6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

A fun thing to do in the midst of a boring and wretched season.

Labels: angels

At this point, superprospect Mike Trout is the shiny object I'm using to distract myself from what is an otherwise crappy season for the Halos.

— Paco Torres

It is increasingly clear that the Angels' season is lost. With last night's loss, they are on pace for a 68-win season, meaning they have to play winning ball the balance of the year (or enough more) to even make .500. Angels fans must therefore content ourselves with knowing they have arguably the best rookie anywhere, Mike Trout, and he is in God mode:

This is a classic case of a guy ignoring a big thing to focus on a little thing. The big thing is a dinger, the little thing is an infield single, and the guy is me. But think about what we have here. Mike Trout is going to hit home runs, and in fact he's slugging .605. Mike Trout is also going to hit infield singles and steal a lot of bases. Mike Trout makes an above-average amount of contact. Mike Trout's wielding a skillset without a weakness. Mike Trout is a video game boss with no spot glowing orange, so you shoot and you shoot and you shoot until it kills you.

Mark Trumbo's offense is equally golden — more of a surprise in his case — but the rest of the team is a joke, and an expensive one at that.

Labels: angels

Vernon Wells has torn ligaments in this thumb and will have surgery to repair it tomorrow according to his Twitter feed. Mike DiGiovanna speculates a 6-8 week recovery time, and I would be willing to bet it's longer than that.

Update: Per the Angels press release (not yet available on the website), the injury is to the ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb. orthogate.com says rehab for this is about three months.

Update 2: Michael Kohn will go on the 60-day DL to make room for Kole Calhoun. Ryan Langerhans' separated shoulder will not require surgery, but he will go on the 15-day DL anyway.

Labels: angels, injuries

Been meaning to post something about this for a while now: a Baseball Prospectus day at Angels Stadium.

Baseball Prospectus and the Los Angeles Angels invite you to join us for a great day of baseball on Saturday, June 16 at Angel Stadium. Thanks to the fine folks in the Angels front office, we are proud to be able to offer our guests the following:

• Admittance to a private "meet and greet" with special guests and Baseball Prospectus personalities 2 hours prior to game time (including Sam Miller, Geoff Young, John Perrotto, Stephani Bee, Jason Wojciechowski, former Dodgers GM Dan Evans, MLBDepthCharts.com Jason Martinez )
• A question and answer session with Los Angeles Angels Assistant General Manager Matt Klentak.
• Seat in the right field MVP section of Angel Stadium to watch the Angels take on the Arizona Diamondbacks with Baseball Prospectus fans and staff.
• A $15 coupon to be used toward a new Baseball Prospectus Premium subscription or your next Premium renewal.

Festivities begin at 4:30 PM with a game start time of 7:05.

Labels: angels, sabermetrics

The second callup of the day: Bobby Cassevah, according to Bill Plunkett of the Register. Cassevah had a 6.75 ERA in 13 appearances, all in relief, with AAA Salt Lake. Not a very compelling line.

Labels: angels, transactions

Four men were arrested following an altercation in the parking lot. The injuries were not considered life-threatening. A pregnant woman with him in the car was also taken to the hospital for observation.

Labels: dodgers

The Angels have called up Kole Calhoun from AAA Salt Lake to replace one of the two outfielders injured yesterday (Vernon Wells and Ryan Langerhans). He was hitting .296/.365/.491 with 5 home runs in 189 plate appearances. The Angels must make room on the 40-man roster, which I take to mean someone like a Luis Jimenez will end up taking the hit.

Labels: angels, transactions

I missed this Colin Wyers piece at Baseball Prospectus when it came out last week, but it's worth reading if only for this:

It is easy for people in positions like mine to invoke the Politician’s Fallacy in times like this:

1. We must do something.

2. This is something.

3. Therefore, we must do this.

And of course, it is in fact possible to react rashly, to mistakenly take to action when inaction is the most prudent course. On the other hand, it is much easier to counsel inaction when one has no power to enact any action at all and suffers no consequences from what happens if inaction occurs. In this case, rather than being actively detrimental, in the worst case this seems rather innocuous. That doesn’t mean it’s the right call, necessarily, but it does make it a very understandable sort of decision.

This, of course, is how we end up with stimulus and a lot of other fraud. Meanwhile, in Anaheim, Hatcher is gone, the Angels just lost a series to the lowly Padres, and Albert Pujols looks no closer to being a valuable member of the team than he did when Mickey Hatcher was seated in the hitting coach's spot.

Labels: angels

I saw it and I still don't believe it, Scott Van Slyke coming up in the absence of Matt Kemp, and driving across the game-winning runs at home in front of his dad and national TV, and against the team he grew up rooting for.

I am not much on "magical" and related sorts of adjectives, but it seems to me that this team is, at least, charmed. They find ways to win, improbable though that often seems to be.

Apparently there was a scuffle in the parking lot after the game that resulted in a man being hospitalized (where his pregnant wife went, too). Not a lot of details yet.

ESPN Box

Labels: cardinals, dodgers, recaps

I have nothing to add to this; the offense stank, though it is worth noting in passing that both Ryan Langerhans (shoulder, injured trying to field John Baker's double) and Vernon Wells (right thumb, sliding into second base in the second) are likely candidates for the disabled list, and neither player flew to Oakland. Perhaps that's a net positive, given that this blog's official position is that Wells needs to be cut, and Langerhans had little or no value on either offense or defense. Gosh, you mean the Angels might be forced to run Bourjos and Trout and somebody else (*coff*Mark Trumbo*coff*) out there in the starting lineup? Wow.

The Angels lost this one, predictably, in extras. I missed the ending. The Angels are back in the division cellar where, sadly, they belong. Does Mike Scioscia need firing? I can't tell, and don't immediately support it; but I wouldn't reject it out of hand, either. At this point, such a move would largely be symbolic, but if it meant the team would clean house on the idiotic offensive strategery, I would be all in favor.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, injuries, padres, recaps, rumors, stupid ideas, transactions

Fangraphs reckons Albert Callaspo as the goat in this one, mainly for failing to make outs in critical situations. Shortly behind him was recent hero Mark Trumbo, who went 0-for-4; you allow for such nights if they don't become too commonplace. And while it's tempting to say "Albert Pujols, another 1-for-4 with a meaningless single", his outs were made to right field. So, progress?

The puzzler for the Angels, though, was the man on the mound, Dan Haren, who looked lost against the National League's second-worst offensive team. If you can't blank the Padres, something is terribly wrong, and last night's start was a continuation of the "Where's Haren" picture book the Angels have suffered from all year. Meanwhile, Dodgers castoff Eric Stults baffled the Angels, which isn't all that difficult these days. I haven't looked at their numbers against lefties, but it's none too surprising.

Finally, there was a perhaps significant oddment in the final out. Erick Aybar — he of the 4-for-4 night, a lone spark among a dead collection of rally killers, missing the cycle by a home run — reached on an infield single as the tying run. With two out and the winning run 90 feet away, Mike Scioscia left late inning defensive sub Ryan Langerhans in to hit — instead of sending in Vernon Wells, who had not started and remained on the bench. Scioscia used the odd justification that

"Langerhans had been swinging the bat well," Scioscia said.

In his last nine minor league games, Langerhans had batted .179. He had not batted since May 13.

It's so crazy it begins to sound like an upraised middle finger to Jerry Dipoto — "I'm still in charge of the lineup!" — or maybe early onset dementia. When you have a guy who — at least theoretically — could win the game with one swing of the bat, why aren't you using him?

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, ex-dodgers, padres, recaps

I have always tried to give Mickey Hatcher a certain amount of credit, or at least to not abuse him based on speculation or results. That said, this Paul Oberjuerge piece is as damning a portrait of the man as I have ever heard.

The Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher yesterday.

Lots of “oh, what a great guy” stuff out there, particularly from those in the sports journalism community.

And I say … bosh!

I found Mickey Hatcher to be an aggressively ignorant clod.

I realize that he has a reputation as a fun guy, a prankster, a jokester … but I never saw that. Ever. Just heard about it, and marveled at it.

...

The measure of Mickey Hatcher was his persistently out-of-touch style as a hitting coach. Boiled down, it was this: “See a pitch … hack at it.”

It led to Angels teams that often had below-average on-base percentages. And this in an era where “everyone” pretty much had agreed that OBP is a very important statistic, because getting somebody to first base means you are far more likely to score a run. But Mickey Hatcher never coached “working the count” or “take a walk” because he didn’t believe in it.

If this is true — and the results certainly speak for themselves — the Angels have already upgraded at hitting coach. Too bad that's not enough. (Hat tip to Rev. Halofan.)

Update: Mike Petriello reminds me that Oberjuerge has a rather checkered history at judging character, at one point calling Matt Kemp a "dolt" for his actions in a meaningless late 2009 game.

Labels: angels, coaches

So that happened.

Seriously, it's hard for me to say much about yesterday's win that sounds neither trite nor obvious, so I'll get the homers by Pujols and Wells out of the way first. Pujols in particular was interesting, not because of the home run but because of the first inning popout to second base. Any ball he hits the other way is good news, even if it results in an out. I am not yet convinced Pujols is out of his slump, but I do think the signs are more propitious than at any previous moment.

Jerome Williams pitched a wonderful game, especially good considering it came on the heels of a catastrophe outing against the Rangers in which he was called on without warning to complete a start after a lengthy rain delay.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, white sox

Per Bill Plunkett. Kind of amazing, really, but honestly too little, too late, in some wise. As others have observed, if Dipoto's adherence to the received wisdom of OBP is true, why did the team long-term Aybar and Kendrick, both guys notoriously dependent on batting average to get on base? I'm not entirely convinced that this is anything other than a symbolic firing. Hatcher, I have never been convinced, is himself sufficient if one is going to clean house; the whole rotten structure has to go. That means, at the very least, getting a buyoff on the end of RISP2 hitting madness as the primary offensive tenet. This, I think, is really a warning shot for the Angels, for Mike Scioscia, and even for Jerry Dipoto. While this is in some ways a welcome recognition that the team is scuffling, it does nothing to fix the offense.

Update: Bill Shaikin mentions the significant intelligence that the move was announced by Dipoto, not Scioscia. Definitely a warning shot to Scioscia. Mike DiGiovanna thinks this was all Arte's doing.

Update 2: Angels.com story.

"We think the absolute world of Mickey as a person and thank him for all of his contributions to this organization," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement.

"Sometimes in the sports world a point is reached where perhaps a new voice is needed in order to attain the desired goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we feel this is one of those times. Offensively, we have underachieved, and everyone shares in the responsibility of what has transpired thus far."

The new hitting coach will be Jim Eppard, previously AAA Salt Lake's hitting coach.

OCR story.

Update 3: Mark Saxon analysis at ESPN/LA:

Under former GMs Bill Stoneman or Tony Reagins, Tuesday's move seems unlikely, certainly in May. But Dipoto has brought in his own people and has his own vision for this team, one which doesn't always align with the way Scioscia and Hatcher viewed things. He vowed back in November to increase the Angels' emphasis on on-base percentage. Scioscia and Hatcher continued to preach patience only as a means to an end -- getting a good pitch to hit -- not as an end in itself -- a walk.

Of course, the man in the middle of all this is Pujols, who so far has a cost-to-home run ratio of 240 million-to-one. Mix in one struggling superstar, one new and powerful GM and you get a manager with less ability to stand up for his own guys.

Of course, when you bring in guys like Pujols who are arguably approaching the end of their careers — with warning signs, to boot — it makes you question the general manager, too.

Labels: angels, coaches, firings

Unquestionably.

Pujols isn’t the Angels’ only problem — the distribution of playing time also remains an issue.

Case in point:

Left fielder Vernon Wells has made 124 plate appearances, or 26 more than infielder/outfielder Mark Trumbo.

Oops: Wells’ OPS is .666, while Trumbo’s is 1.012.

Listen, we all know Wells is owed nearly $60 million through 2014, but fans are right to be upset when their team is not putting its best players on the field (and yes, the same will apply to the Red Sox if third baseman Will Middlebrooks is still hot when Kevin Youkilis returns).

See also Jeff Sullivan's analysis of Mark Trumbo's swing improvements.

Labels: angels

Forget everything else about this game: the catch Justin Sellers made in the ninth on Miguel Montero's pop is going to be what you remember.

Kershaw was predictably awesome.

The Dodgers' bizarre 2012 cruise seems to continue without any hitches, or at least, until now, when Matt Kemp went on the 15-day DL for a strained left hamstring; Jerry Sands got the callup from Albuquerque.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, injuries, recaps, transactions

Per an Eric Stephen tweet; Elian Herrera will get the callup.

Update: Trent Oeltjen will be DFA'd to make room.

Labels: dodgers, injuries, transactions

Torii Hunter was placed on the restricted list for "personal reasons" according to a tweet by Victor Rojas. The team is expected to call up Ryan Langerhans from AAA Salt Lake.

Update: Hunter's 17-year-old son was arrested in Dallas on sexual assault charges.

Labels: angels, transactions

I was somewhat surprised to see that this was the fourth time in his career Jered Weaver had given up eight runs, though it does tie a personal worst for innings pitched, getting chased as he did in the fourth after only one out and giving up two runs on a Josh Hamilton double. Let's face it: this is a bad team, though there are things that can be done to rectify it.

• Vernon Wells needs to be cut. Wells has been a .220 hitter since 2010 and provides no actual value defensively (in fact, negative value); last night, he misplayed a ball into a double.
• Bench Pujols. I don't pretend here that Pujols is over, only that this remains within the realm of possibility given the very real decline in unintentional walk rate, a canary in his coal mine of recent suck. Mark Trumbo should be getting more starts in his stead, and this should not be controversial. Trumbo, at least, sounded the right note when he called on the team to play with some attitude, which I esteem to mean better relief pitching, and more offense.

I have little else to contribute here; the bullpen is unlikely to get fixed anytime soon, as last night's outing showed. So far, the team seems fixated on leaving both situations as is, and so the trend of losing two of every three games will likely continue into 162. The Angels just stink, management doesn't seem to care especially, and there's little that can be done. Another long, dull season awaits.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps, suck

Per Steve Dilbeck, the Dodgers have disabled Jerry Hairston, Jr. with a left hamstring strain, and have called up Justin Sellers from AAA Albuquerque.

Related: Juan Rivera's tendon is ruptured, which speaks to a longer-term injury.

Labels: dodgers, injuries, transactions

Aside from our dogs (who get walked twice daily), that would be a long and disturbing list, including four National League pitchers. Miller suggests that Pujols' walks have vaporized dating back to last year's All-Star break, but I don't see it.

Update: You should really read this older Sam Miller article first. He means unintentional walk rate, and yes, that has plummeted since last year's ASB. By my math:

• 1st half 2011: (35 BB - 4 IBB)/342 PA = .0906 unintentional BB/PA
• 2nd half 2011: (26 BB - 11 IBB)/309 PA = .0485 unintentional BB/PA

Quite a dropoff.

Update: Good article suggested by commenter binkster at SB Nation by J.P. Starkey about Pujols' term as an Angel.

He's not that bad, but he'll never be 2009-good again. He'll never be one of the best hitters of all-time again. Father Time has caught up to Pujols. The decreased walk percentage could very well correlate to a drop in bat speed -- Pujols could have to start his swing earlier to compensate for the loss of bat speed, meaning, he has to expand his zone a bit more than he's used to.

The intro suggests "[t]he Albert Pujols of the past has yet to show up in Los Angeles, and there's little to suggest that he ever will." Fair point, but will at least a pretty good simulation of that guy show up?

Labels: angels