Extremism and A-Ball

The Angels are 1st in all of Major League Baseball in Starter's ERA (3.58) and dead last, 30th place, in Reliever's ERA (6.75).  Talk about being bi-polar!  This is whacky considering at the beginning of the year, I thought our bullpen was going to be solid, but our starting pitching was going to suffer because of all the injuries.  One has to be optimistic with Santana and Lackey close to coming back coupled with Shields' excellent outing (and Oliver) yesterday.

On a tangentially related note, I drove to Davenport, Iowa, yesterday to watch Tyler Chatwood pitch for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (For Mother's Day, I granted my wife her wish - take the kids and get out of the house for the day).  He got roughed up a little, but the 7 strikeouts were fun to watch - he can really make that catcher's mitt pop.  While sitting behind home plate, I started talking to some young guys who were tracking pitches and ridin' the radar gun.  It turned out to be Manny Flores and Will Smith!  They were nice and signed autographs for me and my kids.  Now you know what A-ball starting pitchers do on their rest-days.

Also, Alexia Amarista is about 5' 3" and looks like he is 12 years old, but man can he hit and field - wow!