3 LHH in the lineup tonight (3, 5, 7). The Angels never had more than 3 RHH in a row, while the Rangers had four RHH hitting in a row 8-9-1-2.

Last night the Rangers had 5 LHH (1, 3, 4, 7, 8 ) and 4 RHH and got shut down after the first. The Angels only had 2 LHH (2, 5) and dominated the scoreboard. LH/RH isn't insignificant, but by itself it is way too overhyped. It has zero to do with why the Angels couldn't hit tonight. 

I'll post whatever I want and look stupid when I want.

[Blarg]

I've had a great time on this road trip even though the Angels managed to flub a few games. @Crampknees (Kurt) and his buddy Cecil were great company and we enjoyed a day of golf, drinks, food, drinks, baseball and more drinks then a last nightcap of double Macallan 18 on ice in the hotel lounge.

And just as we are about to leave the bar, we closed out, a guy wanders in wearing only a pair of jockey underwear and walks up to Crampknees and shakes his hand and with a smile asks how is his evening going?

You should have seen his face, Cramp looked like his brain cramped and not just because of how sloshed he was, he just couldn't process a near naked dude shaking his hand and then lounging in the chairs were just in.

I had to ask the guy what he was doing in the hotel lounge in his underwear and replies, just getting comfortable. Cramp and I look at each other and laugh. What an ending to a hell of a day. We were laughing all the way to the elevator that we may have just been hit on by some gay guy. 

I am sad I never took a picture so we have evidence but then again some things are better left forgotten along with tonight's game.

[sammyscioscia]

The communist failos can't stand me

[failos]

14 minutes ago, sammyscioscia said:

I'll post whatever I want and look stupid when I want.

You’re a dumbass and an idoit. You don’t have to remind us.

[failos]

7 minutes ago, sammyscioscia said:

The communist failos can't stand me

 

[sammyscioscia]

2 minutes ago, Φαήλος said:

You’re a dumbass and an idoit. You don’t have to remind us.

I'm actually just lazy and talk off the top of my head, I guess that's stupid to some but I'll refrain from looking too defensive

[Blarg]

Gentlemen stop your squabbling and focus, Kurt and I got hit on by a gay guy. Certainly you can see the importance of this over what you guys are arguing about?

[failos]

Just now, Blarg said:

Gentelman stop ypur squabbling and focus, Kurt and I got hit on by a gay guy. Certainly you can see the importance of this over what you guys are arguing about?

I bet @Crampknees was honored by this since he’s a lib

[failos]

4 minutes ago, sammyscioscia said:

I'm actually just lazy and talk off the top of my head, I guess that's stupid to some but I'll refrain from looking too defensive

Ok @Throwman91

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Gentlemen stop your squabbling and focus, Kurt and I got hit on by a gay guy. Certainly you can see the importance of this over what you guys are arguing about?

Was he any good?

[Blarg]

3 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Was he any good?

The man was fit and looked good in those tight boxer briefs but not our type since, you know, he was male. 

[Blarg]

2 minutes ago, cals said:

Wait, I just want to make sure.  Was @Blarg at one or more of these games?  Because I’m not totally sure if he was.  Maybe if he told me again like 47 times I could be sure.

And this is why you were not invited to join us for cocktails. 

[sammyscioscia]

So are we going C Rod in Quintana's place?  He doesn't have to be a starting pitcher, but more of a 'starter' if you catch my drift? 

Also how about Walsh batting in front of Rendon?

 

Nothing boring on AW only hot takes.

[Angel Oracle]

9 hours ago, CaliAngel said:

What?

I watched a couple innings of the game tonight, and against the halos saw at least half a dozen taken pitches --no question out of the zone-- called strikes. They completely change the complexity of the at bats. 

I don't know what Maddon is talking about, I haven't seen "starter" stuff from Quintana this entire season. He falls behind in counts. He has no out pitch. He doesn't look like the kind of guy I would depend on to go out there for 4 of 5 innings and keep this team in the game. 

Rendon needs to go up to the plate ready to swing at strikes, plain and simple. He watches first pitch salami's, gets screwed by the umpire on strike 2, then has to swing at junk to protect. Not a formula for successful at bats. 

There were definitely pitches that benefitted Rangers batters, probably as many as 7-8 pitches.

But the ESPN pitch tracker showed that at best there were maybe 4-5 borderline pitches called balls to Halos batters, none of which was clearly in the zone.