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.