The Ghost of Bob Starr

When you're starving, a can of Vienna sausages looks good.

When you're starving, a can of Vienna sausages looks good.

Way to bust a nut here Strad. Been a long time coming. You've been a great defender of the org. As a staunch "everyone sucks except for Trout" believer for a while, I can tell you one thing; the team is not better than this. This is your team. Ianetta never has been good. He was decent at best. Freese, just an October heroics guy who really isn't much of a player either. Aybar has been somewhat dependable over the years but always prone to some really dumb shit. Pujols, the worst contract in baseball. Guy's body is showing the signs of a dude who carried teams on his back for too many years. Obviously the Hamilton situation left us with a big hole. But even he was suffering from body failure too. No knock on Johnny G, but we traded Kendrick - a key offensive and defensive component. Irregardless of what we got for him, that was a real loss. For all the dps how hit into, he had many a clutch hits. He also was magic defensively. Sadly, Weaver has lost it. But the pitching isn't getting rocked. If our offense was any good, we'd probably be right on the Astros heels.
Cowgil sucks. Joyce is awful. Let's face it, we are lucky Calhoun has paid off.
We are a band aided team that prays on a rally and decent enough pitching.
Unfortunately this team isn't better than this. This is our team. We have two-three guys in the lineup we can hope make things happen. Calhoun and Trout can hit and run. Pujols, just staying healthy might hit 25-30 hrs. Aybar does enough to be in there but when he sucks defensively, it really kills us
Beyond that we have guys that probably shouldn't be every day starters on any team: Joyce, Freese, Ianetta, Cowgill, Johnny G, Cron.
We could live with one of those guys, Cron maybe, existing in a lineup of qualified players. But he's a 24-year old DH. Who needs that??
You could point your finger a million different ways. Arte possibly demanded certain FA signings (I don't know what's really true) which appear to go against any type of building strategy Dipoto has. Dipoto has made several very lackluster signings and trades.
Off-hand I can't think of one that is overwhelmingly an Angels winner. I would say Trumbo for Skaggs and Santiago was still good, but we will see what happens to Skaggs after he recovers.
And you can point fingers at Sosh for a variety of things. Not taking out CJ Wilson and pinch hitting for him, the fact the Cowgill thought he could run. There's a lot of dumb shit we see day in and day out. Trout getting doubled off.
The organization feels disjointed and in a perfect world I'd love to see Arte, Dipoto, and Sosh all gone. They have strengths for sure but their weaknesses really are amplified working together. I love Don Baylor, but he is the hitting coach. If this were Hatcher in there, everyone would call for his head. He can't have a free pass either.
Probably easiest to dump Sosh and pretty much his entire coaching squad. Next thing is to dump Dipoto. Probably after the season.
Arte seems too much like a Jerry Jones to me. If you guys are melting down, he has to be wearing severely frayed nerves.

My car is silver

He posted an OPS+ of 78 last year and while he's had success this year it's over a whopping 22 at bats.  For the record I like Peter, he was one of the few bright spots at times on the Angels and played like he cared but no one could have predicted the Hamilton situation playing out like it did and the team needing another OF'er in 2015.  The Angels needed a 3B and they traded from a place of strength to get one.  PB was overvalued a bit much by some on here and the combo of him and Grichuk wasn't going to bring in a bigger haul to fill the Angels needs.        

ha
 
the " no credit, all blame " argument 
 
love it

One other thing.  California Horses, 1, 2, 3.  California connection jockey's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  

Geld him?

No offense, but I wouldn't quit your day job.

Yes he did, he passed himself.

Pujols hit another home run today but he didn't pass anyone on the list.

If you want to wrong picks.  I have a bunch for you.  
 
I made my picks for the entire churchill card, and while I won't bet every race, here is what I came up with.
 
Race 1
8 Irish you well 3/1
1a Hazzards of Love 7/2
 
Race 2
4 Tappit Wickes 6/1 LongShot
5 Defondo 9/2
 
Race 3
8 Reach for a kitten 3/1
2 Thatcher street 6/1
 
Race 4
3 Carve 7/2
6 Cat Burglar 4/1
4 Rocket Time 6/1
 
Race 5 
2 Gimme Da Lute 7/2
6 Competitive Edge 6/5
 
Race 6 Wide open race so just took a guess on this one
2 Wireless Future 15/1 LS
 
Race 7 Interesting race since I have all longshots.  
4 Clearly Confused 8/1 LS
5 You Bought Her 12/1 LS
7 Sweet Whiskey 6/1 LS
 
Race 8 
5 Coffee Clique 3/1
9 Strike Charmer 12/1 LS
8 Sandiva 7/2
 
Race 9
2 Bayern 1/1
4 Private Zone 2/1
6 Gentlemens Bet 10/1 LS
 
Race 10
5 Finnegans Wake 9/2
10 Chocolate Ride 12/1 LS
8 Stephanies Kitten 9/2
 
Race 12 Wide open race.  Guessing.
13 Unbridled Juan 3/1
 
Race 13
6 Benton Bourbon 5/2
11 Starbound 4/1
 
Now the big race.  How much I bet will be dependent on how much money I have left.  lol
 
Race 11
6 Mubtaahij 20/1
8 Dortmund 3/1
12 International Star 20/1
18 American Pharoah 5/2 (outside post might be too much for him to do)
10 Firing Line 12/1
15 Frosted 15/1
 
Exacta $1
18 American Pharoah/6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund, 12 International Star, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted $5
 
Exacta box $1
6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund, 12 International Star $6
 
Exacta box $1 - Rational for this.  Mubtaahij may end up being my win bet.  Since he will be a price, instead of doing a straight win, do an exacta, and it might pay huge.  For a big race like this, if you are betting longshots, this IMO is the way to go.  
6 Mubtaahij/All $19
 
Trifecta $0.50
18 American Pharoah/6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund, 12 International Star/ 6, 8, 12, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted $6
6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund, 12 International Star/ 6, 8, 12, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted/18 American Pharoah $6
6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund, 12 International Star/ 6, 8, 12, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted/6, 8, 12, 10, 15 $18
 
Superfecta $1 ugggg
18 American Pharoah/6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund/6,8/12 International Star, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted $6
6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund/6,8/18 American Pharoah/12 International Star, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted $6
6 Mubtaahij, 8 Dortmund/6,8/12 International Star, 10 Firing Line, 15 Frosted/ 12, 10, 15 $12 
So now you know how to bet if you want to lose tons of money.
 
 
 
 

i workout a lot, and lift heavy.
 
but my secret is that i skip-it 500-600 times a week.
 
skippin' and a screamin' and bop shoo bop!!
 

Are there any renditions of Vaseline that are not heroin-fueled?

There's always the line of steroid hitters. But steroid pitchers also competed from 85-2015.
Back in the day, pitchers would go 9,10,16 innings if need be. Yes they had the higher mound but they also weren't throwing as much heat later in the games.
There weren't pitch counts and speciality relievers. And ask any guy in the 50s-60s about greenies. They all toon amphetamines.
There were big buckets by the door of the clubhouse.
Baseball is not a pure sport. Never has been.

haters gonna hate.
arod is a beast.

No kidding!  Where was this thread at the beginning of Spring Training?

The doctor who does carbon dating had a vacation day,

He also says he's 35.
Would you believe... Hang on shoe phone is ringing.

espn showed mayweather being interviewed by stephen a. smith. holy crap, what a piece of crap interview. i couldn't last more than 45 seconds as it was the most self-serving interview i've seen him do. poor floyd mayweather, nobody likes him. and the fact that floyd spoke frequently in the third person was annoying as all get out.
 
as awful as espn can be, this dropped the bar a bit lower.

Chuck starts a thread stating he's in the best shape of his life and no one notices?

Starting this thread as I remember we had one on our old forum years ago. I can't remember if we had one created here (if so I'll combine them). 
 
Anyhow, who's in the gym? How often do you go? Do you have any goals? Are you trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass or both?
 
I started going back to the gym and eating better on November 1st, 2014. I've never been healthier. I'm doing a combination of cardio, while gaining muscle mass, trying to loss bad body weight (fat) while getting stronger. It has been 13 years since I was last in the gym, outside of a few times I tried to hit it and lost interest within a month. 
 
I started at 249 lbs and out of shape and now I'm at 215 lbs, while I've grown in almost every area muscle wise. 
 
In addition to weight lifting (at Golds Gym) I do 100-200 situps a day and run on the treadmill for 25-45 minutes 3-4 times a week depending on how much time I have left after working out with weights. 
 
What's your routine. How you doing? Hope to create some accountability and inspiration to those who have been procrastinating working out and getting healthier. 

I always think of him as Jack from European Vacation.
 
That movie probably had the ugliest Audrey out of all the Vacation movies.