Kenny Rogers roasted 

Posted 12:35 PM by Sean
As the rest of the universe knows by now, Texas pitcher and noted tragic figure Kenny Rogers followed up his wildly successful debut hissy fit by throwing another yesterday, in which he assaulted a couple of cameramen, threw one camera to the ground and kicked it, and had to be led back into the clubhouse by catcher Rod Barajas. Video of the merry event can be found here.

According to at least one account, cameraman Larry Rodriguez was taken from the scene on a stretcher, which seems pretty absurd from the video, but I guess you gotta establish that pain and suffering, right, Larry?

Not to get all pop-psychology or anything, but it seems pretty clear to me that Mr. Rogers wants a new neighborhood. He's been seething all year long about a contract extension, his pitching-poor team just lost their opening day starter through a boneheaded roster move, and they've been playing badly enough to fall 8.5 games back. So I'm thinking this is your typical cry for help via self-destructive behavior, a belief reinforced when I heard the Rangers radio guys recount a discussion in which Texas GM John Hart quoted Rogers as saying the team "needed to distance themselves from him." The undercurrent to the conversation seemed to be that the Rangers would almost certainly be exploring trade options.

Of course, no team would be foolish enough to trade for Rogers without knowing what his suspension (if any) is going to be, so it will likely be a matter of days or weeks before anything happens. If I had to guess, though, I'd say about four NL East GMs just sat up and started beating their tails on the floor like dogs who've just seen you take Frosty Paws out of the freezer.

A little something to look forward to 

Posted 9:37 AM by Sean
The Times today takes note of the fact that this afternoon's day game is expected to take place in scorching weather. I can assure my Southern California readers, for whom each day is a sun-dappled wet kiss from the Almighty Himself, that the weather here has been brutal for the last couple of days, and promises to be worse today. Yesterday, on my way out of the office, I passed a carmine-skinned guy with cloven hooves and a pitchfork who was muttering to himself "seriously, what the fuck?"

At the moment, it's 88 degrees at 9:43 a.m. The forecast is for temps to crack three digits this afternoon, though it will undoubtably feel hotter on the field. I suppose Ervin Santana, who is to start this afternoon for the Angels, can take some comfort in the fact that the Rangers no longer play in old Arlington Stadium, which by all accounts reflected heat so well that NASA considered covering the Space Shuttle in replicas of the place to shield it during re-entry.

Last night did feel like a moral victory, though I'll swap it for an immoral one that shows up in the W column anytime. I was in pretty good seats just to the first-base side of home, and, from what I could see, John Lackey pitched just about the best game I've seen out of him for about three innings or so. He mixed speeds and pitches very, very well, at least at first. In the middle innings, he seemed to either get a little cute or lost a little command, because it seemed as if he was having trouble locating his off-speed stuff, but by and large the pitches the Rangers hit in their four-run fifth inning weren't that bad. Those guys are just good hitters.

McPherson's shot in the ninth was obviously awesome, but I cannot believe that Cordero gave him anything close to a pitch to hit with an 0-2 count. Does he not read the scouting reports?

Anyway, it's hard to feel bad about losing on a couple of freak hits like that, particularly with the kind of momentum the Angels have built over the last couple of weeks. You shrug your shoulders and turn it over to the Grinnin' Dominican, who faces pampered son of privilege and local boy Chris Young. Seriously, dude is from Highland Park, the snobbiest, richest section of Dallas, and went to Princeton. If Scioscia has the umps check his glove, they'll find pâté. So hopefully he'll be so distracted by heat-induced visions of glaceed-apricot-flavored gelato the Angels hitters will continue their rakish ways and Santana can salsa caliente his way to a series win.

Riding the Wave 

Posted 12:28 PM by Sean
For whatever reason, Texas has been the scene of some pretty happy memories for the Angels over the past few years. They clinched their first playoff berth in 16 years here in 2002, leading to joyous locker-room calls to gone but not forgotten comrades Gary DiSarcina and Chuck Finley. They took three out of four in Texas at the end of last September to eliminate the Rangers and catch Oakland heading into the final weekend of the year, including winning a ridiculously exciting game that ended with the winning run at first and another ridiculously exciting game the Angels tied after being down a run with two outs and nobody on in the ninth.

While last night's 13-3 pasting of the Rangers really isn't in that league, it was nevertheless pretty nice to see, and represented the continuation of both the Angels' dominance of their closest division rival (8 wins to 2 losses) and specific streaks by Bartolo Colon (10 consecutive wins versus Texas) and Vladimir Guerrero (28 consecutive games against Texas with at least one hit).

Most intriguingly, the offensive explosion last night came with a lineup that was minus Orlando Cabrera, Steve Finley, Dallas McPherson, and Bengie Molina. Nominal benchwarmers Juan Rivera, Maicer Izturis, and Jose Molina went 4-5, 2-5, and 0-5 in their stead, that last number no doubt leading to a little intrafraternal heckling once the elder Molina quit puking; Bengie was out of the lineup because of "flu-like symptoms."

While I was at the game, I actually missed the first couple of runs scored. Note to people with children: when people are waiting in line behind you at a concession stand, it is NOT the time to teach your child how to order and pay for food. "Tell the man what you want...what do you want? Do you want nachos? Huh? Nachos? Peanuts? Ooh, how about a hot dog? Don't you want a hot dog? Here, now, give the man this money...no, don't give it to me...give it to the man. What? No, honey, I don't think they have go-gurt."

Fucking precious.

Anyhow, some more random thoughts:

• Colon took one off the foot in the fifth inning, a hard-hit ball off the bat of Gerald Laird that fortunately ricocheted almost directly to Darin Erstad. Although Mike Scioscia and Ned Bergert came out to look at Colon, he stayed in the game without even throwing any warmup pitches to test the foot. I was a little worried when his first two pitches after that play were balls, but he seemed to settle down fine. However, Colon did leave the game after completing eight innings despite having thrown only 87 pitches (66 for strikes). This could mean that the foot was starting to swell, or it could simply have been Scioscia trying to get Jake Woods a little work, since he hadn't been in a game since June 19th.

• Guerrero's home run was one of the most easily predictable homers I've ever seen. Here's the math: Vlad Guerrero plus left-handed pitcher plus sidearm delivery minus any incentive to pitch around equals line drive into the seats you could've hung your washing on.

• The scary voodoo vibe around the Halosphere appears twofold: first, that we've somehow used up all our runs, and will only scratch out a couple in the next three games, and second, that the Angels' 7.5 game lead is their largest since - cue stabby violin sting - 1995. In response to both: get a grip. The Rangers have Wasdin, Rodriguez, and Young coming up, any of which could pitch well, but their performances will have nothing to do with last night, and neither will the Angels' hitting. And that 1995-boogeda-boogeda-boogeda stuff went out the window on October 27, 2002.

(Edit: changed "first playoff berth" to "first playoff berth in 16 years," an obvious and stupid mistake. Also corrected the spelling of Ned Bergert's name. One is tempted to wonder who copyedits this shit; personally, I blame the schools.)

A fistful of fists 

Posted 3:11 PM by Sean
Folks, what is the deal with Dodger fans? Howcome I hear nothing about fights in the stands at Angel stadium until the Dodgers show up, and then folks are being ejected by the dozens? Personally, if my team was in the process of getting whipped five out of six games by their crosstown rival, I might have the decency to sit still and watch the game quietly, but that's just me. Perhaps they're all confused and enraged that every player on the roster appears to be named "Jason."

Anyway, sitting here in Dallas the Dodgers mean nothing to me except that they're another National League team the Angels chomped on, running their interleague record to 12-6. Although the hitting was occasionally inconsistent, for the most part the offense did work, and the pitching sparkled. The Angels now have a staff ERA of 3.45, best in the majors. And, unlike in previous years, their impressive overall pitching numbers aren't just a result of phenomenal relief work; their starters' ERA is 3.61, best in the American League. And that's without several starts from Kelvim Escobar, their best starter last year.

A couple of random notes:

• I'm not normally a big Jeff DaVanon detractor; to me he's a capable fourth outfielder type. And I'm not really going to bag on him for losing that ball in the sun yesterday, even though he practically wet himself and screamed like a little girl when he did, because his defense is ordinarily fine. But DaVanon deserved a big fat fine in the clubhouse kangaroo court for (1) popping up a bunt with a runner on second and nobody out in the eighth inning, and (2) standing there watching it with his thumb up his ass, instead of running to first - where he likely would have been safe, since the ball dropped and had to be fielded by the second baseman. If I'm Scioscia, DaVanon sits a game or two for that little lapse.

• I'm going to be really, really sad to see June go:
• Erstad: .330/.406/.404
• Anderson: .333/.362/.478
• Kennedy: .443/.494/.514
• Guerrero: .413/.449/.651

• 20-year-old Angels prospect Brandon Wood has 26 home runs at Rancho Cucamonga. Good grief. As Stephen Smith points out, Wood will likely remain at Rancho for the rest of the season, since there's really no place to move him to - Double-A Arkansas is currently where Erick Aybar is getting his at-bats, while Salt Lake is home to the suddenly unstoppable Zach Sorensen (.336/.394/.418). Things are going to get mighty interesting in a couple of years, when Cabrera is only halfway through his contract and Wood and Aybar start to look ready for prime time.

Tonight, the Angels will try to take advantage of a Texas team that's been reeling a bit of late - after getting swept last week in Anaheim, they dropped two of three to Houston, and are now six and a half back. Offensively, though, this team is always dangerous, especially in their own yard, so we'll need a solid start from Bartolo Colon and a shut-em-down bullpen performance (making it fortunate that Brendan Donnelly's appeal hearing for the Pine Tar Thing isn't until Friday).

The Rangers will be starting C.J. Wilson, a relatively untested 24-year-old lefty who's been pretty shaky in his 6.2 innings of major league work. After being called up from Double-A on June 11, he was used in a couple of spots in relief to face left-handed hitters. His only start so far came on June 19, when he gave up three earned runs to the Nationals on nine hits in 3.2 innings, striking out two and walking none. Wilson was having something of an unspectacular year in Frisco before being called up, going 0-3 in eight starts with a 5.97 ERA (28.2 IP, 19 ER, 37 H, 13 BB, 30 K - that's a pretty appalling 1.74 WHIP). My guess is that Dallas McPherson's groin will get another day of rest and Maicer Izturis will play third, while Juan Rivera will DH. That should give the Angels six right-handed bats in the lineup, with the three lefties - Erstad, Anderson, and Kennedy - hitting well right now, and Curtis Pride, Jeff DaVanon, and maybe McPherson available to pinch-hit against a righty.

A fistful of notes 

Posted 3:01 PM by Sean
Back from a great trip to the O.C. and points north - a meetup with Rob, The Rev, and Rich, two (count 'em!) extra-inning wins by the Angels, a drive through the spectacular mountain terrain along the Pacific Coast Highway north of San Simeon, a couple of days in Salinas and my first real visit to San Francisco made for a memorable vacation indeed. Oh, and my anniversary was in there somewhere, too.

Lots happened while I was gone, so here are the high points:

- An interesting and welcome sight: Tim Salmon hanging out in the dugout during both of the games I attended (Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th). Rob points to a Baseball Prospectus article claiming that Salmon believes he can play in September; clearly Timmy is feeling The Itch. I don't know how much of a help he might be, but if everything breaks right maybe the Angels will have a wide enough lead at the end to get him a couple dozen at-bats.

- Steve Finley is on the DL, which is probably an example of addition by subtraction even if it means more playing time for Jeff DaVanon and Juan Rivera. Word is that Finley's injury stems from a rotator cuff tear sustained during the second game of the season, which sounds fishy as hell but doesn't spill a lot of beer with me as long as he's no longer in the lineup. Curtis Pride has been called up from his rehab in Salt Lake to take Finley's roster spot.

- Adam Kennedy...Christ almighty, Adam Kennedy is hitting .336 out of the nine spot. .336!

- I wasn't able to catch the first two games of the Texas series, but saw the last one on Wednesday night. Chone Figgins is getting slick at third. And praise Jesus, we finally saw Bengie Molina used as a DH while Jose caught, resulting in a combined Molina line of 5 for 7. More, please. Even if Bengie only DHes against left-handers, it'd be a start.

- Santana had a bad start and Jered Weaver had one that's being considered a qualified success, albeit against much, much, much worse hitters than Santana faced.

- Brendan Donnelly was suspended for ten games for having an illegal substance on his glove, a sentence that strikes me as a tad harsh. It's being appealed a week from today in Kansas City, at which time it's expected he'll probably end up with an eight-game suspension that he'll have to serve immediately. The Angels will probably recall Bootcheck or Gregg from Salt Lake and option Curtis Pride back down at that time.

- The Angels now have the best ERA in the majors, a fairly stunning development. I don't think it was completely crazy to say they had a chance to have a solid starting staff, but best in the majors? Awesome.

- The green team has won five out of their last six and seven out of their last ten, and are still in last place, 10 1/2 games behind.

Tonight, the Angels enter the home portion of their home-and-home interleague series with the Dodgers. The Angels are 9-6 so far in interleague play. After sweeping Texas and resting the bullpen with strong starting performances and an off-day, they should have all of their weapons ready to take advantage of a struggling Dodger club.

I blame Bill Veeck 

Posted 2:48 PM by Sean
According to the Kansas City Star, the first two innings of a game on July 16 between the Schaumburg Flyers and the Kansas City T-Bones (Northern League) will be played via Xbox on the ballpark's video screen, with the announcers doing play by play. The teams will then take the field and play innings 3-9.

This almost has to be a joke, doesn't it?

The idea for the promotion came from the 6-year-old niece of Bryan Williams, director of community relations for the T-Bones.
[...]
“Everybody in the world is going to want to do this after us,” Williams said.

How much must it suck to be a Schaumburg Flyer or a Kansas City T-Bone right now? Not only are you playing in the Northern League, you're being told you're essentially replacable by some Doritos-stained doofus at the whim of a six-year-old girl. Suddenly, going into the family business don't look so bad anymore, huh, Jocko?

And on that note 

Posted 5:40 PM by Sean
No posts for a week as I actually get to take a vacation, see a couple of Angels games, and drive that twisty, pretty road up the Pacific coast. See you next week.

Yeah, okay, you can boo now 

Posted 8:48 AM by Sean
Congratulations, Jose. Now even I think you deserve whatever you get from the fans. Jose's latest:

"I have no respect for him any more, because I'm still hurt from what happened last year. Mike Scioscia to me is like a piece of garbage. I don't care if I get in trouble. He can go to hell.''

You know, if you're a Nationals fan, don't you have to have a sinking feeling about this? I mean, assuming you're bright enough to see a pattern when it presents itself to you. I guess poor ol' Jose was just crying on the inside when he signed with the Nats:

"It was the best thing that could happen, taking into consideration the way things ended last season between us," Guillen told the AP from his home in Miami. "I'm excited to be a part of the Expos and part of history, now that we'll play in the U.S. capital."

"I don't have any hard feelings toward Anaheim," Guillen said.

Hey, remember when we heard almost exactly that, back when Guillen signed with the Angels? About how grateful he was that someone was giving him an opportunity to just play ball, and show that his reputation as a clubhouse cancer was so unfair? And then, of course, all us sucker Angels fans found out that Jose's favorite pastime is exploding over phantom insults, then apologizing for it afterwards.

Guillen is baseball's Ike Turner, ladies and gentlemen. "Treat me with respect, you piece of garbage! You're a damn piece of garbage! Oh, baby, you know I don't mean that...c'mon back to Jose. Please? Jose loves you so much. Look, I brought you these flowers. Aren't they pretty? What are you still crying for? Look, will you just take the flowers? TAKE THE DAMN FLOWERS, BITCH!"

You know what, Ike? Tina never needed you. She still doesn't. Fuck off.

Two can play 

Posted 9:47 PM by Sean
Frank Robinson refused to bring the lineup card out for tonight's game, designating an underling to do so. I've got one word for Robinson, and it's got four letters.

B-U-S-H.

Wrong, wrong, wrong 

Posted 11:25 AM by Sean
Good Lord, what an embarrassment. And the worst part is that the Angels were in the wrong in nearly every particular.

Let's start with the easy stuff first: Orlando Cabrera committed two errors, arguably costing the Angels the game. So? It's frustrating, sure, but those were just the third and fourth errors of the year for Cabrera. Even after doubling his error count, Cabrera still leads AL shortstops in fielding percentage and has the fewest errors committed (tied with Michael Young). "Oh, sure," you say. "But Cabrera has to be a magificent fielder to make up for his failings at the plate. He's only hitting .249/.302/.367!" Fine. He's still at the top of the league. And his line is .304/.319/.478 in June. If you're going to call him a bad fielder based on what he did last night, I guess it's only fair to call him a good hitter based on what he's done in June.

The rest is not so simple. Or, rather, it's simple - I just don't like it.

1. Brendan Donnelly had a foreign substance on his glove. The rule is clear:

The pitcher shall not...[h]ave on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance. For such infraction of this section (b) the penalty shall be immediate ejection from the game.

(Rule 8.02(b))

According to the umpires, Donnelly had pine tar on his glove, which qualifies as a "foreign substance." Complain all you like, but Frank Robinson was right, and had the right to ask the umpires to check Donnelly's glove. Donnelly's explanation that the pine tar was there to dry his hands is particularly weak; that's what the resin bag is for, Donk.

And that's where it should have ended; Scioscia should have shrugged his shoulders and said "okay, he's busted - sub Shields for Donnelly." This bush-league tit-for-tat crapola, getting in Robinson's face and then complaining about the laces on the glove of the next Nationals' reliever, was pretty poor. More importantly, it showed that Robinson had gotten under Scioscia's skin, which seemed to spread to the rest of the team, most notably to Scot Shields.

2. Jose Guillen is a jackass. But what else is new? I stand by my previous assertion that the fans booing him, particularly before the altercation, were showing a lack of class. Given Guillen's volitility, it doesn't surprise me in the least that he would start foaming at the mouth. I'm sure he felt slighted on Monday, and maybe justifiably so. That is in no way intended to excuse his behavior last night - I'll reiterate, he's an unprofessional jackass. He's a selfish prima donna. He's a prick. But let's get over it, okay?

3. That said, if the Angels really do think that Guillen ratted out Donnelly, he gets one in the ribs today. That's how these things work.

4. Candidate for bigger dipshit than Guillen: the scumbag "fan" who raced over from a different section to get in Ryan Church's face and flip him off after Church had been injured chasing a foul ball at the wall. Church was on the ground long enough for the trainer to come out and see to him, and Angels fans lost an opportunity to prove themselves better than the guy they were so enthusiastic about booing by not giving Church a courtesy round of applause after he got up. That one scumbag, though, deserves to be kicked in the nuts and exiled to Oakland.

All in all, this may not have been the worst game of the Angels season, but if not, it sure did a hell of an impression.

Let's turn the damn page, shall we?

Oh, yeah 

Posted 12:03 PM by Sean
Add Curtis Pride to the list of guys who will be putting pressure on the roster - he's started a rehab assignment at Salt Lake.

Items of interest; irresponsible rumormongering 

Posted 9:06 AM by Sean
As expected, Ervin Santana has been called up to make tonight's start against the Nationals. Following last night's 11-1 pasting, it will be interesting to see how the Nats approach Santana, and vice-versa.

Oh, and memo to the folks booing Jose Guillen's at-bats - show some class, gang. The guy carried last year's squad for a little while early in the season.

Sent down to make room for Santana was Casey Kotchman, whose 0-for-10 performance this time around (two starts, two pinch-hit ABs) brings his big-league line to .206/.279/.254 for his career in 126 at-bats. Guess that Erstad contract extension in 2002 wasn't such a bad idea after all, huh?

Meanwhile, Kendry Morales has been promoted to Double-A Arkansas after posting a .344 average at Rancho Cucamonga. If Morales continues to progress, we may see a fairly major logjam at the Major League level, considering that Maicer Izturis has already started playing rehab games at Salt Lake. Even promoting Izturis means that the Angels will need to send Robb Quinlan, Jeff DaVanon, or Juan Rivera down, so I'd think that Morales will get his shot no earlier than September (barring injuries, of course).

And here's something to think about: given that the Angels' offense - now improving, thank God - has suffered a great deal from a lack of DH, let us consider the possibiliy of this deal, or something similar, at the July 31 trade deadline.

Giants get: Jarrod Washburn (trade and sign), Casey Kotchman, and Brandon Wood OR Erick Aybar OR Alberto Callaspo.

Angels get: Barry Bonds.

That's assuming Bonds is healthy by then, or close to it, anyway. Bonds has said that he could see himself finishing his career as a DH, and has even specifically mentioned the Angels as a possibility. And the seriousness of his current health problems argue against his being much of an asset to the Giants for very long if he has to play the field when he returns. Interestingly, both Bonds and Erstad have contracts that run through '06, so the Angels could be rid of Bonds's salary in time to pursue a free agent first baseman, if they so desired (though Bonds is owed an additional $5 million per year through 2011, which the Angels would be crazy to take on; the Giants would need to pay some or all of that). The Giants also need to get younger in a big way, and if they're out of it at the trade deadline...

Call me crazy. But.

Rodriguez to skip winter ball 

Posted 11:05 AM by Sean
This is good to hear:

"I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize my career," Rodriguez said. "It's tough, because my family doesn't get a chance to see me pitch here, so it's important for me to pitch in Venezuela. But I can't do it anymore."

[...]

"That injury was a wake-up call," Rodriguez said. "I'm doing all the right things now. I have to make sure this doesn't happen to me again."

Whaddaya know, sometimes wishes do come true.

I finally figured out who Jeff DaVanon looks like now... 

Posted 1:32 PM by Sean
...and it's this guy.

The item most of note to the team's ongoing fortunes this morning, however, is the fact that Kelvim Escobar's current trip to the DL is being described as his "last shot to avoid surgery." Kelvim, dammit, listen up: get the freaking surgery! Your job is not going to go away. It will be waiting for you when you get back. The last thing the team needs is for you to get a few more starts, then have to have the surgery in August.

Rangers fuck up 

Posted 6:53 PM by Sean
Ryan Drese, DFA'ed by the Rangers two days ago, has been claimed off waivers by the Nationals.

This is going to be the gift that keeps on giving for the Angels.

Guerrero activated 

Posted 4:44 PM by Sean
As expected, the Angels have activated Vladimir Guerrero, and placed Kelvim Escobar on the 15-day DL retroactive to yesterday.

Santana update 

Posted 8:40 AM by Sean
According to the box score, Ervin Santana pitched seven innings, giving up four earned runs on seven hits and facing 28 batters. I'm guessing he threw more than the 70 pitches I had him pegged for, but I doubt that means much. Most encouragingly, Santana struck out eight while walking none. The game log indicates that Santana had a rocky first inning - the first three batters went double, single, hit by pitch - but settled down pretty well thereafter.

Guerrero to return tomorrow 

Posted 2:40 PM by Sean
Good news indeed.

Guerrero took early batting practice on Wednesday and "killed the ball," according to Scioscia.

"His swing was great, his bat speed was great," Scioscia told the paper. "He took an aggressive BP, he's doing everything in the outfield and he looks good. His running, his legs feel very, very good. Everything points to him being very close."

The last thee games of the hardest road trip of the season get a little brighter-looking.

Capricious as a Roman Emperor, I am 

Posted 12:08 PM by Sean
It turns out that Cindy Fluffykins has a sense of humor. Emasculating name change decree reversed!

The obvious moves 

Posted 11:16 AM by Sean
After last night's 8-4 win over the Braves, the Angels find themselves a game ahead of Texas despite having gone just 4-5 on their current road trip. Considering that Guerrero's presence during the upcoming Mets series is looking more and more likely, and also considering that the offense has noticably started to pick up, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Angels in April - .259/.306/.408, 41.5 AB/HR, 4.45 RC/27
May - .245/.300/.371, 42.4 AB/HR, 3.59 RC/27
June - .319/.384/.469, 43.3 AB/HR, 6.60 RC/27

Finally, the Angels are starting to hit like themselves. Although the homers per at-bat have stayed fairly consistent, the line drives are starting to find holes - and the HR/AB number will come down once Guerrero is off the DL.

The news is especially good when one considers that one of the primary instruments of the upsurge is young master McP:

Dallas McPherson, June - .320/.370/.640 (25 AB).

I've mentioned it before, but McPherson just plain looks a lot more comfortable at the plate these days. He will still occasionally chase balls he has no business swinging at, but he's been showing a much greater tendency to wait for a pitch he can drive. He hasn't necessarily been seeing more pitches, but he's been getting into better counts early in his at-bats, forcing pitchers to come across the plate more, and we're finally getting a taste of that talent we've been told about for so long.

Who else has blown up big in June? Nearly everyone:

Erstad: .344/.417/.344 (32 AB)
Figgins: .344/.400/.594 (32 AB)
Anderson: .355/.375/.548 (31 AB)
Kennedy: .520/.600/.640 (25 AB)
B. Molina: .348/.385/.652 (23 AB)

Anderson and Molina, of course, have been pretty productive all year.

For the record, here are the starting pitchers the Angels have faced in June:

Jose Contreras, CWS
David Wells, BOS
Bronson Arroyo, BOS
Wade Miller, BOS
John Smoltz, ATL
Horacio Ramirez, ATL
Tim Hudson, ATL

Not a bad cross-section of Major League pitching.

Unfortunately, last night's game also brought us the news that Kelvim Escobar's bone spur is not to be ignored. After leaving with swelling and pain that he describes as the same as that which put him on the DL three weeks ago, it seems inevitable that Escobar will have to undergo surgery to shave off the bone spurs, which will sideline him for the next two months. This isn't catastrophic, necessarily - an early August return is in plenty of time to help the team - but it does deprive the team of its most consistent starter over the past year and a half.

And, of course, it very likely means an extended look at Ervin Santana, who had one miserable start and one brilliant one a month ago. Since that time, Santana has held his own at Triple-A Salt Lake, starting two games, surrendering 12 hits in 12.1 innings, compiling a 3.65 ERA (in what should be noted is a hitter's league), and getting no decisions. His most recent start came on June 3, so he should be scheduled to pitch tonight. Chances are he'll be limited to 70 pitches or so, and we'll see Escobar placed on the DL and Santana called up tomorrow. That would put him into Escobar's slot in the rotation perfectly, which comes around again on the 14th against Washington.

Meanwhile, the Angels should either put DaVanon on the DL or send Kotchman back to Salt Lake to make room for Guerrero. I suspect it will be the former, but really don't much care. My real question is how often the Angels are going to continue playing Juan Rivera, but I think I'll save that one for later.

Whoa 

Posted 5:03 PM by Sean
The Rangers have DFA'ed Ryan Drese. Oh, my.

There's no question Drese has been struggling a bit this year, but this does not bode well for Texas.

Cabfare needed in makeup and wardrobe 

Posted 4:52 PM by Sean
A quick programming note - Orlando Cabrera will host this Saturday's edition of This Week in Baseball on FOX. Check, as they say, your local listings for details.

Guerrero update 

Posted 4:46 PM by Sean
According to the media notes for today's game, Vladimir Guerrero took 45 soft-toss pitches yesterday, and I believe he's expected to take live batting practice today. Scioscia was quoted by the Braves announcers last night as saying that Guerrero will not do a minor-league rehab assignment, so it's looking like the chances of his rejoining the lineup this weekend have moved from "remote" to "possible."

Kibosh 

Posted 4:43 PM by Sean
I can't remember where I saw it, but I seem to recall a couple of vague, unsubstantiated rumors that the Angels were interested in trading for Phillies 2B Placido Polanco. Yeah, I know, it didn't make sense to me, either. Anyway, the Phillies traded Polanco to Detroit today, for Ugueth Urbina and Ramon Martinez.

A little more on catchers 

Posted 2:20 PM by Sean
In a bit of serendipty, I came across the following passage today in Rob Trucks's book The Catcher, which is part of his "Baseball Behind the Seams" series:

In fact, the most difficult play for a catcher is the base hit to right field with a speedy runner on second base. When this happens, the catcher must receive the throw on his right side and tag the runner on his left, his blind side. It's not a rare occurence for the ball and the runner to arrive almost simultaneously, or as Pete Rose would say, Bam! Bam!

On September 18, 1992, Atlanta Braves catcher Greg Olson was run over (literally) by Ken Caminiti of the Houston Astros...

...The Braves immediately increased their focus on catcher positioning for plays at the plate in the instructional league and spring training following Olson's injury. A young Joe Ayrault was in camp, three years before his major league debut.

"I think the biggest thing with the play at the plate," Ayrault says, "is staying low. Some guys keep their mask on, some guys keep their mask off. I always took mine off. I ended up getting some nice stitches in my chin, but that's personal preference. Just sacrifice your body. Do what you can to save that run.

"Make sure your knee and your toe of your left foot are pointed straight down to third base. Make sure that everything on your left side is going straight toward third base, so if they slide into you at least you've got some give there.

"Basically I would start by having my heel right on the foul line, my toe pointed toward third. Obviously your upper body's going to be angled differently compared to where the ball's hit, center or right field, with right field being the toughest because you have to have that foot there. You stay open, but as the runner's coming in I always took an extra step deeper on the line, so it's actually not right on the foul line. Basically you're showing the runner home plate behind you, and you're hoping that if they slide they're going to go deep, and if they come into you you're going to take that step, one step deeper and stay low underneath them. That is definitely the key when you're getting smoked."

From the replays, it's apparent that Johnny Estrada executed the Braves' positioning instructions perfectly as Erstad came down the line. Take a look at this picture showing the moment of impact - Estrada has received the ball and pivoted back towards the plate - his left foot is no longer pointed towards third, it's pointed towards the third-base dugout as he uses his body to close off the plate and tag Erstad. Estrada is as low as he possibly can get; unfortunately for him, Erstad also understands the importance of coming in low, and so his torso is practically parallel to the ground. Since Erstad is three inches taller than Estrada to begin with, and has all that momentum, Estrada gets the short end of the stick. It's literally a textbook play.

Trucks also has the following observation:

Current Anaheim Angels manager Mike Scioscia was a two-time National League All-Star for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He never won a Gold Glove Award, but Scioscia is almost universally acknowledged as the best plate-blocker in major league history.

Though Scioscia's playing career lasted from 1980 to 1992, he was notoriously old school. He was a sturdy 6', 222 pounds, and facing off against him at home plate was not unlike going against the Green Bay Packers defense in a goalline stand in mid-December.

Lance Parrish coached in the Los Angeles Dodgers system during the time Scioscia served as the organization's head catching instructor.

"His philosophy," Parris says, "is one that you stand right in front of home plate, you catch the ball, and you drop to both knees and you just take the hit."

So it's not like this is a case of "it's okay for us, but not for you."

Programming note 

Posted 9:55 AM by Sean
So the wife and I splurged and bought one of those fancy new high-definition TV's, and it turns out it may be my ruination. All I can say is that watching a baseball game in HD makes everything else look like total crap in comparison. I missed an inning or so of the Angels-Braves because I was so entranced by the Cardinals-Red Sox HD broadcast.

Which, to get to the point, was on INHD, Mark Cuban's all-HD, all the time network. I hadn't realized that they broadcast a handful of MLB games per week in 1080i, Dolby 5.1. According to my cable programming guide, the Angels-Mets game on Friday will be on INHD. Curiously, however, the INHD website lists the Phillies-Brewers contest as Friday's game.

More on this extremely important story as events develop.

Rundown 

Posted 8:27 AM by Sean
So Darin Erstad rang Johnny Estrada's bell pretty hard at the plate last night, pretty much decking him with a lowered shoulder to knock the ball loose from the Atlanta catcher and score the go-ahead run in the top of the 8th. Most of the folks reading this have probably seen the highlights, so I'll spare the full description, which can be found at the link.

My brief take: clean play, no question. Eddie Perez can pop his bill all he likes, collisions at the plate are a part of baseball, and are governed by some fairly simple unwritten rules. If the catcher is blocking the plate, the baserunner can run him over. Erstad had no obligation to seek out some gentler way to score, such as sliding around Estrada - it looked to me that he might have had a chance to score that way, but it certainly wasn't his best bet, and he wasn't obligated to try.

And now, a suvey of other thoughts.

Rob says:

...reviewing the video of the situation, it was clear that, in order to score, Erstad had to get the ball out of Estrada's hands, and the easiest way to do that was to just hit his glove shoulder as hard as possible. The Angels won, but it wasn't a moment to be proud of, and especially if Estrada ends up on the DL. Regardless of whether it means the Braves will have to hit without an ersatz cleanup man in the lineup (Estrada batted fourth today), Erstad's actions to me seemed excessive.

...which I don't understand. If Erstad had to get the ball out of Estrada's hands to score, how is doing so excessive? There's a reason you're not just called out automatically if the catcher has the ball and is between you and home, and that reason is that, as a runner, you have a right to the baseline. The catcher has the right to try to block the plate (by custom, incidentally, not by rule - technically it's illegal), but it's up to the runner to decide whether to attempt to slide around or go right through him. Erstad made a legal play that Estrada, a professional baseball player, knew was a strong possibility when he decided to block the plate instead of trying for the sweep tag.

Richard and Josh are both more or less in agreement with me, though Josh seems to have some odd ideas about the mechanics of sliding. They link to an article at Catbird in the Nosebleed Seats that treats any comparison between this collision and the infamous Pete Rose - Ray Fosse collision during the 1970 All-Star Game with the derision it richly deserves.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the single best one-liner I've seen on the matter, in the form of a photo caption: "Stuffed by an Angel." Unsurprisingly, their online poll shows AJC readers believing the play to be dirty by a two-to-one margin.

I should also note that I was watching the Braves' feed of the game last night, and Skip Caray and Don Sutton were both of the opinion that the play was clean, and that Darin Erstad "is not a dirty player." Caray and Sutton were actually pretty lavish with their praise for the Angels throughout the game.

The Braves' message boards are predictably retarded on the issue, and I am stupider for having spent two minutes reading them. Apparently, Estrada was rescuing kittens trapped somewhere in the vicinity of the pitcher's mound when Erstad left the baseline and beat him to death with a fungo bat.

Now, unfortunately, we'll have to endure speculation for the next couple of days about possible retaliation. Bobby Cox is a crotchety old cuss, and Ersty may take one in the ribs at some point, but I kind of doubt it - given a day or so to think about it and watch the replay, I suspect most of the Braves will at least privately conclude that the play was clean. If someone does toss in a little love tap, though, that should be the end of it. Having spent eighteen years in Atlanta, I can tell you that the Braves fans will caw and shake their fists in righteous triumph, and never even notice who wins the game.

Whineblogging 

Posted 11:19 AM by Sean
I've been sick the last few days (nothing much, just a lingering cold), so no real posts. It hasn't helped that there hasn't been much to get excited about - the twelve-game road trip from hell is off to an inauspicious start, Texas has snuck past and now has a half-game lead, and all this screwing around has kept both Seattle and Oakland in not-quite-impossible-dream range. The Angels have their first-ever meeting with the Braves tonight while the Rangers are idle; if Lackey can outduel Smoltz they'll actually be in decent shape, tied for first with five games remaining on the trip and Texas headed to red-hot Philadelphia. With Guerrero (perhaps optimistically) projected to return when the Angels end this road trip, being within a game or so of first at that point would be a decent showing.

Garret Anderson's slam-bang Saturday performance, incidentally, carried him into first place in career Angels RBI. Next up for the Tustin Rhino is Salmon's extra-base hits record, 643 - Anderson presently has 623.

New Angels blogs 

Posted 9:13 AM by Sean
A few notes around the Halosphere:

1. Haloblog has apparently been in existence since October. Who knew? And it even has its own domain name, unlike most of the rest of us cheap-ass Blogger lovers.

2. L.A. Seitz of Chicago, a regular member of the cast of ruffians and ne'er-do-wells populating the Halo's Heaven comment threads, has his own regular gig, at which he discusses the Angels frequently.

3. Something going by the name of "Triple-B Bjoern's Baseball Blog" and originating straight outta Deutschland is new for this year, first posting in March. Along with the other two, I'm adding it to the sidelinks and the Brief History of the Halosphere, but, until he comes up with a catchier name or disavows his inexplicable allegiance to the Boston Red Sox, this blog will be known here by the name "Cindy Fluffykins." (teach him to rank me #7!)