The myth of the "super team" meets reality

[caulfield12]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-190949158.html

[justBLAZE]

Didn't read the article but it's funny how AA is this genius GM and acquires a soft tossing lefty for AL East and a knuckleballer for a dome...

[LittleHurt05]

The super team in the AL Central seems to be doing fine

[caulfield12]

By Chris Erskine (LA Times.com/sports)

May 7, 2013

 

It's another hymn of an evening down here in Anaheim, the French Riviera of freeways. Took a mere two hours to drive from L.A., which exceeds the capacity of many bladders. Fortunately, the kid in the back seat fell asleep in Azusa of all places, or the trip might've verged on the unpleasant.

 

So on this perfect May evening when everything smells of grilled meats and mowed grass, the Angels had me at halo.

 

What's to make of these Angels? Is there a better lineup in baseball? Is there a bigger disappointment in all of sports? (And don't say Lakers — too easy.)

 

I still like this Mike Scioscia, I still like his lineup, but keep in mind that half of all marriages don't work out. This may be one of them.

 

By his very girth, Albert Pujols appears to still be the team's main event. A very big man, he resembles something Burger King serves with a side of fries. Brilliant swing, funny stance. Like a carnival ride setting up. Like a spider taking a swing at his proctologist.

 

To me, it's always a little dark down here in Anaheim, and I can't quite figure out if it's the orientation of the stadium toward the setting sun, a bad lighting system, or all those dark green seats, but it's as if the lights here are on some sort of dimmer the grounds crew forgot to crank up all the way.

 

The sound system works, though. I mean it really works. Am I yelling? Sorry. Ridiculously loud rock music will not be the downfall of baseball; it's too grand for that. But ridiculously loud rock music can ruin an otherwise splendid fan experience. In the second inning, I lost two fillings.

 

By the way, Thunder Sticks. I hereby offer a $12-billion reward for the capture of the person responsible for Thunder Sticks, the single most annoying sports development since Chris Berman. Bring this madman to my doorstep.

 

For, you can rail all you want at genetically engineered foods, or the way cable companies bundle things, but if you want to make a difference in the world, win the Nobel Peace Prize for instance, or just leave the planet better than you found it, taking a solid stand against Thunder Sticks is the best way to start.

 

Before you spend that $12-billion booty ahead of time, please keep in mind I'm bankrupt, fiscally and morally. But don't let that deter you in your quest for greatness.

 

At the Trout Farm, the new fan seating area, they call these horrid noisemakers Fish Sticks, which is actually fairly clever, if you're into clever.

 

The Angels now have this special section, down by the left-field foul pipe, where you get Fish Sticks and a Trout Farm T-shirt with your ticket. It's in celebration of their boy wonder, Mike Trout, the best thing to happen to baseball since hot dogs met mustard.

 

The night we were there during the Orioles series, Trout was actually in center field. We could barely see him, except at the plate, where after a typically brilliant at-bat in which he drew a walk — but still, a baserunner in Anaheim these days almost merits a call from the White House — he forgot to slide into home.

 

You might've seen the photo the next day, of Mr. Baseball not sliding into home on a tight play, and being tagged out by the Baltimore catcher. When you look back on this season — what went wrong, where we might have done better — you can look at that moment when the grittiest Angel failed to do what most 8-year-old baserunners do spontaneously: fall down and stick your sticks out.

 

My man crush on this Trout may have to wait another season.

 

Of note, meanwhile, down in can't-get-there-from-here Angel Stadium is a plethora of family-friendly food choices, all priced about two bucks less than anything the Dodgers offer. There is a children's hot dog: $2.50. There are peanuts: $3. A beer for $4.

 

A $4 beer at a ballpark? What is this world coming to?

 

"You get what you pay for," you're probably saying, and yes, our Dodgers do have a few high-end expenses these days, hence the higher prices.

 

But "you get what you pay for" doesn't carry as much weight as it used to around these parts.

 

Because here, in the nation's most free-spending sports market, lately you really don't.

Edited May 8, 2013 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

As I made my rounds in the clubhouse Friday, the music was blaring because the Angels were on a one-game winning streak.

 

They had a hockey game on TV. No one was watching, of course. But everyone was in a fine mood because they weren't home to be booed.

 

But I wondered, are the players mad because they've played so poorly?

 

"No, because as competitors we know it's a long season," Albert Pujols said. "But I can see how we've given the fans and the media reason to be mad at us."

 

Most of the players are great guys, and they have their guaranteed money, so no worries and 120-some games yet to play.

 

It's good to be a baseball player.

 

"I can't tell you that there is anything wrong," said Howie Kendrick, and I'd like to see a show of hands from fans who disagree.

 

Individually, the Angels are obviously competitors; yet collectively there just doesn't seem to be much fight in them.

 

They lost that when Moreno chose not to keep team leader Torii Hunter.

 

They have had arguably the best talent in the American League West the past four seasons but are on the their way to missing the playoffs four straight years.

 

They get knocked down and they don't get up.

 

They are very much like their owner, and as they say, the fish stinks from the head down.

 

It's the same reason why the Clippers consistently disappoint, and why everyone is worried now about the Lakers after they had such a great owner.

 

We saw what happened under the stewardship, as he called it, of Frank McCourt.

 

We should care about who owns our sports franchises if we're going to take an interest in how their teams fare.

 

T.J. Simers

 

Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Also

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When criticism of Moreno started a few years ago, he buckled. He could never make it as a player and answer the media's questions after a poor performance. Three or four times a week.

 

When he talks now it's only to mlb.com, which allows him to speak without cross examination.

 

Gone are the days when Moreno was all smiles and known as the "People's Owner." He was the guy who lowered beer prices and who used to walk the Angel Stadium concourses to meet the fans.

 

But when was the last time he did that?

 

"I don't know," team spokesman Tim Mead said. "But he has, I'm sure, just not as frequently."

 

Moreno can't take the heat, and the same can be said of the Angels, who have wilted under the strain of expectations. Again.

 

"I absolutely hated [being picked as favorites] going into this year," Mark Trumbo said. "We saw the writing on the wall last year. Just because you have good parts doesn't mean you're guaranteed a spot."

 

But shouldn't it? I suggested.

 

"In theory, yeah, that does work," Trumbo said. "But it's painfully obvious that doesn't hold true."

 

As a businessman, Moreno has excelled in improving the value of his franchise. Donald Sterling has done the same, and look how much McCourt got for his team.

 

As a baseball owner Moreno has been inconsistent. He's never won a World Series, the Mickey Mouse folks from Disney doing that.

 

Attendance has dropped 189,044 over the past two seasons, which speaks to disappointment. Attendance is up 77,131 this season, which speaks to hope, but what happens if that disappears?

 

The future of his manager has been questioned, but instead of declaring publicly Scioscia will be here all season, Moreno declined the opportunity to talk.

 

Does that mean Scioscia might not make it to the end of the season? General Manager Jerry Dipoto also has refused to answer the question.

 

Why haven't the Dodgers curtailed all the chatter and announced Mattingly will guide the team to the end?

 

Maybe that's the only race remaining for the Dodgers and Angels: Who gets rid of their manager first?

 

Will the Angels ever finish first in anything with Moreno calling the shots? He likes to talk and cuss tough, but he has consistently rolled over when bidding has gotten serious on players like Mark Teixeira and Adrian Beltre.

 

Prone to being emotional when Moreno doesn't get his way, the Angels ended up with Vernon Wells.

 

Most of Moreno's big-time signings have come after he has swooped in quietly without significant competition to sign players like Vladimir Guerrero, Hunter, Pujols and Hamilton.

 

Look at the Angels now. Much that has gone wrong and will continue to go wrong is his doing.

 

In addition to whopping contracts for Pujols and Hamilton that will escalate each year, there's the fact the Angels' minor league system has been ranked the worst.

 

So maybe this is the best we can expect from the Angels, and now isn't that fun to ponder?

 

T.J. Simers/LATIMES

 

 

[Kyyle23]

LOL. it isnt "Lack of Pitching!", but rather "Torii Hunters leadership that got us nothing the previous 3 years!"

[caulfield12]

By Bill Shaikin

May 11, 2013, 5:06 p.m.

The Dodgers — and their world-record payroll — have sunk to the bottom of the National League West. The Angels — and their collection of superstar hitters — are flailing in the depths of the American League West.

 

We thought we would be talking about the Dodgers and Angels meeting in a Freeway Series in October, not about whether the Dodgers and Angels would fire their managers before the Freeway Series at the end of May.

 

Josh Hamilton is fighting to keep his batting average above the Mendoza Line. Matt Kemp has one home run. Albert Pujols cannot run. Matt Magill, a fifth starter at double A this time last year, has started more games for the Dodgers than Zack Greinke.

 

The frustration runs so deep around these parts that we ought to pause for a few moments, to remind ourselves that this season's disappointment extends beyond our metropolis.

 

Beyond our country, in fact. The biggest disappointment in baseball is not the Dodgers, not the Angels. It's not even close. The Toronto Blue Jays are a disaster.

 

The Dodgers and Angels have the resources to contend for the long haul. The Blue Jays are buried in last place in the American League East, in the season they went all-in because of the perceived vulnerability of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

 

For all the outrage heaped upon Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria for breaking his promises and breaking up his club, the players he dispatched to Canada have not rubbed it in. Far from it.

 

Mark Buehrle has an earned-run average of 6.19. Josh Johnson has an ERA of 6.86 and is on the disabled list. Shortstop Jose Reyes played 10 games, then got hurt.

 

The Jays also got catcher John Buck from the Marlins, then flipped him to the New York Mets in a package for defending Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey.

 

Buck has 10 home runs, second in the NL. Dickey has a 5.06 ERA. Melky Cabrera has a career-low .634 OPS, the encore to his career-high .906 OPS season that ended in August after he was busted for testosterone use. The Jays rank next-to-last in the AL in on-base percentage and earned-run average.

 

This was the team built for Toronto's first playoff appearance since 1993, a drought so pronounced that longtime ace Roy Halladay finally asked out so he could play in October. The Blue Jays traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies — and, in his postseason debut, in 2010, Halladay pitched a no-hitter.

 

This season has not been kind to Halladay. His ERA is 8.65, his fastball is not hitting 90 mph, and he is scheduled for rotator cuff surgery this week. Halladay, 35, asked if he might speak with reporters last Friday, so he could apologize to the Philadelphia fans.

 

"I just wanted to reach out to the fans, thank them for their support and apologize to the ones who pay the money and show up in the second inning and it's 9-0," Halladay said.

 

Halladay said he understood if fans did not like him. When a reporter gently said that "no one doesn't like you," Halladay replied: "If I paid $60 and the team was down 9-0 when I showed up, I wouldn't like me."

 

The Atlanta Braves thought that outfielder Justin Upton could flourish in a place where people liked him. The Arizona Diamondbacks had dangled him in the trade market for several years, and owner Ken Kendrick had publicly criticized him.

 

The Braves traded for Upton — after they had spent $75 million to sign his brother, outfielder B.J. Upton, as a free agent.

 

Justin Upton leads the majors with 12 home runs. No disappointment there. But B.J. Upton is batting .157 with a .513 OPS, both figures the worst for any regular player in the NL.

 

The only position player signed for more money in free agency last winter was Hamilton, for $125 million. The Oakland Athletics won the AL West last season, with the Rangers making their third consecutive playoff appearance.

 

The Seattle Mariners loaded up on offense. The Angels had Pujols, Hamilton and Mike Trout. And the four returning AL West teams could beat up on the new weakling, the Houston Astros, so much so that a fair share of conventional wisdom had three AL playoff teams coming out of the West.

 

But what appeared to be the roughest division in the major leagues now looks like the most disappointing. The Rangers were the only team with a winning record before Saturday.

 

There is disappointment all over baseball land. In Chicago, the Cubs and the White Sox are in last place. The frustration is not so great, not when the Cubs' brand is futility.

 

The Dodgers have not won the World Series in 25 years, and this year is not looking good. Let us recommend local fans temper their disappointment. Kemp might not be hitting, but at least he is not playing for a team that has not won the World Series in 105 years.

 

[email protected]

 

 

Is AA really going to be able to keep his job after this unmitigated disaster?

[southsider2k5]

The team that wins the off-season pretty much never wins the post season.

 

[The Ultimate Champion]

Sometimes you can spend your way right out of contention. The best teams always seem to have a mix of youth & veterans, overachievers & all-stars, etc. By filling the clubhouse full of egos you can end up with serioous conflicts like the ones between Ricky Vaugh & Wille Mays Hayes in Major League 2 when Hayes tolod Ricky Vaughn "at least I don't have a cover girl dragging me around by my johnson" which sparked the famous bench-clearing brawl.

[The Ultimate Champion]

btw theres nothing wrong with being tipsy at 10 in the morning

[Jordan4life_2007]

btw theres nothing wrong with being tipsy at 10 in the morning

 

This is accurate.

[caulfield12]

Poor Sergio Santos (well, not literally) added to the AA casualty list of disappointments.