LAT: Vernon Wells has been catalyst in Angels' turnaround

This article drove me nuts so I had to share it with someone. I know Vernon had a good week, but it's way too early to declare Wells as the reason the Angels' were playing better.

This seems like especially bad timing after a crushing loss.

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd like to see Wells above .240 before we start singing his praises.

9 months ago gilbert 28 comments 0 recs |

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Gag me.

A wise man does not need advice and a fool won't take it.

by angelslogic on Aug 28, 2011 10:31 PM PDT reply actions

I came here to post just ^^THIS^^

My EXACT first thought when I saw the title of this post.

by K3YEROUT on Aug 29, 2011 10:25 PM PDT up reply actions

Over the last two weeks [not counting today]

Vernon: .333/.389/.636 slash line, 1 HR, 3 RBI [36PA]
Torii: .326/.370/.558 slash line 3 HR, 9 RBI [46PA]

Torii’s been more of a catalyst than vernon. Although I suppose if you’re going from the season as a whole to their last few weeks, Vernon’s improved more.

And for small sample size kicks:

Trout: .389/.450/.778, 2 HR, 2 RBI [20 PA]
Bourjos: .367/.380/.673, 4 HR, 8 RBI [50 PA]
Howie: .375/.419/.850 , 5 HR, 9 RBI [43 PA]

Howie’s been more productive than V-Dub lately.

by TheKingfish on Aug 28, 2011 10:44 PM PDT reply actions

I would’ve had no problem with an article saying “Hey, Wells has been better lately, maybe he’s turning the corner”, but to say he’ll be the reason we point to if we reach the playoffs and definitively make it seem like he’s good now is going way too far.

by gilbert on Aug 28, 2011 10:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Hmm

Seems like you might want all those guys in the lineup on an almost daily basis until things change. Abreu should sit. And given that Weaver has been terrible in two of the last three starts, there is no reason at all to play Mathis again.

by Brody on Aug 29, 2011 5:50 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Seems to me like Vernon has been better than Torii by those numbers...

but the younger guys have been better than both.

by ACE79 on Aug 31, 2011 4:44 PM PDT up reply actions

LA TIMES BOUGHT OFF

Dude has $86 million. Dude has a publicist. LA TIMES gets a fruit basket and an envelope of cash. Spring Street Tribune sells its ink to the highest bidder, every reporter there can be bought … just don’t cal them bloggers.

by Rev Halofan on Aug 28, 2011 10:44 PM PDT reply actions

Was thinking the same way

I say check Kevin Baxter’s hands for signs of packing barrings, or chasing, and trying to catch, slippery pigs at the state fair.

by eyespy on Aug 29, 2011 12:36 AM PDT up reply actions

It has more to do with the need to produce something

They need a news feature and couldn’t come up with a better story. To meet their editors expectations, or desires, they bust out what amounts to a bogus trend like story, crediting the Angels recent good play to the recent good play of said player.

by tizzidy19 on Aug 29, 2011 10:08 AM PDT up reply actions

So they pulled a random name out of their ass?

And did a story on that player. Not looking at the facts in their own newspapers, or highlights of the played games on TV. as to who might be doing better. A seven game hitting streak, and a .216 average. I smell at least a free lunch.

by eyespy on Aug 29, 2011 12:59 PM PDT up reply actions

I have met Kevin Baxter

I doubt he wrote the story because of a free lunch. More likely he has a soft spot for a nice guy and decided a story based on an inappropriate correlation between the two things was a good idea.

Is it a bad story? Yes. Is Baxter getting under the table favors to write that story? Highly unlikely.

Most likely scenario is he has an editor who throws out stupid ideas at random like “It seems like Vernon heated up right about the time the Angels did. Hey, Bax, do a quick daily on that for the paper tomorrow”

by tizzidy19 on Aug 29, 2011 1:53 PM PDT up reply actions

remember in the 90s when all those HRs were becuase of the baseballs and not the muscular batters

basically i am saying that you sound a little naive about how reporters at newspapers operate.

by Rev Halofan on Aug 29, 2011 4:32 PM PDT up reply actions

I am a reporter at a newspaper

Sports writers often aren’t the most critical of thinkers and are fans of the sport. They aren’t objective enough because they admire the people they cover. Does Baxter’s article blow? Of course it does. But the general public is far too willing to throw around the idea that reporters are somehow trading favors/money for positive coverage. It is far more likely that he just needed to write a feature, considering he is the second tier beat writer to Mike D, and busted out a story about the coincidence that is the team playing better at the same time Wells is.

by tizzidy19 on Aug 30, 2011 8:53 AM PDT up reply actions

The dude abides

by Halos in DE on Aug 29, 2011 2:25 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Who cares?

The season is 162 games. If you only show up for the last 40 or so, does it really warrant an article in the LATs?

by mustard_man on Aug 29, 2011 4:56 AM PDT reply actions

the answer looks to be yes

by eyespy on Aug 29, 2011 1:00 PM PDT up reply actions

adam kennedy

Says hi. Wasn’t he real close to being hitless in the Alcs?

by Halos in DE on Aug 29, 2011 2:26 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

if you got the money, honey

we got your disease. And your four hundred word puff piece too.

by Rev Halofan on Aug 29, 2011 4:32 PM PDT up reply actions

Kevin Baxter just earned himself a Del Taco gift card

"I too played shortstop for many years until I was struck down by Acne and Baby Fat" HST

by No Bologna Polonia on Aug 29, 2011 10:51 AM PDT reply actions

I thought it was mathis.

by Halos in DE on Aug 29, 2011 12:32 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

GREAT TRADE

Somewhere, right now, Mickey Hatcher is ruining a swing.

by Quinlan's Goofy Swing on Aug 29, 2011 1:31 PM PDT reply actions

Talk About Sample Sizes

It takes an incredibly tortured and highly selective process to come up with a stretch of games to provide Baxter with some “facts” to support his theory that Wells has had a hot streak that turned around his, and the team’s, season. Baseball Reference makes this very easy.

First, let’s look at the entire month of August, in which time Wells has produced a line of .229/.264/.398, which is not particularly good.

However, the Angels just lost two out of three, so in fairness, perhaps we shouldn’t consider what Wells did this weekend, because that does not comport with any period of resurgence by the team. In August, prior to this series, Wells had a line of .194/.227/.306, which is comically bad. Let’s just call him Vernon Mathis.

His month of August prior to the start of the hitting streak: .136/.150/.220.

True, the article did state that he picked up his play only in mid-August. So, let’s see what happened in mid-August. Since August 15, when Texas came to town, but excluding this weekend of two losses, Wells checks in with a line of .269/.321/.423, for a .745 OPS (it’s better if you include the weekend). Only by cherry-picking dates can we come up with a Vernon hot streak. It’s really just an eight-game period (seven starts with plate appearances), during which Wells is 11-24, in which Wells has looked like a major league hitter.

Of course, Mike Trout has been even better this month.

by jjackflash on Aug 29, 2011 1:39 PM PDT reply actions

You are correct, however.....

The Times isn’t going to write yet another article about how great Mike Trout is, that is redundant. The baseball season is long…and Vernon has been playing a bit better lately, you have to admit. It’s a case of the fact there isn’t many juicy stories at the moment, so writing a quick bit on Vernon’s improved play would be a good idea. Keep in mind, Vernon’s improvement is just a portion of the article, it’s minor news so it doesn’t even warrant a whole article. There is no intenion on the article to compare Trout vs Wells.

This is going to be my team, and we're going to rise together.
-Clipper Darrell

by oasisman on Aug 29, 2011 4:10 PM PDT up reply actions