Wednesday Halolinks: Angels can't figure out Seattle

We fans are a fickle bunch.  Our emotions, if graphed would look pretty close to the opening of "The Outer Limits"

A vacillating group of brain waves hitting a high one day, and then bouncing down the next dependent on the outcome of the previous day's Angel game.  In yesterday's Halolinks I mentioned that the season would possibly be turning around because my brain had been injected with winning neurons (or whatever molecular things that cause emotion), and now this morning my brain has been overcome with thoughts of "ah crap, here we go again".  I suppose that's what happens when we root for a bi-polar team.  In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with your computer. Do not attempt to adjust the website. We are controlling transmission. For the few moments we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits.  Halolinks:

• So anyway, the game started great, the club scored three first-inning runs, and it looked like a huge fluke that Seattle's starter James Paxton had dominated the Angels in his last start.  Nope.  Although Albert Pujols and David Freese were able to hit back-to-back home runs, Paxton retired the next 12 Angels in order.  Los Angeles Angels vs. Seattle Mariners - Recap - April 08, 2014 - ESPN.  "Seattle became the final major league team to open at home and improved to 4-0 this season against the Angels, who got consecutive home runs from Albert Pujols and David Freese in the first inning."  As good as Paxton was, Angels' starter Hector Santiago was bad.  What was the major difference between the two pitchers?  Of Paxton's 59 pitches, 40 were strikes, while Santiago tossed only 59 strikes in his 94 pitches.  We all knew Santiago had some control issues, but apparently the Halo coaching staff has been unable to improve them:  Hart homers twice as M's win home opener - Yahoo Sports.  "Los Angeles starter Hector Santiago (0-2) suffered his second consecutive defeat at the hands of the Mariners. All four of the runs he allowed over 4 1/3 innings came during a two-out rally in the third inning, when Seattle turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead. "Last week in California, they really were hot with two outs and guys in scoring position, and they really carried it over (into Tuesday's game)," Scioscia said."  Oh yeah, and what's up with all those 2-out runs teams are scoring against the Halo pitching staff?
  
• It figures, the hottest hitting player on the club gets hurt: Los Angeles Angels at Seattle Mariners - April 8, 2014 - MLB.com.  "Hamilton injured his left thumb two innings earlier, while sliding headfirst into first base in a feeble attempt to beat out an infield groundout, then he noticed how difficult it was to throw, tested his swing out in the batting cage and regretfully told Mike Scioscia he couldn't bat in the ninth inning."  While I love when a player shows the desire to play the game hard, sliding into first base is a rather dumb way to show it: Los Angeles Angels at Seattle Mariners - April 9, 2014 - MLB.com Preview.  "That's just one of things where, when you feel good, you feel good all around -- running balls out and just playing the game," Hamilton said after the Angels lost to the Mariners, 5-3, on Tuesday night. "I'll get an MRI tomorrow, see what it says and go from there."
• Uncle Albert does some yard work.
  
• The blown out elbow virus finally hit the Angels yesterday as Brian Moran will need Tommy John surgery.  Does someone have a count of pitchers who have had elbow injuries this spring?  Crazy, man:  Angels Rule 5 Pick Brian Moran To Undergo Tommy John - MLBTradeRumors.com.  "Moran is expected to remain with the Angels for the coming season while he rehabs from surgery, says MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. The club will be able to keep him while clearing a 40-man spot by placing him on the 60-day DL, and will then have the same rights over Moran as they do at present. Once Moran is activated, the Angels will need to clear a 40-man spot and then maintain him on the active roster for all of next season or offer him back to Seattle."
• At least Ryan Madsen Sean Burnett may make an appearance soon later this season never:  Burnett in a holding pattern again for Angels - Orange County Register.  "Burnett, who had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon last July, has endured a rehab process that has been frustrating for him and the team. He faced hitters Wednesday and Saturday, but apparently he has not been able to move beyond that. "I don’t think you're at the point of writing anybody off, but it's certainly a question as to when he's going to be back," Scioscia said. "You really can't count on him until he gets to be 100 percent and he’s not there yet. We'll see where he is."
• Everyone has a gift, and I think mine is common sense.  That's why whenever I read about things like this, my common sense portion of my brain switches into "WTF" mode.  The Angels need pitching, a decent pitcher becomes available, the pitcher has 3 years of team control, his salary is the league minimum, and the Angels don't get him.  WTF?  Vin Mazzaro Clears Outright Waivers - MLBTradeRumors.com.  "That the 27-year-old Mazzaro would clear waivers seems highly surprising given his strong 2013 campaign. Mazzaro posted a 2.81 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate. His ERA, BB/9 rate and ground-ball rate were all career bests, and he also averaged a career-high 93.1 mph on his fastball in 73 2/3 innings as a key member of a strong Pirates bullpen."  There's got to be something else to this story...there's just got to be.
  
• Grandpa, tell me another story about crack pipes:  Vin Scully tells a story about Torii Hunter's dad and a crack pipe (Video) | Larry Brown Sports.  "During the Los Angeles Dodgers-Detroit Tigers game on Tuesday, Scully was talking about Torii Hunter and told a story about Hunter’s father being a crack addict. The story went that Hunter’s father wore his son’s jacket and left a crack pipe in the pocket, and the pipe fell out of the pocket in a classroom after Torii wore the jacket to school."  This video has it all; an interesting story told well, a former Angel striking out, and a former Angel striking someone out (that's for you 5thStarter):
  
  
• I agree with Adam Jones that idiots who run onto the field are, well, idiots.  But he might be going a bit overboard: Orioles center fielder Adam Jones vocal about fans running onto the field - baltimoresun.com.  "I remember a couple of years ago, one dude broke his ankle in Baltimore. I was laughing at him. I wish he shattered his femur because it’s stupid. It’s just plain old stupid. Anybody who does it, I wish the cops tase the [hell] out of them. I wish that."
• Pot, I'd like you to meet my good friend, Kettle: Beard Watch 2014: Mike Napoli disses Elvis Andrus and his 'Abe Lincoln' beard - Yahoo Sports.  "Elvis' beard is terrible, by the way," Napoli told KRLD-FM. "Horrendous. He cuts half of his chin off, too I was just up there getting on him about it. Yeah it’s terrible. He looks like Abe Lincoln ... He has to cut that thing off. It’s so bad, it’s almost embarrassing ... I can’t even look at him it’s so bad."
• Today (April 9) marks the fifth anniversary of Angels’ pitcher Nick Adenhart (22) and friends Courtney Stewart (20) and Henry Pearson (25) being tragically killed by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run car accident in the early morning hours of April 9, 2009 in Fullerton…A fourth passenger, Jon Wilhite, sustained critical injuries.  The sad anniversary of an Angels pitcher lost too soon - Yahoo Sports.  "Maybe he'd be a great pitcher. Maybe not. Doesn't matter, other than it mattered to him, and because he was a ballplayer we got to know him a little. We watched an organization fall to its knees not for the pitcher it lost, but for the young man who was taken, and for his two friends, and along come the memories that seem to sharpen every year on that day, relentless like that."  Weaver keeps Adenhart in his thoughts - angels.com.  "Every spring for the past few years, one of the Angels' young pitchers makes his way around the clubhouse to collect money for the Nick Adenhart Memorial Fund, which provides financial support to non-profit youth baseball organizations. Most times they're able to collect somewhere between $7,000 and $9,000. This year, with Michael Morin doing the collecting, the Angels gathered somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000."