Angels Continue to Roll Over Dodgers, Aybar Status Still Unknown. Halolinks.

Angels continue winning ways over Dodgers, 6-3 - latimes.com
Bobby Abreu hit a clutch three-run, score-tying homer in the sixth, shortstop Brandon Wood made a game-saving play in the eighth, and Brian Fuentes threw a scoreless ninth for his 11th save, as the Angels improved to 4-0 against the Dodgers this season.With the score tied, 3-3, Rivera lined a double to left-center off Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw to open the seventh. Mike Napoli struck out, but Rivera took third on Kershaw's balk. This seemed a good time to replace Rivera, one of baseball's slowest runners, with Reggie Willits, but Angels Manager Mike Scioscia stuck with Rivera, a costly decision when Rivera wandered too far off the bag and was picked off by catcher Russell Martin. "That spot was going to come up in the ninth inning, and we wanted to keep Juan's bat in there," Scioscia said. "If we were losing, I might think harder about that move."

In all honesty, I missed a lot of the last night's game due to the BlogTalkRadio stuff.  So, I'll just post the highlights: Abreu's three-run blast ties the ballgame - Bobby Abreu ties the score in dramatic fashion, ripping a three-run homer to deep center field, Frandsen lines a two-run double to left - Kevin Frandsen caps a late Angels rally with a two-out, two-run two-base hit into the left-field corner, extending the lead to 6-3 (the key to this video is seeing former Angel Garret Anderson lettting the ball get by him for an error), Wood dives to start an amazing double play - Brandon Wood makes an outstanding diving stop at short, then flips with his glove to second to start an amazing double play, Kendrick's clutch RBI hit puts the Angels up - Howard Kendrick comes through with a clutch RBI single, giving the Angels their first lead of the ballgame in the seventh inning.

Dodgers-Angels Preview - 6/23/10 - FOX Sports on MSN
Tuesday's victory opened what could be a key 12-game homestand for the Angels, who are hoping to trim the 3 1/2-game gap on division-leading Texas, the hottest team in baseball with nine wins in a row. Sending Joel Pineiro (6-6, 4.45 ERA) to the mound could help. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers after throwing a five-hitter with seven strikeouts in a 10-1 victory June 11. He carried that success into his next outing last Wednesday, yielding one run and three hits in eight innings of a 5-1 win over Milwaukee. "My go-to pitch is that sinker," Pineiro told the team's official website. "Going as long as I can, as hard as I can, that's my main goal."  (yeah, me too)  The Dodgers have dropped a season high-tying five in a row and are trying to avoid their longest losing streak since an eight-game slide from Aug. 22-29, 2008. They'll give John Ely (3-4, 4.15) a chance at his first victory in a month, but he'll have to rebound from his worst performance of the season. The rookie right-hander is 0-3 with a 4.97 ERA in five games since a May 22 win against Detroit. That stretch includes a 4-2 loss to the Angels on June 12, when Ely allowed four runs in five innings.

Erick Aybar probably will go on 15-day disabled list with bad knee - latimes.com
Erick Aybar appears headed for the 15-day disabled list after receiving a cortisone injection Tuesday in his left knee, which the shortstop injured when Milwaukee's Casey McGehee slid into his leg while breaking up a double play on June 14.The Angels will probably decide Thursday or Friday, when they can gauge the effectiveness of the shot, whether to place Aybar on the DL, but they appear to be leaning that way.

Rangers drop Bucs, stretch majors' longest win streak to nine -  CBSSports.com
Hamilton extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a home run and a double, Borbon hit a go-ahead three-run homer and the AL West-leading Rangers stretched the majors' longest winning streak to nine with a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a homestand opener Tuesday night.

Texas is taking advantage of their schedule against weak teams.

On Reading Trade Rumors - FanGraphs Baseball
For those who obsess over Major League Baseball like I do and like I know many of you reading do and like many of those fans who won’t ever set eyes upon this blog do, trade rumors are a regular part of our baseball watching and reading. For some reason, we care about what Ken Rosenthal and Buster Olney and other major league sources are saying. Based on the volume of rumors around the game – MLB Trade Rumors averages 104 posts per week – these sources sure have much to say. But in this case, and in many others, all this talk adds up to nothing.

My Trip to Chicago and Wrigley Field in Words, Links, and Photos - The Baseball Analysts - Rich Lederer
I traveled to Chicago on Wednesday for business and attended the Angels-Cubs games on Friday and Saturday at Wrigley Field. It was my first trip to the Windy City in five years. I returned home on Sunday and watched the final round of the U.S. Open before celebrating Father's Day dinner with my family. Here were the highlights of my trip:

June 23 - BR Bullpen

1994 - Oakland P Bobby Witt narrowly misses hurling a perfect game, defeating Kansas City on a 4 - 0, one-hitter. Umpire Gary Cederstrom calls Greg Gagne safe on a close play at first in the 6th inning, for the Royals' only hit, but TV replays show that Gagne was out. The play goes 1B Troy Neel to Witt covering. Witt fans 14 and does not walk a batter in his masterpiece. (sound familiar?)
Happy b-day:
1886 - Johnny Priest, infielder (d. 1979)
1913 - Bill Cox, pitcher (d. 1988)
1920 - Deacon Donahue, pitcher (d. 2008)

A priest, a deacon, and a Cox walk into a bar...

See what happens when B-Wood gets on base: