This team is just not that good, and the “little ball” brand of baseball is not exciting when the team is not winning. The die-hard fans will show up regardless, but Arte needs to amp up the entertainment value of the product he’s selling or accept the diminished financial return.

Scioscia, Reagins, and Arte are not infallible even with previous successes, and some of their decisions to date continue to make little sense (e.g. Wood, not trading prospects, not signing draft choices). I continue to give them the benefit of the doubt recognizing their baseball operations expertise, however I am concerned that at times they do seem very stubborn in not changing their approach or decisions.

Prior success does not guarantee future success. The season is not a wash yet, but this team can’t keep doing the same thing and expect the outcome to be any different. 2009 is not 2002.

I don’t know if it will happen, but it should settle them down a bit. I saw some batters last night that looked either confused or frustrated (Vlad, HK, Napoli). If they can get on a small winning roll, it may help restore some of their confidence, and it will get us back toward the front of this division.
Pitching seems to be coming along just fine.
Get our slugging percentage somewhere near average, and we will should be fine.

lets remember the economic climate for a second and realize people might be looking for places here and there to cut back and save and a few baseball games that you can watch on TV are an easy place to start trimming back.

I do agree the team has to do something to jolt the fanbase for next season to generate some buzz. While we have guys who can produce, guys like Vlad and Abreu and Juan Rivera are all boring draws and the crowd is USED to them, even if theyre still productive at this point in their careers (which vlad and abreu are declining in as well) and we’ve continued to fail at producing our own young stars to get excited about with Kendrick falling off a cliff and Wood being banished in favor of the Aybars and Izturis’ of the world (aka guys who get it done, but dont give you a reason to tune in). There’s no Hanley Ramirez or Manny or Pujols or Tim Lincecum. We just have for the most part the same guys we’ve always had except a bunch of them are getting worse.

We live in a part of the country with endless places for the normal person to spend their entertainment dollars. Amazing atmosphere and stadium aside, the Angels just aren’t the most entertaining product this year. That’s not an issue for anybody who comes here and loves the team regardless, but it certainly is for the families and casual people who help fill the seats.

I had thought about calling out the Angels in the Game Thread last night but i didn’t want to be a ‘’sky is falling" guy. But this team just doesn’t seem that good. Angels’ baseball is about timely hitting, running/stealing, good starting pitching, good defense, good bullpen. We have had, until recently good starting pitching. The bullpen is a mess (minus Fuentes who has been okay), our defense (minus Torii and Figgy) is just not that good, we are aging so the base path speed is not there, and timely hitting has simply gone away many times. Soth’s greatest strength is that he is patient, loyal, and he knows baseball is a marathon not a sprint. Yet, sometimes to avoid entropy stable teams like Soth produces need new energy, they need to be shook up. Maybe you can be too patient, too loyal, too long term in your thinking and all the while, Texas extends their league while attendance drops.

I’ve gone to four games this year and they have lost three of them, and all three were complete blowouts.

Tough economic times, a tight budget having, and a boring and deteriorating product on the field only increases my resistance to showing up at the ticket office.

Don’t get me wrong, I follow every game. I just don’t want to pay money to watch what the Angels are putting on the field.

It’s hard for me to fork out for gas, tix, parking, food, etc. for a game nowadays (for 4 people). I’m quite content watching the game on the big screen at home.

It’s been a month and a half. If he can’t figure it out (or he’s hiding an injury), he needs to be facing minor league pitching. Send up B. Wood, move Figgins to 2B, and let’s get busy.

Angels fans are slowly realizing that this team is not really that great. If they were in any other division in baseball they would be buried in the standings. The AL West is a weak division and the fans are beginning to see this. If enough of them stop gathering at the stadium like sheep and make a stand by not showing up then Arte and the management team will realize that fans want a real winner on the field not just a nice team that competes. Enough with little ball….this is not 2002 where that team caught lighting in a bottle and won it all. Remember they didn’t even win the division that year. You need pitching, clutch hitting, solid defense and power to win the World Series. Singles hitting infielders and lack of power hitting outfielders will win you nothing in baseball. Management needs to overhaul this team during the off season and either tell Scioscia to go with a different way of playing or it’s time so say goodbye to him as manager. You can’t keep living in the past.

Yeah, you keep going back to 2002. What has happened since then? A few division titles followed by them getting their butts handed to them in the playoffs. If this is what you like year after year then by all means enjoy it. Don’t you want the Angels to be a contender every year? Have some passion……why just be happy with a division title followed by an early playoff loss? Why not question Scioscia about his style of play? It hasn’t worked for years now. You really believe that Figgins, Aybar, Izturis, Mathis, Kendrick, Abreu and an aging Vlad is going to bring you a World Series? Plus, if you really believe that Hunter, who obviously is the teams best player is going to win AL MVP then I have some wonderful swampland to sell you. Remember what Lackey said after last season…he would need to see what the team does to really become a World Series contender if he’s going to sign long term with them……if I’m him, I’m thinking about how I’d look in pinstripes or with that Red Sox logo across my chest.

Leading up to July they’ll start getting their stuff back. After the all star break we’ll have a nice healthy team and really be ready to get at it. I’m really excited about the prospect of finally having a healthy team going into the post-season.

of course the hardcore “jersey buying” fans are going to go no matter what (maybe not as much, but they’ll be there). but the casual fan may not be coming out to the stadium because of money problems. if you’re a casual fan and you suddenly don’t have as much extra cash, what’s going to be the first thing to go? the overpriced trips to the stadium.

i also think a small part of the problem may be the product on the field… sure we have some great players, but as a team, they can get a little frustrating. to the fan, small ball might get a little old after a while. it’s just not as exciting as it was back in 2002.

Anyone who has the time to go over all these attendance stats and compare this year to last year and compare OPS stats is never going to admit that this team this year just isn’t that good. You won’t be able to talk to them about reality of clutch hitting and lack of power that is needed to win it all. Attendance figures don’t mean a damn thing. It’s the players on the field and so far this team just isn’t that good.

/sarcasm off

Another great performance by the bullpen.