Brewers Slam Halos, Another Angel Injury. Halolinks.

Ryan Braun hits grand slam to power Milwaukee Brewers to victory over Angels - Appleton Post Crescent
Joe Saunders (5-7) gave up six runs and six hits over 5 1/3 innings against an offense that was five-for-48 with runners in scoring position over its previous five games. The left-hander, coming off a complete-game victory last Wednesday at Oakland, is 1-6 with a 6.75 ERA in his eight home starts — compared to 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his six outings on the road. Hunter, who won a Gold Glove in each of the previous nine seasons and has committed only one error in his last 338 games in the outfield, has pulled back home run bids by opposing players more than 30 times in his career — including one by Barry Bonds in the 2002 All-Star game at Milwaukee's Miller Park — according to painstaking research by the Angels' publicity staff. For a moment, it appeared that McGehee would be Hunter's next victim. He timed his leap perfectly, but the ball spun off the webbing of his glove and disappeared behind the center-field fence — right behind an advertisement promoting Joe Saunders bobblehead night.

Can the Angels play the rest of their games on the road? Highlightpalooza: McGehee homers with some help from Torii - Casey McGehee hits a fly ball to center and Torii Hunter fumbles the catch, knocking the ball over the wall for a home run (the look on Hunter's face after this play looks like one my dad would give me after shaving the cat). Frandsen doubles with the bases loaded - Kevin Frandsen knocks a double down the right-field line with the bases loaded to put the Angels up 2-0 in the second. Abreu nabs a runner at home plate - Bobby Abreu connects with Mike Napoli to nail Craig Counsell coming home on a single.
MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

Brewers-Angels Preview - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN
Behind a grand slam and five RBIs from Ryan Braun, Milwaukee (27-37) plated more than eight runs for the first time since a 17-3 win in Arizona on May 8. The Brewers hope for a similar offensive effort for scheduled starter Dave Bush (1-5, 5.06 ERA), who has received a 2.40 run support average over his last nine starts. After being skipped over his previous turn in the rotation, Bush gave up four runs and six hits in six innings of Thursday's 5-4, 10-inning win over the Chicago Cubs. The right-hander still hasn't won since beating Pittsburgh on April 20, and trying to end this drought against the AL doesn't look promising. Bush is 0-3 with a 16.20 ERA in four interleague starts since last season, and one of the worst outings of his career came against Minnesota on May 21, when he was pounded for seven runs and six hits while recording just one out in a 15-3 loss. Los Angeles counters with Ervin Santana (6-4, 3.52), who will make his first career start against the Brewers. Santana allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings of Thursday's 6-1 loss to Oakland after posting a 1.80 ERA while winning his previous five starts. The right-hander hasn't lost consecutive outings since opening the year with back-to-back defeats.

Angels lose game, and Erick Aybar to injury - latimes.com
There was no way the Angels would turn a double play on the speedy Gomez, but the 6-1, 215-pound McGehee slid into Aybar with force, bending Aybar's left leg backward at the knee. "I thought it was a clean slide," Scioscia said. "Erick was a little exposed, and Kevin pulled the throw inside. The slide was right over the bag, so I can't find much fault with it." Angels center fielder Torii Hunter didn't form an opinion about it until he saw a replay. "Aybar was hung out to dry," Hunter said. "[McGehee] was trying to break up the double play. That's the way I play the game. It just so happened to be one of our better players, but we play the same way, and I respect that." Bell threw a pitch at the next batter, Craig Counsell, bringing several Brewers to the top step of the dugout, but Counsell got out of the way. In the ninth, Rafael Rodriguez hit Counsell with a pitch. (Here's the Aybar injury play: McGehee takes out Aybar on a force play.

Not sure why Craig Counsell was the target of retribution, maybe he stole some money from the clubhouse guy or something.

Angels lock up a bushel of draft picks - Los Angeles Angels Blog - ESPN Los Angeles
Angels general manager Tony Reagins said the club has signed more than 20 of its draft picks, including Mississippi high-school outfielder Ryan Bolden, the No. 40 overall pick and the Angels' fifth selection. Reagins said discussions with No. 18 overall pick Kaleb Cowart, a high-school third baseman from Georgia, have been "complicated."

Oh My! Padres and Blue Jays Play Through An Earthquake - Dan Levy - Sporting News
In the bottom of the eighth inning, after a David Eckstein groundout to short, San Diego hosted an earthquake at PETCO Park as well. Here's the footage, via KCAL Channel 9. What that video didn't show (you can hear it in MLB's recap) is Dick Enberg's hilarious response of, "that's felt throughout the ballpark and some minor after…rolls. We had a little side to side shake-a-roo. I thought that was you (Grant) doing the Funky Chicken at first." That, folks, is how you keep your composure while broadcasting an earthquake.

Assessing the trade market for aces Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt - Jon Heyman - SI.com
Lee should have big value while Oswalt just might be worth close to nothing. That's not an insult to Oswalt, just the reality of the economics of the situation. "At the end of the day, I don't think Houston will be able to move the entire (Oswalt) contract and get premium players back,'' sums up one AL executive. That's an opinion that's fairly widely felt, too, based on interviews. Any team acquiring Lee would only be on the hook for about $4-to-5 million, depending on when a trade is made. Meanwhile, Oswalt comes with about a $30 million commitment. Very few teams have $30 million lying around, and those that do generally don't want to spend it.

Burning question: Where are the nation's best wiffle ball fields? - Big League Stew - Yahoo! Sports
I found myself in the middle of a place called Mazomanie, Wisconsin on Saturday night, grooving a plastic pitch to my old pal from the Badger Herald so he could put it over the left field wall 85 feet away to start the game.All of our arrested adolescent fun came at Rookies Food and Spirits, a smalltown Wisconsin bar that's located about 30 minutes west of Madison (and about an hour SE of me). The place is owned by Steve Schmidt, who also owns the Madison Mallards baseball and the infamous shoe store that caused trouble for the UW athletic department in 2000. The field is located behind a bar that's packed with oodles of memorabilia, including a bathroom wallpapered with old baseball cards.

I live less than 2 hours from this place and have never heard of it. If anyone is anywhere near western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota, NE Iowa, or NW Illinois, let me know and I'll meet you there. (Comment of the day: This one made me laugh and cry at the same time: -1 for going to Wisconsin, -2 for admitting it)

June 15 - BR Bullpen
1949 - Eddie Waitkus of the Philadelphia Phillies was shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. She will later be placed in a mental hospital. Waitkus battled for his life and came back to play the following season. (This guy was the inspiration for this guy.)
1976 - Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley sold three of his star players. Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers were sent to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million apiece and Vida Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million. Three days later, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn will void the moves, saying they are "not in the best interests of baseball."
Happy b-day:
1956 - Lance Parrish, catcher; All-Star

This sucks: