Thread: The official Anaheim Angels June thread

Originally Posted by TooCool

Yeah. Agreed. I'm not from Anaheim, and it takes me 30-45 minutes to get there. So what? The part that says Angels is all that matters right now.



I also agree with you here. When we were down in Fenway earlier this season. We got our butt kicked 10-1, 8-0, and 7-2. I was so glad that one game was rained out that series (so that the Angels can regroup). Vlad did get hurt in that series though, if I remember that correctly... and I think that's how we lost 5 in a row. It's late now and I don't really want to check.

But anyway, time will tell... because we have another 4 games series in Fenway later this season (including the rained out game) and 3 more at the Big A. So let's say we can take 4 out of 7 of games against them Red Sox, We will probably be in good shape come playoff time.

My concern in an Angels / Red Sox ALCS is one thing....pitching. I don't have too much confidence in the abilities of Santana/Lackey/Colon in a 7 game series. In the regular season you can win due to pitching matchups falling in your favor but in the playoffs it's #1 vs #1, #2 vs #2 and so on. Not to mention the fact that Big Papi owns Scot Shields. I'm just hoping someone does the dirty work for the Angels and knocks the BoSox out.

Originally Posted by OrangePuck

...I prefer they be the Anahem Angels especially considering they won their title under that name. However, I'm not from Anaheim so what do I care.... .

I grew up in Anaheim, been an Angels fan for 35+ years and I was (and still am) pissed at Arte Moreno for changing the name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, his reasoning makes absolutely no sense to me, I'd like to meet him face-to-face and tell him he's an idiot.

And since I'm ranting, I need to complain about Vlad

Why does he have to swing at the first pitch almost every time? If he were more patient, he would get more hits & RBI's.

I was at 2 games this past month, both games he came up in the first w/ a runner on third and less than 2 outs, he swings at the first pitch both times and has a weak pop-up to shallow outfield.

People complain about GA being lazy in the outfield, I think Vlad is worse, sure he has that cannon for an arm but he constantly miss judges fly balls and makes too many errors.

One more thing that pisses me off about Vlad is his laziness running out ground balls, it's almost like he walks to 1st 'cause he "knows" he'll get out anyway - what happened to hustle?

Originally Posted by IceDogsFan

And since I'm ranting, I need to complain about Vlad

You're kidding, right? You've been a fan 35+ years and want to complain about the best hitter in the team's history? Some people are never happy.

Why does he have to swing at the first pitch almost every time?

His career average when swinging at the first pitch is .373 with an OPS of 1.110. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

People complain about GA being lazy in the outfield, I think Vlad is worse, sure he has that cannon for an arm but he constantly miss judges fly balls and makes too many errors.

There's no doubt that Vlad is poor in the outfield, but I wouldn't say it's for lack of effort. Sometimes you have to trade off a little defense for the big bat.

One more thing that pisses me off about Vlad is his laziness running out ground balls, it's almost like he walks to 1st 'cause he "knows" he'll get out anyway - what happened to hustle?

The guy has bad legs. If he doesn't run out an occasional meaningless ground ball, I have no problem with that. But I can't say that I've ever noticed his lack of effort to first being an issue.

Originally Posted by IceDogsFan

I grew up in Anaheim, been an Angels fan for 35+ years and I was (and still am) pissed at Arte Moreno for changing the name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, his reasoning makes absolutely no sense to me, I'd like to meet him face-to-face and tell him he's an idiot.

And since I'm ranting, I need to complain about Vlad

Why does he have to swing at the first pitch almost every time? If he were more patient, he would get more hits & RBI's.

I was at 2 games this past month, both games he came up in the first w/ a runner on third and less than 2 outs, he swings at the first pitch both times and has a weak pop-up to shallow outfield.

People complain about GA being lazy in the outfield, I think Vlad is worse, sure he has that cannon for an arm but he constantly miss judges fly balls and makes too many errors.

One more thing that pisses me off about Vlad is his laziness running out ground balls, it's almost like he walks to 1st 'cause he "knows" he'll get out anyway - what happened to hustle?

Well, if you call him an idiot you may just open yourself up for some harsh rebuttal. While I wish he didn't do it I do believe that he is right in doing it for the reasons he did it. He did it to market the Angels beyond Orange County. Los Angeles is known world wide and while it makes little difference in Orange County/LA it makes a huge difference in Latin America. Also, it adds around an extra $3 million/per yr to the bottom line. Personally, when I first found out that he was doing it for marketing purposes I decided then and there to accept it. Why? Because this "idiot" has amassed a billion dollar fortune by advertising. Nuff said.

As for Vlad I can't speak for him. However, I can speak as a baseball player. I played the game at a high level for 12 years and can say that aggressiveness at the plate is a characteristic that you either have or you don't. If you try to take a player who is naturally aggressive and try to get him to be patient then you will screw him up mentally and really ruin his game. Now, if Vlad sucked then by all means, teach him to be patient because being aggressive isn't working. However, Vlad puts up MVP numbers year in and year out so the last thing I want is some hack like Mickey F'ing Hatcher screwing up our star player.

As for hustle I haven't really noticed what you are saying so I won't comment on that. As for his defense, he was never a gold glove winner nor was he ever known for anything but his cannon of an arm. Hence, he's been a right fielder all his career. Tim Salmon never covered much ground in the outfield and often misplayed balls but that never stopped Angels fans from loving him.

This is no joke, but when the Angels won the World Series in 2002. Many people have asked "Where is Anaheim?" So the name change doesn't bother me as well. I hated having to explain where Anaheim was. I had to say it's about 30-45 minutes from L.A. or I just mention Disneyland.

These people who don't know where Anaheim is... are the people who I met in online games around the world. Also a bunch of message boards that aren't sports related. That's all really.

Man. Last night's game was brutal. I was ticked off too at the traffic. It's not like I left the house late. I left at 5 PM and barely made it to the ballpark at 7:05. So I missed the 1st inning. Normally I can get there by 6-6:30 PM. So I was definitely pissed at the slow traffic.

By the time I got to my seats, I saw Lackey give up 4 runs in the 2nd inning. Just great. Hardly any spark last night from the Angels. Guess we can't win em all. Also goes to show we can't just expect a crappy team like the Royals to lay down without a fight.

At least I got the sweet 12 pack cooler. It's smaller than I thought, but it looks real nice.

Why did they put Mota and Gubby on the TV doing the play by play? They suck