HumpLinks: Heaney Meaney Shiny Mo!

Andrew Heaney rocked the mound again last night, but was overshadowed by Albert Pujols and Mike Trout clubbing 3-run home runs to drive an incendiary offensive onslaught that started in Texas. Heaney has now thrown 20 1/3 innings and given up only 14 hits and 3 walks against 17 strikeouts. His 4 earned runs has him at a 1.77 ERA. That's even better than Trevor Gott. We currently have a rotation of Richards, Wilson, Shoemaker, Santiago and Heaney. One more time through this rotation and Jered Weaver will be back, sending this killer Heaney back to Salt Lake. That just doesn't feel right, does it? It's a good problem to have, frankly (thanks Jerry).

Fantasy guidelines for yesterday were ripe for losing your play: "We talked about Chad Bettis yesterday. He has pitched well in Colorado. It’s reasonable to expect Andrew Heaney to struggle in his first visit to Coors Field. Even if he doesn’t, the Angels offense isn’t terribly intimidating. There’s Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and what? Taylor Featherston?" That prediction to set up a recommendation could not have been more wrong had the author waited until after the game to say anything.

Have some 2.5 Games Back Links:

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Angels Baseball

Derby Doin's: Albert Pujols, now named officially to the All-Star team, has committed to the Home Run Derby as he originally promised to his kids. The next shoe to drop would be Mike Trout, who is holding off until Wednesday to decide. I am not a believer in The Swing Damage Curse, so pimping the brand would be a good thing. Pujols and Trout currently rank #'s 2 and 7 in season home run totals for all of baseball, and they are #1 and #3, respectively in the AL.............

Angels Hall of Fame: Mike Witt, Dean Chance and Tim Salmon will be inducted into the Official Angels Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on August 22, which is a Saturday night game against the visiting Blue Jays.............

Framed: Interesting to see that Chris Ianetta's work on pitch framing is paying off. Also interesting to observe that Hank Conger is backsliding. Maybe there is something to LAA coaching after all?...........

Dipoto Files: We have a small update on that Josh Reddick plan to find a left-handed corner outfielder with pop. Apparently, the A's told Dipoto flat out "no".,,,,,,,,,,,,Meanwhile, go over to Fangraphs and render your opinion on the Dipoto Front Office..............Besides, there are clearly worse GM's still employed............

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Elsewhere in Baseball

Arms Race: As mentioned above, when Weaver returns after the break we will have a terrific logjam on the mound. it would be nice to thinkt hat we could afford to send away a then-to-be surplus arm to one of the teams desperate for a starter but unwilling to belly up to the cost of a Cole Hamels. Santiago didn't make the All-Star team so selling high on him now wouldn't be as embarrassing on the public relations front. That all resumes that Heaney is real, Santiago is not, Shoemaker is not regressing, and Newcomb will arrive in time to offset the loss of a Wilson and/or Weaver. There is a lot of hope in that scenario.............

ARod: Ned Yost thought about adding ARod, not fearing his reputation or history but considering his productivity this season. However, Ned Yost seems to want to win the game, and Arod takes up space without giving Yost enough. Yost wants roster flexibility to go with production, so to hell with fans who want to watch some famous names and heckle others..............Meanwhile, Yankee ownership is doing a 180 on their best player...........

Beane Town: When you are an acolyte within the Church of Billy Beane, sometimes you need to put up a few thousand words to convince your congregation that Beane did not shit really shit the bed this past offseason............

Easy Ace: Back in 2005, after sneaking past the Angels to win the AL pennant, the White Sox had such a smooth time defeating the Astros in the World Series that Mark Buehrle was having more than a few beers during the game while he would later be called to enter into and pitch............

Napster: Mike Napoli is sucking eggs so badly for Boston this year that the Red Sox have been forced to bench him to shake him out of his slump. I think that is totally unnecessary. Right after the All-Star break the Red Sox will be in Anaheim where Napoli can spend 4 games taking out all his anger on Mike Scioscia. Again.............

Courtrooms: Add MLB scouts tot he list of underpaid and overworked MLB resources, joining minor league players with a class-action suit of their own concerning hiring and pay practices. One of these days this particular dam is going to burst.............

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Old-Timey Baseball

While up in San Luis Obispo for the holiday weekend just past, we were touring the Mission when I came across a panoramic photo on one wall that just stopped me cold. You can see the larger version here, but a small version is cropped below:

I had to take this using the Pano setting on my iPhone and I didn't have a motorized mount, so even after 5 takes the finished product is squiggly. But stand by, because I will fix that for you in a few more sentences.

Anyway, it was obvious to me, as it should be to all you history buffs, that I was looking at some very old photo of a ballgame. And it must have been a big deal at the time, since the teams and umpires all lined up with a large crowd in the back, and a band was even present and accounted for, in group photo. This was the central coast of California, and back in the late 1800's when the population was much lower and the primary thing to do was farm in order to stay alive. And yet there was baseball, and big time baseball at that. I just had to know more.

So far I have found this same photograph at a site that, of all things, celebrates bands of San Luis Obispo County. Their image is a lot cleaner, and has some reference info. "This photo is circa 1894-1896. Taken at the Mission baseball field during a game: San Luis Blues vs. San Luis Elks." Apparently that is a vintage edition of the County Band there on the right. There is some signage just peeking up over the fence behind the band that I cannot make out (help appreciated), but I think that the last word might be "YEAR". I did locate the San Luis Blues on the National Semi-Pro Hall of Fame and Museum web page for teams past & present. But this entry for the Blues might be the modern iteration, playing in the California Collegiate League, which didn't come into being until 1946. (The current "Blues" use the same name but identify with the music genre. Our target "Blues" squad probably identified with the color, since the term "blues" for the musical genre did not come into common usage until the early 1900's.) There is no record I have yet found (beyond links to hat same photo) of San Luis Elks. Those players might be of the Fraternal organization rather than a traditional baseball team.

My research will continue and I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, may I suggest that you look more closely at the photo, studying the man right in the middle, just to the right of the guy wearing the top hat!

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I leave you all with this second short fireworks clip, from my 4th of July weekend at Pismo Beach:

Pismo-Slo-Mo-2

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