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

You would be hard pressed to find a more remarked-upon or remarkable game than today's White Sox/Orioles tilt at an entirely empty Camden Yards, due to the rioting in Baltimore. The game itself was mostly noteworthy for its astonishing speed, completing nine innings in a barely-recognizable 2:03 despite the high-scoring offense.  If MLB rules people want to figure out how best to accelerate the pace of play, this game might well be a good place to start, an experiment otherwise impossible that yields an interesting result, just as shutting down all air traffic on September 11, 2001 yielded some interesting (or not) results. Taking the fans out of the park might be the most radical idea yet advanced to this end, but is it too much to imagine that showboating batters, the staged drama of walkup music, the endless preening of the pitcher between pitches might be considerably lowered in such an environment?

If any team can achieve such a thing, it's the Dodgers, who have staked what appears to be the vast majority of their revenue streams to television contracts, rather than seats in the park. While it might be overkill to suggest the team could play entirely without fans in the stadium, it could certainly operate financially without them, although their current TV contract's viability is in grave peril. Think of the advantages for the team: no parking hassles (or revenue), no more Brian Stows, no fan interference, no need for concessions or staffing. Security could be reduced by no less than two-thirds. This begins to sound better all the time.

ESPN Box • Recap

Update: Apparently the Orioles signed autographs for and tossed balls to fans that weren't there.

Labels: dodgers, orioles, recaps, tv, white sox

The blithe details of the game belie the kind of team I believe the Angels now are, one directly reflected in the current standings. Only a half game ahead of the hapless Astros, they would be in last place in the 2012 AL West. As then, once more they find ways to lose. While the prior losses that mostly got us to this state were close, this one wasn't, embarrassingly handed to the team by last year's division winning A's. I haven't paid much attention to spring training, owing to an extended vacation in New Zealand virtually all of February that quenched any desire I had to leave home for any reason whatsoever, but what I did see of the Angels in Arizona was disheartening, the bullpen especially.

C.J. Wilson's annoying habit of exploding one inning of every single start continued, and right away with the first, in which he surrendered three runs in a horrid mess of walks and singles, as a drunk man might keep retching long after disgorging the contents of his stomach. But then — and only after surrendering a solo homer to Coco Crisp to start the second — he settled down, and actually managed to outpitch the A's starter, Jarrod Parker, the latter only lasting 3.1 innings.

Usually when you can chase the other team's starter, it's a pretty good sign you've got a shot at a win. But by this point, the Halos were still down 4-2. They eventually turned that around in the sixth to make it 5-4 in an inning that saw the dubiously hired Josh Hamilton make his lone contribution, a sac fly to tie the game.

So the end of hope. The Angels held the A's at bay through two outs of the seventh, with Scott Downs — who has been dreadful this year, mostly — posting a very respectable inning, to give way to Kevin Jepson, who had been doing fairly well. As it happened, that was a horrible mistake, for as the Register's Jeff Fletcher tweeted, pinch hitter John Jaso hits righties better over his career by about .250 points of OBP (.789 vs. .539). While it wasn't exactly predictable that Jaso would homer, he did, and so, later, did Brandon Moss, who uncharacteristically hit 21 last year. A lesson, perhaps made starker by the enthusiastic boos that accompanied Jepson when he slunk back into the dugout after finally retiring DH Nate Freiman, four batters after his entrance into the game.

The game featured a mess in the offense, too, as the Angels stranded thirteen base runners, and headliner Josh Hamilton went 0-for-4 with a sac fly as duly noted before. Not a propitious start for the homestand, or the season. It is the sort of thing that makes you wonder whether the owner can be fired.

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Various observations:

• The sudden Dodger Stadium-length concession lines at the park that I expected were a Freeway Series, early season anomaly continued unabated. People I know at certain concession stands who were competent and fast (the bartender Chet at the tequila stand in my section, 530 or thereabouts) are gone, replaced by someone I do not know who is vastly his inferior. And everywhere, long, long, slow lines.
• Verizon data is finally slow and awful during the game. My 4G LTE WiFi card is next to useless during the game, constantly downshifting to 3G, though AT&T is scarcely better.
• I haven't done a thorough look-see at the concessions, but the Chronic Taco in the Pavilion section is woefully understaffed and painfully (and to my eye, unnecessarily) slow. That's too bad, because it's probably the best food in the house at the moment. I recommend their same-branded stand in the third base entryway.
• In case you missed it: Jered Weaver will be out 4-6 weeks thanks to a comebacker in his last start that nailed his elbow. I wonder, given how badly he pitched Sunday in Texas, whether it wasn't a stress fracture worsened by impact. Update 4/11: Duh, injury was to his non-pitching elbow.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, athletics, recaps

So much has gone on, but it seems like even management doesn't give a damn anymore; extending a 2-run deficit to a 4-run hole with the team blanked for inning after inning, because they sent Jason Isringhausen out there, would be inexcusable if it weren't for the ransacking of the bullpen from the night before. Really, the only reason to show up for 2013 season tickets is the prospect of seeing Mike Trout every day, but he's only one player. The rest are aging or dubious. Weaver is a mess lately, and his injury is scary. Kendrick at second is a disappointment, Kendrys at first a cipher who may recover, or not, but in any case will be a juggling act with Pujols for playing time. Aybar isn't really a top tier shortstop, third base is an open question, and while I love individual aspects of the outfield (Trout), the corners are far less certain. Torii Hunter almost certainly won't be back, and even if he was, would he be good? Vernon Wells will return (and will suck), and that means Bourjos and his weak bat in center.

The non-Weaver parts of the rotation are almost certain to be a shambles again. Wilson and Haren will be albatrosses. Santana will have gone to free agency and a slot with the Royals or whatever other cellar dweller wants him, or if he gets lucky and parlays his second half into a better contract, maybe some middling club like the Braves. Ugh. Can't think about paying that kind of money for the junkpile team the 2013 Angels are about to become. And the sad thing is they won't likely even get a protected draft pick for their efforts in 2014.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, athletics, recaps

It was an odd game, as these things go; first, the Angels stood up in the second and bludgeoned the former Fausto Carmona, now Roberto Hernandez in his first game since serving a three-week suspension for falsifying his name. The results were pretty for the Angels so far as the score went, but not so much for what they said about the team's offense in reality. What transpired was a real comedy of errors, with Vernon Wells reaching on an error and scoring on another one, both by Brent Lillibridge. In all, they put up a five spot, but really, had Lillibridge not sucked, the score would have been 2-0, as Iannetta's sac fly would have been the inning's third out, and Wells would have hit into a double play.

The good also included Ervin Santana's first decent outing in quite a long time, completing seven innings with only one run surrendered. Jason Isringhausen sucked — again — giving up a three-run jack to Shin Soo Choo, but that was it for the Tribe, who went down in order against an oddly resurgent Kevin Jepsen. In a year that has been so miserable for the Angels — I wrote nothing about the weekend series with Seattle because it was so damn dispiriting — it's good if you can beat the (other) bad teams.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, indians, recaps

Something about this game — this series — says 2013 and beyond will be bleak. Expensive. Bad. Like the Mets in recent years, always suffering from some key lack, and always patching over it with more useless veterans (<cough> Takahashi </cough>). It seems indelicate and stupid.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

If the Angels lose the division by one game, this is the one they'll rue. Losing leads of six runs and then three runs, the latter in extras? It reminds me that Scioscia was smarter when he had Joe Maddon as his bench coach, or maybe it's easy to be smart when you have a bullpen full of aces. Frieri showed why the Padres were willing to trade him in the first place, and now that Scott Downs has hit the 15-day DL with a strained shoulder, the Angels' bullpen looks thinner and thinner.

Sure, tell me that the Angels are now guaranteed a split in Texas, and that's not a bad thing. But with victory within reach? Not so good.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

When I heard about the Hanley Ramirez trade, sending Nathan Eovaldi and minor league pitcher Scott McGaugh to the Marlins for Ramirez and reliever Randy Choate, I was at least skeptical. Ramirez is two years away from a good season, but continues to be paid as a star. But, as MSTI pointed out,

As for Ramirez, there’s risk here for sure. He’ll be 29 in December, and from 2007-10 he was an MVP caliber player, mixing power, on-base skills, and speed together to make for a very productive package, though he was probably always miscast as a shortstop. Last year, slowed by back and shoulder injuries, was nothing short of a disaster, as he played in just 92 games, hit .243/.333/.379, and probably got his manager fired. After an offseason dispute with the Marlins about moving to third base, he was expected to bounce back in a healthy 2012, but has hit only .246/.322/.428 and has recently missed time after a bizarre incident in which he cut himself on a fan and then didn’t take antibiotics, leading to infection. Ramirez is signed through 2014 with something like $36m remaining, which the Dodgers will apparently be paying all of.

So the concern is obvious: Ramirez is expensive, moody, and a poor defender. (Why does that sound so familiar?) Yet he’s on the right side of 30 and undeniably talented, and players like that rarely come available in the free market. Offense, particularly infield offense, is so hard to find these days that you’re going to have to take some risks in order to try to find production. The hope is that Ramirez can be a good change-of-scenery guy, and while his attitude is indeed a concern, running a solid clubhouse is one area where Don Mattingly has proven to be adept. It remains to be seen where Ramirez plays, but my guess is he’ll stay at third for now, since he’s hardly a top defensive shortstop and since Luis Cruz has been an adequate fill-in, especially with the glove.

I'm not as sanguine about Ramirez' chances overall; it seems to me that the left side of the diamond is a tough place to make a living, especially for someone who is a power threat and claims to play shortstop. Nomar Garciaparra comes to mind, particularly, and while he had a wrist injury from which he never really recovered, Ramirez is a couple years away from 30 still, which is kind of a big deal. The hope, certainly, is that way from the toxic atmosphere of south Florida he might be able to pull himself together. This strikes me as somewhat wishful thinking, but it is all we have at the moment. That, and the fact that he's better right now than Juan Uribe.

The pessimist's view is that while that latter's true, it is also the case that he has put up sub-100 OPS+ numbers for the last two years at a position normally assumed to be power-first if he is to take over the third base slot for the Dodgers. It's also worth mentioning that the new Marlins park isn't really well known enough to understand how it plays, but the early returns seem to indicate it's a slight hitter's park. However it breaks down, the Dodgers owe him $31.5M over the next two years, plus the prorated remainder of the $15M remaining on his 2012 salary.

The Dodgers scored no runs today that did not involve Ramirez, either hitting or scoring, so there is that, but the real questions lie down the road.

Update 7/26: This move reminded me substantially of Manny Ramirez's star turn in his Dodgers debut, which ended with a thud when he hit into a double play with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth. In that regard, this Ramirez did much better, but still, it seems futile at this point in his career to expect a lot. Indeed, an overall nobody-wins-this-trade vibe seems to be the sense I'm getting from the BPro review yesterday.

Dodgers recap • ESPN Box

Labels: cardinals, dodgers, recaps

Monday:

"Greg [Holland] got two outs, then came the hit by Callaspo and the bouncer over Eric," Yost said. "Then he walked Bourjos on four pitches, and that was the game. Greg got a fastball up to Morales and he hit a laser beam, but the walk to Bourjos is what killed him, because we knew they would send up Morales to hit. We're giving up walks in crucial situations, and we've got to find ways to eliminate that."

Yesterday's game notwithstanding, the Royals pitching staff may not have had trouble with walks (they gave up only two today) but starter Luke Hochevar got pelted to the tune of eight runs (six earned) and nine hits in only three innings. Really, a terrible outing, his second-shortest this year. Meanwhile, Jered Weaver was pretty good; the day game seemed to sap him somewhat, and so he only lasted five.

The game mostly belonged to the Angels' offense, who banged out six runs in the first two innings. Trout again had a multi-hit game, starting a new streak, including an impressive two-run shot in the eighth. Torii Hunter, shaking off yesterday's rough game, banged out a homer immediately afterwards, one of four hits he had in today's game. The major concern late was seeing lefty Scott Downs get knocked around for three runs (on a home run by Jeff Francoeur). There's talk now that the Angels are seeking a left-handed reliever to stabilize the recent problems that Downs has had; it makes sense even while being a little over the top.

Angels recap • ESPN Box

Labels: angels, recaps, royals

If a random lefty shuts down the Angels' offense in the forest, does it make a sound? That probably makes no sense, but not much about last night's game did. I forgot my new Trout foam hat — purchased over the weekend — and immediately thought, "They're gonna lose now." Well, of course that had nothing to do with it, but Trout's hitting streak came to an end (even though he did manage to get a walk, he failed to get on base any other time), and the Angels pretty much flailed at random Kansas City lefty Will Smith, a guy who started the game with an ERA over 7.00. Baseball-Reference says it was 7.97, but I remember it as a tad lower than that, which might be due to the fact that I wasn't able to get into my seat before first pitch, about which, more later.

One of the tweeps I follow, @SimpleGame (Kristen), made the observation that Garrett Richards is like Star Trek: the odd numbered starts suck. I don't entirely know if that's true, but he sure has been inconsistent, and last night looked like he might be chased by the end of the third, giving up four runs after two innings and a hell of a lot of baserunners, facing 13 batters total with five hits, two for extra bases and one of those a homer to Lorenzo Cain, and two walks. Really, it was a terrible outing, and not one I really hope to see repeated. It also doesn't give me much hope that the Angels will ever manage to catch the Rangers (who also lost last night 2-1 to the Red Sox), because they've got to get better pitching from their starters.

The good news was that the Royals did no further damage past the second, and in fact Jerome Williams looked quite solid in a new long-relief role following Richards' exit after the fifth. Terry Smith in the radio booth was making Kansas City out as a good offensive team, which jibed with my recollection. However, upon looking it up, their record is much worse than that in reality, turning up 12th in the league in runs scored, so this was not as great a feat as he made it sound.

The Royals brought in a pair of relievers who gave me brief hope — the goat from Monday's game, Greg Holland, and ex-Dodger Jonathan Broxton — but both blew off past bad outings, and in the case of Broxton, sported a fine 2.27 ERA at the end of the game. The Angels never got past second from the second inning on in one of their more futile displays of offense in the post-Trout era.

Perhaps the worst moments in the game came in the sixth, when Torii Hunter missed Eric Hosmer's line drive, sending him sprawling in the outfield. He came up lame after the ball got to the wall and went for a triple, but he was unconvincing to me, limping around for some time after. And then in his next at bat in the bottom of the frame — he was the inning's leadoff man — he fouled off a ball on his leg and danced out of the box. Later, Pujols took a foul ball off his arm, hard, but stayed in the game. I have to wonder whether we'll see production declines from both Hunter and Pujols over the next few weeks because of those hits.

Finally: about that first pitch. I went into Chronic Tacos before the game, and it took me — no exaggeration — half an hour to get through the line. Yes, the food's good, but it's not that good, and I won't be making that mistake again. I've been there three times, and twice the line has been this bad or worse, wrapping around the corner of the building. Their strategy, which works well enough in a regular store, for some reason just takes too long to execute in the ballpark. Bummer.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, royals

I have a silly picture of me in a foam Trout hat, which is the only thing you can do this year. Even with the series win, the Angels ended the day five games back, which isn't insurmountable, but they'll have to sweep in the Texas series upcoming to even get to one game back and make it a race. I'm mostly focusing on Mike Trout, who's doing impossible things with pitched baseballs now that he can hit big-league fastballs and positively pwns breaking stuff, what can't he do? Eventually he'll come back to earth, but I plan on enjoying every single day he's in uniform, regardless of what else happens. Last night, he set a rookie league and franchise record for scoring runs in 14 consecutive games. That's ... amazing.

Jeff Passan yesterday on Twitter alerted me to the fact that since June 1, Josh Hamilton has been hitting .201/.290/.396, while Albert Pujols has a healthy .327/.411/.605 slash line over that same time. Endpoints matter, of course, and small sample sizes have consequences for everyone, but it was significant a few days ago that Rangers manager Ron Washington had publicly called out Hamilton for not making adjustments. Certainly, last night's game was a case where he really had a horrible time; he looked to be swinging for the fences all the time, and missed badly almost every time.

Meantime, Dan Haren had a great return game from the DL, giving the Angels better than a quality start in six innings. If Ernesto Frieri was scary in the closer role, and Scott Downs a bit tired and wheezing from overuse early in the season, you could forgive them both given the Rangers' offensive firepower. But the biggest surprise of the second half so far has to be a rejuvenated Kevin Jepsen, who cruised through the seventh, and with the seemingly effortless way he did it suggests he might take an occasional eighth inning role going forward. That's always a pleasant surprise.

The Angels two home runs, the first Bobby Wilson's improbable shot that chased starter Matt Harrison; and the second Pujols' off Alexi Ogando, whom Rangers blogger Evan Grant thinks may be somehow off — possibly hiding an injury? However they came by it, it was good to see the Halos cadge another win off the Rangers at a time when they desperately needed it.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

The incredible thing is that yesterday's start wasn't even Santana's shortest of the year; that happened two starts ago against Cleveland. One complete game shutout doesn't make up for all the other dreadful starts we've been forced to watch, and the Angels have won only four of his 18 starts this year. It's pretty much a lock that unless he figures something out in the bullpen — and given the team's paucity of pitching options in the minors, even a conversion to relief isn't a given anymore — he won't be back in 2013.

This season has had its blessings, most notably the meteoric rise of Mike Trout, and the revelation of Mark Trumbo as a middle-of-the-order thumper the Angels have needed for years. But almost everything else, especially the pitching, has disappointed.

ESPN Box • MLB Recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

The Angels had the prospect of ending this series nine games back of the Rangers, so to say that every game in this series is a must-win is only slightly hyperbolic. But the Angels pulled ace Jered Weaver in the first game, with a better than average chance of winning.

So it was, and they did. Elvis Andrus' first inning solo homer was the extent of the Rangers' offense, while the Angels pounded Derek Holland for six runs, all earned, including homers by Trumbo and Trout. Keep it going.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

The very air is thick with perfection, or nearly so. These days, we swat perfect games aside like mosquitoes in a swamp; we have had two so far this year, Philip Humber against the Mariners and Matt Cain's against the Astros just last Wednesday. And hours ago, Ervin Santana retired the first 20 batters he faced. Justin Upton broke up the perfection with a hard-hit ground ball single up the middle, but that — and a pinch-hit walk to Miguel Montero in the top of the ninth — were all the base runners the Snakes would get; neither advanced. (My friend Kelly Brouse in Cleveland, who never gets to hear Vin Scully call games, was much disturbed that MLB Network kept cutting in to the Angels game, so much so that she cheered on Upton's single so MLBN could get back to the delivery of the Scully. I think it may be a religious experience.)

All of the Angels' scoring came in the first, when Mark Trumbo cleared the bullpen fence to give the team an early — and as it turned out, permanent and final — two-run lead. The team stranded ten runners on the night, which was a testament to Joe Saunders' skill at leaving them elsewhere, or perhaps a comment on the team's weak RISP hitting, take your pick.

Before the game, we had a fine afternoon conversation with the Baseball Prospectus west coast team, headed by Joe Hamrahi, former Register reporter Sam Miller, ex-Dodgers GM Dan Evans, Jason Martinez (of mlbdepthcharts.com), Jason Wojciechowski, and Stephani Bee. After that, Angels AGM Matt Klentak and (I believe) director of baseball operations Justin Hollander came out and discussed their roles in the organization and answered our many questions. It was great fun, and a wonderful opportunity. Joe expressed to me the hope that they're going to do one of these in August for the Dodgers, which will for sure get me out to the park.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, diamondbacks, recaps

I haven't written anything about either team, save for Tuesday's transactions, since Tuesday's win. Following my brief missive, a commenter chided me for being too pessimistic about the Angels offense. I try to take reasonable criticism to heart — this is one reason I farm out my investment decisions. Yesterday's loss to the Diamondbacks certainly didn't prove anything much in one direction or another on that (though I note in passing that Trout is now 1-for-13 with a walk in his last three games).

Dan Haren leaked base runners all night, but the game didn't really get out of hand until the sixth, when he surrendered four more runs on a surreal two-out rally by the Snakes, giving up a three-run homer to Aaron Hill and an RBI double to Ryan Roberts. On the opposite side of the mound, Trevor Cahill mystified the Angels. In fact, Cahill and the Snakes' bullpen gave up three hits, total, in the shutout.

I actually turned off the TV shortly after that, because I got a text from my wife — she was at the game, I was not, owing to my retirement party yesterday at work — indicating that she was leaving the game early. Helen had gone with our mutual friend Rachael and her nephew Gabe. Rachael has had a lot of health problems recently and doesn't have much stamina.

Now, Gabe had wanted to get a ball signed by a major leaguer for some time, and things kept conspiring against us to make that happen. So when I read in Mark Saxon's ESPN chat earlier in the week that the best places to get autographs are either in the player parking lot past the outfield, or by the home dugout after home batting practice, that gave Helen a strategy to pursue for Gabe.

They decamped to the home dugout, and waited. Reliever LaTroy Hawkins approached, but with body language that screamed, "Not. Signing." My wife, wearing her Cubs cap, vanished from the scene on the grounds that Hawkins' time in Chicago was not happy, and so remembrances of that might not be conducive.

As a teenager, Rachael stayed with a family in France, and stays in touch with them to this day. Out of the blue, they called her, and she answered in perfect French, and started conversing. While this was going on, Hawkins averred as to how his son was taking Spanish lessons, but the hard language is French. And just like that — after hearing Rachael's conversation — he signed Gabe's ball. Gabe, politely, responded with a "Merci". For all I know, Hawkins thought he was signing a ball for a French tourist. Awesome.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, diamondbacks, recaps

If the desperate straits the Angels offense really is in could be more starkly illustrated, I would be hard pressed to come up with a better example than last night. Minus Mike Trout, that would have been a loss, plain and simple. Trout not only drove in two thirds of the team's runs, he walked in the top of the ninth, stole second, and scored the winning run on Albert Pujols' RBI single for the margin of victory. What's pathetic about this is that home plate umpire Sam Holbrook was apparently intent on squeezing both pitchers, and so the Angels managed to load the bases twice with two outs and got exactly nothing out of it. Trout was literally involved in every offensive play in the game.

Both Chris Capuano and Garret Richards were out of the game after five with no decisions, though Richards would have been in line for the win had the bullpen held up. As it was, he gave up a leadoff double to Erick Aybar that Trout knocked in after Josh Lindblom entered the game.

Angels recap • ESPN Box

Labels: angels, dodgers, recaps

The lesson of the Rangers series ended Sunday was supposed to be that the Angels, written off by many (this space included) for dead at the end of April, were actually capable of competing in the AL West. This lowly goal seems like underachieving given the team payroll and the number of injured or malingerers on it, not to mention the dubious start of one Albert Pujols. But the state of the Angels' starting pitching has been little commented on, and Ervin Santana needs most taking out behind the shed and horsewhipping. The team has lost nine of his twelve starts, and last night's catastrophe was not much different from four of his other games in which he gave up five or more runs this year. He has only notched five quality starts this year, 42% of his total and the lowest rate since his 2007 campaign. Is he injured? Or just apathetic? However it is, it looks increasingly like the team will elect to buy him out for his 2013 team option, should this keep up.

The lone bright spots in this game were Kendrys Morales' two home runs, and a 4-for-4 night from Mike Trout that included a wonderful bunt single that rolled until it nestled against the third base bag. Trouty ended the game with a .338 average, leading all rookies, and would be sixth in the AL if he had the at-bats to qualify. It begins to pain me to see him do so well in the face of such sustained mediocrity, or worse, from other factions of the team.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, mariners, recaps

The win Friday — glorious and fully unexpected as it was, given the Angels' wretched futility earlier in the year — was nothing compared to the insanity of yesterday's game. If there has been a game — not just this season, but at any time in my Angels fandom — where the Angels capitalized on such a combination of bad defense and umpire blown calls, I cannot recall it.

The headline bill was one of a star pitching matchup, with the Rangers' young ace Yu Darvish pitted against their former ace and current Angel C.J. Wilson. (I once harbored hopes that the Angels or Dodgers might sign Darvish as a Japanese amateur. Fat chance.) For the first five innings this held true, but things took a weird turn in the sixth, when leadoff man Albert Pujols hit what looked for the world like a routine pop out to first baseman Mike Napoli. Only, Napoli lost the ball in the lights, or something, because the ball dropped untouched by either him or right fielder Nelson Cruz, only a dozen or two feet away. Pujols then alertly ran to second, converting the break into a two-base error. Two batters later, Mark Trumbo bounced to third, and Adrian Beltre dropped the ball out of his glove, giving Trumbo the base, allowing Pujols to score.

The Rangers got that gift run back in the top of the seventh in a fairly conventional way, with Jordan Walden loading the bases, and Bobby Cassevah allowing Nelson Cruz to score on David Murphy's sac fly with one out. Walden really begins to call for a AAA stint except for the fact that the Angels have few better options right now.

But then to the truly weird parts of this game. In the bottom of the seventh, Erick Aybar reached on what was judged a bunt single to Darvish, but IMO could have equally have been an error; it seemed to me Darvish just utterly failed to field his position. Either way, it sparked a rally that Bobby Wilson did his best to squelch immediately by striking out bunting to give up an out for no reason.

But that brought up Mike Trout. In case you missed Jeff Nelson's excellent piece in SB Nation recently, Mike Trout is like a video game in "god mode", i.e. the state where you can do anything to your opponent and he can do nothing in response. Trout reached in the most Mike Trout possible way — an infield single to shortstop Elvis Andrus, but really, it was more like

Trout: bounces out to short
Andrus: Wow, that Trout guy is really fast. Say, what's this white, round thing in my hand?

Because you know, Mike Trout is just so good he warps the nature of time and space around him. This, as it turns out, is a helpful property to have if you are a baseball player, because it also works on umpires. As it happens, Andrus thought there was a runner's interference call on Aybar, and so held on to the ball instead of throwing to first. "I learned something tonight," Andrus said, but after it was too late.

Trouty eventually made it to third on Alberto Callaspo's unexpected RBI single, and then Kendrys Morales hit a liner to medium right. Cruz fielded the ball, threw a dart back to home plate — and Trout tagged and scored. At least, that's the official version of events, because Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba was quite certain he had tagged out Trout in a close play at the plate. Home plate umpire Tim McClelland almost immediately ejected him for arguing, which led to a fairly laughable situation because Torrealba didn't realize he had been tossed. So Torrealba continued to vent, Donald Duck-like, with Ron Washington coming over to plead his case in vain.

The Angels gave one back in the eighth thanks in part to a dumb throw by Torii Hunter that ended up in the dugout and scored Elvis Andrus, but outside of a nail-biting ninth (the Rangers loaded the bases for the second time, but failed to score), that was the game — which ended on Josh Hamilton's swinging strikeout. The radio guys mentioned that Hamilton was holding his elbow in the dugout after his prior at bat; perhaps a check swing took something out of him? If he's injured to affect his swing in today's game, I wouldn't object...

Update: As 60ft6in mentions in the comments, Pujols swiped third in the sixth, which proved critical, as Beltre's double-clutch allowed him to score. The Rangers now have allowed 26 unearned runs in their last 29 games; as Buster Olney tweeted, the 1998 Yankees allowed 37 all year.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

In my mental map of this year's season, the season had several false starts: the series win over Baltimore, the sweep of the Twins, but none of those were against contending teams. If tonight the opportunity to sweep the Yanks comes to fruition, it would be nothing short of astonishing, the Angels capping an improbable winning streak with an exclamation point.

The guys now we are starting to grow accustomed to getting the job done offensively — Trout and Trumbo — also had a thunderous ovation added to that list by Albert Pujols, the man paid as a Cooperstown bat but who has mostly played like a reserve all year. Yet, Pujols has homered five times since May 22, so the small sample size theater is ongoing and positive. Trumbo's homer, particularly, was a monster shot to the rockpile in center; if Andy Pettite had anything in the tank, it certainly didn't appear so.

Dan Haren was generally masterful (his third straight good outing), Scott Downs threw a scoreless inning, and while Ernesto Frieri was wobbly (loading the bases on a hit batter and a pair of walks), he escaped unscathed. Get 'em tonight, boys.

ESPN box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, yankees

I look forward to years of writing about Mark Trumbo's explosive power, and to more wins like this one — minus, of course, the early removal of Jered Weaver due to a sproinged back (MRIs and such due later today). I'm hoping he'll pull it out and only miss a start or so.

Minus Weaver (who didn't last long enough to even record a single out), the Angels did surprisingly well by running a chain of relievers out there. Bobby Cassevah, whom I expected would get impaled, allowed all his inherited baserunners to score, but settled down in subsequent innings to limit the Yankees to just the three runs (all charged to Weaver, unfairly) plus one more on a Curtis Granderson solo homer in the second. Cassevah should not be mistaken for a guy you want in a tight spot, but he performed adequately under the circumstances.

That opened the door to Takahashi, Carpenter, and Isringhausen, all of whom gave up at least one run, so that by the end of that line, the score was all knotted at eight. Then Cory Wade, then Mark Trumbo — who, by the way, ended the day a mere single away from hitting for the cycle. Mike Trout homered earlier in the game, against Phil Hughes, whom the Angels pretty reliably battered and must by now be running into significant questions about his longevity in the rotation. He exited the game with a 5.64 ERA, snapping a string of five straight good starts.

Good show, guys. That's seven wins in a row. I'm still not convinced this is anything but a .500 team, give or take a few wins, but it's nice to see a few rack up on the W side.

Angels recap • ESPN Box

Labels: angels, recaps, woo hoo, yankees

I saw it and I still don't believe it, Scott Van Slyke coming up in the absence of Matt Kemp, and driving across the game-winning runs at home in front of his dad and national TV, and against the team he grew up rooting for.

I am not much on "magical" and related sorts of adjectives, but it seems to me that this team is, at least, charmed. They find ways to win, improbable though that often seems to be.

Apparently there was a scuffle in the parking lot after the game that resulted in a man being hospitalized (where his pregnant wife went, too). Not a lot of details yet.

ESPN Box

Labels: cardinals, dodgers, recaps