AngelsLakersFan

We aren't missing enough names on a list to have Mark Lowe and Barry Enright pitching in a game for us.

They didn't have that class back when I was in college...

This team wouldn't be that bad if we hadn't traded prospects. That said a lot of fans have been happy when these kinds of moves are made. At the same time these moves have benefited our team in past years.

Nice to see Scioscia at least has a quick hook tonight..

Let's look at it this way... how many players do we really expect to play significantly better over the rest of the season, and how big of an effect will that have on the team. Hamilton is really the only player I feel we can expect to play significantly better, but I'm not sure how big of an effect he'll have.

I haven't heard anyone say that for some time now...

Mathis was certainly the best defensive catcher we have had here over the last several years. His pitch calling and framing is noticeably better than Iannetta's who is not that great in this department. I am 100% sure that the Mathis to Iannetta transition has cost the team several runs on the defensive end. The sad thing is I did not notice significant difference between Mathis and Napoli in terms of pitch calling and framing, and this team is still better off as a whole having Iannetta behind the plate rather than Mathis.

Some people just can't handle the pressure of playing in Anaheim - it helps going to a team without the expectation of winning every year.

no

WAR is not actually predictive of future performance, or at least it does not try to be (it is more predictive than WPA though). WAR is measuring value without considering game context - it is a long run stat that assumes outcomes even out by the end of the season. Predictive stats are regressed and much more conservative, WAR is reporting actual on field performance. Trout's 10+ WAR last year did not mean he should be expected to reach 10 WAR again this year, it simply means his performance last year, on average, should've been worth 10 wins. Interestingly he also lead the league in WPA.

If Conger can't catch his position going forward will be 'out of baseball' because his bat does not play at any other position on the diamond, let alone first base. His minor league stats are not very good either.

Conger career wRC+ 77 Borjous career wRC+ 98 Bourjos is a significantly better hitter.

Peter has a career wRC+ of 98. A league average hitter in CF with elite defense is quite valuable.

W..T..F.. This was probably going to be the first series where we ran out 3 starters with ERA's under 4.00.

While that is certainly iffy you can't argue that the rule didn't have a significant impact on the game. Two outs, tying runs in scoring position and Scioscia is 'forced' to go to Cousins instead of Lucho.

He made a nice play too. Great footwork! The Yankees may be thinking about playing him there more often as he's apparently been taking grounders there for the last month.

...Vernon Wells at 3rd base for us at some point in the last few years? Well he's playing there right now for the Yankees...

Here is the bottom line why this team cannot rebuild. Assume a rebuild process takes 3 years. Pujols is 3 years older, and more expensive. Hamilton is 3 years older. Trout is 3 years more expensive, post arbitration. Weaver and Wilson are 3 years older and still on the books as well. This team probably wont be any good until after the Hamilton contract is up. Our payroll is probably going to stay in the same area as now, simply because our revenue streams seem pretty locked in with Art just signing the new tv deal. There is no new influx of money that will cover the Pujols / Hamilton contracts.

Randy Winn!

**** you

To be fair, the Angels do not believe he can stay healthy throwing that slider so often after he had that arm injury and almost needed Tommy John surgery a few years back.

Trust me when I say that this team isn't going to be cutting payroll anytime soon. Good luck with that...

Blanton is the real head scratcher, I think we all thought "DiPoto must know more than the rest of us" when that went down...

Its funny, when we first got Williams a couple of years ago the topic here was the exact opposite: he isn't as good out of the pen!

This was the issue I had with DiPoto's handling of the pitching staff. It wasn't that I thought there were better players out there so much as it was obvious that the staff wasn't going to be any good and it was going to lack depth. He should've kept at least one of Santana / Haren, despite their cost just so that we would have another arm. Picking arms off the scrap heap as we have done time and time again this year has proven to not work.