20 Strikeouts?!

[Torridd]

I just saw the boxscore. Are the Angels really this bad or the Astros this good? Would someone please explain if the Angels are this bad?? I just don't understand what's happening. This season started so promising.

[tdawg87]

The short answer is yes, they are this bad.

[Slegnaac]

And the Astros are this good

[AngelsLakersFan]

mostly bad... mostly

[79CAAman]

Reed has nothing to do with the Angels inability to put a ball in play?  Is it on the bench coach… the bat boy?  
The team only seem to be regressing. 

[tdawg87]

1 minute ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

mostly bad... mostly

They mostly lose by the bullpen...mostly.

[Angel Oracle]

44 minutes ago, 79CAAman said:

Reed has nothing to do with the Angels inability to put a ball in play?  Is it on the bench coach… the bat boy?  
The team only seem to be regressing. 

Something is causing even the Trouts to go through extensive slumps.

Something is causing them to swing at junk and watch middle of the plate pitches go by.

[Taylor]

@Docwaukee and @Dtwncbad don't think this is an issue.

 

[cals]

1 hour ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

mostly bad... mostly

[cals]

38 minutes ago, Taylor said:

@Docwaukee and @Dtwncbad don't think this is an issue.

 

Both conservative white dudes in their 50’s.  See a pattern?

[Jason]

Striking out is what this team does. 

[Jason]

3 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Something is causing even the Trouts to go through extensive slumps.

Something is causing them to swing at junk and watch middle of the plate pitches go by.

That something is pitch recognition 

[T.G.]

3 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Something is causing even the Trouts to go through extensive slumps.

Wow. Jessica and their son too?

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

Could they be any more this bad?

[Duren, Duren]

A minor factor are poor calls. Do umps get graded? Do they watch replays of their mistakes? Today I saw at least five missed calls on outside pitches. Sometimes one missed call sets up the entire at bat. All year I've seen at bats and innings seriously affected by a single blown call.

But that is a minor factor.

This series! 48k in 27 innings! Historic worst today for the Angels, historic best for the Astros.

And the Angels, worst overall. 

Discipline, understanding the strike zone, knowing the pitchers, team hitting philosophy. And the type of players making up the roster. All issues. 

But this is how the team was constructed. Four runs in three games, three via solo homers. And strikeouts over  and over and over. The same pattern keeps repeating. Sometimes , mostly against poor teams they'll slug their way to wins. But they don't generate enough baserunners, find other ways to score or put pressure on opposing defenses.  The talent isn't there through two thirds of the order,  and all the pressure is on two or three guys. 

A new hitting coach may help, but it's going to take time. Player's form habits, and changing them is a subtle process. Especially collectively. And quite frankly, a coach can't create skills that aren't there. So I doubt much can be done in the short term. Maybe try to shorten swings, go with the pitch more, work the count better. 

This series should be a three alarm fire of a wake up call. 

[Skankhunt42]

At least k's make the loss go quicker. 

[CaliAngel]

That Ward tag out at first by Maldonado was absolutely embarrassing. If that doesn't tell you about the complete incompetency of this organization as a whole, nothing will.

[Waybackman]

1 hour ago, CaliAngel said:

That Ward tag out at first by Maldonado was absolutely embarrassing. If that doesn't tell you about the complete incompetency of this organization as a whole, nothing will.

I agree. On replay it showed the first base coach just standing there. Amazing he didn’t understand what Maldonado was up to. The Halos are on life support.

[fan_since79]

The first thing I would do is get rid of the stupid cowboy hat conga line in the dugout. Tuesday, three solo home runs in an inning and there's all sorts of rejoicing and strutting, then Chicago scores 10 unanswered runs and we get blown out.  Are we going to hit a solo home run in our next game, then strike out 20 times again? Just stop it!

 

[cals]

1 hour ago, Waybackman said:

I agree. On replay it showed the first base coach just standing there. Amazing he didn’t understand what Maldonado was up to. The Halos are on life support.

I just saw a video of it.  Pathetic.  Did he think Altuve was being cute with him?

[mmc]

 

[Duren, Duren]

The cowboy hat celebration has become an embarrassment. It exemplifies a personal statistic  above team results. And may be a peek into the mindset of the team. 

They should have a ritual burning of the hat. And appreciate scoring runs in diverse ways as much as they seem to value homers.  It would help too if they focussed more on playing fundamentally sound baseball. 

I wonder if Arte would enjoy watching a pitching/defense/small ball winning team more than these all or nothing big swing losers. Over time he's the one constant who has had final say about the direction of the team. 

[fan_since79]

Probably just me, but from the beginning the cowboy hat thing was creepy. I recalled the pictures of Skaggs partying it up with other players the night he died in Texas, with cowboy hats and everything. I don't want to see any more cowboy hats. Yes, a ritual burning of the hat is a good idea right now. 

13-31. We could lose 100 games this year if we don't reverse course. We're on pace.

[Waybackman]

10 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

Probably just me, but from the beginning the cowboy hat thing was creepy. I recalled the pictures of Skaggs partying it up with other players the night he died in Texas, with cowboy hats and everything. I don't want to see any more cowboy hats. Yes, a ritual burning of the hat is a good idea right now. 

13-31. We could lose 100 games this year if we don't reverse course. We're on pace.

Yes, lose the hats. It’s so bad now they seem to be going through a somber ritual when somebody puts on the hat and nobody’s smiling.

[Sully151]

Maybe they should take a sticker off the hat every time someone strikes out.

Or they have to wear a strikeout hat like this.