MondoLinks: Rolling with the punches

Albert Pujols' milestone weekend has now come and gone, and with it went 3 more L's for the season. But before you all go and get dejected and pissy and everything, and start whining over how futile it all is, know this: At 29 wins the Angels would be in the playoff mix in either other AL Division. Hell, we'd be in the mix in the NL Central, too, right there with the Cubs and Brewers.

We are no longer at a point where we need to worry about catching the Astros. Nobody in the AL West is going to catch the Astros. At this pace, nobody in baseball is going to catch the Astros. Recently they have gone 10 wins in a row. They have also gone 12-1, 21-5, 27-7. That last one means they have gone more than a month at a pace that would end up at 129 wins over an entire season. Right now it's bad enough. They are on pace to win 116 games. Nobody in Houston gives a damn now about getting how many of them got screwed out of ticket money for those years the team didn't care to win.

So we blew some chunks over the weekend. Big deal. It happens. As I say, constantly: this is still a hell of a lot more fun than no baseball in December. Things are not (yet) as bad as all that. Unless we are trying to tank. Then it would be bad. Because we would be sucking at tankage.

Keep on enduring the Lost Weeks Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

You might recall that JC Ramirez outing Friday? Three 2-run home runs in the first three innings? Forced me to look up the ugly reality. JC Ramirez most definitely DOES NOT like the first three innings..........(I was also going to post a comparison between Daniel Murphy and his 7.5 fWAR since joining the Nats, versus the negative 0.9 fWAR out of the 6 roster slots we have been burning up for the season and a quarter, but it got too depressing.)...........

More good news. As you might expect, the Angels pitching staff have surrendered more home runs than any other team in the American League.  And how does that happen without having one pitcher tied for #1 in HR's allowed, another at #4, another at #6, and  another at #12. And this is all happening with half their games in one of the hardest ballparks to hit home runs in all the Major Leagues.....Leading the League in Home Runs Allowed is something the franchise has only done in 1961 (inaugural year), 1968 and 1997............

Of course, the big news over the weekend was Albert Pujols hitting his 600th home run, and a grand slam, to boot. (Did I hear that right Saturday night, that Pujols' 200th was also a grand slam??) I have no shame in admitting that it was an epic moment, and will remain memorable to me, for one (well, for far more than just one). Then we got to Sunday. Pujols had the day off, but did step in as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning as the Halos tried to rally, and grounded into a double play. Yeah. Pujols is back, baby............

Victor and Gubi had a heck of a good time making the call on Pujols' 600th!..........

Mike Trout still loves the idea of headfirst slides. Because it's so fast and safe and everything..............

It would be great to see Kole Calhoun carry this anemic offense for the next month or so..............

Hey. You always wanted a Top 100 MLB prospect in our farm system, right? Well, now you got one. (Oh, sure, a 2010 Top 100, but who are we to quibble at this level?).............

R.I.P. Jimmie Piersall. One of the first autographs I ever got...............

I am 60 years old. I have been following the Angels since they announced that they would build a stadium and Anaheim and move to Orange County. I have been attending games since 1966. That's 52 seasons now. And I had never heard of the Annual Cow Milking Contest (won this year by Blake Parker) until yesterday..........

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Pace of play is not bugging the powers that be just here in MLB. They are having the same complaints over in Japan. Not just about our games, but about theirs. And their "solution" to the "problem" sounds familiar: get the umpires to manage the game as it is already constructed...........

This could get interesting. Rumor has it that Bryce Harper would like to rejoin his Little League buddy, Kris Bryant, and play for the Cubs. That's not too far from NBA-style player power where the players create their own super-powers. As the link points out, though, the future combined salaries of those two kids are going to make such an outcome highly improbable............

So who's next for 600 home runs? When you look down this list, the guys still playing are in bold. If Miguel Cabrera plays another 5 years and can average 30 HR's each, he might have a shot. Beyond that you have to go all the way down to Giancarlo Stanton to find any other active player still in single digit seasons for their career, and he sits at 223. That's just how rare it is to do what Pujols has now done.............

Wow. Just wow. One third of the way through the season and just one game out of the Division lead, and the Cubs' media worm is already turning on none other than Joe Maddon..........

Slow your roll, there, Olney. Aaron Judge is on a major hot streak, but we have seen this (Trevor) story before. There is a lot of baseball left, and Mike Trout will be back. Don't go handing out your MVP trophies quite yet..........

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