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How fun is it that we get to spend our time watching baseball games littered with great plays made by some of the greatest players of our generation? They are among the gods of baseball, at the head of the pantheon. So why not revel in it, especially when they all add up to a great 2-1 extra-innings win over the Rockies?
Take a step back, and mull the events of last night over in your brain. Mike Trout robs a home run. Mike Trout snags a fading go-ahead extra-inning fly ball with a scrambling dash from deep center field. Mike Trout doubles off a potential go-ahead run by throwing a killer strike while on the run to home plate (after said dashing catch). Mike Trout gets walked intentionally so that the Rockies can, instead, face Albert Pujols?? Well, Ok. So Albert Pujols drives in the walk-off winning run with sacrifice fly to left field. That's a lot of Hall of Fame right there.
There are some pretty damned good players on the Rockies, too, but facing Hector Santiago for 6 innings they found themselves being forced to spread their 7 hits around for but a single run (Santiago lowering his ERA to 2.41) while striking out 8 times.
Hey, it's off to Baltimore we go, riding the high of yet another walk-off.
Mike Trout, he of the 3 tools in one play...
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- Public Service Announcement: ProCamps has teamed up with Albert Pujols to host a youth baseball camp at Orange High School, a few miles east of the stadium. Halos Heaven has been contacted by ProCamps with the opportunity to promote attendance to the camp as a means to raise funds for a favorite charity. So I am offering up this invite to the community as a whole. Does anyone have a good cause or project for which you would like to take advantage of this offer?
- Trout Porn: Not being the best makes Trout the best. Because it is possible that Mike Trout is not the very, very best in any one of a half-dozen categories. But because it takes a lot of work to define how Trout is not the best in each of the major categories, how can anybody but Trout be considered the best? "But when you add it all together, what we’ve had the privilege to bear witness to the past three years, if that keeps happening for another 10-15 years as is expected, Trout may become the greatest player of all-time."............Meanwhile, read this homage to Trout, dated Tuesday, and note the Halos Heaven expertise at the end...
- Huston Street's Halo career is not finished. Street signed an extension with the Angels yesterday. "The deal will pay Street $8 million in '16 and $9 million in '17, and it includes a $10 million club option for the '18 season, with a $1 million buyout." And it all started over a trip to one of the super hip Sushi Rokus.
- The Angels ended up losing Ryan Mattheus, as the Reds claimed Ryan off the waiver wire. Mattheus had been DFA'd on Tuesday when they picked up the contract of Marc Krauss from Salt Lake.
- Johnny "Clutch" G! Have you looked at Johnny Giovatella's splits so far this season? It's insane, man. Enjoy it now, because there really is no such thing as clutch, not over time. On the other hand, there is unclutch' too, but (unfortunately) also not over time. But, dude, going into last night Johnny G. has a batting line of .556 / .579 / .722 / 1.301 in situations "Late & Close".
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- Rockies manager Walt Weiss must have known that his squad would succumb to the greatness of Trout/Pujols and lose their 12th straight. His body did not respond well and he was raced off to a local hospital for emergency appendectomy surgery. At least, that is the official story. I'm thinking he wanted to try some authentic Mexican food now that he is in SoCal, so he went to Taco Bell...........
- MLB isn't about to let anybody deflate official game baseballs in their sport, dammit! New security is instituted, effective immediately.............
- Bryce Harper appears to have a natural governor on his overall talent level. Apparently the more success he realizes on the field, the nearer he gets to that limit line where his totall asshattedness reasserts himself..............
- That whole Harper ejected thing ended up working out pretty well for the Nationals, however, as his replacement (Michael Taylor) hits a game-winning grand-slam..............
- Jorge Posada, out on the circuit pimping his book (the one that vents anger at the Yankees), takes a run as official BBWAA HoF voter, and dumps on his ex-teammate Alex Rodriguez...........
- Posada also reveals what really goes on behind the plate that you cannot hear from the front row seats............
- Vote on best Minor League logo!.............
- You have heard of the shift. But how about the Super Shift, defending against passed balls and wild pitches???.............
- Here is the current leader for Baseball Prank of the Decade: a tree planted between the pitcher's mound and home plate.
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And now, being the full service weekend linkage institution that we are, here is the obligatory moment we take out of each Friday Thursday...for beer...(which works better on Thursdays anyway, because it gives you all some runway to take advantage of Friday goings on...)
Friday: Fuzzy Faces charity event to support the Humane Society runs all weekend at Pyramid Alehouse in Berkeley...........Samuel Adams Rare Release Keg Tap In at Draughts Restaurant & Bar in Thousand Oaks..........Sorrento Valley Beer Festival at Party Pals in San Diego
Saturday: Fuzzy Faces charity event to support the Humane Society continues at Pyramid Alehouse in Berkeley..........Copperversary beer festival at The Phoenix Club in Anaheim (use The Bruery web site to see more)..........Green Flash Celler 3 Grand Opening in Poway..........Los Angeles Vegan Beer and Food Festival on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.............Bite at the Beach beer tasting in Manhattan Beach.
Sunday: Fuzzy Faces charity event to support the Humane Society continues at Pyramid Alehouse in Berkeley...........