Inside Pitch

Just now, Blarg said:

Trout is pretty much the anti Rendon and needs to give Jobu some rum to influence the Babip God's. 

He's been over 100 with every batted ball put into play today.  People are going to start asking what's wrong with him then he's going to get lucky with a bunch of soft hit BS and they will say he's back.

1 minute ago, CaliAngel said:

Anderson pitching his heart out and these assholes can't give him more than 1 run.

These assholes are asshats.   They even have an A on the cap.  It's science.

1 minute ago, Blarg said:

Any bets Rendon gets a double leading off?

 

Based on how this game has gone if he does it will be a bleeder just over the corner IFers glove that rolls away from people.  Then his next at bat he will torque a ball 108 MPH and make an out because, Angels...

2 minutes ago, nando714 said:

Adell not having a great game

2 big blunders  

And yet he's 28.% of the Angels' total of baserunners and driven in 100% of their runs.

These asshats have done well enough to be trying to get their 5th straight win but instead we are here because they are asshats.

11 minutes ago, DMVol said:

I’m encouraged that Rendon got to 3rd without getting hurt. 

The day he scored from first I was waiting for the hamstring tightness report after the game.

5 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I was literally typing, "Man, Anderson's looking good tonight" right before he gave up that blast to Stephenson.  Sigh...

So, it's YOUR fault!

6 minutes ago, OregonLAA said:

Fair. Was just trying to reply with his. And I got lucky when I looked them up that they were in my favor. Listen. 
 

I’m glad he’s playing ok. But it’s not what the team paid for and I care about the people as much as I care about their laundry they wear. He’s a clown of a person. I don’t like rooting for him.  I also think he was the last straw for Arte spending in free agency. I’d rather watch Rengifo over there every game. I’m just frustrated that Angel fans want to root for this guy so badly. 
 

And another infield hit

Dude..  he's blowing the BABIP gods right now...  It's hilarious.

I dont think anyone can fault you or anyone for being frustrated with the guy.  In my case it would be less frustrating if he was looking like he's washed up..  But given his history, you almost cant ever fully buy in and appreciate what he's doing because the fear of an another injury is always there.

20 minutes ago, OregonLAA said:

Nah. This ain’t it. I know we are stuck with him so I wanted him to hit lead off. That’s working. But it’s still really sad we are all happy with this performance from a guy who gets paid a ton and acts like a jerk. Are we really down that bad?

I actually think hitting him leadoff isn't working.  I mean, in truth I have no clue if he's trying to emphasis hits over power or if he's still building leg strength up but he's not really trying to load up much --if he was and the power wasn't there I'd be much more concerned his power is legit gone.  The other reason I think it's not "been working" his swing data.  He's posting near career low Z-swing% meaning he's swinging at fewer strikes than ever while at the same time putting up the best Z-contact of his career (97.1%) -- so he's making contact on 97.1% percent of the strikes he's swinging at.  It seems he's being a lot less aggressive than in the past, to his credit he's likely doing what they are asking of him but with a guy like Schanuel around putting mid 80s exit velocities and a great eye ... maybe he should be leading off.  I'm mostly watching the exit velocities because that's been steadily on the rise -- so, the hopeful part of me wants to believe it's a guy coming back from leg injuries that's building his strength as he goes along.  

1 minute ago, OregonLAA said:

Babip is the highest of his career and his WRC+ is the lowest of his career. Gonna have to disagree with you here. Wrc+ is 77. Seventy fucking seven. And people are acting like he’s on fire lol

Appreciate the effort to back up your opinion with stats, now let's work on actually understanding how to use them.  His "career best BaBip" is all of 0.08 above his career average -- sample size matters which is why it was sitting at .000 after his first five games and been stupid high in his last 12 -- the funny thing about "luck" is that it typically balances out over the course of a season.

The sample sizes are so insignificant right now that pretty much all the numbers, good or bad are just noise.

6 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Over the last 12 games Rendon has hit .346/.397/.404/.800. He is the last guy you should be shiting on in the GameDay thread. 

First it was OMG is he ever going to get a hit.  Then it was OMG is he ever going to get an RBI.  Now it's OMG is he ever going to hit for power.  FFS, people need to give it a rest already. The dude has seen his exit velocities go from the low 80s to 88.7, while also seeing 4.21 pitches per plate appearance -- 11th best in the AL.

He's bating leadoff and still seemingly getting his shit together, but Angels fans gonna Angel fan. 

For years I've argued that Adell's confidence is both a blessing and a curse.  He always seemed to think he could hit ANY pitch, so he would swing.  Currently it seems he thinks he can swipe any bag or take any base.  Only way he will learn what he can and can't do is to give him the playing time.

Want to see him make fewer mistakes?  Play Hicks less -- he will learn.  Seeing him in a game over Hicks today with a lefty on the mound was surprising.

6 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Lowest exit velocity by Adell and he is safe on an infield hit. 

He Ichiro'd.

6 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Bazzana tore it up in Cape Cod this past summer: .375/.456/.581/1.037 over 158 PAs.

And we know the Angels scout the CCL hard. It's one of the few things they are known to focus on.

Just now, Blarg said:

Dammit, Schanuel! Hit it without all that damn exit velocity so it drops. 

Kind of funny because it's true..  92 MPH on the exit velocity.  

1 minute ago, Justin said:

That's too much math for me. 

Fair enough..   Just do duck duck Goose in reverse, so Goose, duck, duck...

Goose is baaaaad.

1 minute ago, Justin said:

I don't believe I have ever been more wrong about an Angels pitcher than I have been with Canning. 

Youll be right about him the next two months, then wrong again, then right the final two months of the season.

At least his velocity is up today.

3 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Pencil neck geeks can't hit!

You forgot to quote Arte!

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

You trash when absurd to your own view yet discourage making Drones out of your audience. - HaloThunder

2 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

Adam Kolarek has given up 13 baserunners in 4 2/3 IP for Salt Lake so far.  Still baffled by that signing.

"More like Adam Call-A-Wreck" -- @Angel Oracle

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

So far 9-9

Injuries to Silseth and Stephenson 

Pitched 5+ innings 12 of 18 starts. 

Not throwing strikes but also right at league average in walks allowed.

I wouldn’t call it good defense, but only 8 errors, AL average is 11.  

Running the bases well? Eh.  20 stolen bases (10 the last two games), which has us 2nd in the AL. Caught stealing is 6, which is second most in the AL with AL average being 3.  
 

Certainly not great but not bad either. Bottom line for me is if we stay healthy and Canning and Sandoval pitch better we are about a .500 team. It’s weird that in a week we will be done with Baltimore, Tampa and Boston for the year. 

You need to remember to take into consideration the tier 6 teams factor, climate change, and that Mercury is in "lemonade" or some other bullshit.  

11 hours ago, BTH said:

One of the frustrating parts of Eppler’s tenure was he identified good coaches, but couldn’t keep them.

Andrew Bailey and Donnie Ecker are the most prominent.

Hard to keep coaches when other teams will pay better.  Once again, this is an Arte problem.  At one point the Angels had one of the larger analytics departments under Eppler after not having had one at all.  But, when things didn't go the way Arte wanted he wasn't allow to grow it and it's been one of the smaller units since. 

22 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

That is exactly my concern with Charlie Condon.   His Cape Cod numbers, albeit first time there, were pedestrian.

Someone like Weatherholt (Big-12) makes more sense to draft, as Condon seems to be mainly a power hitter.

Weatherholt has an all around game (SBs, OBP, solid enough power for INF).

That Aussie kid is lighting it up despite pitching in the Pac 12 where offenses have been down.  Not sure what his upside is tools wise, but he seems to have a very "pro" approach at the plate.  Plus anyone that was playing against grown men at 15 is if nothing else somewhat tested.

30 minutes ago, totdprods said:

We might be saying the same about Soriano before long.

It's old hat for the Angels.   Lorenzen, Felix Pena, JC Ramirez....  

1 hour ago, jsnpritchett said:

Half the site posted about their record. Everyone makes the same jokes. 

Yeah, but nothing is ever truly said until HaloThunder has immortalized it with his Yoda speak.   

"Until 6-14 the time has not come" or some other magical phrase....