Clearly my admonishment yesterday of Don Baylor and his lack of impact on the flaccid Angels offense had an immediate effect. I suspect that Baylor, after reading yesterday's Links, took the crew out the batting cage and made the necessary corrections, resulting in an immediate 180 degree turnaround. Featherston gets a home run? Giovatella gets another one? Trout getting a triple, and now hitting .300? C.J. Wilson hitting .333? Yeah. Totally me. Either me, or there truly is something about putting a guy with a high OBP at the leadoff spot. One of those two.
But you're on notice now, Baylor. I'm watching you. No backsliding, dude.
Now let's focus on running the bases. Who's job is that? We need to start with C. J. Wilson's slide. One trip from home plate to second, with a base-jump finishing fail, and now the dude is totally ruined for the day, needing a hard-earned nap on the flight to Oakland. So, ok, let's fix that next.
Meanwhile, happy links!
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Angels Baseball
The Weekend Series:
Los Angeles Angels, @ Oakland A's, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland CA.
Day | Game Time | Probable Pitchers | TV |
FRIDAY | 6:35 PM PDT | Matt Shoemaker (4-5, 4.85 ERA) versus Sonny Gray (8-3, 1.60 ERA) | FSW |
SATURDAY | 1:05 PM PDT | Jered Weaver (4-7, 4.65 ERA) versus Jesse Hahn (4-5 3.62 ERA) | FSW |
SUNDAY | 1:05 AM PDT | Garrett Richards (7-4, 3.59 ERA) versus Scott Kazmir (3-4, 2.84 ERA) | FSW |
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Knock Knock Knockin' on Heaven's Door: This is interesting, and something I had forgot about. Wayne Gretzky's son Trevor, once a big star baller at Oaks Christian High School, and drafted #219 by the Chicago Cubs, now toils in the Angels' farm system with the Burlington Bees. I had forgotten about it, because this did run past all of our noses when the Angels traded for Gretzky by sending away Mike Scioscia's son, Matt. Trevor currently has a slash line down at A ball of .282 / .363 / .343...............
Bonus Baby: The signing of Jahmai Jones ended up coming in at $1.1MM, which is $220,500 over slot. Apparently that amount was needed to keep Jones from enrolling at University of North Carolina............
Shut Down: 1st-round pick Taylor Ward showed up in his first professional appearance, gunning down 2 runners trying to steal on him..............
Power Pwnage: Is it just me, or does it really look like Johnny Giovatella has more actual power in his swing than does Taylor Featherston?...........
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Elsewhere in Baseball
The All-DL, All-Star team might actually be better than the team the AL is going to be fielding this year to start the game in Cincinnati............
Speaking of All Star Game (and voting), MLBAM believes that they have a very good handle on voting shenanigans. Yeah. Right. We are a few days away from having more votes cast than there are people in the entire country, and that is a legit outcome............
Cole Hamels pranks the Phillie beat reporters with a masterful hoax...........
I'm so thankful I had sons and not daughters, because little girls are just too damned cute for words and there is no way I could have been a tough enough dad. Especially when they keep doing such cute things..............
Speaking of family, Doug Fister dodged a serious bullet, losing his wedding ring on the mound while pitching against the Rays. Luckily for Fister, he was able to relocate it before retreating from the field...........
Pablo Sandoval had to hit the head mid-game, as many players do (even managers). But while there he made the mistake of checking his phone and hitting the Like button on Instagram. Perfect knucklehead move for a Red Sox. Bad move for an actual MLB baseball player. And it's going to cost him............
Eric Byrnes, still one crazy dude............
Bob Uecker got smacked in the head during batting practice. Initial assumptions are that he may have suffered a concussion. I am sure Uecker would agree that you probably need a brain first before that can happen.............
Dee Gordon, the anti-Pappi. Yo umay recall David Ortiz starting to stroll up the first baseline as what would eventually become ball 4 is still leaving the pitcher's hand. Well, Dee Gordon tried his hand at being David Ortiz, but kind of got it all back-assward.
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This Date In Baseball History (scoring oddities): 1911 - The Tigers, down at one point 13-1, and still down 15-7 after 8 innings, pull out the game in the 9th inning and win 16-15.............1919 - The Browns defeat the Red Sox when, in the bottom of the 9th, Red Sox catcher Wally Schang is caught off 3rd base with the hidden ball trick...........1950 - After winning the first game 7-0, the Indians score 14 runs in the first inning of the night-cap and blow out the the A's, 21-2............1953 - The Red Sox send 23 batters to the plate in the 7th inning, scoring 17 runs on 14 hits and wreak revenge on the Tigers for that 1911 debacle, winning 23-3..........1961 - Trailing by 7 runs in the bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox score 7 runs and come from behind to best the Senators 13-12...........2000 - Every player on the A's starting lineup gets at least 1 hit as Oakland wallops Kansas City 21-3. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are crushed by the Rockies 19-2, and Rockies 2nd baseman Mike Lansing hits for the cycle, in just the 1st 4 innings..........
This Date In Baseball History (other notable things): 1961 - Eddie Gaedel is found dead in his bed under mysterious circumstances. The only person from Major Leageu Baseball who will attend his funeral will be Bob Cain, the Tigers pitcher who walked the 3'7" tall Gaedel..........1967 - Don Wilson, pitching fo rhte Astros, no-hits the Braves..........1979 - Billy Martin takes exception to Reggie Jacksons level of effort in the field, pulls him from the game, and the two nearly come to blows in the dugout..........1986 - Pitching for the Angels, Don sutton records his 300th career win..........2001 - Cal Ripken announces his retirement..........2012 - Kenny Rogers records his 200th win..........2014 - Clayton Kershaw pitches his no-hitter