Thursday Halolinks: Angels To Save Ryan Madson For Late Season Pennant Drive

You know those issues you're having loading SBN pages and making comments? Yeah, I'm having them too...which is why today's Halolinks are not the tip-top, coolest thing ever.

• It's pretty bad when Tommy Hanson is the key to your season's success: Kansas City Royals at Los Angeles Angels - May 15, 2013 - MLB.com. "The series finale against the Royals (20-17) marked the third start missed by a grieving Tommy Hanson, whose absence has exposed the Angels' lack of pitching depth. Each of those three times, the opposing team has batted around in an inning. On Wednesday night, it was the third, when Enright loaded the bases with none out, then gave way to Lowe despite throwing only 47 pitches. Five of the first six batters Lowe faced reached base, plating seven runs -- three of which were charged to Enright -- as Kansas City built a commanding lead."
• So it's come to this; the Angels are the team other teams use to get back on track...Royals beat Angels 9-5 with 7-run 3rd inning - Yahoo! Sports. "''It was huge, because we struggled with the Yankees. So coming in here and taking two from these guys was big for us,'' Cain said. ''Keeping those losing streaks down is definitely key throughout a long baseball season." And now it's the White Sox turn to get their season going in the right direction: White Sox-Angels Preview - FOX Sports. "The White Sox look to match a season high with their third straight victory Thursday night against the Angels. Chicago (17-21) ranks among the worst in the majors in batting (.236), runs (136), and average with runners in scoring position (.222), but it pounded out a season-high 14 hits in Wednesday's 9-4 win at Minnesota."
• Either the guys making the decisions for the Angels are being overly cautious, don't think Madson is as healthy as Madson thinks he is, are looking to help Salt Lake City improve their bullpen for an early season playoff push, or like the rest of us, just don't give a shit anymore, keeping Madson in the minors for "several weeks" seems really strange: Angels plan to keep rehabbing reliever Ryan Madson in the minor leagues for "several weeks" - HardballTalk. "According to beat writer Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (I would have given the Times the traffic by using the link to the original story, but I've reached the limit on free access to their site. That means NBC will get our traffic instead.), the right-hander is going to spend "several weeks" on a minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Salt Lake before being cleared to pitch in the major leagues." It's not like the major league club needs any bullpen help. Scioscia's new boy-toy Dane De La Rosa and Mark Lowe are doing a bang-up job.
  
• This is pretty neat-o: Studying the art of pitch framing by catchers such as Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart, Jose Molina, and others - Grantland. "They're both four-seam fastballs thrown by right-handed pitchers to left-handed hitters. They both pass through the strike zone 21 inches off the ground, between 11.7 and 12.9 inches from the center of home plate. They both hit their targets, so the catchers know where they're headed and have time to prepare. And they're both called by the same umpire, Sam Holbrook. In fact, the two pitches are similar in just about every respect but their outcomes."
• How Scott Kazmir got his groove back - The Hardball Times. "For the million dollar question that I ask on a regular basis: Why did Kazmir have to go outside professional baseball to figure this out?" The five cent answer: Because the Angels coaching staff doesn't know what they're doing?
  
• I just checked, I'm still not on the list. And neither are you. The 50 highest-earning American athletes - 2013 Fortunate 50 - SI.com