Mark PT

Strike one 90% of the time he takes the 1st pitch. 
2nd down and away slider. 0-2
3rd up and out. 1-2
4th back down and away slider or fork in the dirt. Ground out.
I struck out a few former Halos in the 80's. He beats me it's only 1 run. I also gave up a seed to former Royal Rookie of the Year Bob Hamlin that's still orbiting the earth.

How to pitch? 
 
Easy. Watch a few hours of the Angels blowpen and don't do what they do. 

I just love how they sugar-coat things today. When we threw a bad pitch or didn't get on Top of a slider or Frisbee'd it up there. Because our front side leaked and the elbow dropped and the ball came out flat! We didn't give it a cute name like a spinner....
We called it 420 ft. And the next day you walked into the clubhouse and there would be a neck brace in your locker..
Today, people would get butt hurt.

Pretty much, or we can just lay in a flat slider to Bregman from Barria...

What difference does it make. Another lost season, who cares if we trade him. The players we get back will suck and the cycle of the angels losing will continue. 
 

This stretch was SUB 500 teams (minus the Dogs 0-2 & Dbacks 1-2) since the Rangers 3-1  and They failed miserably! Royals 2-1, Rockies 1-2, Sox 2-2 and Pads 0-3.. 9 - 13...
Since the 2 game Dodgers series we are 4-11. 

My quick opinion is that all hiters swing for the fences so runners dont move and pitchers are more concerned with velocity rather than location. 

My quick opinion is that all hiters swing for the fences so runners dont move and pitchers are more concerned with velocity rather than location. 

should send him to single-A for the remainder of his contract.

should send him to single-A for the remainder of his contract.

He surrendered against Garignak and ran away.

Legitimate best case (<2% chance) is they sneak into last WC spot. They have neither the depth nor talent in the pen to compete in the post-season. Ohtani will walk. re-signing him would be likely catastrophic to the flexibility of the franchise in the future and it is incredibly unlikely he maintains $50M/year productivity for more than a couple/few seasons. Trading him and having a real chance to emulate the Braves in a year or 2 is the best medium and longterm decision.

This team is cursed, it’s seriously the only explanation. 
 
Any player that is performing this year gets immediately injured. Any rookie that does half decent, hurt. 
 
this isn’t normal. But the time they are back we will be out of the playoff picture and it will take 2 months for Neto and O’hoppe to get into a groove. 

Obviously we don't know how bad his injury is, but let's say it is a hamate fracture and he's out until September. If I'm the Angels, I'm seriously entertaining offers for Ohtani. 
There are 20 games before the trade deadline. That should be plenty to be certain whether the Angels can somehow perform a miracle. But...once we get that diagnosis, it might be time to turn the page on 2023 and Ohtani.

Much as I'd like to pawn this off on the coaching staff, who are not innocent in the loss column, the talent level the Angels are fielding doesn't match their competition.
Once O'Hoppe went down the catching value dropped immensely, Wallach is not good at all.
Once Neto went down the SS defense went down immensely, Fletcher is not a SS and can't hit.
Once Ushela went down the 3rd base defense and offense went down the tubes, Rendon has never been a factor this season.
Drury went down and offense went down, Rengifo can handle defense but his bat was left somewhere between Spring training and his home. 
1st base only had a brief moment of defensive stability but Walsh was washed up at the plate. Nevin keeps putting players out of position at first and needs to just commit to Moustakas from here on out regardless of pitching matchups.
And I haven't even gotten out of the infield when it comes to defense and offense liabilities.
So, if the Angels had a committed player at each position with only rest days instead of IL weeks and months, then I think I'd be ripping Nevin more and I'm not quiet about how much I don't like his managing as is. But real talent just isn't being fielded, it's in P.T. 

AIDS

Season over… 4 July 2023…
 
Trout out 4-8 weeks…
 
Angels lose series to bottom dwelling Pads…
 
Neto, O’Hoppe on the shelf…
 
Gio season over…
 
Ohtani has blisters…
 
Rendon has a shin bruise 🤣😂🤣…
 
Fletcher, Velazquez, Ward, Adell on the roster…
 
And Taylor and his douchy Debbie Downer emoji can suck it….

Ward's swing is way to long, which causes him to be prone to hot and cold streaks. His approach is to try to hit a home run every at bat.

I guess they'll just have to settle for the entire rest of their team continuing to outperform. I feel so bad for them.

Strider, like the Ranger from the North?
Sorry, had to go full Lord of the RIngs.

Strider, like the Ranger from the North?
Sorry, had to go full Lord of the RIngs.

The reason the Angel have trouble with it is because they don't know how to manufacture runs very well. It's home runs or nothing pretty much.

Don’t like the shootout in hockey and don’t like the free runner in MLB.
Of course, I’m a purist who doesn’t like gimmicks deciding games.

So the debacle on Saturday made me shake my head. And whether it was a double play or not, it is irrelevant to the ending, and the cause.
The ghost runner sucks. It's borderline terrible, and as I mentioned on twitter the night of, it's the worst rule in all of professional sports. 
I'd honestly prefer ties.
 
The ghost runner gives the advantage to the visiting team, but as we've seen, the Angels have terrible luck, both home and away with this rule. And not just this season, this has been the case for multiple years. I have no idea how to look up the extra inning stats, but I bet its something like a .250 winning percentage in extras the last four seasons (2020-2023).
 
That being said, what's the best strategy for defending the ghost runner? Going after the hitter doesn't seem to be working, and so I have a solution.
Walk the first batter. Set up a double play, set up the force play at third.
They may counter by attempting to bunt them over, but that isn't always guaranteed to work. Sac flies to the outfield probably don't bring them over, and if you get a double play, the sacrifice is off the table. If you allow a hit with runners on, it doesn't really matter if there is a runner on first, as losing by one run or two (or four) is irrelevant. You still lost.
 
They need to try something different than they have been--- thats for sure.
 
 

39 pitches should not run a big league pitcher into the ground.   If he can't handle 39 pitches here, what will happen if we need someone to grind out an inning in the playoffs.   Players need to do their jobs better.  Simple as that.
 
Otherwise, this is a good topic for discussion.  So thank you for that.