Scientists report Halosphere shrinking; probably Bush's fault 

Posted 4:34 PM by Sean
Cindy Fluffykins hasn't published in over a month, so I'm thinking a revision to the History of the Halosphere is due soon.

Duly noted 

Posted 1:53 PM by Sean
The Yankees' win last night considerably lengthened the odds against Curt Schilling pitching in the ALDS any earlier than Game 3, meaning he'd get just one start if the Angels face the Red Sox. The only way the Red Sox can head into Sunday's game guaranteed of making the postseason without a one-game playoff would be if they were to win Friday and Saturday while the Indians lost Friday and Saturday. If that were the case, however, the Red Sox would be playing Sunday for the division crown. They could hold Schilling and start Arroyo on short rest (or get a spot start from someone), but would they?

Interestingly, though, that might set up a perverse incentive for the Red Sox - that is, they might actually be better off losing, depending on whether they'd rather play Chicago on the road or the Angels at home. My suspicion is that, right or wrong, the Angels are going to be regarded as the slightly more dangerous team, so maybe they'll figure that having Schilling available for Game 1 is worth going on the road to Chicago. Personally, I'd take my chances at home, even though there's no guarantee you win on Sunday even if you do start Schilling, who's not exactly been dominant this year.

I wish I wish I had a fish 

Posted 11:20 AM by Sean
You know what would be awesome?

I don't even know if it's technically possible, but if the Angels were to activate Tim Salmon for one last at-bat this weekend, that would be pretty amazing.

Just a thought.

Looking ahead 

Posted 1:45 PM by Sean
For your consideration, here are the remaining AL playoff contenders' scheduled starters for the rest of the season:

White Sox
Wednesday - Contreras
Thursday - Garcia
Friday - Buehrle
Saturday - Garland
Sunday - TBA - likely to be Orlando Hernandez if they've clinched, Brandon McCarthy or Contreras on short rest if they haven't.

Indians
Wednesday - Lee
Thursday - Sabathia
Friday - Millwood
Saturday - Westbrook
Sunday - TBA - either Elarton or Lee on short rest.

Yankees
Wednesday - Chacon
Thursday - Small
Friday - Wang
Saturday - Johnson
Sunday - Mussina

(heh, heh: "small wang johnson")

Red Sox
Wednesday - Arroyo
Thursday - Clement
Friday - Wells
Saturday - TBA, but probably Wakefield on short rest
Sunday - TBA, but probably Schilling on normal rest

Yesterday's double-header kind of mucked with the Red Sox rotation, but Wakefield's a knuckleballer and won't have a problem with short rest.

Both of the ALDS series start on Tuesday, October 4. Obviously, there are a lot of variables involved, but it would seem that the Angels will probably get one of the Wednesday starters on extra rest, one of the Thursday starters on regular rest, or one of the Friday starters on short rest. Of course, if the Red Sox clinch before Sunday, they probably hold Schilling for Game 1, so right now the best thing that can happen for the Angels is a Yankees-Red Sox dogfight to the bitter end.

Hometown boy makes good 

Posted 12:36 PM by Sean
So it turns out that Angels blogger and noted Morrissey apologist Reverend Halofan somehow wrangled his way into the party at the team hotel last night. Pictures are supposedly forthcoming, though a part of me suspects he's making the whole thing up just to distract us from the fact that he didn't run naked across the field, as promised.

Oh, and prior to that party, the Angels won the A.L. West for the second year in a row. For the second game in a row, they got some runs early and made them stand up with strong starting pitching, crisp defense, and a resurgent bullpen. The Angels are now 10-1 in their last 11 games, and have picked a pretty good time of year to get hot. Although the A's deserve credit for putting together yet another winning season in a year in which they were expected to be rebuilding rather than contending, the last couple of weeks have made it clear which was the better team.

This year, Mike Scioscia will have the twin luxuries of resting some of his everyday players and aligning his pitching rotation, luxuries that will probably not apply to any of the other AL playoff teams. At the moment, the Red Sox, Yankees, and Indians are all tied up, with the White Sox two games ahead. Since the last weekend of the season sees the White Sox in Cleveland and the Yankees in Boston, those clubs are going to have no choice but to use their horses heavily over the next few days.

Of course, this guarantees the Angels exactly nothing. It is an advantage, but in the end the Angels will still need the pitching and defense they've gotten all year, plus some stepped-up offense from the hopefully rejuvenated lineup.

There is, I suppose, a little bit of a quandary for the Angels at the moment, since they're just a game behind the Yankee-Red Sox-Indian troika; a strong finish could propel them into a situation in which they would have the home field advantage in the first round. A strong finish coupled with a White Sox collapse could even give the Angels the top seed. But I think having rested, focused players trumps home field advantage any day; I'd guess that, over the next five days, we'll probably see the starters make some appearances, but strictly on a five-and-fly basis or a pitch count in the 60's or 70's. Meanwhile, look for Zach Sorensen to play quit a bit, since reports are that he's being considered for the postseason roster in the pinch-runner/superutility role that Chone Figgins played in 2002.

One of one hundred sixty-two 

Posted 2:22 PM by Sean
Ness: Never stop! Never stop fighting 'til the fight is done.
Capone: What'd you say? What're you saying?
Ness: I said, never stop fighting 'til the fight is done.

-- The Untouchables

The fight's not done.

Toute le Halosphere seems to have exhaled en masse after last night's 4-3 victory, but a five game lead with six to play is not safe. Consider the momentum the A's would have if they managed to win the next three games; consider the Angels would need to take two out of three in Texas at that point to guarantee themselves a playoff spot. That goal is in front of the Angels now, right there in front of them, and it's never been more important for them to bear down. When the Angels slipped into second a month ago, it was time to loosen up. When Frankie flubbed that return throw and let the winning run score, it was time to lighten up. Now, however, is the time to focus on landing the next punch.

The target of tonight's haymaker is left-hander Joe Kennedy. Though his overall numbers are unimpressive, Kennedy spent the first half of the year pitching for Colorado, which isn't actually Hell but an amazing facsimile. Here are his splits after coming to Oakland:

vLHB - .220/.286/.320, 1.07 G/F, 1 HR, 56 PA, 3.38 BB/9, 7.43 K/9, 7.43 H/9
vRHB - .279/.350/.463, 1.12 G/F, 5 HR, 163 PA, 3.68 BB/9, 6.63 K/9, 10.06 H/9

Despite Steve Finley's new "Jack Frosty" persona, I think those numbers are enough to justify benching him today in favor of Robb Quinlan. Doing so also gives the Angels another left-handed bat off the bench in addition to Kochman, which could be important in the late innings, since lefties hit Kiko Calero and Keiichi Yabu at .310/.383/.493 and .294/.380/.412, respectively. My suggested lineup:

Figgins - CF
Cabrera - SS
Anderson - DH
Guerrero - RF
Rivera - LF
Erstad - 1B
Molina - C
Quinlan - 3B
Kennedy - 2B

No easing up, no victory laps - just solid, focused baseball to get win number 91.

Battle cry 

Posted 1:15 PM by Sean
The magic number is four. Any combination of Angels victories and/or A's losses totaling four over the next seven days gives the Angels the division. Angels go 4-3? Check. Angels go 2-5 and the A's 5-2? Check. Angels go 0-7 and A's go 3-4? Check.

Of course, considering that the two clubs go head-to-head over the next four games, every Angels fan out there is coming into this series with one thought: even a split's good enough. Just two games out of four and the division is won.

I am not interested in a split.

After bobbing around for nearly the entire season, the Angels finally seemed to put it together on this just-ended home stand, going 8-2 in the midst of comebacks, clutch hits, and bullpen performances the likes of which we thought gone for good. With no dominant team in the AL this year, the club that we've seen over the last 10 games is good enough to win the pennant, and I, for one, am not interested in shooting for .500 again; neither should the Angels be. In Oakland or in Anaheim, the Angels are the better team and ought to be thinking about proving it for good. Running out the clock may win football games, but there is work left to be done here, tonight and every night until that number hits zero.

And so we consider tonight's starter, Joe Blanton. Corky's splits:

vLHB - .231/.294/.357, 412 PA, 7 HR, 2.95 BB/9, 4.74 K/9, 7.78 H/9
vRHB - .246/.319/.440, 369 PA, 14 HR, 3.43 BB/9, 5.61 K/9, 8.31 H/9

It's not much to hang your hat on, but Blanton's a righty who has a tougher time with right-handed hitters, meaning that Juan Rivera - a right-handed hitter who hits right-handed pitchers well - should bear watching tonight. Blanton's got a fastball that normally tops out at around 93 mph with decent movement, and has a fairly good curve, an average slider, and an indifferent changeup. He's a rookie, and has now thrown more innings in the AL than he did last year in Triple-A, so fatigue may be something of a factor for him at this point in the season (though it hasn't really shown so far). He's also not especially athletic, and the Angels may want to put pressure on him by bunting for hits in certain situations.

I'm not sure which way Scioscia will go with Figgins tonight; both Finley and Izturis seem like possibilities in the lineup. Given Finley's home run and double on Saturday, I suspect he gets the nod:

Figgins - 3B
Cabrera - SS
Anderson - DH
Guerrero - RF
Rivera - LF
Erstad - 1B
Molina - C
Finley - CF
Kennedy - 2B

Travesty 

Posted 12:51 PM by Sean
Neither tonight's Angels-A's game nor tomorrow's is available on Extra Innings. How retarded is that?

Guess I'll end up springing for the mlb.com video and squinting at the damn computer screen all night...