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

Pigeonhole Principle: Braves 9, Dodgers 3

So far as I can tell, the Dodgers are, or depending on your point of view, will shortly be victims of the Pigeonhole Principle, well known to mathematicians; to wit,

if n pigeons are put into m pigeonholes, and if n > m, then at least one pigeonhole must contain more than one pigeon.

That is to say, the Dodgers have five rotation slots that need filling and only three reliable pitchers, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, and... okay, make that two reliable pitchers, with Jae Seo having a track record of inconsistency, Aaron Sele being both old and consistently falling apart in the second half, and Odalis Perez pitching like he was either in pain or drunk half the time (and most of the time this year). And then there's Brett Tomko, who's hovered at just under league average for most of his career. Those sneering at the Angels picking up Jeff Weaver might want to consider that though Weaver has sucked so far, he's also spent more time above league average than below it, a claim Tomko cannot make.

Sure, Chad Billingsley has a shot at beating out somebody in the current rotation once it becomes clear that the Dodgers can no longer tolerate getting whipped every time it's Seo's, Sele's, or Tomko's turn up, but that's still only one hole. My continued concerns for this team's rotation appear to be perfectly well founded.

That aside, I mention in passing the fine game by Andre Ethier, who provided the team with a triple and a single (the Dodgers, of course, could not cash him in), and Nomar, who had a solo homer, providing a third of the team's offense all by himself. It's hard to complain about a loss like this considering the Dodgers took a series from a team expected to contend every year, and on the road as well; it's a good series win.

Coming up tonight, a transcontinental flight and a home series starting tomorrow against the Phillies, another team above .500. The Dodgers may get a taste of the hiding they gave the Braves on Monday, as Derek Lowe goes up against Gavin Floyd... on the other hand, Floyd sports a 6.62 ERA, the Phils are just coming off a 3-2 loss to the Nationals, and they have to make the same long flight to LA. (What is wrong with the schedulers?)

Recap

Ervin Santana, It's Salt Lake On Line One: Twins 7, Angels 1

A syllogism:

1. Ervin Santana has an 8.11 ERA, 0-1 record in day games, and a 7.09 ERA, 1-2 record in away games.
2. Jered Weaver has pitched one brilliant game, and will get every opportunity to continue doing so until he fails.
3. Jeff Weaver is showing signs of turning his game around, and is owed the majority of $8M.
4. Bartolo Colón will make a return to the big club within a couple of weeks, and is owed even more money than Jeff Weaver.
5. Ervin Santana has but rarely pitched in relief.
6. Therefore, Santana has earned a ticket back to Salt Lake.

It's the unfortunate logic of a team that imagines itself in contention; decisions aren't always made in favor of the guy who's got the best record, but who's showing the best stuff most recently, and the financial details. Santana, by my way of thinking, probably could still use some time in AAA still, and giving up four runs (three earned) to the team with the fourth fewest runs scored in the league (though more than the Angels), isn't a good sign in the least. Keep your bags packed, Ervin.

Recap

Rotoworld is reporting that the Angels have extended Kelvim Escobar through 2009, terms unknown.

Update: Angels press release.

Update 2: AP.

Oh, That's Just Nutty

The Angels have chased another pitcher down to the minors, or at least, that's what I remember reading; I can't find any evidence that Scott Baker has been transliterated to AAA, and yet, Batgirl writes about that very probability, provided you can handle a magical, talking jockstrap.

UTK Quickies

From today's UTK:

• The Dodger saga continues, with more intrigue in the training room than on the field. Brad Penny stepped on a number of toes when he said that his shoulder had been hurting him for days, and that he'd fought through the pain in several starts. This was apparently news to the pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt, who quickly said that he wouldn’t send a pitcher out there who was hurting. I’m not sure if there are so many Dodgers in the training room that some never make it to the front of the line, but the culture that encourages people to push through injuries is never more evident than it is in Los Angeles. From Penny’s famous "one more" pitch in 2004 to the slagging of Yhency Brazoban to the stop-start rehab of Eric Gagne, the Dodgers remain a team with a history of injury problems. I’m not sure what the root of the problem is, but it shows up strongly on the DL day and dollar reports.

  In the meantime, the Dodgers expect to have Jeff Kent back in the next couple days after a hand problem has held him out. Kent’s problem is in the "web" of the hand, between thumb and forefinger, and sounds a bit like DeQuervain’s syndrome, an inflammatory condition that can radiate into the wrist. I can’t find any comps in the database--and worse, my top research assistant has left for the summer to try and help a major league team--but the problem is usually controllable with cortisone injections. I’m not sure if this is the actual problem for Kent, so we’ll watch closely. I also failed to mention in yesterday’s report that Gagne wouldn’t be back until he’d served his two-game suspension for saying that an umpire’s mother smelled of elderberries.

• Begun the Sibling War has. Bartolo Colon will start his rehab on Thursday, taking a wrong turn into Cucamonga for a short stint. Assuming all goes well there, he’ll head to Salt Lake for a more extended outing, then back to Anaheim--or is it LA?--for a return to the Angels rotation around June 10th. The Angels have until then to sort out which of the Weavers they’ll keep in the rotation. The key to watch for from Colon in his first outing is velocity; he’ll need to be throwing in the 90s to show that his shoulder is back to normal, or close.
• Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis were both injured in Tuesday's game, Chavez on a hit-by-pitch that looks like it hit his hand, and Mark Ellis having jammed his thumb trying to get a double play. Both are scheduled to have X-rays done.

  Update: Ellis will miss 3-6 weeks with a broken thumb.

Royals Fire GM Allard Baird

It took them this long?

Today's Birthdays

Andre Ethier Show: Dodgers 8, Braves 3

Andre Ethier was Baseball America's fourth-ranked prospect in the weakly-regarded Oakland system (26th overall) when the Dodgers picked him up for Milton Bradley. So far, the deal's looking remarkably good for the Dodgers: Ethier's hitting .313/.390/.537 with four homers and 12 RBIs, while Bradley hasn't played a game since April 26. A home run and a tiebreaking RBI single in the same game, and he's on his way to silencing the questions about his power.

Recap

Team Weaver: Angels 6, Twins 3

Jeff Weaver got started again with a two-run homer but settled down to deliver a quality start and earn his first home win of the season, thanks in part to a two-run blast from Juan Rivera. Even Figgins got a pair of walks to lead off the inning, and Cabrera got on base twice, via a single and an RBI double. This is the team that's been missing all through May.

Recap

Roster Notes

• Brendan Donnelly has been pitching with a sore shoulder and hip; he's been taking cortisone shots for it.
• Darin Erstad ran the bases yesterday and will attempt to do so again today; he hasn't been able to run the bases two days in a row so far.
• The Angels ate "the bulk" of Esteban Yan's remaining contract when he was traded to the Reds.
• Eric Gagné began serving his suspension. He will be eligible to play starting Thursday with the Dodgers' homestand.
• Oscar Robles was optioned to AAA Las Vegas.
• Grady Little is optimistic that Jeff Kent will be in the lineup tonight. Update: Kent is still having trouble swinging a bat, and will have an MRI done tomorrow.
• Cesar Izturis has had 14 at bats in extended spring training, and will start a 20-day minor league rehab as early as Thursday.
• Rich Harden may finally be returning from his rehab, as the A's want him to start against the Twins on Sunday.
• Milton Bradley is nearing a return to the big club after a month or so on the DL.

News

After one hell of a fever yesterday --

• I found out what Jeff Heaverlo had been doing after working for the M's. As it turns out, the M's did release him, and he signed with the indy Golden Baseball League's Long Beach Armada; before pitching a single game in Long Beach, the Angels purchased his contract.
• Either I missed it or these weren't out at the time I published the last ones, but the Pitcher of the Week awards includes Jacksonville closer Mark Alexander for his 4.2 IP effort with seven strikeouts. The Offensive Player of the Week has Catfish Andrew Locke, who has a 14-game hitting streak with a .353 average, ninth best in all of minor league baseball.
• Luke Hochevar returned to the draft.
• Jered Weaver makes the Prospect Hot Sheet for his complete game shutout and last Saturday's strong effort.
• For reals this time? Supposedly the minor league umpires have reached a labor agreement, but we've heard that before...

Scores

The Angels have traded Esteban Yan to the Reds, along with an undisclosed amount of cash. The Angels received minor league pitcher Kyle Edens in exchange.

Today's Birthdays

All Better Now: Angels 4, Twins 3

For one inning, the Angels looked like a team that could get things done, Figgins getting to third on a botched pickoff by Twins reliever Jesse Crain, and the "pissed" Orlando Cabrera singling him home. ("Pissed", of course, was his word from the postgame interview, and I'm amazed they let that one get on the airwaves; is saying a naughty word less objectionable if a player does so with a Spanish accent? Howard Stern could have stayed on CBS if he had only known that secret!) But before that, Dallas McPherson and Kendry Morales were both completely ineffective, as if to remind us that we have a long, long ways to go in the player development part. K-Rod pitched two scoreless innings and looked more like Ben Weber doing it, getting groundballs and flyballs but nary a strikeout.

But, the master of the evening was John Lackey. There was no question but that he threw one of his better efforts this year, and this time without any flailing defense behind him (he had three unearned runs in his last outing).

Recap

Roster Notes

• Garret Anderson isn't pleased with his own production, but what are you gonna do when he's as banged up as he is? The team's options of Dallas McPherson, Tim Salmon, Juan Rivera, and Kendry Morales all have their respective flaws as possible replacements for Vlad-protection.
• Bartolo Colón will start a minor league rehab assignment for 60 pitches at Rancho Cucamonga; he'll go to Salt Lake on June 6, barring any kind of trouble in his high-A effort.
• Finally! The Angels signed third-round pick, pitcher Sean O'Sullivan near the last day of eligibility, for a $500,000 bonus. "It is what it is," O'Sullivan said later. “I never planned on living off my signing bonus for the rest of my life. I'll make my money when I get to the big leagues.”
• Uh-oh: You know, I was just thinking about the kind of hitter Dallas McPherson was when he was going through the minors, when I got this Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story about Brandon Wood's less-than-total success with the Travs. Quote:

  “The ball jumps off his bat,” Angels scout Larry “Moose” Stubing said. “He takes batting practice ; it sounds different. Him and [former Trav Dallas] McPherson, you don’t have to look. I can show up and tell who’s hitting. And his mental makeup is outstanding.”

  ...

  “He’s an aggressive swinger,” Boykin said. “He puts a lot of balls in play and he can hit all pitches, so it’s not like he’s going to take a lot of pitches.”

  ...eyes roll... Not again.
• I missed this on Saturday, but Darin Erstad's rehab has been "stalled indefinitely".
• Factoid: Orlando Cabrera has safely reached base in the last 30 straight games, the longest active such streak in the majors.
• Of course, for the Dodgers, the big news is the return of Eric Gagné to the 25-man, and on this occaision, Bill Plaschke has penned a hopeful piece, but given the circumstances, Gagné's circumspection is pretty well-founded.

  Update: Jon stays on the Dodgers case for hiding injuries. "Just because it's sometimes productive and occasionally heroic doesn't make it right."

News

• Eric Gagné worked a save for Las Vegas tonight following a huge 51's rally, after which Dr. Gagné declared himself ready for major league action. This has Jon understandably nervous, because Gagné used words like "it was just a bad landing" to explain his unhappiness with his control. He has a history of being too brave in the face of injuries that should keep him on the sidelines; we'll have to see how much Grady Little has learned since Pedro Martinez told him he was just fine in the 2003 ALCS.
• This week's league notebooks:

  PCL (Bees) Last week: 4-3, 29-20 overall, 1st place, Pacific North Division. Hot: Reggie Willits (.359 over his last 10, 14 runs scored); Nick Gorneault (.310 with two homers); and though this wasn't in the writeup, my personal nomination is Jered Weaver for last Monday's complete game shutout. Cold: 1B Mike Eylward	PCL (51's) Last week: 3-4, 28-22 overall, 1st place, Pacific South Division. Hot: Jeff Duncan (.387 last nine games, w/ a homer), Eric Riggs (.353 over his last six, with a pair of homers Cold: The rest of the offense, and at least for one embarrassing game, Chad Billingsley.
  Texas League (Travs) Last week: 2-4, 17-31 overall, 4th place, North Division. The worst record in the Texas League. Hot: Bobby Wilson (all 12-35). Cold: Dwayne Bacon, much of the rest of the offense, and, once again, the entire Travs pitching staff.	Southern League (Suns) Last week: 5-0, 32-19 overall, 1st place, South Division. Hot: Justin Ruggiano, Justin Orenduff, Andy LaRoche, Spike Lundberg. Cold: A.J. Zapp.
  Cal League (Quakes) Last week: 4-2, 26-25 overall, 3rd place, South Division. Hot: Nick Green (tossing a complete game), Jose Arredondo (recovering from an attitude adjustment and going eight innings), and Drew Toussaint. for his good works in the pen). Cold: No nominees.	Florida State League (Dodgers) Last week: 3-3, 19-30 overall, 6th (last) place, East Division. Hot: Travis Denker (.455 in his last five games). Cold: Gabriel Gutierrez (.111 in his last five games).
  Midwest League (Kernels) Last week: 1-4, 21-28 overall, 6th place, South Division. Hot: Nobody. Cold: Everyone.	South Atlantic League (Catfish) Last week: 6-1, 26-25 overall, 5th place, Southern Division. Hot: Andrew Locke, but the team's generally on a tear after a very tough start. Cold: See above!

Scores

A long extra-innings game the day before and a direct flight home followed by a day game was the perfect way to start the day — if you were the Dodgers, who pounded on the Braves for seven runs in the first two innings, five of them earned off starter John Thomson. Thomson, sweating profusely in the hot, muggy Atlanta afternoon, didn't survive the second. Neither did Brad Penny survive long enough to get the win, and we now discover that the reason is his sore shoulder and back; he later attacked a defenseless watercooler with a bat, and given his career .141 average, you'd hope he left it on a tee.

Update: More on this from Jon, where you're probably going for your Dodger Thoughts anyway, seeing as how this blog is now all Angels, all the time. :-)

Recap

Looks like Matt Welch and others have been pretty busy on the team's Wikipedia entry. It's a really well-written thumbnail history of the team.

Today's Birthdays

One Assessment Of Angels Player Development

Here's an interesting assessment of the Angels player development so far from John Klima in the Daily Breeze:

For years, the Angels have said that they sought to design their organization around the model of the Atlanta Braves. Any player development plan in baseball can best be called a five-year plan, but the Angels -- in terms of position players -- have not yet succeeded. This is not to say they won't eventually, but the early returns haven't been promising.

Dallas McPherson is a mistake hitter with a long swing and little discipline. Casey Kotchman, bothered by illness this season, hasn't yet shown that he can maintain a consistent hitting approach, teetering between the temptation to use the whole field one month and pulling everything in sight the next. Jeff Mathis is capable of catching-and-throwing at the elite level, but he didn't hit.

Pitching is a different story. The Angels covet tall, hard-throwing right-handers, but seem weary to place their faith in finesse left-handers who might get outs with offspeed pitches, leading to a lack of depth and differentiation, an imbalance that continually plagues their major league pitching staff.

The result is an assembly line, players whose individuality has been stripped for the sake of conformity. A stream of players with identically open stances, as taught in the minor leagues, weaned on aggressive hitting, which when trying to learn to recognize the difference between a triple-A and a big league slider, is difficult to maintain. It leads to hacking. Hacking leads to frustration. Frustration leads back to the Pacific Coast League.

It's a bit of an overgeneralization, but at the same time it's also true that the Angels' inability to make friends with Mr. Ball Four expresses itself at every level of the organization; it's not just Mickey Hacker Hatcher. I certainly expect to see Howie Kendrick back, but when we see the likes of the much-heralded Brandon Wood striking out in over a third of his double-A at bats, well... he's young, of course, but are the Angels really the right organization to break him of that habit?

Roster Notes

• Jered Weaver could displace his brother in the rotation, although that's kind of ridiculous talk at this point with Jered having only one start so far in his major league career.
• Mike Napoli has an ankle sprain following the second inning collision in Saturday's game; what's shocking is that Mike Scioscia let him continue in what was increasingly a blowout game. He was available Sunday, but wisely never used.
• Maicer Izturis starts his rehab stint in Salt Lake tonight. Dallas McPherson had better be better than Izturis... right?
• Bartolo Colón may be ready for his rehab start within a week.
• Darin Erstad still has not resumed baseball activities, and there's no schedule for him to do so.
• Matt Kemp will report to AAA Las Vegas once Ricky Ledee or Jason Repko return to the major league lineup. I saw him in Sunday's game and he looked terrible, botching at least one ball; he's clearly nervous jumping up a level like that, and it's just as well for now that he do his learning at AAA. Of course, the Times' suggested notion that Colletti will trade for outfielder-by-conscription Alfonso Soriano is purely ridiculous.
• Both Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew should be available today. Update: looks like Jeff Kent is out of the Dodgers' lineup in today's game against Atlanta.

The Rev left it to the boys over at the Halo's Heaven watercooler to resolve just who lost today's game for the Angels, as usual; the Rev nominated the most proximate Angel to the disaster, Scot Shields, who turned a one-run Angel lead into a loss. Other partisans favored a nomination for Garret Anderson on the wholly sensible suggestion that all he needed to do with one out and a man on third was to hit a sac fly to tie the game; instead, he hit into a game-ending double play.

It's at this moment that I find myself not a little saddened by the lack of real diversity in the Angels blogosphere of late. With Sean sadly retired, the Chronicler never having been a daily kind of guy, the culprits behind the Pearly Gates more preoccupied with the abomination of soccer and — far worse — actual work to be bothered with the important stuff like figuring out what went wrong in a particular game, it gets sort of lonely in this business. So from that perspective, today's entry in Haloblog (come on, guys, get some real blogging software so's I can permalink to you, wouldja?) resonates extra-loudly. "Sconiers" blames the whole kit and kaboodle on Kelvim Escobar, and in particular, on his fraternization with the enemy before the game:

What role does fraternization play in today's game that contributed to yesterday's loss? In the first inning, Kris Benson hit Vladimir, in the elbow, with a fastball. Vlad, of course, had homered off Benson in the first inning of their last encounter. It's not a stretch, even though the book on Vlad is to bust him in, to say that Benson hit Vlad on purpose. Even if he didn't dose him on purpose, though, someone has to pay for Benson hitting the Angels' best hitter.

So, who paid? Well, Kevin Millar. Yes, Kevin Millar. Who cares about Kevin Millar? No Fucking Body. Hitting Kevin Millar is like hitting their fucking bat boy. It's useless, absolutely fucking useless.

So why does Kelvim plunk Millar instead of, say Miguel Tejada? Right, because Tejada and Vlad are chummy. Horseshit. Absolute fucking horseshit. Kelvim Esobar needs to roll Miguel Tejada, or even Javy Lopez if need be, in the dirt. Instead, he hits Millar. What a fucking pussy. And a pathetic and lonely (hat tip: Rev Halofan) pussy at that. Apparently, Kelvim is too busy fucking bimbos and wanking off to the Playboy channel to notice how the game's supposed to be played.

...

So, essentially, Kelvim is caught pandering to Tejada. His teammates notice too, I guarantee it. And, at the risk of alienating some, there is another reason Millar went down instead of someone worth something; the same cliques that have formed in the Angels' clubhouse have formed throughout baseball. Some random white starter like Kris Benson hits Guerrero, and, in retaliation, Kelvim hits some random white player.

Maybe that's true and maybe it's not, but I'll agree with "Sconiers" to this extent: Kelvim's big talk about a juicy contract has raised a few eyebrows, especially with his recent wheedling to speed up the process. Regardless of whether you believe in plunking opposing batters, the fact is that just because Escobar's 3.96 ERA leads the team doesn't mean the team owes him an extension. He's got a significant injury history — missing months last year because of elbow surgery — and his K/9 is down this year, by a lot: 6.90, far from ineffective, but more than a point lower than his career averages. If Kelvim is going to bluster in anticipation of a big payday from the Angels, he'd better make sure he's worth it first. Leaving the game tied against a mediocre offensive club, even though it's a sample size of one, isn't exactly reassuring.

Recap

News

Former Indians and Red Sox farmhand and actor Paul Gleason died in Burbank Saturday; of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer related to asbestos. (IMDB bio). He was most famous for his role as Principal Vernon in The Breakfast Club.

Scores

Those complaining about my anti-Dodger bias will have yet another log to toss on the fire after I run this one: thanks to Lookout Landing for pointing out this Kansas City Star article about Royals owner David Glass's search for a new GM. Relevant quote:

The Royals have offered the job of general manager to Braves assistant Dayton Moore but are ready to move on to other candidates if the two sides can't reach agreement by this weekend.

The only major hang-up to an agreement, multiple sources have told The Star, is Moore's demand that he receive written assurance of complete control over personnel matters from club owner David Glass.

And who are the other options who might not be so picky about having full control over personnel decisions?

If that proves to be a deal-breaker, the Royals appear ready to move into negotiations with former Phillies general manager Ed Wade and/or former Tigers and Padres general manager Randy Smith.

First of all, how ludicrous is it to openly conduct GM interviews while you've got a sitting GM? Baird has been a bad GM and Glass has previously indicated he was ready to axe Baird. But come on - interviewing other guys while you've got Baird twisting in the wind? Why don't you cut off his nuts while you're at it, David?

Well, no kidding. You know, I thought making Dan Evans interview for his own job was pathetic at the time. Last year, Jon Weisman fretted because he made a comparison — faint as it was — between the Dodgers and the Royals based on the McCourts' tendency to fire everyone at the first sign of trouble. Well, we now have one more way in which the Royals' and Dodgers' ownership are similar.

VERY TALL, LEAN, WIRY PHYSIQUE. LONG, LOOSE, SINEWY MUSCLES. SQUARE SHOULDERS. LONG ARMS, LEGS. THIN HIPS, WAIST . RM TO CARRY MORE WEIGHT. BUILT SIMILAR TO BROTHER JEFF WEAVER. NO WINDUP, 3/4 ARM. SIDE STEP TO START. BIG HIP, SHOULDER TURN. FLASHES PLUS FB, MOST 90-91, SOME TAIL, SINK WHEN DOWN. DECEPTIVE DELIVERY, TURNS BACK TO HITTER, TOUGH TO PICK UP PITCHES. SPOTS ML SLIDER. GOOD MOTION ON SINKING CHANGEUP. PLUS CONTROL. TOUGH COMPETITOR WHO PITCHES W/ CONFIDENCE. HAS THE SIZE, MAKEUP, & PITCHES FOR A FRONTLINE ML STARTER.

— MLB.com 2004 draft scouting report on Jered Weaver

It's hard to believe that it wasn't even two years ago I was biting my nails over whether the Angels had made the right decision by drafting Jered Weaver. That was mainly predicated on the $10M package superagent Scott Boras had set as Jered's price tag, not to mention Boras's predilection for dragging out negotiations in order to extract the best possible terms for his clients. A year later, and Weaver ended up signing on the last day of eligibility, finally conceding that Rich Lederer was right about further delays harming his marketability. The lure of playing at home, and possibly with his older brother in the same market, was too great to resist.

His first start at Rancho was inauspicious; oh, he got five strikeouts, but four earned runs while not even escaping the third inning? The rust was on display for everyone to see clearly. He finished the minor league regular season at Arkansas and later got in some work in the Arizona Fall League. His AFL numbers weren't generally too impressive, but he closed out the AFL with a five-inning shutout masterpiece, comparatively, with ten strikeouts. In 2006 spring training, he had a mind-bending 1.06 ERA, a result he followed up with a 2.05 ERA at Salt Lake, 8.25 K/BB, and a 10.4 K/9, not to mention a 4-1 record in eight starts. Inbetween, he slaughtered the Giants in an ill-advised, rain-shortened exhibition game the day before the regular season; the Giants, minus Moises Alou but plus Barry Bonds, still got only two hits off Jered, and neither of them by the Giants' aging slugger. The idea that Jered might be ready for showtime beckoned.

---

And so there we were yesterday, front row, third base side behind the plate, in the Diamond Club to watch Jeff Weaver's little brother on the mound. Following the luxe cuisine, we had a series of pleasant surprises when the stadium announcer gave out the lineups: Orlando Cabrera, leadoff? Mike Napoli, batting second? Slumping Chone Figgins, nowhere in the lineup? Mirabile dictu. Every now and then Scioscia surprises you by doing something not strictly in the book, like putting a high-OBP (but high strikeout) batter in the two hole.

Both of us were impressed, because the gambit paid off in only the second inning, as Orioles starter Eric Bedard walked Napoli with the bases loaded to drive in the game's second run. One of these days I'll see Napoli go yard in Angel Stadium, but for now, I'll just have to content myself with the Three True Outcomes hero's spring training homer.

But just before, we saw Weaver get into the only real jam of the whole game: giving up a single to Javy Lopez and a double to Ramon Hernandez, he looked like he was in real trouble when Jeff Conine lined out to Vlad. Fortunately, Conine hit it to the one Angel outfielder who has a decent arm, and the ball came back to the infield in a hurry. Lopez, who — no surprise — runs like a catcher, got nailed at the plate in a huge collision that seriously rattled Napoli, though he played for the rest of the game. Now, I have always lived somewhat in fear of Weaver's flyball tendencies, but as Rich pointed out at the time, only a flyball pitcher could get a double play in that situation. Some of those flyballs will end up over the fence, no doubt, and the number that do will determine just how long Jered stays in the Show.

Else, Little Weaver mastered the Orioles, reminding many of the elder Weaver's first start, an April 14, 1999 romp against the weak-hitting Twins. I recently recounted brother Jeff's career on the occaision of his blistering at the hands of the Mariners; going seven solid innings against the O's, far from the bottom of the division or the league when it comes to scoring runs, is even more auspicious.

Indeed, most of the game's excitement came not from the pitching; we learned soon enough to trust that, an odd experience for a debut game. In so doing, Jered Weaver extended his 27.1 scoreless innings streak from Salt Lake to make it 34.1 IP without a run crossing the plate. Instead, the thrills came from old friend Tim Salmon, who ripped a two-run shot into left, and from Kendry Morales, whose three-run blast into the right field pavilion was simply extraordinary in a night game. For Morales, it was his first home field homer of the year, and also marked the continuation of a streak for him: he's hit successfully in every major league game he's ever appeared in.

---

Does this one game, in isolation, mean anything? Probably not; it seems likely to me that Jered will settle into the rotation and then follow a career path similar to his brother's, with early success leading to mid-career mediocrity. But if the Angels can keep him functional through his years of arbitration eligibility, it could still end up a huge win for the Halos. I'm rooting for Weaver; but his family history and the similarity of his delivery to his brother's still makes me suspicious. Nonetheless: Good luck, Jered, and congratulations on an excellent first effort.

Recap • Slide show

There's something ironically perfect about a former Angel limiting the Dodgers to three earned runs over seven. I'm not eager to see the Dodgers tank as much as I enjoy watching professional annoyances like T.J. Simers get a case of whiplash as the team he declares to be the division winner (with less than a third of the season's games in the books) goes to Washington and loses a series to a second-division team.

The Dodgers fell prey to Jae Seo's nominal inconsistency, but the "nominal" just tells you how little was expected from the fifth starter. The gaping holes in the rotation presently filled by Aaron Sele and Bret Tomko will eventually have to be filled with somebody once they return to their recent and/or career norms. If you need to wonder what could possibly go wrong, that's as good a place to start as any. Today's less-than-stellar outing by Odalis — a plausible candidate to return to the rotation — ought to give anybody pause for the second half.

Finally, an annoyance: here's an exchange between the Dodgers telecasters in today's game. The scene: the Dodgers have the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, the score 9-4, and Russ Martin, who has been hot but has yet to hit a home run, is at bat with two out.

Charlie Steiner: A hard-throwing right-hander by the name of Santiago Ramirez making his third appearance for the Nationals, in two innings he's given up a run and three base hits. Ha! It would be interesting if Russell Martin can connect.

Steve Lyons: Well, you know, this is one of those things that I've talked a lot about this. Some people disagree with the philosophy, but I always feel like if you're gonna hit a home run, it either needs to tie or put you ahead. I would love to see a double in the gap, and my reason for that is you're gonna score two or three runs, and you're gonna keep the defense in the stretch, and you're gonna keep guys on base, keep pressure. If you hit a home run right now, you're still down by a run and you sort of have to start your rally all over again.

Steiner: That's like me presenting you with a million dollars in brand new bills, and you're complaining that the serial numbers are out of sequence.

Lyons: inaudible Not really. I mean, do you understand what I'm saying?

Steiner: I understand what you're saying.

Lyons: I want one more base hit and then a home run.

Steiner: Picky, picky, picky, picky ...

Martin hits a ball deep to left-centerfield, but Marlon Byrd runs it down with a beautiful sliding catch to end the inning.

And of course, a grand slam would have brought the Dodgers to within one.

Ergo, Steve Lyons has no clue whatsoever about how to play baseball. Of course you want the grand slam, because anything can happen to a batted ball in play. It's a rare day when a piece of idiocy on the air is so blatently stupid that it even fails to pass by Charlie Steiner's dulled sensibilities, but ... the Dodgers can't get back to Chavez Ravine and Vin Scully fast enough.

As useful as the Inside The Dodgers blog has been — and it's been a great source of roster information, one I don't check nearly often enough — at the same time you do see tendencies that I had hoped wouldn't come out of an official mouthpiece. Take this piece:

If seven straight wins and listening to Vin doesn't make you a Dodger fan, I'm not sure what will. Outside of the cheap shots taken at Tommy Lasorda and the McCourts, the story in today's L.A. Times by Mike Penner was an enjoyable read and does remind us how lucky we are to have had Vin Scully talking to us all these years.

Well, let's take a look at that article. Here's what Mike Penner has to say about Lasorda and the McCourts:

If Reggie Jackson was Mr. October, Scully owns April through September. Since the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn in 1958, Scully has been the one constant through the calm collectedness of Walter Alston's managerial tenure, Tom Lasorda's bellicose braying and the blindfolded dart-toss approach to franchise stewardship by Frank and Jamie McCourt.

I've made no secret of my increasing disillusionment with Tommy Lasorda, especially in his dotage; he has become, at best, a fifth wheel and at worst a self-serving fount of bad advice. And as for the McCourts, well, it's the the same pair who hired and fired two GMs in the course of two years, not to mention going on a firing spree with almost every piece of bad news to hit the team. Declaring the mild criticism expressed above a "cheap shot" only shows the author knows who writes his paycheck — this week.

News

Goodness, I forgot all about this last night.

• Of course, the headline news is Jered Weaver's seven-inning shutout of the Orioles, starting out just like his brother did in 1999 by shutting out his opposition. He plans on giving his parents the game ball.
• Eric Gagné would just as soon not visit Las Vegas as a 51, as it means he's not pitching with the Dodgers. Of his rehab appearance, Jerry Royster said,

  "He did not miss his spot in 17 pitches. How do you pitch with that kind of command? This guy didn't throw a pitch that was hittable," Royster said.

• According to Travelerocity, Angels roving pitching instructor Mike Comstock says Nick Adenhart will be moved up to Rancho within the next few weeks. I must say I can't wait, and it sounds like I'll have another road trip to take soon. Comstock likened Adenhart's control to that of Dwight Gooden.
• Update: (out of order, but I'm trying to keep the Bees story last) The Dodgers have optioned Lance Carter back to Las Vegas, and called up Matt Kemp from AA Jacksonville. Good luck with that, kid -- you're gonna need it. (Hat tip: Jon.)

  Update 2: Also via MLB.com.

• 

  The Honeybees

  The Bees have some serious cheesecake going with the Honeybees. They're not cheerleaders (though they sure look like they coulda been back in the day) from what I can tell; it looks like their job description is to be pretty. It's so ... un-Mormon. I like it!

Scores