Guerrero Slams Kazmir, Rangers Spending Arte's Money. Halolinks.

Guerrero's slam lifts Rangers over Angels, 6-4 - Dallas Morning News
The AL West-leading Rangers earned their 21st win in June, setting a club record for wins in a month. After Tuesday's 6-5 loss in the series opener, Texas won for the ninth time in 10 road games to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time in nearly four weeks. Kazmir faced the minimum nine batters through three innings until falling apart in the fourth. After hitting leadoff hitter Elvis Andrus , he gave up Michael Young's double and walked Ian Kinsler before Guerrero hammered a pitch into the trees behind the center field fence for his 17th homer. Kazmir left after Kinsler's RBI single in the fifth, giving up six hits and five runs. Guerrero then hit Sean O'Sullivan's first pitch into the left-center gap for a double, but O'Sullivan got Nelson Cruz on a fly to right with the bases loaded. ... While Guerrero is rejuvenated and healthy with the Rangers, his Angels replacement, Hideki Matsui, is in a 2 for 23 slump after going 0 for 3 with a walk.

Yeah, it looks like Guerrero is on a mission to prove the Angels wrong. Well, piss off. Where was this last year? Anyway, the series is now tied and the Angels need to win tonight in order to move a little closer to first. Hopefully Jered Weaver will keep his pitches to Vlad above his nipples. Highlights: Aybar's solo homer gives the Halos the lead - Erick Aybar ropes a solo home run to deep right field, giving the Angels an early lead in the bottom of the first inning, Vlad's grand slam gives Texas the lead - Vladimir Guerrero blasts a grand slam to deep center field, giving Texas a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth inning (two things to watch for here; how Vlad stands and admires his blast and what do you imagine is going through Scioscia's mind as he watches Guerrero round the bases?), Vlad blasts his second home run of the game - Vladimir Guerrero blasts a solo shot to left-center, his second home run of the ballgame and his 18th of the season. Abreu makes an amazing snowcone catch - Bobby Abreu makes an amazing snowcone catch in right field, somehow hanging onto the ball to retire Michael Young in the first.

Rangers-Angels Preview -07/01/10 - FOX Sports on MSN
The Rangers will hand the ball to C.J. Wilson (6-3, 3.35), who is 3-0 with a 3.09 ERA in five starts - all Texas wins - after going 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in his previous four. The left-hander continued his strong stretch Saturday, yielding two runs in seven innings of a 7-2 victory over Houston. Wilson has limited opponents to a .205 average his last five starts. The Angels will counter with Jered Weaver (7-3, 3.01 ERA), the AL leader with 118 strikeouts who is looking to continue his strong stretch at home. The right-hander is 3-2 with a 1.96 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 64 1-3 innings over 10 starts at Angel Stadium dating to last year. He's also 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his last five home starts against Texas. Weaver appeared to be headed to another victory there Friday, only to see the bullpen squander a one-run lead before the Angels lost 4-3 in 11 innings to Colorado. He left the game after seven innings, allowing two runs and fanning 11 for a second consecutive outing.

When local rags disagree, who do you side with?

Angels not pursuing Blalock - The Orange County Register
Infielder Hank Blalock has been designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays, meaning the Rays have 10 days to trade, release or waive him. But the Angels have minimal interest in the 29-year-old Blalock who hit .254 with one home run and seven RBI in 63 at-bats for the Rays after signing a minor-league contract and starting the season in Triple-A. Angels GM Tony Reagins would say only that he was aware of Blalock’s situation. "There are a lot of options we’re looking at," Reagins said. "I’m not going to talk about any specific players but there are options out there. It’s just a matter of whether it’s a good fit for our ballclub."

Adam Dunn, Hank Blalock draw interest of Angels - latimes.com
The Angels have some interest in corner infielder Hank Blalock, who was designated for assignment Tuesday by the Tampa Bay Rays, but the veteran is not near the top of the team's target list with a month to go before the July 31 trade deadline.Washington first baseman Adam Dunn, who is batting .271 with 17 home runs and 47 runs batted in, appears to be at or near the top of the Angels' wish list.

So which paper is right? Are the Angels interested in Blalock or not? The OC Register post really doesn't report anything about the Angels not being interested, regardless of what the headline states, so I'm going with the Times. The Angels have a need that Blalock could fill, although probably not above replacement level, so they may as well at least look into him.

Giants trade clears way for Buster Posey - FOX Sports on MSN
The Rangers acquired Molina without adding payroll, and are pushing hard for Mariners left-hander Cliff Lee, according to major-league sources. Yes, the Rangers are in bankruptcy while awaiting the completion of their ownership transition. Yes, they are receiving financial help from the other 29 clubs. Doesn’t mean they can’t make creative trades.

Rangers make a trade, the stat guys make a post...

Rangers Add Nothing In Molina - FanGraphs Baseball
The only problem for the Rangers is that Molina is not actually an upgrade. Rangers catchers have a season wOBA of .296, mostly thanks to Treanor’s .308 wOBA and Taylor Teagarden‘s 33 PA’s of .139 wOBA. Max Ramirez has actually had an above average hitting season despite a .234 batting average. Thanks to his 15.0% BB%, he’s posted a .336 wOBA this season. Bengie Molina, on the other hand, posted a .284 wOBA in the NL due to a complete lack of power, a penchant for fly balls, and possibly the slowest pair of legs in the majors.

I hope they're right, after all, the Angels are helping to pay for this.

July 1 - BR Bullpen
1962 - Albie Pearson becomes the first player to go hitless in 11 at bats in a doubleheader (both 9-inning games). Los Angeles splits with the Yankees, losing 6 - 3 before winning 12 - 5. Reliever Art Fowler helps himself to a win in the nitecap by driving in four runs on a pair of singles. The Yanks take over 1st place.
1972 - Nolan Ryan allows five hits and strikes out 16 in pitching the Angels to a 5 - 3 victory over the Athletics. Ryan has a RBI single and is helped by homers from Ken Berry and Leo Cardenas, off Steve Hamilton.
1973 - At California, the Twins' Jim Kaat fires a one-hitter to beat the Angels, 2 - 1. Frank Robinson's home run in the 2nd is the only hit. This is the second time in his career that Robby hits a home run to break up a no-hitter: he did it July 30, 1971 against KC's Dick Drago.
1994 - The Orioles and Angels combine to hit a major league record-tying 11 home runs in a contest won by Baltimore, 14 - 7. The Orioles smash six of the round-trippers and the Angels hit 5. It is the 8th 11-home run game in history. Surprisingly, none of the homers goes as far as 400 feet.
Happy b-day:
1915 - Boots Poffenberger, pitcher (d. 1999) Interesting guy, in a weird sort of way.

Screw you, Vlad: