Angels 5, Twins 4: Twins Come Back but Fall to Angels in Anaheim

[Schmoeman5]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

ax	13	11	0	0	33	57
Stewart	28	17	0	0	11	56
Morán	0	25	15	0	0	40
Pagán	18	0	14	0	0	32
De León	0	0	28	0	0	28
López	26	0	0	0	0	26
Durán	18	0	0	0	0	18
Sands	0	0	0	0	0	0

Jax had to pitch because the BP was taxed????  If I read the chart right Moran, Pagan and DeLeon did not pitch on the day off. Lopez, Duran, Sands not only did not pitch on the off day, but Lopez and Duran had no pitched for three days. And Sands is obviously there to keep the BP coach company because he has no innings on the chart. Jax is lost - this is not his year.  We have sent down pitchers for less, but the issue is the continual use of the ineffective as others have stated with Colome and Pagan.

Ive been waiting for a response like this. Lopez nor Duran have pitched since Monday. And yet Stewart and Jax have thrown in 3 of the 5 games. Jax lost a lead earlier in the week as well. Stewart has been fine. So why not Stewart for the 7th Lopez for the 8th and Duran to close it out? Are they saving their 2 best relievers for something?

[stringer bell]

2 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Ive been waiting for a response like this. Lopez nor Duran have pitched since Monday. And yet Stewart and Jax have thrown in 3 of the 5 games. Jax lost a lead earlier in the week as well. Stewart has been fine. So why not Stewart for the 7th Lopez for the 8th and Duran to close it out? Are they saving their 2 best relievers for something?

Pretty apparent the last two games the plan was to have Lopez pitch the eighth and Duran pitch the ninth if they had the lead, but both days the seventh inning guy (Jax) gave up the lead.

[Schmoeman5]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Pretty apparent the last two games the plan was to have Lopez pitch the eighth and Duran pitch the ninth if they had the lead, but both days the seventh inning guy (Jax) gave up the lead. 

So let's play Groundhog day is the answer. Pagan and Jax are having trouble pitching with leads. Let's keep throwing them out there. Eventually something will stick. And this is a tried and true model. 👍 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Yeah, I find the fact that their lefty had reverse splits and we sent up a RH'ed lineup to be curious.  If we always go by the spreadsheet, then why didn't we do that this time?

I agree with you but I'm taking a different path.

To be fair... I'd call Detmers splits closer to neutral. If the pitcher is neutral you still have to factor in each individual batter which could lead you to the lineup with 8 guys hitting from the right side of the plate.  

But I will continue to contend that the plain ole' ability to hit the ball trumps platoon splits. I don't care what the splits say if you are hitting .210 and we have a team full of .210 and we just added a .210 from St. Paul because... umm... there are couple of lefties heading to the mound. 

Sending 8 right handers to the plate didn't stop Detmers from no-hitting them for 5.2 innings with 12 strikeouts. We got no hit for 5.2 innings and we struck out 12 times because that is what we do. 

And I'd also like to point out that 8 batters (7 when Kirilloff pinch hit) hitting from the right side of the plate did not stop the Angels from utilizing two left handers out of the bullpen and two is the exact amount of left handers that they had in the bullpen.

The Angels didn't seem to be too concerned about the splits. I'll even add that the Angels bench... besides Trout was all left handed (Thaiss, Phillips and Soto) with Ryan as the starter. The Angels went ahead and started 7 right handers against Ryan with a switch hitter and Ohtani the lone representative from the left side.

I'm asking as loud as I can... Dear Derek, Thad and Rocco, What exactly are you doing? You are not going to finesse/platoon your way out of this when we are not hitting from either side of the plate.

We need a hitter plain and simple. When Gordon got hurt... his 26 man roster spot should have gone to the best hitter available because we need the best hitter available and that appears to be Julien or Wallner but certainly isn't Garlick. 

I'm sure it's not the case... but it almost seems to be some form of OCD to me because it doesn't seem to matter if the batter is actually hitting as long as they are hitting the opposite hand. Just sticking to the script and let the platoon trump actual performance. That is backwards. It's like they can't help it and they can't break out of it or something. It's kind of like a friend of mine that has to keep his glass of water at the 10' O clock position of his dinner plate or he can't enjoy his meal. 

The actual hitting results are the part of the spreadsheet that is being ignored. 

Get off the script. Your batters are not hitting. You will not finesse/platoon your way out of this.

 

 

[lukeduke1980]

1 hour ago, KBJ1 said:

The injuries are mounting and what's left of the bullpenis starting to implode.

Baldelli is letting  the starters go 7, but even that is not helping. Time to get bullpen help and mandate nobody swings at high fastballs ever again or this season will be a repeat of last year.

This one literally made me spit out my drink.  

[David Maro]

I said weeks ago Jax to St. Paul. He could of shared a Uber with Miranda. He is a 2 pitch pitcher,who throws a slider 80 to 90% of the time. Send him to St. Paul to work on a 3rd pitch. The other 29 teams know this and wait for him to hang one over the plate,which he will do. This manager has wasted so many quality starts by the starters. Maybe all 5 need to meet with him for face to face. Very hard to watch games being given away like this. Worst thing is he doesn't take any responsibility for it. Him and the Hitting coach need to hit the road,12 strike outs on pitches in the dirt or maybe hitting them in the back foot.

[SwainZag]

 

If Jax doesn't get hosed on the missed call to Otani, the game goes to the 8th tied.  I might be biased but calls going against the Twins seem to be happening too often lately. 

 

[stringer bell]

19 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

So let's play Groundhog day is the answer. Pagan and Jax are having trouble pitching with leads. Let's keep throwing them out there. Eventually something will stick. And this is a tried and true model. 👍 

Tried Pagán Wednesday and Jax last night, neither could hold up. I don’t think they have many better options right now. Someone suggested that maybe Ryan should have taken the seventh. They must not have seen the rockets the Angels hit in the sixth. 
 

Pagán hadn’t blown a game with the lead this year until Wednesday. I don’t know if they can give Jax many more chances right now—his slump has been going on for a while—but getting him going is pretty important going forward. With Alcalá, Moran and Jax all performing below expectations, somebody has to step up. 

[MABB1959]

5 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

You see this clearly. That's the pain of it. This team won't get there, because Rocco and this coaching staff can't get them there. They don't understand grit, momentum and how to help struggling players overcome the yips. It's not the payroll. It's not the talent on the roster. It's the coaching, and it has been since October 2019.

Last week I mentioned bring up the future, not just a game or 2 but enough time to see what they have.  One poster said they are playing for this year.   I hope I am dead wrong but don’t see them as playoff quality.  They may make it but doesn’t seem likely and if they do and face an AL East team, most likely a one and done year.   Why waste another season?   Let’s get the future developed this year.  Stop the gap filling and get Buxton in CF, if he is that soft let’s just be done with this project.  Love him but so disappointing and depressing.  

[MABB1959]

MLB has Brent Rooker and Arraez listed as best acquisitions this year.  How sad is that.  

[h2oface]

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Pretty apparent the last two games the plan was to have Lopez pitch the eighth and Duran pitch the ninth if they had the lead, but both days the seventh inning guy (Jax) gave up the lead.

Very apparent for some time now that the Jax part of the plan is flawed. If Duran pitches today, it will be the first time in 5 days.

On another note, Larnach is sure deficient in the field. That second run double as it turned out.... weak effort to get to the ball, misplayed bounce off the fence, and horrible throw to miss Correa as a relay, and Farmer took forever to get it to the catcher. Also, these outfield guys and relay throws a not even close to the plate these days. 5-15 feet off line. Do they practice these throws ever?

[Reptevia]

2 hours ago, h2oface said:

Very apparent for some time now that the Jax part of the plan is flawed. If Duran pitches today, it will be the first time in 5 days.

On another note, Larnach is sure deficient in the field. That second run double as it turned out.... weak effort to get to the ball, misplayed bounce off the fence, and horrible throw to miss Correa as a relay, and Farmer took forever to get it to the catcher. Also, these outfield guys and relay throws a not even close to the plate these days. 5-15 feet off line. Do they practice these throws ever?

Yes Larnach is deficient in the field. Just about the entire infield is too. That’s what happens when you draft “bat first” prospects all the time. Apparently, the FO thinks the only important positions defensively are SS and some OF positions. 

[DJL44]

On 5/20/2023 at 2:40 PM, MABB1959 said:

Stop the gap filling and get Buxton in CF, if he is that soft let’s just be done with this project.

He's not "soft". He has a knee injury he's been rehabbing all season.

I'm having Joe Mauer deja vu.

[Blyleven2011]

On 5/20/2023 at 7:59 AM, rv78 said:

I pointed this out last week. Everyone can see it BUT THE MANAGER. 3 years in a row now we've watched Rocco blow games using a pitcher that clearly doesn't "have it" when the game is on the line. Why does the pitcher in the bullpen who has been performing the worst for the team have the most pitches in the last 5 days? Because Rocco is a poor Manager. Would someone hold him accountable. He NEEDS to go.

 

And now they have extended his contract until 2025 ,,, 

WHAT A CROCK ...