SB Nation User Blog: shiftyeyedgoat

MLB tacitly agrees that umpires are terrible; place most terrible in charge for remainder of series

shiftyeyedgoat — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:29:45 -0000

MLB tacitly agrees that umpires are terrible; place most terrible in charge for remainder of series

"Longtime crew chiefs Joe West, Dana DeMuth and Gerry Davis, along with Brian Gorman, Jeff Nelson and Mike Everitt will handle the games, three people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press this week."

So it turns out bitching about bad calls gets the attention of the front office. Guess Bud will do anything to quell the rising call for robotic cyborg umps that eat home run calls and fart called strike threes.

The (real) Angels/Yankees Series Breakdown

shiftyeyedgoat — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:01:38 -0000

Because the ~~Yankee~~ Red Sox fan's analysis is just so asinine, I had to rebut him, point by point. This is not comprehensive, nor is it (entirely) based on statistical fact; however, it is grounded in some semblance of reality, unlike that crazy Yanks fan. Read on for it.

As mariangaborik's post is either wrong or misguided on many levels, I am countering his argument that the Yankees win in 6. Truthfully, only in his perspective has he majorly failed. A common trait of a die-hard Yankee fan blind to the teams not spending nearly a quarter-billion every year.

Offense:
The Angels and Yankees are relatively equal in terms of offensive might; however, the offensive prowess is accomplished in dramatically different ways. The Angels start with good baserunning skills, smart 1st to 3rd, small ball, and the potent hitter placed strategically throughout the lineup. Not to mention having unfathomably clutch-factors with RISP. The Yankees, on the other hand, play for the longball and almost exclusively so. Since they play in a park little bigger than most little-league infields, they can accomplish this feat without much struggle whilst at home.

Catching: Napoli/Mathis vs. Posada/Molina. Don't forget that the Angels catching platoon has yielded fair success compared to many catchers not named Joe Mauer: during the regular season, they combined for 154 hits, 84 RBI, 25 HR, and 86 R with 5 SB just to top it off. Compared to Posada/Molina's combination of 139H, 23HR, 91 RBI, 70 R with just 1 SB between them. Posada is the best hitter of the 4, but he's also given the most playing time and even then, barely edges Napoli for HR and power. I'd say it's close to a wash, but given Napoli and Mathis are a combined 17 years younger than the platoon for the Yanks, whose knees do you think will be more forgiving in the long month of October? mini-ad: neutral, with shades of the Halo.
First: Mark Teixeira is a veritable nightmare to pitchers. He hits long, sits on bad balls, and is not afraid to swing 3-0. Then there is Kendry Morales, who has consistently performed this season given regular playing time. The two were neck-and-neck for stats in late August until September saw KMo fall into a mini slump for three weeks where Tex continued his offensive campaign against the arms and psyche's of pitchers everywhere. mini-ad: Yanks, but Kendry is nothing to laugh at.
Second: Robinson Cano hits it far and hits it a lot, but so do Howie Kendrick and Maicer Izturis when combined. Cano hit .320 to HK/Iztu's high .290s, but the latter had more hits and just two less home runs. mini-ad: Yanks, but Cano's there for his bat.
Short: Derek Jeter has had a revival of sorts with his bat, leading the Yanks' best record with a campaign for a potential MVP. He's been nothing if not consistent and deadly at the plate hitting for high average. However, his downfall is his lack of XBH. He's a spray line-drive hitter who has injected some power into his bat because of his setting and is the first to line up to thank the contractors of Yankee stadium for their short porches. Aybar on the other hand, lives to stretch his singles into more, forcing errors, running like madness on the basepaths, and still hits for a hell of an average and clutchness. Will he use this in his bid to overtake Mr. November? mini-ad: Yanks, but watch Aybar outperform Jeets when he's at the A.
Third: A-Rod. Either you're on board with him or you're not. He seems to have broken his spell of anti-clutchness in the playoffs, which could spell trouble for Angels pitchers. Comparing him to Figgy isn't even fair. The two are directly antithetical in how they produce runs, but Figgy gives the psychological breakdowns to pitchers on the mound. We'll see if the intangibles can match up to ARod's power. mini-AD: Yanks.
OF: Left: Damon vs. Rivera: A fairly equal match-up with strikingly similar numbers, with one caveat: Rivera is better in all categories. mini-ad: Angels
Right: Abreu vs. Swisher: Swisher's pretty much all or nothing, as he's a .250 hitter with a lot of XBH and power stats, but Abreu is no slouch and was flirting with .300 this year on top of 15 HR, 103 RBIs and 96R scored. Bet you miss this guy, huh, Yankee fans? mini-ad: Angels.
Center: Torii Hunter vs. Miguel Cabrera. If Torii weren't playing hurt (still), this wouldn't even be a discussion. Hunter bests Cabrera in nearly every stat. However, Hunter is not quite as powerful as he was in May, but he's still able to hit long. He jacked a 3 run shot that put the Angels ahead for good and effectively started the tears in the curse of Donnie Moore on the road to sweeping Boston. Probably best not to mess with a man on a mission. mini-ad: Angels

Advantage: Yanks @ Yanks
slight edge to Angels @ Angels

Benches
Benches, yes, we are deeper, younger, faster, and more prepared for injury and replacement. The Yankees are old, getting older, and require key players to be healthy for their style of game to continue.
Advantage: Angels

Defense:

Catching: Again, both catchers on the Angels do throw like inept women: Jeff Mathis way too high, and Mike Napoli way too low. Jorge Posada is lucky if his throws make it back to the pitcher, while Jose Molina, touted for his defense and game-calling, hasn’t had nearly as much success at throwing would-be runners out as you might think. mini-ad: neutral
First: Mark Teixeira is better than Kendry Morales, though KMo is significantly better this season than last and is better now than the beginning of the season. You can’t disregard Teix’s ability to get to the ball and his lightning-quick reflexes. mini-ad: Yanks, but barely, and the gap is decreasing.
Second: Robinson Cano is garbage; Howie Kendrick and Maicer Izturis are not. mini-ad: Angels
Short: Derek Jeter is crud in terms of talent, but the guy does have some weird 6th sense, it’s almost ridiculous. He’s always in the right place at the right time. Aybar, conversely, has all the talent of a premier shortstop such that he's garnered the personal attention of the owner, Arte Moreno. However, he won't match up in the post-season experience that Jeter has had throughout his career of performing like a champion, despite his smug bubble-gum smirks. mini-ad: Angels, but watch for Jeter to perform.
Third: Chone Figgins is a fantastic 3b. Somehow. But Alex Rodriguez still has flashes of his former defensive brilliance. mini-AD: Angels, but barely, and not for lack of talent.
OF: The Angels are just so, so superior in every way:
Left: Juan Rivera >>> Johnny Damon in terms of range and especially arm strength. Watch him pull home-runs back into the yard when he's got a beat on the ball.
Center: Torii Hunter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Melky Cabrera in every measure of human worth,
Right: ... and who the heck is in right for the Yanks…? anyone? Does anyone even play over there? Oh, that's right. It's Nick Swisher. The twice abandoned former White Sox/A's ~~surfer~~ outfielder with a perennial weight problem. The comparison doesn’t particularly matter because Bobby Abreu is solid enough "so that it doesn’t matter", but given Bobby has a gold glove and Mr. Swisher does not, we'll go with him.
Ad: Angels, by miles. Literal miles. I'd like to see the Yankee outfield run sprints and not wheeze the whole way.

Stadiums:
Can the Yanks even fill their brand-new, one billion dollar stadium? No one can even afford to get in without mortgaging their townhouses or selling bums to the city. But there are two words for the advantage of the Angels at home. Words that strike such terror into the hearts of opposition everywhere, that they only dare be uttered during the playoffs: Thunder. Sticks.
Boom.
Ad: Angels.

Baserunning:
This is exceedingly in the Angels’ favor, but not for the reason of stolen bases alone. Sure, the Angels do that exceptionally well, but the Yanks averaged around the same amount of net stolen bases/game. The real advantage comes in the gutsiness of the runners going first to third, and all small ball moves, executed with machine-like precision. Do the Yankees have anyone who can consistently perform a bunt, and beyond that, anyone who could even make it to second on a bunt?
Advantage: Angels

Team Pitching:
The Yankees have the clear bank-roll edge, but outside of C.C. Sabathia, 1/2 of A.J. Burnett, the occasional stellar gem of Andy Pettitte, and MoRiv, who do the Yanks have that can perform on the big stage?
The Angels have John Lackey, who is coming off of a 7.1 IP shutout effort against the tough Red Sox offense and is pitching better than his already good 11-8, 3.83ERA, 139K injury-shortened season would indicate. Next is Jered Weaver, who has something to prove, and you’re seeing it on the mound now from the 16 game winner. Scott Kazmir is, indeed, a wild-card, but he can be. Given the Angels have starters Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, and long relief/spot-starters Darren Oliver, and Matt Palmer (a veritable 11 game winner) all pitching out of the ‘pen, they have depth beyond the Yank’s wildest dreams. Who are you going to put up against it, the innings-limited Joba Chamberlain? The talent-limited Chien-Ming Wang? Good luck, there, hoss.
Ad: Angels, ever so slightly.

Closers:
Mariano Rivera is better in every statistical category, but Brian Fuentes has more saves, and has been in a World Series more recently than Mr. Sandman… something to think about there combined with all of the knowledge above.
Ad: Yanks

Managers:
If Scioscia doesn’t receive Manager of the Year for this season of scotch-taping together a 97-win team out of a despair-ridden clubhouse wrought with anguish over the death of a fallen comrade, having 4 SP on the DL on opening day, losing our premiere closer and 8th inning setup man, and doing without Vlad AND Torii for 6 weeks at the same time, there is no justice in the world. Meanwhile, what has Girardi done? He couldn’t even coach a 200mil team to the POST-SEASON last year. Now he has even better players, 8 of whom are making $20million or more per year, and he’s got them to the championships. Congratulations, you did what your organization paid a quarter-billion dollars to do. Ku-friggin'-dos.
Also, Scioscia was a better catcher as a rookie than Girardi ever was in the history of any time. Tell me who YOU’D rather run into as he’s blocking the plate.
Advantage: Scioscia and his Angels.

History:
Angels are the dominating team with respect to history, year-in and year-out, during the season, in the post-season, at home or away. The Yankees just have never matched up. Then again, the Angels hadn't matched to the Red Sox for 23 years... look how that turned out this season.
Ad: Angels, but it's probably irrelevant given the changing faces of the Yanks

Well, that’s about it. Let me know what you think, and maybe I can amend my post with your thoughts.

Oh, and my prediction! As largely irrelevant as it is, I guess I have to pick something, but I'm just unable to commit to a number. So I'll say Angels in 1 because it's going to be such a one-sided beating, the Angels won't even have to show up for games 2, 3 and 4 to win the series.

Seattle first team to be eliminated from 2008 playoffs

shiftyeyedgoat — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:42:47 -0000

Seattle first team to be eliminated from 2008 playoffs

Just in case you may not have remembered, we knocked out the Mariners last night with Lackey's big win.

Texas and Oakland have 15 and 11 to go on their magic numbers, meaning we could lock this up in a couple weeks. Let's go Halos!

Sexson released; Bedard to DL; Seattle suicides markedly increase

shiftyeyedgoat — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:37:20 -0000

Not much info here, but the title says it all:

Richie Sexson is released by the laughably spiraling out of control Mariners (36-55) while the major offseason pickup of Eric Bedard is placed on the DL.

L I N K to S T O R Y.

And sports pundits have further proved how little they know about baseball once again by picking the Mariners to win over the Angels.

Just how bad are these guys going to be?

Poll

How many losses do the 'Ners end up with?

126 - They don't win another game this season and become the worst team since 1898.

10 votes

100-125

34 votes

75-100

60 votes

55-75. They somehow win out. And take the AL West. Maybe,

3 votes

107 votes | Poll has closed

Some love from online baseball media!

shiftyeyedgoat — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:23:58 -0000

Sorta...

Over at 1866baseball.com they pride themselves on... well, I'll just let their homepage intro describe it for you:

The teams are full of professional players with terrific power to defend the opposition team using there capacity of playing. Information about team history and legend players is provided in our site of baseball. Entire site has focused on the achievements made by each team in the baseball history. See the collection of excellent teams of baseball in 1866baseball.com.

These guys study up on their history in baseball and baseball equipment.

In any case the meat of the story is in their recommendation for watching all of the Angels games to "study every match of this team." The author concludes with the Angels being his "all time favorite team." Neat.

Just one catch, however, as they seem to be recommending the 2005 Angels club as their version of the best baseball team ever. Guess we take the wheat with the chaffe.

Here's the link, and take heart, hh'ers: we've finally been noticed by the media! Enjoy.

Aybar to DL; possibly four weeks?

shiftyeyedgoat — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:42:43 -0000

Well, unfortunately it looks like the rush to get Figgy back was because of not so optimistic doctor's reports about Aybar's pinkie finger. Aybar wants to be back on the field ASAP, but the ever-cautious Scioscia has other opinions:

"Erick's going to be out for a little while -- somewhere in the four-week range. That's a tough break for the kid. We're going to have to absorb it. Fortunately, he doesn't need surgery. Last night they finally got it in place. You could see when it happened that he was in pain."

So what does this mean for the team? Will we miss Aybar's workhorse, field general attitude as it is replaced by what feels like incompetence from Izturis for up to a month? Will Sean Rodriguez ever produce while Kendrick is on the mend? Is Kotchman in line for the next freak injury? Not that he's prone to it or anything...

- Links (angels.mlb.com and espn.com) - to story.

Erstad moving to Houston?

shiftyeyedgoat — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:10:19 -0000

-Link- to Story.

FTA:
"Trying to add some depth, general manager Ed Wade told MLB.com that the team has agreed with free agent Darin Erstad on a one-year contract.

"He'll be a left-handed bat off the bench," Wade said, according to the site. "He has a lot of versatility. He's a great makeup guy. He's the prototypical professional player -- he brings a lot to the table and we're glad to have him." "

Thoughts and opinions on Ersty signing with the Hou-stros here.

A's can't stand Oakland even more than their fans

shiftyeyedgoat — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:07:10 -0000

-Link- to story.

So good ol' Lew She-Wolff of the lady A's decides that even fielding offers to stay in Oakland is beneath him:

FTA:
"We don't want to move [from the projected Fremont site]. We don't want to start pitting cities against each other, but it's out of the question we'll stay in Oakland," Lew Wolff said Monday after giving an address and answering questions at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

Adding to the collective disgust of the nation was the organization's embrace of Fremont's connoted Bed'n'Breakfast community:

"The Athletics have envisioned a 32,000-seat ballpark in Fremont on a 200-acre complex that would include a shopping mall, a hotel and 3,000 housing units."

Can you count the ways this projected plan is pathetic? But don't worry, fans, they're still in the AL West and don't have plans to go anywhere!

"We're still here, folks," Wolff said. "We're not moving to Timbuktu. We're just moving down the street."

As one fan in the forums aptly stated:
decarguy:
I don't know, the Timbuktu A's is kinda catchy.

This story wouldn't be replete with hatred for the Fleamont Faithful without a poll. In which city do you, the intelligent Halos Heaven poster, believe these excuses for athletes should end up to burden a new community with a culture of loss and failure?

Poll

Where would you have the A's go?

Fremont

9 votes

Other (please leave response below)

1 votes

Somewhere in Northern California

5 votes

Somewhere in Southern California

1 votes

The NL

9 votes

Oakland

14 votes

Timbuktu

17 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

A Rod getting MRI today; out of lineup...

shiftyeyedgoat — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:35:08 -0000

Possibly until after the All-star break.

Quoth the Torre: " "I don't think it's anything more than it was, but probably a couple of days playing on it exposed it more. I still don't think it's anything that would require more than a few days," manager Joe Torre said. If he were to miss this weekend's series against the Angels, he would have a week off (with the All-Star break) to nurse his hamstring.

"I know we want to win the All-Star Game, but still, the most important thing is getting him ready for the second half," Torre said. "I think he knows that." "

Dear God;
I know we haven't spoken in a while, but... PLEASE, OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE... let A Rod miss the series against us this weekend.
Yours,
Goat

Angels Franchise is #7 in Fan Satisfaction, #1 in MLB

shiftyeyedgoat — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:56:01 -0000

Thanks to ESPN voters, The Angels are number 7 in franchise satisfaction amongst the fans in ALL sports.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/franchiseRanks

It just goes to show you how loyal and dedicated we are to the team that has brought the city of Anaheim and its fans so much pain, heartbreak, and sorrow (read: the 80s), along with the pleasure of seeing a monkey lifted from our back, and placed firmly in the bullpen in the improbable 2002 World Series Run.

Just as an aside, the only ranking in which we didn't crack the top 35 was "OWN (Ownership): Honesty; loyalty to players and city". Thank you, Stoneman, for Garbage Matthews Jr. as our big splash.