Tuesday Halolinks: Shutout Fever Strikes Again, Albert Pujols Doesn't

One thing besides the Angels getting shutout that you can count on are Halolinks. Except maybe tomorrow since I'll be on an airplane heading to Orange County to nab my soon-to-be triple-A all-star Peter Bourjos bobblehead. Anyway, here's today's links, we'll worry about tomorrow later:

• And yet another nobody pitcher tosses a shutout against the Angels: Athletics 5, Angels 0 - MLB News - FOX Sports. "''I don't know what it is,'' said (Tyson) Ross, who has given up just six runs over 25 2-3 innings at Angel Stadium in his career. ''I feel comfortable on that mound, with the backdrop, everything. I'm able to get on top of hitters and get some action early in the count.'' Here's a hint; It's not the mound. Another hint? It's the team you're throwing against! Anyone else getting tired of these quotes from Scioscia? ''This team is too good to be shut out as much as we've been shut out this season,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ''I think we had better at-bats than it's going to show in the box score. ... It's going to be a grind. There's only one way out of the hole, and that's to grind, inch by inch.'' For starters, why not put the best players on the field? In 2010, Peter Bourjos was good enough to move gold-glove centerfielder Torii Hunter to right field. Are the Angels saying that Bourjos was good enough to move Hunter, but isn't good enough to force Vernon Wells out of left field? Okay, I get that Hunter's bat wasn't replaced in the batting order with the move to right, but someone's was...Hidecki Matsui took a seat, and so did Bobby Abreu when Bourjos started playing full-time.
  
• Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels - May 14, 2012 - MLB.com. "If eight shutouts in mid-May seem like a lot, it is. It's not only the most in the Major Leagues, it's double what anybody else in baseball has put up. And it's not only the most the Angels have been shut out through the first 36 games in club history -- no team has had more through that span since the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas (now the Dodgers), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. "That's a lot of shutouts," left fielder Vernon Wells said. "Obviously, it's not something you expect, especially at this point in the season. We haven't played that many games to have that many shutouts." Uh, yes you have Vern.
  
• Oakland's Ross delivers Angels' 8th shutout loss - Yahoo! Sports. "For all of the Angels' offensive problems, their No. 2 starter's struggles might be even more worrisome. Haren didn't make it out of the fourth inning of his last start when his back tightened up, resulting in the three-time All-Star's shortest start in seven years. He was no better against the A's, his former team, allowing a baserunner in each of his first five innings and finishing his six innings with four walks." If the team can't hit, and now they seem to be having trouble pitching, this is going to be a LONG summer. According to this article: Pitching without a net - ESPN Los Angeles. Haren is still dealing with back trouble, "Haren has been dealing with some lower-back stiffness in his past two starts and his stuff isn't quite as crisp, but in a typical season, an offense would be working with enough flow to give you the occasional breather from the heavy lifting. Haren gave up a couple of runs in the fifth inning to put the Angels down 4-0 and it felt like the lights had turned off at Angel Stadium."
• In case you haven't heard: Hunter leaves Angels after son’s arrest - Angels blog : The Orange County Register. "Angels right fielder Torii Hunter left the team Monday, the same day one of his sons was arrested in connection with a sexual-assault investigation in Texas."
• In case you haven't heard - Part 2: Bryce Harper of Washington Nationals hits first major league home run - FOX Sports. "Harper is the youngest player in the majors - and, at 19 years, 211 days old, the youngest to hit a homer since Adrian Beltre of the Los Angeles Dodgers connected when he was 19 years, 171 days old on Sept. 25, 1998, according to STATS LLC." He's also the youngest to take a curtain call after his first home run.
  
• I read this headline The Royals aren’t cursed… they’re stupid - HardballTalk, and thought, "The Angels aren't bad...they're stupid". Major league players are the best in the world, no doubt about that, right? But what do the people in charge of those best players have to do to get where they are? Shouldn't they be the best in the world too? It's frustrating, and I hate to beat a completely dead horse again, but the Wells trade is a great example of world-class frustration for fans. Everyone knew that deal was bad, why didn't the guys in charge? Now, over a year later, everyone knows Wells shouldn't be in the lineup everyday, what are we as fans missing that the guys in charge know?
  
• College pitcher Chris Gilmore wins $1 million in MLB 2K12 ‘Perfect Club’ challenge - Yahoo! Sports. "My athletic director [Jeff Carr] says I throw like Dan Quisenberry," Gilmore said with a chuckle." That's funny because I throw like Dan Quisenberry too. It's just that Quisenberry died in 1998. Also, doesn't Kate Upton own something other than that black dress? I'm not complaining, she looks great, but it's got to be pretty shabby about now.
  
• John Axford needs a refresher course in the Scioscia school of Cliches: Axford: 'I put my wife into contractions'. "I put my wife into contractions with my performance tonight!" he wrote. "So I had to run to the hospital. The streak is over so now you can talk about it. The luck I've had in the past didn't show up tonight! All I can do is begin another streak and keep my head up! Cliché…cliché…another cliché. Gotta go! Love, Ax." Doesn't he know he can't use the word "cliche" when using cliches??
  
• Strat-O-Matic World Record Attempt - the Strat-O-Matic Game Co. "Carow, age 32 of Farmington, MN, was crowned the Ultimate Strat-O-Matic Fanatic at the Company’s 50th Anniversary Celebration last year. Despite playing for just 21 years, Carow’s impressive credentials include: over 10,000 games played, sleeping through his prom after an all-night Strat-O marathon, and playing Strat-O-Matic on his honeymoon with his first wife." I once played Strat in a motel room in Phoenix. With another man. It was a dark time in my life.