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Well that was a close one. Oh, sure. YOU see a 7-3 winning score and think that the Angels finally had some breathing room. You had to be there. With only a 4-run lead, and Kenyan Middleton walking the first two batters on 9 pitches, the A's actually had the tying run on deck with nobody out. That's a tie game with only two swings of a bat. We're talking something totally possible with these guys.
But Bud Norris was brought in and got all 3 outs in only 6 pitches, ending the drama. Well, at least the drama on the field. The drama off the field about the ongoing Trout-less team is a different kettle of fish. More on that later.
Alex Meyer worked hard, and gave up 3 earned runs and 5 walks, but he did limit the A's to only 4 hits and struck out 7 over 5.1 innings. Not good for his ERA but massively good for his confidence. Yunel Escobar drive in 4 as he, Ben Revere and Albert Pujols all homered.
By the way, how is it that out of the 4,000 people who still attend game to watch the A's, that annoying high school drummer wearing the community college elephant costume continues to be one of them?
Enjoy these Let's-Pretend-We-Didn't-See-Middleton Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
Mike Trout is still on his 6th day of his non-10-day-DL. He took BP yesterday and will try running today, apparently a prerequisite for getting back into the lineup. So his hamstring has been sore enough to keep him down a decent time and we are still in at least a little bit of doubt. One would think that there must have been somewhat more doubt last Friday. Look, if the kid's hurt he's hurt. Sit his sore body and get him proper treatment and let him get well. And just say so and we can all move along..........
We are still well within the rumor mill for Doug Fister, but the odds are that he will sign with an NL team...........(quick, your choice: Doug Fister for very little, or Matt Harvey for barely anything more?)...........
Theoretically, the Angels had some guy named John Lamb under contract. Lamb hadn't done any pitching for months so he might as well have been an intern or hot dog vendor or grounds keeper or such. Anyway, this mystery dude must have been partying with Matt Harvey for Cinco de Mayo because he just failed his second test for a "Drug of Abuse". Not "Performance Enhancement Drug". Just a little blaze among friends. 50-game suspension for a guy who is undergoing an infinity game rehab cycle anyway. Arte must be very pleased with the free publicity............
Hell yeah. Check us out. We represent, "...even if you don't notice."..........
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Everywhere In Baseball
New page in the Matt Harvey saga. It turns out that prior to playing golf on Saturday, he was seen partying pretty hard Friday night, nearly to dawn. Social Media being what it is, that was pretty easy to uncover. So Harvey was forced to plea out. And partying requires counseling? I'm in trouble...........But the media being what it is, the goalposts for morality standards get to be moved and Harvey has to make another ESPN writer s special cake of contrition...........
Zack Britton is really messed up and will miss the next 2 months to forearm strain. I feel bad for Britton (though I have no pity for any other team experiencing an injury), but this article notes that we might need to feel very bad for Britton. It's not unusual for relievers to fail to make it back from serious arm injuries..........
Yesterday I noted that KRod was in trouble of having the end of his career in sight. Yesterday the Tigers demoted him. So if we see him this week in Anaheim, it would be middle relief. You probably have not kept track, but Frankie has only faced the Angels twice. 10 total Halo batsmen..........
Tony Gwynn Porn. Using Trout as a benchmark, Tony Gwynn was the master of a much different time. I was shocked enough to look it up. Gwynn averaged only 29 K's per season!! Trout averages 156. Trout had 23 K's in April..........But we bring up Gwynn because Tony Gwynn was sickeningly great. Yesterday would have been his 57th birthday..........
In MondoLinks I noted that Baseball Prospectus was adamant that MLB had juiced the baseballs. Well, MLB must have read that BP article too because, same day, they opened up their internal, proprietary, study on baseball to the folks at The Ringer and The Ringer comes away convinced that MLB is doing no such thing..........
Back in 2002 the Angels won the MLB World Series. Since then, you most likely have followed the lives of the participants and know that for the vast majority of them they have led successful lives. Also in 2002, a Little League team from Louisville, Kentucky won the Little League World Series. For those participants, success has been far more rare............
Jered Weaver is sucking at baseball nowadays. But at least he is enjoying the San Diego golf scene..........
You may have lost Pitch, but Mo'ne Davis is still going strong..........
ESPN is still dragging down the value of Disney. Bob Iger thinks we are all paying too much attention to his crew cuts. (I'd say that baseball fans are not paying ENOUGH attention.)....But imagine the impact on career journalists and broadcasters. Yeah, it's going to get hard. Like real life. Bummer.........
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The Duffle Bag
Cubs fans may have finally lucked into supporting a decent team, but their choice of beer still sucks. Of course, it's not as if the franchise that plays it's games in a ballpark named after Coors has any shame to be concerned with. Maybe they could chat with this guy and straighten themselves out.........The folks at Fenway may have revealed their dark side to Adam Jones, but that isn't stopping Jones from making sure that fans elsewhere have a good time...........This young man, a one-armed baseball-loving catcher, is an inspiration.............Jose Ramirez on VR. My guess is that he is experiencing a virtual at-bat against Bob Gibson..........
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