This late word just in... 

Posted 8:55 PM by Sean
Word tonight is that Aaron Sele will start tomorrow night against the Twins.

Into the Dome 

Posted 2:41 PM by Sean
So now it appears that Escobar might not make his Saturday start after all, and Sele and Gregg appear to be the prominent candidates to spot start. Eckstein's return to the lineup is being targeted for this weekend.

Yesterday, the Angels jumped all over Tigers starter Nate Robertson, who gave up eight earned runs in three and a third innings pitched. Chone Figgins batted out of the leadoff spot again, going two for five with two runs scored, bringing his on-base percentage to .417 on the season, though that covers only 32 at-bats. His speed has really pumped up his slugging percentage as well; his fondness for taking the extra base means that three of his eleven hits are triples. He won't slug .594 all year, but it's nice to see for now.

Darin Erstad also had a good night, going two for six with four runs batted in and just one left on base. His OBP is still a comical .294, but his improvement over the course of the season has been noticable. At the current rate, he's in serious danger of qualifying as productive sometime in the next couple of weeks, and at this point I won't even dispute leaving him in the two-spot until we see where he tops out.

Meanwhile, Vlad Guerrero had his first bona fide superstar-type game, going four for five with a home run, hoisting his average almost 30 points to .322. Guerrero and Glaus are probably the scariest back-to-back in baseball right now; Glaus ranks third in the league for home runs, and Guerrero sixth.

Jarrod Washburn also deserves credit for pitching properly with a big lead. Wash threw 113 pitches in eight innings, which is reasonable, and went to only one three-ball count the entire game. He threw a total of ten pitches in the first two innings, including a three-pitch second. It was especially nice to see Washburn be effective after Colon's poor showing of the night before.

Tonight, we'll see what the offense comes up with against Carlos Silva, Minnesota's sinkerballing fourth starter, who's compiled a 3-0 record and a 4.50 ERA in four starts (against Detroit twice, Cleveland, and Kansas City). Silva's most recent start, against the Royals, was pretty impressive: 7 innings pitched, one earned run, no home runs, no walks, two strikeouts. Ordinarily, starting a sinkerballer in a dome is asking for trouble - those ground balls scoot through the infield on artificial turf - but, as noted earlier, the Twins' new turf hasn't fully compacted yet, and is a little spongier than normal. One of the keys for the Angels will be to stay out of double plays tonight: like any sinkerballer, Silva's grounder-to-flyball ratio is ludicrously high - 2.12 for his career. Since Scioscia likes to start the runner anyway, we may see a great deal of action on the basepaths tonight; look for steals or hit-and-run attempts on any count that's 1-1 or better.

As for Ramon Ortiz....aw, who knows? Minnesota's offense is right about in the middle of the league when it comes to home runs, so chances are he'll give up one or two. This game may come down to whether Ortiz can limit the damage that comes from them by keeping folks off the bases. If he can hold the Twins to a handful of runs, the bullpen is in good shape - Frankie Rodriguez didn't pitch at all against Detroit, and everyone except Shields got last night off. The Twins have been impressive at home this year (they're 9-3), but this should be a pretty well-fought series.

Turf Wars 

Posted 4:31 PM by Sean
Jeff at League of Angels points out that the injury-plagued Angels have much to fear from the next three days' worth of games at the Metrodome. The Twins have installed Field Turf this year, and, by all accounts, it's not quite finished settling yet. Even the Field Turf promotional literature is less than encouraging: "it is not necessarily to blame for any of the team's injuries?" Ye Gods.

Having caught a couple Twinkie games on TV this year (via ESPN, of course), I can say that the new stuff is a visual experience not to be missed. The dome has gone from looking like someone painted their concrete basement floor green to looking like someone covered their concrete basement floor with the stuff people use to make minature landscapes for their model trains.

Updates and Wanton Advice 

Posted 9:53 AM by Sean
Scioscia used both Sele and Gregg in last night's loss to the Tigers, and now comes word that, though indeed Escobar's next start will be pushed back to Saturday, Ramon Ortiz will be pitching in his stead.

At that same link we have the news that the Tustin Rhino's back owie is bad enough to put him on the DL for the first time in his career; this is retroactive to April 22, and he would be eligible to return on May 7. It would seem that he may have a pinched nerve in his neck, which, if indeed it was brought on by tissue swelling caused by sleeping on a new matress, is fairly easily treatable. If, on the other hand, it's due to bone spurs or disc problems, he may be looking at surgery. Right now, the smart money is on his returning sooner rather than later, but the results of his CT and MRI (presumably to be conducted today) will probably be a bigger story than anything that happens in tonight's game.

David Eckstein, meanwhile, looks to be recovering rapidly from his strained groin. Scioscia chose to keep Figgins in center field last night, but did bat him in the leadoff spot, where he went two for four with a run scored and a stolen base. When Eckstein returns - possibly sometime this weekend - Scioscia will have to choose between returning him to leadoff duties or giving Figgins a further chance to show what he can do up there. To continue my skylarking of yesterday, I think it might make sense to do something like the following, at least until Anderson returns:

Figgins - CF
Eckstein - SS
Guerrero - RF
Glaus - 3B
Erstad - 1B
Guillen - LF
Salmon - DH
Molina - C
Kennedy - 2B

The advantage of putting Eckstein in the two-spot is that he constantly puts the ball in play. Eckstein has, in the past, typically hit a lot of ground balls, and so there's some chance that this lineup would result in some double plays. But Figgins's speed should negate some of that, and I'd think that there would be a number of times when Figgins would get on base, steal second, and be moved to third by Eckstein, whereupon Guerrero and Glaus would have chances to move him in. More conservatively, Eckstein's contact skills could be put to use in a hit-and-run, which would have a reasonably high expectation of putting Figgins on second at the expense of an out. It's not like Eckstein would be pitched around.

Your 2005 Anaheim Angels 

Posted 4:41 PM by Sean
Rob Neyer thinks the Angels are likely to re-sign Troy Glaus:

Player: Troy Glaus
Team, Position: Angels, 3B
Replacement: Dallas McPherson (?)

Why the question mark after Dallas McPherson? Not because McPherson lacks the requisite talent. McPherson's blown through the minor leagues, and in many organizations he'd be knocking on the major league door. But McPherson's not going to move Glaus off third base this season, and there's not room for him in the outfield any time soon, either. Considering 1) how well Glaus is swinging the bat this season, 2) how poorly Tim Salmon is swinging the bat, and 3) how loose owner Arte Moreno is with the purse strings, it seems likely that Glaus will be signed to a long-term contract extension, with McPherson taking over as the Angels' DH, perhaps as soon as next year.

Eh, maybe. Salmon's contract runs through the 2005 season, and will be worth between 9.75 and 10 million next year. Glaus is having an excellent year - so far (what was that about sample size, Rob?) - but the Angels aren't going to make any decisions until they've seen most or all of his (and McPherson's) 2004. McPherson himself is currently posting a .288/.360/.455 line in Arkansas, so it's not inconceivable that he could spend most of '05 in Salt Lake instead of Anaheim, then split third base and DH duties with Glaus in '06.

Crisatunity knocks 

Posted 9:43 AM by Sean
Lisa: Look on the bright side, Dad. Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for "crisis" as they do for "opportunity?"

Homer: Yes! Crisatunity!

-- The Simpsons, Episode 2F08, "Fear of Flying"

The Angels may be in the midst of their own crisatunity moment here, with Garret Anderson sidelined indefinitely, David Eckstein coming out of last night's game with a strained groin, and Kelvim Escobar possibly needing an extra day or two of rest to recover from a split fingernail incurred in his last start.

Alfredo Amezaga is being mentioned as the most likely possibility to replace Eckstein. Amezaga is currently hitting somewhere south of .220 in triple-A, and seems very much in danger of losing his place on the Angels' depth chart, as middle-infield prospects Alberto Callaspo, Erick Aybar, and Brandon Wood develop.

But why consider dipping into the farm system for a shortstop, when you've got a pretty servicable one in Chone Figgins, already up with the big club. And Figgins has been hitting pretty well in his latest stint, takes pitches, and runs like his ass was on fire. Sound like a leadoff hitter to you?

But wait, you say. Figgins is covering for Anderson in center! Yes, but he shouldn't be. The Angels have an all-universe center fielder also already up with the big club in Darin Erstad. Now, Erstad has a mini-groove going on at the plate, and has slowly improved from horrible to merely bad in terms of his season's offensive numbers. If Scioscia doesn't want to risk screwing with that by moving Erstad back to center - and, probably more realistically, screwing with Anderson's and Erstad's heads by blurring their roles on the team - there are guys down in Salt Lake who can play outfield, and are hitting a lot better than Amezaga:

Alex Pelaez - 25 for 69 (.362); .392 OBP, .449 SLG
Robb Quinlan - 25 for 75 (.333); .425 OBP, .507 SLG
Gary Johnson - 19 for 58 (.328); .381 OBP, .500 SLG
Adam "Angees" Riggs - 25 for 77; .384 OBP, .558 SLG

The Escobar situation is also interesting. The Angels have been somewhat coy as to whether he'll make his next scheduled start, which would be Friday's game in Minneapolis. It occurs to me that this is actually an excellent opportunity for Scioscia to audition Kevin Gregg, Scot Shields, or Aaron Sele with an eye towards putting them into the rotation full-time if Ramon Ortiz can't hold himself together. So even if Escobar is completely healed by Friday, we may get some talk about "not taking any chances" and how "the bullpen depth allows us to play it safe." To that end, it's interesting that Shields got 2.1 innings of work last night, throwing 43 pitches in the process. It's unlikely that Scioscia would have run him out there for so long if he were planning on using Shields to start on Friday, but it's hard to tell. Kevin Gregg hasn't pitched since the 23rd, and Aaron Sele hasn't pitched since the 20th.

Exactamente que es el deal? 

Posted 9:28 AM by Sean
So it turns out that In Demand isn't showing another Angels game on their "Extra Innings" package until...May 2. That's Sunday. I have no clue why - none of the Detroit series is being carried, and only the last of the Minnesota series is. I partially understand why the Twins games won't be on, since the Twins games are currently broadcast by Victory Sports, which, due to disputes over fees, isn't being carried by the major cable companies in Minnesota. But I'd think that, in situations like that, they'd just switch to the Anaheim feed.

Yeah, I know - they probably have a limit on how many games they can show from any given team's home broadcast. Whatever. All I know is I'm stuck listening via Gameday Audio until Sunday. Confidential to Rory Markus: that "just another halo victory" call was cute the first couple of times. No so much the last 100 or so.

Yes, Comerica Park is big, but no, Vlad, please don't swing any harder 

Posted 2:41 PM by Sean
Tonight, the Angels pass from the meat-grinder of the AL West to the supposedly slackier teams in the Central, beginning with the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers, of course, have defied expectations so far by going 11-8. Nevertheless, getting out of the first round of intradivision play with a winning record is something of a coup for the Angels; since 2001, they're 83-110 against the West and 147-111 against the East and Central combined.

John Lackey will take the mound tonight to try to extend the Angels' four-game winning streak; Lackey's had a couple of decent starts in a row, and, though he's 0-3, is looking like he might be getting things together. His three starts look like this:

4/10 - 3.2 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 2 HR, 2 BB, 1 K
4/15 - 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 K
4/21 - 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 HR, 2 BB, 2 K

The only troubling thing seems to be that his strikeouts aren't going up; for Lackey, that could be a problem. Interestingly, almost no one in the Tigers' lineup has any significant experience with Lackey, a situation that normally favors the pitcher. In his last two starts, Lackey was successful in going after hitters; hopefully he'll work the hitters' unfamiliarity with him to his advantage.

Of course, the same is true for the Angels and the Tigers' starter, Nate Cornejo. David Eckstein has the most career at-bats against Cornejo of any Angel, with 11. Cornejo's been swatted around a bit in his last two starts, but the Tigers' offense is much improved and can probably bail him out if the Angels don't hit him hard.

The word on Garret Anderson seems to be that his back is still bothering him, and he's expected to sit out for at least another couple of games. Vladimir Guerrero was given Sunday off, as he's still having obvious knee problesms, but I'd guess he'll probably be back in tonight. I'm curious to see whether Scioscia will take advantage of Anderson's sabbatical by trying out Chone Figgins in the leadoff spot; with his speed and an on-base percentage of .429, he'd seem to be a natural there.

Don't look directly at it 

Posted 4:09 PM by Sean
I've been putting off writing about the Angels' sweep of the A's all day, mostly because I've got honest-to-God, you know, work to do, and partially because I didn't see yesterday's game thanks to the vagaries of the DirecTV broadcasting schedule. Obviously, the big story - aside from coming back from two games down in the standings to grab a piece of first place - was the lack of nuclear meltdown in yesterday's game by Ramon "Nofu" Ortiz, who pitched five innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out six, and walked three on 110 pitches. Lowering, I might add, his ERA to 9.77.

Perhaps most impressively, Ortiz started very poorly yet managed to right the ship. He walked the first two, and three in the first inning, but Bud Black managed to keep him in the game via what I can only assume was some righteous ass-chewing during a mound visit. Ortiz wound up walking no one else during those five innings, and his ball:strike ratio improved dramatically.

Even so, the underlying numbers continue to look bad. 110 pitches is a hell of a lot to throw in five innings, although the A's are a very patient lot. Ortiz was saved by the double play in both the first and the fifth innings, and the A's also stranded runners in scoring position in the fourth and second. Ultimately, this game won't do anything to change Scioscia's mind about Ortiz; if he thought that Ortiz could be a valuable part of the rotation before yesterday, he surely continues to think so now. But it didn't do much to change my mind about him, either.

I'll say this much: although I'm not reading too much into these last three games as regards the Angels' fortunes, if I were an A's fan I'd be a little bit worried that the offense has gotten so thin. The back of that rotation is looking vulnerable, and, with the offense 10th in runs scored and 10th in OPS, it's looking like they'll need near-perfect pitching to keep up. Now, when you've got Hudson, Mulder, and Zito, you've got near-perfect (starting) pitching, but they've got just no slack at all - if one of them gets injured, or even has an off year, the A's will have a hard time winning in other ways. The sweep seems to have exposed their weaknesses more than our strengths.

After noticing this, I also checked my zipper 

Posted 3:40 PM by Sean
That Tribune in the previous item ought, of course, to be the Times. Sheesh.

Just Doesn't Register 

Posted 10:51 AM by Sean
What's the story with the Orange County Register's Angels coverage? Specifically, why isn't there any? The last Angels stories on their site are covering Friday's game. Are they miffed by that big ol' Tribune sign on the right-field scoreboard?

But don't tell anyone east of the Rockies 

Posted 9:27 AM by Sean
Aaron Gleeman has noticed that Frankie Rodriguez remains a pretty good pitcher.