Some thoughts/observations from Week Two:
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Two outings by Saundo bookended this week. The first, against the A's was encouraging after he struggled against Minnesota. Cruising into the 7th inning, the wheels just came off and Saundo was stuck with the loss. Today, against the Blue Jays, he was fantastic. Beyond the great game and the win, I think his performance was critical in bringing some consistancy to the quality of starting pitching and some encouragement to the players and fans. I'm definitely more optimistic after Saunders followed Weaver's great outing with one of his own.
Overall, the rotation seems to be on its way to working itself out. Pineiro gave some life to the Halos with his 7IP 1ER performance on Wednesday and (:::crosses fingers:::) seems on his way to proving he's not a one-season wonder, but a Reagins steal. Weaver delievered once again and (:::crosses fingers:::) seems on his way to solidifying himself atop the rotation. As for those talented-but-erratic members of the rotation I have such high hopes for - they're still a work in progress. Ervin did okay on Tuesday, but he didn't get much luck in wiggling out of jams. He ended up complaining about the umps in the media, which gets a big thumbs down from me. Get your head into your game, Ervin and have some fun. I'm not quite sure what to make of him yet. Kaz is even more of a mystery since he's only had one start. Naps raved about his slider in warmups, but it completely abandoned Kaz once he was on the mound. I'm not sure what to make of that. At times he seemed to be uncomfortable with his footing in the first inning. His pace was also noticably slower than in spring training. Nevertheless, he seemed to be in control for the first three innings, but then his mechanics appeared to explode and disaster followed. For Kaz to be successful, he needs his slider, but more importantly, he needs to stay within his mechanics and locate his fastball. He has plenty of time to turn it around, but he needs to trust himself.
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17 April 2010
11 April 2010
thoughts: opening week
Apologies for being MIA for the week - I was rudely reminded that, as a student, studying and hw come before baseball =(.
Anyways, I did manage to catch most of the games, with the exception of Friday's atrocity. Some thoughts/observations:
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Wow, so one week into the season and I've already been irrevocably proven wrong. Remember when I postulated that BWood would go about his business quietly? I still stand by my view that there was little pre-season talk about him. But then when the season started, BWood didn't do himself any favors by opening the season vying for a golden sombrero. I'm not too worried yet - it IS only a week into the season. I had thought he'd need some time to settle into being a major league player, but there seems to be an upswell of fans who are wigging out already. The funny thing is, I suspect that the spotlight on BWood is brighter because the lineup in general has been beyond anemic and he's an easy scapegoat. It's a tough way to open up a major league career, and I hope that BWood can hang in there.
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See, the losses and bad play have not been BWood alone. Sosh said it best:
Anyways, I did manage to catch most of the games, with the exception of Friday's atrocity. Some thoughts/observations:
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Wow, so one week into the season and I've already been irrevocably proven wrong. Remember when I postulated that BWood would go about his business quietly? I still stand by my view that there was little pre-season talk about him. But then when the season started, BWood didn't do himself any favors by opening the season vying for a golden sombrero. I'm not too worried yet - it IS only a week into the season. I had thought he'd need some time to settle into being a major league player, but there seems to be an upswell of fans who are wigging out already. The funny thing is, I suspect that the spotlight on BWood is brighter because the lineup in general has been beyond anemic and he's an easy scapegoat. It's a tough way to open up a major league career, and I hope that BWood can hang in there.
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See, the losses and bad play have not been BWood alone. Sosh said it best:
"We played four crappy games in every aspect..We could have played a triple-A team these last couple of nights and lost."I missed Friday's game, but what stuck out to me in the recaps wasn't the lack of offense or Palmer getting shelled, but the defensive lapses. I'm sure that's what annoyed Sosh the most, cause I sure hate it when players compound sucking with sucking-at-the-fundamental-stuff.
31 March 2010
great expectations
I've been churning out posts like crazy lately! What can I say, opening day has got me excited and inspired.
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Over at the OC Register Angels Blog, they've set up a little prediction questionarre, which yours truly filled out & submitted! Though it was fun to think about what would constitute a reasonable expectation (I want to win!), it didn't leave much room for, uh, creative spectulation.
So here's three of mine (since I'm endlessly pondering the Halos), complete with lots and lots of mindless explainations:
At least two of the 5 pitchers in the rotation will become a "number 1."
I've already pegged Kaz as doing big things this coming season, so what other pitcher am I expecting to rise? Weaver is a very appealing (and popular) choice among fans and talking heads alike, but this is about going out on a limb right? So how bout I pick Ervin Santana. Ervin is far from consistant, but I think he's gotten to a point where he's putting everything together. I like the maturity he's shown since that disasterous 2007 season and even more, I like that he's healthy and has regained his fastball velocity. He's always had the stuff to be really really good - it's always been about his head more than anything. I've seen a bit of a shift - the nonchalant character he had on the mound during the ALCS last year, the decision to focus on his health rather than play winter ball this offseason, and the easy and genial quotes he's giving the media. His description of Rodney as "a little crazy, but it's a good crazy, not a bad crazy" made me laugh and indicates to me that Ervin is back to being loose and just having fun playing the game. Sure, I could be wrong, but it'd make a fantastic story for two formally highly touted hard-throwing prospects to rebound from down years to rise to the top of this rotation.
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Over at the OC Register Angels Blog, they've set up a little prediction questionarre, which yours truly filled out & submitted! Though it was fun to think about what would constitute a reasonable expectation (I want to win!), it didn't leave much room for, uh, creative spectulation.
So here's three of mine (since I'm endlessly pondering the Halos), complete with lots and lots of mindless explainations:
At least two of the 5 pitchers in the rotation will become a "number 1."
I've already pegged Kaz as doing big things this coming season, so what other pitcher am I expecting to rise? Weaver is a very appealing (and popular) choice among fans and talking heads alike, but this is about going out on a limb right? So how bout I pick Ervin Santana. Ervin is far from consistant, but I think he's gotten to a point where he's putting everything together. I like the maturity he's shown since that disasterous 2007 season and even more, I like that he's healthy and has regained his fastball velocity. He's always had the stuff to be really really good - it's always been about his head more than anything. I've seen a bit of a shift - the nonchalant character he had on the mound during the ALCS last year, the decision to focus on his health rather than play winter ball this offseason, and the easy and genial quotes he's giving the media. His description of Rodney as "a little crazy, but it's a good crazy, not a bad crazy" made me laugh and indicates to me that Ervin is back to being loose and just having fun playing the game. Sure, I could be wrong, but it'd make a fantastic story for two formally highly touted hard-throwing prospects to rebound from down years to rise to the top of this rotation.
