Sunday, April 15, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Ed Bailey CAL b. 1931, played 1966, All-Star: 1956-1957, 1960-1961, 1963
Milton Bradley LAN b. 1978, played 2004-2005
Jeromy Burnitz LAN b. 1969, played 2003, All-Star: 1999
Hub Collins BRO b. 1864, played 1890-1892, d. 1892-05-21
Willie Davis LAN,CAL b. 1940, played 1960-1973, 1979, All-Star: 1971, 1973
Jack Sheehan BRO b. 1893, played 1920-1921, d. 1987-05-29
Ted Sizemore LAN b. 1945, played 1969-1970, 1976
Boom Squish: The Angels "Suddenly" Dead Offense
The Angels just posted two consecutive losses, Friday's embarrassing 10-1 laugher that featured John Lackey giving up a longball to slap-hitting catcher Doug Mirabelli, and Saturday's 8-0 horsehiding thanks to a patently uneven matchup of Hector Carrasco and Curt Schilling, followed for the Angels with a string of AAA relievers who understandably got walloped by Boston's thumping lineup.There was some talk at Halos Heaven that Schilling's own game recap was an endorsement of the idea that "major leaguers are INTIMIDATED by a lineup that seeks to put the ball in play in any situation", but that's overreading Schilling's commentary; he's impressed by guys who actually can do something with even a tough pitch. Witness, for instance, his description of the top of the sixth:
With one out Orlando hits a double down the left field line, and I have no idea how. First off OCab was one of the funner guys I have ever played with. I competed against him when he was in Montreal, when he first came up. He’s always been a very aggressive good bad ball hitter and one of the better shortstops in the game over the last 15-20 years. When he came here it was nice to see that he’s a great a guy in the clubhouse and off the field as he is on. The pitch he hit was no more than 4” off the ground and moving down hard. He dragged his bathead through the zone and smoked it into the corner. It’s a 3-0 game at this point and I have an out in hand. I need to make sure that regardless of where Cabrera is after this next AB there are two outs. I get lucky as Vlad again goes after the first pitch and hits a 2 seam fastball to Mike down the line at third.Does that sound like he's intimidated because Vlad made an out? No, and that's exactly the point. He got lucky because Vlad is a very good — maybe the best right now — bad ball hitter, and a very aggressive one.
The real lessons to draw from these games is that the Angels' offense, as constructed, is going to be extremely uneven, relying as it does on batting average. This is and always will be a problem for them against strike-throwing pitchers, whether it's soft-tossing control artists like Jamie Moyer or harder throwers like Schilling, whose study of batters is second to none. The key to this offense is getting the kids going somewhat consistently, i.e., getting more 1-4 days out of Kendrick instead of 0-fers. Kotchman, I think, will take care of himself thanks to better plate discipline, and the power will come from that.
Today's game has been postponed, and tomorrow doesn't look much better. No makeup date has been scheduled.
The Slaughter Next Time: Padres 7, Dodgers 2
The weekend has been unusually busy for me, so I haven't had a chance to keep up on baseball as much as I normally do, but following the Dodgers' 9-1 pounding of David Wells, it seemed like the next match ought to be somewhat more even, with Padres' ace Jake Peavy squaring off against alleged ace-for-hire Jason Schmidt. Schmidt insists there's nothing wrong with him physically, but the radar gun shows a pitcher throwing marshmallows up there. Judging by the results, the batters agree.Gagne Collects First Save For Rangers
Eric Gagne earned his first save for the Rangers in the Rangers' 5-2 win over the Mariners. It was his first since June 6, 2006.
But the offense is a Scioscia offense, built on "skills" like BABIP. Only in a Scioscia offense could Gary Mattews Jr be leading off and Anderson batting cleanup. I'm hoping sense comes to smalltown and we see Izturis back up in the top 2, and Kotchman and Kendrick batting 4-5 before the red goes dead and we find ourselves shoveling out of the same first half hole we dug in 2006.
: 4/15/2007 12:40:00 PM : 4/15/2007 05:12:00 PMi was very skeptical reading posts on here, and other sites, but i gotta say, it took us a little bit longer to get in ( i used the downtown gate, instead of my old sunset gate ), but alot faster to get out...
the game was sold out, but the stadium was not quite full. we stayed until the end of the game, and plenty of people had left already, but i could tell a big difference in the exit time compared to years past.
Newer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.