HumpLinks: Halos open large. Spank Yanks.

Mike Trout must be absolutely crazy in frustration to not be batting smack in the middle of an order that smacks 11 hits (2 of which are home runs) all around him.

Cameron Maybin was a triple away from The Cycle hitting in the #1 spot. This is simply not the Cameron Maybin who struggled all Spring and I, for one, am thrilled he saved it for the regular season - and especially while Trout is on the Down Low.

The Angels tagged Yankee pitching for 14 hits on their way to an 8-3 spanking, and MFY skipper Joe Girardi has still not escaped the pain being administered by California.

It's only 1 win, but it's a surprising one and I'll take it!

More of the Lost Weeks Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

Ok, to clarify. Mike Trout DID fly back east with the team this week to take swings on this trip. But Mike Trout is NOT with the team this week. He is swinging but he is doing it at home and will return to Anaheim and  won't be with the team taking swings on this trip. Got that?..........

But, before he even takes a swing, Trout is still killing it at the ballot box. He is still lined up to get voted onto the All-Star team, sitting at #2 among outfielders.......... (But, now that the Royals are winning again, their bandwagon fans are caring again and are voting, and now Eric Hosmer has taken the lead at 1B.)

Oh, hey, check it out! Is this, or is this not, just the most perfect timing.Cam Bedrosian is back up. Huston Street is expected up this week. Doug Fister might even be called up. Hmmm. That would mean too many guys on  the active roster. What's a GM to do? 'Ring'...'ring'...'ring'   "Hello, this is Eppler....Yes...Uh huh...What?...Bud Norris has a swollen knee?...He had to go to the 10-day DL?...And Sosh expects him to need at least the full 10 days?...Golly gosh. That's a bad thing for Bud. I sure hope he feels better."..........

We don't actually know what is going to happen with Doug Fister and today's deadline. For some strange reason, it is considered quite possible that Fister is enjoying Salt Lake City so much that he will decide NOT to opt out, and stick around to compete against the likes of the El Paso Chihuahuas..........

The Angels are tracking pretty solid on signing their 2017 draft picks. Jacob Pearson (2), John Swanda (3) and JoJo Booker (5) are the key remaining............

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Josh Mayhood's Library of Mike Trout Hagiography

This section placed on hold indefinitely, in memory of Mike Trout's 2017 season. In the meantime, we provide The Jessica DeLine Trout Recovery Watch tracker. When will Mike be back?

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Bad, bad baseball. Anthony Rizzo, who is a member of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP CHICAGO CUBS THAT WE ALL ADORE, absolutely violated the rulebook as it pertains to protecting catchers against collisions at home plate. Chicago sportswriters agree. Neutral observers also agree. Hell, even the MLB agrees. But did I mention that Rizzo is a member of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP CHICAGO CUBS THAT WE ALL ADORE? Yes? Oh. sorry. Ok. Well, in their quite less than infinite wisdom, MLB (represented by the ever more curmudgeony Joe Torre) decided to let bygones be bygones. Rizzo was out on the play, anyway, so everything is cool. Right, Joe? No punishment. Conveniently, nobody gave Torre the "mother may I". But MLB could have disciplined Rizzo if they wanted. In the end, Rizzo merely injured Padres catcher Austin Hedges and sent him out of the game. It's not as if Rizzo made any gestures or anything............

The above incident is broken out and laid bare on a quite snarky path to increasing the Cubs' villainy meter level..........

It also feeds fuel to the weird idea from MFY manager Joe Girardi that the collision rule is injuring baserunners! "  'It just seems like players are forgetting how to slide today,' Girardi said Tuesday. 'I think slides have become a lot more creative at home plate because catchers don't block the plate, and now I'm starting to rethink the rule, thinking the baserunners are the ones really at risk here because you see more guys slide in headfirst than ever before.' " So, if runners are forgetting how to slide, isn't that why we have coaches? And if you don't want guys sliding headfirst, isn't that something a manager can, er, manage? And Girardi really needs to ask Austin Hedges why he dared attempt to injure Rizzo as Rizzo did NOT slide headfirst.............

The best summary of why we should all care about the state of Baseball as it stands today, and where it is going, comes from this article over at Sports Illustrated: "The two-headed monster of home runs and strikeouts, coupled with the pace of play dilemma, are threatening the future of the national pastime......Unlike most sports, baseball’s beauty is not only in its action but also in the anticipation of its action. The brief interludes allow conversation among friends, a pondering of the strategies and outcomes that may come next, and the hope—with caps turned backward and inside out—for the greatest excitement the game can allow, the extended rally......That game is disappearing. In its place grows a game obsessed with power. It is driven by the pursuit of the most blunt of outcomes: strikeouts by pitchers and home runs by batters. Both outcomes, which render useless defense, baserunning and teamwork, happen more frequently this year than ever before."...........

This home run thing is something that is even taking a bite out of Clayton Kershaw.............

College World Series: TCU(#6) bounced Texas A&M in the early elimination game yesterday, and Florida(#3) took down Louisville(#7). That pits Louisville and TCU in the sudden death entry contest tomorrow, winner to the Bracket 2 final 1st game on Thursday, back against Florida...........Today we have LSU(#4) facing off against Florida State for sudden death in Bracket 1.  Loser goes home, and winner faces Oregon State(#1) on Friday...........

Sports Biz Update: Cord cutters are growing in number. Still tiny compared to 'normal', but accelerating. The bigger number is 51 million Over The Top households............FuboTV streaming service is getting a financial shot in the arm from the Big Boys............

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