Thursday Halolinks: It was just one of those things

Did you know that even the best teams will lose a game from time to time?  Seriously, the best record in baseball history belongs to the Chicago Cubs, going 116-36 (.763) in 1906.  If you want to restrict the criteria to this century, the 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116 games while losing 46 resulting in a .716 winning percentage.  Typically, a team that wins between 90 and 100 games is going to go to the playoffs, which means that team would have lost at least 62 games.  What does this have to do with the Angels?  Well, last night was just one of those games a team will lose.  The pitching was less than stellar, the hitting was non-existent, and the other team just played a better game.  It happens. 

• For some reason Santiago's season doesn't remind me of Blanton's in the least.  IT still seems like the Halos have a chance at a win when Santiago takes the hill, something that never seemed to happen with Joe: Santiago roughed up early as Angels fall to Yankees, 9-2 - The Orange County Register.  "The Angels (16-17) are 0-7 when Santiago starts and 16-10 when anyone else starts, a mammoth discrepancy reminiscent of Joe Blanton. The Angels opened 2013 with eight straight losses in Blanton starts."

• It looks like Mike Buthcher has been working with the struggling starter by instilling the necessary circumlocution:  New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels - May 7, 2014 - MLB.com.  "Santiago believes he mainly needs to work on "staying within myself a little bit more" when situations get difficult, because his stuff "is good enough that I don't need to make anything better."  Maybe he might want to trying changing eye levels.  He's definitely going to have to turn the page.

• Okay, now you're just showing off: New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels - Recap - May 07, 2014 - ESPN.  "Unless both clubs meet in the playoffs, this was Jeter's swan song against the Halos, who dropped two of three in the Bronx 1 1-2 weeks ago. Jered Weaver, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Howie Kendrick carried a 12-foot-long pinstriped paddleboard with Jeter's No. 2 and the Yankee logo to the middle of the diamond and presented it to him following a milestone-studded video tribute as the sellout crowd of 44,083 roared its approval. "That was a cool gift. I thought that was awesome. I can use that in my backyard," Jeter said with a grin."  Here's a picture of Jeter's backyard:
  

• What sort of wizardry would cause this?  Angels' season so far is a matter of perspective - Los Angeles Times.  "The Angels are 2-8 in one-run games, six of their losses coming in the opponents' last at-bat, and they led at some point in 12 of 17 losses, the highest percentage of losses with blown leads in the majors."  Here are a couple more fun-facts: Eight of last 11 losses have come by one run, those six losses in their opponents last at-bat is the 2nd  most in MLB, and after the opening week of season, the Halos bullpen has been sharp…
  Twins 2.43 ERA (85.1 IP – 23 ER)
  Athletics 2.52 ERA (82 IP – 23 ER)
  Angels 3.35 ERA (75.1 IP – 28 ER)
  Say what?

• Never, in my wildest imagination, did I think the return of DDLR would cause me such excitement: De La Rosa could join Angels by weekend - angels.com.  "De La Rosa, battling back from irritation in his right s/c joint, has thrown two scoreless outings for Triple-A Salt Lake in the last three days, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia said there's "a strong possibility" that the 31-year-old right-hander could rejoin the Angels for their six-game road trip through Toronto and Philadelphia, which starts Friday. De La Rosa will need at least one more rehab outing, however."

• Never, in my wildest imagination, did I think the return of DDLR Hamilton would cause me such excitement: Hamilton's return to Angels still a few weeks away - The Orange County Register.  "Each week, he says you should get about 20 percent better. By Week 5, I should be about 90 percent, and by Week 6, I’ll be 100 percent and he’ll let me go without my splint.” Six weeks from Hamilton’s April 11 surgery would be May 23, the day the Angels begin a homestand-concluding three-game series with the Kansas City Royals. He expects to be able to play then. It not, he says he’ll definitely be back May 26, when the Angels return to Seattle, where he initially hurt himself sliding headfirst into first base."

• It was reported that Mike Butcher liked what he saw and thinks T-Rex has a future in the Angels' organization: Tyrannosaurus rex throws out first pitch for Padres, tries to eat Friar mascot - MLB.com.  "Stop us if you've heard this one before: A T-Rex delivered the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday's Royals-Padres game. No, seriously. Watch."  He added that he thought the Padres mascot would not have much of a future since he reminded him of himself.

• This just isn't as funny as I thought it would be, and I didn't really think it would be that funny in the first place: C.J. Wilson: “I’m here to scare the crap out of people in New York, one pitch at a time” - HardballTalk:
  

• Little know fact; As part of the Vernon Wells deal, the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to "not to try very hard" for the next 5 years. Los Angeles Angels at Toronto Blue Jays - May 9, 2014 - MLB.com.  "The Angels head to Rogers Centre having won seven of their last eight games against the Blue Jays, including each of the last three games in Canada when they swept a three-game series Sept. 10-12 last season. In six of the eight wins against the Blue Jays, the Angels have scored at least seven runs."

• They're teaching the young Halos how to play Angels' baseball right from the start: Bees Stunned by LumberKings - Burlington Bees News.  "With an 8-1 lead, the Bees produced their biggest inning of the season, scoring nine times in the fifth. Ranyelmy Mendoza smacked his team leading fifth homerun of the season. Catcher Cambric Moye crushed the first Bees' grand slam of the season, giving the Bees a 17-1 lead.  And then the wheels fell off: Seattle Mariners Class A affiliate finishes 16-run comeback - ESPN.  ""That's one for the ages for me, for sure," Burlington manager Bill Richardson said, according to the newspaper. "You just give credit to your opponent for flipping the game on us. We just gave them a little life in that sixth, and they kept running."  Not only do the players get to experience Angels' baseball, the manager gets to practice his Scoiscia-isms.  Here's the Boxscore

• We don't want people talking about our product and give us free publicity.  That would be just awful: MLB is urging iTunes to pull team-related podcasts (UPDATE) - Awful Announcing.  "For as many strides as MLBAM has made in recent years, this is a massive step in the wrong direction. Many of these podcasts have been around for years and have large, devoted fanbases – what’s with the sudden, ridiculous crackdown? MLB.com’s team-based podcast empire is nonexistent, so I’d assume this is going to lead into a new surge of largely awful, beat writer hosted podcasts that spout the company line and don’t offer any real insight. How unbelievably ridiculous is it that MLB is silencing fans from talking about their favorite team?"  MLB is trying to push the blame onto Apple, but the podcasts are still down: "As we have done in the past, yesterday we notified Apple (see below) about certain podcasts on the iTunes Store whose titles and/or thumbnails include infringing uses of trademarks of Major League Baseball and certain Clubs. And, as we have done in the past, we asked Apple to have these trademarks removed from the podcast titles and thumbnails. Although we did not ask for or seek to have any podcast removed from the Store, it has come to our attention that Apple removed them. Given our many years of experience in notifying Apple about trademark issues on the Store, we trust that removing the podcasts was an oversight, and ask that you please look into this matter as soon as possible."

• Alex Gordon Is A Master Of Slapstick.  "Sad: Alex Gordon sliding and failing to make a catch in foul territory. Sadder: A section of wall padding tipping slowly over on top of him. Saddest: That little sprinkle of water. Petco Park has excellent comedic timing."
  
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