Yet plus more ultra updated strength of schedule numbers 

Posted 11:53 AM by Sean
Following yesterday's games, the Angels have a 2.5-game lead on the A's. Here are the remaining "unique" games for each club, and the opponent winning percentage weighted by number of games:

LAA - Tampa Bay (6), Oakland (7), Chicago (3), Detroit (4) - .507 OWP.
OAK - Baltimore (4), Los Angeles (7), New York (3), Cleveland (3), Boston (1), Minnesota (3) - .545 OWP.

After their wraparound series with Baltimore this weekend, every single team the A's play for the rest of the year - other than Seattle and Texas, whom the Angels also play - is a current playoff contender.

Time to make that late-season surge 

Posted 3:55 PM by Sean
Through a little scenario-tweaking, I've discovered that the Kansas City Royals will be mathematically eliminated from the AL Central race if either of the following occur between now and the end of the season:

1. The Royals lose a game, OR
2. The White Sox, Twins, Indians, and Tigers win a combined two or more games against non-division opponents.

Oh, and they're also eliminated if any of those teams wins too many intra-division games, too.

And, of course, even if every single thing goes right, the best they can do is finish in a four-way tie.

Go Royals!

Escobar makes first rehab start 

Posted 10:28 AM by Sean
Kelvim Escobar threw one and a third scoreless innings Tuesday night for Salt Lake, allowing no runs on one hit, two walks, four strikeouts, and one groundout. The extra out in that list is a passed ball by Josh Paul, allowing a runner to advance to first on strike three - game log here.

Irresponsible Rumormongering 

Posted 9:48 AM by Sean
A few months ago, I mentioned the possibility of Barry Bonds finishing his career as a DH with the Angels; this morning the speculation crops up again in the Times, which references a Sacramento Bee article reporting that Giants GM Peter Magowan has said he would explore the possibility of a trade with the Angels if Bonds requested one. So, at this point, the only obstacles are:

1. Bonds has to request a trade.
2. Magowan has to agree.
3. The Angels have to trade away some presumably pretty big talent.
4. Bonds's knee has to be healthy.
5. The Angels have to find $18 million to pay him.

Okay! Can we get him in time to put him on the postseason roster?

In all seriousness, it still looks like idle speculation at this point. However, for the sake of information, the Angels do figure to clear a fair bit of money off the payroll after this season. Tim Salmon's $9.75 million will be gone, as will Paul Byrd's $5 million. Depending on how chancy the Angels want to get with their rotation, they could go with a starting five of Colon-Escobar-Lackey-Santana-Saunders, which would have a price tag of about $20 million, compared to this year's $29 million Colon-Escobar-Washburn-Lackey-Byrd quintet. Bengie Molina will be a somewhat more difficult question; he's making just $3 million in this, his walk year, but is expected to look for a substantial raise in his new contract.

Of course, the Angels are going to get dinged pretty hard in raises for Figgins, Donnelly, and Shields, but in this particular case adding an $18 million player means quite a bit less than adding $18 million to the payroll.

Ultimately, the thing that worries me the most about this would be Bonds's notorious superstar persona conflicting with a clubhouse full of guys who have spent years in a team-first mentality. I can't imagine the Angels putting up with Bonds's special leather recliners and personal big-screen TVs and whatever other nonsense he gets away with in San Francisco, and I can't imagine Bonds developing the stolid, blue-collar approach to the media the Angels take - particularly given the national spotlight that will be on him next season.

Instapost 

Posted 3:22 PM by Sean
Busy, busy, busy, today, so just random notes:

- I'm not crapping my drawers about Frankie giving up a grand slam to Tejada last night. Let's remember that having the bases full wasn't his fault; it very possibly wouldn't even have gotten to Tejada if Rodriguez had started the inning, so in a way those insurance runs in the top of the ninth were actually a net negative. Anyway, Frankie made one bad pitch, a fastball that stayed up in the zone, and Tejada showed why he's a damn good hitter.

- Juan Rivera, of course, had a major-league game. The hits were great, but even better were the two assists he had, throwing runners out at second. The first was Sosa's fault, and I will never, ever, as long as I live, get tired of watching dumbshit power hitters start their little home run trots only to realize halfway down the line that it ain't quite got the distance. Rivera's second assist, nailing Tejada at second, was just great play in the outfield.

- I'm in agreement with Scioscia: the biggest hit of the game was Cabrera's two-out, bases loaded hit in the top of the second. If Cabrera makes an out there the Angels have loaded the bases in the first two innings with nothing to show for it; instead, they broke through. As it was, the game "felt" like a blowout, even when the lead was only four runs, up until Tejada's ball went over the right-field fence.

At the moment, 3.5 games up in the standings, it's time to take advantage of some of the softer road games the Angels have and keep pressing forward.

My God - it's full of pixels 

Posted 10:48 AM by Sean
Tonight's Angels-Orioles game is on INHD. I'm not sure if they've got rights to any games in September, so this may be the last time this season to catch an Angels broadcast there.