Angelsjunky

I mean 1st.

I know it is only the 2nd inning, but it is nice outscoring the Tigers 17-1 so far in this series.

OK, there it is.

Now why wouldn't Trout try to steal here? Come on, Mikey, lets see those legs.

While glancing over the team stats at Baseball Reference I noticed a strange anomaly. Through 15 games the team is 9th in runs scored and tied for 7th in runs scored per game in the AL - just a bit below average in both. On the other hand, the team is 2nd in BA, 4th in both OPS and SLG, and 3rd in OPS+. Hopefully this will equalize in a positive way. The team should start scoring a lot more runs once they gel as an offense.

Chuck, relax. It isn't a real trade scenario. I'm just saying that I miss Torii's presence and expressing frustration at the comparative values per dollar: 5/$125MM for Hamilton 2/$26MM for Hunter Even if Hamilton out-hits Hunter--which I think he will--it likely won't be to such a degree that it makes that contract relative to what Torii would have likely agreed to to stay in Anaheim (2/$20MM?). I know you don't like WAR and other advanced metrics, but $125 million equates to 25-30 WAR in value. I have a hard time imagining that Hamilton will come close to earning that.

Since when has popular opinion inherently indicated truth?

MacNasty, I like the team on paper but it feels like the sum is less than the parts. The key quality of 2002, and many other World Series champs, is that the sum is MORE than the parts. I hope I'm proven wrong, but I think swapping Hunter for Hamilton epitomizes the "all-head, no-heart" approach Dipoto has taken.

I admit to being OK with letting Torii go, although I thought he deserved at least a one or two year offer and that he would have really helped the team staying for another year. I wasn't crazy about the Hamilton signing, although liked the idea of his bat in the lineup. That said, I'm really worried about him as an addition to the team. Hamilton started last year very hot but since about late May or June of last year he's been erratic at best. From all accounts he's a bit of a head-case (a fundamentalist and recovered drug addict...great combo there). I miss Torii. I miss his presence on the team, his heart. To be honest I'd happily trade Hamilton and his 5/$125MM contract for Torii and his 2/$26MM one. I still think that Hamilton will out-hit Torii this year, but it won't be close to worth his contract. This is another move that makes me question Dipoto's wisdom.

Cautiously optimistic.

I think ScottyA nailed it, including his emphasis on Lucho bringing something unexpected that helps the team do better. I do think he could surprise and steal 3B from Callaspo. But it comes down to how well he can adjust when pitchers start figuring him out. At best I think he could be a "Baby Beltre" - hit around .280 with 15-20 HR, 35+ 2B, an .800 OPS and very good defense, which would make him a very good player. But he could also struggle more and hit .250/.700 with 10-15 HR, which would still be decent enough to hold down 3B until Cowart is ready.

I don't get why Lowe is still on the team.

I'm going to be optimistic: That strikeout of Victor Martinez was the turning point of the year.

I just realized something. I've been an Angels fan for over three decades and will always be an Angels fan, through thick and thin, but it just struck me that I don't like this team and haven't really liked it for a few years now. It isn't the win-loss record, it is the composition of players, the attitude, the fire and soul. This team just doesn't have and hasn't had it for a few years. Sure, there are players I really like; Lucho has been a godsend, and it is hard to dislike Aybar, or Weaver and Trout. And I can't say that I "hate" any single player. But what I'm talking about is the team as a whole. 2002 was eminently lovable because it was comprised of long-time homegrown players and well-selected veterans that gave it the chemistry that brought us a World Series. Even the 2004-09 teams--none of which made it back to the World Series--had a certain charm, from the Shields/F-Rod bullpen to the plucky energy of Chone Figgins to the free swinging chaos of Vlad Guerrero. But this team? It seems lifeless, soulless, undisciplined, and mercenary. I hope this changes, that they somehow find the magic and gel as a team. But it is hard to see it right now, and it is hard to like this team.

North Dakota has the same voting power in the senate as New York, Texas, or California. Think about that. Tell me, Constitutionalists, why that makes sense.

Gay sexy time is legal. No worries now, mtangelsfan .

Yes Lifetime, I don't take much of the Bible seriously - especially the parts about killing gay people or children or raping and stoning women. The Bible condones all sorts of atrocious acts. As for Christianity, it depends upon what you're talking about. I have huge respect for some variations of Christianity, but generally not the type you see proselytized in mega-churchs and on TV, or that informs the politics of many Republicans. But I have huge respect for Meister Eckhart, David Steindl-Rast, Matthew Fox, Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Hildegard von Bingen, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Jesus of Nazareth, among others.

I don't hate anyone - I love the sinner (Christian) but hate the sin (Christianity). Seriously though, I don't hate Christians or Bible believers. I don't hate any group of people, or any individual that I can think of (even Dick Cheney!). I do dislike fundamentalist thinking of any stripe, and that includes militant atheists, and I do find most iterations of organized religion to be overly--but harmlessly--simplistic at best and often a mockery of the original teachings of the religion's founder, and at worst...well, its pretty bad (see "Spanish Inquisition" or "Westboro Baptist Church" or "conversion therapy").

A counter-argument, Lifetime, is that people who can safely use guns shouldn't have a problem with stricter regulation. But what about kids that use guns to commit suicide? What about the mentally ill that use guns legally obtained? The point being: guns are too easy to come by. I personally don't get the obsession with an object that's raison d'etre is to kill another living being. But even so I'm not saying guns should be illegal, just far more strictly regulated. We're pretty far from the days where the right to bear arms had actual relevance.

Who do you think I hate, Lifetime?

Well, the nation of Australia bears this out, at least according to the hilarious clip on the Jon Stewart show tonight. But it is also common sense: lower accessibility of guns = less guns = less shooting of guns. I for one don't understand why Americans are so fixated on guns. I mean, grow up boys.

If it wasn't for the lovely town of Asheville I'd say let them do it - break the whole state off and let them drift into whacko fundamentalia, and while they're at it take the rest of the Bible Belt with them. Just make sure they don't have nukes as the thought of a Evangelical nation with nuclear weapons scares the bejesus out of me. Apocalypse, here we come!

An embarrassing day for American politics, proving that the system doesn't work. A joke, really. Stop? No. Reduce? Yes. Stop? No. Reduce? Yes.

I don't see an option for Gary Matthews Jr.

"We put ourselves in this situation," Dipoto said, "and we have to figure out a way to get ourselves out." Way to spread the responsibility around, Jerry.