SB Nation User Blog: goodvibe61

38 Excuses, er, I mean Pitches

goodvibe61 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:27:51 -0000

I truly can't wait to see Curt Schilling's next blog post, explaining just exactly what happened to the mighty Red Sox over the past few days.

Go over and check out what he had to say about the series just before it started. Schilling freely threw up all over the Angels roster, crumbing on John Lackey as a weak Game 1 starter, to the everyday lineup not being an effective playoff team, to the shortcomings of the bullpen. It was a comprehensive lambasting of our team.

After watching the Sox be completely outplayed and outnutted over the past 4 days, I just can't wait to see Schilling's explanation of why the mighty have fallen. Was it the umpires? The will of the gods? Or what?

Why hasn't Schilling posted anything since the series began? Hmmm, I wonder...

A's set to acquire Matt Holliday from Rockies

goodvibe61 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:42:54 -0000

A's set to acquire Matt Holliday from Rockies

SI just changed this breaking story a little, changing the wording to "they're set to acquire", instead of saying it was a done deal, which was originally posted on their website.

Ervin Santana: Has anything changed?

goodvibe61 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:46:16 -0000

Ervin Santana has now started three times this spring in Arizona. He's now thrown 8/2/3 innings of work. I'm assuming he's had enough opportunities to loosen up the arm, work out the kinks, and show what he can do to impress the coaching staff.

So far he's simply not getting it done. He's not fooling anybody. It seems like everybody is smacking him around. After yesterday's struggle he's now given up 13 hits and 8 earned runs in those 8 2/3 innings. The only positive things you can say about his performance is that he's got 6 K's and he hasn't gotten injured yet.

You know, with the injury to Kelvim and Big John's slow start this spring, Santana had the perfect opportunity to come in and show what he can do to help our club. It looks to me like he's been showcased, starting three times already. And what we've seen is somebody who isn't exactly gonna strike fear in the hearts of anyone. Once April rolls around the idea of this guy going out there against the Tigers, the Red Sox, the Indians, the Yankees, the Mariners, etc., it gets me a little sick just thinking about it.

Can this guy fix whatever ails him, or is this a case of "it is what it is"? The idea of Joe Saunders still having to compete against Ervin for a spot in the rotation seems like a complete joke to me.

Where do you think we're headed with Ervin? Is he part of our future?

Is any Angel Talk on 710 on the schedule?

goodvibe61 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:56:33 -0000

I haven't heard any Halo discussion on the airwaves since we did the Hunter signing.

Does anyone know if the Halo flagship station has anything formally planned in the way of Angel talk in the near future?

I've really got a jones for listening to something, anything, by the folks who produce the broadcasts. An interview or two, maybe a little team gossip on the side, something to keep myself sated for the next six weeks until things get rolling in AZ.

Please explain the Mathews AND Hunter signings to me...

goodvibe61 — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:17:40 -0000

I keep trying to wrap myself around this concept and it continues to not make sense to me.

Last year we sign Gary Mathews Jr. to a pretty big contract. Gary comes in and does a decent job all year, his average is pretty mediocre, but he does hit for a little power, and he doesn't complain one bit when he's asked to move all over the lineup instead of being planted in the lead off position, where it seems he fits best. Heck, we've already got a leadoff guy in Figgins, which only adds to the confusion in my book.

So, Gary does a decent job. And he's a natural center fielder, where he plays an overall solid game, not gold glove, but overall pretty good, spectacular at times, and mistake prone at others. And he's signed for FIVE YEARS, with a no trade for at least a couple years.

During the same year Reggie Willits opens some eyes with a very nice rookie campaign, primarily the result of Juan Rivera breaking his leg. Rivera showed plenty of power potential the year before, and he's an inexpensive power bat who has shown good potential when healthy.

Plus, we have Vlad the Impaler and GA, who had a kind of rebirth during the second half of 07.

So that's five outfielders right there already, there isn't enough room for everyone, even with one of the guys DHing.

And what do we do? We sign T. Hunter to a HUGE deal. And we don't move any of the other outfielders. There's no other deal consummated to free up playing time for the outfielders, or to improve the roster anywhere else, even though we continue to be sorely lacking a power hitting third baseman.

What was the reason behind signing both Mathews AND Hunter? Is it that old adage of going out and getting "the best athlete available", and slightly overpaying for a quality player, a strategy I don't have much of a problem with if we really NEEDED in this case a center fielder. Which we didn't.

Or was it part of a bigger plan to first sign Hunter and then make a move that ended up not happening? And if that's the case are we then screwed up in the roster department?

Please discuss what you think the strategy behind the Hunter signing means. I'm trying to see where we're going roster wise and it just isn't adding up for me.

What about Kendry? How is he ever going to get to DH now? He will get zero AB's in 08, there's no room for him, unless Kotch goes down again. Willits: will he even make the opening day roster? How can he, we can't carry that many outfielders can we?

Is GA gone after this year? Are we gonna make a trade (I don't see it)? Where is all this headed?

Thanks!

Help me Find Best Edison Field Photos

goodvibe61 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:41:17 -0000

I'm looking around the web for the absolute best photos available of Edison Field. I'm talking about full, wide shots of various views of the ballpark, including a center front shot of the helmets, and various wide shots inside the stadium, preferably during the day.

Shots of the scoreboard, the fountains, views from various seat locations. I've gone to flickr, google images, etc. and I've found some pretty decent shots, but perhaps there's a site out there somewhere, or a fan has posted some outstanding photos of the stadium.

Could anyone point me in the direction of some nice photos of the ballpark?

Thanks!

Icky Thump in Hollywood last night rocked.

goodvibe61 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:37:25 -0000

I missed the game live last night, had to watch it on Tivo this morning, but it was for a pretty good reason.

We got to go to the White Stripes free performance at the old Tower Records on Sunset last night.

Awesome. Just awesome.

Jack White is incredible. Every time I see him my expectations get larger and still he never disappoints.

A couple of the new tracks rock OUT. It was very cool how they decorated the old Tower Records, and it was great to have Jack Black come out and introduce Jack White.

All in all a great show, the place is so small to see someone so HUGE.

Vegas Odds.

goodvibe61 — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:39:38 -0000

Had a fun weekend in Vegas. Shouldn't have taken my laptop, but I had to get a little work done, and stay in touch on any Halo news. I had a chance to go to several sports books on the Strip, so I wrote down the current odds listed on the big board at these sports books:

Caesars
Mandalay Bay
Wynn
Bellagio
MGM Grand

Lined up all five of em and worked out the average line for each team to win the AL pennant, as well as the WS.

Here is the listing of the top six teams from the American League:

Team/AL Flag/WS

Yankees 5 to 2 and 4 to 1
Tigers 4 to 1 and 9 to 1
Chisox 5 to 1 and 10 to 1
Redsox 11 to 2 and 11 to 1
Angels 6 to 1 and 13 to 1
Twins 7 to 1 and 16 to 1
Oakland 7 to 1 and 19 to 1

NL is Mets, the Dodgers, then Cardinals.

I put 40 bucks on the Angels, pennant and WS, at Caesars, which was just slightly different than what is posted above.

You gotta believe.

Schmidt to Dodgers

goodvibe61 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:31:08 -0000

Great move by the Dodgers. They now have one of the very best rotations in the NL. Their pitching is definitely a very strong suit for them now.

ESPNdeportes was reporting that a Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers deal was being discussed. I doubt that will happen, but seeing this Schmidt deal does give them the ability to include Penny in a deal to Boston....

Stoneman concedes. Just like that.

goodvibe61 — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:11:54 -0000

After panicking over the signing of Gary Mathews Jr., I stepped away from any media for half a day, just to try to chill out a little and try to make a little sense out of things.

I came back this morning feeling a little better, because I still felt that the bottom line was that this signing is not the "major move" Mr. Moreno promised the fans this winter. So perhaps this signing was just a stepping stone to something bigger, better, something that would truly help take the club to the next level.

The first thing I saw this morning was this article, published in the LA Times today. Apparently all is indeed lost.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/angels/la-sp-angels23nov23,1,3183971.story?coll=la-headli nes-sports-mlb-angels

Basically the meat at the end of the article is this: Stoneman decided that trading Santana and/or Shields to get Andruw Jones or Vernon Wells wasn't worth it, and that a club with Andruw Jones/Vernon Wells and without Santana and Shields would not be as good as a club with Santan Shields and Gary Mathews Jr.

Stoneman said "Losing Santana and Shields would be tough".

And for the minority of us here that we're hoping for one of these deals to happen, Stoneman validates it won't, by "intimating that any trade won't be of the blockbuster variety, saying obviously our options our more limited than they were".

To quote a scene that pretty much fits my mood this morning.."And that's that".

I guess the couple things I'm thinking right now are:

I'm sure all the folks here will be very happy, because Santana isn't going to be moved no matter what.
Everybody here gets their wish, that we are going with MacPherson and Kotchman, to be the answers to our offensive troubles.

A few weeks ago I wrote on here, pleading with Stoneman to show he has what it takes to be the GM of this organization. To make the moves required to take the club to the title.

After seeing this signing, and reading his statements, it is definitely time for him to go.

Stoneman has no stones.

A few of the things I believed in recently still stand more than ever. Santana better become the number one starter, by the end of this season, and he better be in the Cy Young conversation within the next two seasons or so. If he's more valuable than a bona fide hall of famer like Andruw Jones, and only plays on the field once a week, he better by god show that he deserves this kind of reverence. I will be watching each and every start with an interest not previously seen.

We're most definitely NOT World Series contenders. It's a shame.