John Taylor

Bundy's command tonight

Walsh in RF

Bundy is not looking very comfortable out there so far

Okay so if the Ump didnt take forever to call that 3rd strike Walsh could have beaten it out, thanks Blue!

It should stand, not conclusive proof to overturn

We have Ohtani, Trout and Walsh with Bundy on the mound, I still like our chances.

Also while I think Matt Vasgersian is a better PBP guy announcer, I like Sutton better in the role, MV is very "national broadcast" which is fine in small doses. I'm such a homer.

10 hours ago, m0nkey said:

This team is giving me 2002 vibes! You can just feel the magic when watching the games.

I’m pumped!

Came here to say this exact thing, it feels like for years the Angels gameplan has been this:

1.) Get behind early.

2.) Start to chip away at the lead in the middle innings.

3.) Give up 2-4 runs in the 7th or 8th

4.) Give up and lose the game with a whimper

This team almost feels like they know they will win even when behind, that was the 2002 team, they played to the final out.

It's good to see this form of Angels baseball back and I hope it continues throughout the season.

I like Sutton, but can do without all the analytics talk all the time. Like I get it, exit velocity is important with spin rate and other stuff, but not after every at bat. He also sucks up to Gubi a lot but it could be him just trying to build rapport.

I would be totally ok if Sutton was the FT guy and MV was the occasional guy. Sutton is a homer but he has given a lot of shine to the White Sox which I appreciate in a good PbP guy. I don't get the sense that Sutton will be as critical when the Angels are playing poorly as @VictorRojas always was (Which I absolutely loved about Victor).

I think @Chuckster70 and @Dave Saltzer hit the nail on the head with what we would see from Sutton in the booth.

Ironically Mota doesn't bother me as the "lets go to our 3rd guy" I think that is the only role I can somewhat tolerate him in even though he is still awful.

I still miss Victor quite a bit, but I think Sutton has fit in pretty well given he has been out of PbP at the MLB level for about 10 years I think?

God it's so good to see fans in the stands at Angel Stadium again

I like it, he was a great reliever last year, hopefully he doesn't regress....too much

Our bullpen needed arms, although re-signing No-way kind of let me down

https://www.fishstripes.com/21512716/2020-marlins-james-hoyt-breakout-year-stats

I'm loving Daron Sutton and Gubi together!

3 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

In addition to Ohtani looking great on the mound and newcomers Quintana and Cobb looking great this spring (with added velo), the Angels have the chance of being a fun team to watch on offense this season. Let's not forget Walsh and a better hitting SS and legit backup hitting catcher (Suzuki)...

 

Yeah I'm really excited about this lineup and hope Walsh continues to hit well, and I think our Pitching Staff will improve as well, imagine if we get an entire season of 2018 Ohtani on the mound. This really could be a playoff team if everything comes together.

Bally Sports West is a terrible name, I first read it as "Bailey Sports West" and thought the LA Kings mascot had bought FSW.

Not excited about the possibility of Jose Mota in the booth during the season, hopefully he is just going to do the on-field stuff like previous years (The "new for this year" part worries me)

Vasgersian I already know and really enjoy his work, and been hearing great things about Sutton from you guys here, so looking forward to that.

15 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

@John Taylor, I understand where you're coming from, we've all been there whether it's prior to the season, mid-season or toward the end of the season where I've been guilty of the same disinterest in recent years as the team fell out of the playoff race and there wasn't any impact prospects to make a debut in Sept when the rosters expand. 

One thing that I think took the wind out of your sail prior to spring training was missing on Trevor Bauer and not bringing in a big name via free agency or a trade. This nearly happened last season when we missed on Gerrit Gole (thank God after seeing his contract), but optimism was quickly restored when we promptly signed Anthony Rendon, the best free agent position player on the market, just coming fresh off a World Series Championship. 

Anyhow, there's a ton of good storylines this spring that fuel not just optimism but excitement. If I could offer any advice I would say not to get too hyped up about the offseason's acquisitions to the point where it will dictate your excitement temp heading into a given season. Also, in baseball and every other professional sport there's always going to be changes that can be hard to embrace at first. That said, sometimes change can bring initial disappointment but better results. Victor was the best and will go down as one of the best Angels broadcasters in the org's history...but holy hell we're getting a hell of a replacement in Vasgersian and Sutton is pretty awesome himself. Like Victor Rojas, Sutton's a self proclaimed Angels fan from the days of his youth. That's pretty awesome! 

Now... Let's get to tweeting!  

I also think as a creature of habit, last season was all kinds of messed up for me, not because the Angels missed the playoffs I'm used to that by now, but I hated the shortened season, and to me baseball is the best representation of people coming together for a fun time, and the empty stadiums and all the covid BS just depressed me. I'm excited to see fans back at stadiums this season and hopefully we'll be back at full capacity soon.

I did enjoy the Angels/Padres game listening to the SD broadcast, and watching Angels/Cubs right now listening to Terry Smith.

16 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Did Shohei change your mind at all, @John Taylor?

p.s. I loved your work with Duran Duran.

p.p.s. I'm sure you've never heard that before.

I preferred lining up on the other side of Jerry Rice and having Joe Montana and/or Steve Young hit me deep in the end zone.  

With that being said, I'm excited about todays game and getting to see Ohtani pitch and leadoff, also the second I heard Mota on the FSPT feed I switched over to the Padres feed on MLB.tv. I have never personally liked someone that I so absolutely despise their on-screen work, sorry Jose, you a good dude but a terrible broadcaster.

24 minutes ago, Justin said:

I would recommend that, unless you are doing something for someone you truly love, you NEVER put "a lot of energy" into anything social-media related

I guess I should have expanded on this. I am one of a few people who help manage the AngelsWin Twitter account (Chuck and Geoff are the other primary ones), the Trevor Bauer recruitment stuff was done in that capacity to help generate offseason buzz and excitement and in an overall scope, and help drive traffic to AngelsWin. I put a lot of work and creative effort into it in more of a work capacity, and knowing that there was a good chance we wouldn't land him. Once it was all said and done I was pretty wiped out. So I was already burned out on baseball before Spring Training even began.

Even if we had signed him, I probably would have been just as wiped out. From December to mid Jan,  the Hot Stove season, the Angels and the AW twitter account made up the majority of my time on Social media.

Every season since I was a kid I would literally be counting down the days until Spring Training, and then would try and watch every ST game as I counted down until Opening Day. This year I'm really struggling to get excited about baseball like I usually do.

I have yet to watch a full ST game (although I partially blame my dislike for Jose Mota's PbP for that), and I just don't feel that sense of "excitement" that I always do. It has nothing to do with the on field product, I actually think the Angels will be better this year, and I've been really excited about seasons where i knew we'd suck.

I think last season really messed with me, it was the first season in almost 20 years where I didn't attend a single game. I also hated the short schedule, and the pandemic in general. I am not struggling with depression as this issue only seems to be affecting baseball for me. Also I put a lot of energy into the Trevor Bauer social media recruitment thing and that really soured me as well.

Also I struggle with change, and looking forward to hearing @VictorRojas and Gubi in the booth was something I would look forward to yearly, like being visited by old friends, so I think Victor leaving affected me more than I realized, although I am very excited about Matt Vasgersion. (If they stuck with Jose Mota this season I would have legit cancelled MLB.tv)

I don't think I've posted in the AW Twitter account since Jan (All posts are @Chuckster70 right now I believe) and I've barely visited AW.com

Is there anyone else struggling with getting as excited about this season as previous seasons?

I think I need to go to an actual game and to borrow a quote from Shawn Michaels "Get my smile back" lol

Baseball stadiums 

The strategy (Except infield shifts which can fuck right off)

Pennant Races

Baseball traditions

Mike Trout

Vin Scully

Driving past Angel Stadium on the 57 back when I lived in OC

I'm actually having a hard time getting into baseball mode this season, so I really needed this thread. 

I actually tend to dislike small rule changes that take us farther away from some of the long standing rules in Baseball for the sake of speeding up the game. I understand the method behind them because a lot of the younger generations just don't have the attention span, but I guess I'm more of a traditionalist, but to be fair I'm also a hypocrite because I do like the DH in the AL, but I also like the distinct differences between the AL and NL.

I still wish there wasn't Interleague play because it makes the WS feel more special.

I nap now....

This is actually the first Angels game I'm watching this year. Please tell me Jose Mota won't be the full time PBP person this season.

Not gonna lie, I haven't been in the baseball mood yet this year, which is odd because I generally count down the days until Spring Training most years, but me thinks I should sit down with some scotch and catch today's (5 inning) game.

Maybe try to regain that "Lovin' feeling" back lol

@Tank This is a really cool concept, I'm going to post this thread on the AW Twitter

2 minutes ago, Redondo said:

I like this, lol.

Thanks! I actually stole the idea from myself, lol