Wednesday Halolinks: C.J. Wilson Can't Throw Strikes, Angel Batters Can't Hit Them

The official Mike Trout birthday hangover Halolinks:

• The Angels lost last night. That in itself is disappointing, but the way they lost is disturbing. Horrible pitching by C.J. Wilson, terrible defense by...the defense, and bad at-bats against Bartolo Colon for God's sake!: Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics - August 7, 2012 - MLB.com. ""It's just frustrating that we're in a pennant race and I haven't contributed to us winning any games recently," Wilson said. The starter's short outing meant the Halos' troubled bullpen was forced into early action, and as has been the case this whole 10-game road trip, it didn't answer the bell. The right-handed duo of David Carpenter and Jerome Williams allowed three home runs in two innings, making the team's deficit an insurmountable nine runs."
• I don't see the problem. Throw strikes, right? For some reason Wilson couldn't, while everything Colon tossed was over the plate: Wilson roughed up in Angels' loss to A's - The Orange County Register. "He (Wilson) threw 114 pitches in five innings, just 66 for strikes – hardly the more pitch-efficient lifestyle the Angels tried to sell him on Friday." For those too lazy to do the math, for every pitch Wilson was able to get in the strike zone, he chucked one out of it. Well, almost 66 strikes and 48 balls. The fat guy wearing green did just the opposite, "Colon held the Angels to just one unearned run on four hits through seven innings, throwing 93 pitches (72 strikes)." Twenty-one balls. Or to put it another way, the same number of balls Wilson threw in just the second and third innings.
• Highlights? Yeah, I suppose the Halos did a couple of things right: Athletics 10, Angels 4 - FOX Sports. "Erick Aybar hit a two-run homer, Mike Trout hit a home run and Maicer Izturis drove in a run for the Angels, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Trout became the fifth major leaguer to hit a home run on his 21st birthday, joining Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Heyward. He is the youngest ever to produce a 20-homer, 30-stolen base season. ''Right now it means nothing,'' Trout said. ''That's the kind of stuff that pops up at the end of the season.''
• Oh great, a rookie pitcher is going for Oakland: Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics - August 8, 2012 - MLB.com. "Greinke and the rest of the Angels will have a tough test in A's right-hander Dan Straily, who is coming off an impressive Major League debut. Allowing just one run on five hits in six innings of work to the Blue Jays on Friday, he took a no-decision. Also tallying five strikeouts, Straily has 180 strikeouts between the Minors an Majors this season, which is more than any pitcher at any level."
• This video of Houston's defensive blunder was going around the internet yesterday: The Nationals Bunted In The Winning Run From First Because The Astros Played Defense Like Morons
  "Officially, Houston was charged with two throwing errors, but my favorite part might be when third baseman Matt Downs trips over first baseman Steve Pearce's foot and proceeds to make an exaggerated fall right in the path of Pearce's errant throw to first." If that wasn't bad enough, the Nationals then stuck it in their faces the next night by showing them how defense is supposed to be played:
  
• Here's a cool highlight from last night's Angel game: Aybar barehands a slow roller for the out - Erick Aybar barehands a slow roller past the mound and slings it to first in time to retire Josh Reddick. And then here's a lowlight: A's push across a pair on bases-loaded error - Yoenis Cespedes and Chris Carter come around to score as Derek Norris' grounder sneaks under Alberto Callaspo's glove in the third. There's no link to Maicer Izturis' over-running of Chris Carter's bloop "double" in the 4th inning...kind of reminded me of the Houston play.
  
• Trumbo negotiating tough stretch at the plate - angels.com. "Trumbo has just five hits in his last 32 at-bats (a .156 average) and also has just one home run in his last 15 games. Monday night's matchup against the A's was another frustrating one for the 26-year-old, as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts."
• Texas' deadline acquisition did his job last night: Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox - Aug 07, 2012 - CBSSports.com. "Dempster (1-0) allowed three unearned runs, six hits, struck out six and walked one in 6 2/3 innings."
• Yahoo! Sports has a feature where they allow fans to post write-up to their site. If one of them mentions the Angels it gets sent to my feed. Typically, the writing is about as crappy as mine, so I don't bother linking to it. This one is short, but makes a compelling point: Miguel Cabrera Making Case for MVP: Fan Reaction - Yahoo! Sports. "Though the media has set their sights on the crowning of Mike Trout, Detroit, and its fan base, know that there is one man who is more deserving of the award. He is Miguel Cabrera." I don't know if Cabrera is more deserving than Trout at this point in the season, but he definitely is in the running.
  
• This will be the funniest thing you see today: Eric Chavez Hit His Own Pitcher In The Head With A Throw. The best part is Chavez's reaction.
  
• Suboptimal's Link of the Day (as in, he's the only one who might have a clue what it's about):
  What is WAR good for? - "The first thing that jumps out from the regression is how well the samples fit to the projected linear equation. I expected the slope of the trendline to be around 1.0, and it came out to be 0.97, while I expected the intercept to be around 52 and it came out to 52.7—very close. The correlation coefficient, r, from this sample (.91) was higher than the one from Cameron's study (.83). Also, that correlation can be converted into an r^2 of .83, which simply means that 83 percent of the variance in wins is accounted for by WAR. That is amazing."
• I love Sandy Koufax. I love Vin Scully.: T.J. Simers: Sandy Koufax was perfect and Vin Scully wasn't bad either - latimes.com. "Joey Amalfitano pinch-hits for Don Kessinger, Koufax starting him with two strikes and Scully saying, "I would think that the mound at Dodger Stadium right now is the loneliest place in the world." One of the greatest lines ever. "As Amalfitano makes his way back to the dugout after striking out, he passes Kuenn who is on his way to the plate," he says. "Joe said something like good luck and Harvey says, 'I'll be right back.'"