91 Angels Update- oh, how the worm turns

Last week's record: 13-6

This week's record: 20-20

7-14 this week. Not good, Bob. The Angels were flying high, but May struck and struck hard. The offense couldn't get on track at all.

Let's look at the starters:

Sax: started .305/.805 OPS

now (through May 22): .310/.745

Van Slyke:

.260/.837

.238/.802

Mattingly:

.186/.507

.257/.639

He improved, but he had nowhere to go but up.

Mitchell:

.268/.894

.264/.867

Thomas:

.256/.807

.221/.657

Startling downturn from Thomas.

Justice:

.311/.859

.233/.665

Pronounced slump from Justice as well.

Those are the main offensive guys. Sax and Mitchell stayed pretty consistent, but a nosedive from Thomas and Justice and still not enough production from Mattingly have sunk the Angels.

Pitching:

Marichal's slumped in three starts in May. His April starts were very dominant, though. Paige lost three in a row before a no-decision. 

The bullpen has suffered as well. Eck's not yet on track and Carl Willis has been hit hard.

7.27.23- Matt's Collection Sessions

Introduction: 

I decided that I was sick of streaming everything on Spotify. Ever since Google Play Music went down, I didn't have a sense of my own collection. This week I purchased a CD writer for only 20 bucks and an mp3 player. I also want to put my songs on the tablet as well, but I've ripped CDs onto my laptop so that I can put them on a device and not be so reliant on my phone. I'm going to do some playlists consisting only of stuff in my collection, and this is the first one.

Analysis: A pretty solid set. Morning Wonder has not been in a set in a long time, and I didn't overload the playlist with a lot of weird stuff that I was excited to have. More music is to be added and more of these sets to come.

7.21.23 Running Playlist

This Kind of Love Intro

This Kind of Love

Willkommen

Lightning Rod (1)

It's Me

Sundown

Money Money

just a lil bit

Magical Mystery Tour

Rush Hour

Puttin On The Ritz

Two Ladies

It Keeps You Runnin (2)

Use My Imagination

Watchtower 

1- Guster

2- Doobie Brothers

Angels Weekly Update

Record: 13-6

Division: tied with Oakland for first

Bright Spots: 

The starting rotation is strong, led by Marichal and Paige. Bolin has also been solid. Bearden had two bad outings to start the season, but has since rebounded. Guthrie has been adequate. 

Most of the bullpen has been good as well. Willis, Porterfield, and Cook have given solid innings.

Offensively, Sax has been a good table-setter, getting on base and stealing bases. Mitchell is off to a hot start with 7 HR. Justice and Thomas have gotten off to good starts.

Concerns:

Offense: Mattingly can't get on track. He's hitting just .149. 

Bullpen: Eckersley has been very shaky. He is 2-1 with a 9.82 ERA.

Upcoming:

The Angels see some teams that they haven't yet played. There's a lot of Milwaukee, Detroit, and Toronto, and then some West opponents.

Cream of the Crescent- Herlin Riley et al

 

Enjoyed the album overall, although I did find Wynton Marsalis sometimes irritating on the trumpet.

'91 Angels Update

After 12 games, here are the trends:

• Excellent starting pitching, especially the first two guys. Marichal and Paige both have ERAs under 1.50. The only one struggling is Bearden, who has been blown apart in two starts.
• Bullpen improving. Eckersley has rebounded in his last three outings after getting shellacked in his first few appearances.
• Hitting for average and OBP needs to improve. The team has a .243 average and .297 OBP. No wonder the lineup has been getting shuffled lately.
• Struggles for some hitters. Mattingly in particular is off to a slow start.
• Team is using strategy to bring home wins. Strong starting pitching and subbing out poor defenders has helped in the late innings

Thompson Twins- Into The Gap

 

Doctor, Doctor: Classic

You Take Me Up: Kind of a weird song

Hold Me Now: Classic vulnerable song

Day After Day: OK

No Peace For The Wicked: Um, no. Kind of corny and whiny and repetive.

The Gap: Weird mix of '80s synth sounds.

Sister of Mercy: some weird lyrics, very annoying

Storm on the Sea: Drags on far too long

Who Can Stop The Rain: nothing memorable

Overall impression: The two classic songs are the best things about the album.

2006 Tigers- Post-Mortem (hitters)

 Looking at the lineup:

Rodriguez: 3.0 WAR, 101 OPS

Shelton: 1.8 WAR, 106 OPS +

Polanco: 0.9 WAR, 73 OPS +

Guillen: 6.2 WAR, 129 OPS +

Aurilia: 4.5 overall WAR, 121 OPS +

Thames: 2.5 WAR, 122 OPS +

Suzuki: 0 for the season WAR, 77 OPS +

Ordonez: 1.7 WAR, 106 OPS +

Denorfia: 0.9 WAR, 98 OPS +

The data would suggest a lot of empty calories as far as the homers go, at least from Shelton and Ordonez. Most surprising to me is Ichiro as a below average outfielder offensively. He didn't add anything really to the lineup, although he did qualify as an improvement over Granderson. 5 out of the 9 lineup spots are 110 or below OPS +

91 Angels- Rotation

 

Opening Series- vs KC

Result: WLW

Record: 2-1

Good: Marichal dominant in G1, three HR in G1. Bolin has very solid outing in G3. Mitchell off to hot start with 2 HR

Bad: Offense not as potent in G2, Eckersley gives up four runs.

Opening Day- vs Kansas City

 

vs 

    

Result: 

Opening day is a big success, as Marichal throws a complete game. Three home runs for the Angels, as Sax, Mattingly, and Mitchell all notch their first longballs. 

Debuts:

Everyone who played, but Velarde comes off the bench to play third, Buhner pinch-hits and Dascenzo subs in the OF.

162-0? Maybe not, but good vibes with this start.

1991 Angels- Opening Day!

It's opening day!

Lineups:

2B- Sax

CF- Van Slyke

1B- Mattingly

DH- Mitchell

RF- Justice

3B- Thomas

C- Scioscia

SS- Alomar

LF- Wilson

Bench:

C- Wilkins

1B- Guerrero

2B, 3B- Backman

SS- Velarde

OF- Dascenzo

RF- Buhner

Rotation:

Marichal

Paige

Bolin

Bearden

Guthrie

Bullpen:

Eckersley (CL)

Willis

Kennedy

St. Claire

Cook

Porterfield

Zoldak

7.6.23 Work to teeball

I'm A Man

That Year

Cannot Believe It's True

Just A Little Bit

Blinding Lights

Tripping

7.5.23