KTE Meet the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

[smg58]

record: 42-28, 3.5 games ahead in the AL West
292 runs scored, 291 runs allowed

Adherents to the Pythagorean rule would have a field day criticizing this team, but somehow despite the injuries and struggles that have affected nearly their entire line-up and a few of their pitchers, they're right where most people expected them to be.

1B: Casey Kotchman (7 HR, 32 RBI, .303/.351/.448). He's been their most consistent player to date, as well as their healthiest. A Mark Grace-style first baseman with a solid glove and high average but only so-so power.

2B: Howie Kendrick (0 HR, 11 RBI, .312/.343/.430). Spent more than a month on the DL. High average, no power yet this year.

SS: Macier Izturis (3 HR, 27 RBI, .259/.319/.344, 8/10 SB). Spent two weeks on the DL. He's been hitting better since his return, but again, not much power.

3B: Chone Figgins (0 HR, 7 RBI, .306/.426/.351, 12/17 SB). He's been on the DL twice already. His power has been completely absent, but a .426 OBP from a fast leadoff guy is nothing to sneeze at. He returned for the Atlanta series this past weekend and was one for two in steal attempts, so he's willing to run despite the right leg injury that had sidelined him.

LF: Garret Anderson (6 HR, 30 RBI, .257/.289/.383). Presumably, the Angels were hoping for more from him.

CF: Torii Hunter (9 HR, 33 RBI, .268/.329/.457, 9/12 SB). A little too pedestrian for the money he's being paid.

RF: Vladimir Guerrero (10 HR, 35 RBI, .273/.336/.471). He's actually been hot lately, after playing through injuries most of the year. Don't underestimate.

C: Mike Napoli (10 HR, 24 RBI, .202/.295/.452) and Jeff Mathis (4 HR, 14 RBI, .223/.308/.369). Scioscia has run with whichever one has the hotter (i.e., less frigid) bat at a given time. But don't ignore the 14 HR they have between them.

DH: Gary Matthews (7 HR, 31 RBI, .243/.317/.378). Putrid numbers. Has seen plenty of time in the outfield; I think Scioscia rotates his outfielders more on who's actually healthy on a given day than on any set pattern.

Bench: Reggie Willits and Juan Rivera could at least platoon for a lot of other teams, but neither has gotten enough AB's to do much of anything.

Starting pitchers:

today: Jeff Weaver (6-6, 4.45 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 85 IP, 60 K, 10 HR) vs. Pelfrey. The younger Weaver has been tepid at best.

tomorrow: John Lackey (3-1, 1.83 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 44.1 IP, 32 K, 5 HR) vs. Johan. Ace against ace. Lackey missed the first month of the season, and his replacements had ERA's of 7.85 and 9.00. The Angels are happy to have Lackey back.

Wednesday: John Garland (6-4, 4.13 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 89.1 IP, 34 K, 8 HR) vs. Ollie. Garland bends, a lot in fact, but he hasn't broken. Or at least he's kept the Angels in games.

We are missing Joe Saunders (10-3, 3.06, 1.13 WHIP) and Ervin Santana (8-3, 3.40, 1.08 WHIP). Both have been very good, although Saunders has a .246 BABIP that suggests a regression is due.

The pen is led by Francisco Rodriguez (28 SV, 2.03 ERA, 1.16 WHIP). Scot Shields (2.81 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) has been a solid set-up guy for them for a long time. Our own Darren Oliver (2.81 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) has been good for them as well. They have a rookie named Jose Arredondo (0.69 ERA, 0.62 WHIP) who got the call last month and has been nearly flawless in his first 13 IP in the majors. We will want to see Darren O'Day (4.07 ERA, 1.77 WHIP) and Justin Speier (5.06 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) get into the game.

ex-factors: Darren Oliver and (sort of) Gary Matthews for them, Damion Easley (a long time ago!) and Scott Schoeneweis for us.

So this team looks like they're underachieving spectacularly on paper, and yet they're winning games. That line-up could easily get things together, but I also think this team is capable of collapsing.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Mets a million years ago acquired Justin Spier only to lose him on a procedural screwup.

[Guest AG/DC]

"Jose Arredondo" translates as "Joseph Getting out of Here" or "Joe Scramming."

[Gwreck]

Gary Matthews, Jr. is one of the few Mets who never appeared on defense. His entire Met career consisted of one pinch-hit appearance and one pinch-running appearance, if I recall correctly, at the very beginning of the 2002 season. He made the roster out of spring training but was lost on waivers shortly thereafter.

[metirish]

I know nothing about the Angels only what smg58 tells me , so if this team is underachieving spectacularly on paper then is the manager the one inspiring them to win , I have read loads in the past about Scioscia being a great manager , an under the radar type yybbb.

What is he doing that Willie isn't , if anything.

[metirish]

The other night while waiting out the rain I switched over to watch the yankees for an inning , Joba was taking his turn at bat and Michael Kay said that if he was in charge there would be a DH hitting for him , that way NL fans would see something they don't usually see , and vice versa when the NL goes to the AL this week.

A terrible idea I think.

[Gwreck]

Any DH-related idea that is not "immediate and permanent elimination of the DH" is not a good idea.

[Benjamin Grimm]

metirish wrote: A terrible idea I think.

I don't think it's a terrible idea, just a neutral one.

More people watch on TV than at the ballpark anyway, so it's not like you'll be exposing anyone to something they wouldn't see in their team's road telecast.

If I'm the absolute monarch of baseball, I eliminate the DH and expand the roster to 27.

[Gwreck]

Why 27 and not 26 (assuming of course that you have to make the concession to 26 to the players association to get rid of the DH).

[Benjamin Grimm]

Because I liked the number of bench players that were available back when there were ten-man pitching staffs.

I'd like to see managers able to make two more moves than they currently can. 26 would still be an improvement, but I think the game would be better if the 25-man roster was expanded.

[Frayed Knot]

LaRussa would just start carrying 15 pitchers

[Guest attgig]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The Mets a million years ago acquired Justin Spier only to lose him on a procedural screwup.

unfamiliar with that piece of history. what happened?

[Methead]

"NL fans would see something they don't usually see"

Well, watching Joba try to hit is good enough for me.

[Guest sharpie]

So does Kay want to have Joba hit at Yankee Stadium so those fans get to see something they don't see?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

metirish -"I know nothing about the Angels only what smg58 tells me , so if this team is underachieving spectacularly on paper then is the manager the one inspiring them to win , I have read loads in the past about Scioscia being a great manager , an under the radar type yybbb.

What is he doing that Willie isn't , if anything."

Winning. The Angels may be "underachieving on paper", but they are getting it done on the field. The Mets, unfortunately, are underachieving on the field.

[Frayed Knot]

Top Ten all-time Angels (acc to some fan-site I found):

1 - Tim Salmon
2 - Nolan Ryan
3 - Brian Downing
4 - Bobby Grich
5 - Garrett Anderson
6 - Chuck Finley
7 - Troy Percival
8 - Jim Fergosi
9 - Troy Glaus
10 - Darin Erstad

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Tim Salmon's mom has a fansite?

[Guest AG/DC]

My top-ten Angels:

1) Brian Downing
2) Don Baylor
3) Gary Pettis
4) Bobby Grich
5) Dick Schofield
6) Rod Carew
7) Donnie Moore
8) Bo Belinsky
9) Reggie Jackson
10) Frank Tanana

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Edgy, the Angels had a pretty good pitcher by the name of Nolan Ryan that in his eight years with the Angels etched his name throughout their franchise record book. The Angels have had some great players, but I can't iimagine leaving Ryan completely out of the top 10 in franchise history.

[Fman99]

Gwreck wrote: Any DH-related idea that is not "immediate and permanent elimination of the DH" is not a good idea.

I could not agree more.

[Guest AG/DC]

Just a personal thing.

[stevejrogers]

smg58 wrote: Weaver (6-6, 4.45 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 85 IP, 60 K, 10 HR) vs. Pelfrey. The younger Weaver has been tepid at best.

Weaver was well talked about in the lead up to the MLB draft in 2004, the same draft the Mets were picking 3rd and ended up with Philip Humber (of course since dealt for Johan Santana. Mostly based on the "Manning Factor" (heh, not that Jeff/Jered are anywhere near Peyton/Eli in terms of tops in their respective sports) Weaver ended up falling to the Angels at #12 because of signability issues.

But there was one out of touch NYC radio and newspaper hack, Tom Keegan, that thought the Mets should draft him with that pick, because of all the "excitement" he would bring when he'd make his big league debut (which wouldn't happen in reality until 2006).

I was so astonished by this assertion that Keegan really thought Met fans would flock to see Weaver as if it was 1984 and Gooden all over again, I actually sent him an email, with a chart detailing the attendance for debut season starts of the last pitcher drafted that high for the Mets, Paul Wilson. In short, it wasn't pretty. Gooden was helped by the fact that the Mets ended up in a legit pennant race in 1984, heck Pedro was helped in 2005 because of a chance of a pennant race!

I even made a comparison with Strawberry as well, saying the only real "spikes" in attendance in Straw's rookie year was when a certain fellow named Seaver was starting.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for a response! =

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Ten Guys I Think of When You Mention the Angels

Rod Carew
Jim Fregosi
Andy Etchebarren
Nolan Ryan
Bobby Grich
Brian Downing
Joe Rudi
Frank Tanana
JT Snow
Wally Joyner

[Guest AG/DC]

In my head, the Angels are also perpetually wearing white v-neck pullovers. But they went to powder blue road uniforms for a while, didn't they?

[DocTee]

In my mnid: they will always be the California Angels. They'll always play at the Big A (which reminds me of Happy Days), and they should bring back the halos on their caps.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm pleading ignorance on the powder blues. I can't deny it, but I can't remember it either.

They introduced light blue for a time with those awful, Mo Vaughn Era Disney outfits, when they thought they could use the team to promote a shitty movie.

I think their home reds are brilliant right now. Gorgeous shade of red.

I also remember for a time a lower-case "a" with an offset halo, on their hats and jersey fronts.

[Gwreck]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ten Guys I Think of When You Mention the Angels Rod Carew Jim Fregosi Andy Etchebarren Nolan Ryan Bobby Grich Brian Downing Joe Rudi Frank Tanana JT Snow Wally Joyner

My 10:
Mark Langston
Chuck Finley
Tim Salmon
Garrett Anderson
Troy Percival
Bryan Harvey
plus 4 that Dickshot mentioned (Joyner, Ryan, Downing, Tanana).

[Guest AG/DC]

All Mets-Angels Team:

SP
Kevin Appier
Paul Byrd
Jack Hamilton
Nolan Ryan
Frank Tanana

RP
Don Aase
Andy Hassler
Dyar Miller
Scott Schoeneweis
Mike Marshall
Skip Lockwood

C
Mike Fitzgerald
Charlie O'Brien
Johnny Stephenson

IF
Damion Easley
Tim Foli
Jim Fregosi
Dick Schofield
Bobby Valentine
Mo Vaughn

OF
Jose Cardenal
Gil Flores
Dave Gallagher
Leroy Stanton
Claudell Washington

[Guest AG/DC]

Maybe I'm picturing Carew's powder blue Twin jerseys.

[batmagadanleadoff]

="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]I'm pleading ignorance on the powder blues. I can't deny it, but I can't remember it either. They introduced light blue for a time with those awful, Mo Vaughn Era Disney outfits, when they thought they could use the team to promote a shitty movie. I think their home reds are brilliant right now. Gorgeous shade of red. I also remember for a time a lower-case "a" with an offset halo, on their hats and jersey fronts.

No powder blue Angels. Ever. The lower case angel "a" was a one year cap style - 1971 - as illustrated (pun!) on Ryan's first Angels Topps card, below. (The pinstripes are courtesy of the NY Mets), and a two year jersey style (71-72).