Thursday Halolinks Part 2: If You Stare Into The Abyss, Mike Scioscia Stares Back At You Back

I'm still suffering from the "1000 yard stare", but here are your Halolinks:

• Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers - August 1, 2012 - MLB.com
  "I was trying to get Elvis to hopefully roll over one and get a double play, and just left it in a bad part of the plate," Isringhausen said. "Got down 3-0, so I have to come back at him and couldn't make the pitch I wanted to make and he got a base hit. Just a crazy game. Nothing more than that." Isn't weird how players can get over a tough loss so much easier than us fans. At least that's the perception. If I were Isringhausen, I'd be breaking stuff. With a bat. For a long time. Torii Hunter had about the same take as the guy who coughed up the win, "It was a great game —they got to our closer, we got to theirs — it was a lot of fun," Angels right fielder Torii Hunter said. He does add, "But at the same time, it broke my heart. We've just got to let this go." However, at no point after the 8th inning did I think it was fun.
• Although this Bill Plunkett post points out how hot Albert Pujols has been, it also mentions why Kendrys Morales wasn't replaced by a pinch-runner in the 9th inning: Angels dealt stunning loss by Rangers - The Orange County Register. "The heart-breaking hijinx included Ernesto Frieri's first blown save as an Angel, a second consecutive two-home run game by Albert Pujols (the first time in his Hall of Fame-worthy career that he has had back-to-back multi-home run games), a six-run inning with just two hits and a very questionable managing decision that Manager Mike Scioscia was left to defend after the game." Scioscia didn't want to take out both Mark Trumbo and Morales just in case the game went extra innings, "It's tough to take both of those guys out right there. If you're in a higher-percentage thing like third base with one out, you might consider it more. ... Just didn't want to gut the lineup." Asked if he considered substituting Kendrick for Morales as "gutting" the lineup, Scioscia only said, "I think you want to keep that presence of Kendrys in there." That's an odd stance for a guy who has no problem replacing the presence of Morales with the stink of Vernon Wells.
  
• Here's where the Torii Hunter quote from above came from. And another place where the Morales "presence" quote showed up: Angels let victory slip away in 11-10 loss to Rangers - latimes.com. "It was a great game —they got to our closer, we got to theirs — it was a lot of fun," Angels right fielder Torii Hunter said. "But at the same time, it broke my heart. We've just got to let this go." That might be tougher for Angels fans wondering why Manager Mike Scioscia didn't pinch-run for one of the slowest runners in the game, a decision that cost the Angels what would have been a decisive insurance run in the ninth."We wanted to keep Kendrys' presence in there," Scioscia said.
  
  
• The worst part about last night's loss was that it happened to a floundering Texas team. Now's the time to take advantage of a strong team: Rangers rally past Angels in 10th - NBC Sports. ""It was a crazy game in Texas," Isringhausen said. "I've seen a lot of them. A six-run lead is not safe." The comebacks seemed unlikely because the Texas offense struggled mightily during a 9-14 July. The Rangers scored 81 runs in the month, last in the American League. It was only the second time in Texas history the club has rallied to win after trailing by at least three in extra innings."
• So, are you wondering what Mike Scioscia has to say about the game? Here you go: Late blown leads prevent Angels' third straight win over Rangers - Yahoo! Sports. "You're going to have 10 wins a year that are exhilarating where you come back and you win," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "You're going to have 10 tough losses, and this is obviously one that we had the opportunity to hold a lead. Give those guys credit. They got six runs off our bullpen, and we've been doing a good job of protecting leads. We didn't get it done tonight. Tomorrow we'll go out there and hopefully get it done." A coouple things here; 1) A championship team should never have the attitude that 10 tough losses are going to happen...and it's okay. The difference between championship teams and team who just barely miss the playoffs is avoiding those tough losses. 2) No, it's not "We didn't get it done tonight", you didn't get it done tonight. Had the Angels scored that additional run in the 9th, Frieri did well enough to save the game even with Kinsler's home run.
• Here's video of nothing: Angels on their 11-10 loss to Rangers -- latimes.com
  
• Let's hope last night's game doesn't carryover to tonight's: Angels-Rangers Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "C.J. Wilson (9-7, 2.88 ERA) takes the ball Thursday aiming to move past the loss and a disappointing July personally. After going 5-0 with a 1.30 ERA over a seven-start stretch May 22-June 26, Wilson was 0-3 with a 4.23 ERA in six July starts. History suggests the left-hander could fare a bit better this month, as he was 7-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 11 August starts the last two years." The Angels get to face the newly acquired Ryan Dempster, "He might have an advantage off the bat because not many guys in this league have seen him much at all," Texas outfielder David Murphy said. While that is true of most of the Angels - the only major league team he has never faced - he is plenty familiar with Pujols, a Dempster nemesis in his days with St. Louis. In 55 career at-bats against Dempster, Pujols is batting .327 with seven homers, four doubles and only two strikeouts while also walking 11 times."
• I did a couple "Say What, Mike?" links, but now it looks like Scioscia-speak is rubbing off on Jerry Dipoto: Angels to bide time in contract talks with Greinke - angels.com. "For us to think too far ahead at this point would be getting too far ahead of ourselves, rather than just allowing the cart to rest in back of the horse and watch this for a while," Dipoto said."Busy is as busy does." Don't get too far ahead because that'd be, um, too far ahead. But remember, "A resting cart gathers no Zack"...and, "A cart at rest tends to stay at rest."
  
• Well, this is much better, it must've been one of those 3-hour vocal bugs: Angels in no hurry to talk contract with Greinke - The Orange County Register. "We're going to let it play out. We're going to get to know Zack and we're going to let Zack get to know us, and then we're going to determine if it's a good fit for either party and how we'd like to pursue." Whew, I was worried there for a minute. In this link there's also this tidbit, "In the four days between acquiring Greinke and the arrival of Tuesday's trade deadline, Dipoto said he never got close to pulling off any other deals."The bullpen was not a very active trade market in July. Everybody's always looking. It was a very small market of available bullpen contributors. It's probably as thin a bullpen market as you've seen in July. You can only pursue what's out there and/or what's available."
• Remember me writing Albert's been on fire? Here's some stats for ya: Albert Pujols leads the AL in HR, RBI, and OPS since May 15 - HardballTalk. "In addition to leading the league in OPS since May 15–a span of 68 games–Pujols also leads the league in homers, RBIs, and slugging percentage and ranks fourth in batting average and on-base percentage." Mike Trout is second on the OPS list over the same time frame.
  
• Gratuitous, non-baseball link: Chinese Diver Wins Gold, Is Finally Told That Her Mother Has Cancer And Her Grandparents Died A Year Ago - Deadspin. "Now 26, Wu began attending daily diving camp at six years old. At 16, she left home to live in a government-sponsored training facility, where she rarely saw her family, didn't attend school—didn't do anything but dive, all day, over and over again for this last decade." Oh yeah, and by the way, you've also had 3 kids. Hey, the training is REAL extensive.