Reveille1984

Is that like 4 DP's already for Trout? WTF

We need a new tradition of posting "as long as he doesn't ___________  I'll call it a success" posts for Angels players.

Not if we have pitching combos the equivalent of Blanton-Vargas-Hanson, that's for sure.

Josh Johnson is a FA this offseason.

Aybar is so overrated on this board.

Not sure how he's overrated.  GG defense with a cannon arm, decent pop and plus speed.  Been around a 4 WAR player 3 of the past 4 seasons.  6th in WAR for shortstops from 2009 to 2012.  

What a bust!

Probably none, unless he gets to the buffet before Blanton.

Some more fun stats:  Of nearly 200 pitchers this season with 10+ IP, Vargas and Blanton have the 2nd and 5th highest WHIP respectively, and a .391 and .388 (!) AVG.  So pretty much when somebody hits a fair ball against these pillars of excellence, it has a 40% chance of being a hit.  Awesome!

It's sad when people think a 2.16 WHIP over 6 IP is an encouraging performance.  That's how bad Blanton has been.  

It was pretty much his usual performance mixed in with some luck.  

He just needs to pray harder, stupid Pujols.

The only player I'm even closed to worried about offensively is Hamilton, and he went 4 for 4 yesterday.  Everyone else has been pretty good so far; we lead the league in AVG and are second in OBP.  If we didn't go full retard with RISP over the first ten games we'd probably be around .500 or better.  

Power will come once we stop playing in icy, barren wastelands like Cincinnati and Minnesota and the weather warms up in the coming months.   

Typical start from Blanton.  11 hits, 1 walk, 0 K's but somehow manages to wriggle off the hook and only give up 3 runs instead of 8 or 9.  Guy is still terrible even when passable.

Reveille84, it doesn't have to be either/or. There's a big difference between playing every day in the field and sitting on the bench coming to the plate and (hopefully) running the bases four times a game. Not to mention that if Pujols gets on late in the game he can be pinch-run for.

 

So we're really only talking about 4 times at bat and 0-4 times running the bases. Not being out in the field for nine innings should help and, if coupled with anti-inflammatories, will at least hopefully keep it from getting worse.

That's pretty much what I meant, that he either needs to take an extended period off or just tough it out while DH'ing.  Taking a day off here and there probably isn't going to do much.

It's not really something that can be fixed with a few days off.  They either need to put him on the DL and see if that helps the issue subside at all, or have him muscle through it with a cortisone shot.  Like others have siad, not sure why this wasn't addressed before the season by our crack medical squad.  We're barely 20 games into a 5 month season and he's already "in agony".  

Without Pujols though our lineup goes from formidable to fairly mediocre in an instant, especially with Hamilton being generally terrible at everything hitting.

If Richards has a few more starts that are even close to his last two, there's no way he doesn't make the rotation with how crappy our back-end guys have been.  We still have a while until Weaver comes back to see how Blanton and Vargas pan out.  Whoever is sucking more ass can get knocked down to long relief.

At least C.J. has better hair

Seems like a lot of players that come here have a mental relapse for some reason, at least over a certain span of time.  Pujols was Mathis-esque last April, Hamilton looks like a joke, Blanton and Vargas both look completely lost, Vernon was terrible, Wilson looks like a bust so far as well. 

I really feel like we need a new pitching coach.  Who knows if it would help, but nobody on this team can challenge hitters effectively.  Our starters don't have the stuff to miss bats (besides Richards), but they try and pitch like they do by throwing junk they can't control and getting behind every batter. 

Maybe Blanton and Vargas can finally not take a giant shit on the mound this time around.  That'd be great.

I guess it will take a few more times of Pujols getting IBB'd with nobody on base to get the point across.

Definitely needs to at least be moved down in the order at this point.  Trumbo is hitting well and Hamilton is a train wreck.  How many times are teams going to walk Pujols to get to our clean-up hitter before Scioscia makes a change?

Not sure how that's a silver lining but.... hooray!  5 games out after 16 games is pretty terrible.

Hanson didn't exactly inspire confidence with his tight-rope act, but a win is a win.  Go team!

16 hits, 0 homeruns.

Total fail.

*facepalm*

I don't know how many times Gubi has talked about a guy just "trusting his stuff" when he just blows ass

Seriously though, why the hell is Lowe in?  Is this a nightmare?