HumpLinks: Shoe shines vs. A's. Halos score a Win

Last night one of those mysteries of the universe made an unexpected, and unexplainable, appearance and it happened in front of approximately 147 human witnesses, most of them coincidentally dressed alike in garish green and gold. The Angels played a full Major League Baseball game against another Major League Baseball team and the digits on the scoreboards revealed that the had Angels plated more runs than did their opponent. Inexplicably, that scoreboard also revealed that the game had come to a conclusion. No further play was to be allowed.

Confused, the Angel players milled about on the field in the neighborhood of the pitcher's mound until they had to be escorted off the field by their coaching staff. Yes, it was true, the Angels had won a baseball game.

LAA fans all around the world are awakening today to shared disbelief. Let's shake the fog out of our brains with links:

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Angels Baseball

One of the most difficult things about this Daily Link Dump gig is that there will be times like these, when there is so little success on the field there are not many bright things to note, and the overall failure rate is such a surprise that all the principals are still too early in the 12-step program to have anything to say. Thus, it's a real bitch to dredge up sufficiently decent content specific to LAA. So I apologize for what I notice is becoming a gradual decline in Anaheim tidbits worthy of your time and attention. I mean, really, by mid-day yesterday the TOP STORY from the official media site for the entire franchise is a rehash of the wiffle ball charity game with Pujols and Kershaw. It's a good cause, and still topical, and would be a shitload of fun for the winner, but Top Story? For a contender, in September?? But we make do with what we can...........

Kole Calhoun: Calhoun, like Mike Trout, had himself a horrible August. Worse than Trout, actually. So last night was a September blessing. If Calhoun can get hot, and Trout can continue to get normal, the rest of the team can rally around that and make a run back at a WC slot. Hey. It can happen...........

DECK CHAIRS: For some reason not explained to us rubes, September 1 has been declared the date when the Angels officially start to get their ass busy on finding a new General Manager. Not 2 months ago when this whole thing blew up. Not over the past month when good names have already bounced around and found new gigs. Not after the season when maybe even more compelling names might find themselves available. Nope. Now. Because September 1 is special. Or something. What we know is that they interviewed two guys already on the payroll - Matt Klentak and Scott Servais. And what we are being told is that they are going to their well-researched candidate list (Billy Eppler, Thad Levine, Damon Oppenheimer). This would be the same list they formed 4 whole years ago when they had a bunch of guys who they felt were less than Jerry Dipoto. Yeah. Nothing has changed in 4 years except the idea that although Dipoto was better than all these guys, Dipoto was not good enough. "Hey, you! You know that job we said you were not good enough to be hired for? Yeah, well, the guy who is smarter than you called us on our dysfunction and, and, the job's yours if you want it!"................Also, we are being told that Bud Black is not a fit. Who the hell was trying to fit Bud Black for a modern GM role in the first place????..........But let's put it out there. The current MLB Senior Vice President of Operations is Kim Ng. As in, available. Once she was the Dodgers Assistant GM. And she worked under Brian Cashman as Yankees Assistant GM before that. Experienced. Possibly/probably qualified. (How the hell would I know for sure? I have yet to interview her.) Let's see how often her name comes up in any/all these Front Office GM moves...........

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, he can say shit like this because saying shit like this when all the evidence to the contrary is right out there in the plain view of the public has always worked for him. Mike Scioscia says he doesn't plan to influence Angels GM search. Bullshit. First of all, Sosh HAS ALREADY influenced things! That's why the position was vacated in the first place. Second, there have been more than plenty enough scuttlebutt comments from Front Office "sources" around MLB that the very presence of Sosh and his relationship with Arte is influencing the idea of candidates when the time comes for them to even consider applying. Third, staff should ALWAYS be consulted when hiring a new executive above them. It's protocol precisely to avoid doing the stupid thing of hiring somebody wired to clash with the team already in place. Finally, for all the same reasons we already know, there is no way that Arte would ever hire Mike a new nanny without checking in with Mike. Arte knows it. Mike knows it. We know it, too. This genie is out of the bottle, and we (well, me anyway) aren't going to let Mike pretend like it never escaped..............

MIKE TROUT: Fangraphs still trying to figure out Trout's August. Let 'em try. At this point enough of these have already been done and, also at this point, nobody has a definitive answer...........

SHANE VICTORINO: Boston media looks West to see how their fondly remembered Victorino is faring now that his gritty veteran leadership was torn from their bosoms. What they see is the same thing we see. Nothing..........

JOHNNY G: Still no update on Johnny Giavotella's noneofyourbusiness, and not even the knowledge as to when he might be able to play again. This kind of story is ripe for all kinds of enjoyable speculation. My vote goes for failing to mind those strict doctor's orders concerning the correct recovery process post-vasectomy. Ouch!....................

MOVES: Jon Heyman is still beating the Chase Utley drum. He blames our lack of a GM for why we didn't get the guy we needed most of all. That cleverly ignores the fact that we have a person with many years of experience being an MLB GM sitting in the GM chair. And it also ignores the fact that this temporary GM is infamous for what trades he doesn't make. And, of course, Heyman is totally down with making his point by using a scenario where Utley comes to Anaheim without anybody going back to Philly. Therefore, Utley must have been able to come at no cost, so he was totally worth doing!..........I am happy to point out, however, that after being traded out of Philadelphia, the previously smoking hot Utley has a slash line of .194 / .293 / .333. Yeah, Heyman, that is exactly what the Halos needed,  Matt Joyce 2.0............

BITS and PIECES: DFA'd off the 40-man (while down in the minors) were Drew Rucinski and Alfredo Marte (anybody remember them?), and selected onto the 40-man was Wesley Wright. And we can add a signing of catcher Jose Gil to a minor league contract...........Meanwhile, looking at the whole list, activated from various DL's were Collin Cowgill, Matt Joyce, Taylor Featherston, Cory Rasmus and Davide Freese (that list of heroes makes you feel all warm and fuzzy at the notion of being back at "full strength", doesn't it?)...........Then, We called up Jett Bandy, Mike Morin and Nick Tropeano...........In that whole mess the only thing that interests me is the chance to sit through Bandy's struggles as he gets his first cup of coffee in the bigs. I need to watch closely, though, because it's not like his expected performance is going to stand out against the backdrop of MLB batting champions we have here. I might miss him altogether..........