Garrett Richards..

[totdprods]

46 minutes ago, SuperTroopers said:

If he allows those runners in the 7th inning he gets pulled, but not the 5th inning without giving up any runs without a shut down bullpen.  

Agreed - usually. The difference is being the first start of the season, he's only really built up to 85-90 pitches anyway, so he was reaching the end of his day regardless, and pulling him a batter earlier in the 5th should've been on the table.

Not a big deal really, just sort of a result of it being first turn in the rotation. Could have gone either way.

[Angel Oracle]

7 hours ago, Troll Daddy said:

For Richards or poorer 

His 5th inning was like my marriage.

[Troll Daddy]

1 minute ago, Angel Oracle said:

His 5th inning was like my marriage.

Why am I not surprised 

[Ohtaniland]

40 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Agreed - usually. The difference is being the first start of the season, he's only really built up to 85-90 pitches anyway, so he was reaching the end of his day regardless, and pulling him a batter earlier in the 5th should've been on the table.

Not a big deal really, just sort of a result of it being first turn in the rotation. Could have gone either way.

One loss, not a big deal but these are the type of games you look back at when you’re busy chasing someone like the Twins for the second wild card. It’s a long season but you inherently create your own problems. You end up relying on other teams to win for you.

[ksangel]

Agree he ran out of gas in the 5th...lost control of pitches which led to two walks and then one bad pitch call by Maldonado (why try to throw a fastball to a fastball hitter when he would swing at anything and had already shown this in previous at bats) and Richards didn't execute the pitch called - was supposed to be high and tight...other wise Richards look good for 1st outing.

Trout stunk it up though offensively...but it's early

Cozart and Calhoun looked great...looking forward to Kinsler being back to bench Valbuena

[Second Base]

Richards ran out of gas and made two bad pitches, that's it really. It didn't help that the umpire gave Graveman an extra six inches on the outside corner that he didn't give Garrett, but what else is new. Angels (and other teams) get screwed by the umps all the time.

[UndertheHalo]

It’s the first game of the season in March.  I’m glad he went 5 healthy.  His stuff looked good.  No lost velocity.  It’s fine, he’ll get on track.  I’m always a lot more concerned with how a pitcher looks in March/April then the actual results.  He has looked very good.  If he gets a few of these pitches back it’s a completely different story.  Richards knows how to pitch and will get right.  If he’s healthy he has my confidence that he can pitch with anyone in the league.  Now do I have confidence that he’ll be healthy?  Lol.  No. 

Honestly, a lot more concerned with Bedrosian. We’ll see with Parker. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[jgimondo]

I think Grich is not an Ace, we made a mistake not taking a run at Arietta.

[Chuck]

If Richards just attacked hitters he would be so much more successful. 

He was still throwing hard in the 5th inning, it was his command that just went away from him. 

I think he'll be fine. I was just pissed that he coughed up a 4 run lead. 

[WeatherWonk]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

Meh, he ran out of juice and probably should've been pulled after the David HR, if not right before that AB, but I can see how Sosh would stick to his #1 on Opening Day in that situation. 

The Angels offense had plenty more opportunities to score when they should have, Bedrosian's appearance was crap.

I also think Oakland is a much better than team than people are projecting. They're success is too cyclical and they're due to have one of those "out of nowhere" seasons. Olson, Davis, Chapman, Pinder, Barretto are a potent offensive core, Lowrie, Lucroy, Semien, and even Matt Fucking Joyce (who I hate almost as much as Hamilton now) are fine supplemental bats, and you know they'll find a way to cobble together a decent pitching staff. I truly think they have the pieces to finish as high as 3rd and post a .500 year. 

I agree completely. They could end up being the surprise team of the AL. Not going to predict they make the WC. But those hitters are going to cause the AL West pitchers lots of grief this year.

These A's hit home runs. That's what they do best. This is no surprise. 

Olson is incredible. Love his swing.

[Jason]

11 hours ago, OHTANILAND said:

I think his injuries have somehow slowed his shutdown mentality. In 2014 he was a physical badass and on his way to being a top five MLB Ace but now he’s lost that confidence. 

I think a lot of Angel fans look at performances from a few years ago as what a player’s potential is. Once injuries occur (especially arm injuries) that potential for pitchers decreases. As usual, our expectations are too high. Richards is a #4 type starter. Outside of his health, I’m not to concerned 

[krAbs]

Richards's line as a full time starter (2013 was the last year he pitched out of the pen at a major league level) :

Year	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2014-2017	LAA	29	21	.580	3.06	70	70	0	2	2	0	438.1	354	169	149	28	149	4	401	13	1	44	1799	123	3.25	1.148	7.3	0.6	3.1	8.2	2.69

 

I'm not super worried about him, assuming he can stay healthy. But, with an average of 18 games/ year, that is a pretty big assumption.

[Sully151]

I mean, we could blame our number two hitter that went 0-6.

[UndertheHalo]

34 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

If Richards just attacked hitters he would be so much more successful. 

He was still throwing hard in the 5th inning, it was his command that just went away from him. 

I think he'll be fine. I was just pissed that he coughed up a 4 run lead. 

It was definitely a fucking annoying game post inning 6.  But hey, Angels baseball ! What else is new lol. 

[Chuck]

2 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

It was definitely a fucking annoying game post inning 6.  But hey, Angels baseball ! What else is new lol. 

The first 5 innings were sweet! 

[Angel Oracle]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

The first 5 innings were sweet! 

First 4.5 innings, anyway 

[Vlad27Trout27]

It was one start nothing big. He simply ran out of gas and made 2 bad pitch that was it. It also didn't help with the Ump squeezing the strike zone. look at the bright side he made it through  five innings with out getting hurt. Keep in mind he wasn't the only Ace to loose on opening day.     

[Second Base]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

If Richards just attacked hitters he would be so much more successful. 

He was still throwing hard in the 5th inning, it was his command that just went away from him. 

I think he'll be fine. I was just pissed that he coughed up a 4 run lead. 

I think I'm more upset about Bedrosian's pile of crap performance than I am Richards. He's supposed to be our best reliever, our closer in waiting. He's even got the bloodlines to back it up. He should've been one of the best closers in baseball by now, and yet we're still seeing this Kevin Jepsen Jekyll and Hyde crap from him.

[Second Base]

Another thing that I think everyone has taken notice of, Upton isn't nearly the defender in LF the defensive metrics pen him to be. That ball definitely should have been caught and it cost them the game. Noe Ramirez was doing a great job and got credited with the loss for giving up to catchable fly outs in his second inning of work.

[krAbs]

Just now, Scotty@AW said:

Another thing that I think everyone has taken notice of, Upton isn't nearly the defender in LF the defensive metrics pen him to be. That ball definitely should have been caught and it cost them the game. Noe Ramirez was doing a great job and got credited with the loss for giving up to catchable fly outs in his second inning of work.

After watching Upton, I literally don't understand why he is supposed to be a plus defender.

Also, I agree that Rich is fine, and I agree that Bedrosian screwed up yesterday, but...Yesterday was on Rich. You give your ace a 5 run game, you expect a better result than what we got. I think he didn't have his best stuff, and he got squeezed a little yesterday, and will be fine in the long run. But, yesterday was on him.

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, OHTANILAND said:

One loss, not a big deal but these are the type of games you look back at when you’re busy chasing someone like the Twins for the second wild card. It’s a long season but you inherently create your own problems. You end up relying on other teams to win for you.

I wonder if over at Twinswin.com they are saying something similar after their bullpen blew a lead in the 7th and their closer gave up the winning run in the 11th inning. 

Eerily similar eh?

[Jay]

Richards had a lousy outing but that happens.
My complaint is that we all look to him as some sort of Ace but he really isn't.

 

[Make Angels Great Again]

Richards looked excellent most of the game. Oakland was getting pretty lucky.

[Torridd]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Richards had a lousy outing but that happens.
My complaint is that we all look to him as some sort of Ace but he really isn't.

 

I actually think he is an ace. Anyone who has the stuff to win at least 15 games with a 3.5 ERA or less is an ace.

[fan_since79]

my thoughts?

If he gets through 10 starts without his arm falling off or tearing his knee up, he will have exceeded my expectations.

A full season without significant injury time? 15 wins, more or less.