Thor'sLinks: Angels flop back home on tired arms

How many here recall how happy I was a few weeks ago when the Angels went to dump Rule 5 pick Deolis Guerra and I thought that I no longer had to suffer nightmares at thought of him taking the mound again in an LAA uniform? Yeah, that didn't work out so well. Nobody else wanted him so Guerra cleared waivers. Being smart enough to realize that no other team would want him after choosing free agency, he didn't even test the waters. Instead, Guerra came back and accepted being stuffed down at Salt Lake. So he remained in the franchise and a possibility to get called up. And he was. Yesterday was our reward. 2.1 innings completed, 4 runs allowed. 10.80 ERA. Where's my reposado?

By the way, it's pretty fun to see that after MLB instituted all that fancy NASA space science StatCast technology to apply computer accuracy on all things happening on the field in real time in all those ballparks, the Rangers insist on continuing to count their beans using their divining rod. So while StatCast calls Nomar Mazara's moonshot at 491 feet, the Rangers use their old-school system and reject StatCast, calling it only 442 feet. I have this image of a JuCo geometry class project that results in some book where every seat is assigned some distance value and the team whips out that old book and flips through the dog-eared pages to figure these things out...........

And, by the way, really? Yeah. It's true. No team has played against Nomar Mazara more than the Angels and the Angels are doing the best job of making Mazara a RoY candidate. So, yeah, Rangers' observers are delighted to see us come to town.

Have some Get Out of Dodge Links:

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Everywhere In Baseball

Trout Porn: Yeah. All can make a case of LAA $$$ decision-making skills with the likes of Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton, GMJ, and Albert Pujols. But thar be one great example of economic brilliance shining like a diamond out of that putrid pile. And that would be the extra-galactic value of the Mike Trout contract. They are are tracking on a $100 million value for 2016 while only paying him $16 million...............

Mr. Wilson: C.J. put in 4 innings last night. 5 hits, 1 run (earned), no walks and 4 strikeouts. 56 pitches and 35 of them for strikes. That's the equivalent of 98 pitches across a 7-inning outing. So there is still a case of stamina to deal with, but at least he opened without nibbling..........

Cowart Call-up: Kaleb Cowart has been called up. Maybe Yunel Escobar needs a game off or something, which wouldn't make sense with no game today. Because Escobar is one of the shiniest parts of our offense this season. Otherwise, why take Escobar out to give Cowart a few at-bats? Oh, wait, I get it. Cowart might be more polished as a reliever than Brendan Ryan. Both, apparently, would be more capable than Lucas Luetge, who was sent down to make room for Cowart..........

Logjam: We are approaching that time in our season when we are going to have to start making guesses about our starting rotation. Somehow we will have to take (1) Jered Weaver, (2) Hector Santiago, (3) Nick Tropeano, (4) Matt Shoemaker, (5) Jhoulys Chacin, (6) C.J. Wilson, (7) Tim Lincecum AND (8) Tyler Skaggs all into one 5-man roster............

Color Me Surprised: So MLB is going to work to erase the strikes being called below the zone, starting next season. A curious person might wonder why, if MLB has already recognized and admitted the problem, they aren't working to correct the issue now? But, hey, I am just blogger who has watched a butt-load of such bad calls in Angels' games over the past week. So what do I know? Anyway, as one could have easily predicted, MLB pitchers are not happy with this future where they will lose their protected advantage beyond the rules and training of hitters everywhere. What's hilarious, to me at least, is how this particular example (Adam Wainwright) wants to hide behind the increasing length of games to keep his cheat. Hey, Wainwright! Just get your ass back to the rubber and throw the next damned pitch and we won't be having this game length discussion! I know batters tend to get pissy about stuff like that (Nick Castellanos, I'm looking at you), but if hte batter is in the box and the umpire has put the ball in play, stop standing there waiting all day and pitch the damned ball. We'll all go home happy and on time.............

Streaky: Jackie Bradley, Jr. is still hot. He won't be reaching Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, but with one more hit in his next game he will officially join the all-time list. Minimum consecutive games is 30.............

Stewie: So Dave Stewart's bold off-season gambit is playing out far worse than all the worst case projections. When he restocked the Atlanta Braves future by over-paying for the middling Shelby Miller, nobody expected Miller to bomb so badly he would end up getting considered to be sent back to AAA and revert to being a mere prospect. But that's what's happening in Arizona these days. Fortunately fro Dave Stewart's reputation, FanGraphs did the hard work of figuring out Miller's problem..........

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The Duffle Bag

Barry Bonds still knows how to be a dick to even other pro ballplayers..........The War on Stupid is far from over. I know many of you don't want to read Deadspin, but make an exception here. Because the fight against analytical thought is becoming a race issue among the old guard.............Since I got you to click Deadspin once, click again to watch this college folly: a bases-clearing wild pitch..........And don't think for one minute that such infield follies are limited to college. Watch the Phillies induce chaos into the Detroit infield..........Joey Votto hates fun, hates fans, hates airplanes. Especially airplanes...........Sometime I wonder if the reason so many people were down on Yeonis Cespedes in the offseason was because they confuse him with the ongoing nutbag that is Yasiel Puig..........That whole Rougned Odor punching Jose Bautista thing has taught us something surprising. Canadians can be even bigger asshats than Texans............ Vin Scully, ever classy, refrains from allowing Fox Sports from getting to hype him and upstage the All-Star game...........Oh, goody, Derek Jeter has mounted his majestic steed and plans to ride back into baseball to rescue the game for America. Because, like, baseball needs to be rescued don't you know? Ever since Jeter retired, I suppose.........

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BONUS QUIZ: Since I am feeling particularly chippy this morning, anybody want to take a guess as to what this chart represents?

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