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

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Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Pickoff Moves

Angels 3, Rangers 2

Man, what a whomp-diddliumptious game! Enough hitting for the Halos to get the job done, Colon labored against the bad guys' fearsome hitters (and make no mistake, Texas can crush 'em) but didn't break, and the Angels survived to get the ball to Frankie. Frankie pitched brilliantly, closing the side out on ten freakin' pitches.

Whenever talking about the Rangers, I never can get away without mentioning Ryan Drese had the worst single-day ERA I've seen in my life (135.00), but it's somewhat ironic that one of the games in which the Angels faced him last year, the score was reversed. I'm beginning to think Orel Hirsheiser is making something of the lad, and maybe last year wasn't a fluke.

Recap

OT: Stereotyped For A Reason

[ to "Ears" ] You, you must be almost 30... have you ever kissed a girl?
[ "Ears" hangs his head ]
I didn't think so! There's a whole world out there! When I was your age, I didn't watch television! I LIVED! So... move out of your parent's basements! And get your own apartments and GROW THE HELL UP! I mean, it's just a TV show dammit, IT'S JUST A TV SHOW!

That classic bit from Saturday Night Live reminds us that science fiction fans are stereotyped for a reason. Not all of them are like that, of course, and maybe even the majority (quelle horreur!), but reading about the cargo cultists lining up outside the Chinese for the next Star Wars episode reminds me of that old skit. Too disconnected from reality to bother, you know, checking the papers or calling Lucasfilm, they assumed that the new ep would premiere at the Chinese, like all the other ones did. If you film it, they will come, but not with any plausible girlfriends.

The Gruesome Effects Of Age

They said Smoltz would be fine in his return as a starter. Seven runs in 1.2 innings say otherwise. (Look well upon that 32.40 ERA; it's probably the last time you'll see it there.) Likewise for another blown save by Mariano Rivera, whose 9.00 ERA is probably as high as we'll see all year.

Oh, I'm A Trendsetter

And thanks to T.J. Simers' column today, the Scott Erickson's hot wife meme now has legs in the regular media:

"Who are you?" I asked.

Right away I could tell the no-name player wasn't accustomed to fielding tough questions, because it seemed as if it was too much for him, and so I waited while he gave it some thought.
"Scott," he finally blurted out, and he looked pretty pleased with himself, so I assumed he got the question right.
If so, there's only one Scott on the team, making it a good guess that it was Scott Erickson, a certified stiff by baseball standards, and better known these days as Mr. Lisa Guerrero.
Mr. Lisa is the Dodgers' fifth starter this season because they don't have five good pitchers with Brad Penny on the disabled list, but everyone knows the Dodgers' fifth starter is also supposed to pull double duty as the team's cheerleader. In fact, Mr. Lisa should be pretty good given Guerrero's expertise.

Note: In case you couldn't tell, that's sarcastic irony in operation there.