Running on empty

One day you’re making plans to watch what you hope will be a deep run into the post-season.  The next – you’re sitting in your living room feeling a little numb, trying to put a positive spin on what was a great regular season and a horrific post-season. 

Your eyes glaze over as you watch the opposing team pour champagne over one another.  You try to muster a smile, but it just doesn’t happen.  You want to be happy for a franchise that has had a 29 year drought from the post-season and although you might feel a little smidge of happiness for them – you feel a little sick to your stomach at the same time.

One minute you can’t sleep because you’re excited about the upcoming games and the next – you can’t sleep because you can’t believe it’s over.  You can’t prepare for the moment because you never want to acknowledge the possibility.

Any season that falls short of a World Series Championship is somewhat of a disappointment.  You try to reconcile how hard it is to win it all, but at the end of the day – it’s still a letdown.  You spend so much time, emotion and energy (not to mention money) invested and engaged in a long 162 game season and when it ends, you’re left feeling a little empty.

You start to think about how long the off-season will be and how much time must pass and how many games have to be played before you have a chance to be back in the play-offs again.  That day seems a million miles away and the thought of all the time and energy that will be spent yet again just leaves you cold.

These feelings are not unique to Angel fans by any means, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

 As the days pass and the post-season rolls on, you try to watch the games and choose sides.  Picking a team to “root” for doesn’t feel right.  It’s just not the same.  It’s easier to decide which teams you want to fail; i.e. the Dodgers because they’re the Dodgers or the Cardinals because of John “He’s dead to me” Lackey or A.J. Pierzynski because… well, he’s just a jerk.

You watch in disbelieve as Mike Moustakes looks like a Greek Baseball God homering again and again.  You mutter to yourself… “I thought the Royals didn’t hit homeruns…”  You say things like “Eric Hosmer picked a great time to finally live up to his potential” and you just mumble a lot about this, that and some other things. 

So you tune in here and there.  You don’t make a point to schedule your life around the games, but you watch if you’re home and it’s convenient.  

You get to the point where you just want the season to end.  You grow tired of the talking heads on television because you've come to realize that at the end of the day – your guess as to who’s going to win it all is as good as theirs.  Sure, your interest might pique here and there, but deep down – you just want it to be over. 

It’s then and only then that you don’t feel like you’re not being reminded constantly that your team has to wait till next year yet again.

Life goes on.  The days will continue to get shorter and the nights will get longer and soon the 2014 baseball season will be a distant memory. 

Approximately 121 days till Spring Training.  *Gulp*

Head shakes and face palms

Baseball is a funny game. The very moment you think you have some it figured out; it baffles you again and again. The only thing we know for sure is that on any given day, anything can happen. The routine can become an adventure, the spectacular can look routine and when all is said and done you wind up shaking your head in amazement or with your face planted in the palm of your hands in total frustration.

As baseball fans all we can do is enjoy the ride, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Take the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. For the life of me, I can’t figure this team out. Doubt anyone else can either.

This is a team that continues to find ways to beat themselves; be it with poor defense, poor base running, poor plate discipline, poor situational hitting… you name it. It’s just hard to watch. But "watch" is exactly what we do and after a while - one starts to form some opinions...

I’m writing this blog on the fly. In other words, I’m basically writing whatever comes into my head. This seems like the best route to go today because quite frankly, I haven’t found the inspiration to write about anything specific lately and thus the absence of posts in recent days.

So what’s on my mind?

Let me start with Mark Trumbo. Are you kidding me? Most Angel fans thought he was good, but I doubt any of us really knew he was going to be this good. He’s clearly the most valuable player on the team to date and he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

Mark Trumbo makes me smile. In fact, he might even make me a little giddy from time to time. When I think back to the comments that were made by a great many baseball analysts as to why he wasn’t as good as Eric Hosmer of the Royals and how his plate discipline was going to limit his production, etc., etc. I just smile. You might even catch me laughing out loud once in a while.

Like I said earlier – baseball is a funny game and despite the best efforts of those who like to do projections and such – sometimes, stuff just happens that defies expectations. Thank God for that.

And then there’s Mike Trout. Once again… are you kidding me? Everyone who pays any attention what-so-ever to baseball knew he was going to be good. I mean the whole baseball world kept telling us as much – but even still, here’s a 20 year old doing things that just aren’t supposed to be possible when you’re that young.

But you know what I like best about Trout? His smile. He flashes it a lot. He’s having the time of his life (as he should be) and winning over fans by the boat load. It’s refreshing to watch a young player play the game hard, without fear and have fun doing it. His production is tremendous and I have to pinch myself every time I think about being able to watch him for the next several years because if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.

Now, let me tell you something that I really, really love about both Trout and Trumbo. I absolutely love the fact that they play the game at full speed all the time. When they hit a ball on the ground, they bust their rear ends down to first base – every time. They never take a play off and if there’s anything that a fan appreciates more than anything – its maximum effort all the time.

You know who doesn’t do that?

I know you know who doesn’t, but I’ll say his name just the same – Albert Pujols.

I hate that. I hated the fact that I had to even write that. He’s not alone in that category, but he certainly stands out in my mind.

I know he’s older than Trout and Trumbo. If I wanted to, I could probably come up with all kinds of excuses why it’s okay that he doesn’t hustle down the line every time he hits the ball, but I won’t. It bugs me and it bugs my wife Cheryl too who is quick to point it out every time it happens.

It bugs me because I see guys like Josh Hamilton play every moment like it might be his last. It bugs me because no one is willing to call him on it. It bugs me just because this is the kind of thing that annoys me to no end.

There, I said it.

Like I said earlier – I’m just writing about whatever comes to my head and that includes stuff that I’ve been holding on to all season.

In fact, I picked up something early on that bugged me about Albert. It was the third game of the season against the Royals. It was the bottom of the first and Howie Kendrick was on second base. Albert was up to bat and Jonathan Sanchez uncorked a wild pitch. As the catcher was scrambling for the ball and Kendrick was making his way to third base – Albert had his head down, scratching the dirt with his feet to prepare for the next pitch.

In other words – he was NOT giving any direction to the base runner; instead he was focused on his at bat and nothing else. It seemed odd to me; even out of character.

It was the first moment when I found something that bugged me about Albert. Am I nitpicking? Probably. Hey, it’s what a fan does when he sits down to try and find something to write about for his blog.

Maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of this than I should. Heck, I probably won’t bring it up again – but today is one of those days to just let some stuff fly.

Now with all that being said – let me tell you something else that I noticed about Albert and it happened last night.

Like I said earlier – when you think you have something or someone figured out – something happens that makes you rethink everything.

In any case – in the bottom of the 9th after Albert had doubled and tagged up and run to third on a fly ball (showing good hustle) he stood at the base and looked to be cheering Kendrys Morales on who was up to bat.

It was a small thing – but I loved it. It was the first time that I noticed Albert looking like he really wanted to win a game.

I’m not saying he doesn’t want to win every game – I’m just saying it was the first time I personally noticed Albert acting like he really cared.

Please don’t take any of this the wrong way. I’m absolutely thrilled to have Albert on the Angels and I am looking forward to watching him play for the next ten years. I really and truly am excited about it.

Let’s just say that I’m still trying to understand him as best as any fan can. Maybe I never will understand him completely, but it won’t be for a lack of trying.

If you have spent any time on this blog at all – you know that this is what I’m all about. I’m not about statistical analysis (although I will dabble in that once in a while) and I’m not about any kind of in-depth player evaluation or analysis, etc. I’m about the fan experience and that’s what makes True Grich the blog that it is – for better or worse.

I absolutely love Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout. I am still trying to love Albert Pujols. I believe in time I will feel the same way adoring Cardinal fans felt about him for all of the years he was in St. Louis. I’m still looking for reasons to embrace him. Time will tell.

Please note that I haven’t been totally honest here. I didn’t write down everything that came to my mind. That would have involved a long Erick Aybar rant. I’ll spare you from that for now. Just saying.

You know you're in trouble when you envy the Royals

How can I possibly put what happened in Anaheim during the last home stand into words? On one hand I can’t believe this team is this bad; on the other, I find myself doing a lot of head shaking. It’s about all I can do when Torii Hunter or any number of Angels hit into an inning-ending double play not to lose my mind.

Most Angel fans are frustrated right now. Many others have become something worse… apathetic. Looking around the stadium on any given night and it’s clear that attendance is down and the mood goes from sad to angry. There’s no buzz, no excitement, no life among the faithful.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. This is the franchise’s 50th anniversary. We should be celebrating and instead we’re becoming more and more focused on what’s wrong with this franchise.

Watching the Royals this weekend I felt a little envious. Crazy, right? I mean we’re talking about a team that has only had one winning record in the last fifteen years. And yet, when I see young guys like Eric Hosmer (will be 22 in October) and Mike Moustakas (turns 23 in September), I get a little jealous. These are legitimate prospects with huge upside and bright futures. They have quantifiable skills that translate into actual major league talent.

That’s not to say the Angels aren’t without young talent because they are – but other than Mike Trout; none are at the same level as Hosmer or Moustakas.

In any case – this is what I end up focusing on when the team is doing so poorly. Instead of talking about the pennant race and who the Angels might acquire at the deadline, I find myself looking at what’s in the farm system and I start doing some more of that head shaking I talked about earlier.

When I look at the Salt Lake City Bees roster, I see one guy with power; Jeff Baisley, but good grief; he’s 28 years old. If you’re 28 years old and still in the minors, you’re really not much of a prospect and your ceiling is pretty low. The rest of the team lacks punch and has a lot of players who are similar to the team of smurfs already up with the big club.

There seems to be this huge gap between the young players up with the team now (Mark Trumbo, Hank Conger, Peter Bourjos, Tyler Chatwood) and the next wave of talent that could have in impact at the major league level.

There are no Hosmer’s or Moustakas’ the Angels can call on. There is Mike Trout, but as I have said before, he’s only 19 and there’s no sense rushing him.

So… what’s a team to do? What’s a fan to do?

Look, here’s the deal. I want another world series. It’s plain and simple. I want my team to get back to winning and competing. I don’t know how they get to that point and quite frankly, it’s not my job to figure that out.

What I do know is that a lot of good pitching is being wasted. This offense stinks. They lead the league in strike outs and hitting into double plays. Nothing kills a rally more than those two things. Nothing is as deflating to watch from a fan’s point of view as those two things.

Okay, so it’s at this point that some of you are probably thinking… sheesh, it’s only June. Well, forgive me, but the season is slipping away and that’s just not some feeling I have in my gut; it’s real. We heard the “It’s only… name your month…” last year and quite frankly, I don’t want to hear it again. Don’t tell me I shouldn’t panic. I’m beyond panicking. I’m at the point of utter frustration.

Losing isn’t fun. Sitting at every game in this past home stand wasn’t fun. Watching the team lose six games in row is the furthest thing from fun. Watching the pathetic offense is demoralizing. Nothing is fun about losing and call me selfish, but I want to have fun at the ball park.

I hate this post. I hate ranting like this. I’m an optimistic guy and I don’t like being pessimistic at all. It’s to the point where I’m glad they’ll be out of town for two weeks. I don’t want to take the time to show up at the stadium to watch. I need a break from being at the stadium.

All I ask is that you (The Angels) don’t do anything rash; like trade Mike Trout and I won’t do anything crazy like not show up for the next home stand. That being said, you need to give me something to hope for. I need you to make a move or show some life (Hello Torii and Vernon) or at the very least fire Mickey Hatcher (yeah, I said it)…. Give me something.

I need to see some people being held accountable. When Scioscia tells the media “we need to get our house in order” – I need to see something that makes me think he’s doing that.

Scioscia has asked his players to be more patient and selective and yet – he moves Torii Hunter, who has to be the biggest free swinger on the team into the #2 hole. Picture me shaking my head again.

Yeah, okay – let’s not move a player who is struggling down in the order, let’s have him move into the second slot in the batting order, a spot that really requires being able to move runners along. Hello? What’s up with that? Since the team can’t score runs with runners in scoring position, let’s put Hunter in the two hole so that he can ground into double plays and take away any scoring opportunities all-together.

I am no longer shaking my head… I’m pounding it on my desk. Please make the losing stop before I lose my mind.

End of rant.