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With a 2-1 win over the rather hapless A's, which came against the Kendall Graveman that beat us three weeks ago, the Angels have swept themselves off to Arlington for a 6-game road trip: Rangers then Mariners. In case you are not paying attention, the Angels are playing within the Division for 32 of their first 36 games. There are 4 intra-Divisional series left before the team breaks out for reals into the rest of Major League Baseball. Then, between May 11th and August 20th, LAA will only play 16 AL West games.
It's a good time to call this out. Over the past 6 games, LAA starters (Skaggs, Wright, Chavez, Ramirez, Shoemaker and Nolasco) have pitched a total of 35.2 innings, allowed only 6 earned runs (an ERA of 1.51?), struck out 31 batters against 26 hits and 14 walks, and yielded exactly 1 home run. And the Angels are 5-1 over that stretch. Surprise!
Have some Road Trip Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
Excellent observation, Brent Maguire. But, um, it IS kinda early in the season. So, sure, his season by season numbers look poor at the moment, but a closer look into the career splits and looking at his first month shows that this is not abnormal...........
JC Ramirez is sinking his way to success...........
On yeah. The shitty start by the Angels has had a major impact on their Expected Wins. Third worst drop in all of MLB, in fact. I'm in trouble...........
If I'm going to wear pink on my baseball jersey, I'm gonna do it as a Bee. (Jerseys, however, not sold separately at online MiLB store.)..........
Ladies and gentlemen, your Cliff Pennington hard at work:
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Everywhere In Baseball
Joey Votto is not buying in to the new trend of fly ball hitting. But the best line in the link is where Votto, when he grows up, wants to be like Mike Trout: " Votto is just trying to stay as well-rounded as possible. He says that he wants to become 'unpitchable.' Votto wants to be like Angels outfielder Mike Trout, whom he describes as a guy 'who can do absolutely anything he wants' and 'at all times [has] all options.' ". For the uninformed, while Mike Trout is 25 years old, Joey Votto is 33..........
Let's spend a few moments focusing on the whole Eric Thames thing. To open, Thames is having one hell of an April. Thames had been an MLB player before, but kinda flamed out. 2013 saw him bounce around a bit, then be released outright. No MLB job for Thames......So Thames goes off to Korea. And there, magic happens. As Thames tells it, the magic was all about having to bat against guys who can barely reach 90mph. Thames becomes the Babe Ruth of KBO, even having his own theme song......Eventually, he returns to America to sign with the Brewers. And Thames opens the season as the Babe Ruth of MLB. Because of soft-throwing junk ball artists in KBO. It's not because of PEDs in Korea. Don't be saying that. Because KBO uses the International Olympics drug testing system, and we all know how perfect THAT is.......And don't even be thinking that Thames might have had soem PEDs help. Not until he is convicted of PEDs use. No suspicions allowed. Because we also know that domestic testing is iron clad......So stop it. Stop it all of you! Quit picking on poor baseball players. It's not like we have had any major PEDs controversy unique to the sport or anything, right?......We should consider,instead, that Thames is a power master because Thames is so zen. Silly you. But you go ahead and test Thames all you want, now, here in the USA. Test every day if you like, because Thames has lots of blood and urine to contribute.....(The previous paragraph was presented as sarcasm. It's 2017 and we have been through enough to know that, fair or not, it's totally acceptable to wonder if Thames can keep up his pace - especially when he starts facing better pitching staffs - and wonder about all possible ways that Thames turned his personal career corner?)...........
Shelby Miller has a partial torn UCL. I am not a doctor, but isn't this the same thing that Garrett Richards had? Would Miller be a candidate for Garrett Richards Therapy instead of the Tommy John Surgery he is thinking about?..........
Having a 10-day DL is actually encouraging teams to move players onto and off the injury list. Up 12% from last year already...........Brandon Phillips, though, ain't having it............
Kris Davis was working on his own personal uppercut batting revolutions years and years ago. As a Little Leaguer, thanks to his dad............
I've written numerous times about how good the PCL was back in the 50's. I haven't written very much about hte short-lived Federal League. Hardball Times makes up for that...........
The ESPN layoffs and their plans for programming changes will hit MLB hard...Gone, for example, are Baseball Tonight coverage (and Web Gems). Thankfully, MLB Network is well-positioned to pick up all that slack.............
LADs' prospect Cody Bellinger isn't the only SoCal phenom whose dad was also a pro ballplayer. Just sayin'...........
WARNING! Moving back up from Duffle Bag territory, Tim Tebow is on fire. And now I have found the first article to suggest he is worthy of a promotion, already..........
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The Duffle Bag
WTF? I have loved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups longer than Cameron Maybin and Mike Trout have been alive. Combined! And I've got a larger readership than Maybin, anyway. Where's the love??...........I think Sam Miller is on to something here. Calling errors all over the place might make for pinball baseball..........While Chris Sale was striking out 10 Yankee batters, his opponent Masahiro Tanaka was pitching a Maddux against his Red Sox. And because of these two pitchers, the game lasted only 2 hours and 21 minutes...........Perfect. Pirates honor 99-year old usher who's been working for them for 81 years. That's a man who saw Arky Vaughan, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott, Johnny Mize and Stan Musial play, in person!...........Say a prayer for Boston minor leaguer Kevin Steen, who has survived a heinous car crash and was critically injured.............
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