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

News

• The big news of the night is Jered Weaver's 12 K/6.0 IP game; more on this below.
• In Jon's excellent writeup on today's hideous 6-5 loss to the Padres, he points us to the news that the Dodgers have optioned Hong-Chih Kuo to AAA Las Vegas, while calling up Joe Beimel, who has a 1.38 ERA in 13.0 IP and nine strikeouts.
• Kevin Gregg will start Thursday in place of the injured Kelvim Escobar. The Angels have optioned Reggie Willits to Salt Lake. Chris Bootcheck, called up to the big club, will pass him on the way.
• This is of passing interest only to geeks and other exotic fauna; MLB.com now hosts the entirety of the MILB content for every league in XML format. I know you're just thrilled, but for a hardcore data geek like me, this is a huge trove to be mined, and a lot easier than the other stuff. Bryan, if you're reading, this has some affect on the things we've been talking about.

Scores

Vinny is telling us that the Dodgers didn't have a base hit after the fifth inning, and sure enough. As much fun for the Dodgers as October 2, 2004 was for the Giants, the blame falls squarely on Grady Little for allowing Lance Carter to blow up, for failing to pull Danys Baez, who clearly had nothing, and then allowing LOOGY Hamulack to stay in the game well beyond the limits of the lefties.

Those hoping that this will mean Lance Carter will be DFA'd any time soon forget last year's experience with Scott Erickson. Sure, you might say, this is a different GM. Colletti's nothing like DePodesta... right? Wrong.

ESPN Box • Recap

In the end, Scot Shields lost this game for the Angels, but the sad fact was that the Angels were outpitched from Friday through Sunday, and outhit collectively: in both today's game and Friday's, and in the series 24 to 18. Not only that, but

• Angels rookies barely hit; between Kotchman (2-7, 2 BB) and Mathis (0-3), they accumulated an 2-10 line — exactly Mendozian. Mathis now has a .108 average.
• Compounding the problem was a Reggie Willits stolen base attempt that ended in a laughable pitchout erasure. It wasn't even close.
• Salmon went 0-4 in today's game.
• Ervin Santana couldn't hold on to a two-run lead in the top of the sixth, giving up consecutive doubles and a sac fly.
• Figgins got on base exactly once. For a guy who lives and dies on average to make up his OBP, something is desperately, desperately wrong; he's hitting .268, way too little for a leadoff hitter who almost never walks.
• The three and four batters went 1-8 today, and 6-24 in the series. That much represents an improvement over last year's ALCS, but the results surely were the same.
• About the only bright spot in today's game was Orlando Cabrera's unexpected power surge, but he's not a guy you can rely upon. We wonder when Vlad will return, and whether GA will have a solid bat throughout the rest of the season. The early returns are looking iffy.

Tomorrow, the Angels throw up — and I mean this in both the literal and figurative senses — Hector Carrasco against Barry Zito. Jered Weaver gets the start today for Salt Lake; it's not feasible that he could take Carrasco's place this turn, but maybe we hear about something very like that in the near future.

Recap

The Padres have lost five in a row, getting swept at home by the Diamondbacks, and now are in a position to have the same humiliation imposed on them by the Dodgers with a sixth loss on Sunday. The Padres are, needless to say, in pretty awful shape compared to last year's (barely) division "winners"; now in last place in the NL West, they've been swept at home twice this month, and are losers of four of eight series, a somewhat misleading figure because at one of those, the series with the Giants, had a postponed third game, and another, the Mets series, contained four games. Regardless, their 8-14 start isn't actually all that different from last year's ho-hum, it's-still-early 11-13 April that left them in fourth place, four and a half games back of the 15-8 first-place Dodgers.

Somebody needs to explain to me what Clay Hensley is doing as a starter. Never possessing anything like dominating strikeout numbers, he looked to me like the kind of pitcher teams put up when they get desperate to plug gaps in the rotation. Since his spot start against the Mets went well, getting a win despite only going five and a third and giving up four earned runs, he got another chance. To be honest, Hensley didn't actually do so badly — a quality start, really — but the Padres' popgun lineup never supported him.

Instead, the Dodgers' rickety offense clicked just enough to get the job done, with Nomar's solo blast and bases loaded sac fly leading the way. Yes, I saw them intentionally walk .195-hitting Jeff Kent, and giggled accordingly; at what point do you pitch to Barry Bonds, let alone Jeff Kent?

The Padres gave Brett Tomko a win. How does a guy this bad get to be 3-1 already?

Recap

Today's Birthdays

Anaheim Considering Appeal Of Name Case

Unless Arte drops his demand for the city to pay his legal fees.

The City Council is not expected to decide on an appeal until after a May 12 court hearing, in which city attorneys will ask for revisions in the formal language that accompanied the verdict. The city claims the team could interpret portions of that language as a legal blessing to drop "of Anaheim" and sell themselves as the Los Angeles Angels.

Roster Notes

• Hector Carrasco will make his next start in place of Bartolo Colón on Monday. Hold onto your hats...
• Ozzie Guillen, providing an example of why he is easily my most hated manager in the AL:

  "If Escobar is going to hit somebody, he should hit himself," Guillen said. "A.J. has nothing to do with the dumb … play they made, Josh Paul and him. And, all of a sudden, you're blaming A.J. You have to be dumb enough to blame somebody when you screw up.

  Had the AL posted a competent umpire behind the plate, Escobar is out of the inning and we have no problem. "Dumb play", my ass.

  Update: Talk about an arrogant prick:

  “People in Los Angeles should remember that play like the Bill Buckner thing,’’ said Guillen, recalling Buckner’s infamous error in the 1986 World Series.

  “It’s nobody’s fault Josh Paul didn’t tag the guy. It’s nobody’s fault (Escobar) tagged the guy with the wrong hand. Blame yourself. And now you’re going to hit somebody for no reason? You can get somebody hurt with no reason.’’

  Buckner? If the AL posts anybody besides Doug Eddings behind the plate in that game, the inning is over and this never even registers. But to cast the Chisox' lucky break as some kind of an Angels failing... wow, what an appalling lack of class. Ozzie, you're right down there with Frank Robinson now. Jerk.
• Bartolo Colón still isn't even doing light toss yet.
• Juan Rivera is eligible to return to the lineup on Monday, but probably won't. Will they send Kendrick back down?
• Eric Gagné has started throwing, and reports no pain. He thinks he'll be back in three or four weeks. Right.
• Hey, it's better than a bucket of balls: The Dodgers, needing a pitching coach for their Rookie-A Orem team, scoped out Charlie Hough. Hough was under contract with the GBL's Fullerton Flyers, so Tommy Lasorda decided to ask for his contract in exchange for 10,000 baseballs. It didn't work out, but I suppose it also beats being traded for a case of beer.
• Grady Little says that Chad Billingsley could force his way into the big club regardless of whether there's an obvious role for him. Jeez, how about as a replacement for Lance Carter?

Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

— Casablanca

At some point you have to tip your hat and move on, and we're well past that point now. Essentially the same lineup couldn't hit against the White Sox' rotation last year in the ALCS; we'll never know what would have happened had Bengie Molina, the only decently-hitting Angel going into the series, not been plunked on the arm by the Yankees. But regardless, the results were stunningly similar, with the Angels all but completely flummoxed by Jose Contreras, whom the Yankees could never quite figure out or straighten out. I suppose I can understand it; in 2004, he gave up the tenth most home runs in the majors with 31, and you just can't do that if you're a Yankee, especially when the Yanks thought they were getting a 31 year-old veteran. We assign credit, then, to the Chisox and pitching coach Don Cooper for turning his situation around.

The season's not even a month old, and already there are some calling for Kotchman's head (NSFW, language). Despite the fact that he went 1-3, his lone hit was an infield single; Friday, he had a long flyball out that could have as easily gone for a ground-rule double — save for an excellent catch by Jermaine Dye. He's not having terrible at bats, but the results aren't terrific, either. This isn't going to be a good season for the Angels; I'm still predicting this is a second place team, mainly because it's just going to take some time for the rookies to get their bearings. Anyone who thought otherwise has been badly misinformed.

Kotchman got replaced in Friday's game by Edgardo Alfonso, who entered the game in a pinch-hitting role; and Saturday, Alfonso got the starting DH job. With the Angels only one back and the tying run on, Mike let Alfonso get the at-bat, instead of sending up obvious pinch-hitting candidate Tim Salmon; he rewarded Scioscia by promptly hit a timid little line drive to short. Alfonso, who just last week complained about playing time, got some and made the least of it. Some — myself at least with a toe in that camp — would say that this gives Scioscia an excuse to bench Alfonso after running his mouth in the press. He had his big chance in an important game with a close score, so now nobody owes him anything anymore. But such an analysis forgets the Steve Finley Experience; Finley had an appalling forty-five games last year in which he went 0-fer-something, and Mike had no seeming inclination to bench his collapsing starter. We should know by mid-May whether Mike has learned that lesson from 2005; how does Howie look on those ground balls at third these days?

Finally, no account of this game would be complete without a mention of Kelvim Escobar's excellent performance on the mound. Aside from Escobar taking out his frustrations at Doug Eddings by intentionally plunking A.J. Pierzynski — by all accounts a complete jerk unafraid to badmouth his own teammates — he threw a very good game, collecting three strikeouts while walking one and giving up a run on three hits. The bad news, though, is that he had to leave the game early due to a blood blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, a fact the broadcasters did not relay to anyone.

Recap

News

• Yesterday's Tourists/Catfish contest (which the Asheville Tourists won, 6-5) set a Catfish team record with 23 K's. Strikeouts aren't everything.
• Here's a longer recap of yesterday's one-hitter hurled by Chad Billingsley.
• Dallas McPherson's trying to be philosophical about his recent callback to the minors:

  "As far as coming down, I'm not dwelling on anything like that. I think I'll get another opportunity. Hopefully, next time, I'll take better advantage."

  McPherson is hitting better of late, getting hits in nine of ten games and hitting .333 prior to tonight.

Scores

News

• Minor league umpires have ended their strike, getting pretty much what they wanted: a six-year contract that increases salary and perdiem.
• The Blue Jays demoted former Dodger prospect Jason Frasor to AAA Syracuse.
• Here's a late recap of Joe Saunders' one-hitter yesterday against the Rainiers.

Scores

Coupla items that I didn't want to let go until tomorrow —

• Giants 2B Ray Durham hit the 15-day DL with a strained hamstring.
• The A's have disabled Rich Harden, on the 15-day list. The same story says that closer Huston Street could be up Real Soon Now.
• Greg Maddux: 5-0. Amazing.

Thus Proving That The Dodgers Can Win In Their Own Division: Dodgers 3, Padres 0

The Padres: last in runs scored in the NL (80), and ninth most runs allowed (106). Is it a Jae Seo gem? Or just a good outing against a bad team? I know which way I'm betting...

Recap

Bring On Jered: White Sox 8, Angels 5

Weaver's probably better than Jae Seo will be, but you wouldn't know it because Weaver (a) is pitching in the AL this year (for whatever that's worth), and (b) Seo's pitching in the NL West. Chased after two and a third after giving up eight earned runs, the Angels struggled to score enough runs to really get back in it; their best chance was with two on in the seventh and Salmon at bat, but not really; it was unrealistic to hope for a three-run bomb to tie things up.

The subtitle above is jocular; Weaver the Elder may have his problems and occaisional bad outing, but Jered is hardly a known quantity. Kevin Gregg didn't suck, and indeed had one of those brilliant games he has just before he blows up.

At least Vlad got a homer; he drove in four of the team's five runs. And there was the psychic value of watching Thome get a golden sombrero.

Recap

Interesting piece from Management By Baseball about former Angels bench coach Joe Maddon and his adaptable strategies against the Red Sox.

Former Dodger reliever Steve Howe was killed when his pickup rolled over in Coachella, CA. He was Rookie of the Year in 1980, but was suspended seven times for drug abuse.

MLB has issued a four-day suspension for Jose Mesa for intentionally throwing at Omar Vizquel's head on April 22, which led to a five-ejection game the next day, the ejectees being Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, Giants pitcher Matt Morris, Rockies reliever Ray King, and Giants manager Felipe Alou, all of whom have been disciplined; Morris and Righetti have been fined undisclosed sums.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports that large-market major league teams — including the Angels and Dodgers — are expected to band together in the coming labor talks in order to eliminate revenue sharing.

In recent weeks, the principal owners of the two biggest sharers -- the New York Yankees, who contributed $76 million in 2005, and the Boston Red Sox, who paid $52 million -- have denounced what they're forced to pay. "I'd like to see everybody competing, but we're not a socialist state," Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner told USA Today during spring training. Through a spokesman, Mr. Steinbrenner declined to comment for this article.

To help prepare for the coming debate, the Red Sox are gathering data about revenue sharing in baseball compared with other sports, baseball executives say. Other big-market clubs -- including the Chicago Cubs, the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels -- are expected to join Boston and New York in blunting calls for increasing the amount of revenue sharing, which is included in baseball's labor agreement. The issue is so contentious that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig recently told teams not to discuss it in the media.

Despite the disagreements, the clubs aren't nearly as economically and philosophically bifurcated as in the 1990s. "Clubs accept the structure that we're in," MLB President Bob DuPuy says. "It's a matter of refining the structure rather than an all-out assault on the structure."

The big clubs say some teams simply shouldn't get money. The most frequently cited example: the Philadelphia Phillies, who play in a new stadium in a major media market but received $4 million last year. High-revenue clubs also argue that teams such as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Florida Marlins and Kansas City Royals -- who cashed checks for more than $30 million apiece last season -- haven't adequately demonstrated they are using the revenue-sharing money to improve themselves. "How much more do you need?" one high-revenue club executive says.

The situation is exacerbated by what some big market clubs call "stealth sharing", or the tacit acknowledgement by ESPN and Fox national broadcast scheduling that more people are interested in watching a Yankees or Cubs game than a Devil Rays game.

Despite being outnumbered, big market teams will nonetheless fight moves to increase revenue sharing, and push for additional controls on the existing revenue sharing structure, such as requiring that such funds be spent on baseball operations. An accompanying table to the article indicates the Dodgers paid out $20 million in revenue sharing last year, and the Angels $11 million.

Somehow, Arte and the video crew have got to get Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey into the stadium or on the video board. (Hat tip: Batgirl.)

Today's Birthdays

Cordero Out, Otsuka In As Rangers' Closer

Probably the biggest news in the AL West is that Akinori Otsuka has replaced Francisco Cordero as the Rangers' closer. Cordero blew five of his first eight save opportunities.

If You're Ned Colletti, You Can Never Have Enough Ex-Giants

Which explains why the Dodgers are considering putting in a waiver wire claim on Tyler Walker.

Update: Walker is now property of the Devil Rays. Thank you, Jesus!

How The Rockies Are Doing It

The first-place Colorado Rockies (and you have no idea how shocked I am to write those words) have surrendered the fourth-most runs in the NL (120) while scoring the second-most runs (123). Using the modified (1.83 exponent) Pythagorean win-loss formula, this comes out to an 83-79 full season. In a sign that the NL West may not be the Stooge Division anymore, the 12-10 Rockies would be in a respectable second place to the 14-7 Mets in the NL East, but tied with Milwaukee for fifth in the NL Central. And, they've been doing it without Todd Helton.

Ken Arneson found Milton Bradley's run — in Darin Erstad's glove. (Thanks, Keith.)

Ken Rosenthal passes on Billy Beane's admiration of the Angels' young players:

Ask A's G.M. Billy Beane the difference in Nick Swisher this season, and Beane responds, "A birthday candle." Beane says young players simply need time to develop. "I wouldn't judge Mathis or Kotchman with Anaheim," he says, referring to the Angels' struggling catcher, Jeff Mathis, and first baseman, Casey Kotchman. "Mathis may struggle all year, but he's going to be a good player. Same with Kotchman." ...

We've seen this before, but it doesn't mean Halosphere heads will spin any the less. The pro viewpoint accepts Beane's praise for what it is, but the con, crypto-subversive view is that he hopes the Angels hang onto these guys because he knows they'll fall apart.

News

• The College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas has announced its inaugural class, and among them is former Dodger Robin Ventura and USC Trojan baseball coach Rod Dedeaux.
• Here's an MILB.com article on the caffeinated adventures of new callups Reggie Willits and Howie Kendrick, both of whom are thoroughly enjoying their cups of coffee.

Scores

Jarrod Washburn flummoxed the White Sox in yesterday's game, allowing Chicago only one run over six and two thirds innings. That's maybe not a surprise; I figured Wash at least had a chance to be okay for the first year on his contract provided he could stay healthy (and I'm far from sold on that), but it wasn't that way with the M's blogosphere, who to a man pounced on the deal as a waste of resources. Yet, in small samples, Wash and his scary-low 4.86 K/9, 0.99 WHIP, and 3.51 ERA are getting the job done in a way that Felix Hernandez and his 10.80 K/9, 1.43 WHIP, and 4.57 ERA are not. This of course is a merely temporary state of affairs, the usual learning curve young pitchers must endure, but it's nice to be reassured that the Angels aren't the only team in the division with young players having problems.

Delmon Young was suspended indefinitely by the International League for arguing balls and strikes and then throwing a bat at an umpire, hitting him on the arm.

"I sincerely regret my actions in the game yesterday," Young said in a statement released by the office of his agent, Arn Tellem. "Regrettably, in the heat of the competition my emotions got the better of me.

"My behavior was completely unacceptable. I want everyone to know that I recognize that it is never right to throw a bat and I certainly never intended for the bat to make contact with the umpire. Nevertheless, I owe an apology to my team, the fans and most importantly to the umpire, for the incident. I am sorry."

Young was suspended last year for three games for bumping the chest of plate umpire Jeff Latter.

Today's Birthdays

Send 'Em All Back To AAA: Angels 4, Tigers 0

Howie Kendrick's a bust, and so is Casey Kotchman, and Jeff Mathis! Send 'em all down to Salt Lake! Well, not yet, and I say these things as a tonic to those expecting the rookies' adjustment to the majors to be painless. Kotchman and Mathis didn't start against a lefty yesterday, and Kendrick saw a grand total of seven pitches, and never hit the ball out of the infield. Of course, Reggie Willits' pinch-running appearance went off without a hitch, though he never scored.

The fact that the Angels won, then, can be attributed to John Lackey's phenominal eight-inning performance, giving the bullpen, non-Scot-Shields-division, a much needed day off. As well, the Angels scored on Vlad's homer and a happy bit of baserunning by Chone Figgins, who doubled to lead off the fifth, stole third, and then trotted home on a bad throw. That is to say, the Angels hardly had to break a sweat, and everything that needed to go right, did. Coming up next: the Chisox, and hopefully minus Doug Eddings anywhere near the proceedings.

Recap

Porch Swing: Astros 8, Dodgers 5

Both sides took advantage of the short porch in left at the Astros' park, but it was really Odalis Perez who got hammered, giving up six earned runs and seven overall. He might just be a candidate to become this year's Hideo Nomo, 2004 edition: a guy who used to be good getting a lot worse. But the real idiocy was in the hands of Grady Little, who Tuesday decided to yank J.D. Drew in a foolish double switch that removed his best hitter from an extra innings game — in the bottom of the ninth. Yesterday, he didn't even pencil in Lofton's or Kent's name to the starting lineup. His excuse, of course, was that he needed to keep his veterans fresh, but with a day off today, why not let them play? We're seeing the worst of Little already, and it isn't even the All Star break. At least Boston didn't have to go through these kinds of contortions; in the AL, the double switch is unknown.

Update: yes, it's true, I'm a jackass. As pointed out in the comments below, OP's had three good outings and one explosion, hardly Nomo-land. And, at least for Furcal, some of those guys need a day off or ten to be productive.

Recap

Alfonzo Griping Already

Edgardo Alfonzo's griping about playing time, and it's not even May:

"I came here because they told me I could compete for the third base job," said Alfonzo, 32, who had 27 homers and 108 RBI for the Mets in 1999 but is hitting .158 this season. "I thought I would get a regular chance to play. If I had seen the situation like this, or seen what it was, I would have stayed."

...

"I think their minds were made up," said Alfonzo, who averaged .275, 13 home runs and 67 RBI in three seasons with the Giants. "In the offseason, in December, they told me I could compete at third base. They didn't promise anything, but if there was competition, I would go there. When I came here, I didn't see competition."

He doesn't particularly care for his utility role.

"It's still early. I don't want to say it will be that way the whole year," he said. "I just want to get playing time. This is the last year of my contract, and I don't think there is any chance for me to get a fair contract next year if I don't play this year. ... I'm trying to be ready for anything either here or someplace else."

Via BTF.

Roster Notes

• The Dodgers are considering calling up Russell Martin from AAA Las Vegas pursuant to Dioner Navarro's chronic inability to throw out base stealers and his weak hitting (.228).
• Rich Harden will undergo an MRI following being yanked in the fourth from yesterday's game against the Rangers. He reported back spasms.
• Did you know Byung-Hyun Kim will start for the Rockies? Me, either...
• The Rangers DFA'd R.A. Dickey; unsurprisingly, nobody claimed him, and he's going to continue to work on his knuckleball at AAA Oklahoma.
• Whatever front office whitewash they want to put on the Dodgers, it's not sticking elsewhere. Rotoworld writes of Astros starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez that this is the "easy" part of their schedule; tough opponents, such as Milwaukee and Colorado are coming up.
• Update: Juan Cruz will replace Russ Ortiz in the Diamondbacks rotation.

News

• MILB.com has an article up commemorating Kenny Howrick's Howie Kendrick's first start in the majors. Didn't go so well for him, and more on this in another post.
• Former Angel Alfredo Amezega made his first career start in centerfield for the Marlins. In the They-Oughta-Know-Better-Dep't, he batted second, and went, predictably, 0-5. Ironically, the man he replaced was former elite Dodger prospect Reggie Abercrombie. Amezega hit .385 for AAA Indianapolis last year.
• Via BTF, top Devil Rays prospect Delmon Young threw a bat at an umpire after arguing balls and strikes. I don't know which is worse, from management's standpoint...
• Finally, I point you in the general direction of the Chronicles' excellent periodic minor league watchlist results. Noting the striking absence of Gustavo Espinoza from the Kernels' roster, the Chronicler wonders out loud what might have happened to him. I dropped a line to Tim Mead, who informed me that Espinoza is scheduled to start the season at Orem, as he currently has shoulder tendinitis in his left, pitching shoulder. Generally, the thing prescribed for this is rest, which explains why he's not starting for Cedar Rapids, whose season has already begun; Orem won't get going until June 20.

Scores