HumpLinks: Everybody but Trout Edition

I am starting to think that this Johnny Giovatella experiment might be lightning in a bottle. Johnny G. once again sparked the offense, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored the winning RBI. He is currently batting .283 and looks like he is having the time of his life. Going into the night he stood at .7 fWAR (slightly behind Howie Kendrick's .8 fWAR). Again, not saying that it will last forever, but Giovatella has been a major surprise on defense, as well.

Kole Calhoun, he of the 3 for 4 night at the plate, Leaps to Glory!

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• Marc Krauss has the chance to stick around a while, seeing as there is some possibility that he could add left-handed power to the lineup. How do we know this? Because Mike Scioscia has figured it out using...statistics!  "The balance of left-handed and right-handed isn't quite there with us, and it's showing up statistically. It's only a sixth of the season, but it's there. It's something we're going to try to address." Those statistics must be the ones that get all excited over his career .478 BA as a minor leaguer. Certainly not because of his "underwhelming .197/.277/.336 in 329 plate appearances against righties with the Astros the last two years." By the way, we have already met Krauss before:

• Speaking of Scioscia, if you have noticed he has chosen to NOT exploit the short series with an extra off day in order to split C.J. Wilson from Hector Santiago and not send two left-handed pitchers to the mound in consecutive games. Sosh's reasoning is that it is still young in the season and what's "...more important right now ‑ one is making sure our guys rebound properly and also secondly is you’re more concerned with trying to get your length (of starts) spread out. I think we’re doing a much better job of that. If we get our length spread out, that’ll go a long way to help our bullpen. I think that’s more important right now than to worry about two lefties boxed together. If everybody’s throwing the ball well that’s not going to be an issue."

• Isn't it tempting??? Jett Bandy is killing it in Salt Lake right now. He went 3-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI's last night and is batting .390. I wonder if he can play left field?

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• How the hell did we all let this happen? The Yankees are good.  "That's right. I'm going to say it, and I rewrote this sentence 49 times because it's hard to admit: This team is likable, fun to watch and giving us a story much more interesting than an aging, broken-down team on its way to 85 or 90 losses."  Who's tur was it to keep an eye on them?

• Better than The Natural.  "Nobody knows where the mammoth fly ball hit out of Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium by Courtney Hawkins ended up, but there's a chance it could now be anywhere from Virginia to Montreal. The White Sox No. 9 prospect hit a home run that smacked off the roof a passing freight train."

• When the going is threatened to get tough, baseball players finally figure out how to get going. Or so it seems in Texas, where GM Jon Daniels got fed up with the crap play of his Rangers, and proclaimed that there would be a 'critical look' at the entire team on the field. And the team woke the hell up, immediately going 5-2 against winning teams.

• This one is for 5thStarter: Dan Haren's great start to 2015 (4 wins against 1 loss, with career-bests in WHIP of only .919 and ERA+ of 148) is not sustainable.  "Over-performing fielder independent numbers, LOB% and BABIP is not sustainable—especially when you don’t have electric stuff and you aren’t striking out hitters at an above-average clip. Some rough outings should be on the horizon for the 34 year old." Take last night's outing, for example.

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Ummm...the Rockies ARE in town right now. And, after all, he IS a shortstop..........Here is something you don't see very often. Giancarlo Stanton, once of Sherman Oaks, launched one completely out of Dodger Stadium..........Stanton can also do stuff like this.............Here is something else you don't see too often. The Eephus pitch. Actually , here you see TWO of them, getting Torii Hunter out..........Awwwww. Cute. Not the way they met. The way they finished.............In response to Barry Bonds going to court to accuse MLB of collusion in 2008, Grant Brisbee (Bonds fan-boy) takes a run at which team in 2008 could have used Bonds after all. The Halos make the list...........I must be the only guy unsurprised that the Mets might not make the playoffs this year..........Just to refresh everyone's interest, it's not that baseball itself is dying but that baseball is busy killing off their fans. One coronary at a time............Here is a fun pull: David Letterman and Joe Niekro. ..........That was a Ballsy move, Pujols. Ballsy move.