ukyah

i don't think his homerun numbers as an angel have been bad or even a problem really. the two biggest factors for pujols' decline have been health and a poor approach at the plate, namely pulling everything. hitters rolling the ball over to third is usually symptomatic of a dead pull approach, which is itself a symptom of trying to hit homeruns. pujols was known for having a great linedrive swing and going up the middle/the other way with pitches, which allowed him to hit for an incredibly high average, and the combination of his strength and approach allowed him to hit a ton of homeruns. many hitters become dead pull hitters as they age because they're starting earlier to make up for lost bat speed. maybe this is the case for pujols and maybe it isn't. personally, i don't believe he has a "slider speed bat" yet. i'd like to see his approach go back to up the middle/the other way and see where his numbers went. as an example, i don't think yesterday's double was indicative of an approach change. from what i saw, he was late and jammed inside and he took it off the handle of the bat to right field.

it always befuddles me when i see a player with 80 speed and very little idea of how to steal a base. i can understand the player not having learned the skill, but i don't understand the organization not teaching it. i remember back to dave roberts of red sox fame, when he was with the dodgers they hooked him up with maury wills to teach him the "art" of the stolen base. it seems crazy to me not to develop that in a player with that kind of speed.

your tone was probably out of line considering you've had no exchange with her previously. the "now follow" part was talking to her like she was stupid rather than misinformed.

moderators not respecting the established policy.

that was what makes baseball great. a little emotion all around. the old boy unwritten rules and style of play can kick rocks for all i care. i want to see what i saw today, which is rivalry. awesome win!

and it's gone. the only thing the padres are good at, apparently, is raping the angels in trades.

exactly. "hey rasmus, we're gonna employ a defensive strategy outside of the norm against you, but you better not employ an offensive strategy."

this is a very funny comment. also, lewis can now take credit for the dumbest unwritten rule comment i can remember. 2-0 in the fifth inning? get out of town.

no he's not. he's just your typical decent avg/very good defender type player at a classic power position. his lack of power makes it difficult for teams to utilize him effectively.

i think his fallout with the cubs is overplayed. hasn't anyone ever worked for a company that turned out to be a poor fit personality wise? i don't miss him as an angel, but it's not like anyone had any complaints about him personally, here or earlier in his career, at least not that i've heard.

listen, i want the angels to win. having said that, by what measure are the angels better than the A's? i agree no one would take the angels lightly this year.

hey gary oldman the angels just traded for huston street. did you hear who they gave up?

the angels have a very tough road ahead. the A's are no joke. a positive way to look at it would be the angels are going to have to grind it out to make the playoffs, division winner or post wildcard playin, and they should be battle tested by that point. always a good way to be going into the playoffs.

i really like guys with good plate approaches. i feel that you can trust them. i'm not going to cast stones at other players to complement navarro, but he has a role on this team. i could see him paying dividends in the playoffs and hopefully he does.

i liked what i saw from rasmus during spring training. i thought he'd be a good middle reliever for us, and have said so earlier in the year when the pen was really struggling. i was concerned for a bit because his AAA numbers were pretty bad, but that is SLC.

my only thoughts on the trade: boy was i wrong about what it would take to get street. bad trade for the angels as far as cost. hopefully street pays major dividends and the angels can win the world series. this trade doesn't make the angels better than the A's, but hopefully we'll be just as good or just good enough for the upset.

he clearly seems to be thinking about it. wouldn't the red sox still have his rights for the one season?

interesting? as in not an imposter?

you need to look deeper into the home/road splits.

you keep saying this in different threads, but it doesn't make it true. among many things, i really don't understand the cj wilson comparison. ross throws 95-97, doesn't give up many hits and walks about 1 guy per every 3 innings. i don't see cj wilson in any of that.

Angelswin SVU

i'll kill you. street tacos are perfect and never hurt anyone, except for maybe john lackey.

started a thread about this topic. didn't realize it was going on already over here.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ now that is pretty crazy. only happened twice before. supposedly, there is more to the story than i am aware of. mlbpa talking potential lawsuit. it's kind of funny because many here were sweating us signing newcomb. the astros fans must be wtf.

everybody is making a mountain out of a mole hill. his agent had a tactic to guarantee him the most money possible. he wasn't going back to school. once the angels had signed all their other picks, then he and his agent knew exactly how much they could get. the rest is just the contractual negotiations and reviews. end of story.