I was all ready to totally go off on the disgusting thing that is Matt Joyce. Here is a guy who we paid, we rooted for, we depended on. And he sucked donkey balls.And all we needed was one more win to get into the playoffs. With that small margin of error we can point to a zillion small things that could have made a difference. Or we could point to the one giant thing, which would be the human dumpster fire that was Matt Joyce 2015. And then the asshat goes to Pittsburgh, finally gets his head out of his ass and makes the necessary adjustments, and is blazing in Pittsburgh, showcasing his renaissance by defeating the very team which carried him beyond all sane reasons.
So, yeah, I was pissed and was going to go all off on him today. But then another ex-Halo came to his rescue. Up by a single run, with the bases loaded and only 1 out, former Halo minor-leaguer-of-the-year Sean rodriguez grounded into a double-play and crushed the Pirates chance, giving the Angels the series win. Seriously, they could have swept. The Angels scored 21 runs on the three-game series and held the Pirates to 14 even with the Joyce 3-run home run. Pittsburgh is a damned fine team playing in a strong division and the Angels had their way with them.
The Angels are full of no-names and wheelchairs and casts and crutches and Michael Nelson Trout. They are still capable of being a formidable challenger. Let them roll into New York and wake up the Main Stream Media.
Have some Cart on the Corner Hot Links:
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ANGELS ON DECK
The Upcoming Series:
Los Angeles Angels @ New York Yankees - Taxpayer's Stadium, New York, NY.
Day | Game Time | Probable Pitchers | TV |
MONDAY | 4:05 PM PDT | Matt Shoemaker (3-6, 5.50 ERA) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (3-1, 2.78 ERA) | FS-W |
TUESDAY | 4:05 PM PDT | Anybody's Guess vs. Michael Pineda (2-6, 6.41 ERA) | FS-W |
WEDNESDAY | 4:05 PM PDT | Jered Weaver (5-4, 5.18 ERA) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (6-2, 4.09 ERA) | FS-W, MLBN |
THURSDAY | 4:05 PM PDT | Jhoulys Chacin (1-1, 3.73 ERA) vs. Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.41 ERA) | FS-W |
From the official team Game Notes: "YANKEES ON DECK: Halos are 3-11 in last 14 games in the Bronx (have dropped last five)…NYY claimed 2015 season series 4-2…Since 2008, Angels are 21-12 at home vs. Yanks…Halos are 29-16 in last 45 games vs. New York at Angel Stadium (since 2005)…Halos are 8-20 all-time at new Yankee Stadium…Yankees have claimed last five season series."
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Everywhere In Baseball
M.A.S.H.: All kinds of fun news from this weekend. Nick Tropeano was scratched from his scheduled Saturday start, and it turns out that he has tightness in his shoulder and is headed to the DL. Yeah, that makes Nick the 5th LAA starter to be injured..........Joe Smith has been trying to get back onto the field without hitting the DL himself, battling a hamstring problem. Odds are, however, that Smith will join the Anaheim DL party, anyway.................Andrelton Simmons is progressing, beginning his rehab assignment today...........
P-Power: We kept hearing how Albert Pujols has been a major heart-breaker from the perspective of the Pirates. This is certainly true. Over his career, Pujols has clubbed Pirates pitching at least as well as against anybody. And of all the ballparks in which he has hit, Pujols loves PNC Park better than anyplace except Comerica park in Detroit and the defunct Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. So it's all too familiar to Pirates fans when Albert snatches victory away from Pittsburgh, in PNC, in the final frames. And that, Gerrit Cole, is why you don't celebrate too soon............
Picky: The most pickoffs pulled off by any MLB team not based in Anaheim is 8. The Angels already have 15 and are on their way to 44 for the season. That would make for a new MLB mark, which currently sits at 39. Such a jump would be a huge uplift, revealing some remarkable skills, training and practice by the rag-tag LAA pitching staff............
Frozen Out: As most of us would have guessed, David Freese wanted to stay in Anaheim when his contract expired. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't extra-ordinarily notable, either. And the first half of his contract year was rather disheartening, earning him the opportunity to take his chances on an open market where solid third-basemen were already in place. So, nice guy or not, upgrading from Freese was not a difficult task, as Yunel Escobar is proving............
Dogs of Summer: It's a bad week to be a bad baseball player making lots of money. The Dodgers are choosing to eat $35 million by DFA'ing Carl Crawford. Not because he has had any substance abuse lapses, but simply because he sucks. In fact, he sucks so bad he makes our LF platoon look downright glamorous...........Meanwhile, over in Philadelphia, the Phillies' own multi-million bag of suckage, Ryan Howard, is dodging beer bottles from Philly fans..........Finally, down in Arlington, Princess Fielder has been benched..........
WTF: New York media person has taken Derek Jeter to the woodshed because he didn't like the Jeter press release recognizing the death of Muhammad Ali. And I mean that this guy seriously goes off on Jeter, essentially (but not in these very words) calling him a tone-deaf phony who turned his back on social issues. And this is from a NEW YORK WRITER. Somebody need to force this writer to watch a video loop of Jeter's Flip Play until he regains his senses...........
CWS: College World Series Update. Long Beach State walloped Florida Atlantic 5-1 and lost to Miami of Florida 9-8 in a 9th-inning walk-off single to bring in a leadoff walk. In other opening games, UC Santa Barbara slipped past Xavier 5-4, and Cal State Fullerton fell to Louisiana Tech 2-6.
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The Duffle Bag
I would like to go to my grave thinking that the Dodgers were trolling ass-clown umpire Joe West, but I doubt it.............Noah Syndergaard ain't such a bad guy..............The MadBum is feeling his oats. After taking BP in St. Louis he wants an invite to the Home Run Derby in this year's ASG. Should be done, would be fun............The Angels made the Five Worst Umpiring Mistakes in History. As you might expect. But not for The Worst Call Of All Time. No, for A.J. Pierzynski................I wonder if Golden Grahams Crunch cereal is a big seller in Texas? Because, if so, that's about to change..............Mark Teixeira's wife took the slugger out of Anaheim and to the Yankees, where he gave NY three solid seasons and five broken down ones, including (again) this year. Oh, and he also gave the Angels Mike Trout..........Good job, Marlins. Their comedy of incompetence even stretches into the private family dignity of people who have nothing to do with them..........I have no words for what is going on down in San Diego. (Remember, this is the same team that that was doing mind-blowing things to start last week.) Is it even baseball? Oh wait. We have only a couple more wins than they do..........This is one dad who is gonna need some special attention for Father's Day in a couple of weeks...........Nolan Arenado has some fire in his belly. But not in a good way............
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Mystery Graph
(A few of you guessed right on the last one. Albert Pujols's seasonal BA in red, and Mike Trout's in blue. Say what you will about Albert's decline, he still prefers to GIDP instead of strike out. Today we have fewer clues...)
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