Gameday Thread: Rangers @ Angels (5/5/23): Anderson on the mound

[jsnpritchett]

Lucky to get out of that inning with only one run scoring.  I'll take it.

[REDneck]

I'm going to catch crap about this, but has anyone ever noticed how Dodger white and Cardinal white unis are a special kind of brilliant white and the rest of the leagues home unis are dull in comparison?

[Make Angels Great Again]

Angels pitchers have to have one of the worst ball/strike ratios right? Is it just me?

[AngelsLakersFan]

12 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

I'll post this here, too, for folks who are hanging out in this thread only tonight.  Another good article here.  Deep-dive into what's going on with Loup:

"But there’s a lot more to his season than meets the eye. He pointed to a shift in pitch usage that’s been at the heart of some of his struggles.

The 35-year-old has relied heavily on his off-speed pitches this year. His curveball usage is up from 2.8 percent last year to 13.2 percent this year. His changeup is up from 12.5 percent last year to 23.6 percent this year. And his fastball and sinker have taken significant dips.

It’s likely connected to why he called himself “a little b—-“ after blowing the season opener in Oakland. Not attacking hitters in the same way he always has.

The reason, Loup said, is based on a larger team philosophy. The new shift rules, he said, have led to the team emphasizing off-speed pitches more and more in order to get more swing and miss. For Loup, the results have been quite poor, and his swing-and-miss is below his career average.

He said the emphasis on off-speed pitches has been a mixture of his choices and partly team-dictated.

“I’ve always been a guy that relied on my fastball more so than anything else,” Loup said. “Whereas this year, I think I’ve been a little more off-speed heavy. I think that’s a part of it, but I don’t think that’s all of it.”

....

“His pitch usage is a lot different than when he was good,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin. “And I think I can leave it at that. I think everyone can look that stuff up. We’ve got to get him back to where he was.

“We still feel like it’s in there. If it’s throwing more fastballs — at the end of the day, he’s got to locate them better too. And that’s one of the things that we’ve talked about.”

 

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He sounds like a bitch.

[Inside Pitch]

4 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

 

The reason, Loup said, is based on a larger team philosophy. The new shift rules, he said, have led to the team emphasizing off-speed pitches more and more in order to get more swing and miss. For Loup, the results have been quite poor, and his swing-and-miss is below his career average.

He said the emphasis on off-speed pitches has been a mixture of his choices and partly team-dictated.

“I’ve always been a guy that relied on my fastball more so than anything else,” Loup said. “Whereas this year, I think I’ve been a little more off-speed heavy. I think that’s a part of it, but I don’t think that’s all of it.”

“His pitch usage is a lot different than when he was good,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin. “And I think I can leave it at that. I think everyone can look that stuff up. We’ve got to get him back to where he was.

“We still feel like it’s in there. If it’s throwing more fastballs — at the end of the day, he’s got to locate them better too. And that’s one of the things that we’ve talked about.

You'd think Mr. Investigative reporter would do the most obvious thing and check to see how that usage is hurting or helping him.

Well good golly.   His wOBA allowed off his curve .251, and his change .321, are vastly outperforming his sinker .395 and cutter .544.

Back when he was going 'good" his wOBA off his sinker sat at .241, his cutter .260, the change up and curveball that he threw much less came in at .092, and .225 respectively.   Last year when he wasn't doing as well, his sinker .337, and cutter .288 were both MUCH better than they have been this season and his change.288 and curve .080 were again, outperforming those other pitches.

Maybe he's one of those guys who is better off doing it his way, but the numbers (tiny sample this year) support the view that he should be throwing more off speed stuff and less sinkers and cutters..  His near career low exit velocity (84.8) does as well.

 

[Halo in Chicago]

O’Neil is awful

[Inside Pitch]

15 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

He sounds like a bitch.

I laughed when they quoted Nevin as saying "when he was good".   That was almost as great as when they ask Rendon why he wouldnt talk about Maddon and he said because he knew everyone would think he was shit-talking him.

I mean, both guys told us exactly what they were thinking.

[HeavenlyHalos]

Anderson having control issues these past two innings

[Kendo36]

Patrick O’Neal, less is more. Holy Christ. Stfu.

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, Halo in Chicago said:

O’Neil is awful

I legit felt myself screaming OMG STFU in my head.  

[Justin]

Just now, Halo in Chicago said:

O’Neil is awful

It's like he decided 'I'm not going to call 162 games this season, so I'm going to cram 162 games worth of words into however many game I do end up calling.'

[full circle]

Our pitchers try to pitch around entire fucking lineups.  It’s ridiculous.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

Im sure somehow Rendon will be the one hurt on this play

[jsnpritchett]

Adding Valentine to the booth this inning isn't exactly helping things.

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, AngelsLakersFan said:

Im sure somehow Rendon will be the one hurt on this play

[AngelsLakersFan]

6 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I laughed when they quoted Nevin as saying "when he was good".   That was almost as great as when they ask Rendon why he wouldnt talk about Maddon and he said because he knew everyone would think he was shit-talking him.

I mean, both guys told us exactly what they were thinking.

I fucking love Nevin, lmao

[HeavenlyHalos]

Defense strikes again

[AngelsLakersFan]

Oh jeez

[jsnpritchett]

Isn't that the second time in the past week that Ward has lost a ball?

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

FFS

[Make Angels Great Again]

Jesus throw a freaking strike

[Justin]

I miss the days when I had better things to do with my life on a Friday night. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

Isn't that the second time in the past week that Ward has lost a ball?

He's too busy looking for his swing to find the ball.

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I fucking love Nevin, lmao

He's legit the most loose lipped manager we've had in a long ass time.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Oh jeez