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While you were away...There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball. 23 of them have a better Batting Average than LAA. 27 of them have a better On Base Percentage. 19 of them have a better Slugging Percentage. And 22 of them have a better OPS. 25 of them have stolen more bases. 20 of them have more walks. 20 of them have driven in more runs. 23 of them have more hits. 18 of them have a better staff ERA. 25 of them have surrendered fewer home runs. And 20 of them have recorded more strikeouts.
Over the weekend, the Angels dropped 2 of 3 to the Houston Astros. The Angels are back home, and the Oakland A's are flying in to pay a visit.
The Series:
Oakland A's @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Angels Stadium, Anaheim.
| Day | Game Time | Probable Pitchers | TV |
| MONDAY | 7:05 PM PDT | Kendall Graveman (1-1, 7.27 ERA) versus Matt Shoemaker (2-0, 4.38 ERA) | FSW |
| TUESDAY | 7:05 PM PDT | Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 3.00 ERA) versus Hector Santiago (1-1, 2.92 ERA) | FSW |
| WEDNESDAY | 7:05 AM PDT | Sonny Gray (1-0, 2.11 ERA) versus Jered Weaver (0-2, 6.16 ERA) | KCOP |
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Elsewhere in the Heavens of Anaheim: Speaking of Josh Hamilton, there are rumors. Lots of rumors. So how about this one? The Rangers are in hot pursuit to get Hamilton back on board their club. This would happen either after Arte figures out a way to buy him out, or after Arte chooses to eat the salary and trade him outright. Either way, Texas is looking to spend only $1 million per season for Hamilton. And it might all just be a week or two away. So it could be imagined that Hamilton comes back healthy, plays well for a division rival, and we are still burdened with 96% of the financial load anyway. Irrational Behavior, allow me to introduce you to Law of Unintended Consequences....
Garrett Richards picked up right where he left off with his AAA start, turning in a rather shaky start. 5 innings pitched, 3 earned runs on 5 hits (1 of which was a home run) and 4 walks, against 4 strikeouts. He rests after his first start with an ERA of 5.40. But, considering how long it has been and the real risk that it could have gone a lot worse, we exit this experience "encouraged"...
Lots of talk is to be had concerning Jered Weaver, and is ongoing decline in velocity. We don't have anywhere near the same track record here, so it's understandable that the decreased velocity of Matt Shoemaker has gone unnoticed until now. Shoey tells us that it's nothing to worry about. His experience is that he gets stronger as the season goes on. For most of his peers, the opposite is considered to be true. Maybe he missed the memo...
Throw it back. The Astros and Angels celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Astrodome with throwback everything: uniforms, groundskeepers, cheer squad. But stirrups, man. Not nearly enough stirrups. And, as UniWatch points out, the Angels went far, but refused to go all the way. Dudes, the only way to go is to go "all in". All. In.
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Around Baseball: This is how you do it, people. Player chooses to toss a ball to a kid, which would make that kid a fan for life. Random adult jackass intercepts the toss and steals the ball. PLAYER STARES DOWN ASSHAT AND POINTS TO KID UNTIL ASSHAT SHAMED INTO SURRENDERING STOLEN GIFT. Well played, Bryce Harper. Well played, indeed...
The A's are coming to town, and they are not in a good mood. They spent all weekend in a dust up with the Royals. On the one hand, the Royals are getting pretty cocky these days, and they are mighty touchy about their cockiness. We saw it for ourselves. On the other hand, and the A's have a hand in this, the Royals have been hit by pitch 14 times already this young season. Second most in MLB only to the Rangers, and by a significant stretch over the field...
David Ortiz, Boston's Lord of Self-Righteousness, got himself thrown out of a game for arguing whether or not he intended to swing at a pitch that suckered him. Umpires apparently are forgetful of the Red Sox Golden Rule: David Ortiz is always right, even when he is not. I had a momentary temptation to consider that Ortiz was jobbed there, but then I regained control of my senses...
Minnesota celebrates Casual Friday?..............What's funnier, Lester having to toss his entire mitt to first base to get the ball there on time to get the out, or Anthony Rizzo having to drop his mitt in order to catch Lester's ?..................Mets pitcher Alex Torres and his new protective cap are gonna make a helluva bobblehead some day...........Kris Bryant joined MLB this weekend, and didn't start out so well. But, that don't mean bupkiss.
This is NOT the kind of thing that should be pocketed for 5 full days just to flesh out my Friday Linkage. Such things need to be shared with utmost haste. Here is a review of craft beers served at all 30 stadiums around MLB. The importance of this is not so much the selections offered, which are pretty damned good in some places. No, it is the idea of going to every ballpark and researching their beers. We here over at HH need better overlords in the mothership...
Finally, to all you single, male, baseball devotees looking for the perfect life companion: she exists, but now the whole world knows of her. And she probably rules at beer pong. So the line forms to the right ...
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