Worst Week In LA Sports History

Whether it was Scioscia bunting when he shouldn't or not bunting when he should've, the Angels manager has some explaining to do.  Josh Hamilton's complete ineptitude was the low-hanging fruit for the media, but to me that pales in comparison to the bunting errors of games 1 & 2.  Giving CJ Wilson the ball was another thing that I would never have done, but Santiago wasn't a sure thing either.  It had never been more frustrating to watch Mike Trout than it was in this series.  It wasn't until game 3 that I actually saw Trout give a serious look at the first pitch of an at bat.  I don't understand how the best hitter in baseball is content giving himself a 66.6% chance.  Trout so rarely swings at the first pitch that opposing pitchers are simply throwing the equivalent of 3-0 meatballs in order to start out each at bat 0-1.  He actually looks disinterested in most first pitches, with the bat simply resting on his right shoulder.  Then he steps out and takes two very upright practice golf swings before getting pounded high and away.  How he was still able to produce given only 2/3rds the opportunity with pitchers relentlessly attacking his high weakness is simply remarkable.

Just when I thought I had seen the coaching error of the week with Iannetta not being forced to bunt with a runner on 2nd with no outs (don't worry, it turned into a doubleplay), Steve Sarkisian & Justin Wilcox prove that horrendous coaching is the only thing I can count on in my life.  Nevermind the Hail Mary personnel, nevermind the obvious clock-management blunders, nevermind the 3rd & 2 bubble screen for -5, nevermind the most blatantly obvious draw play stuffed on our third "attempt" to get a first down, nevermind never throwing a slant to one of our 40 WRs, nevermind running out of the shotgun so every run is effectively a draw, nevermind getting gashed for 19 yards per pass - None of that matters to me until someone explains to me WHY THE FUCK Sua Cravens comes out on 3rd downs.  He is the best player on the team - not Leonard Williams, not Nelson Agholor, not Adoree Jackson.  Removing our new version of Polamalu from the lineup on 3rd downs is unconscionable no matter what scheme you are failing to run.  No lead is safe with Wilcox's shitty excuse for a Prevent Defense, and as I said earlier this week, it's even money right now whether or not Wilcox will survive until Homecoming vs. Colorado considering Zona's passing attack.  Even though some may call it a trap game for Arizona coming off a big win in Eugene, Rich Rod has had an extra 2 days to enjoy daydreaming about our lack of a secondary.

I was awkwardly close to slitting my wrists had UCLA's 2nd FG attempt gift from the Pac-12 officials sailed through the uprights late Saturday night.  Literally on my way to the bathtub.  Thankfully UCLA finally lost a game, going from the country's most overrated team to the country's most overrated one-loss team.  Oregon & UCLA are equally pissed off coming off of home losses, so that matchup should be pretty interesting on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.  Maybe I'll get lucky with Brett Hundley & Myles Jack getting slaughtered at home, but I think Oregon's defense is worse than ASU's.  In an effort to hedge my happiness (something very necessary after the last 7 days), I bet on UCLA +3 & Zona +3.  USC being a 3 point favorite on the road after that collapse at home is legitimately as laughable as it gets.
 
Lastly, Don Mattingly benching Puig yesterday didn't make much sense to me.  In my mind, that was essentially equivalent to benching Trout.  I understand that he had 8 strikeouts in the series already, but he also had 3 hits to Trout's 1.  Without Puig, I'm fairly certain Mattingly would already be out of a job.  I think the kicker for me was when Puig was put in last night as a pinch runner.  Nobody in the major leagues was thrown out more on the basepaths this season than Yasiel Puig.  Ned Coletti's short rotation hurt him in the end, while luckily Jerry Dipoto can hide behind some injuries.  The only real takeaway I got from this series versus the Cardinals is that umpires will always give St. Louis the benefit of the doubt.  Allowing a struggling Trevor Rosenthal two practice pitches in the middle of an at bat because of a bullshit groundskeeping complaint was one of the most absurd things I've seen in a 9th inning of a playoff game in my entire life.

Welcome to the life of an LA sports fan - where no one cares about your "fair-weather fanbases," the Lakers are going to be a 7 seed (Read: terrible draft pick) and Ducks/Kings won't be spoken of until the hockey playoffs start.  I just hope Oregon can show UCLA's its collective O-face on Saturday.