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Other things did happen in the past 24 hours. But let's be honest. The WBC siemi-final between Team USA and Team Japan was the Big Deal.
WBC Central, as usual, here............But, yeah, Team USA defeated Team Japan and now reaches the WBC Final for the first time.............And here have more thoughts on how to "improve" it.
A Little Bit of Angels News
Let's shotgun through these............
The Angels blew open a tight game late, defeating the Reds 9-1. Ok, just another ST game. Why link to it? Well, because within the game there was an oddity. The Angels scored all 9 runs over their final three frames. And the second string, the ones carrying the bulk of that playing time, collected only 5 hits. That's about 2 hits per inning out of those guys, and they got 9 runs. Huh. But dig a little and you will see that Mike Scioscia had his front line still batting at the top of the 7th, being a big part of that rally. So we are transitioning away from the 5-innings-and-a-round-of-golf phase of camp..............
It's not just Tyler Skaggs who is impressed with Tyler Skaggs' last outing. Mike Scioscia is, too...........
JC Ramirez is also impressing. So as much hope as I have for Alex Meyer to break through, it's great that we are deep enough that this probably might not happen............
Huston Street is working his way back.............But don't worry. He's not in any rush...............
Pffft. When it comes to photobombing, Mike Trout and Ben Revere got nuthin' on my missus. My missus IS the Mike Trout of photobombs............
One of Billy Eppler's many projects, Cody "Yippee" Buckel gets an in-depth look as he tries to work his way out of minor league camp.............
Danny Espinosa is delighted to be in the AL and not batting in front of pitchers anymore. He has some thoughts there. He has more thoughts about correcting his swing plane.............And, as I have linked numerous times, changing the swing plane is THE growing trend in Baseball...........
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Everywhere In Baseball
Here we go. We have a Didi Gregorius injured in the WBC. That's kind of an important thing for the Yankees. So of course we get out of the New York Times a story that plays the WBC injury fear card. Sure. Like guys don't get injured in Spring Training. Oh what, you say? They do? Who would have thought? Certainly not Major League Baseball teams. That would be such a surprise. Hell, guys get injured at this time of year anywhere...........
Barry Bonds is back with the Giants. Not as a coach, as he was with the Marlins. This time as a Front Office pharmacist ambassador............
I think this is a very good program. Building or rehabbing baseball fields in our more challenged urban areas in order to re-introduce the game to a lot of youth gravitating to basketball. The Dodgers are damned good at it. I am unaware how engaged the Angels are with this program but, in fairness, there are not a lot of troubled inner-city urban areas in the County of Orange, California................
Carlos Carrasco had himself a pretty tough start to his career here in the USA. Somebody taught him how to order one single food item - pizza - and that is what he ate every day. 90 straight. The bad part is that he was taught to order pizza at a Dominoes.............
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The Duffle Bag
Colin Cowherd, ex-Bristol Connecticut employee, blames Bristol Connecticut for the problems of Bristol Connecticut............Cable bundles are starting to disintegrate of their own accord, but from the bottom up. And not even Bristol Connecticut is immune...........Tenure has it's privileges, even in baseball, especially when it comes to parking spaces.............Hey young people, once upon a time there was a baseball where strikeouts were considered a very bad thing, to be avoided. Maybe you will see that day again in your lifetime............Ex-MLB player David Ross: dancin' fool.............
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