MovieChat Forums > Angels in the Outfield (1994) Discussion > REAL goofs

REAL goofs

posted 13 years ago by ravid1920
7 replies | jump to latest

1. Mel Clark's pitch count in the final game was 160. In real life a pitcher would not come even close to that ESPECIALLY if hes laboring from the 6th inning on like Mel was.

2. Mel Clark was dog tired from the 6th inning on, it showed, and the manager(knox) didnt take him out. First signs of fatigue, is right when the manager pulls a pitcher.

3. The White Sox in the top of the 9th were down 3-2 and got the leadoff guy on base. The next batter bunted him to 2nd. Real baseball, the road team, losing in the 9th inning would not bunt in that situation. The road team would swing away because you dont bunt to try and tie the game on the road because you dont get last atbat.

4. Top of the 9th, Angels leading 3-2, bases loaded for the White Sox, and Kesey coming up to bat is when the manager would come out to talk to the pitcher. The manager in real life (unlike in the movie), wouldnt wait until the count was 3-2 and then go out and talk.

3-2 count, the manager goes to talk to the pitcher, and then the game is delayed for 5 minutes because the crowd is flapping their arms..... that just wouldnt happen. That is something that would happen in real life between batters. When Kesey was coming up to bat, the manager would then go talk to Clark and the crowd would begin to show their faith and the manager would get him confident by talking about Angels for the batter.
The manager would say go get this last batter for the division pennant.

p.s. Some of you think Bass pitched the very game after he snapped their losing streak. Thats not true. Knox came back 5 days later to give Roger the pictures and said he can come to the game tomorrow. Every 6 days is a pitchers turn to pitch and that was Bass's next turn to pitch. The writers screwed up by talking about a 2-3 game winning streak that was going on but a week had already passed. Remember knox said to Maggie "Roger won pictures at last fridays game".

The suicide squeeze play that gave the Angels the 3-2 lead was EXACTLY how real life would be. That was the only thing realistic

[–] hka-3 12 years ago

1. Mel Clark's pitch count in the final game was 160. In real life a pitcher would not come even close to that ESPECIALLY if hes laboring from the 6th inning on like Mel was.

It blew my mind he was heading towards 160, but we have to remind ourselves to not only look at it from 2012 standards. Limits on pitch counts have gradually changed over the past few decades. When Angels in the Outfield came out in 1994, Clark's pitch count and the philosophy behind leaving him in the game wasn't too far out of the norm.

"The highest pitch count since 1990 is 172, by Tim Wakefield for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Atlanta Braves on April 27, 1993."

"Before pitch counts became prominent in the 1980s, a pitcher primarily "pitched until he could no longer get anyone out or the game was over." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_count

In the movie Clark had just enough in him to get the last batter out.

Cheese fries...next time.

[–] nicmackey10 11 years ago

Really?!?!, you spent all that time pointing out bad baseball managing and strategy in a movie where angels come from heaven to help them win and all the other shenanigans, and this is what bothered you the most... Are you bud selig?

[–] nicmackey10 11 years ago

Wakefield is also a knuckleballer though, Dosent put the same amount of strain on his arm other pitchers do

[–] monkeyboy77080 11 years ago

Knox could not remove the pitcher in the 9th with two outs and the count 3-2 unless he were injured, the pitcher could not be removed until a hit, walk or he got the hitter out. Also since they are playing at home if the White Sox had gotten the lead, the Angels would have 3 outs to either retake the lead for a walk off or tie the game to go into extra innings.

[–] dbwhite6450 8 years ago

This is one of the things that has always bothered me about this game.

As Keasley swings and crushes the ball, Ranch Wilder says 'this could be the game!' ummmmmmmm no..........it would give the white sox a 6-3 lead with the angels still having a chance (however slim it might be) to come back.

[–] laughtermadefat 10 years ago

Number 1 is incorrect, and a sign that you have not been watching baseball very long.

The stringent 100-pitch count has only been implemented and adhered to in the last 15-18 seasons.

For example, in the 1995 ALDS, David Cone threw 157 pitches in game 5.

This was not at all uncommon in big games.

Get your facts straight, child.

[–] Nightstar_INC 9 years ago

Wanted to correct your P.S. Every 6 days is not a pitcher's turn to pitch. Baseball is all about how they want to run their rotations. Adjustments can be made where they skip a pitcher and have the next pitcher pitch. Heck there have been talks in the last few years of teams possibly going with 6 man rotations now.
You are right with the whole screw up talking about 2-3 game win streak. There would have needed to be a day off following their first win, then 3 games in a row, then another off day followed by a rain out just to be able to fit that but that would've put them in a 4 game win streak if their streak was still alive at best.