A little history to watch for 

Posted 4:45 PM by Sean
Speaking of franchise winning records, something fairly remarkable will likely happen to the Atlanta Braves next year. The Braves entered play today with a franchise record (since 1876) of 9519-9542, 23 games below .500. If and when they make it to .500, it will be the first time the franchise has won as many games as it's lost since June 1, 1923.

The Braves were actually a feared and powerful team for quite a while in the 19th century, and had several good years in the early 20th century as well - they were 518 games over .500 after the 1902 season, but ended the 1922 season just six games over. I'm not certain, but it's entirely possible that the Braves had never been below .500 before 1923, since they had winning records in each of their first four seasons - if the Braves franchise spent any time at all with a losing overall record, it was limited solely to 1876 and maybe very early 1877.

On May 25, 1923, however, the Braves dropped a doubleheader to the Phillies, taking them to exactly .500 for the franchise's history. They bounced back a bit, but finally dropped below sea level on May 31, losing the opener of a three-game series with Brooklyn. June 1 would prove to be the last day they ended play at or above .500, taking game two of the series. Unfortunately for them, the bottom then dropped out: the Bostons lost their next twelve straight, and 19 of their next 21.

The Braves have been trying to get back to .500 for eighty-two years. Unless something goes seriously awry, expect this to be the feel-good story of next summer.

Same old song and dance 

Posted 3:55 PM by Sean
Ever since ESPN columnist and noted sack of crap Rob Neyer went behind ESPN's for-pay wall, I've had little occasion to discuss what he has to say about the Angels. Fortunately, Haloblog appears to have a subscription:

What I have difficulty forgetting, however, is just how ridiculous this whole
Rob Neyer thing is. It's as though the Angels are his whipping-boys. Neyer is so
biased in his coverage of the Angels and their players that it's practically
sickening. First of all, the little pencil-neck bastard couldn't even so much as
play catch with a Major Leaguer, so I've some difficulty trusting his word on
baseball. Second, his boyhood loyalty for the then AL West rival KC Royals
clouds his judgment of the Angels. He hates them, hates everything about them,
always has, and it's just too obvious these days. He's spent his "career"
tearing down Nolan Ryan and Darin Erstad, built a reputation on defining who is
and isn't "over-paid" and "overrated." Consistently, his lists include current
or former Angels. C'mon Rob, get over it. His latest,
over at ESPN Insider (registration and payment required) is no exception. First
it was Nolan Ryan, then it was Darin Erstad, now it's GA.

Right. See, all you need to know about Rob Neyer is that he thinks that Erstad's four-year, $32 million contract was "one hell of a price to pay" for their 2002 World Series championship, as if they should've saved the money and spent it on something more important.

That said, let us take a moment to pity poor Rob, whose beloved Kansas City Royals are pretty close to being the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked, and have no relief on the horizon. Even the Brewers are getting better, but not the Royals. In fact, just in this one season, the Royals' franchise winning percentage has dropped from .495 to .491, so maybe Neyer's most recent crampiness has something to do with the fact that the Angels, at .489 and rising, are now poised to overtake the Royals in the franchise success standings - probably for a long, long time.

Escobar update 

Posted 3:09 PM by Sean
After Santana's performance last night, I suspect that Escobar will, in fact, step into a bullpen role when he returns. Escobar's done reasonably well so far in his rehab assignment at Salt Lake:

8.1 IP, 3.24 ERA, 8 H, 14 K, 7 BB, 1 HR, 1 WP, 1 HB, .242 OBA

Escobar is expected to make his final rehab start tonight and make about 75 pitches.

(Update: in that same article, we note the passing of the Bret Prinz era; Prinz ended up pitching a grand total of three innings for the Angels, all in April. Assuming he was paid the $342,322 the Angels signed him for, Prinz made $5611.84 per pitch. I'm not sure which is more depressing to me - that fact, or the fact that Roger Clemens will end up with a very similar per-pitch earnings number multiplied over the course of an entire season.)

Your Friday strength of schedule numbers 

Posted 11:27 AM by Sean
Twenty-nine games left, and things are again tied up at the top of the AL West. Here's how those twenty-nine look for the Angels and A's:

LAA: SEA(6), BOS(3), CWS(3), DET(4), TEX(6), TAM(3), OAK(4)
OAK: NYY(3), SEA(6), TEX(6), CLE(3), BOS(4), MIN(3), LAA(4)

Overall opponent winning percentages:
LAA - .500
OAK - .519

"Unique" opponent winning percentages:
LAA - .517
OAK - .556

It's obvious just looking at the schedule that Oakland has a significantly tougher row to hoe here, though it's not as wide a gap as the OWP numbers would suggest, since Tampa has played very well in the second half. The Angels are also at a very slight disadvantage because of the home/road splits - they play 13 at home and 16 on the road, including the four remaining with Oakland, while the A's play 16 at home and 13 on the road. If we're going to consider that, however, we might as well also consider that the Angels are a much better team at night (57-38) than they are during the day (18-20), while the A's are exactly the opposite (30-15 in day games, 45-43 at night). The Angels have eight day games remaining, while the A's have either 18 or 19 night games left (one game with Seattle is still TBD), including three of the four with the Angels.

The Angels need one thing right now, and that's offense. Although Santana is rightly being praised for his terrific start last night, I was almost equally cheered by Chone Figgins's performance at the top of the order: three for three with a walk, a run scored, and two stolen bases against a left-handed starter. Garret Anderson's three for four night was pretty nice, too. Guerrero continues to be a concern, however. He's just not over that stretch of games in which he was walked intentionally so often; he seems to be panicked that opposing pitchers will start doing so again at any time, so he needs to swing now. His double in the eighth was nice, but was probably more the result of Witasik making a bad pitch than anything else - I'm not sure whether it was meant to be more inside or lower, but I'm damn sure you don't intentionally throw Guerrero a fastball that close to the middle of the strike zone when he's looked so bad swinging at junk. Bad pitch or no, however, hopefully Guerrero gets a little confidence-boost from it.

The other guy the Angels need to come around is Adam Kennedy. Just as he was under the radar while building a pretty gaudy batting average, his recent free-fall seems to have been eclipsed by Vlad Guerrero's icy performance. AK's drawn the collar in six of his last seven games, going just 2 for 21 in that stretch, and had a .267/.326/.326 August with a total of three extra-base hits.

One step closer to self-parody 

Posted 12:14 PM by Sean
Goddamn Yeswecan for putting this in my head.

PURGATORY ONLINE PRESENTS

a SEAN PURGATORY PRODUCTION:

GUYS AND BALLS

[The scene - interior, Bill Stoneman's office at Angel Stadium. STONEMAN, SCOSCIA, and VARIOUS BASEBALL WRITERS are gathered around, discussing the upcoming season]

SCIOSCIA, STONEMAN, VARIOUS BASEBALL WRITERS
(to the tune of "The Oldest Established")
Troy Percival wanted four mil
Now he's left some big shoes to fill
So we now need a guy in the ninth
Who can crush out the other guys' life

Why, it's good old reliable Frankie,
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie to close!
If you're looking for strikeouts, he'll furnish a few
Even with the bases full he knows what to do
Yes, it's good old reliable Frankie,
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie to close!
And the oldest established permanently kick-ass bullpen in the bigs!

There are juiced-up sluggers everywhere, everywhere
Lots of juiced-up sluggers everywhere
We don't care how much you prance
When you do your strikeout dance, no way
If we only had a rock-solid closer
Our Rolaids we could all throw away...

Why, it's good old reliable Frankie,
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie to close!
If you're looking for strikeouts, he'll furnish a few
Even with the bases full he knows what to do
Yes, it's good old reliable Frankie,
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie to close!
And the oldest established permanently kick-ass bullpen in the bigs!

[Next scene: August, at the ballpark. The Angels have a 5-3 lead on Minnesota. SCIOSCIA and FRANKIE are on the mound at the start of the ninth inning]

SCIOSCIA
Now, Frankie, I now you've been having some problems recently, but that's in the past. Go out and get 'em.

[FRANKIE begins pitching. From off stage we hear "Ball one! Ball two! Ball three! Ball four! Ball one! Ball two! Ball three! Ball four! HOME RUN!" The crowd begins to boo.]

FRANKIE (to the tune of "Don't Cry for me, Argentina")
Nobody boos in Venezuela
In Venezuela, they always love me
I play December, when I am fresher
Is that the difference?

SCOSCIA
Wrong musical, dammit!

[Next scene. A trio of laptop-toting BLOGGERS are talking about Frankie's problems]

BLOGGER #1
We all know Frankie's finished! He doesn't have it anymore! First thing he does every night is put guys on base!

BLOGGER #2
Too many pitches out of the strike zone!

BLOGGER #3
No guts!

BLOGGER #1
Fortunately, I know exactly what to do to fix the Angels' bullpen woes!

BLOGGERS 2 and 3
Holy samoleons! What a coincidence!

(Sung to the tune of Fugue for Tinhorns)

BLOGGER #1
I got the arm right here, his name is Eric Cyr
And there's a guy that says if the bases are clear
Can do, can do
This guy says that Cyr can do
If he says that Cyr can do
Can do, Can do

BLOGGER #2
The guy is Scotty Dunn, oh boy he's number one
He's got a whole lotta strikeouts for the Salt Lake club
Live arm, live arm
That Dunn's got a real live arm
And K's keep you out of harm
Live arm, live arm

BLOGGER #3
No, no, it's Escobar, the guy's a superstar
And he's got the stuff we need to get the team real far
Won't melt, won't melt
He's been around and he won't melt
Got a lot of innings under his belt
Won't melt, won't melt

BLOGGER #1
Eric Cyr...

BLOGGER #2
Scotty Dunn...

BLOGGER #3
Escobar...

ALL
I've got the arm...right...here!

[Next scene: Stoneman's office]

STONEMAN
You're all washed up, kid. Your mechanics are terrible - it says so on the Internet. Fortunately, we've got someone taking your spot who's never blown a single big-leave save: Jered Weaver!

FRANKIE
Wha? Wasn't he playing college ball a year ago?

STONEMAN
Oh, like that matters. Keep your trap shut, and maybe we'll let you pitch mop-up.

[Next scene: the ballpark the next night. The Angels have a 3-2 lead on the A's going into the bottom of the ninth]

SCIOSCIA
Okay, Weaver, let's see some of that no-blown-save magic out there. And remember - no bad pitches! Unless they swing and miss. Then they're okay.

WEAVER
*Gulp*

[He takes the mound]

WEAVER (to the tune of "I've Never Been in Love Before")

I've never closed a game before
Now all at once it's me
My God, look at the score

I've never closed a game before
I thought that I'd be used
When we were up by four

But this is noise that's all too loud and shrill
The ump I want to kill
Should I be on the hill

So please don't swing at anything I throw
I've really never closed
A game before

[The sound of many bats hitting many balls comes from offstage, as WEAVER ducks and dodges balls hit back up the middle. The crowd boos lustily and he runs off-stage, weeping]

[Next scene: the ballpark again. Frankie has been summoned to pitch the ninth in a tight game again]

SCIOSCIA
Look, Frankie, the Jered Weaver thing didn't go so well. Turns out there might actually be a difference between pitching college ball and pitching in the bigs. Who knew?

FRANKIE
That's great and all, but should I really be out here? Won't Stoneman be mad?

SCIOSCIA (chuckling)
Don't worry about him. I told him Allard Baird was on the phone wanting to trade us Mike Sweeney. Stoneman won't come out of hiding 'til November.

FRANKIE
Well, that's good, I guess. But...

SCIOSCIA
What? What's wrong?

FRANKIE
It's my confidence, Skip. It's been shattered!

SCIOSCIA
Shattered?

FRANKIE
That's right...
(to the tune of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat")

Last night I dreamed I was on the mound in New York
And by some chance, I had brought a ball along
So there I stood, and I shouted "let's get started!"
But the fans knew that something was wrong...

And the people all said "sit down! Sit down, you're fanning the flames!"
The people all said "sit down! Sit down, you're fanning the flames!"
"For the Yankees will make a comeback, send you to the showers in utter shame,
Sit down sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down you're fanning the flames!"

SCIOSCIA
You know, Frankie, if there's one thing I've learned through all this, it's that Sean can write some song parodies, but he really just phones it in when it comes to dialogue. But if there's two things I've learned, the second is...

(to the tune of "Marry the Man Today")
You go with the guys you got
And sometimes you just get stung
Pitchers run cold and hot
But you dance with the one you brung

Go with the guys you got
Their talent got you this far
Go with the guys you got
Minus illegal pine tar

Slowly introduce them to refinements
The strike zone...
A change-up...
Pitching to contact...
STOP!

Just go with the guys you got
Rather than random youngsters
Go with the guys you got
And worry 'bout it in the winter!

FRANKIE
Dios Mio! I feel the confidence returning!
[SCIOSCIA runs off stage right. FRANKIE winds and delivers. A stentorian voice booms "Steee-rike three!" The crowd noise crescendoes]

SHIELDS, DONNELLY, and the rest of the cast enter stage right, pick up FRANKIE and put him on their shoulders

ENSEMBLE
That's just good old reliable Frankie,
Frankie, Frankie, Frankie to close!
And the oldest established permanently kick-ass bullpen in the bigs!

BILLY BEANE rushes in from stage left
Wait! Wait! I've got a song, too! [clears throat]
Long-term tendencies subject to statistical analysis be a lady tonight...

CURTAIN

It's a race 

Posted 11:28 AM by Sean
So I went out of town for the weekend, and saw none of the Saturday or Sunday losses to Tampa Bay. And now, the sky has fallen yet again, we're all doomed, season over, etc., etc.

I have nothing to say about this that I haven't said before. You can keep the faith or try hedging your bets, so that if your team doesn't win you at least get the satisfaction of saying "I told you so." If that's your style, be my guest; I understand football season begins anon. For myself, I prefer at times like these to recall the words of Samuel Adams:

If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

And in that spirit, I present to you the entire list of unbelievable, catastrophically improbable occurences that must transpire for the Angels to regain first place:

1. They have to win tonight.