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.