Juan Rivera must go

Juan Rivera knows how to make me look good. Too bad that in the process he looks like a tub of goo. What else can I say about a guy who's not very athletic, extremely slow, and doesn't hit well in clutch situations? While I'm at it, where did his supposed power go?

I've been ranting about Rivera for a while now and last night he gave me even more amo when his lack luster effort on a fly ball to left field lead to two runs and ultimately a Red Sox victory. He's simply a stiff and I just can't stand watching him any more. We'd be better off putting the All-Star game Mickey Mouse statue that's been in front of the stadium in left field instead and the statue might actually have more range.

The Angels now trail Texas by 8.5 games. This morning Roger Lodge tried to be optimistic and proposed that the Angels could be just 4.5 back if they won today (and Texas lost) and then swept the Rangers over the weekend. What Lodge neglected to mention is that Texas also plays again tomorrow (which again proves my point that he doesn't do his homework - see yesterday's post) and the Angels could actually be just 4 games back by the end of the weekend if everything went their way.

Wow. So this is what it has come to? The Angels need to win five games in a row and watch Texas lose five in a row just to get to 4 games back? I'm a glass is half full kind of guy, but that's really reaching if you ask me.

Speaking of reaching... let's get back to bashing Rivera, who looked like a statue trying to reach up on the fly ball hit by Jed Lowrie that ultimately sailed over his head. I wouldn't have blamed Jered Weaver if he had walked from the mound to left field to grab Rivera by the nose and fling him to the ground. I'm just saying.

As my friend and fellow 514 Fanatic Bo said last night, "the swagger is gone." David Ortiz beats out an infield grounder? The miscues and mental mistakes are worthy of a Bad News Bears Sequel. Ever wondered what happend to those kids? Well, they grew up and put on Angel uniforms. Forget making the "Money Ball" movie; the Angels actually have some real characters people might find amusing. We could cast George Lopez as Juan Rivera and Jim Carey as Jeff Mathis.

Speaking of Mathis. He's back (boy is he back) and that's not a good thing. He teased us last year with a nice post-season peformance and started this year as a guy who might actually live up to his pre-big league hype (he was once the second best catching prospect behind Joe Mauer). Well, that was nice while it lasted. He's back to being a black hole on offense.

This season is going south fast. Too fast. It's not pretty and it's hard to watch. I would feel much better if Rivera could be moved by the trading deadline, but who would want a tub of goo? The only thing he has going for him is an affordable contract. Woo-hoo, any takers? Let's make room for Peter Bourjois. I don't know if he can hit at the major league level, but he's about 100 times the better outfielder than Mr. Goo. I'm thinking of Juan be Gone T-shirts. Who's in?

Come on Angels. Shut this blogger up and start playing like a Mike Scioscia managed team. You know I'd much rather be making fun of the opposition and not my favorite team!

Please, I'm begging you to get back to fundamentaly sound baseball and start playing like a team that actually cares. Your audeince is fading. It's hard to believe that the Angels can't sell out games against the Red Sox. We're going backwards not forward. You know things are bad when people would rather stay home and watch the summer reruns than come to the stadium for an evening of good old fashioned baseball.

I actually took a vacation day to head to the stadium today. I hope I don't regret that decision.