Farmbuildingfan

Maybe I am an ignorant ass, by I still think a healthy Angel team with robotic umps is about 23 games over .500 today.

Let's have a little perspective here. We're not the A's, or the Royals, or the Rockies, or the Nats, or the Pirates, or a few other teams. We are one game under .500. Forget the playoffs and just play better baseball. Get our players back healthy and go from there.
Then after the season, fire the manager and the coaches and start to rebuild. And Arte, PLEASE sell the team and get the hell outta here!!

Maybe I am an ignorant ass, by I still think a healthy Angel team with robotic umps is about 23 games over .500 today.

Your mom

I really think the Angels would have about 4-5 more wins this year if we had robotic umps, including last two Friday nights against The Blue Jays and Mariners.

I really think the Angels would have about 4-5 more wins this year if we had robotic umps, including last two Friday nights against The Blue Jays and Mariners.

How can anyone enjoy fireworks after that?

There's also an obvious grading on a curve here that's applicable.
When Autry ran the team, there were four playoff teams a year.
Now it's, what, 28 teams or something make the playoffs every year?
Arte teams missing the playoffs so often hurts more than when Autry teams missed the playoffs.  And rightly so.

Here comes the grand slam

I can sense a 10- 7 score very soon

Here comes the grand slam

I can sense a 10- 7 score very soon

I think Autry was worst then Moreno, but he  was such a kind hearted fellow with a warm personality that it would have been politically incorrect to criticize him.
In 1981 I called Angel talk with Bob Rowe to criticize Autry for trading all his best young players.
He did not disagree, but could not agree fully since Autry owned KMPC
.Bob Rowe did go on a rant about how the Angels needed to hold onto a list of young players, but of course they were traded

The front office was interested in " winning one for the cowboy" now, which meant sacrificing the future since Autry was aging
It did not work.

It is not only the direct effect of the injuries, but also the emotional damage caused by losing six players in just 2 or three days.
No coincidence the pitching totally tanked when all the injuries occurred. Injuries caused too much collective stress to the staff.
Without all the injuries this is a playoff team, but maybe not a division winner

A brutal night. All the bad guys won tonight.

O'Hoppe was hurt pretty early on in the season so the injuries started early but to answer your question, they were around 8 games over when 3/4 of the infield went down. That is a fact. So they were better than they are now and certainly would have had a better record with those guys available. Again, they would be closer or in 1st in the division. 
That is my point that, for some reason, you don't think is at all possible. I don't get it but you do you.

So refreshing not to see Velasquez and Escobar in the lineup.

So we still have seven of our top 10 prospects. Let us keep it that way.

I think the ghost of Gene Autry has attached himself to Moreno.
Autry never won because he traded the farm to win now

So we still have seven of our top 10 prospects. Let us keep it that way.

I was pissed when we traded them years ago, now they are back.
Better get Ohtani to sign since Arte is selling the farm

I assume these two were top 10 prospects per Angel tradition

Well, there's still the third - and maybe likeliest scenario. 

The Angels don't make the playoffs, Ohtani walks, and they don't go full rebuild, instead desperately trying to immediately compete again in a stacked division, signing a bunch of bad deals for mid/big names to try and replace Ohtani and appease casual fans with name familiarity, driving payroll way back up, all with no farm to support.

If they fall short and Ohtani walks, they need to give up on this 'all-in to win' mentality that's dominated the Trout window, acknowledge that they need to commit to the farm, and endure a season or two of a team with very little expectation of competing. Trade away controllable talent like Sandoval and Canning and Ward ASAP instead of letting them walk and keep drafting solid, quick-to-bigs guys.

If the Angels had their full healthy lineup it would have been a sweep. But they don't so they had to gut out this one win.