LAA Road Tripper

Seems to me that if you’re an MLB umpire, you’ve probably been umpiring for a while and someone thought you were good enough at it to give you that job. Given that, I would suspect that you would have an understanding of what constitutes a strike and you would be in good position to differentiate that from a ball. 

But apparently I am mistaken.

This bullpen is so bad that our best reliever - whoever that is and the term “best” is really out of place here - would not make the team for many other clubs across the league. The Angels have literally no one in the pen they can depend on.

Seriously, how is your command so bad that you walk the tying run to the on deck circle? Dude, better to throw the ball down the middle of the plate. If he hits it out, at least he earned it. 

This bullpen. Wow.

Anderson is writing his ticket back to SLC.

Anderson is really starting to get under my skin. 3-1, 2-0. It’s a 3 run game in the 8th. Dude, throw strikes.

I’ve really wanted Cowart to succeed. I think that we all want him to do well and be a solid major league baseball player. But he’s not. And I don’t think at this point that he will be. It’s about time to move on.

8 hours ago, GrittyVeterans said:

I actually think it's very possible we just give up the DH entirely on days Ohtani pitches in the playoffs. Just have him hit for himself. 

Possible but it might be more so in September. It’s really great to have Ohtani’s bat in the lineup when he’s on the mound but it’s problematic, as well. Once he’s out, his bat is out along with his arm. That means if he leaves, say, in the 6th you’re going to have to go to the bench for a bat in his spot and play an NL game the rest of the way. There may not be enough hitters with a 25 man roster to play that style of game so it’s a bit of a dice roll. With the expanded rosters in September though, they might give it a go in a pivotal game.

1 minute ago, bloodbrother said:

Same script different night. This was your garden variety loss for this team. Good pitching performance from the starter, Trout shines, majority of the offense is useless, and the bullpen blows. The marathon continues

If there is a poster child game to represent the 2018 Angels so far, this is it. Trout’s great but the one time he’s not is with a runner in scoring position. Starting pitching does it’s job. Multiple missed opportunities to create space in the scoring column all night. Unnecessary close game in end and the bullpen predictably blows. Wasted chances for 3 1/2 hours and another loss.

Does Valbuena have any clue how this game is played? Down by 1 in extras,  2-1 and a neck high fastball. So he swings.

Been watching baseball for a long time and I’ve never seen as much incompetence in umpiring as I had this year. Total anticipation call on Simmons. Terrible.

CB Bucknor seems like a very nice guy. But he’s a horrible umpire and should not be in the league.

I’m still partial to Badrosian. Not sure who coined it but it makes sense.

Really, he was terrible when he was throwing high 90s. Zero movement, zero command. And he’s going improve with 5-7 MPH off his fastball? DFA can’t come fast enough.

And there you go.

1 minute ago, beatlesrule said:

LOL Ohtani.  Now that was bad baseruning.

Not at all. Even if he’s out. Good risk/reward with 2 outs in the 9th.

1 minute ago, Chuckster70 said:

Scioscia: Our bullpen isn't overworked or suspect, let's send our starting pitcher who is dealing to the showers after throwing just 92 pitches.

'

We apparently think alike.

I get Scioscia’s big picture mentality with Trop but where’s the big picture thinking toward the overworked bullpen?

Calhoun. Wow.

Why did Pujols give himself up so easily? Dude is not quick but could have held out for another few seconds to give Simmons a shot a second base. 

Agreed. The lack of awareness of the situation is stunning. 8th level of brain dead. 

13-3 was a long time ago. Got a feeling we’ll be referring to 13-3 all year.

Ramirez - the anti-Bedrosian.

Minus the potential DP, Bedrosian in effect just made this an 8-5 game. He’s horrible.

DFA