Jeff Mathis Goes Gutless in Angels Loss
by Rev Halofan on Jul 18, 2010 3:51 PM PDT
in Postgame
111 comments
Final Score in Anaheim: Mariners 2, Angels 1 in 10 innings ...
What a game for the pathetic failed prospect known as Jeff Mathis. Once one of many overhyped Angels minor leaguers to give fanboys of Anaheim dreams of glory the already washed up Mathis gave up the game Sunday afternoon and cost the Angels a game in the standings in the process.
The Mariners scored a run in regulation because Mathis could not handle a pitch in the dirt from Ervin Santana. Mathis is behind the plate for his defense. The gutless wonder lollygagged a toss to his pitcher with a close slide at the plate by just another Mariners minor leaguer playing in the big leagues for the Pac-Nor-West 4-A franchise.
Meanwhile Bengie Molina hit for the cycle on Saturday but the fanboys still want Troy Glaus back after Dallas McPherson dashed their dreams. Seeing as many internet shut-ins are the size of Bengie Molina, the self-loathing is projected his way I guess. Meanwhile ugly Mathis is lost at the plate, lost behind the plate and, well, when you look at him... he kinda looks like the guy bumming change at the Shell station on Katella pretending he is waiting for the westbound bus until he sees you walk out of the convenience store dumping that 85 cents change in your pocket. And he is so afraid of being busted by the Shell rent-a-cop he could not throw at a baserunner if his pocket of change depended on it. The Mariners ran on him faster than a Mission Viejo soccer mom gets back in the minivan when the bus-stop bum comes a change-jinglin' at pump number 2...
Jeffo Banjo Bum could not bunt late in the game when the Angels needed him most and the stain of his karma on the team was removed momentarily when Paul McAnulty batted for him in the 10th and drew a walk. But David Aardsma struck out Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick with the tying and winning runs on base and that 4 and a half game deficit was back pretty quick.
And Bobby Abreu is a choker and Kevin Jepsen is not the answer to this team's problems.
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pretty solid write up.
Chan Gailey's #1 Fan!
by norcaliangelsfan on Jul 18, 2010 3:55 PM PDT reply actions
Yah, he had a terrible game. Cost us the game.
His failed bunt attempt probably would have given us the lead. The M’s just ran all over him.
Though he is the BOTG, One bad game does not a man make.
by Wally's World on Jul 18, 2010 10:36 PM PDT up reply actions
How about 4 years of shit?
Does 4 years of shit a man make?
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 8:25 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
your forgetting the LCS last year. When it counted the most, he stepped up.
by Wally's World on Jul 19, 2010 3:07 PM PDT up reply actions
So in Wally's world, one bad game does not a man make, but a few good games does a man make?
Got it.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 4:01 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Remember those two games that Wood went 3-4?
Damn he is a great ball player
Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage
too much positive spin on this write-up
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
Which is why I asked about Torii for BOTG.
Of course, in Torii’s case, that was a rifle shot that Wilson was lucky to get, and Howie probably should have waited closer to the base…
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
Here is his facebook headline
Why is Jeff Mathis doing anything related to baseball other than delivering a bag of peanuts to you and me in our seats?
I fully agree
Put Naps at C, and trade for a 1B than can OPS at least like 750….. That shouldn’t cost too much…
Why not bring Trumbo up instead of trade him?
His OPS this year stands at .871. I really don’t understand why we brought up McAnulty in the first place.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 7:35 PM PDT up reply actions
So wait
Are you in favor or not in favor of Jeff Mathis? I can’t tell from this piece.
Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage
I think this game
gave the Halos a reason for another 1st baseman so Naps can catch more. Today was just ridiculous.
if they don't make a trade
I’d like to see Trumbo given a chance, and this coming from a guy who never liked him as a prospect except for that brief time in between signing him and actually seeing his stats. The guy is controlling the strikezone recently with more walks than k’s, and for a guy that can hit the ball a country mile as well that is an accomplishment
They can go ahead and send Wilson back down.
That would make room for Trumbo. Wilson hasn’t seen any action in ages anyway.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 7:37 PM PDT up reply actions
23% CS rate after today's game.
For an ‘elite’ defender, he’s never exceeded 26% in a season.
According to FanGraphs player valuations, he’s been worth 0 WAR over six seasons, equivalent to zero USD. He’s the FG benchmark for a worthless player.
It’s a shame we don’t have more holistic metrics for catcher defense — we’d likely find he’s worse than worthless.
by Turks Teeth on Jul 18, 2010 4:15 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Last time I checked, Naps CS was 28%. League avg. is 24%.
I also think Naps has really matured in calling games. Santana in particular has thrown some gems with Naps catching this year. Remember how Ervin used to prefer Mathis? Not after today. We really should consider bringing up Trumbo and relegating Mathis to the bench, maybe in a couple weeks.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Still within striking distance for a panther.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions
McAnulty DFA'd, Kazmir to DL, Izturis headed back
http://twitter.com/VictorRojas29/status/18871298007
Wonder who will be starting for Kazmir then
the guy walks in his last ab for us.....
Honestly I’d DFA Aldridge… but that’s splitting hairs with Trumbo in the wings
Ya, I'm guessing they prefer Aldridge's ability to play the OF though.
McAnulty will most likely just end up back in Salt Lake though, like Mike Ryan did
with the day off they don't need a 5th starter for a bit
my bet is Bell since his last AAA start was decent and they said they sent him to AAA to be a starter in Anaheim if needed
so this is as good as it gets eh?
When I'm not at the stadium, I'd rather be watching my Halos back in Costa Rica!
by Dono Romantico on Jul 18, 2010 4:45 PM PDT up reply actions
I've been screaming about Mathis for years
The guy is just not any good at anything. In the real world, being as bad at your job as Jeff Mathis is gets you fired. I’ll never understand why he won his arbitration case in the off-season, but then again, I’ll never understand why the Angels tendered him a contract in the first place.
The Angels don’t need a new first baseman. Napoli can hold that down fine. But respectable defensive catchers who don’t hit any worse than Mathis almost literally grow on trees. For example, can’t we just tell Jose Molina we’re sorry? One marginal AA prospect is all it would take to kiss and make up.
Agreed on bringing a Molina back, I’ve never been a Mathis believer (althought from ALCS —> DL he tore it up), I have been of the thought that they should be letting Napoli get regular playtime and have Mathis be a backup, day off, catcher to Napoli. But whatever, Soth makes infuriating decisions that I think hurt the team more than they help.
by Dontbatvlad4th on Jul 18, 2010 6:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Completely agree.
The only thing worse that Mathis’ performance today is the memory of the comments we had to endure in the off-season and beginning of the year about how he magically turned into a good hitter after his postseason performance.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 18, 2010 7:14 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
My history of posts may prove that I have been the biggest Napoli proponent.
So many people wet themselves when Mathis strung together a few good hits in the post season. It seemed like the “small sample size” argument has been applicable to almost everyone except Mathis the wonder boy!
I’ve said over and over that I’ve never seen anything that makes him stand out as any better than Napoli or any other catcher. But many of my fellow HHers told me Sosh believes in him, Sosh is smarter than I, and he must see something we don’t. Have faith in Sosh. Blah blah blah. Now, it sounds like a few more people are on my side.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 7:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Hahahahaha
pAthetic, but expected.
When I'm not at the stadium, I'd rather be watching my Halos back in Costa Rica!
King Conger!!!
Now batting, our rookie of the year, Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike TROUT!
by angelskid2210 on Jul 18, 2010 5:11 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Title of this post could have been:
“Fed up in Anaheim”
BOTG = Jepsen
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
Does Torii get a pass because it was his birthday?
Because, other than the infield single, he pretty much stunk it up today at the plate.
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
Yeah. Just wondering why he wasn't in BoTG running
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
On top of everything "Picture Day" was a clusterflop.
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
E freaking nuff
Jeff Mathis sux0rz. I think we can all agree upon that.
But blaming him for this game? Not even close.
The tying run was in scoring position for Erick Aybar — who did nothing the whole game, including striking out with the tying run on second in extras.
This was an offensive fail. And a team composition (i.e. general manager) fail.
Witty .sig goes here.
Put it this way
The Angels on May 29, 2010 had a guy who could hit the crap out of the ball. On July 18, 2010, not so much.
Witty .sig goes here.
Agreed on Molina
I couldn’t believe it when I heard they released him many moons ago, I thought that was a gigantic mistake (and surprise, surprise). Just like I thought the non-signing of Oliver was a mistake as well.
Jeff Kennard
He got dumped after 2008. He played for the Reds’ AAA affiliate for awhile last year and is now apparently out of baseball.
He plays in the minors for the cubs now
W6G -- Unless there's a good trade on the table.
by RexTookMyStash on Jul 18, 2010 9:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Just noticed something
If i’m reading these stats correctly, Napoli’s CS% is 29% while Mathis is sitting at 26%. However, maybe the “Napoli’s a bad catcher and can’t throw anyone out” is getting in the head of baserunners as Napoli’s being run on more then Mathis. Runners attempted steals 40 times with Naps catching and only 16 times with Mathis.
See # of game played
Naploi 84
Mathis 30
I’d say that’s probably why.
"jut keep winning babt" - Moondoggy
by Rally Manatee on Jul 18, 2010 8:00 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, Mathis is pretty much garbage
I’ll agree on that. But Bengie Molina has had exactly ONE decent season in the five since he’s been gone. One. Mathis has actually been better than Molina this season, and by a fair amount. I loved Molina when he was with the Angels, but he’s not good any more.
Glaus, on the other hand, has been good.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
disagree with the 1 in 5 decent season.
Slugging about .450, about 20 jacks , 2 WAR, in three of those seasons.
“he’s not good any more” . . . huh?
by Wally's World on Jul 18, 2010 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Are we talking about the same Bengie Molina?
The one whose WAR in those five seasons has gone: .4, .5, 1.6 (his decent season), -.3, and -.4? The one whose OBP in those five seasons has been a robust .306?
That’s not even close to good, especially when you combine it with his terrible baserunning (which has never been good), and his below average defense (which used to be good). So impatient hitter with a bit of power, bad baserunner and bad fielder = not good any more. I don’t think that’s all that controversial.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
I got my info off of fangraphs. You can take it up with them.
by Wally's World on Jul 19, 2010 3:13 PM PDT up reply actions
Fangraphs doesn't include baserunning value
Which is obviously a very big negative for Bengie. I got my numbers from BBRef, which also has his defense as being worse than Fangraphs shows. Once you account for baserunning and other miscellaneous stuff (reaching on errors and GIDP’s), even averaging the two fielding numbers doesn’t help Molina all that much.
On a side note, it annoys the heck out of me that Fangraphs and BBRef have different WAR numbers. I always use BBRef.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
If we knew
our 3rd baseman would suck or our 1st baseman will break a leg celebrating a walkoff, Glaus would’ve been perfect. Since he was coming off an injury plagued year with the STL, we would’ve got him for cheap.
Glaus had a great couple of months
But he is really hitting the skids now.
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
HEY EVERYBODY!
We just won a series, taking 3 of 4. Not bad. Let’s go kick some Yankee rear end.
I love this team.
Won three out of four and gained no ground on Texas
Let us be angry
Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage
I am on record complaining about this ever since we let Bengie go
This cost saving measure made in hopes that Mathis would be a Joe Mauer clone has cost us dearly. Not only does Bengie hit, he hits in the clutch. Furthermore, I’ll bet that Bengie does not let AJ Pissmeoffski get to 1st base in the ALCS.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Er, that was Josh Paul (not Mathis)
But it’s a good point. We did lose a lot when we let Molina leave and he would’ve made the right play in game 2 of the 2005 ALCS. If we win that game, we probably win that series, and then who knows?
I kow that it was Paul
But I can’t imagine Soth putting in Paul for Brngie in a big game
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
You're right, Bengie would have tried to backhand that ball in the dirt, letting it roll to the backstop.
Kelvim would have been charged with a wild pitch (no passed ball since it was in the dirty, luckily for our gold glove catcher) and pierzasshole would have gotten to 2b by the Bengie trotted to the ball.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 8:46 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
I think letting Bengie walk in favor of Mathis was the right decision
Bengie has made a lot more money than Mathis the past five years and hasn’t been good at all. The problem has been continuing to stick with Mathis long after it’s clear he’s not the player the Angels hoped he would be. They needed to cut their losses, take the chance that he would be a late bloomer somewhere else, and give Napoli the full-time starting job.
I love Scioscia as a manager, but this may be one case where his stubborn refusal to give up on Mathis has cost the team.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
Excuse me.
I’m looking for the Jeff Mathis appreciation thread. Is this the right place?
NOT MY QUINNY!!!!
by halofan4life on Jul 19, 2010 7:47 AM PDT reply actions 6 recs
To be more fair to Mathis
He started out this season like he ended last season- tearing the cover off the ball. Until his unfortunate injury, he was hitting better than Napoli. He’s an adequate backup catcher and catches too much flak on this site.
Be fair: that was a nasty slider in the dirt by Santana that took a bad bounce. You’re going to blame that on Mathis? Really?
The guy who continues to get off is everyboody’s favorite RP, Kevin Jepsen. However, for all his “stuff” and his 98-mph fastball…he can’t get anyone out. His 4.64 ERA is about to supplant Scot Shields for worst ERA in the pen. I’d rather have Jason Bulger pitching critical situations than Jepsen.
Come on, let’s be real: Kevin Jepsen sucks
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
-1
A few good weeks doesn’t overshadow 4 years of bad.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 10:29 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
-1 for making the same post twice in one thread
Mathis is an adequate backup catcher until Conger is ready.
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
And to blame yesterday's loss on Mathis is crazy hyperbole
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
It's blamed on him for his inability to lay down the bunt.
Not for the WP by Voodoo
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
To be honest, he made one hell of a play to try to get Langerhans at the plate on that WP.
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
Damn, you got me.
I think I’m in negative points now.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 12:52 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Kevin Jepsen isn't that bad
He has run into a ton of bad luck. BABIP of .366
Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage
How many looping, broken bat singles has he given up?
Jepsen’s been okay. He’s definitely pitched better than his ERA indicates.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
I disagree, he makes his own messes
And he’s done so consistently for two seasons. I don’t get why so many like to defend him so vehemently.
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
The defense of him has been a bit over the top
But he’s still clearly the best reliever the Angels have, which makes it tough to lay off the hyperbole, even though being the best in the Angels bullpen is kind of like being the tallest midget.
He has the best K-rate. He’s only given up 2 homeruns. He’s got the second best K/BB rate, behind Fuentes. His GB/FB ratio is good. Subjectively, it’s pretty obvious he has the best pure stuff. His major weakness has been walking a guy every other inning, which does need to get fixed.
We also have to wonder whether his BABiP is going to stay abnormally high, since at this point in his career, it’s sitting at .356. He’s been unlucky, but even with better luck, he’s not going to turn into Joe Nathan all of a sudden. He’s just a decent reliever.
Defending maligned chants since 2009
by Gorbachav5 on Jul 19, 2010 12:20 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
rec'd for the tallest midget reference
I agree. Really, the ’pen is an abject disaster this season.
NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!
More Howie please...
I can hear Sosh's response now:
“Jeff didn’t have his best game. But we’ll put this behind us, and we will work on some things. Jeff really is an important part of this team, and if you look at his numbers he has been outstanding in his work with our pitchers. It doesn’t always work out the way you want, but when these things happen we regroup and get ourselves ready for the next guy. Right now we are focused on the Yankees and we have our work cut out for us.”
Let’s see. What cliche did I forget?
"Wastin away again in Minor-Leaguer-Ville..."
Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team.
Warning: The message above may or may not contain sarcasm. Read and interpret at your own risk.
by snowhor on Jul 19, 2010 11:45 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
turn the page?
Chan Gailey's #1 Fan!
by norcaliangelsfan on Jul 19, 2010 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions
every game is a new day. We don't look back on anything-we only look forward
Bring back HalosHeaven RADIO!!!
We don't look at the standings.
"Ballplayers play baseball." -Jose Mota
by Fred Fredrix on Jul 20, 2010 8:39 AM PDT up reply actions
... COUGH! ...
Gotta work that in somewhere.
"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." ~Bill Veeck
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