Thor'sLinks: Nolasco's Song Remains the Same

You know, sometimes it just happens that Ricky Nolasco pitches in a game. Sometimes it just happens that Ricky Nolasco pitches in a game and eats some of innings. Sometimes it just happens that Ricky Nolasco pitches in a game and eats some innings and the Angels fail to score. Sometimes it just happens that Ricky Nolasco pitches in a game and eats some innings and the Angels fail to score and they end up losing.  Sometimes, as in pretty much every time. Last night was the 10th straight outing for Nolasco where the managed to work it's way into a Loss. This one, 8-4.

Nolasco didn't make it out of the 6th, giving up 5 runs. That's only "some" innings eaten. The guy's main job is to eat a lot of innings and keep the game close. He did neither and the offense did its typical slow dance behind him and that was that.

And that bullpen that Sosh labeled "terrific" just the night before? Not so much. Mike Morin went 4 outs but gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. And that was after allowing 2 inherited runners to score after he entered the game.

The exception to last night was Martin Maldonado. A very young and in his prime Johnny Bench found a flux capacitor laying around and warped over to 2012, stole Maldonado's uniform and ran out to play against the Yankees last night. He went 3 for 4 with 2 home runs (the second one an Aaron Judge jet-stream-to-short-porch-over-very-short-wall homer) and a double, drove in all 4 of the Halo runs while crossing the plate twice himself. And on defense he also caught two Yankee runners on the base paths.

More of the Lost Weeks Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

GM Billy Eppler let Doug Fister opt out of his ML contract, becoming a Free Agent after rehabbing and tuning up on Arte's dime. The only lost was some money. Sometimes you gotta just take a chance. Your takeaway from this should be three things: (1) that Matt Shoemaker is not hurt very badly and will really, truly be back pretty quick, (2) professional observers and measurers have professionally determined that Doug Fister is not even as good as the Ricky Nolasco we already contend with, and (3) Eppler wants that active roster for somebody else (see immediately below). Fister is, technically, on waivers for 48 hours but nobody is going to claim him and be forced to pay the Halos money. If they wait, they can negotiate their own contract............

Fox Sports under-estimates the magnitude of the LAA situation. So here, let me help. In defining the needs of every AL contender ahead of the MLB trade deadline (and let's admit right now that it's actually a coll thin to be considered a contender after all this), here is what Fox has to day about the Halos, with my corrections: "...management should reward this roster and fan base for their resilience with a (SET OF) dependable veteran(S) for the rotation."..........

Angels fans be wary. Huston Street is not in Salt Lake City any longer. He is due to be activated today.........

Victor and Gubi have upped their game, moving from 9th to 8th in MLB Announcing Team Fan Appreciation voting. I don't know how it is that they still far short of the Dodgers and Padres, both with relatively new announcing teams. And it's not as if the Dodgers merely out vote us all. But they are The Best of the AL West, and 3rd in the entire American League!..........

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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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Just to give you something new to worry about, as soon as we exit the Bronx we will be facing this guy..........

In a world of Two True Outcome Baseball, with "tankers and contenders", if it is true that mediocre teams are becoming a rarity, are not then becoming a most intriguing franchise? Isn't a .500 winning percentage the very definition of mediocre?..........

This is long, with a lot of fascinating data points. The TL;DR version would be that MLB is harder than Cuban Serie Nacional. But do yourself a favor and (at least) browse it. There is a good perspective to be gleaned on just how significant a difference there is for Cuban players making the jump...........

The Baseball world is still struggling with the Rizzo collision. Maybe a rule change is in order? Do we need to have an explicit statement in The Big Book of Rules that explicitly states suspension? Something that forces Joe Torre's hand when dealing with favored franchises?..........Whatever the case, Padres CEO Ron Fowler is pissed, and he let the MLB Front Office know it. That, my friends, is far more important than whatever an MSM scribe of fan blogger think. It's actually more immportant than whatever any player, player agent, union rep or umpire think. Because the MLB Front Office exists at the behest of ownership. And it's never good when the bosses get pissed at the employees...........And then there is Joe Maddon. We love him. I know that. But that doesn't mean that everything that comes out of his mouth is right, or even defensible. For instance............

This has been too tangled up for me to track/link/comment upon. Addison Russell was accused by his wife on Instagram of cheating on her. So somebody else posted a comment that that Russel was physically abusive. That was enough for MLB to take action and investigate. To that point it was NOT enough for me to try and glean anything from the situation. Still can't, actually. And now Melisa Russell is filing for divorce. Still nothing for me. But then we get this: Melisa is refusing to cooperate with the MLB investigation concerning domestic violence.  Now THAT is a level of confusion worthy of the raising of an eyebrow or two. If Russell is innocent this hangs him in the court of public opinion forever. If Russell is guilty this makes Melisa a victim who fails to assist society in establishing justice for the crime(s) and/or protection for future members of society. Either way is a pretty bad deal and looms over Russell's career going forward...........

Uncle Lyle drools at the thought. The DBacks are not a major NL contender because Paul Goldschmidt leads the league in OBP and has an OPS of 1.048. It's not because their entire team is 2nd in League OPS, or 4th in runs scored, or 3rd in SLG. Or that Zack Greinke is, after all Zack Greinke. Nope. It's because they have the 2nd best pitching staff in the NL, and that is 100% a product of Jeff Mathis and Chris Iannetta...........

That Sports Illustrates article I linked to yesterday, about how the game is devolving into K versus HR with long delays in between, has struck a chord. There are multiple links around the tubes pointing back to it, and it has inspired at least one follow-on composition...........

Checking in on The College World Series, LSU defeated Florida State yesterday sending FSU home LSU now returns to the scene of their 13-1 demolition at the hands of Oregon State. That game will be tomorrow. Today we have the elimination game between TCU and Louisville. loser goes home and winner faces Florida tomorrow..............

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