MondoLinks: Angels break fast for Canada

Well, 2 out of 3 is the Scioscia way, isn't it? "Win a couple and let the offense take a day off" will work out well come late September, right? Sorry Garrett. Nice effort. Makes your numbers look pretty good. Turn the page. Your agent will file that that page away for later when your contract is ready for renegotiation. And it's not your fault, since your teammates were facing a rookie in his first start and we all know how they respond to THAT. Meanwhile, ice the arm and enjoy some links:

The next upcoming mini-series, WITH A GAME PROBABLY GOING ON RIGHT NOW SO WAKE YOUR BUTTS UP, will be:

Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays: Rogers Centre, Toronto CA.

Elsewhere in the Heavens of Anaheim:

Garrett Richards is spinning his way to dominance. MLB Statcast has brought a new understanding to why Richards is to be considered one of MLB's premier pitchers, and it is not just because he is among the consistently hardest throwing pitchers in baseball. No, it all has to do with rotation on the ball with all his pitches. "Back to Richards, he's not just getting by on that fastball. Along with his deadly slider -- which he spun low in the zone far more in 2014, to great effect -- he's become the ace of the Angels staff. Last year, no qualified pitcher in baseball allowed a lower slugging percentage against than Richards' .261. Just about no one throws as hard. Of those who do, just about no one spins the ball like Richards. He's a unique pitcher, and he's the best the Angels have."

The Angels are going to be playing on that new super-slow turf installed in Toronto. It should be curiously interesting. "When the Angels begin a series in Toronto on Monday afternoon, it will be their first time this season playing on artificial turf, as well as their first experience with the new surface at Rogers Centre....'I think when you play on that surface all the time, there's a familiarity you get with it,' Scioscia said. 'I think your body adapts to it. But when you just pop in there for three or four days, there's no doubt, there's a toll it takes that you want to make sure you get over. So we'll read it and get guys off their feet a little bit, for sure.' "

Sean Newcomb is off to a great start after his promotion to High A ball in San Bernardino. 7 strikeouts against 4 hits and a walk, 1 run over 5 innings..........

Around Baseball:

I know a lot of you want to close your eyes and wish Josh Hamilton away, locking up the situation in a comfortable little place forever. But this isn't going to happen yet. Not until Hambone has been out on the field again and not until he has faced the Angels at least one time. This story will not start to fade away until after that first head-to-head series. Meanwhile, there is a chance that more of Hamilton's side of the story might leak out. Take, for example, the news that Hamilton tried for months and months and months to sit down with Arte Moreno and talk through his disappointing performance (you know, holding himself "accountable"), but Arte was not having any of it, hiding behind Dipoto and Carpino...........

I don't know why this is news. When you take the job of managing the Marlins, you have to expect that you will get blamed by the owners for the mess they make, and you will be fired in pretty short order............

But if you are going to get fired, at least you managed to prevent your squad from getting no-hit in your last game. Even if that came with only one out left in your final contest...........

Just to remind you one little bit why a Mike Trout is great, know that not all phenoms remain phenomenal...........

The only thing better than a grand salami, is a grand salami with a side of potato salad...........

This is awesome. Stadium pyro gimmicks are fun because they present some small sense of danger. Except when that danger turns out to be not so small and the joint actually catches fire. During a live game...........

Montreal is serious about wanting to get a baseball team back. it might have helped to have attended games when they had one the first time. Just sayin'..........

People in Seattle seem to be a little upset about Bostonian sporting things. I cannot understand the fuss myself...........

I don't care what you guys might say about our left field defense, it could be worse..........

Hey Colorado, take it from somebody who watched talent evaporate in the package named Brandon Wood, Carlos Gonzalez might not make it back to what you thought he was going to be..............

Kids these days. They just don't make them as wimpy as they used to be back in the day...........

There are rooms for this. No need to get frisky sitting among 45,000 of your closest friends.

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