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Hey guys, so my life has been quite a whirlwind over the past month or so, so I haven't been able to participate as much. In short, my grandson born in early July was born with a heart defect and needed open heart surgery. He almost died the morning after he was born and had to be helicoptered to Las Vegas' Children's Hospital. Thankfully after open heart surgery to correct TGA (Transposition of the Great Arteries), my grandson Kason is home with my son and daughter in law and doing well now.
That said, this entire journey though got me to thinking about perspective, what this team has gone through losing one of their best friends and good teammates and how we as fans can be very selfish about what WE want and when we want it, but never think about what others are going through nor consider the long view.
So I've been reading some of the threads of late and have seen a bunch of negativity. While venting is good and welcomed here, as is constructive criticism, it's imperative we all reign it in a bit on fire Eppler and bashing of this team for the sake of the entire community. 
This has been a tough season. From a death in the Angels family (RIP, Skaggs) to countless injuries to our start players, not to mention a big swing and miss from our GM on all of the FA's he brought in this offseason. This has been documented, but we've beaten this dead horse to the depths of Hades. Myself included. I'm over it and done discussing it.
Do me all a favor. Try to find something positive to post or comment on, whether it's from our parent team or the future Halos down on the farm. There are some good things ahead for our Halos. Let's enjoy the rookies performances from here on out, Trout's run for MVP and the AL HR Champ, Ohtani, Simmons defense and our kids down on the farm. Hello, Adell. 
Someone once said “Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.”  My hope is that we can all work toward creating a better atmosphere here and that our time invested at AW.com goes toward furthering a better online community for everyone involved, including our non-members who read the site (and your comments) daily.
So let's cheer on the team in one accord, and though we may disagree and vent, we do so without vitriol, but with friendly banter. Always be mindful of our code of conduct and respectful to others. Thank you guys! ?
Here are some pictures of my grandson Kason and my time in the Las Vegas/Laughlin area for the past 3 1/2 weeks, in order from the time he was born, to the time he was taken into surgery, post surgery and then at home after 3 weeks in the hospital. 

I agree that they were in a better position but Cashman made some very clever moves in the same timeframe. That kid Urshela is probably a top three defensive third baseman in baseball and he can hit. He was an easy acquisition. They lost Severino for most or all this season. They signed Happ and Paxton. They haven’t been anything special but they do keep the team in games. Luke Voit was a great find. DJ Lemahieu was a genius move that Cozart probably prevented us from entertaining. But yes the Yankees were not as disadvantaged as the Angels. To your point 3 years is about right. 

I want to see if Stassi is going to be worth keeping around the next three years.
Development of the young guys: Rengifo, Fletcher, Canning, Suarez, maybe Thaiss. I want to see if they can keep progressing to the end of the season. 
I’d like to see Buttrey and others, like Canning and Suarez, make adjustments and get back on track to consistently strong play. 
I want to see if La Stella’s adjustments still look real after returning from injury and if Upton and Simmons improve as they rehab.
I want to see Heaney and Middleton healthy and showing they’re ready to hold down major roles next season. 
And, all else aside, I’d like to see Trout crush it the last two months and sweep the MVP voting. 
A WC berth would be great, but it isn’t happening, so I’m okay with that. 
Also, I wouldn’t be devastated to see Adell in September. 

Peters went deep. We needed that. Hope he can continue to go hard and ah F*ck it this isn't funny.

Baseball needs to solve the tanking issue.  

Brutal.
 

Figured that was going to happen.  Guess they literally couldn't get anything usable for him before the deadline.  Oh well.  He was terrible this season.

Also we had a pitcher die, which is like permanent TJS.

I think the organization was worse than all of us anticipated.  Any amount of glue, clean peanuts, etc. won't hide that fact.
It has been a long slow build.  But at least it was done without tanking.
 

RIP.  This is so sad.  

It's a baptism of fire for the kid. Thrown into the hot mess which is the Angels dysfunctional starting rotation. In an ideal world he would be getting much needed seasoning in AAA and waiting until the appropriate time to come up here and shine.
If nothing else this painful experience may build some character.
 

Is it?  With the way the game is changing i cant help but wonder if its the players, or how we are using them.  

Some of these guys shouldnt be this bad per their tools.  None of them are likely to win a Cy but this season has been utterly dreadful SP wise resulting in the pen getting ridden hard and put up wet. 

The thing is it isnt just us.  TB last night, in a playoff race, basically conceded a game down 5 late.  Hardly a blowout, but with the 8-9 hitters leading off the ninth they said screw it and put a position player in to pitch i think the bottom of the 8th knowing that the odds of them actually coming back were very low. 

The game has changed.  Guys that throw 95+ dont generally pitch 7 innings every night, if they do they end up hurt.  Guys that have the spin rates people want lose elbows.  Durability isnt there anymore, nor are innings eaters.   There are still some of them of course but its very different than it was even just a decade ago. 

Albert is Albert. We'll get what we can from him, all of us knows it was a gamble from the beginning,  and he wouldn't be close to worth his contract at the end. 
Honestly I'm pleased with his play this year,  hopefully he can keep it up.  

Interesting theme. Here's a hypothetical question.
Assume that Pujols hadn't put up those numbers in St Louis and only had an Angels career. Forget his age, just look at the  Angel numbers.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pujolal01.shtml
8 years so far, including this season approximately 200 homers and doubles. . 453 slugging. .768 OPS. 259 batting average. Over 700 RBI. 112 OPS +. All as a DH or first baseman. Roughly 25 homers, close to 90 RBI per season. Quality human being, great in the club house and community.
What would be the general opinion about this type of career if it were exclusively with the Angels? 
Unfortunately, you can't forget about the financial question regarding bang for bucks, but try to just think of it purely in baseball productivity. 
I would see it as a good career. Not great, with flaws (such as far more strikeouts than walks, no speed, limited range on defense, injury prone). But I also see consistent power and production results. Not all star level, but reflective of a legitimate major league starter in his role. 
If it weren't for his past life with the Redbirds and his contract  be would be one of those good  Angel franchise guys you think of positively when his career is over. Productive a little above average, good team player. Someone who could have been a useful part of a championship team but not someone who made a vital difference.
Back to the present. Still nice to see him rebound this year. Hopefully he stays consistent and plays out his career with respectable final numbers. Until there is a replacement who can put up better numbers he seems to be the best option at first with some DH time. 
 

Just think, I left my mom's basement for this?

Just think, I left my mom's basement for this?

Tyler Skaggs is gone. Unfortunately for Angels fans, this is an all-too-familiar place. We’ve been here before. It’s not a comfortable place. It’s a very sad and very confusing place and we will never, ever get used to it.
 
We Angels fans, like every other fan base often use terms like “us” and “we” when discussing our favorite team. That speaks to the level of connection we have with our team. We experience the emotional highs and lows that go along with winning and losing. Even though it may be a bit silly, we feel that the team’s victories are also our victories. So when I say “we lost Tyler Skaggs” – that “we” is real. It’s tangible. It’s meaningful. 
 
But… this loss is not about us.
 
This time is about Tyler’s family and those that were close to him. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to them as they try to manage their grief, their sorrow and their pain.
 
I don’t know how the Angels move forward from this. I really don’t. Baseball is hard enough as it is. 
 
Perhaps we fans can play a role in helping the team move forward by simply showing up. It’s time to show how much we care and that when we say “we” and “us” we really mean it.
 
It is my hope that on July 12 when the Angels return home for their first home game since Tyler’s passing, Angels fans show up in huge numbers. We need to show up even if it's hard. We need to show up even if we don't want to because again - it's not about us and showing up matters.
We also show up by telling stories. It’s important to tell the stories that speak to a time when we might have had an interaction with Tyler that meant something special to us. We share the good things we’ve read or heard about Tyler too. We recount those stories to others and in doing so we all remember.
 
We remember that Tyler Skaggs was one of us. We remember that Tyler Skaggs competed at the highest level and he sought out victories so that we could experience joy. 
 
We are thankful for having had the opportunity to be connected to him in some small way. He may not have known our names, but he definitely felt our presence every time he stepped on a baseball field. Tyler showed up for us and now it's time for us to do the same.
 
We will all miss Tyler Skaggs, but more importantly – we will never forget him.
 

Wow.
The cranky one was nice...
 
 The universe must be out of whack.

Yeah they get the chick all hot and bothered, then you have to wait 3 hours before doing anything about it...
 
Its like the female guppy likes her male with all kinds of pretty colors, the flashier the better.  Do you know what happens to the flashier colored male guppy?  He gets eaten by a bigger fish.  To survive the male has to be as drab as possible.
 
 
 
Males can't win in this world.
 

This is the best angle for the collision I've found: 
https://imgur.com/gallery/X4iTYVP#dfb15yp
It seems pretty obvious to me that the outside of the plate is open the entire time he is running, Lucroy barely moves, and the runner unnecessarily sidesteps into him. 

1) I"ve never been the world's biggest Yadi fan. Tonight, I'm all for him being unanimously inducted to the hall of fame. Hell, let's just elect him this season, who care that he's still playing.
2) ScottT, Calzone, and anyone else defending this - you guys are hoopleheads. 
The play isn't even complicated, but since you guys are dumbasses, I'll illustrate it with a picture:

Observe:
First, Lucroy is never at any time during the play on the foul side of the line. His left foot is on the line. The rest of his body is on the fair side. 
Second, Lucroy is not blocking the plate, per se, but he is impeding the path slightly. However, there is plainly room behind him if Marisnick beats the ball to the plate. If the ball comes first, Lucroy turns and Marisnick will be out.
Third, halfway down the line, Marisnick is running on the paint. 
So, as we look here, Marisnick absurdly claims he was trying to slide around Lucroy on the fair side. To anyone with a working pair of brain cells, this is completely ludicrous. To do so, he'd either be trying to get between Lucroy and the ball, or he'd be trying to slide the long way around Calhoun when Lucroy already had the ball. Even if you want to argue that Marisnick thinks when Lucroy gets the ball, he'll naturally turn to the foul side, you have to acknowledge that (unlike Marisnick in this scenario), Lucroy isn't a Facking dumbass, so why the hell would he turn the opposite direction as Marisnick? So Marisnick is taking the much longer path on the same side as the ball for what reason exactly? 
Fourth, about a body length away, just as the ball is arriving, Marisnick suddenly shifts to the fair side of the line by about 1-2 feet putting him on a direct collision course with Lucroy.  
Why? It's obvious, but I'll explain it for you since you clearly haven't seen it so far. 
Marisnick sees the ball is going to beat him. There is zero chance he'll be safe. But wanting to score the run, he makes a split second decision: He's going to go for Lucroy in the hopes that when contact is made, Lucroy will lose the ball and he (Marisnick) will be safe. Because only a complete imbecile would actually think sliding around Lucroy's entire body was a great strategy there. 
Immediately after collision (although not before taking a moment to tag the base), it occurs to Marisnick that he's just concussed Lucroy and is going to get the book thrown at him. Since he does not wish to be suspended, he concocts this nonsensical story about trying to slide around Lucroy. And Houston fans being what they are, it doesn't occur to him that this excuse is even more batshit stupid than the excuses they came up with when they were three. 
 
Finally, 3) 
Lucroy almost certainly got concussed, you mook. A headshot like that can end a guy's career. In what sense did the play go in our favor? Because we won the call? You mean, the one that was ruled exactly according to what the rules say? Geez, this is asinine.
End of story: Marisnick is a lying piece of shit. Houston fans are dumbasses. Hopefully Lucroy is okay.

Another element to this play that makes it tricky is that Marisnick was tagging up from third, rather than rounding third (if he were scoring from second). 
If he’s rounding third he’s in foul territory the whole time and it’s easier for him to go for the back of the plate. That’s why catchers stand in front of the plate and take the other half. 
On a play like this, though, he’s coming in a straight line so he actually has to choose one way or the other. 
Clearly, he made the wrong choice. Based on watching his reaction and hearing about his postgame interview, I suspect it was just a split second error in judgment, rather than anything malicious. 

1. He wasn't rounding 3rd, he was tagging up and running towards home plate.
2. His change of direction clearly indicates that he was attempting to separate Lucroy from the ball, as home plate is no longer directly in his path.  However,  Lucroy is in his path.

Lucroy was inside the whole time. There was no time when Marisnick should have been going to the inside. 
I can’t read his mind so I don’t know if it was malicious or just careless, but it was definitely against the rules. 

Ok That's it!
No one else on the Angels dies ok? Please?
And to the board:
We just get to be cranky whiny butts to each other forever and ever?
 
Amen.
 
Love you all.
 
And @tdawg87 the above statement is purely platonic.