Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Stock Up, Stock Down for Los Angeles Angels Top 10 Prospects for Week of June 10

Rick Suter — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:03:33 -0400

While things may not be so hot for the Los Angeles Angels at the big league level, there has been a positive uprising down in the farm system.

For some time now, the Angels' minor league system has sat like a lazy turtle in the lower end of the MLB ranking pool. In fact, it has been ranked 30 out of 30 teams.

The low ranking has worried some, and with the Angels' current standing intensifying that fear...what does the future hold for the team?

Well, that's still a difficult question.

But the once bleak minor league system for the Angels has produced 13 All-Stars this season in the Single-A and Double-A ranks alone (Triple-A has yet to announce their All-Stars). And the team also did a fine job restocking an array of much-needed arms via the 2013 MLB draft.

So, things are looking better for the Halos (at least).

Sure, the future for the new draft picks is too unknown at this point—some not even signed yet—for the crystal ball predictions. I wouldn't expect any of you to believe some rant explaining otherwise. However, no time is better than the present to take a look at the Angels' current top 10 prospects in the minors and see who is up—closer to the dream—and who is down—closer to reality.

Note: All stats were provided courtesy of MiLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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How the Angels Spent $450 Million and Became 1 of the Worst Teams in Baseball

Zachary D. Rymer — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:27:39 -0400

The Los Angeles Angels are a mess. Their 29-38 record is the second-worst mark in the American League, and the Texas Rangers and Oakland A's are miles ahead of them in the AL West.

But the Angels aren't just any mess. They're the kind of mess that invites rubbernecking. It's impossible not to see them, slow down and say, "Man, how did that happen?"

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The last couple years have seen the Angels spend roughly $450 million on big-name free agents with the sole purpose in mind to do great things. And after nearly making the playoffs in 2012, they were supposed to get in and go to the World Series this year. The 2013 season was supposed to see them do anything but fall apart at the seams like they have.

How it's all gone downhill is probably already a book-length subject. But since all I've got here is an article, the best I can do is focus on the miscalculations and misfortunes that waylaid the Angels.

The story goes a little something like this...

Misstep: The Extension and Subsequent Marginalization of Mike Scioscia

Let's step into the TARDIS and travel back to January 2009.

At the time, the Angels were fresh off their fourth postseason appearance in five years and had won 194 regular-season games in 2007 and 2008. All under the watchful gaze of Mike Scioscia.

You can't blame Angels owner Arte Moreno for wanting to lock a guy like that up for the long haul. Moreno did that and then some, signing Scioscia to a 10-year contract extension that had the potential to keep him in Anaheim through 2018.

Ten years is a long time to commit to any manager, but the Angels committing that many years to Scioscia felt right. He first came aboard in 2000 and proceeded to make the Angels into a powerhouse by crafting them in his image. The Angels played a unique brand of baseball under him, one characterized by aggressiveness on offense, strong defense and quality relief pitching.

After committing 10 years to Scioscia, you'd think that the Angels would have made it a directive right then and there that the club would continue to be operate in his image. Evidently, that never happened.

Since he replaced Tony Reagins in October 2011, general manager Jerry Dipoto has further and further cemented himself as the man in charge in Anaheim, even going so far as to fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, one of Scioscia's longtime generals, last May.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Scioscia actually considered stepping down after Hatcher was given the boot. Even now, Rosenthal says that Dipoto and Scioscia have a strained relationship, which is easy to believe.

It's not just that Dipoto has knocked Scioscia from his throne. There's also the reality that the Angels have moved away from Scioscia-ball and more toward the "Moneyball model." They're less about being aggressive and more about powering up.

This is especially true now in 2013. Per FanGraphs, the Angels are ninth in home runs and 21st in stolen bases. Not exactly what you'd expect from a Mike Scioscia team.

Marginalizing Scioscia and doing away with Scioscia-ball could have worked, mind you. Other teams have won with the Moneyball model. The Angels could have, too.

Part of the reason why they're not has to do with bad investments, and you know which one of those stands out the most.

Bad Investment: Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols suffered through the worst season of his career in 2011. He hit 37 homers, but his .906 OPS was well below the career mark of 1.050 that he bore at the start of the season.

The Angels wanted Pujols anyway, so much so that they signed him to a 10-year, $254 million contract that had the baseball world buzzing.

"Albert's career performance clearly speaks for itself," said Dipoto in a statement, via ESPNLosAngeles.com. "He has proven to be the best player of his generation."

That was the sentiment of the hour when Pujols signed. Sure, he was coming off a down year, but he was Albert freakin' Pujols. He'd figure it out.

Looking back now, however, the warning signs were there.

The big injury Pujols dealt with in 2011 was a fractured wrist that put him on the disabled list, but his Baseball Prospectus injury database also shows a hamstring strain, a wrist contusion, a hand contusion, shoulder soreness and an ankle sprain. These were precisely the kind of nagging injuries that age tends to invite. And at 31, Pujols was no spring chicken in 2011.

There was also Pujols' plate discipline in 2011, which wasn't very Pujols-esque. Per FanGraphs, he saw his BB% tumble below 10 percent for the first time in his career, and he also hacked at more pitches outside the strike zone than ever before.

Consider those last two paragraphs together. They should read like a prophesy for what Pujols would become.

Indeed. Once baseball's brightest star, Pujols has only traveled further down the path he began treading in 2011. Good health has continued to elude him, and his plate discipline is still far from what it once was. This year, he's swinging at more pitches outside the strike zone than infamous bad-ball chasers like Ichiro Suzuki and Adrian Beltre (see FanGraphs).

Pujols' deal isn't the only contract the Angels have handed out that's living up to the warning signs. The other big one the Angels handed out during the 2011-2012 offseason is, too.

Bad Investment: C.J. Wilson

Contrary to Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson was coming off his best season when the Angels signed him to a five-year, $77.5 million deal.

Wilson had just gone 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA for a Texas Rangers team that made it to within one strike of winning the World Series. On the surface, he looked like just the kind of guy you want at the top of your rotation: talented and a winner.

One thing that didn't make sense about Wilson's 2011 season was his walk rate. After posting a 4.10 BB/9 in 2010, his BB/9 fell to 2.98.

Quite the improvement, but it didn't add up.

Here's a look at Wilson's Zone%'s (that being the percentage of pitches he's thrown in the strike zone) in 2011 as compared to 2010, according to both Baseball Info Solutions and PITCHf/x by way of FanGraphs:

Year	BIS Zone%	PITCHf/x Zone%
2010	46.1	50.4
2011	46.3	50.7

These numbers show a very slight improvement in Wilson's ability to throw strikes. One much more slight than his walk rate would lead one to believe, anyway.

And there's the problem. Wilson's 2011 walk rate looked like a guarantee that he had sharpened up his command when the subject was, in fact, still up for debate.

A couple years later, Wilson's 2.98 BB/9 from 2011 looks like an obvious outlier. His BB/9 went back up to 4.05 in 2012, and it's at 3.90 this year. Not so coincidentally, he's gone from being a sub-3.00 ERA pitcher to a guy with a 3.88 ERA in an Angels uniform.

Now, to be fair, it takes a lot more than two bad investments and a disconnect between a GM and a manager to kill a baseball team. These things help, but they can't kill a team quite like Murphy's Law.

The Angels can tell you all about that just from their experiences in 2012.

Murphy's Law: The Angels' 2012 Season

It's hard to give the Angels too much guff about what happened in 2012. They won 89 games, after all, and were one of baseball's best teams after Mike Trout came aboard in late April.

That's one thing that went right for the Angels. Everything else, though...

The Angels were expecting huge production out of Pujols. They eventually got it, but not before he slumped to the tune of a .536 OPS through his first 36 games.

The Angels were expecting a big season out of Wilson, too. They only got half of one, as he went from having a 2.43 ERA in the first half to having a 5.54 ERA in the second half.

Elsewhere in the starting rotation, the Angels were expecting big seasons out of Dan Haren and Ervin Santana, who both posted ERAs in the low 3.00s and combined for 27 wins in 2011. The 2012 season saw their ERAs skyrocket, and they both ended up with losing records.

In the bullpen, the Angels were expecting Jordan Walden to follow his All-Star rookie season with an even better sophomore season as the club's closer. He was demoted from the closer's role before April was even over, and the bullpen was thrown into a state of flux for the rest of the season.

Ernesto Frieri eventually stabilized the closer's role, but even he struggled in August when the Angels bullpen lost a staggering seven games (see FanGraphs).

Considering all this, it's actually amazing that the Angels managed to win 89 games. Things could have been a lot worse.

At the same time, it was obvious that things needed to get a lot better. That's where things went wrong the ensuing winter.

The Wrong Idea: The Angels' 2012-13 Offseason

It wasn't hard to spot the weaknesses that Dipoto needed to address last winter.

Jered Weaver pitched well all season, and Zack Greinke added some stability after he came over from the Milwaukee Brewers at the trade deadline, but the Angels' starting pitching was a weakness in 2012. Combined, their starters posted a mediocre 4.04 ERA.

The bullpen was worse. Despite Frieri's best efforts, Angels relievers still only managed a 3.97 ERA that ranked 22nd in baseball. Only the Brewers and Colorado Rockies blew more saves.

The Angels' shopping list for the winter should have consisted of the following: pitching, pitching and more pitching—and not just any pitching...the good stuff.

Moreno had other ideas. According to Ken Rosenthal, it was Moreno who spearheaded the club's pursuit of Josh Hamilton, and his signing left little financial wiggle room for Dipoto to rebuild the pitching staff. He was going to have to do what he could.

Gone went Haren, Santana and Greinke, who signed a then-record contract for a right-hander with those blasted Los Angeles Dodgers.

In their place, Dipoto put Jason Vargas, Tommy Hanson and Joe Blanton. It only cost Kendrys Morales to get Vargas, Walden to get Hanson, and $15 million over two years to get Blanton. Like that, the club's mediocre rotation was replaced by a thrifty one that promised to be equally mediocre.

Dipoto spent a little more freely on the bullpen, issuing $8 million to Sean Burnett and $3.5 million (guaranteed) to Ryan Madson. The latter was a calculated risk, as Madson was still recovering from Tommy John surgery and would only be able to help the Angels once/if he got healthy.

The pitching staff was retooled, but it was clear all along that much was going to have to go right in order for the retooling effort to pay off.

It all went down seemingly for the sake of bringing aboard Hamilton, who would surely be able to shore up...

Well, an area that didn't really need to be shored up. After finishing fourth in MLB in runs scored in 2012, the Angels were hardly in dire need of another hitter.

These being the Angels, it's only natural that the hitter they didn't need to spend on has turned out to be another bad investment.

Bad Investment: Josh Hamilton

With Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the warning signs were subtle. There, but subtle.

The same can't be said of the warning signs with Hamilton. It was obvious the moment he inked his five-year, $125 million contract that the Angels were going out on a limb.

Hamilton was as hot as Kate Upton at the center of the sun through the first six weeks of the 2012 season, but he hit only .251 with a .325 OBP over his final 116 games. His prolonged slump was characterized by an abundance of strikeouts, and those were no accident.

Hamilton swung at pretty much everything thrown in his general direction in 2012. Per FanGraphs, only Delmon Young hacked at more pitches, and nobody swung at more pitches outside the strike zone. Worse, nobody swung and missed at more pitches than Hamilton did.

The Angels had no choice but to hope that things would change in 2013. Instead, it's been par for the course.

Hamilton is still among the game's most prolific hackers, right up there next to Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Gomez (see FanGraphs). He's also still chasing more bad pitches than he should be, and he's is whiffing more often than all but two other players.

For Hamilton's $15 million salary, what the Angels are getting is a .217/.274/.390 slash line. Rather than bolster what was already a strong offense, he's made it weaker.

That's just one of many things that has gone wrong for the Angels in 2013. Murphy's Law is attacking them again.

Murphy's Law Again: The Angels' 2013 Season

The Angels got off on the right foot this season, winning on Opening Day in Cincinnati in extras by the final of 3-1.

The mess started to materialize soon after.

The three big signings have all been disappointments. We know about Hamilton, and Pujols has been only marginally better with a .757 OPS. Rather than key components of an elite offense, they're just "meh" components of an offense that ranks eighth in the American League in runs scored.

Wilson, meanwhile, has a 4.02 ERA and has had only two starts in which he hasn't walked multiple hitters. He hasn't been horrible, but he's certainly pitched much more like a back-end starter than a front-end starter.

Elsewhere in the starting rotation, only Vargas has turned out to be a reliable producer. Weaver had to go on the DL after his second start of the season and has been hit-or-miss in the starts he has made. Hanson has been limited to seven starts, in which he has an ERA over 4.00. Blanton has an ERA near 6.00 and has already lost 10 games.

The bullpen has been worse off. Madson still hasn't pitched yet, and it's up in the air whether he'll be able to pitch at all in 2013 after suffering a setback in his recovery. Burnett has since joined Madson on the DL with an elbow problem. The relievers who are and have been active have posted a 4.11 ERA that ranks 23rd in MLB.

Put numbers like these together, and there's no way you're ending up with anything other than a rotten team.

The best thing this particular rotten team can do now is serve as a cautionary tale with a number of key lessons:

Lesson 1: Don't make a long-term commitment to a manager only to marginalize him later.

Lesson 2: Don't say "yes" when the warning signs say "no."

Lesson 3: Help your team where it actually needs help.

Lesson 4: Hope like hell that the baseball gods are on your side.

No, there's not a lot teams can do about that last one. But if the Angels are any indication, the baseball gods are going to be a lot nicer if you don't screw up the first three.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Salary and contract info courtesy of Cot's Baseball Contracts.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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3 Adjustments the Los Angeles Angels Need to Make to Get Back on Track

Rick Suter — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:18:57 -0400

At this point in 2010, the Los Angeles Angels were 66 games into the season and in good standing. They were 36-30 (0.5 games back) and carrying the proverbial brooms on the way to a sweep of their NL foes, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Things were good.

Then it all fell apart, losing luster like a Christmas tree in May. The Angels went 44-52 down the stretch, finishing under .500 (80-82) for the first time since 2003. It was not what the team expected—to say the least.

Fast-forward three years and the Angels find themselves in familiar territory, though in the reversal of (mis)fortune.

In the first 66 games of the 2013 season, the Angels stand at 28-38 (11 games back) while seemingly getting swept by every team they play—including a terrible Houston team.

Things…well, they are not great.

It will take a miraculous turnaround in the next 96 games to change any opinion of what has been a less-than-stellar year. To put the difficulty in perspective, know this: the Angels will need to go 61-35 just to reach last season’s mark of 89-73—when they missed the playoffs.

But that isn’t to say all hope is lost. There are worse things. That is to say, however, things will need to change.

A tweak here, a tweak there—if success in baseball depends on the ability to make adjustments, then the Angels will be a prime example, should they do the unthinkable and get back on track.

Following Wednesday’s much-needed win on the road against the Baltimore Orioles, Albert Pujols—fresh off his 486th home run—had this to say to reporters, including MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez:

There's always urgency, since Day 1. You always want to win games and win series. Obviously, it hasn't been like that, the way we want it to, but hopefully we can change that.

Yep, change is good, Albert. And that doesn’t sound like too lofty of a goal; nothing is a complete impossibility.

And if Pujols wants to make a change, then I applaud it.

Possibly, start here.

Add more of a dynamic to the batting order

Tinkering with a batting order is usually first in line when a team is consistently stuck with small run production numbers, while actually carrying a decent average. The Angels are currently sixth in batting average, but ninth in runs scored in the AL.

Solutions?

Lineup-wise, there have been a variety of chess-like maneuvers by manager Mike Scioscia. Mainly, he’s been trying to figure out where to hit (hide?) Josh Hamilton.

Whether it’s second, fifth or fourth, his positioning ultimately has shifted the others in an attempt to get the most RBI output without throwing off too much comfortable rhythm.

The problem is, there has not been a comfortable rhythm.

The latest—and most confusing—lineup had the trio (Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton and Pujols) hitting consecutively. Good idea, sort of. But that doesn’t necessarily allow other players, who work well toward the OPS, a chance to do their thing.

Sticking with a more balanced attack is the right idea; it’s one that got the Halos a six-run seventh inning yesterday. Mark Trumbo hitting third, with Hamilton behind Pujols, takes care of RBI production in the front of the order. Howie Kendrick resets the attack at the bottom, with a nice bit of speed at the ninth spot with Erick Aybar.

That gives Trout RBI opportunity at the leadoff spot, making the reasoning for hitting him first more tolerable.

Sure, with the strikeout possibility by Peter Bourjos, it may be difficult to hit him second—J.B. Shuck showed great plate discipline in that role—or leadoff. So this may be short-lived.

However, it’s a good start.

Re-think the rotation, not the bullpen

I’m not going to waste a barrage of adjectives and adverbs describing Joe Blanton. He’s bad.

But he doesn’t deserve the blame entirely. Prior to the Red Sox outing, he did have three quality starts.

In reality, every starting pitcher for the Angels has been a mess at one point or another this year. And getting rid of Blanton’s follies, though it will help, is only one-fifth of the battle.

Someone needs to take the reins.

Solutions?

Keeping Jerome Williams in the rotation is the smart move, at least for now. It would be a simple flip-flop. Blanton can take Williams' spot as long-relief in the ‘pen—where he can work on his command, possibly gaining the head game needed to pitch successfully.

It’s not the greatest solution…but neither is sending a guy to the mound with 10 losses already under his belt.

The bullpen, on the other hand, hasn’t been terrible; it just seems that way because of health issues. They have converted 73 percent of the save opportunities (Al average is 70). They also have 36 holds. Not bad stuff for a group that is held together by a Band-Aid.

While this dilemma continues—without Ryan Madson or Sean Burnett—the best advice would be to remain calm. And though all is not well, it’s best to stick with a simple depth chart.

Sure, there is the possibility of picking up an arm at the trade deadline, but that may be too late. Again, time is not on the Angels’ side.

If this season is going to get on the winning side, then it will be this collective headache of hurlers dong so.

That doesn't necessarily make for bad news...at least, from the bullpen perspective.

Defense

When your pitching is bad, giving opposing teams extra outs is a surefire way to lose a game.

The Angels have been giving a ton of extra outs this year. It’s disheartening; their defense was something I thought would keep them in the AL West race this year.

They have 49 errors this year, one behind Houston. Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar have combined for 14 errors, Alberto Callaspo has seven, and the solid outfield has been shadowed by Hamilton’s four errors.

Some of the lackadaisical efforts may be from the serious disease in baseball known as losing. That’s true. Regardless of the diagnosis, however, taking a little time before games with the fungo bat might not hurt.

The mental preparation—that seems to be disappearing—needs to start with the coaching staff. I know that I give little credit to coaches in the MLB. But that doesn't mean I don't expect them to live up to the definition of their job title.

So grab a bat, coach.

Will any of this work? Near perfection, lasting 90-plus games? If it did, I think the Rally Monkey’s hair would fall out. But Pujols—still the veteran leader in the clubhouse in my opinion—thinks it can.

In the same interview to reporters yesterday he also had this to say:

You can't think about the first 60-plus games that we already played. You need to think ahead of us, what we have, and how many games we can win in a month by taking it one game at a time. That's pretty much it.

One game at a time was not how the 2010 Angels did it. So maybe there is something to learn from the past in this case.

However, that also leaves this slice of history: Not too far from the confines of Anaheim in 2010, in the Hollywood realm, director Gary Marshall and the studio suits were putting together a top-tier cast for a film called Valentines Day.

It was one of the biggest flops that year, landing on this Rotten Tomatoes list to start the new decade.

So maybe the lesson, then, is overspending for a star cast (roster) doesn’t necessarily equate to the best show (record).

Note: All stats were provided courtesy of baseball-reference.com unless otherwise noted.

For more from Rick Suter follow him on Twitter @rick_suter.

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The One Player Angels Fans Are Losing Their Patience with

Kevin Belhumeur — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:45:15 -0400

Josh Hamilton was supposed to help the Angels get back to the playoffs. He was supposed to join Mike Trout and Albert Pujols to form one of the most dangerous and electrifying lineups the game has ever seen.

But it simply hasn't happened.

And Angels fans are starting to get frustrated.

Other than Hamilton's inability to hit left-handed pitching this season, the biggest disappointment in his game has certainly been in the power department.

Through 64 games (245 at-bats), Hamilton is slugging just .392 with nine home runs. In 2011 and 2012, Hamilton posted slugging percentages of .536 and .577 respectively.

A decrease in slugging percentage typically signifies a decline in extra-base hits (especially home runs).

According to Mike Podhorzer of FanGraphs.com, Hamilton's average home run plus fly ball distance for the first 40 games of the season stood at 268 feet. In a rather surprising comparison, his distances since 2007 typically averaged between 290-300 feet.

What does this mean?

Josh Hamilton is simply not hitting the ball as hard as he used to.

Hamilton's home run/fly ball ratio is down this season. Last year, he hit a home run on 25.6 percent of his fly balls. This season, only 11.4 percent of the balls he hits in the air make it over the outfield fence.

Because there are two sides to every debate, we are left wondering whether Josh Hamilton has actually lost power or is just in a prolonged home run slump?

Because the slugger's ground ball/fly ball ratios have essentially been the same over the past two years (0.92 and 0.99), a realistic argument can be made that Josh Hamilton no longer possesses the same home run ability he once had in Texas.

In addition, his line drive percentage this season is also very comparable to that of 2012 (20.1 percent).

If Hamilton is hitting roughly the same percentage of ground balls, fly balls and line drives as he did last year (when he hit 43 home runs), what explains his nine home runs through 64 games in Anaheim?

Comment below with your take on why Hamilton is struggling to hit for power this season.

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Angels vs. Orioles Video: Watch Peter Bourjos' Incredible HR-Saving Catch

Josh Schoch — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:27:19 -0400

Peter Bourjos just made Tuesday's game between the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Angels all about him.

In just the bottom of the first inning, Bourjos saw J.J. Hardy blast a 1-1 pitch to deep center and climbed the wall to take back what would have been a two-run home run. Even teammate Mike Trout must be jealous.

You can bet that Bourjos will be all over SportsCenter on Wednesday thanks to this gem of a catch, and I'd even venture so far as to say that this could be the catch of the year.

For those of you questioning whether moving Mike Trout to left field in place of Bourjos was a mistake defensively, I think we just got our answer.

Peter Bourjos Just made one the greatest catches you will ever See!!!!#greatcatches #angels #epic twitter.com/RogerLodge7/st…
— Roger Lodge (@RogerLodge7) June 11, 2013

This isn't Bourjos' first time robbing hitters, however. He has had five home-run-saving catches since 2010, which leads MLB.

Peter Bourjos just made his 5th career HR robbery, tied with Cameron Maybin for the most since 2010.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 11, 2013

Bourjos clearly has the speed, timing and athleticism to be an elite fielder, and he shows it off at regular intervals. We've seen him rob Daniel Murphy, make diving catches and simply become a hitter's nightmare in 2011.

This must feel like deja vu for Hardy, as just last year he was robbed by an Angels center fielder, but that time it happened to be Trout.

A year and a day after Mike Trout's superhuman catch against the Orioles, Peter Bourjos makes the… instagram.com/p/acAofKL2Cg/
— Mike Furrh (@Mike_Furrh) June 11, 2013

Bourjos is back from the DL, and the fans love it.

I'm already looking forward to the Peter Bourjos poster giveaway Angels stadium will be giving away soon of that catch...
— ℓкяgιяℓ (@LKRGIRL) June 11, 2013

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Were Umpires Negligent in Not Stopping Angels-O's Game Despite Obvious Monsoon?

Chris Stephens — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:34:32 -0400

Do we have another umpire problem on our hands?

After what transpired Monday between the Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles, it would seem so.

Infield dirt in Camden Yards all mud and puddles. Really can't believe this game is still being played. Jones sac fly. #Orioles 4-2 lead.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 11, 2013

That's right, with the rain falling as hard as it was, the game was still played into the bottom of the sixth.

NOW the umps are calling for tarp and rain delay? Wow ... in my opinion, this was poorly handled by Joe West and crew. #Angels #Orioles
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 11, 2013

As if this season hasn't been bad enough for the Angels, then this news comes along.

We've been told that if play doesn't resume, the #orioles will win 4-2.
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) June 11, 2013

DiGiovanna also had this to point out:

This is same crew that made #Cardinals and #Royals wait out a 5-hour rain delay recently. #Angels-#Orioles #rain
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 11, 2013

This hasn't been a good year thus far for umpires.

From the number of missed calls, which dates back to last year's one-game playoff between the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves to the multiple times umpires have tried to show up players, it hasn't been good.

The biggest question is, why was the game continued to be played?

Joe West is the worst umpire in MLB, why is he allowed to continue to ump? Another bad decision by that moron! #Angels #Orioles
— Dan Rios (@angelfandan) June 11, 2013

Some fans are getting fed up with the umpires, especially West, who is on the other end of another bad umpiring decision.

Many could guess the umpires wanted to give the Orioles a chance to score in the bottom of the sixth the same way the Angels scored in the top half of the inning.

It happened between the Braves and New York Mets in a game earlier in the year. The Braves scored two in the top of the eighth when the teams shouldn't have been playing. So, the Mets then got their chance and scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 5-5.

Neither team should have batted because of the rain, but the umpires' bad decision came to the forefront when an error and wild pitch allowed the runs to score for the Mets.

The only humor that comes out of this is the Orioles had an old baseball saying actually come true...literally.

Orioles may have had "ducks on the pond" before they finally went to a rain delay. But i think i saw actual ducks on a pond near shortstop.
— Nick DeMott (@Nick_DeMott) June 11, 2013

With the kind of rain that was falling, there wouldn't have been actual ducks. But using baserunners in place of ducks (which is done in the saying), there literally were ducks on the pond.

Back to the issue at hand...this game shouldn't have continued with it raining as much as it was.

The game should have been delayed and finished when the weather was more suitable.

Baseball needs to have a system in place for calling games. Something that is across the board.

Frankly, we can't continue to have games be decided because umpires fail to call a game due to the weather when everybody else knows they should.

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