Thrsday Halolinks: The Season Starts Now, No Wait...NOW!

Man, this kids-outta-school-summer-vacation thing is really messing with my ability to timely post Halolinks. Sleeping in. Staying up late. Going to ball games during the week, or what we used to call "school nights"! So here they are, slightly later than usual, your Halolinks:

• Baby steps: Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels - June 19, 2013 - MLB.com. "The Angels have now won five of their last seven despite totaling three runs in their last 18 innings. They're still 10 games out of first place in the American League West, but at 32-40, they've moved a half-game ahead of the Mariners team they'll wrap up a four-game series against on Thursday." One thing that will go a long way in an Angels' comeback this season would be C.J. Wilson having the type of season everyone was expecting: Wilson outdules Saunders, Angels edge Mariners 1-0 - Yahoo! Sports. "Saunders matched zeros with Wilson through five innings, scattering four hits before Trout legged out a leadoff double to left field in the sixth. He advanced after a flyball to right by Albert Pujols and scored on a 2-2 pitch to Mark Trumbo that bounced in the dirt and away from catcher Mike Zunino. It was the first wild pitch of the season for Saunders in 89 2-3 innings to that point." Wait, that describes former Angel Joe Saunder's outing last night. Sure, it wasn't as good as Wilson's, and the right team won, but I miss Hokey Joe.
  
• Hmmm, 'bout time: Hamilton dropped to 7th in Angels' lineup - Yahoo! Sports. "This was the first time Hamilton started a game in the seventh spot in the order singe Aug. 5, 1990 with the Texas Rangers." At least he's thinking of the kids: Mariners-Angels Preview - FOX Sports. "We've got to figure out something," said Hamilton, hitting .152 in his last 13 home games. "Some players wear emotions on their sleeves and break things, but I'm not going to break my bat on the field because there's kids watching. If they don't think I care, they're mistaken because it hurts me more than it hurts anybody not to be performing."
• If the club drops this game to Hernandez, it'll make Tuesday night's loss even worse. Had the Angels won that game, they would have assured themselves of a series win: Mariners-Angels Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "Hernandez (8-4, 2.32 ERA) did have some troubles in five starts versus the Angels last year, collecting an 0-3 record and 6.25 ERA. However, he beat them on April 27 as he gave up two runs - one earned - and five hits in eight innings during a 3-2 win. " Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels - June 20, 2013 - MLB.com. "Really, I'm not facing him, I'm facing their lineup, Hanson said. "I've just got to go out, make my pitches. I've learned that you can't worry about who is pitching on the other side, you just got to go out and do what you can do and that's try to attack the hitters and try to get them out."
Los Angeles Angels tickets


• This is badass: Pujols finally feels like the Albert of old - angels.com. "Pujols approached Mike Trout. "Head's up, dude," he told him. "I'm back now.""
• When I was 8 years old I wanted to be a grizzly bear. Best of Vin Scully’s Twitter takeover - Yahoo! Sports. "It was a wonderful thing to follow along with, especially when you consider it was just two months ago that Scully was asking on air "What in the world is a hashtag?" He still may not understand the concept completely, but it was only a matter of minutes before the hashtag #vinscully was trending in the United States."

• When I was 8 years old, I knew. I wrote a composition for the nuns and said I want to be a sports announcer. -#VinScully

  — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2013

• Until someone creates a version of Angels Stadium out of Velveta, this is the most awesome stadium replica I've ever seen: Lego Wrigley Field made of 57,960 bricks stars at Louisville Slugger Museum - Yahoo! Sports. "This Lego construction of an nearly scale model of Wrigley Field, which Kenney made with 57,960 bricks, is extraordinary."
  
• More Josh Hamilton tough-love: Josh Hamilton's tough Tuesday night - Baseball Nation. "When you're making a list of scapegoats for the Angels' 31-40 record, you should probably start with either Josh Hamilton or the genius who thought signing Josh Hamilton was a fine idea." But wait! It's not caffeine, or sunlight, or tobacco: Why Does John Hirschbeck Hate Left-Handers? - FanGraphs Baseball. "But I’m not here to lament Josh Hamilton again. His terrible performance is noteworthy, but I think it’s also worth acknowledging that Hamilton was fighting an uphill battle last night, because as a left-handed hitter in a game with John Hirschbeck behind the plate, he was screwed before he ever stepped up to the plate."
• Ever wonder what type of life a baseball blogger lives? You think it's all hot babes and fat stacks? Life-saving catch: Joe Torre’s daughter catches falling baby in Brooklyn - Yahoo! Sports. "The report also notes that police haven't determined where the child's parents were when the incident took place, but both Sam Miller, 23, and Tiffany Demetria, 24, were cuffed at the scene and could face endangering the welfare of a child and neglect charges." Explains why there was an apricot on the floor. (FYI, this isn't the same Sam Miller, friend of Halos Heaven and awesome writer from Baseball Prospectus).
• Shameless plus: LunchTime HaloTalk LIVE Thursday 11 AM - Halos Heaven
• What's worse, having Kate Upton break up with you, or never having dated Kate Upton in the first place? Kate Upton slights Justin Verlander in happy birthday tweet to his buddy - Yahoo! Sports. "From the blog Big League Stew: If we needed any confirmation that Kate Upton doesn't like Justin Verlander as much as she allegedly used to, a happy birthday tweet she sent to Frank Viola III on Wednesday confirmed it."
• I'm predicting it right now, Sean Forman will become the first person inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame based on internet work: An interview with Sean Forman - Baseball: Past and Present. "PP: How many pages do you have overall on Baseball-Reference? I’ll say just Baseball-Reference right now. Do you have over a million pages on the site? Forman: Oh yeah. Just box scores, we have 200,000 box scores. Oh whoa. And then, we have probably 200,000-300,000 pages in the minor league players, total, who have pages. Then you’ve got another 40,000 teams. You’ve got 2,000 teams in the major leagues, plus then we’ve got like 10 different pages for each season. I’m guessing we’re into the millions, just to count splits, game logs, the whole nine yards. It’s probably well over a million. I’m sure there are over a million. There could be over two million distinct pages on the site."
• Ha-ha:
  
  
• Someone should turn this kid over to the Sam Miller mentioned above. Maybe he'll trade the ball for a pizza or parachute: Teen drives a hard bargain for minor league team that wants historic home run ball back - Yahoo! Sports. "So when Jordan Parr — just drafted by the D-backs out of the University of Illinois — hit the first home run at Hillsboro Ballpark, the Hops moved quick to preserve the moment. A 15-year-old fan caught the homer and when the Hops went to ask for the ball back, things got fun."
• James Gandolfini Dead at 51
  The Sopranos star James Gandolfini has died in Italy after suffering a heart attack.