Thor'sLinks: Trout/Trop trumps Trolley Dodgers

It was a good day to be a Mike Trout fan yesterday. 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI, all to back a strong 7-inning outing by the still-learning-to-walk Nick Tropeano as the Angels dropped the Dodgers 8-1.

Across their last 7 games, including the 1-run stifling at the hands of Clayton Kershaw, the Halos have scored 45 runs. That's an average of nearly 6.5 runs per game, or 7.3 runs per game in a world without Kershaw. Pretty damned good considering the injuries and band-aids being applied around here. The best news here is that the guys shook off that mystery new pitcher bugaboo. Dodger pitcher Mike Bolsinger was making his first career start and that is the kind of thing we have learned to dread. But right away Trout imposed his will and changed our fortunes.

By the way, since the start of Interleague Play back in 1997, in games that actually count the Angels have a record of 60 wins against 49 losses. That makes for a 55% winning percentage and would work out to an 89-win season. If the Angels win again tomorrow it will mark the 10th winning season series against only 5 losing season series and 5 ties. Yeah. This part of Baseball America belongs to us.

Have some Kings of the Southland  Links:

______________________________

Everywhere In Baseball

Power Players: Here in SoCal, Mike Trout ranks #18n the Top 50 Most Powerful Sports figures. Stick around, Mike, and start doing local weather. Eventually you will overtake Arte Moreno, who ranks #12........By the way, it looks like the Angels' broadcast team will come in as a Top 10 in MLB based on crowdsourced scoring. They are not listed as #31 or #32, and they are not listed as #21 - #30, and they are not listed as #11 - 20.........

Adds, Moves & Changes: Tim Lincecum is still only a probable, and not yet a Halo. Lots of details..............Dang, Javy Guerra accepted an assignment to Salt Lake, so he might still haunt my nightmares...........Daniel Nava went right back onto the DL, and took Cory Rasmus with him. And to think we almost had Michael Sanders for left field, who happens to be doing rather well. And staying healthy...........Aaaand Geovany Soto hits the DL with a torn meniscus. Expect 4 - 6 weeks before we get him back. That makes 10 Halos injured for 2016...........Finally, Neal Cotts, who has earlier pulled his opt-out card, was released outright by Billy Eppler...........

Arrieta/Syndergaard/Sale Who?: No reason to feel shame. Over his last 6 starts, Clayton Kershaw has pitched 48 innings (that's an average of 8 innings per start), given up only 35 hits and 9 runs, walked only 2 batters, and struck out 68..........Also, in that entire game Tuesday night, Kershaw's average fastball velocity was 94.5mph. Mike Trout's average was 92.7. And Mike Trout can hit...........

Trolling us all: Brendan Ryan is one party dude. Mr. Trololo as his walk-up song?? Really??? That is one crazy cat, man............

Grub: The Yankees have rolled out perhaps the most ingenious thing for fattening up your arteries in the most efficient manner since the invention of those cup holders built into stadium seat backs. In simple terms, it's that cup holder built into your food trough. Called the Grub Hub, it allows you to eat AND drink with one hand, leaving your other hand free to issue out your credit card for more grub. Lots of folks are lots of excited about this, far more than me (in case you cannot tell already). Supposedly, it greatly simplifies loading up on deep-fried death rather than balancing your early demise on your lap. Close attention to detail will revela that we now have to find a new form factor for hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, sliders, hoagies, etc., all so they fit into a bowl. Large donuts and bagels cleverly anticipated this shape challenge, however. Now all we have to do is learn to love drinking beer through a straw...........

Smelly Odor: Rangers manager Jeff Bannister is particularly clueless this week. It's the very definition of gutless to wait until you are running out the door to take that cheap shot you want to take. And the Rangers might be the only people in baseball who don't already have a beef with Odor...........

Because Padres: I want to feel sorry for Padres fans, but they are the ones who chose to root for that franchise. I didn't force them to do it. Their brain trust went and snatched Kemp and about $90 million worth of salary commitment away from the Dodgers back in 2014, greatly unshackling their own hated divisional rival. This is the Matt Kemp who had been in a career free fall since his sterling 2011 season where he barely lost out on the NL MVP vote to Ryan Braun for reasons still unclear. The Padres were figuring that Kemp was due for an uptick in 2015. That did not happen. So this year they were hoping for that uptick, enough of one that they could send him off to some contender in real need. Still not happening. Kemp is still in career free fall. The Pads are looking to trade at what must be the lowest trade worth of Kemp's career (to date, anyway, these are still the Padres we are talking about and there is still a lot of fail left to be had in 2016)......But the Padres front office is still not done. After diving into the Rule 5 swamp and coming up snake eyes with Jabari Blash, So they DFA'd him and watched all 29 other teams turn up their nose. That meant he was due to be returned to Seattle, and Dipoto wanted no part of a guy who was batting .120 on the season. Fine with San Diego!! They worked out a trade to keep the misery that is Jabari Blash so they could send him down to AAA...............

Getting Murph'ed: Daniel Murphy, only 31 years old, was a free agent this past winter. He singed a three year deal with the Nats for $37.5 million. That's an AAV of only $12.5MM. Murphy can play all infield positions, so take your pick as to where you might have slotted him. And dream away. Eppler didn't go after him, probably out of fear that his playoff run last October was going to cost somebody billions. Anyway, as we try to grind through all our injuries Murphy is kicking some serious ass for Washington............

YanxSux: Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner believes that the Yankees' offense is not living up to its potential. In one sense he is right. But since only 2 of their starting position players are under 27, that potential was back in 2010. In another sense he is wrong. A lot of that roster is his own damned fault. Whichever, the Yankees suck and I am at peace with the world.........

______________________________

The Duffle Bag

Invest one glorious minute of your life watching this GIF of MLB logos over the history of baseball..........The Mariners and Kendrys Morales have remembered how to best welcome him home to complete a walk-off home run..........As expected, our Bud Black is the front-runner for the Atlanta Braves job. Pay attention to all the attention to be paid to how the Braves glossed over the mandatory minority consideration rules. Warning shots are already being fired.............News Flash: sports fans love a winner. The Cubs just leapt over the Angels and into 5th place in attendance for 2016..........Nice, dude, but girls make for a better catch. And they kiss back..........What? The Bartolo Colon Happy Story is wrapped around a deadbeat dad???..........I didn't expect this. Baseball Prospectus uses the grueling Pedro Baez relief appearance Monday night to defend the slow pace of baseball. Note to BP: we could have had all that baseball joy without those 30 minutes of Baez fidgeting.........Good on him. Brad Ausmus is turning his rage hoodie into a good deed. It's healthy to smile at ourselves...........Sleep safe, America. We have all been saved from $40 worth of unauthorized KC Royals underwear............Win a game by striking out, a Korean novelty..........Joe Maddon is rapidly becoming the Bill Murray of baseball..........