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

Rob Manfred's remarks about a new baseball stadium in Montreal in concert with his denial of any effort to expand to 32 teams leads one to believe that the long strategy is as both a lever over the Rays and their apparently now-dead efforts to find a new stadium deal, and a possible escape clause. It would be highly ironic if the Rays did leave for Canada, because the Expos' former owner, the execrable Jeff Loria, ran them into the ground; after 2000, the team had no native TV contract. MLB engineered his purchase of the Marlins by purchasing the earthly remains of the Expos, relocating them Washington, D.C., in an unceremonious end to a brutal (67-95) 2004 season. If it does happen that way, both cities will have gotten far less than they deserved as a consequence of their "investments".

Labels: expos, rays

I know, I haven't said much about the many bigger deals — the Angels picking up Andrew Heaney from the Dodgers was likely more important to 2015 — but this one is such a puzzler that even I can't make heads or tails of it. The Angels traded Kevin Jepsen to the Rays for left-handed-hitting outfielder Matt Joyce. Joyce has typically manned the corners for the Rays, and has never surpassed 20 home runs, though he has some decent pop (.383 SLG in 2014, career .441). As expected, he hits righties well (career .261/.356/.463) but is largely powerless against lefties (.189/.258/.316). It seems likely he'll spell Josh Hamilton when he gets injured or is otherwise unable to play.

What's puzzling about this deal is why the Halos would do it when they possess both C.J. Cron and Cole Calhoun. Calhoun, especially, looks superficially like a younger version of Joyce, who still has three years of team control ahead of him and is putting up similar numbers. I expect this means Calhoun may be trade bait, or Cron will find himself optioned back to Salt Lake, whence he will return if Hamilton or Calhoun find themselves on the DL. Depth in the outfield is nice to have, but dropping pitching that has been a mainstay of the bullpen seems like a poor choice.

Labels: angels, rays, trades

Things now get so bad that the players are starting to needle Mike Scioscia, and in particular, reporter favorite Torii Hunter:

"You have to dig deep," right fielder Torii Hunter said. "We can't get down in the first two innings and say, 'Here we go again.' We have to fight a little harder. I don't think we believe we're trying that hard. We're just going through the motions. We have to do what we're capable of doing. That's everybody; not just the players."

Hunter's remark seemed to be a veiled criticism of Scioscia for not having Maicer Izturis bunt after Hunter and Vernon Wells opened the second with singles. Izturis flied to left. Erick Aybar reached on catcher's interference to load the bases, but Chris Iannetta struck out and Bobby Abreu grounded out.

Asked if the game could have changed with some early execution, Hunter said, "You mean if we bunted in the second? What can we do? All we do is play the game."

I don't for a moment think bunting there would have been a wise choice, but it's the old-school choice, so if you're Scioscia, that's a real dagger. The fact is this team's offense has utterly shut down. It's perhaps not too surprising considering the organizational chaos they launched with the well-received and very tardy news that on-base percentage was, at last, no longer a stranger in the Angels' arsenal. Unfortunately, they've got a closet full of DHs, a shortstop with a hacktastic bat who looks backwards to the old Angels platonic ideal of clutch two-out hitting (if he was ever good at that — career .268 with two outs), and two first basemen with one of them pretending to play third or the outfield once in a while. Trumbo's continued absence yields the biggest head-scratchers all year, especially considering the Angels pretty much have consigned him to the bench lately, while he's outhitting everyone else.

Helen: Is Trumbo sick?
Me: The working theory seems to be that Scioscia hates the number 44.

Seriously, Abreu got a leadoff double — supplanting the hapless Aybar in the leadoff spot — and then nothing the rest of the night. The team's desperation is not quite so deep, however, that they feel obliged to call up Mike Trout, who is tearing up AAA presently, hitting a torrid .419/.483/.689 as of publication time for that Times story (presumably, this morning). In a sense, I get that, because if Albert Pujols isn't going to do anything for you, is it fair to throw that failing on Trout? On the other hand, if they wait another couple weeks, the team, already down 8.5 games, could be well into double digits by mid-May.

Update 4/26: A vital question:

Q: Who’s more useless to their team right now: Pujols or Aquaman?

Oof. Rough times for El Hombre right now.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, rays, recaps

How many more games does Albert Pujols get before Angels fans start taking his name as a epithet, in the same way they quickly turned on Vernon Wells? If anything, it'll be worse: in a ten year deal full of this inept 0-for-y, every day will seem like eternity, especially if Scioscia can't help himself and must needs leave The Artist Formerly Known As Pujols in at the three or four hole.

But this wasn't entirely his doing, as the top four Angels in the lineup were 3-for-15, a terrible showing under any circumstance. The Angels end the days 7.5 games back of the Rangers, and April isn't even over. David Price may have been at the top of his game, but Ervin Santana gave up more home runs in one game than any Angels player has hit all year.

Update: Per a tweeted suggestion last night by David Williamson (@StolenMonkey86 on Twitter), Albert Pujols: .232/.284/.333. Mariners collectively: .233/.284/.353. Embarrassing.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, rays, recaps

On a day when the day promises to be long —

• The Angels have released Anthony Ortega. I was wondering when that was going to happen; he ended the season with a craptastic 9.24 ERA, and his 1.17 K/BB rate didn't promise much in the way of improvement, ditto his 5.0 K/9. A spare part the Angels did not need, who will ply his trade in someone else's minor league system.
• Mike Trout can't take home Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 thanks to a weird fluke of the rules:

  When Trout was called up in July, he was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster for the first time. When he was sent down, then, he was what they call optioned. When you’re optioned, you aren’t on the active roster, and you don’t accumulate service time, EXCEPT you must be optioned for at least 20 days in the season for that option to count. (An option lasts all season, no matter how many times you are sent down.) Since Trout wasn’t on the 40-man roster before he was called up, he hadn’t previously been optioned, so his time in Double-A before that didn’t count. He was then called back up after only 17 days, and spent the rest of the year with the Angels, so his option didn’t technically happen. “The service time has to go somewhere,” says the Angels’ Tim Mead, which means it counts as major league service time.

  Boo.
• Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards in the NL and AL respectively. Both were good choices, Gibson especially so. It was Gibson's first, and Maddon's second.
• Justin Verlander unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award, with Jered Weaver taking second place. The NL award will be announced Thursday.
• In an era where most regional papers are doing everything they can to cut back on expenses — including covering the local teams — it might come as a surprise to learn the Register still has its own Dodgers blog. Indeed, I wanted to use this fine post by Howard Cole on the Matt Treanor signing as a jumping off point to discuss that particular dumb deal. It's not a very good signing, but it's also typical for Colletti.
• The Angels hired Hal Morris as their new scouting director.

Labels: angels, awards, diamondbacks, dodgers, rays

NBC Sports' Hardball Talk passes along a report from the Sports Blog Nation DRays Bay that Arte Moreno, Angels team president John Carpino, and Rays GM Andrew Friedman were seen having dinner in a St. Petersburg restaurant.

If that happens, it would be the third GM ganked this year from that chair and into another one, as Bleed Cubbie Blue reports Jed Hoyer will leave the Padres to become the Cubs' GM. How this happened I have no idea, but it seems ridiculous to me that the smaller market teams are letting bigger market teams just yank their GMs like that. (I assume the Rays gave the Angels permission to speak with Friedman. If not, it could be considered interference.)

Labels: angels, cubs, padres, rays, red sox, rumors

The Price Of Winning: Angels 8, Rays 5

The Halos chased David Price after only four and a third innings; he was wild from the start, though not overly so. The wonder was that he only walked one batter, yet he seemingly careened from three ball count to three ball count, riding the edge of peril the whole night. The Angels' offense was accordingly locked in, tying the game on Mark Trumbo's three-run jack in the fourth, a high fastball that Trumbo utterly crushed.

Perhaps the best part of the night was watching Vernon Wells get a hit and drive in a run, though not on the same play. Anything in the offense department now is gravy for Wells, who increasingly was looking like a lost cause.

Ervin Santana's night wasn't the catastrophe of his prior start, but neither was it as bad as some of his other road starts, and he held on for his first win of the year. Scott Downs made his first appearance since returning from the DL, and pitched a scoreless seventh. Fernando Rodney actually looked pretty good despite giving up a solo homer to B.J. Upton, and Jordan Walden nailed down the save with a clean ninth, pitching around a leadoff double to catcher John Jaso. A really nice win; combined with a 3-1 Oakland win over Texas, the Angels are once again tied for first.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Dodgers Squeak Past Pads: Dodgers 3, Padres 2

First, I should mention that Andre Ethier's 1-for-4 night extended his hitting streak to 25 games, putting him in a six-way tie with Paul LoDuca, Willie Davis, Steve Sax, Buzz Boyle, and Harvey Hendrick. One more, and he takes third place all by himself; the next step is 27, attained by Duke Snider and Joe Medwick, with the franchise crown belonging to Willie Davis again, with 31.

The Pads this year go from merely inept to tragically incompetent, trailing the league in runs scored, and being almost half the league's leader, St. Louis. Luckily the Padres have the best pitching in the league, which they need because their offense scores so few runs. Unsurprisingly after tonight, San Diego is 9-17, the worst record in the division and tied with Houston for the worst record in the majors.

Ted Lilly surpassed Clayton Richard, the Dodgers getting the winning runs on solo blasts by Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe. The Pads came close to tying it late, as Jonathan Broxton nearly blew another save; fortunately (and I missed this), ex-Padre Tony Gwynn, Jr. saved the game with a great catch.

ESPN Box • Dodger recap

Labels: angels, dodgers, padres, rays, recaps

Per Jon Heyman on Twitter; the Rays have also signed Manny's former Red Sox teammate Johnny Damon on a one-year, $5.25M deal with $750k in attendance bonuses.

Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, rays, transactions

So, a Phillies/Yanks rematch, yes?

ESPN Box

Labels: rangers, rays

• Let's get the bad news out of the way, if indeed it is: Frank McCourt pulled the plug on president Dennis Mannion. Mannion was responsible for the Mannywood section (pulled down in early August). The Times article mentions a press release, but none appears on the team press release page. Typical Frank.

  Update: Steve Dilbeck:

  It was Mannion, of course, who absolutely trashed Jamie in a deposition in the McCourts' divorce proceedings, claiming she was frequently absent from executive meetings and not capable or interested in focusing on the team.

  Frank thanked Mannion profusely for his support, and then showed him the door. What a workplace.

• Fun stuff: Mike Scioscia will return to "The Simpsons", guest-voicing himself on an upcoming episode.
• If it weren't for the Giants' 1-0 victory last night over Atlanta, no home team would have won a postseason game. Roy Halladay pitched only the second no-hitter in postseason history with a 4-0 complete game over the Reds on Wednesday. Tim Lincecum was nearly as good, getting a two-hit shutout yesterday while fanning 14 Braves. Year of the Pitcher, indeed — helped out with some bad umpiring (again), which is why there are calls for greater disciplinary transparency. The Twins had similar problems with their Game 2 at home (resulting in a 5-2 loss to the Yanks) on a blown strike three call to Lance Berkman; the next pitch ended up bouncing off the wall for an RBI double.

  The Rangers return to Arlington Saturday after making the Rays look like Little Leaguers two games in a row, the second against a shockingly feeble Tampa Bay offense that failed to score in a 6-0 loss Thursday.

Labels: braves, dodgers, firings, front office, giants, postseason, rangers, rays, twins, yankees

In no special order:

• I was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the sort of year the Angels posted. The problems with the bullpen showed up early, from players who were expected to be and in fact were regulars. The real sad surprises of 2010 were Kendry Morales' broken leg that sidelined him for the balance of the season, ineffective offense from Bobby Abreu, the collapses of Erick Aybar and Jeff Mathis, the failure to transition effectively to the majors by Brandon Wood (who is on his way to being one of the worst offensive position players in history), the long-predicted decline by Joe Saunders, and a dreadful year by Scott Kazmir. That the Angels did not elect to return Eddie Bane to his head of scouting role is not too surprising, since some of these failings can be laid squarely at the feet of the man now occupying the GM's chair, the former head of player development, Tony Reagins. The team's 80-82 finish means they get a protected draft pick in 2011, which they will need.
• The Dodgers' 2010 was in many ways more baffling to me. If there is a reason to think that Matt Kemp should have so thoroughly regressed, I would like to know what it was. He ended the season with more strikeouts than hits, posted the lowest OBP of his career, and posted the worst full-season UZR/150 of his career. Of course, he wasn't the Dodgers' only problem; the rotation was a patchwork quilt outside of Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw, whose improvements (though somewhat uneven in Bills' case — he had a poor April and June) amounted to its only bright spots. Hiroki Kuroda — whom I falsely remembered as being injured much of the year — managed to pitch nearly 200 innings while keeping his ERA to an entirely respectable 3.39. The rest of the rotation was a mess, with Vicente Padilla actually spending scads of time on the DL, the Dodgers picking up Ted Lilly for no discernible reason, and John Ely up and down to prove why he doesn't belong in the majors (just yet?) after a very promising start. With the McCourt divorce case 90 days (at least) from its first resolution, the team's ability to manage its payroll is seriously in question for the first time since McCourt ownership started.
• The NL West and Wild Card races went down to the final day, and were both exciting. The Braves beat the Phillies 8-7 in a game that at first looked like a blowout after Atlanta's offense made it an 8-2 lead after six. The Phils treated it as a spring training game, trotting out a sequence of relievers in unaccustomed order, but it became a nail-biter late as Tim Hudson faded in the seventh, and the bullpen leaked runs, though not so many that the team lost.

  That set up the prospect of David Pinto's massive tie scenario, wherein Atlanta, San Francisco, and the Padres all end the season with 91-71 records. This would have meant a game 163 between the Giants and Padres in San Diego to determine the NL West winner, and the winner from that would have to fly to Atlanta to determine the Wild Card. But as the Giants blanked San Diego 3-0 behind Jonathan Sanchez and four innings' worth of relievers, the Giants took the NL West flag, and the next games start on Wednesday with the Braves as the NL Wild card.

  Similarly, even though the Yankees made it to the postseason, their 8-4 loss to Boston combined with a 3-2 Rays victory over the Royals (in 12 innings) means the Bronx Bombers won't take home a division flag this year. Small victories, right?

• Firings: It's that time of year, of course; the biggest news is that Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are out in Flushing, with the team announcing a search for GM and manager, respectively.
• Pirates manager John Russell is out after three seasons; I had to scratch my head for a bit, because I didn't remember who got the job after Jim Tracy left.
• Ken Macha will not return to Milwaukee after two losing seasons. Word has it that he did not have a good relationship with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, but as always, those sorts of things can be overlooked if the team is winning. I wouldn't be surprised to see him land in Pittsburgh.
• Contrariwise, Kirk Gibson will retain the helm in Arizona for at least another year.
• Postseason predictions: My picks for the ALDS series are the Yankees and Rays, though I am rooting for Minnesota; however, the Twins will be without the services of first baseman Justin Morneau, recovering from the effects of a concussion incurred during a June game.

  In the NLDS, I like the Reds and Phillies to advance; despite the problems Ryan Howard has shown against lefties, Philadelphia is still the class of the NL, though the distinction isn't as great as it once was. The Giants should be grateful they made the postseason, and the same is true of the Braves. I wager both series should be over in four games.

Labels: angels, braves, dodgers, giants, pirates, postseason, rays, reds, yankees

The wonder wasn't so much that Brian Fuentes gagged up his second blown save of the year in six opportunities; it was really that the Angels (read: the unlikely Joel Piniero and Kevin Jepsen) managed to hold the Rays scoreless through seven innings.

Torii Hunter's sac fly in the first gave the Angels an early lead; they picked up another on Hunter's solo shot in the third, and two more on Mike Napoli's second homer of the year. But once the Rays got exposed to Fernando Rodney, all of a sudden it was as if they remembered that, even despite their recent blanking streak (they last scored in the second inning of Saturday's game against Oakland's Ben Sheets), they are still the second-best offense in the league.

Noteworthy, therefore, was the 2010 debut of Trevor Bell in the bullpen, he who also got the win. I confess to being highly surprised that he was called up (the Angels demoting Robb Quinlan to make room, presently with no hits in six at-bats), but pleased at the outcome. I thought as I watched the game that it was his first career win; but no, it's his second, the first being August 18, 2009 against Cleveland on the road.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, injuries, rays, recaps, transactions

Congratulations, Dallas Braden and Oakland!

ESPN Box

Labels: athletics, history, rays, recaps

Thanks to the miracle of the iPhone, I was able to listen to a fair amount of these games in the Little Rock airport and on the way to dinner...

Angels Beat Up Gavin Floyd, Again: Angels 7, White Sox 1

For some reason, I had it in my head that the Angels have pretty much beat up on Gavin Floyd throughout his career, but the 4.14 ERA he had there, even after last night's start, wasn't what you'd call truly bad; limiting it to his White Sox career against the Angels, he's still looking pretty decent, so maybe I'm thinking of his two 2008 starts against them.

Either way, he had another bad start yesterday, and that was largely thanks to Bobby Abreu, who knocked in single runs on a first inning groundout and a fifth inning sac fly, and Maicer Izturis' fifth inning RBI double that whacked one into the right-center gap to plate two.

Joe Saunders limited the opposition to a single run, a solo blast by second baseman Jayson Nix, but then retired the next 15 batters in a row. One of the oddities they pointed out on the radio broadcast is that Nix is 3-for-5 against Saunders lifetime, and all three are home runs, good for a .600/.600/2.400 line. Go figure.

Incidental oddness: Ozzie Guillen got nailed in the elbow by an Erick Aybar foul ball and was nearly sent to the hospital. I've had my problems with the guy in the past, but I hope he recovers from that soon.

With the Rangers rained out thanks to an extremely heavy weather system passing through (I got caught in it at DFW, myself, and it shut down the airport for about an hour), the Angels' division lead increased to 5.5 games. They'll make it up on a Sunday doubleheader.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Incidentally, Rangers Selling Playoff Tickets

The Rangers have started selling ALDS tickets even though they're currently two games back of Wild Card-leading Boston in the standings for that berth. It's conceivable that they could do it, but they'll need help from some very weak teams, in the main. The Angels play Boston next week, and then fly to Texas to play their final set in Arlington for the season. Assuming no changes in the standings by the end of the day on Sunday, if the Angels take two of three while the Rangers take the Oakland series, it's conceivable the Rangers could be in a dead heat for the Wild Card or even ahead slightly. Boston is playing Tampa Bay this weekend, and also had a rainout Friday with a doubleheader scheduled for Sunday; unlike Texas, Boston has a day off on Monday before facing the Halos.

Using Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA-adjusted simulations, the Rangers have about an 8% chance of making the postseason.

Dodgers Turn Anti-Merkin, Beat Cain In A Laugher: Dodgers 10, Giants 3

The Dodgers led all the way in a laugher that started out as a decent enough game, with the boys in blue taking the early 2-0 lead off Matt Cain thanks to James Loney's RBI double. Casey Blake got another pair in the sixth on a two-run jack, but then turned ugly for the Giants after Cain left following the sixth. Merkin Valdez (seriously?) then proceeded to give away the Giants' store, giving up a run and walking the bases loaded before recording an out. Thanks to Bob Howry, all his bequeathed baserunners scored, so it was a tough night for the Giants.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched a fine game in his second start since coming back from the DL, and arguably his best since a June 23 start against the White Sox, where he gave up two runs and was one out away from a complete game.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Rockies Make Giants Cry With A Thrilling Ninth Inning Comeback: Rockies 4, Giants 1

You could hear the moans from the San Francisco clubhouse as normally unshakable Heath Bell imploded for the first time this year in the ninth down in San Diego. The Rockies, who did their franchise's best work in September two years ago, look like they're repeating it now, going 11-1 in September since a five-game losing skid to the Dodgers and Giants to end August.

After failing to score at all in the prior innings, Todd Helton drew a leadoff walk to start the ninth. Bell retired Troy Tulowitzki on a line drive to right, but then failed to get either Brad Hawpe (single) or pinch-hitter Jason Giambi (walk). Bell got closer when he struck out Matt Murton looking, but Yorvit Torrealba came up huge for Colorado: after getting Torrealba to an 0-2 count, Bell missed twice, one of which was a close check swing — and then gave up a bases-clearing double that ended with the catcher reaching third on an ill-advised attempt to make the third out at home. Torrealba himself got knocked in on Paul Phillips' pinch-hit single, giving the Rocks a three-run lead they wouldn't relinquish, as provisional closer Franklin Morales nailed down the save.

The net result is that the Rockies stretch their Wild Card lead to 5.5 games, which also helps the Dodgers, even as it maintains the team's very hungry-looking two-game division deficit; with the Wild Card certainly coming from the West this year, the Rockies helped assure the Dodgers of a playoff berth.

Yahoo box • Rockies recap

Labels: angels, dodgers, giants, padres, rays, recaps, red sox, rockies, white sox

In BPro:

The Rays' chances of getting to the postseason for a second consecutive season are pretty much over. They trail the Yankees by 14½ games in the AL East, and the Red Sox by six in the league's wild-card standings. To some extent, the Rays conceded last weekend when they traded left-hander Scott Kazmir to the Angels for a package of three prospects. The Rays were 3½ games out in the wild-card race at the time, but the trade showed that this is a franchise that still has to watch its money carefully despite their 2008 joyride that saw them go from having the worst record in the major leagues to winning the AL pennant before falling to the Phillies in the World Series. The trade saved the Rays $24 million, as Kazmir had two more years on his contract along with a club option for 2012.

"We have to live within our means," Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said. "This is who we are and this is what we do. People better get used to it, because it's going to continue." Sternberg was also adamant that the trade of Kazmir is not a sign that the Rays are giving up on the idea of contending again anytime soon. Instead, he said it was a "reallocation of resources" that provides financial flexibility to the franchise. "I would like to think people know me and know us better that we're not rolling up any carpets and that we have at least enough of a track record that we have a sense of what we're doing," Sternberg said. "I think any real fan who looked at it could clearly see that it's not a salary dump."

I think the Rays did a fine job last year, but it's obvious they're having trouble maintaining consistency with the same group. Kazmir especially is a player who was owed a lot of money and couldn't really maintain his production. Those are precisely the kinds of contracts that weigh around the necks of small-market franchises, whether it's Pittsburgh (Jason Kendall comes to mind) or Oakland (Eric Chavez's deal will finally be over this year).

Labels: angels, rays, trades

Per the St. Petersburg Times, the PTBNL in the Kazmir trade is Sean Rodriguez. Boy, talk about a huge gamble. S-Rod was worth quite a bit on his own. It's now put up or shut up time for Brandon Wood.

Thanks to Tripon in the comments for the heads-up.

Update: Tony Reagins confirms the deal:

“We feel we gave up a lot in moving Sean,” Reagins said. “He’ s a quality baseball player and a baseball player in the true sense of the word. Very intelligent, great instincts, able to play multiple positions — I think that’s what made him attractive to the Rays.

“But with the depth we have in the middle infield we felt it was a move we could afford to make.”

Labels: angels, ouch, rays, trades, transactions

No. Not Rodriguez.

Labels: angels, rays, rumors, trades, transactions

David Pinto passes on a Rays Index post indicating that the player to be named later may already be on the Angels 40-man roster, and speculates that it's Brandon Wood. If it's B-Wood, color me mighty upset.

Labels: angels, rays, suck, trades

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon dyed his hair black in preparation for a long road trip next week. The 63-54 Rays are in third place in the AL East, 10 games back of first-place New York, and Maddon wanted to do something to "Lighten things up a bit." Maddon last dyed his hair when he was Mike Scioscia's bench coach on the 2002 Angels.

Labels: ex-angels, funny, rays

As usual for day games, I got into this one late, late in the bottom of the fourth, and what a game it was: by that time I had already missed Mike Napoli's RBI triple (somewhat generously credited, but hey, you have to make those plays). It's late, and there were a lot of fireworks, but dayam, a pair of three-run jacks from Gary Matthews, Jr. (who has no business hitting them, getting one off the ill-named Grant Balfour) and Howie Kendrick (who should, once in a while). Not least to be mentioned here is an ugly but serviceable (thanks to the miracle of excellent run support) maiden start by Trevor Bell, four runs, all earned, in five and a third innings. I have no idea if he'll be back for seconds, but we'll see.

Morning after update: And I forgot Kendry Morales' epic 12-pitch at-bat in the seventh that ended with him getting credited with an infield single to short and an RBI (yes, the Yahoo box score has it wrong), though two runs scored on the play. Shortstop Jason Bartlett's only play, from deep in the hole, was to third, and he threw wildly, allowing both Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar to score. It wasn't quite as excellent an at-bat as Alex Cora's epic 18-pitch at-bat against Cubs starter Matt Clement, which ended in a home run; but it had salubrious effects nonetheless.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

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Labels: angels, rays, recaps