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Here’s What Could Be Going On In The Angels’ Clubhouse

By Keith Rivas

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There’s often an easy or simple answer as to why certain ball clubs struggle at different points throughout the season — but with the Angels, it’s anything but simple

Josh Hamilton. Lack of offense late in games. Mindless defensive errors that show they just weren’t in the right mentality to get the win.

Oh yeah, and a losing record along with third place in the AL West — worse than the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers.

Those are just a couple of things many of us would assume are currently plaguing the Los Angeles Angels at the moment — and to a degree, they’re all correct.

But one thing you might want to add as the next item on that list is momentum.

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After the kind of fall they had last season, getting swept by the Kansas City Royals and talk of a championship being nothing more than an afterthought, those kinds of moments are not easy pills to swallow.

Especially for a team like the Angels.

The Angels have to constantly compete with the history, tradition, and off-and-on success of fellow Southern California club the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Knowing that they’ll probably (by probably I  mean that the probability of it happening are basically zero) never amount to the greatness the Dodgers have achieved, whether in Brooklyn or in the city of angels, I can imagine it must suck to know that not even your fans expect the best anymore.

Because if you’re the Angels and you somehow pull out of the season with the AL West crown, your playoff performance is going to depend, in large part, on just how well your home crowd receives you.

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    • Another problem could be too high of expectations with too young of a team.

    Sure, not everybody on the squad is the youngest person in the league, but they still have a lot of inexperience where it counts.

    The Angels have made the playoff seven times since 2004, one-upping the six appearances by the Dodgers since that same mark — but with them, it feels much more different.

    Every year it’s like they have to disprove who they were the year before instead of trying to build up game after game and season after season leading up to the ultimate push.

    And let’s be honest, that kind of habit is never a good thing.

    One last note on their recent struggles is in regards to how other teams look at them and how much fear or respect going into games played against the Angels.

    In Bleacher Report’s most recent MLB Power Rankings released this morning, the Angels dropped a stunning nine places from ninth overall to now just two shy of being in the bottom third of the league at No. 18.

    Bottom Line: There’s still time to salvage this season for the Angels

    What the Angels can do to counter all of these negative things they’re facing in 2015 is just be true to who they need to be to get a win.

    Don’t worry about fancy plays or making highlight reels because at the end of the day, if you don’t start winning games — more specifically games that matter the most late in the season — your fan base is going to begin to dwindle.

    At least with the people that call themselves fans anyway.

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