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

• Free agent utility infielder Wilson Betemit found a home with the Chisox for one year and $1.3M.
• The Tigers acquired Edwin Jackson in a trade with Tampa Bay for OF Matt Joyce.

Labels: devil rays, ex-dodgers, tigers, trades, transactions, white sox

Top 3rd: Jon Lester had a four-pitch first inning but he hasn't posted a scoreless frame since. He gave up a manufactured run in the second that was partly due to a Jason Veritek passed ball, but the three runs he surrendered in the third on a mammoth B.J. Upton homer that actually left the park had the effect of silencing the Fenway crowd. Lester struck out Carlos Pena to record Boston's first out of the inning, but it's already 4-0 Rays. The Red Sox managed to get men on the corners in the bottom of the second with one out, but failed to score.

Evan Longoria blasts a 2-2 mistake pitch over the heart of the plate into the Green Monster seats to make it 5-0 Rays. Lester's losing it this inning, and the Red Sox bullpen gets into action.

Lester gets out of the inning by striking out Carl Crawford and getting Willie Aybar to fly out. It's a deflating inning for Boston.

Bottom 6th: The Red Sox have had a man on in each of the last three innings, but none of them have made it even as far as second. Matt Garza is probably done, as he's thrown 107 pitches.

Paul Byrd entered the game in relief to make the last out of the top of the sixth, so Lester is done for the day and on the hook for a loss with three frames left to go.

Bottom 7th: Garza gives up a single to Alex Cora after walking Jason Varitek, leaving the game with men on the corners with nobody out; it was almost a run when Rocco Baldelli's throw went offline to short, but the Sox failed to capitalize. J.P. Howell enters the game to face Boston's 1-2-3 batters.

Ellsbury hits a sac fly to right to make it 5-1 Rays as Cora does not advance on the out. That works out well for the Rays, who get Dustin Pedroia to bounce into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

Top 8th: Byrd gives up a pair of singles to Crawford and Aybar to lead off the frame; Crawford tries to muscle his way to the plate through Varitek on Navarro's infield bouncer, but Varitek holds on for the out. That brings up Rocco Baldelli, who crushes one to make it 8-1 Rays. It's in blowout territory now, and even though Byrd finally makes the inning's final out, it's looking like a near-certain win for Tampa Bay.

Top 9th: After another harmless bottom of the eighth, Terry Francona decides to leave Byrd in the game to save his bullpen. Byrd then coughs up a solo homer to Carlos Pena, but retires the other three men he faces. It's 9-1 Rays, and the Fenway crowd starts to head for the exits.

Bottom 9th: Edwin Jackson, who didn't make the ALDS roster, comes in to finish the game facing the 7-8-9 batters. He gets Mark Kotsay to line out hard to third, in to Evan Longoria's glove but not the webbing, prompting an "ouch" moment. Varitek bounces out easily to second for the second out of the inning, and then it's Alex Cora's turn. Cora flies out to Crawford in left at the warning track to end it, and the game goes final; the Rays take an early 2-1 lead in the series.

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Labels: devil rays, live blogging, postseason, recaps, red sox

No Thanks, I've Had My Phil: Phillies 8, Dodgers 5

Chad Billingsley was pretty miserable in this one, and there really isn't much to say about it beyond that. Oh, sure, he looked great in the first, but he all but singlehandedly sunk the team in the second and third, and did so without spotting the Phils so much as one home run. Shane Victorino triple in the third, cashing in both men on base, but the night's real improbable event was pitcher Brett Myers going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. That's always a sign that something's wrong.

Manny got the Dodgers a look at the game late with a three-run homer in the fourth to put his club back by only three, but they never got any further thanks to the usual tight-as-a-drum Philadelphia bullpen. (Casey Blake hit a close-but-no-cigar fly that Victorino caught to end the seventh that would have tied the game had it been just a few feet toward the foul poles.) The Dodgers have a lot of work to do when they get back home. It sounds trite; it sounds like their luck is running out.

As an aside to this story, Tony Jackson has a piece up about Shane Victorino and why he didn't stay a Dodger: twice.

Update: I can't believe I got out of this without mentioning James McDonald's 3.1 excellent innings of relief. Maybe he should have started ... this was supposed to be Billingsley's "coming out" party, but it turned out to be the other thing.

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Coasting To Another Dull World Series: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

The air is full of firsts lately in Tampa, but an ALCS win will have to wait. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who must be the most annoying pitcher in the world to watch as a fan, walked the bags loaded with two out in the first, but he got Cliff Floyd to bounce out to first to end the threat.

Jed Lowrie's fifth inning sac fly was all the offense Boston needed, though they did pick up another run in the eighth on Kevin Youkilis' RBI double. I left to walk the dogs after that; Boston is making the postseason less and less interesting every year.

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Labels: devil rays, dodgers, phillies, postseason, recaps, red sox

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Willy Aybar from Atlanta, along with INF Chase Fontaine, for RHP Jeff Ridgway. Good luck, Willy.

Labels: braves, devil rays, ex-dodgers, slow news day, trades, transactions

Roster Notes

• Tim Wakefield was left off the ALDS roster with a bad back. According to the Boston Globe, Wakefield had a cortisone shot on Saturday.
• Johan Santana might waive his no-trade clause in the event the Twins decide to shop him.
• Scott Schoeneweis, steroid receiver. Let's assume, for the sake of being consistent, that steroids made a difference in the two wins he accumulated for the 2003 Chisox (2-1 on the season), so assuming they lost both those games, that still wouldn't have pushed them into third place. Duh.

  He's got a 5.03 ERA this year with the Mets... will he even have a job next year?

• Mike Mussina is liable to be the Yankees' fourth starter over Phil Hughes. Dance with the one what brung ya, I say, but be careful that that wasn't two or three years ago.
• Roger Clemens may not get a Game 3 start.
• The Cubs are looking at a three-man rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, and Rich Hill.
• Adam Eaton will be off the postseason roster for the Phils.
• Matt Holliday finished the season with the NL batting title.
• Tampa Bay pitching coach Jim Hickey was arrested for DUI, hit-and-run with damage, and resisting arrest without violence. Bad timing for it, for as Rotoworld snarked, "The Rays could already justify firing Hickey based on performance alone."

  Devil Rays bench coach Bill Evers will not be retained in 2008.

• Update: Andrew Jones' career in Atlanta is over, based on what Scott Boras is asking for the centerfielder.

Jim Tracy Likely Out Of Pittsburgh

It looks like Jim Tracy's worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh; he's already met with ownership about his status, but I wonder who's willing to defend him these days.

BTF Postseason Predictions

I'll aggregate these as I find 'em, but fra paolo* likes the Sox over the Angels. Here's a short version of his take on the ALDS serieses:

• Red Sox over Angels: "Boston’s dominance of this series is remarkable in itself. It has the advantage in fourteen categroies, compared to the Angels’ advantage in but three. Not only that, but it controls the top three of Hits allowed, Defensive efficiency and Errors." Upsets happen, yeah, but.
• Cleveland over New York: "Cleveland have [sic] a clear advantage in the strong categories, five to one." (British English, grumble, grumble.)
• Rockies over Phillies: "...looking at the strong categories suggests that this series could be quite one-sided."
• Cubs over Diamondbacks: "the Cubs have the advantage in the top two categories of Hits allowed and Defensive efficiency. ... You could toss a coin for this series. It’s one of the most evenly balanced I’ve seen."

*Incorrectly identified as Vinay Kumar earlier. Sorry for the mixup.

Labels: angels, cubs, devil rays, front office, injuries, phillies, pirates, red sox, rockies

Ten whiffs for Ervin Santana in this game, who lasted six and a third while throwing mostly strikes, giving up only a solo homer to Jonny Gomes. It was a terrific followup outing to his prior three games, over which he had a 1.20 ERA; today's game actually raised his September ERA to 1.27, but holy smoke, what a roll he's been on. Mike Scioscia thinks he knows why:

"His mechanics are better," Scioscia said of Santana. "He's been preached to all year, he just had trouble putting it all together. He made some key pitches in key situations."

Juan Rivera homered in the second, and Jeff Mathis drove in Howie Kendrick on an RBI single in the fourth for the winning run. Unlike yesterday, the Angels' bullpen held little drama, outside of K-Rod's two-out walk to Jorge Velandia. (Velandia yesterday gave Frankie fits as he singled in a run. Data point for the future.)

So now to the race part of today's recap: help from the A's in clinching the division was not forthcoming as Seattle swept Oakland with a 9-5 victory. In Toronto, the Red Sox' miseries continued with a sweep by the Blue Jays, including a humiliating grand slam off Jonathan Papelbon in the eighth with one out, a move decried by Rotoworld because of Papelbon's flyball tendencies; Boston lost 6-1.

All four contending teams in the AL either swept or were swept: the Yankees took down Baltimore 2-1, and Cleveland beat Detroit 4-2. Both the Indians and Angels have a magic number of three, the lowest of any races in baseball, and are tied for the best record in baseball at 90-62. Detroit finished the day five and a half games out of the Wild Card; the Yankees' magic number there is five, but are now only a game and a half back of Boston.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

John Lackey, who's had his ups and downs (especially against Boston), tossed a gem when, as it turned out, the Angels really needed one. For the longest time, Chone Figgins' single run in the first — created on a single, a successful steal of second followed by a wild throw that allowed him to advance to third, and a scoring wild pitch — was the only run the Angels had to call theirs. Howie Kendrick added to that in the bottom of the sixth with a scoring groundout, a controversial play that the radio announcers said should have been an inning-ending double play.

One of this game's frustrations was watching the large number of high-ERA relievers the Angels ultimately failed to score against. Another was K-Rod allowing a two-out walk and a run on 2B Jorge Velandia's RBI single, a very scary close in a year when Frankie's had a lot of them. It ruined the shutout, but the Angels eventually got the win after he struck out Josh Wilson to end the game.

The A's almost helped out the Angels by coming back from an 8-0 deficit, losing anyway to the Mariners 8-7. The Angels' magic number is four. The Angels could clinch the division with two wins against the Mariners in the upcoming homestand.

Update: I should also mention that the Red Sox fell to Toronto 4-3 yesterday, which means that both the Angels and Indians are a half game behind them (Boston at 90-62, Cleveland and LAAoA at 89-62). Home field advantage is very much in flux now. Also, the Yanks clobbered Baltimore 12-0, and climbed to 2.5 games back of the Sawx in the division.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

After this game, I'm ready to start the postseason with Jered Weaver as the Game 1 starter. Seriously.

Update, top 9th: A wild but unbearably slow game, with the Angels getting runs both earned and unearned, three of the latter coming with Edwin Jackson on the mound on B.J. Upton's wild throw that was (incorrectly in my view) ruled a two-base throw by soon-to-be-thankfully-retired home plate umpire Bruce Froemming, who called a tight and inconsistent strike zone all night.

Kelvim Escobar had next to nothing all game, and finally got chased with the bases loaded in the fifth. After Darren Oliver came in, Howie Kendrick's error allowed Iwamura to score, and Delmon Young drove in another run on almost the exact same play, which Howie converted to a fielder's choice out. But other than that, Oliver posted a solid outing, as did the rest of the Angels' relief corps; Frankie allowed the only run out of the bullpen, on a leadoff triple and a sac fly, and even then it was a meaningless tally.

The offense churned out runs and runs and runs, a good thing considering the recent shaky pitching. Nathan Haynes got an unexpected start and made the most of it, driving in his first major league run. Garret Anderson got on base all five times up, 3-for-3 with a pair of walks and two RBIs. Jeff Mathis was the only Angel who failed to get a hit, going 0-for-5 from the eight slot.

Seattle shut out Oakland 4-0, so the Angels only whittle one off their magic number, to five. Cleveland beat Detroit 6-5 in extras, so both teams still have the same record at the end of the day, 88-62.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

A Shinier DVD: Rangers 7, Angels 6

We had company over yesterday, which explains the tardiness of getting to this game. Kelvim Escobar clearly had nothing; the AP recap gingerly assigned that to 99° F gametime temps, but it's worth recalling that Edinson Volquez had to deal with those, too. Volquez wasn't economical (94 pitches through five) but perhaps that was to be expected given the heat. The importance of this game may ultimately be that the Rangers are finally getting to see some payoff in their homegrown pitching, rather than trading it foolishly away.

GA hit a ninth-inning three-run homer, but the Angels got no further in that frame. Rich Thompson got to pitch in his major league debut, tossing a scoreless eighth.

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Buchholz No-Hits O's: Red Sox 10, Orioles 0

Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz pitched a complete game no-hitter in just his second major league game. With that win, the Red Sox overtake the Angels for the "best in the majors" tag with an 81-50 record.

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Lifeless: Padres 7, Dodgers 0

Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness wants to know — as do I — why the Dodgers haven't called up Andy LaRoche instead of letting him languish at AAA, where he's apparently tearing the place up (as witness Friday's two-homer game). The Dodgers don't deserve to win the division if they keep making stupid moves like this. I don't give a damn that they're facing the Padres' ace.

Derek Lowe clearly was still feeling it in his hip, just judging by his line that included a pair of jacks, one each to Adrian Gonzalez and Mike Cameron, the latter a grand slam.

The Dodgers ended the day five back of the Padres, the latter leading the division by percentage points over the Diamondbacks.

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Ian Kennedy's Debut: Yankees 9, Devil Rays 6

USC alumni Ian Kennedy made his major league debut, giving up three runs, one earned, over seven innings, outdueling former Dodger Edwin Jackson. Jackson lasted only 3.1 innings, and gave up seven runs, six earned, walking five. Jackson blanked the Yanks on July 20 through six innings in a game Tampa Bay ultimately won 9-2. The loss broke up a string from July 31 through August 27 where Jackson had quality starts in five of six games.

The scary part of this is to see the Yanks developing quality young pitching of their own. I don't worry too much about Team Steinbrenner when they're pursuing free agents, because we've seen what happens then, i.e., decline years from Randy Johnson, Keven Brown, Roger Clemens, and every other name pitcher out there. It's the guys with upside who scare me.

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Roster Notes

• Jason Bulger and Rich Thompson had their contracts purchased from Salt Lake and were added to the 40-man roster. To make room, Chris Resop was moved to the 60-day DL.
• The Angels activated Mike Napoli from the 15-day DL, but he'll be Jeff Mathis' backup until his hamstring fully heals. Geep.
• Juan Rivera is expected to return to the big club today. Best graf from the MLB.com story link above:

  "Juan is a guy who can bring some instant offense to a club," Scioscia said of Rivera, who has 15 RBIs in 14 games at Salt Lake, batting .232. "We'll see how he works in. He's able to play some outfield."

  "Instant" apparently equals "lousy".
• Erick Aybar started a rehab stint with Rancho. His strikeout-prone, low-average bat and mentally inconsistent approach in the field will return to pollute the Angels' lineup on Tuesday.
• Dallas McPherson will return next spring, reporting to instructional league on September 15 and will try to get an assignment for winter ball in the Dominican.

  "I feel pretty good -- definitely not 100%, but I'm on the right path," said McPherson, who was limited by back and leg injuries to 101 games in 2005 and 2006. "It's nice to be on the field, getting into baseball shape, getting my swing back and my legs underneath me. The back is holding up well."

  ...

  "I'm going to have to earn a roster spot," McPherson said. "I don't know what the Angels' plans are with me, but if I'm healthy, I'll worry about everything else later."

  Good luck, Dallas.
• The Dodgers David Wells dropped the appeal to his suspension, which means the left-hander will miss his Wednesday start against the Cubs.

  The timing of the decision is rather odd, in that the Dodgers released Brett Tomko to insert Wells into the rotation for the stretch run and couldn't wait to get him on the mound, flying him cross-country to pitch in New York and bringing him back on five days' rest to pitch Friday night against the Padres while skipping Eric Stults.

  Stop kidding yourself, Ken Gurnick, the Dodgers aren't going anywhere, and it's just not critical that Boomer pitch or not pitch in some particular game from here on out.
• Nomar had his 1,355th MRI of the season on his strained calf, which revealed that he was an aging player with nothing left to contribute.
• The Dodgers purchased the contracts of C Chad Moeller, INF Chin-Lung Hu, and RHP Jonathan Meloan, and recalled RHP D.J. Houlton as rosters expanded.
• Gurnick notes that the Dodgers have committed $76.6M to players on next year's roster. This includes Esteban Loaiza, who pitched virtually not at all this season, and had a 91 ERA+ last year in a full season, and Jason Schmidt, who had a 71 ERA+ in very limited duty (6 starts, 25.2 IP). Derek Lowe (118 ERA+) and Brad Penny (155 ERA+) were better deals, but what I find disturbing is the general trend: the free agent signings by Paul DePodesta (Lowe, Penny) seem to be working out a lot better than those by Ned Colletti.
• Mike Emeigh notes that the Indians and Padres are using the "Francisco Rodriguez" clause in the roster expansion rules, the Padres deploying former Dodger Oscar Robles and and ex-Dodger system lefty Ryan Ketchner as their Steve Green analogues. (Green was on the DL the year the Angels called up K-Rod, Rodriguez famously replacing him in the postseason.)
• The Padres activated Michael Barrett.

Labels: angels, devil rays, dodgers, injuries, orioles, padres, rangers, recaps, red sox, transactions, yankees

Oh, please. Escobar was the hero of yesterday's game, and not by a little. He's pitched a quality start plus in seven of his last eight starts... Garret Anderson was just doing his job, a job he hasn't done nearly well enough this year and over the duration of his current contract for that matter. Did you know that GA is hitting .180 with runners in scoring position, less than the pathetic .259 posted by the reviled Shea Hillenbrand?

At least they didn't get swept. This was a series the Angels would have at least had a shot at winning had Joe Saunders been on the mound Tuesday. As with last year, managerial refusal to deal with a bad pitching situation has cost the Angels about a half dozen wins at least.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

One problem solved, but Bart's issues won't go unnoticed; too bad it took this long to figure out there's a problem.

Willits got a pair of hits in the game, but I'm still inclined to think he's a two-month wonder. The question the Angels face, still, is what to do about the two holes in the rotation the Angels have yet to fill.

Update: Lackey thinks Santana needs to be more consistent. Ditto that for Colon.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

14 hits and 7 runs aren't enough to pull him from the mound. Wow.

Update: Neither the MLB.com recap nor the AP recap nor Mike DiGiovanna of the Times mention Santana actually being sent down to AAA after this game, which more or less jibes with my feeling, namely, that the Angels are going to give Santana until the end of the month to straighten himself out. Luckily for Los Angeles de Anaheim, Baltimore beat the snot out of Seattle 8-3, with Felix Hernandez's quality start ruined by bad outings from the M's generally watertight bullpen. If the Angels get underwater, Santana's goose is cooked, regardless, but I have my doubts about just how much he can learn in just one August in AAA.

Partly, that's because of the Bees' August schedule, in which they play nine of their games in the highest and second-highest parks in the PCL at Albuquerque and Colorado Springs, and 17 of 30 away from home. Maybe it's good practice, but I'll be impressed when and if he returns with some solid away numbers.

As for today's game, I wanted to believe Santana was pitching well early, but in fact he had some very lucky line drive outs into gloves. And Orlando Cabrera's misplay notwithstanding, a pitcher has to be resilient enough to withstand those kinds of troubles. He isn't, not now, anyway, and he needs to go back to AAA. There's some talk that his troubles stem from a stubborn attempt to expand his repertoire past fastball, slider, and change. We know he can be successful; the question now is how to get him back to that success. That trip begins in Salt Lake.

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Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps, stupid ideas

Jon may be encouraged by the LOBsters the Dodgers left yesterday, but they had bigger problems to worry about after a big-time meltdown by Joe Beimel, who failed to record an out while giving up five runs. It figured that Edwin Jackson would find a way to record a win against his old team; I can't harbor any ill will toward the man, and think Ned Colletti's ejection of the young pitcher really dumb, especially considering the limited returns.

Luis Gonzalez got one into the fishtank, er, rays tank, but that was about the extent of the good news for the Dodgers. How do you lose two of three to the Devil Rays? Maybe when the opposition manager is an ex-Angel.

The Dodgers end the day a game and a half back of ... first place Arizona.

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Labels: devil rays, dodgers, recaps

Retro uniform night at the Trop, eh? The Rays showed up as the St. Petersburg Saints, and the Dodgers wore this:

Purists (and, who knows, maybe even Don Zimmer) will no doubt argue that Brooklyn never had the borough name on their away uniforms. (Update: Al Yellon in the comments points out that the Dodgers did in fact have "Brooklyn" on the front of their road jerseys from 1939 to 1945, but that wasn't my point, and I should have been more precise. None of the Brooklyn clubs that Jackie Robinson played on [where the McCourt-era Dodgers first started this mistake, during Jackie Robinson Day] nor the 1955 squad that won it all used that uniform, so it is historically inaccurate.) This was not the first time this error has been made, but dishonoring the actual past strikes me as playing with fire. Regardless, the Dodgers stranded 15 and only managed to tie things up in the three-run sixth; but Randy Wolf gave it right back on a two-strike pitch to former Dodger Dioner Navarro, who hit his first homer of the year against his old team, and what a moment to do it.

As of yesterday, the Dodgers were all alone in the NL West, but thanks to this loss and a 6-1 Padres victory over the Red Sox and Arizona's 7-4 thumping of the O's, the Dodgers find themselves a half game back in the division. Well, that didn't last long.

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Labels: devil rays, dodgers, recaps

The Bogus Redemption Of Mickey Hatcher

Now that the Angels are scoring runs by the bushel basketful against a National League Comical Division team, the Times' own Ben Bolch reviews Mickey Hatcher's work and declares it fit for prime-time:

So, what do you have to say about Mickey Hatcher now?

All the Angels hitting coach who was excoriated on radio talk shows and Internet message boards earlier this season has been hearing recently is the crack of his team's sizzling bats.

After batting .315 with 12 homers and averaging six runs during a 10-game homestand, the Angels packed even heavier lumber for their interleague trip. They scored 10 runs Friday and then piled it on again Saturday night with a 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Well, of course now's the time to come out and say such stuff, yet for an offense as batting-average-dependent as the Angels', the ultimate problem comes when or if the team stops hitting for power and/or getting on base. That is to say, none of this undercuts the basic issues I've had all along with the Angels' offensive contruction: hit the ball hard, preferably out of the park, and take a lot of walks, and you'll win (or at least, you won't be able to blame the offense). Hitting with RISP is the point, of course, but minus the baserunners to knock in (which you get by having high-OBP players), the whole charade collapses.

The appearance of this piece means Steven Smith has gotten even more intolerably smug than usual, getting sucked into the "true fan" nonsense that always ends up with the writer so labeled and everyone else not. But what of it? None of it detracts from my larger point made this time last year: Hatcher is a figurehead for those things ailing the Angels' offense. Firing him, and him alone, wouldn't have cured the Angels' fixation with posting slap-hitting middle-infield types at third (admittedly a function of the team's inability to keep their third basemen healthy, or at all), or letting career Angels get starting jobs instead of better, younger players. The problems are systemic, and start with the notion that the organization can't develop young players who walk a lot.

Cranky Santana

Bitch, bitch, bitch:

"Are you guys happy now?" Santana said to reporters gathered around him in the clubhouse after the Angels' 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, prompting one to retort, "Are you?"

"No, I'm not," he said without elaborating.

...

"It's nothing different," he said. "But you guys don't remember that. You guys only remember the bad things."

Well, if you put it that way, I'm not happy, either. After all, Santana figures he's 5-0.

Pay-Rod To The Angels?

Oh, pshaw, Filip:

It is very hard to come up with a logical case for A-Rod staying in New York, from his point of view. There is a big check, plus warm weather and an adoring fan base sure to be waiting for him on a contender in Anaheim. Why would he want to remain here, with the fickle fans and with the manager who batted him eighth and with the prying tabloids and with the shortstop next to him who is forever the face of this franchise?

This is no easy sell, but that doesn't mean the salesmen should stop pushing. There are necessary phone calls to be made from Cashman to his feisty agent, Scott Boras. Maybe even George Steinbrenner himself could pick up a telephone to congratulate Rodriguez on his current run. Boras may say that Rodriguez is focusing only on this season, but anybody will take the time to accept a few pats on the back and promises of an extension to come.

The chances of him leaving his natural home in New York are between nil and zero. Would the third time be the charm in the AL West? Probably not.

Combustable Cabrera

Oh, boy:

Cabrera, though, wasn't about to talk about anything. One day after Ervin Santana expressed displeasure about being asked about his road woes, Cabrera turned even uglier.

He launched into an expletive-laced tirade aimed at reporters who dared to ask him about the misplays.

"You're wasting your ... time with me," said Cabrera, who misplayed two balls in one inning on the last homestand. "Get ... out of here."

Cabrera added more as he left the clubhouse.

"Write whatever you want," he said angrily.

I just can't be mad at Cabrera, not after the way he's played this year.

Roster Notes

• Those still steaming about the Jason Bulger for Alberto Callaspo trade may get some solace in that the former Angel prospect fell for the hidden ball trick. (Hat tip: S.I. Weisman.)
• Jay Witasick will likely sign with the Devil Rays.
• Jamey Wright is expected to return to service Saturday. "Wright got knocked around for six runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings at Triple-A Sunday," snarked Rotoworld, "so he's in midseason form."
• The A's have called up Kurt Suzuki and traded reserve catcher Adam Melhuse to Texas for cash to make room. The A's plan on Suzuki playing more often than Melhuse; since both he and Kendall are righties, this won't be a straight platoon, but the way I read this, the A's figure Suzuki and Kendall playing 50-50 (at least) will be a better offensive mix than Kendall limping to the finish with the .194 average he's got now.

Labels: angels, athletics, devil rays, injuries, mickey hatcher, rangers, yankees

How Embarrassing, Chone

I didn't see this in part because we were so low to the field, but apparently Chone Figgins' error was especially embarrassing:

The mess was precipitated by a bizarre defensive gaffe by third baseman Chone Figgins that brought both managers out of their respective dugouts.

Andy LaRoche's grounder nicked off Figgins' glove and rolled into foul territory. Figgins went to retrieve the ball but dropped it and it rolled into the photographers' well, prompting the umpires to award LaRoche third base on a play that was scored as a double and an error.

I initially scored that E5, and to my surprise, next saw LaRoche at third. I had to turn to my Internet-enabled phone to get the official scoring, which was as puzzling as could be.

And then there's Santana's stuff:

"He was all over the place," Kent said of Santana. "The catcher would set up out, he would throw in. But he was missing on the good side. He was difficult to pattern."

Said Scioscia: "His stuff tonight was a notch above anything we've seen in his last four or five starts. What we saw tonight just reaffirms that the stuff is there."

Roster Notes

• There's still no timetable for Garret Anderson's return, though he recently ran the bases and took batting practice.
• Howie Kendrick will continue his rehab assignment through Monday, at which time the team will evaluate him.
• Justin Speier is in Arizona with a viral syndrome. That opens the door to the possibility of a return to the Angels by Troy Percival, who made official yesterday his desire to return to the major leagues.

  "He called me [Friday] morning and said, 'Let's go,' " said Paul Cohen, Percival's agent. "I just finished a 10-year matrix for his retirement plan. That's going into the paper shredder next week."

  The Angels, however, are far from a given, since as he put it, "When it comes down to it, their bullpen is set. They don't need anybody."
• Tim Hamulack had Tommy John surgery (I assume) on Thursday.
• Esteban Loaiza has been diagnosed with a torn knee miniscus. He has refused surgery, electing to continue his rehab assignment.
• Rich Harden's shoulder felt bad during long toss, and so is shut down again.
• Milton Bradley will return to the A's shortly, but will be limited to pinch hitting duties at first.
• Former Dodger prospect Edwin Jackson couldn't make it out of the third in his Friday night game against the Marlins. As Rotoworld recently put it, his time in the rotation may be coming to an end with the Devil Rays. He's 0-6 for the year with a 7.78 ERA.
• Hank Blalock, who's played in pain all season thus far, will have rib removal surgery and will miss up to three months.
• Tigers lefty Andrew Miller blanked the Cardinals on the way to a 14-4 victory, striking out two and walking three. The Angels will face him in the upcoming road series on May 24; something to consider.

Labels: angels, athletics, devil rays, dodgers, ex-dodgers, injuries, marlins, tigers

Sundry that are overdue...

• Howie Kendrick was assigned to AAA Salt Lake to start a rehab assignment tonight. I'll get to that presently in the minor league scorebook.
• Maicer Izturis was activated from the DL, and Matt Brown was sent back down to AAA Salt Lake to make room on the 25-man roster.
• Wilson Valdez was DFA'd in order to make room for Hong Chih Kuo, who joined the big club today.
• Wilson Betemit and Andy LaRoche are not in a strict platoon according to Grady Little.
• As the Angels found out earlier today, the Mariners activated Felix Hernandez. Arthur Rhodes was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Jason Davis, arriving as the side effect of an earlier trade. The M's optioned RHP Sean Green to AAA Tacoma.
• Brad Wilkerson left tonight's game against Tampa Bay early with a hamstring injury. Symmetrically, Rocco Baldelli also left the same game with a hamstring injury.
• Huston Street hit the DL with an ulnar nerve irritation, which sounds very like the injury that kept Brad Penny off the mound or ineffective for much of 2005, and Eric Gagne for almost all of 2006. Despite Justin Duchscherer nursing an arthritic hip, he was given closer duties by manager Bob Geren. He has so far not been used in tonight's game in which Alan Embree and Jay Witasick blew up to surrender the tying runs.
• Big night for injuries: J.D. Drew left the Tigers game after colliding with the outfield wall.

Labels: angels, athletics, devil rays, dodgers, ex-dodgers, injuries, mariners

Scott Kazmir twirled a gem, giving up two runs, solo homers to Mark Ellis and Eric Chavez, striking out only one and walking two. Dallas Braden, a rare left-handed screwballer who doesn't really use it that much, got the start for the A's and got shelled for five runs in four and a third innings, all earned. B.J. Upton had a three-run blast, and Elijah Dukes and Rocco Baldelli both had solo homers in the top of the fifth.

Combined with Friday's 4-1 loss, the A's lose the series, and end the day 12-13, in third place in the AL West.

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Labels: athletics, devil rays, recaps

I opposed the trade that sent Jae Seo and Dioner Navarro to the Devil Rays in exchange for Mark Hendrickson and Toby Hall, on three grounds:

1. It made the team older without getting better.
2. Hendrickson had never been consistently effective, and there was no reason to believe his first-half 3.81 ERA was anything but a fluke. As it turned out, even transliterated from the AL East into the relatively warm and comforting arms of the NL West and its largely pitcher-friendly (with two notable exceptions) parks, he reverted to his nominally bad self. This was somewhat mitigated by a late-season conversion to relief, in which he appeared to excel, though given the small number of innings, 10.2 IP, the good numbers were nearly meaningless.
3. Hall was clearly going to leave the team. Despite his flukishly high .368 average in 57 at bats, he was an obvious candidate to jettison at the end of the season. For one thing, he was publicly cranky about not getting to start, but for another, he was playing out his age 30 season. Sure enough, the Dodgers cut him loose

So the Dodgers still have Hendrickson, whose utility in the pen is thus far undiminished. However, in fairness, Navarro went on to make seven errors with Tampa Bay for the balance of 2006, and has yet to hit well. Jae Seo also improved to a 5.00 ERA, but the difference between that and his Dodger ERA of 5.78 amounted to the lipstick on the pig.

As the Angels found out today, Seo is tremendously hittable; he has yet to surrender less than four earned runs in a single game so far this year. Today, he gave up six in a paltry inning and a third, presaged by a mental lapse when he failed to cover first on leadoff batter Gary Matthews, Jr. grounder to Carlos Pena. Matthews, Jr. then erased himself by trying to steal second, but that was about the end of the good news for the Rays, as the Angels posted five runs in the first inning. That included a Vlad home run, but it was about all the Angels would need to claim the victory.

In fact, the only Angel not to get a hit or drive in a run was Brandon Wood, the soon-to-be-a-Bee who needs that time in the minors. The Angels scored runs in all of the first four frames; it was quite the bonanza compared to the drought they had on the road.

Bart had his A stuff, and struck out 11 batters to go along with the 11 runs the Angels scored. His velocity at the end of his outing, if the radio broadcast can be believed and I don't misremember it, was around 95-97. He might just be back to the guy we knew in 2005. Even if Thursday's outing was a mirage, it's enough to think the Angels might get some value from him directly, or indirectly in a trade.

Bootcheck pitched two innings and gave up a run; shockingly, Tampa Bay has the second-best offense in the league, with 112 runs scored, second only to the Yankees with 120. No skin off his nose for that.

Recap • Yahoo Box

Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps

I have a soft spot for Edwin Jackson, partly because of his youth and partly because I think he can be a pretty good pitcher, the guy we saw right up through the end of the fourth inning; he faced one more than the minimum in those innings, and looked for the world like the guy I thought he could be.

But he got unhinged pretty easily once Kotchman reached on Carlos Pena's error at first. His woes only got compounded when Squareshea Hillenpants, whose bat is made of sponge, finally got a solid hit — off Jackson's leg. But then he settled down, and Izturis and Napoli made relatively easy flyball outs.

Erick Aybar then smacked a ball up the middle, which second baseman B.J. Upton stopped but was unable to make a play at second; instead, he threw the ball away up the line, allowing Kotchman to score from third, and Hillenbrand to get to third. Hillenbrand and Aybar in turn crossed the plate on Matthews, Jr.'s booming double.

Jackson recovered in the sixth, but again came unglued when Maicer Izturis led off the inning with a bunt. It was a terrible bunt; one of the first rules of a good bunt is that you want to deaden the ball. Izturis runs well, and the ball almost beat him to the bag. If it hadn't been for Jackson taking a gamble and looking up before he had the ball, Izturis is out. As it was, Mike Napoli came up and legged out an infield single to the shortstop; Erick Aybar provided a long RBI double to cash in Izturis, and that was it for young Edwin. Before the dust cleared, four more Angels would cross the plate, thanks in part to a throwing error on second baseman Brendan Harris during Matthews, Jr.'s at bat that allowed Mike Napoli to score.

As for John Lackey... he was excellent most of the time. He did get into one real jam, a bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth with two out in which he frustratingly refused to go to his fastball. Finally he did unleash it, and struck out B.J. Upton to end the inning.

GMJ provided Lack with some nice defense in centerfield, including a full-extension catch; likewise did Robb Quinlan, inserted in left in the ninth, make a fine sliding catch for Chris Bootcheck, who seems to be about as good or maybe better than Brendan Donnelly was last year about this time. He may not be the best guy you ever saw pitch, but he's useful in the pen, and can maybe be trusted in a few close games.

Finally, some who listened to the postgame radio show say that Brandon Wood has been called up. I have to believe that this amounts to a misunderstanding somewhere along the line, since it makes absolutely no sense. The Angels need somebody who can play second in the absence of Howie Kendrick, and Aybar is not only doing it, but showing some ability to hit. Third base is Maicer Izturis's job until Figgins rolls in next week; this, too, sounds ridiculously unlikely for the man who owns the second-most RBIs on the squad. Kendry? Didn't they just call him up last week? Is he going to take over at shortstop? The mind boggles.

Recap • Yahoo Box

Labels: angels, devil rays, recaps