Posted 4:52 PM by Sean
Here's an odd little quirk of the schedule - there are eleven games on today's schedule, and, with the exception of the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh contest, all of them feature one team that's still in contention and one team that isn't. In other words, no head-to-head scratch-n-claw baseball goodness, just spoiler madness times ten.

Tomorrow, though, Minnesota and the White Sox - currently tied - start a series that may well determine the AL Central, and Florida and Philadelphia will battle it out for the N.L. Wild Card lead (with Los Angeles and the all-but-eliminated Diamondbacks also matching up). With the Angels out of it, I'm starting to follow other teams a bit more closely, with a particular eye on the A.L. Central - the Twins and Sox are both ex-hometown teams of mine, and it's shaping up to be a very interesting last two weeks. The Twins have, by far, the easier schedule of the two, with three against Cleveland, three against Chicago, and SEVEN against Detroit, while the Sox have to endure three against Minnesota, three against New York, and seven against Kansas City. But Chicago is the better team, I think, in just about every way. Those seven games the Twins play against Detroit are huge. Realistically, Minnesota has to be thinking that they'll win at least five of those, which puts enormous pressure on the White Sox to win five games against Kansas City. PLUS they'll have to win as many against New York as the Twins win against Cleveland, AND take two out of three from Minnesota at the Metrodome. A pretty tall order.

I think that the White Sox are fortunate that they're starting with the Twins; it's a chance to build and defend a small lead instead of having to slog through a bunch of games with tough opponents while trying to keep pace with a team that's playing also-rans. But it also means that this upcoming series is critical for the Sox in a way that it isn't for the Twins. Minnesota can possibly afford to fall a couple of games back. Chicago absolutely cannot.

Posted 1:42 PM by Sean
Interesting little featurette on Derrick Turnbow at the Angels' official site today. You may recall Turnbow as the Rule V draft pick who sat on the Angels' 25-man roster for an entire year during the 2000 season (because that's the way Rule V picks work; you have to keep them on your big club for an entire year before you can designate them for assignment), during which he pitched 38 mostly meaningless innings. Turnbow is now out of options, meaning that he has to make the team out of spring training next year or be traded, released, or put on the waiver wire. So far, Turnbow's relief work with the Angels has been pretty solid - since being called up, he's given up two hits and no earned runs in six innings, while facing a pretty even mix of lefties and righties. Of course, six innings is way too shallow a pool to go diving for pearls in, but one statistic does raise my eyebrows - zero walks. For a guy who throws 98 mph, that bears watching.

Meanwhile, as Scot Shields continues to worsen with each passing start, Bill Stoneman has confirmed that acquiring a starting pitcher will be a priority in the offseason.

Posted 10:20 AM by Sean
Hey, cool beans! King Kaufman quotes me at Salon.com today on the subject of why there are very few football blogs. He exerpts part of an email I sent him, which I'll reproduce here in full:

King,

I think that there are probably a lot of factors at work here, but primarily I'd attribute it to the fact, in terms of statistical evaluation methods, baseball is so much further ahead of football (which itself may be a function of the nature of the two games, but that's outside the scope of your question). Virtually all of the baseball bloggers I read rely, to greater or lesser extents, on statistics to serve as the great steam engine that drives their discussion, and - just speculating here - I suspect that's because the nerds that have adopted blogging are the same nerds who have an understanding of OPS, EqA, RARP, and the like and use them as their preferred metrics. In football, statistics are a lot simpler, and mean less, because the situations are a lot more widely varied. Take yards/pass attempt - interesting, but the raw data that goes into that is compiled with all kinds of context (down, yard to 1st down, time left, score differential, type of pass, type of pass rush/coverage, QB, receiver, etc., etc.). In baseball there's a batter trying to get a hit, and a pitcher trying to get him out. What variables there are tend to be binary - left/right handed, runner in scoring position or not. Compared to football, it's easier to figure out which statistics are meaningful (and look how long it's taken anyway).

I think baseball also generates news from more events than football. Most bloggers follow a particular team, since the time and effort that goes into a blog is such that they're more of a labor of love than a casual hobby. If a football blog only followed one team, there'd be a huge post once a week, and the rest would be updates on injuries or potential trades, or speculation about personnel or strategy decisions for the upcoming game that would get old real fast in the online world. With baseball, you play at least five times a week, so you can constantly adjust what you're whining about, plus talk about the minor leagues.

Finally, like I said before, running a blog is a lot of work (mine, in fact, is on indefinite hiatus while the Angels play out their string). So because all the early adopters are baseball bloggers, it's likely that some of the potential football bloggers are already blogging baseball, and unwilling to take on yet another time-suck.

Anyway, that's what occurs to me right now. Hope it helps.

Sean Smith

If you're coming here from Salon, welcome, and feel free to look around (I recommend the archived posts from around World Series time last year). For those wondering about the hiatus, rest assured my batteries are nearly recharged. And I've almost learned all the new faces on the roster.

Posted 4:21 PM by Sean
Sorry for the extended delay - I had to go out of town for a few days, and didn't have the time, energy, or access to post.

However, this does give me an excuse to take a break from this little exercise. All apologies to those of you who read regularly or semi-regularly, but there doesn't seem to be much to write home about, so to speak, when you look at the team the Angels are fielding these days. They're not going to be the worst team in Angels history, and they're not going to make the playoffs. They might, if they get hot, finish at or above .500, but that's just not enough drama to keep me going. I'll still be watching the games, and if something extraordinary happens I might comment on it, but as a day-to-day going concern, this blog is officially on hiatus.

In the meantime, let me recommend to you both The Monkey's Paw and Future Angels. If you're an Angels fan, and you're not reading them already, check them out now.

Thanks for reading.

Posted 3:53 PM by Sean
Last night, after Jarrod Washburn gave up a game-winning two-run homer to Frank Thomas in the bottom of the ninth, I said to myself "there's the first concrete example of something Scioscia's done that he wouldn't do during a pennant race. He wants to see Washburn pitch himself out of a jam in the late innings, and he wants Washburn to know that Scioscia trusts him to make the right decision about whether to walk a guy or pitch to him in that situation." What I didn't know until just now is that Washburn was apparently pitching hurt, so much so that he was having his back and hip realigned between innings.

That's crazy. I know, the guy had a no-hitter into the seventh. And he looked pretty good. And he only threw 101 pitches in those nine innings. But considering the number of guys out with injuries these days, and how pitchers especially tend to develop nagging injuries, and further considering the state of the starting rotation, if I were Mike Scioscia I'd be awfully cautious about extending an injured starter any further than necessary. With a judicious off-season move or two, this team will be right in the thick of things in 2004, but let's not complicate things by breaking the guy at the top of the rotation.

One of those judicious off-season moves will likely be signing Garret Anderson to an extension. For the others, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I sure hope Stoneman is looking at some guys who can hit the ball. Either that or figuring out how they can play Detroit about 100 times next year.

Posted 3:45 PM by Sean
And now, a moment of silence as the Benji Gil era in Anaheim officially comes to a close.

Posted 9:23 AM by Sean
Ben Bolch's take on the Angels' sweep of the Tigers: the Angels "still have a faint pulse." Uh, whatever, Ben. Unfortunately, there are no less than five teams in the wild card race with stronger pulses, and two of them are 11 games ahead.

The sweep was nice, though. The Tigers have made a lot of teams look good this year, but scoring 25 runs in three games - even against the Tigers - allowed Angels fans to forget for a few days their seasonlong offensive woes. Scott Spiezio, Adam Kennedy, and Garret Anderson - who passed Brian Downing as the all-time Angels hits leader - all had a terrific series at the plate. Unfortunately, the Angels will need continued production from just about everyone in the order if they want to keep winning: the injury bug's latest victims are David Eckstein, Ben Weber, and Brendan Donnelly, none of whom are officially on the DL, but all of whom are likely to miss at least a few days. So now even the bullpen, which has been the Angels' only bulwark against injury in 2003, is crumbling.

Meanwhile, I did get to see one thing I've never seen before this weekend: a player take the field in a misspelled jersey. During Saturday's game, Adam Riggs made his second start for the Angels wearing "ANGEES" across his chest, and apparently didn't even notice until he came in to the dugout after the top of the first.

Anyway, here's the updated "ANAHEIM ANGELS 2003: THE DRIVE TO AVOID EMBARRASSMENT!" countdown:

3 wins to avoid 100 losses
8 wins to avoid matching their worst loss total
21 wins to finish at .500
12 Angels wins or Tigers losses to avoid the worst record in the AL
36 Angels wins or Rangers losses to avoid finishing last

Posted 12:56 PM by Sean
John Lackey stood on the Tigers' necks for eight innings last night before giving up a home run to Bobby Higginson to start the ninth. Lackey has struggled some this season - his first full season in the Majors - but it's encouraging to see him dominate a team, no matter how awful they happen to be.

The win is the Angels' third in a row, and fourth out of their last five. At this point, with forty games to play, they need:

5 wins to avoid a 100-loss season
10 wins to avoid matching their worst loss total (65-95 in 1980, 67-95 in 1968)
23 wins to finish at .500
Any combination of 16 Angels wins and Tigers losses to avoid finishing with the worst record in the AL
Any combination of 38 Angels wins and Rangers losses to avoid finishing last in the AL West

One step at a time. One step at a time.

Posted 5:18 PM by Sean
The Orange County Register is reporting that Glaus has a torn right rotator cuff and frayed right labrum, meaning that in all probability he's done for the year. Both he and Erstad should have whatever surgery they need as soon as possible, to ensure that they'll be healthy in time to start spring training next year.

And yes, for those of you who are wondering, I did see Rob Neyer's not terribly bright column blaming the Angels' woes this season on Darin Erstad. Or, actually, not quite; what he says is "...if you want to pinoint just one problem, it's obvious: Darin Erstad."

Now, Neyer has had a stick up his ass about Erstad for as long as I can remember, so it doesn't surprise me that he'd say something bad about him. What does surprise me - and it seems like Neyer's been doing this kind of thing a lot lately - is the sheer lack of sophistication on display. Looking at the Angels' season, why on God's green Earth would you pinpoint "just one problem?" There have been more than enough problems to account for a disappointing year, regardless of who was playing center field. Saying that Erstad is "the most to blame" is like saying that a guy who's been shot seventeen times actually died when he was hit by bullet number two. How is this Tinkertoy analysis worth a national audience?

And let's not forget that it's not Darin Erstad's performance in the field that's hurting the Angels - or, at least, not very much - because he hasn't actually been playing all that much. Assuming he doesn't return, he'll have finished the year with 258 ABs in 67 games. So here we have Rob Neyer taking the curious position that a team good enough to win the World Series became a subpar club largely due to a guy who didn't even play half of their games. How is that possible? Oh, it's his contract that's hurting the Angels, because they're paying him eight million a year and now can't afford to improve. But didn't this team just deliberately eat $15 million rather than keep Kevin Appier on the roster? Why, yes, Rob. They did do that. So maybe affordability isn't the question.

The cherry on top of the stupidity sundae, however, is this:

Maybe the Angels had to spend $32 million for the two-and-a-half months of Darin Erstad that helped them win the World Series.

But that seems to me like one hell of a price to pay.

Got that? Neyer thinks that if one concedes that the Angels had to pay Erstad that money in order to win the World Series, even so it's still too high a price!. $32 million over four years? For a World Series? Go ask George Steinbrenner if that's too much to pay, Rob. Or any other owner, for that matter.

Posted 11:50 AM by Sean
Last night's victory over the Chicago White Sox marks not just the first time the Angels have won a series since the All-Star break, it's the first time they've won two in a row since July 12-13 versus Minnesota. You know, back when they were in contention. A month ago.

Clearly, the story of the night was Scot Shields and his 7.2 innings of four-hit, one-run pitching. Lord, the guy is such a breath of fresh air compared to the other starters on any given night. He throws strikes consistently, but has terrific movement on his fastball. Even when he's off the plate he's always near the strike zone. He's now made three starts since replacing Appier in the rotation, and each time has pitched well. I was encouraged to see Mike Scioscia quoted as saying "[H]e's got great stuff. We're going to see if he can maintain it."

With the win, the Angels need just six more victories to avoid a 100-loss season. Beginning tonight, they have a three-game series with the Tigers, who at this point might as well move to a town called "Hapless," inasmuch as that particular adjective seems to prefix their name pretty routinely these days. David Eckstein is expected to return to the lineup after missing a few games with hamstring tightness.

Posted 5:39 PM by Sean
By now, you've probably heard that Derek Zumsteg and Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus have broken a story that Bud Selig intends to reinstate Pete Rose - technically, take him off the ineligible list - after this year's World Series. Rose would be eligible to hold any position in Major League Baseball except manager in 2004, but would be allowed to manage beginning in 2005. In return, Zumsteg and Carroll say, Rose will not be required to admit that he bet on baseball. In fact, Rose doesn't seem to be required to do much of anything; the agreement (which, they say, is in written form already and has been since last November) is essentially a complete capitulation to Rose.

Rob Neyer argues fairly convincingly that Rose will ultimately have to admit betting on baseball. There's simply too large, and too powerful, a group of people out there who think that contrition is a necessary precursor to forgiveness. But clearly that's a huge step for Rose, and not just because of his ego - remember, no official finding was ever made on whether Rose bet on baseball; he's on the ineligble list not for gambling but for engaging in acts that are detrimental to baseball. An actual admission that he did place wagers on MLB games during his playing and/or managing career gives MLB an ironclad reason to ban him permanently. And just saying that he's willing to admit it in the context of making a deal with Selig places Rose in a position of having to trust the Commissioner not to say "Aha! So you did bet on baseball!" Would that stand up in court? Of course not. But it's got to have occurred to Pete Rose, who probably is fairly paranoid about that kind of thing by this point. Which is why I think there may not be an actual, signed deal right now, and there may not be until the very end. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Rose will go into a room this November, sign a statement admitting that he bet on baseball, and simultaneously exchange that paper with the Commissioner for a copy of his reinstatement.

Posted 5:21 PM by Sean
Oh, and the Angels need eight more wins to avoid a (first-ever, kind of surprisingly) 100-loss season. The good news is that they still have games with Detroit, and the Tigers need eleven wins to avoid a 120-loss season. Ye gods.

Posted 3:08 PM by Sean
Must...post...must...ignore...pain...

So the Angels lost again last night, 10-4, following yet another crappy start from Ramon Ortiz, who has gone from gifted but erratic to just plain bad in the course of the last few weeks. That makes 64 losses for the season, one more than they had in all of 2002, with 43 left to play. They're 6-21 since the All-Star Break, Darin Erstad is on the disabled list and may be out for the season, Glaus had a setback during his rehab assignment and won't play for several more days, Eckstein has a strained hamstring, Percival very nearly blew a six run lead the other night, and Bengie Molina, God bless him, seems to spend more time clutching various body parts in pain than he does actually catching the baseball (that's not Bengie's fault, but it seems emblematic of the season).

Whee.

The Angels are in a bind. Obviously, 2003 is over for them, but they're still looking to capitalize on 2002, and cement relationships with the new fans they made last year. So Moreno, Stoneman, and even Scioscia continue to pay lip service to the idea that they can compete this year, when the reality is that the next couple of months are going to be an extended preview of some of the excellent prospects that have made their way through the Angels' farm system.

The funny thing is, though, that given the number of injuries the Angels have suffered, there's absolutely no practical difference at this point between "playing to win" and looking ahead to 2004. It's not like Chone Figgins, Robb Quinlan, et al. have been brought up to help Sciosica decide which will make the team next year, they're up because someone has to fill those roster spots. And the guys who are playing well at triple-A are the guys who would be promoted regardless of whether it's to help the current team or to audition for a 2004 slot.

Posted 5:05 PM by Sean
Both Darin Erstad and Adam Kennedy have cleared waivers, meaning that they can be traded to anyone until the end of August. Actually, it doesn't mean all that much - most players' names are placed on the waiver wire just to keep a club's options open, and inevitably some of them go unclaimed, so don't go thinking that Ersty and AK are gone just yet. Although I did hear the Yankees were sniffing around Erstad a while ago...

Posted 1:51 PM by Sean
You know, if this keeps up, I don't think the Angels are going to win their division.

Ha, ha. A little gallows humor, there.

Anyway, the Angels start that fabled month-long stretch of games against the Central tonight in Cleveland, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they can work their way back to .500 over the course of the next 25 games or so. That's actually a pretty tall order - they're currently seven games under - but inasmuch as it took them less time than that to go from six over to their current situation...well, whatever. How about we just lower our expectations to avoiding a 100-loss season?

Posted 1:02 PM by Sean
The Kansas City Star says that Kevin Appier "appears certain to sign" with the Royals, the Associated Press goes even further, saying that Appier will sign today and start at Tampa Bay this weekend, and the L.A. Times sources Appier's Agent, Jeff Borris, as saying that Ape will start for the Royals on Friday night.

The Royals will be paying less than $100,000 for Appier - presumably the prorated Major League minimum.

Posted 12:43 PM by Sean
Scot Shields's line from yesterday's loss to the Toronto Blue Jays:

5.0 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 91 TP

Shields started and finished shaky, but in between looked great. I was actually somewhat surprised that he pitched into the sixth; I halfway expected Scioscia to have him on a five-inning restriction for his first couple of starts, just to get him used to going out for that length of time. But he was obviously cruising at the end of five, and I can't say I wouldn't have sent him out for the sixth either. In any event, Shields put the first three batters on in the sixth (giving up one run), and Frankie Rodriguez almost got him out of it. My point is that Shields looked a lot more promising than his four earned runs in five innings would indicate, and the strikeouts were a nice bonus. I'm looking forward to his next start.

Oh, and the offense still sucks. Here's a list of runs scored in the Angels' most recent 10 games:

Zero. One. Five. One. Zero. Two. Two. One. One. Two.

At this point, the Angels are tenth in the American League in runs scored, and just one run away from being eleventh. During the 2002 regular season, the Angels finished fourth in the AL in runs scored, and were eight runs away from being second. Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc were lamenting Troy Glaus's absence during yesterday's game, but let's not forget that Glaus's offensive production had dropped off very steeply since the end of May or so. His OPS in June? .618. In July? .643. From May 25 through June 21, when he went on the DL, Glaus hit five home runs. These are not the numbers of an offensive messiah.

Still, there is some reason for hope - if not for this season, then for next. David Eckstein, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, and Troy Glaus have all played significantly worse than their career numbers this year, and at least two or three of them should improve next year. Garret Anderson is the only Angel currently having an insanely above-average year, and he may drop a little in 2004 - but he also had an insanely above-average year last year, so maybe he really is this good. And, if Bill Stoneman is to be believed, the Angels will "probably" be active in the free agent market next year, meaning that we could be chasing after a lot of pretty attractive targets, including Vladimir Guerrero, Carlos Beltran, or Brian Giles, to strengthen the offense even further.

So I'm hopeful. I'd just appreciate it if the L.A. Times would stop mentioning how far back in the standings the Angels are after every game. It's irrelevant, and everybody knows it.

Posted 5:43 PM by Sean
Okay, here's my two-minute take on why trading Scott Schoeneweis was a good thing for the Angels.

You know what economists mean when they talk about "creating wealth?" They mean that wealth increases when you exchange something you value less for something you value more. And since value is relative, two parties can make an exchange in which both come away wealthier, having both "traded up" from their individual points of view. Hence I can trade cash, which is just sitting there in my pocket, for beer, which enables me to sit through another Angels game. And the liquor store can trade beer, which is just sitting there in the cooler using up BTUs, for cash, so Mehdi the liquor store guy can feed his family. Colloquially, this is known as a "win-win situation."

Well, the Angels got wealthy with the Schoeneweis trade. I'm not saying they rooked the White Sox out of any potential superstars, mind you, but rather that they gave up in the trade a pitcher that they valued very little. Despite spending no time on the DL and being the Angels' only lefty in the bullpen, Schoeneweis pitched just 38.2 innings this year, generally - as I mentioned a few weeks ago - in games in which the outcome had already been determined. That's easily the fewest innings of any of the bullpen regulars, with the exception of Troy Percival, who hasn't been getting into games because there haven't been a lot of leads to protect just lately. Given his eye-popping lefty-right splits - lefties have a .499 OPS against him in 79 at-bats, righties have .813 in 74 - there's simply no chance Scioscia was going to convert him into a starter, so he just plain wasn't of much use in a 162-game season. That's in contrast to last year's post-season, of course, when having a lefty in the pen was an essential resource in the late innings.

So in exchange for Schoeneweis and Doug Nickle, about whom more in a moment, the Angels get Gary Glover and a pair of minor league prospects, also about whom more in a moment.

Glover is the bizarro Schoeneweis. He's thrown about as many innings, but his lefty-righty splits are, of course, in the other direction (Glover is right-handed). How this helps the Angels on the field, I don't know, but I do know that they'll pay him a fraction of what they were paying Schoeneweis, and maybe get a chance to look him over to see if Bud Black thinks he can teach him anything useful. The smart money says Glover is basically a placeholder, and will probably not be re-signed after the season's over.

So the real value for the Angels here is in what they pick up for their minor league system. The guy they traded away, Doug Nickle, has a tiny amount of experience in the majors with Philadelphia and San Diego, during which he compiled a 7.84 ERA in 20.2 innings scattered over the 2000, 2001, and 2002 seasons. Nickle was having a very nice season in Salt Lake, with a 1.48 ERA in 48.2 innings of relief, but wasn't exactly overpowering anyone - he was averaging less than one strikeout every two innings. With an ERA like that, it's not all that necessary to have a high strikeout total, of course, but what a low strikeout rate indicates is that here's a guy who has a good chance of allowing inherited runners to score on the sacrifice fly, which wouldn't show up in his ERA (and also, conversely, a good chance of getting guys to ground into double plays - his major league performance showed him to have a propensity to be a ground-ball pitcher, but the sample size is so small it's hard to tell much from that. Also, a lot of those ground balls went for hits, which have also been known to score inherited runners.). And, let's face it, the Angels have plenty of good right-handed relief in Anaheim.

So in Schoeneweis and Nickle, the Angels lose a couple of guys who weren't going to do them much good to begin with. Glover is a warm body. What of the kids the White Sox send our way?

Well, that will have to wait for tomorrow, when we'll also take a look at the deadline deals.

Posted 9:19 AM by Sean
So how's that for being responsive to the fans? Mere hours after yesterday's post, the Angels announced that they're releasing Kevin Appier, and will replace him in the rotation with Scot Shields. I guess I'm really on the hook now if Shields blows chunks, huh? Releasing Appier means that the Angels will still be responsible for the remaining $15.67 million of his salary, which is a record, but Arte Moreno apparently feels the same way I do - that keeping him would just be throwing good money after bad. Or, to be more accurate, throwing good starting opportunities after bad.

The Angels acquired Appier from the New York Mets in a December 2001 trade for Mo Vaughn. He went 14-12 with a 3.92 ERA last season. Moreno saluted him for helping to deliver the first World Series title in club history but said it was time to move on, noting the Angels would not save any money by keeping Appier.

"We're trying to take a long-term view and not put Band-Aids on things," Moreno said.

You know, I'm really starting to like that guy.

Posted 12:59 PM by Sean
I stopped watching last night's loss to the Yankees after Hideki Matsui's home run in the seventh made it 6-1. Apparently, I missed a Garret Anderson home run. Whatever.

It's getting hard to write about this team, particularly when the game you just saw is just another in a string that look exactly alike. Starting pitching bad. Relief pitching good. Offense incapable of the timely hit. Loss. So, in the words of Bill Hicks, excuse me while I slap a fake smile on my face and plow through this shit one more time.

Kevin "Velveeta" Appier lasted a magical 0.2 innings last night. In fairness, he might have had a 1-2-3 inning except for (a) a pitch that may or may not have been strike three to the #2 hitter, Derek Jeter, but was, in any event, called a ball, that kept Jeter alive long enough to (b) hit a bloop single to center that Darin Erstad got an uncharacteristically late break on and couldn't get to in time to make a play on. That was the first of six two-strike hits Appier allowed in the course of his 42 pitch outing, the last five coming with two outs. And three of those hits were by guys who were down 0-2 in the count. So, on second thought, screw "in fairness." If you can't get an out with two strikes five straight times, that's not the umpire's fault. It's true what they say: nothing melts like Velveeta.

And then Scot Shields came along, got that third out, and proceeded to pitch a total of 4.1 innings while giving up one run. Which actually raised his ERA slightly, from 1.77 to 1.79. Shields has pretty much made his living by pitching long relief for craptacular starters this year, and has done a damn good job of it. Here are his innings pitched and earned runs in 2003:

April - 23.1 IP, 2 ER
May - 20.1 IP, 5 ER
June - 16.2 IP, 4 ER
July - 20.1 IP, 5 ER

Got that? Scot Shields is actually giving up fewer runs per month than Kevin Appier does per nine innings. Shields is used to pitching a lot of innings at a stretch, and, in fact, made two starts early in the year in which he gave up three earned runs in 11.0 innings. The bullpen is the Angels' greatest strength; the starting pitching a glaring weakness. Appier has had rough starts before and bounced back, it's true, but this is three of his last five that have been absolutely atrocious, and 35-year-old pitchers aren't known for their sudden resurgences. As a practical matter, Appier is probably wedged into the rotation for the rest of the year, since he makes 11.5 million dollars, but in a sense that's just throwing good money after bad. Hopefully Shields will get another audition as a starter in the next couple of months, and earn a chance to compete for a rotation slot next spring. Of course, I don't even know if Shields wants to start. But right now, I know that I want Appier to stop.

Just a couple of other quick notes: Robb Quinlan, after looking silly against Barry Zito's twelve-to-six curveball during his debut Monday, got three solid base hits in last night's game. The look of sheer giddiness on his face after he came around to score following his first hit was nice to see. Good job, rook.

As I mentioned, the Angels want to get a good look at Quinlan to see how he fits into their 2004 plans. They also may have no choice over the next few days; Tim Salmon, a late scratch last night due to a strained lower back, is scheduled for an MRI today.

Finally, the Angels traded Scott Schoeneweis to the White Sox yesterday for reliever Gary Glover and a pair of minor-leaguers. Everyone seems to think that this is a pretty meaningless trade that did neither side any particular good or harm. I disagree; I think that it actually did everyone some good, and no one more so than Schoeneweis himself. Schoeney made no secret of the fact that he wanted to start, and it would certainly be understandable that someone watching the current crop of Angels starters would get frustrated if he didn't get a chance to break in. But, though obviously itching to get out there, Schoeneweis always treated the issue with class, and pitched very well in relief. An a squad full of team players, he may have been the one who most sacrificed his own ego. Good luck in Chicago, Scott.

Tomorrow: why this deal is good for the Angels. See you then.

Posted 1:29 PM by Sean
Last night the Angels gave their fans a little window into what could have been, beating the A's 2-1 in a well-played pitchers' duel. Jarrod Washburn and Barry Zito both put zeroes on the board through seven, then turned it over to the bullpens. And - despite everything else going wrong - the Angels still have the best pen in baseball. The offense may have needed a couple of lucky breaks to score their runs, and Percival may have surrendered a leadoff homer in the ninth, and it may just be one game out of four, but I'll take it.

Washburn was incredibly shaky in the first couple of innings. He looked a little like he was having trouble placing his front foot during his delivery, which would explain why he was outside a lot to right-handers. Once he settled in, though, he looked a lot better. Hopefully he won't require 29 pitches in the first inning of every game to get reacquainted with the mound.

Posted 2:59 PM by Sean
Maybe the Orange County Register's Cheryl Neubert knows something I don't.

Quinlan's recall does not mean the Angels are done adding to their roster. Owner Arte Moreno will allow them to add payroll. The Angels need a bat. Since they will not deal top prospects or core players, they would like to take a young player from a team that needs to dump salary.

No source on where she gets her information that Moreno will allow them to add payroll this year. Maybe it came to her in a dream.

An outfielder such as the Pittsburgh Pirates' Brian Giles, who is owed $17 million over the next two seasons, would be a good fit. So would St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew, though he might not be available because Jim Edmonds is not healthy. Texas Rangers right fielder Juan Gonzalez is available and likely would waive his no-trade to come to Anaheim, but he is making slow progress from his calf injury and might not be ready to play for awhile.

An outfielder essentially replaces Jeff DaVanon, who is hitting .310/.364/.523. Giles would actually be a significant upgrade over DaVanon, even if you ignore the fact that DaVanon's numbers have been falling for a while now. But apparently the smart money lately is on Giles going to San Diego.

And the rumor is that J.D. Drew is going to Seattle, possibly for Freddy Garcia. In the long term, that's probably a pretty bad deal for the Cardinals, but right now they're so desperate for pitching that Garcia's 5.17 ERA (including a 4.70 ERA at Safeco, where the overall cumulative ERA is 3.92) looks good. I should also point out that the cumulative ERA at Busch Stadium is 4.85. Good luck, Freddy!

As for Juan Gonzalez, who makes $13,000,000 per year and is on the disabled list...give me a break, okay, Ms. Neubert?

Posted 12:48 PM by Sean
Oh, and one other thing: yesterday's loss dropped the Angels below .500 for the first time since June 27. The Angels have finished above .500 in back-to-back seasons only three times in their 42-year history, and have never had three consecutive winning seasons. Anaheim made a lot of new fans in 2002. The hard part will be keeping them.

Posted 11:29 AM by Sean
Of course, by "barnburner," what I meant was that the A's would burn down the Angels' barn, make off with their horses, hear the lamentations of their women, and sow their fields with salt.

And by "wandering into a buzzsaw," I meant...uh...Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The Angels' hopes of making the playoffs expired this past weekend, as those three losses to the A's dropped them 11.5 games in back of Seattle for the A.L. West lead and 10.5 behind Boston for the wildcard. Perhaps not insurmountable leads, but in both cases there are teams far better positioned to take advantage if the leaders stumble. I suspect that Seattle will pull away down the stretch, simply because I don't think that Oakland's offensive explosion against the Angels is all that indicative of what they'll do in the future. In any event, though, it won't be a three-team race.

Parenthetically, I managed to catch part or all of each of the Yankees-Red Sox games over the weekend, and watching the Bostons rally to win on Saturday and Sunday reminded me quite a bit of last year's Angels. There are huge differences, of course - the Boston bullpen resembles the Angels' bullpen in the same way a chihuahua resembles a Great Dane - but the offense is really quite incredible, leading the league in OBP and slugging and batting average, while also hitting 145 home runs - second in the league - without striking out very much (591, well below the league average). Having added Scott Sauerbeck and Byung-Hyun Kim to their Godawful bullpen, the Sox are still one decent starting pitcher away from being in position to beat the Yankees, I think, but have to be considered the favorites to win the wild card.

At any rate, I think we can be fairly confident that the Angels will stand relatively pat as the trading deadline approaches. It's a pretty good bet that new owner Arte Moreno - who has expressed a reluctance to make any big deals in his first year - won't authorize any major additions to the team, and General Manager Bill Stoneman has a history of making only minor deadline deals even during seasons in which the Angels are legitimate contenders. There's always a chance that one or two of the relief corps could be shipped somewhere for prospects, but I'd put the odds on that to be somewhere around 4-1.

The combination of also-ran status, injuries, and expanded rosters in September means that the rest of the Angels' season will be a prolonged look at some of the guys on the minor-league rosters. In addition to calling up Alfredo Amezaga on Thursday to play shortstop and second (though not at the same time), the Halos have also brought Robb Quinlan up to the big club. Quinlan, who primarily plays first base but can also take a corner outfield position, may debut tonight, particularly as a late-inning replacement if the game isn't very close. The Angels don't have a particular shortage of guys who can play those positions, but will want to get him some at-bats as the season winds down in order to make some decisions about next year's team. Both Scott Spiezio and Brad Fullmer are signed to one-year deals; if Quinlan performs well, the Angels are not likely to re-sign at least one of those two.

Posted 11:38 AM by Sean
The Angels managed to slip past the Rangers last night, 10-6. Ordinarily, that would be a joke, but in this particular instance it really did feel like dodging a bullet.

Kevin Appier threw six solid innings...well, no. He threw five solid innings and one shaky one, surrendering back-to-back shots from Hank Blalock and Alex Rodriguez in the sixth, but otherwise keeping the Rangers off-balance enough to limit them to just two other hits. Appier looked like he was getting some help from home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg, who was regularly calling the outside strike for both teams.

The offense continued to smack around Texas pictching, putting up 13 hits and keeping the game comfortably out of reach until the ninth inning. The Rangers chipped away at what had been a 9-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth until they managed to load the bases with nobody out in the ninth with the score 10-5. Blalock absolutely crushed a Troy Percival fastball a few feet foul, but Percival managed to escape the inning allowing only one of the three inherited runners to score.

The situation was somewhat atypical for Percival - even tough it was technically a save situation, since the tying run was on deck, he's used to coming in to start the ninth to protect a small lead, not in the middle of the ninth with men already on base. But Percival has been something of a different animal since coming off the DL earlier this year. His hip problem has forced him to modify his leg-kick, which initially had people worried that he would lose velocity on his fastball. That hasn't happened - he hit 98 at one point last night - but there does seem to have been a change in his command: it's improved. He gave up a walk on Wednesday in Tampa, but that was the first base on balls Percival has issued since June 11, a stretch of more than 12 innings. For a guy who's got a career walk rate of one every 2 1/3 innings, that's pretty impressive. His efficiency has also improved - since coming off the DL, he's averaging 14.67 pitches per inning, which is well below his career average of 17.5 and, in fact, is lower than any single-season number he's ever posted in that statistic. He's throwing about 4.33 pitches per batter faced, which is right in line with his career average of 4.28, so he's still working hitters the same, he's just getting the ball where he needs it to be when he's deep in the count.

I should also mention that obscured by the Goddamn Road Trip has been the fact that David Eckstein has returned to the leadoff spot and put together a string of nice games. He's hit in five straight games - four of them more than once - and is 11 for his last 20, including a stellar 4-for-5 last night (plus a walk). His July OPS is .820, laughably higher than his season OPS of .658. Good work, David.

Finally, speaking of quiet offensive performances, Garret Anderson is not the only Angel having the best offensive season of his career. Check out Bengie Molina's stats: .283/.310/.445 (.755 OPS), 10 HR, 17 2B. Nothing to make you forget Mike Piazza, sure, or even Mike Lavalliere's best year, but career highs (adjusted for games played so far) in all categories except OBP. And certainly a big improvement on last year, when his OPS of .596 and five home runs made him the only hitter in the Anaheim lineup that pitchers could reasonably expect to be an easy out.

Tonight, the Angels start a wrap-around series with the Oakland A's, who currently sit 5.5 games ahead of them in the A.L. West and wildcard races. The Angels have put themselves in a position of needing at least three of these games to even have a pulse, and may be wandering into a buzzsaw: tonight John Lackey goes against Ted Lilly, who is unquestionably the weakest link in the Oakland rotation, but the next three games will be against rookie studmuffin Rich Hardin (whom you can also read about today at Aaron's Baseball Blog), Tim Hudson, and Barry Zito. That Sunday game, in which Hudson will match up with Ramon Ortiz, should be an absolute barnburner.

Posted 11:13 AM by Sean
Troy Glaus is on the 15-day Disabled List, retroactive to Tuesday. The Angels will likely use Scott Spiezio at third and bring Shawn Wooten off the bench to play first until his return. Mickey Callaway returned from the DL to take Glaus's roster spot.

Posted 10:10 AM by Sean
In lieu of pointless comment on last night's game, I present the following vignette:

Beep BOOP BOOP BOOP Beep Beep BOOP Beep BOOP BOOP Beep.

Thank you for calling iNDemand! Please enter your five-digit ZIP Code!

Beep Beep Beep BOOP BOOP.

Thank you! To order an iNDemand product, please call your local cable company at 972-445-5555!

Beep Beep BOOP, BOOP BOOP Beep, Beep Beep Beep Beep.

Hello, and thank you for calling Comcast! For service in English, press one! Para instrucciones en Espanol, marque numero dos!

BOOP

For billing inquiries, press one! To report trouble with your service, order new service, or disconnect your service, press two! For...

BOOP

To do a bunch of stuff you don't want to do, press numbers one through three! To speak with a customer service representative, press four!

BOOP

All of our customer service representatives are currently assisting other callers. Please hang on, and we'll be with you as soon as possible.

[Hold music]

ThankyouforcallingComcastmynameisunintelligble, howmayihelpyou?

Hi. I'd like to order the half-season MLB Extra Innings package, please.

Can I have your phone number, area code first please?

Sure. It's xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Thank you.

[Long silence]

Okay, you want the MLB Extra Innings package...that's $109. Do you want that billed in three separate installments, or all at once?

Installments, please.

Or you could pay it all at once.

Does it cost more to pay in installments?

No.

Installments, then.

Okay. You're set.

Great. And it should start instantly?

Yep. Instantly.

Great, thanks for your help.

[30 minutes later]

Beep Beep BOOP, BOOP BOOP Beep, Beep Beep Beep Beep

Hello, and thank you for calling Comcast. For service in English, press...

BOOP

For billing inquiries, press one! To report trouble...

BOOP

To do a bunch of stuff...

BOOP

HithanksforcallingComcastmynameissomebodyelse, how may I help you.

Ah, hi. I ordered the MLB Extra Innings package about half an hour ago, and it hasn't shown up as available yet. Is there something I need to do on my end to make it work?

Hang on, let me see.

[Long silence]

Okay, it should be coming on in the next five or ten minutes.

[Just then, both cable boxes reset themselves]

Great. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for calling Comcast.

[One hour later]

Beep Beep BOOP, BOOP BOOP Beep, Beep Beep Beep Beep

Hello, and thank...

BOOP

For billing inq...

BOOP

To do a...

BOOP

HithanksforcallingComcastmynameisyetathirddrone, how may I help you.

Well, I ordered the MLB Extra Innings package about an hour and a half ago, and it hasn't shown up yet. I called an hour or so ago, and the customer service person I spoke to reset my cable boxes, but now they've completely cycled through and picked up all the programming information, but still no Extra Innings package.

Can I have your phone number, area code first?

Yes, it's xxx-xxx-xxxx.

And what are the last four digits in the Social Security Number for this account?

What?

For security reasons, we need the last four digits of the Social Security Number.

Uh, xxxx.

Hmmm. Okay. I think you actually need to speak with someone in Sales. Hold on just a minute while I transfer you.

What?

[Long pause]

Hi, you've reached Comcast Sales. Our normal office hours are from 8:30 to 5:30, Monday through Friday...

Beep Beep BOOP, BOOP BOOP Beep, Beep Beep Beep Beep

Hel...

BOOP

For...

BOOP

To...

BOOP

HithanksforcallingComcastmynameisstillafourthperson, how may I help you.

Hi. I ordered the MLB Exra Innings package earlier this evening, and it's not showing up yet. This is actually my third call trying to get this taken care of...

Can you hold for a moment?

...okay.

[ten seconds later]

Okay, is it on now?

Yes. Yes it is. Thank you for your help.

No problem. Thanks for calling Comcast.

Jeeeesus.

Posted 9:44 AM by Sean
"I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing on the mound right now."

Fabulous. Just fabulous. And that's from the team's supposed ace.

Posted 9:39 AM by Sean
Here's something interesting - thanks to a free WiFi (that's "wireless fidelity," a.k.a. connecting to a network without wires) node set up across the street, folks who bring WiFi-enabled laptops to PGE Park in Portland (home of the Padres' AAA affiliate, the Portland Beavers) can get free wireless access to the Internet. And the park's management isn't happy about it:

Metz said he worries Personal Telco's news release late last week -- entitled "PGE Park gets free Wi-Fi thanks to Personal Telco and Moonlight Staffing" -- implied the park management helped market the service.

"Their service might be the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's beyond the point," Metz said. "I just don't like the way it's been portrayed in the press release without our consent."

It's horrible, but he might actually have a point. Some perv is bound to start surfing for porn between innings, and who's gonna get sued when he gets beaten into unconsciousness with his laptop by a bunch of parents? PGE Park, that's who. Which is a shame, because I'd dearly love to be able to watch a game with instant access to splits, situational statistics, and all the rest of the data that's typically nowhere to be found in the printed program. I hope they have the best filtering software ever, and that other ballparks start thinking about setting up nodes of their own, instead of waiting for some altruistic soul to set up shop across the street.

Posted 9:30 AM by Sean
Finally, a win. But not a convincing, thump-em-till-they-cry win, an "excuse me, would you mind if we scored just one or two more runs than you?" win. The L.A. Times story I just linked to is almost quaintly naive; "The Angels repcatured their World Series form Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays..." Nuh-uh. In World Series form, the Angels won by scoring 11, 10, 6, and 4 runs against the San Francisco Giants. Putting three on the board against Tampa means the offense is still in low gear. Five of the starters in the lineup drew oh-fers, and if it hadn't been for a solid - though sometimes adventuresome - start by Ramon Ortiz, they'd have been in trouble.

The Angels come to Texas for a short series today and tomorrow, and even the Everett-less Rangers pack more than enough offensive punch to beat the Angels if they can't start hitting.

I should also mention that Troy Glaus is day-to-day after suffering a shoulder contusion in Monday's game; he sat out yesterday and may not play today. I wish I could say that this hurts the Angels' offense. Get well soon, Troy, and then get better.

Posted 12:42 PM by Sean
"The Goddamn Baltimore Series" began to turn into "The Goddamn Road Trip" last night, thanks to a pathetic offensive performance in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay last night. Yestereve's opposing pitcher, Rob Bell, pitched into the eighth inning and gave up one run, lowering his earned run average to 6.14. You're welcome, Rob. Angels starter Aaron Sele, in his first "unrestricted" start since coming off the DL last month (his last three starts had been limited to five innings), pitched six complete and surrendered two earned on seven hits. He looked fairly good doing so, although it was clear he had tired significantly by the end of the sixth.

Once again, the Angels were doomed by their failure to come through in the clutch. David Eckstein led off the game with a double, but wasn't brought around. Adam Kennedy led off the third with a single and advanced to third on a two-base error, and no one could score him. Garret Anderson singled to start the fourth, and stayed there. The Angels put together some runs in the eighth and ninth, but not enough to make up for their earlier lost opportunities. They're now just a game over .500 for the season, and 8.5 behind Boston for the wild card.

At the moment, the Angels are losing again, 1-0, heading into the top of the fourth. It's tough right now to avoid thinking about what kind of roster moves to make in response to this skid; call it folding our hand on 2003 or firing the first shot for 2004 if you like. Josh at
The Monkey's Paw has pointed out that this team has a tradeable surfeit of quality relievers, and argues fairly convincingly that Ben Weber and/or Scott Schoeneweis should be dangled as trade bait. I'd add Brendan Donnelly to that list - Donnelly is having an unbelievable season, and, while it's true that he doesn't make much money and isn't arbitration eligible anytime soon, he's also 32 years old and not likely to maintain his current level of performance. There's nothing that says the Angels have to trade him, of course, and having him back next year would definitely be a plus, but I'd still be interested to see what kind of offers that 0.37 ERA garners.

Garret Anderson doubles home David Eckstein with two outs to tie the game. God bless you, Garret.

One member of the bullpen that we can be pretty confident will stay in Anaheim is Troy Percival. The Angels' closer, though considered one of the best in baseball, makes almost eight million bucks a year and is under contract through next season. Although Percival is not yet a five-and-ten guy, and thus can't veto trades, there's a very limited number of contenders out there who don't have a closer already. Kansas City, Boston, and Toronto all have terrible bullpens, but the Royals can't possibly take on Percival's salary, the Blue Jays may or may not see themselves as contending, and the Red Sox are in a pissing contest with the rest of baseball over whether one needs a closer at all. Over in the National League, Percival might have been a good fit in St. Louis, but the Cardinals look like they're committed to sticking with Jason Isringhausen as he tries to return from offseason shoulder surgery, a strategy that seems to be paying off for them. So Percival will likely been in Anaheim for at least one more year, with Frankie Rodriguez taking over closer's duties starting in 2005, or possibly late next year if Percival is traded during his walk year.

Posted 1:57 PM by Sean
The Angels left Baltimore yesterday bleeding from just about every orifice they've got. For whatever reason, the Orioles have had the Angels' number this year, and actually came within one game of sweeping the season series between the two teams. As it was, the rather humiliating four-game sweep in Charm City this past weekend dropped the Angels to 1-8 on the season against Baltimore, and the only silver lining is that they don't have to play them any more this year.

The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday games were huge regressions for a starting staff that had finally begun to build some confidence. On Friday, Jarrod Washburn was victimized by the big inning, a five-run first that the Halos actually came back from, only to fall in the late innings when Frankie Rodriguez gave up a game-winning home run. Saturday, Kevin Appier melted like Velveeta in a blast furnace, coughing up seven earned in a mere 1.3 innings. Sunday, John Lackey was torched for six runs in five innings, four of those runs scoring in the sixth inning, when he put the first four batters on base and Frankie Rodriguez gave up a grand slam.

Meanwhile, as the Angels were suffering through what will probably, at the end of the year, be looked back on as "The Goddamn Baltimore Series," their division rivals were faring little better. Oakland dropped four in Minnesota, and Seattle lost three out of four to Kansas City, so, despite the horror show, Anaheim dropped just one game in the A.L. West race. Of course, they also lost a huge opportunity to make a move upward in the standings. Additionally, Boston and Toronto split a four-game series, meaning the Angels lost two games in the wild-card race - and fell behind Toronto again.

So, is that it? Is this, as it were, the end of Rico?

Not yet. As I mentioned, the Orioles just plain had the Angels' number this year. These things happen. For years now, the Angels have had the advantage over the Yankees, even during years in which the Angels were destined for sub-.500 seasons. The question becomes whether these four games will send the Angels into a tailspin, or whether Aaron Sele, Ramon Ortiz, and the offense can take out some of those frustrations on a bad, bad Tampa Bay team tonight and tomorrow night. Because if you can't get well against Tampa Bay...well, there's just no cure for what ails you.

Posted 10:55 AM by Sean
Baseball Prospectus's analysis of the Angels' situation pretty much agrees with mine: the rotation has been shaky, but the offense - and the middle infielders in particular - has been to blame as well. And I think we can officially add Troy Glaus to the list of underperforming Angels now. Actually, let's not. "Underperforming" is too nice a word. Glaus has been sucking like the proverbial Electrolux. He's got eight hits in his last fifty at-bats, and has driven in five runs in his last fourteen games while hitting immediately behind Garret Anderson, fifth in the lineup. And he looks terrible at the plate. I didn't get a chance to see the games on Saturday and Sunday - there weren't carried on the MLB Extra Innings package - but on Thursday and Friday he appeared listless at the plate, waving the bat informally at balls low and away that he didn't have a prayer of reaching. Friday in particular, it was obvious that he just couldn't stop himself from swinging at the low-and-out slider.

Posted 11:34 AM by Sean
Steve Bisheff, a columnist at the Orange County Register, has a book out that supposedly chronicles the Angels' 2002 season. It's called Tales From the Angels Dugout, and it's available for sixteen bucks. So far, the only review I've found is here.

Posted 9:36 AM by Sean
The Angels failed to take advantage of their situation in more ways than one last night. While Seattle, Oakland, and Boston - the teams they need to catch if they're going to make the playoffs - all lost last night, the Angels dropped something of a nail-biter to Baltimore, 2-1. Although Rodrigo Lopez pitched seven strong innings, with good movement and location, the Angels definitely had their chances, putting men on base in four of those innings as well as the ninth.

While some reports of the game focus on base-running mistakes as the reason for last night's loss, the silent partner in that crime was the Angels' lack of clutch hitting. Sure, Tim Salmon didn't advance to second on a throw to the plate after a sacrifice fly in the fourth - but that's not exactly a routine play, and in fact Jeff DaVanon was almost - should have been, if the play had been made, properly - out later in the game trying the same thing. But Troy Glaus didn't exactly come through with Salmon on first, grounding into a routine double play to end the inning.

In the sixth, the most controversial call of the game came when Darin Erstad was picked off first on a 3-1 count with one out and Scott Spiezio at the plate. I say "controversial" because it stirred up some pretty intense argument from Erstad and Mike Scioscia, who claimed that Lopez balked on the play, but it sure looked like a solid pickoff play to me. Spiezio subsequently walked, but Tim Salmon struck out to end the inning.

The Angels then had runners on the corners with one out in the seventh, but Garret Anderson failed to score on a fly ball to medium center. In hindsight, of course he should have tried to score - it would have been very close, and he might well have been out, but they needed to take the chance. But let's not forget that neither Bengie Molina, who hit that fly ball, nor David Eckstein, who grounded out to end the inning, was able to deliver a hit in that situation.

Finally, Troy Glaus was doubled off first to end the game when he ran on a pitch that DaVanon subsequently flied to left. Glaus may have been deked on the play by the defense, but he was also running with his head down until he was nearly to second, and didn't even look to see where the ball was until it was too late.

All in all, a fairly frustrating performance - especially given that, at any time, a single home run would have tied the game. This isn't a team that's built around the long ball, of course, but when every at-bat is an opportunity to tie or take the lead, and you miss them all...well, let's just put that in the past, okay?

The flip side of all of this, naturally, is that the Angels didn't lose any ground on Boston, Oakland, or Seattle (though Toronto did pull to within a half-game of Anaheim). But just treading water is obviously not going to cut it. Like the man said, we've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.

One other bit of cheerful news: Ramon Ortiz continued the starting rotation's recent string of good outings. Although he seemed wild at times, and lost a lot of balls low and/or away, on the two occasions he found himself in trouble he extricated himself fairly quickly. If, in fact, the starting pitching has righted itself permanently, that's a lot more important than one night of dopy base-running and missed RBI chances.

Posted 9:59 AM by Sean
The Angels took home the ESPY for "Best Team" last night. Okay, they didn't take it home, exactly, because they're in Baltimore, but you know what I mean.

Meanwhile, Rex Hudler has an interesting take on what Fullmer's injury does to the Angels, strategically:

"I feel for Brad," Hudler said. "He worked hard, took a pay cut and was really gearing up for a good year. But I don't think it hurts the team as much as people thought it would. With Fullmer — and this is nothing against Brad — Mike's hands were tied. I think this is good for the team. It frees up Mike to use those other guys."

Maybe that's a little bit of looking for the silver lining. I don't know. But it does seem that, as long as everyone else is healthy, the Angels have plenty of OF/1B/DH types to stick in the lineup. The general mutterings about the Angels' possible moves as the trade deadline nears have focused on picking up another bat, but I'd be a lot happier if they found a middle infielder they could rent until next year. With David Eckstein contributing precious little in the way of offense, and Kennedy having a decent but unspectacular year, I'm beginning to cast covetous glances at the Expos' All-Star second baseman Jose Vidro. I mean, yeah, he makes 5.5 million a year, but the guy's middle name is literally "Angel," for God's sake.

Posted 9:43 AM by Sean
I'm generally - and it hurts me to say this - in agreement with Joe Morgan's assessment of the All-Star Game, except for this dumbfounding statement:

One pitch especially left me wondering: I'm not sure why Gagne threw a 3-1 fastball to Blalock, a left-handed fastball hitter, in a one-run game with first base open in the eighth. Right-hander Brett Boone was on deck, and Gagne struck him out easily -- after Blalock left the park. Gagne also gave up a home run in last year's All-Star Game.

Dude...Blalock was the go-ahead run. And you just flat don't put the go-ahead run on base in the eighth inning if you can help it, unless the guy batting behind him is either (a) the pitcher, or (b) nicknamed "Stumpy." I think this is Morgan displaying his uncanny knack for predicting the past.

Posted 9:34 AM by Sean
What an unbelievable few days for Garret Anderson. His team gets rolling, he's named American League Player of the Week, he wins the Home Run Derby, and then he goes 3 for 4 with a home run and a double and is named MVP of the All-Star Game following the American League's come from behind victory. I think we can safely say that he's managed to wedge himself into even the casual fan's consciousness at this point.

In fact, between Anderson's monster performance, Brendan Donnelly's perfect eighth and winning pitcher status, and the World Series victory last year, the Angels have gone from being a league afterthought to one of the preeminent teams in baseball. That won't last forever, of course - these things never do - but it's pretty amazing to realize that you're living through what's indisputibly the best era in your team's history. It's a feeling a lot of fans will never know. Yankee fans, for example, may be able to point to the 1998 team, but can they really say that those guys were better than the '27, '32, or '39 editions? How many could compare the two from first-hand experience?

I was also gratified to see Hank Blalock homer to win the game off of Eric Gagne, who's had unbelievably nasty stuff this year. Blalock is one of the Rangers' brightest hopes for the future, and I strongly suspect that if Texas ever puts together even a halfway-decent pitching staff they're going to be a pretty good team. Blalock himself deserved to play in this game, and maybe even start.

Awright, enough basking. I'm already jonesing for tomorrow night's game against the Orioles, and I hope the Angels are too.

Posted 10:54 AM by Sean
As long as we're talking about pointless diversions, the Angels are nominated for three ESPY Awards, which will be handed out on ESPN tomorrow night starting at 9:00 Eastern. The 2002 team is nominated in the "Best Team" category, Scioscia is nominated for "Best Coach," and Game 6 of the World Series is nominated for "Best Game."

Posted 9:28 AM by Sean
Aw, it was an empty threat. You knew it, I knew it, and the American people knew it. Read? Read a book?? Read a book with words?!?

And, of course, I'm glad I did tune in (at 8:00 Eastern, 7:00 Central), because Garret Anderson won the Home Run Derby last night, beating Albert Pujols in an exciting final round. Anderson is the first Angel to ever win the Derby; to call this an upset is something of an exercise in rhetorical restraint. It's becoming fashionable to refer to GA as one of the most underrated players in baseball - which is true - but it's not like he hits monster shots that people ignore. Anderson himself puts it best: "I don't look at myself as a home run hitter but I know I'm capable of hitting the ball out of the park. . .That swing that I was using tonight is not a swing that I try to use during the season. It was strictly for trying to hit balls over the fence. During the season, mentally and physically I don't do that. I look for mistakes and try to hit them hard."

Exactly. Which is why he's second in the league in slugging, despite having "only" 22 home runs so far. He led the majors in doubles last year (56), and is just two off the lead this year (30). This is a guy that was dogged early in his career for being somewhat lackadaisical, and was even benched in the middle of the game once by then-manager Terry Collins for failing to run out a grounder. I don't think anyone says that about him anymore, and I suspect Collins deserves a fair bit of credit for waking him up to the fact that, in this league, talent is never enough. Anderson has developed into a player that fans can not only admire for his performance, but also respect for his attitude (and his refreshing lack of showboating), and I, for one, am glad he's an Angel for both of those reasons.

As an aside, Jim Caple at ESPN has a pretty entertaining article arguing in favor of using aluminum bats during the Home Run Derby. I think he's about 50% serious. I'm in favor of using aluminum bats too, I'm just in favor of using them to beat that jackass Chris Berman with. Is there any more annoying guy in the history of broadcast sports? He makes Bill Walton look like Ernie Harwell.

Ah, well. It should be fun to see how Mike Scioscia manages tonight. Both he and Dusty Baker seem fairly laid back about the game, and why not? It's not like there'll be a lot of tough decisions involved, from a managerial standpoint. They're all pretty good players, you know.

Posted 12:07 PM by Sean
ESPN still says the Home Run Derby is at 8:00 Eastern. Look, if you want to watch it, my advice is to turn on your TV right now, and watch until it starts. Because apparently no one quite knows when that's going to be.

Garret Anderson or no Garret Anderson, at this point maybe I'll just read a damn book.

Posted 12:01 PM by Sean
Sorry folks - I was wrong about the start time for the home run derby. MLB says it starts at 6:00 Eastern, which of course is 5:00 Central and 3:00 Pacific. Then again, it also says that's when coverage starts, and God only knows what kind of absurd wankfest we'll be treated to before they actually start.

Incidentally, the Futures Game was held yesterday, the U.S. team managing to beat the World team 3-2. Everything that needs to be said about MLB's shameful lack of promotion for this game can be found at Aaron's Baseball Blog today. Of the Angels prospects who made the game, catcher Jeff Mathis was a late-inning substitute and went 0-1 at the plate, while pitcher Ervin Santana did not play.

Posted 9:46 AM by Sean
The Angels won their fifth straight yesterday afternoon with a mixture of bein' good and bein' lucky. The good involved a solid start from John Lackey (3 ER, 6 IP, 5 K, 2 BB, 94 TP) and an opportunistic offense that seemed straight out of 2002. The lucky - well, let's call it a mixture of good and lucky - involved some terrific defensive plays to catch the Twins on the basepaths, including a seventh inning that saw Angels pitchers give up a walk and three base hits but no runs (preserving a 4-3 lead), thanks to a double play and a terrific throw from Jeff DaVanon to nip Luis Rivas at the plate as he tried to score from second on a Denny Hocking single. Lucky? Sure. It's not often you put that many guys on base and get out of the inning unscathed. But also good. DaVanon seems to have locked in with this team, and is easily as much a part of it as Orlando Palmeiro was last year.

So now, just as the Angels are rolling for the first time all season, we have the full. Stop. That is. The All-Star. Break. According to conventional wisdom, this is supposed to mess up momentum, but I have some pretty serious doubts about that. Last year at this time, the Angels had also gone on the upswing right before the break, and started off the second half of the season just as hot. The fact is that they just finished winning twelve of their last sixteen against some decent teams (Dodgers, Rangers, A's, Royals, Twins - not great, but not pushovers), and contemplating that fact can only help their confidence. Plus, their first eight games after the break are at Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and Texas, which will hopefully be a momentum-booster before heading into a vicious portion of the schedule (Oakland, New York, Toronto, Boston).

So I intend to enjoy the All-Star Break, because I'm pretty sure there will be some tense moments afterwards as the Angels continue to claw towards October.

Posted 9:14 AM by Sean
Manny Ramirez won't play in the All-Star game due to a hamstring injury, meaning that Garret Anderson will get the start in his place. Two Angels in the starting lineup? Holy crow...

Anderson will also participate in the Home Run Derby portion of the All-Star festivities, to be broadcast on ESPN tonight at 7:00 Central Time (5:00 Pacific).

Anyway, I'll say this about the All-Star Game: I know a lot of people who are skeptical about the whole winner-gets-home-field-for-the-Series concept, arguing that such a thing shouldn't hang on the outcome of an exhibition, or that the All-Star Game should be just one of many factors determining home field. But the closer we get to the playoffs, the more I like the idea. Despite the inane "This Time It Counts!" and "The Excitement is Back!" and "Oh My God, I'm Dancing Back And Forth From One Leg To The Other In An Effort Not To Wet Myself, I'm So Excited By This!" commercials, the fact is that, for the first time, there really is something tangible riding on this All-Star Game. It's not just a chance for the game's best players to injure themselves with half the season to go, and maybe I'll actually be able to watch the whole thing without falling asleep this year. I think that the folks who argue that we should also consider interleague play and various other factors have a point, but let's not complain because we're only taking one step in the right direction at once.

Posted 11:34 AM by Sean
On the heels of Bill Stoneman's contract extension, Mike Scioscia gets one, too, this one through 2007, with a club option for 2008. Amazingly, Scioscia - who is in his fourth season as manager - is already the second-longest tenured Angels manager of all time, behind Bill Rigney (who was at the helm for the first eight seasons, and part of the ninth). Gene Mauch actually managed for a total of four seasons and change, but they were non-consecutive - he's the Grover Cleveland of Angels managers.

Another item of interest in the same article: Scioscia is lifting the five-inning restriction he'd placed on Aaron Sele. The restriction had been in effect for Sele's last three starts, during which he'd gone 3-0 with a 0.60 ERA.

Let the second-guessing begin: why, oh why would you mess with something that's working? But if there's one thing I've learned over the last couple of years, it's that, when it comes to managing this baseball team, Mike Scioscia is smarter than just about everyone else.

One of the hallmarks of this team has been its flexibility - guys can play two or three different positions, move from the rotation to the bullpen and back, etc. Keeping Sele tethered to his five-and-fly status does no favors to either the team or Sele himself. Even given that the rotation has pitched much more effectively in the last couple of weeks, there's simply no way to justify penciling them in for four innings every five days and restricting your options on the days before and after that game. This is particularly true when you consider that their most viable long-inning option, Scott Schoeneweis, is the only lefty in the bullpen.

Ultimately, Sele will have to stand or fall on his merits as a fully-contributing member of the rotation. As Scioscia said, it's time to take the water wings off and send him towards the deep end of the pool. His next scheduled start will be June 21, at Tampa Bay, which will be followed - if the schedule holds - by home starts against Oakland on the 26th and the Yankees on the 31st. If Sele is ineffective in those first two starts, look for the rumor mill to heat up fast regarding a trade.

Posted 6:20 PM by Sean
Hey, this is getting fun - the Angels defeated the Twins again today, 6-1, behind a strong, seven-inning start by Jarrod Washburn and a three-hit game by Scott Spiezio. The turnaround in the starting pitching has been nothing short of amazing. The bullpen has been consistently great all year - at present, their ERA is more than a full run lower than the #2 pen in the league (which happens to be Minnesota's) - but the recent resurgence of the starters has moved the pitching staff's overall ERA to 3.98, third in the AL (not counting today's game).

Posted 4:58 PM by Sean
The Angels finally made it to four games over .500 last night, with an impressive 5-0 victory over Minnesota. Ramon Ortiz threw six scoreless innings, albeit using a hefty 103 pitches to do so, Salmon and Spiezio both went deep, and Adam Kennedy made several terrific defensive plays. Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays were getting beat by the New York Yankees, the end result being that the Angels crept past them into third place in the wild-card chase.

It's going to be tough - the Red Sox, in particular, are playing solid baseball lately, and Oakland will be no pushover. But the Angels seem to be rediscovering themselves, and those two clubs might do well to spare a nervous glance or two over their shoulders.

Posted 4:49 PM by Sean
Kevin Appier has offered to defer a "significant amount" of his $12 million salary next year in return for a contract extension (at a lower salary than he's getting now) through 2005. Bill Stoneman, the Angels' GM, is pretty well-known for not discussing contract matters during the season, so it's likely a decision won't be made until at least October, but it also seems likely that he'll give this one a miss. Appier is trying to guarantee himself some level of income for the next few years, but, realistically, the Angels have some pretty promising young arms coming through the minors, and having one of your starting spots tied up for the next couple of years by a guy in his late thirties who's been just so-so lately isn't all that smart.

Posted 4:51 PM by Sean
Barry Bonds, who mentioned the possibility of finishing his career with the Angels several months ago, brought it up again in an interview about making the All-Star Team. Bonds could conceivably be a free agent after the 2006 season, so don't everybody go wondering if Troy Glaus will have to give up #25 just yet. At that point, Bonds will be 42, and probably, if he's still playing, will have passed Hank Aaron's career home runs record.

Posted 4:31 PM by Sean
Hey, check it out! The Monkey's Paw becomes Angels blog #2! His review of your humble correspondent: "solid but erratically maintained." A fairer assessment I'll not ask for, and I promise to try to be more solid and less erratic.

The Paw itself looks promising, and its author actually lives in Southern California. Give him a look-see.

Posted 3:50 PM by Sean
Aw, crap. There I was, contentedly fading into oblivion, knowing that I was, at maximum, disappointing maybe 15 people a day, most of them finding this site by accident (although, given my recent mention of John Lackey, I might be expected to pick up a few Montgomery Burns types looking for top-quality lickspittles). But then Doug over at Pipeline had to mention my site, and I bet I get twenty hits today.

So, new material! And welcome to all you Pipeline readers.

All right, first off, I suppose one of the reasons I haven't been writing lately is that, like every baseball fan, player, coach, manager, and mascot on the planet, I'm a deeply superstitious guy when it comes to my favorite team. Normally, this takes the form of minor obsessive-compulsive behaviour during games. If I can just hold off scratching that mosquito bite, Weber will pitch his way out of this two-on, nobody-out sixth inning! If I can clean my glasses before Zito comes to his belt, Glaus will put one in the alley! If I finish this beer before the commercial ends, I can get another one!

And so on. I'm sure you recognize a little bit of yourselves in that. If you don't, well, what the hell kind of fan are you?. Plus, it works. Last year, I didn't look once at the Angels' schedule, so I never knew who they were going to play beyond the next series or two. And just look what happened.

Meanwhile, over the Fourth of July holiday, I didn't do much writing. Like most bloggers, I generally do this to pass the time at work, and not as an excuse to avoid, say, fireworks and potato salad. And lo! The Angels took two out of three from Oakland. I kept my trap shut while the AL Central leading Kansas City Royals came to Anaheim, and again it was two-for-three. Now I get all wordy, and if Minnesota sweeps Anaheim this weekend, it's all Doug's fault, for which he'll be happy to take credit.

Okay, onward: despite what I've just written, the Angels have actually been on an upswing for a little longer than the past two series. They're 9-4 in their last 13, during which the starting pitching has really come around, posting a 3.20 ERA over that stretch. The offense is still going in fits and starts, despite a really tremendous season by Garret Anderson. And the bullpen is still the best in baseball, bar none. Troy Glaus, Brendan Donnelly, and Garret Anderson are all headed to the All-Star Game, Glaus making it in as the first Angel to be named to the starting lineup in 17 years.

Still, while there's been a fair bit of good news of late, the Halos are still just three games over .500, a high-water mark they've yet to exceed this season despite making it there several times. That seems to be this season's leitmotif: neither too high nor too low shall ye travel; seek the middle way. Well, nuts to that. It's true that the Angels have played poorly at some points during the season, but they've also had precious little help from the schedule makers. Quick, what's the weakest division in the American League? Anyone? Anyone?

That's a joke, of course. Little old ladies in Bhutan know that the Central is the AL's punching bag this year. But the real punch line - at least for Angels fans - is that prior to this just-concluded series with Kansas City, the Angels had played a Central Division opponent a grand total of five times, all of them against Cleveland, and all of them wins. Factoring in these last three games, the Angels are 7-1 against the Central. The Mariners? Oh, they're 24-6. And the A's? 18-12.

Now, of course I'm not saying that the Angels' mediocre record so far is entirely due to the fact that they haven't had Detroit to push around (in fact, the Angels don't play the Tigers at all until August 15). And the Mariners, for one, have been playing terrific baseball against just about everybody. But would the Angels be 4.5 games behind Oakland if the two clubs had played the same opponents? Unlikely.

Fortunately, it'll all come out in the wash. From August 8 through September 7, the Angels play nothing but Central Division opponents. While they're not going to win 7 out of every 8, it should give them a fighting chance to catch up with Oakland and Boston in the wild-card chase, provided they can stay just a handful of games back during the next month. They have an opportunity to pass Toronto, the third team ahead of them on that road, this weekend; while the Angels host a Twins team that's looking more and more vulnerable as the year passes, the Blue Jays - who lead the Angels but just half a game - host the Yankees. It's especially important for the Angels to do well this weekend given that it's the last series before the All-Star Game, and their position in the standings once the second half of the season starts will have an impact on whether General Manager Bill Stoneman - whose contract was recently renewed for four years - will look to add a player or two for the stretch run or deal guys from the current roster for prospects. These days, it seems that at the end of July everyone's either a buyer or a seller. Which of the two the Angels end up being in 2003 hangs on the next three or four series, but if things work out they've got a good shot at being in the mix well past Labor Day.

Posted 10:17 AM by Sean
John Lackey threw his first career shutout last night against Texas, a purt' fair hittin' team. The Angels have now won five of their last six, and can see the wild card with binoculars again. After finishing up with Texas tonight, they'll complete the pre-All-Star-Game portion of the schedule with a quick trip up to Oakland and a homestand against Kansas City and Minnesota - not exactly the easiest row to hoe, but certainly an opportunity to see if this team is going to rise to the occasion or keep puttering along.

Posted 10:12 AM by Sean
Looks like Jarrod Washburn is looking to make himself a little cash when he becomes eligible for free agency in 2005. He's not interested in signing a long-term contract now, when he'd be worth less than what he'd make as a free agent - assuming he stays healthy and doesn't have a couple of bad seasons between now and then.

Posted 5:32 PM by Sean
With three days' worth of voting left, it's Troy Glaus 627,189, Eric Chavez 469,324. Barring an online onslaught in favor of Chavez or Robin Ventura (who's about 20,000 behind Chavez), Glaus looks like the Angels' first All-Star starter since Wally Joyner in 1986.

Posted 2:51 PM by Sean
MLB.com's subscriptions page now has a section for "Digital Delivery Service," which is apparetly what they're calling their pay-per-download stuff. Right now, they've got Clemens's 300th win, Millwood's no-hitter, and the no-hitter thrown against the Yankees by six Astros pitchers. Each download is $3.95. Considering that you can also buy by-the-day access to the video archives, I'm hopeful they'll make some of those older games available for download too.

Posted 10:42 AM by Sean
Up, down, up, down. The Angels swept the Dodgers in Anaheim over the weekend, and have won four of their last five to bring themselves back to one game over .500. Unfortunately, despite the fact that a win's a win, the three victories over the Dodgers are somewhat misleading. While the Angels' starting pitching limited the Dodgers to just two runs in the three games, the Angels themselves were somewhat mediocre at the plate. They scored just three runs in each of the games, a rate of production that might be sufficient to beat Los Angeles but won't cut it against many other teams. Granted, the Dodgers themselves have some pretty excellent pitching, but at the moment the Angels rank just seventh in the AL in OPS and 10th in runs scored. With Brad Fullmer out for the season just after coming out of a slump, the onus is on everyone else - particularly Shawn Wooten and Jeff DaVanon, who figure to get the bulk of Fullmer's playing time - to pick up the slack.

Posted 12:12 PM by Sean
The latest Moreno price cut at Edison Field: doing away with higher prices for tickets to more in-demand games. Over the short term, this is understandable - Moreno wants to get a repuation as a fans' owner, a populist in the mold of Bill Veeck, perhaps, and lowering ticket prices is good press. Over the long term, though, pegging at least some ticket prices to demand just makes more sense. If I'm going to spend $20 to see a baseball game, why would I spend it to see the Devil Rays on a Tuesday instead of the Red Sox on a Saturday? But if the D-Rays ticket cost $16, and the Sox were $22, maybe I'd think about it.

Okay, probably not. But I'm sure some people would.

Moreno's move is in direct contract to the latest bit of idiocy from the Chicago Cubs, who actually own a ticket broker service to which they release blocks of unsold tickets, which are then resold at scalpers' prices.

Posted 10:27 AM by Sean
Holy crow! King Kaufman at Salon.com points out a new online exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame's web site, featuring a database of every uniform worn by the teams in the American, National, and Federal leagues since 1901, plus all kinds of great information on the history and development of uniforms in general. There's an exhibit in the Hall itself showing how the standard uni has changed over the years, of course, but that's just a handful of examples (albeit real, as opposed to photographs and drawings). Awesome stuff.

Posted 11:36 AM by Sean
Ervin Santana and Jeff Mathis, Angels prospects at Class A Rancho Cucamonga whom I mentioned a few weeks ago, have both been selected to play in the "Futures Game" during All-Star weekend, intended to be a peek at each organization's most promising minor leaguers. Santana and Mathis will be the only Angels representatives (a total of 50 players make the two teams, so that's actually slightly higher than average). The game is on Sunday, July 13, starting - I think - at 4:00 central time. Santana and Mathis will be on opposing teams, since the format for the game is U.S.-born players versus foreign-born players.

Posted 11:09 AM by Sean
Following up on his lowering beer and concession prices, new Angels owner Arte Moreno is lowering ticket prices for certain seats in an effort to draw more families and children. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's pretty funny that a businessman would take the kind of steps to bring kids to the ballpark that Disney wouldn't.

Which is not to say I enjoy sitting near large numbers of kids, because generally parents seem to have an attitude that anything their kids do is okay as long as they're at the ballpark. Shrieking, whining, kicking seats, whatever. And if it does dimly impinge on them that perhaps el nino diablo is bothering people who actually came to watch the game, their temporary solution is always to buy them something with sugar in it. Brilliant.

I guess I never understood the impulse to bring a child to a baseball game if he or she isn't going to watch it. There are thousands of more comfortable places to be with a kid than a baseball stadium, where you're expected to stay more or less in one place for three hours, surrounded by strangers, on hard seats. I know for sure that if I didn't love to watch baseball games there's no way in hell I'd spend money to do that alone, much less with a child. But compare the number of parents you see explaining a play to their child, or teaching them to score a game, with the number who are completely ignoring them and you'll see what I'm saying.