Angels Running on the Road to Nowhere, DumbGraphs Errors. Halolinks.

Angels held nearly hitless (again) in latest loss - The Orange County Register
The two-hit shutout by Sox left-hander John Danks completed a four-game sweep of the Angels who scored five runs on 22 hits in the series with only two extra-base hits (a pair of doubles in Monday's loss). The Angels have now lost six of their past seven and are in danger of fading out of touch with the first-place Texas Rangers by the All-Star break. After the latest ineffectual effort, Angels manager Mike Scioscia kept the clubhouse doors closed to address the team (at least the third time this season he has had one of these post-game monologues). But Scioscia said he kept the message positive.

The Angels were fortunate that the Orioles were able to score 5 unanswered runs yesterday to beat the Rangers. Had the Rangers won, the Angels would have been 6.5 games out of first place. The last time the Angels were more than 6.5 games out? September 23, 2006. In other words, it's been almost 4 years since the Angels have been this far behind another team. Highlights? It's pretty sad when the "highlight" is a 37-hopper that finds a hole for the first hit of a game: Willits breaks up Danks' no-no bid - Reggie Willits singles to left, breaking up John Danks' no-hit bid, and the other highlight is how your pitcher has to throw a shutout to win...Santana hurls eight innings of one-run ball - Ervin Santana limits the White Sox to one run over eight innings on three hits.

Angels-Athletics Preview - 7/9/10 - FOX Sports on MSN
There has been nothing wrong Pineiro's performance lately. The right-hander has a 2.08 ERA while winning his last six starts, the first time he's done that since June and July of 2003 with Seattle. Pineiro (9-6, 3.96 ERA) worked seven innings in an 11-0 win over Kansas City on Sunday. On May 16, he was even better against the A's, pitching a four-hitter for his sixth career shutout in a 4-0 win. Vin Mazzaro (4-2, 3.81) will try to help prevent the A's from losing a fourth straight home game for the first time in 2010. The right-hander also will be trying to win a third consecutive start for the first time in his career. Mazzaro struck out a season-high seven while pitching into the eighth inning of a 3-1 victory at Cleveland on Sunday.

Torii Hunter thinks some Los Angeles Angels are coasting into All-Star break - ESPN Los Angeles
On July 1, the Angels beat Texas and had taken two of three against the AL West's first-place team, pulling them to within 3.5 games of the lead. After Thursday, the Angels were drifting into that netherworld between contention and irrelevance. They entered the day 5.5 games behind Texas, which matched their largest deficit of the season.

Hey Torii, it's not just the players who seem to be coasting. When is the front office going to wake up?

Angels running into problems - The Orange County Register
At the same time, the Angels seem to kill as many rallies as they create with their baserunning. Through Wednesday's games, the Angels rank ninth in the majors with 58 stolen bases, a dropoff for a team that finished second in the majors last season (148) and has had at least 100 steals in each of the past nine seasons. More costly, the Angels have been caught stealing 32 times, tied for second in the majors. Only the White Sox (40) have been thrown out more. The Angels stolen-base percentage (65) ranks 28th in the majors. Only San Francisco and Kansas City are worse.

Caught stealing isn't such a bad thing relative to the situation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to downplay the importance of not running into outs, but I'm curious as to where the Angels rank in being picked-off this season and the number of times they've been thrown out attempting to steal third resulting in the first or third out of the inning. It seems like the Angels are making outs in more critical situations.

What the Anaheim Angels Should Do - FanGraphs Baseball
The Angels came in to today’s games trailing the Rangers for first place in the AL West by 5.5 games. They are also fifth in the Wild Card a half game behind Minnesota, two behind Chicago, four and a half back of Boston and seven and a half behind Tampa. Given the strength of the Twins, Red Sox and Rays, the Angels should not hold strong hopes or capturing that particular title.

What Graphs o' Fans Should Do: Get someone who actually knows what this major league team's name is.
How can anyone take what this website seriously when they can't even get the name of the team right?

Run-in with Ichiro leaves teen 'starstruck' - MLB.com: News
The local television station broadcasting the game zoomed in on the young girl, who obviously was thrilled with her meeting with Ichiro. She told a Japanese reporter that Ichiro had asked her if she was OK. "It was awesome," she said. "I am literally starstruck."

I had the same reaction when I met Davy Jones. (thanks to BBTF's Newsblog Discussion)

Dodgers Executive Received Funds From Team Charity - NYTimes.com
The Los Angeles Dodgers paid one of their highest-ranking executives more than $400,000 from the team’s charity in 2007, which accounted for one-quarter of the foundation’s nearly $1.6 million budget that year — compensation more in line with overseeing a $100 million charity.

I suppose there are worse teams to be fans of right now.

July 9 - BR Bullpen
1971 - The A's beat the Angels 1 - 0 in the longest shutout in American League history - 20 innings. Vida Blue strikes out 17 batters in 11 innings for the A's, while the Angels' Billy Cowan ties a major-league record by fanning six times. Both teams combine for 43 strikeouts, a new major-league record for incompetence (or pitching dominance, depending on one's perspective).
1972 - The Angels' Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 batters, including an American League-record eight in a row and three on nine pitches in the 2nd inning, as he stops the Red Sox on one hit. Carl Yastrzemski's one-out single in the 1st is the only safety: Ryan then racks up his eight K's and retires the last 26 consecutive batters.

Two frickiin' hits? Two frickin' hits: