Reveille1984

I heard Butcher thinks he should work from the wind-up and get a higher leg kick.

Leadoff has nothing to do with it. He's not going to suddenly find his swing because he moves up one spot in the order.

This is right up there with one of the most boring games I've ever watched.

Rondon's plate discipline has pretty much sunk to Aybar levels this year (3% walk and 20% K rate after 10%/10% last year), hopefully its just a blip on the radar while he's getting used to a higher level.

Cowgill is due for some major regression (.420 BABIP is pretty absurd), but until he cools down you have to keep him in the lineup any way possible.

Winning will do that to team chemistry.

Ginger Power!

I think the culture of Dipoto and guys that can actually take pitches and get some walks is finally starting to help us out. Guys like Cowgill, Green, Navarro, Trout, Pujols, Iannetta, Calhoun, and etc. have been racking up the walks and getting a lot of guys on the basepaths with their patience at the plate. Even Howie is skyrocketing his OBP with some good at bats. Currently 2nd in OPS and 5th in BB's in the AL.

Couldn't just be Wilson Mazda? Gotta get that name brand recognition son!

How can anyone hate Victor, he's top-tier IMO. Rex is uber cheesy and over the top. Gubi is just repetitive and dim at times, but overall our broadcast team isn't bad.

Los Angeles Setbacks of Anaheim

At least none of our minor league affiliates have a winning record, so we got that going for us I guess.

Sick lineup

I don't think expecting a guy to hit over the Mendoza line as a regular is a lofty expectation. Yeah we got him for bargain bin pricing or whatever but when he's hanging around the .150's and striking out in half of his at bats, you can't give him much more time to figure it out. Especially with how his performance took a severe nose dive at the end of last season. We have multiple other options to shove into the DH spot if necessary (Cron, Green, Conger, Ianetta, etc.).

Seriously, throw Morin out there and get him some experience in a high leverage spot. What the f*** is the point of calling up a dominant reliever from our system to use him as a mop up guy for the first month? Relievers are supposed to be used to these kinds of situations. Yet, he's sitting on his ass waiting for another 8-1 game to get a shot. I don't usually jump on the Scioscia hate bandwagon, but his bullpen management is mind boggling at times. He's like the guy that keeps trying to grab the cheese from the mouse trap until his hand is a bloody stump.

Only the Angels.

Not sure how much of an effect it has, but King/Ducks playoff game at the Honda Center on Monday night could be a contributing factor.

Good debut, and he can't really be any worse than Ibanez has been thus far. Go Cron!

I live in Irvine sooo works for me

All we really need is a couple more bullpen guys to pan out to replace the mediocrity of guys like Herrera/Jepsen/Maronde. Hopefully Morin will be one of them, and possibly one of Alvarez/Bedrosian in the coming months. I think we're in a good spot overall for now.

Pretty sure Raul is done. Faded horribly down the stretch last year and has been abysmal so far this season. Unless he turns a major corner in the upcoming weeks he should be an off the bench bat at best.

Maybe next time Shuck will just stay over the wall, grab a hotdog and a beer and start watching the game.

The more we can do while getting away from signing overpriced FA's, the better.

There's only so much adjusting a hitter can do. Guys don't cognitively decide where to hit the ball, they just react to the pitch based on muscle memory and where the pitch is located. It has been ingrained into these guys their entire lives. Contrary to popular belief, bunting is not a super easy thing to do and place perfectly on a regular basis, especially for guys that literally never do it. Players at the highest level of competition also have massive egos allowing them to tell themselves, "psh, f*** that. I'll still get a hit even with your shift!" Shifts are usually employed on power threats anyways. You think if they keep shifting on Bautista, Pujols and Stanton they are going to start bunting on a regular basis? Doubtful. Obviously if every batter with previous heavy splits starts perfecting the opposite side slap bunt, things will change to fit the newly established pattern.

I'm actually more worried about what will happen if we have a SP injury or when/if the young guns start getting tired towards the end of the year. We pretty much don't even have depth right now, even mediocre SP depth.