6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Go Straight To L: A's 3, Angels 0

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Go Straight To L: A's 3, Angels 0

I suppose there's a reason they play these games, but I can't imagine what it is at this point. The Chronicler thinks the current .200-average-hitting Angels are doppelgängers, but are they really? This was the same squad we got in the 2005 postseason. Sure, they aren't this bad all the time, but the fact that they can be this bad is seriously demoralizing. What's disappointing is the convergence of catastrophes that led up to it, none of which were necessarily bad decisions:

Cashiering Troy Glaus, presumably because Dallas McPherson would be younger, cheaper, and nearly as good. This was made worse by
The unforeseen collapse of Dallas McPherson. Glaus hasn't been healthy, but McPherson was even worse. He's probably done as a ballplayer.
The failure to acquire Paul Konerko. Casey Kotchman may have been the first baseman of the future, but the team needed a bopping first baseman; whether Kotch is it or not remains to be seen (I think he'll grow into the role), but the team clearly needs power in addition to Vlad. They couldn't do anything about Konerko deciding to stay in Chicago.
The failure to acquire Aramis Ramirez. Minus Glaus, minus McPherson, starting Figgins again? No, thanks, but as with Konerko, Ramirez eventually decided he wanted to stay in Chicago (in fact, he made his mind up before negotiations even started).
Juan Rivera's broken leg will keep him and his bat out of the lineup through at least the All-Star break, thus ensuring many, many at-bats for the rapidly declining Shea Hillenbrand.
A too-long extension to Garret Anderson. I agree with the Chroncler that Anderson is not a .200 hitter. He's actually a .250-.260 hitter, with little power. There are those who say Anderson can no longer handle a quality slider from a left-handed pitcher.
Casey Kotchman's power drought. Call it youth, call it what you like, but he isn't hitting for power. Yet.

Lackey didn't pitch badly, but that's almost beside the point. The offense needs to pull it together, just like they've needed to do for the two previous years. Yeah, it's only two weeks into the season. It's just that I'm sick of watching re-runs. More, I'm getting sick of the Angels not retaliating for the opposition hitting the team's best batters. It's about time somebody got drilled.

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