are easier to defend than 2 and 1-run ones. Offense needs to come to life (as it has started to) to help this problem.

However, the number of “blowout losses” (I think we were 5-10 in “blowouts) stat I saw in the “Residue of Design” fanpost leads me to believe that there has been some serious Bootcheckage going on, too.

Bootcheckage = overall stinkiness by a bullpen

because of the angels offense. for example, 7th inning of a 2-2 game. We bring in a reliever with a 3.00 ERA. that means that one time in 3 innings, he will give up a run. Lets say the reliever pitches 2 innings. There is a 67 percent chance that he will give up 1 run. There is (according to baseball-reference.com s inning scoring) a 23% chance that teh angels will score a run in the 7th, 8th or 9th inning. So there is a greater chance taht the angel pitcher will give up a single run than the angels have a chance to score. And that 1 run (it could be 1 bad pitch and a solo HR) loses the game. While the bullpen could be alot better. The angels actually has a 27% chance of giving up a run in the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning. If we were the cubs and had a 32% chance of scoring a run in the 7th-9th inning, then there would be alot less losses from our relievers.
The average chance that a run will be scored in the 7th-9th inning in the MLB is a 26% chance. Same percentage for giving up runs. So while the bullpen has been slightly below average in late games (this isnt entirely accurate since the percentage doesnt take into account runs scored/given up, but rather whether any runs were scored/given up), it looks bad (win-loss) wise because the offense cant score

something has to be done. bottom line. i dont know if it’s a benching (or two), a trade and stern talking to… i dont know. whatever it is, it needs to happen – and fast.
our pitching has been phenomenal, there’s no doubt there. pitching, however, will eventually fail. there’s a whole stinking lot of pressure on those 5 starters right now. eventually, the lack of support from the offense is going to get to them. i’m not saying we’re going to end up with 5 guys that belong in a looney bin, but sooner or later, those guys are going to crack and things might get a little heated.
we can talk all we want about who needs to play and who needs to sit (i’ve written at least 3 articles to that effect), but the bottom line is, some changes need to be made.
if i remember correctly, scioscia said something a few weeks ago (maybe even 1 week) about how he knows about how bad the offense is (.319 OBP, are you kidding me??) and that changes would be made. it seems to me that there’s hasn’t been a whole of lot change since then. Anderson is still batting 3rd, GMJ is getting everyday ABs and Kotch is rotting away in the black hole.
i know there’s a whole lot of vet love (and even more love or Jeff Mathis-Scioscia), but at some point, you’re going to have to step on some toes. i’m not calling our management spineless, but i can calling them stubborn. worse than mules, actually.
there comes a time where change is good, and i think that time is now. it may be a trade, it may just be a change is starting personnel… i dont know.
but something needs to be done.

i was angry when i wrote my last comment. haha

Chicago Cubs (1998)
Florida Marlins (1998)
Atlanta Braves (1999)
Cleveland Indians (2000-2001)
Colorado Rockies (2001-2003)
Toronto Blue Jays (2004-2006)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2007-present)
Seattle Mariners (2009- ?)

Speier signed a four year, $18 million contract with the Angels on November 19, 2006. Justin seems to last at most two years before teams he plays for find out what he can or cannot do professionally. Maybe this will be the last season for him as an Angel.

Angels have been fuck’d by a poor offense. It’s hard to keep a lead when your lead barely exists in the first place. Offense needs to come back NOW.

How do other teams compare? As was stated above, they pitch for about 1/3 of the game. On average they pitch a little lower in the ERA than the starters means they lose a little less than 1/3.

Also remember that if you’re tied, someone in the pen is getting a win or a loss.

FYI 4 of the nine are uninspired lossses.

Last year we were 26% slightly better than this year at 30%
Boston is 11/32 this year 16/66 last year which is 34% and 24%
Whitesox 9/34 which is 26%
Twins are 12/36 33% and last year were 26.5%

8/29 would put us at 27.5% which appears to be good.
7/28 would put use at 25% which would appear to be stellar.

I’m not angry.

1 loss per guy is not really horrible at the half-way point. Speier is the only one who’s really guilty of letting us down.

91 runs for an ERA of 3.93. However, this includes 28.7 innings of relief from Jason Bulger, Rich Thompson, Chris Bootcheck, Dustin Moseley, and Alex Serrano, in the course of which was given up 33 runs. (Serrano is perhaps unfairly lumped with the others, as the one inning he’s pitched for the major league club was scoreless.)

The bullpen currently with the team, therefore, has pitched 183.3 innings and given up 58 runs, for an ERA of 2.85. In my opinion, that’s a perfectly acceptable bullpen ERA. The bullpen’s 9 losses have less to do with it’s performance than with the tendency of our offense to leave them with very little in the way of support. If the bullpen gives up 1 run in 3 innings of relief, they’ve done okay, and if that 1 run loses or ties the game, I’d say the offense is more often to blame than the pen.

I will grant that Justin Speier’s performance has been decidedly substandard, but other than that, the pen is doing it’s fair share and more.

oliver has been decent, no major meltdowns

speier caused me to have strokes earlier in the year but has done quite well in turning the corner, yeah he blew it last week against the mets, but frankie blew it first. and up to that point, speier had a scoreless inning streak of something like 12 or 13 innings.

dfa bootcheck

krod, shields, and arredondo couldnt be more pleasing.

we dont have a bad bullpen, and now that our offense has been kicking it into high gear only two games with less than 5 runs in the last week and a half or two weeks. i think we’ll see a much less likely to implode pen because they will have that cushion they need.