You know it could have been worse, right? The only reason that the Blue Stopped at 7 runs against the LAA bullpen right there in the 9th inning was because that was all they needed and the umpires kicked everybody off the field. For all we know, Toronto could STILL be rolling through their batting order even now. And why not? It's not as if anybody on the LAA staff had any intention of stopping any of them. Brooks Pounders? Walk-homer-double. Bud Norris? Single-single-accidental ground out-walk-grand slam walk off home run to completely humiliate the Angels in the national press.
8 batters. 32 pitches. 17 strikes. 2 walks. 5 hits, 2 of which were home runs scoring 6. IT doesn't get much more gutless than that. Plug a big L on that 11-10 debacle.
2 Grand-slam walk-off home run losses in the last 6 games.
On the upside, it's only fair to point out that Albert Pujols smacked two homers himself yesterday.
Have some Mealy-Mouthed-page-Turning Links:
A Little Bit of Angels News
Looks like we got ourselves a new Second Baseman. Nick Franklin was DFA'd....and Kaleb Cowart was named our new starting 2B. And that's how far we sank, there, folks. Nothing against Cowart and I really have fair to middling hopes for his career. But when you can drop-kick one 2B who came from an NL contender AND another 2B who was once a first round draft choice taken just two slot after Mike Trout, and replace them with a kid with only 71 MLB games under his belt and depend on said kid for a stretch run tot he playoffs, it speaks volumes as to just how empty your 2B world has been in reality. And it's been that empty at 2B for 2 1/2 seasons............
It's Trade Deadline Day. I won't even pretend to be on top of anything. And who the hell knows how this shit will work out. The Mariners stand as our benchmark of ignorance. Nobody really knows. sure don't. Rumors are flying all over the place and it's only Sunday as I type this. What happens will have happened and we can all get excited and nervous about the outcomes. For us, the only significant rumor at this moment is that Bud Norris and other bullpen pieces might be on the block...........
Say hello to Troy Scribner...........Now say hello to his parents, who suddenly realized that they did not possess the necessary passports to travel to Canada and witness his MLB debut...............But they did get to see their boy throw 3 innings of relief. 3 hits (i HR), 2 earned runs, 2 K's, and he picked up the W with Ben Revere's 9th-inning 2-run scoring double.............
What are we going to do with Petit?...........
Andrew Heaney is kicking ass in his rehab starts. Of course, he's picking on mere children, but let's not quibble...........
Special shout out to Jessica. Her piece on Pujols was not only picked up on the SBN main baseball page, but it was also picked up on TheBigLead Roundup for this past weekend (search the page for the words ""What's happened to Albert Pujols"".
Josh Mayhood's Library of Mike Trout Hagiography
People of the Rest of the World! Stop taking Mike Trout for granted!!...............
By the way, no sooner than I start to whine about Trout not projecting to get enough PA's in 2017 to qualify for recognition, but the Angels start to do BOTH things I said would be rare: 7 or more runs of scoring and/or extra inning games. Here we are a week later and Trout has lowered what he needs to average in the remaining games from about 4.28 PA's per game, to 4.14 PA's per game.
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Everywhere In Baseball
One guy off to a tough trade start would be Jeremy Hellickson. Traded from the Phillies to the Orioles, he was driving to the airport with his girlfriend to join his new teammates. And on the way he was rear-ended, sending his girlfriend to the emergency room..............
Howie Kendrick has got to the be the happiest guy in all of Baseball right now. He just was moved from one of the worst teams in all of MLB, the Phillies, to one of the NL pennant favorites - the Nationals...............
This is a weird one: rumors are swirling that rumors are swirling that Yu Darvish has been tipping pitches, driving down his results. The Rangers need everybody to believe that because it drives his trade value back up............In any event, Darvish is happy to know he has something to work on.............
Here is a surprising tale that I had not sniffed out anywhere else on the Internet up to this point. MLB might have a modern-day cocaine problem??.............By the way, this should serve as a wake up call to all of you who sit there complacently and believe in the fairy tale that the MLB drug-testing system is 100 fool-proof and has eradicated all foreign substance use out of the game............This, despite what just happened to Mike Trout's future brother-in-law...........
Robbie Ray just got Shoemakered. Pitcher helmets are a coming must-have in Baseball..............
And why, may I ask, are not MORE baseball teams hosting a Solar Eclipse Day promo this year??.............
TheAtlantic, pursuing actual sports writing versus video, is picking up more top-tier MSM scribes. Again, TheAtlantic doesn't really benefit us Halo fans much (see Trout story above for an exception), but it's interesting to keep an eye on the Internet battle between text versus video...............
I'm confused. Now that Adrian Beltre has gotten his 3,000 hit.....which as he closed in on had led to me linking to this piece on who would be next (Pujols?).....So when I found this predictor chart I got to thinking about Mike Trout. Trout is almost 26 years old, and has almost 1000 hits. And I'm thinking "really? Trout has to get about 10 hits over the next 8 calendars days or his chances to reach 3,000 fall from 74% to 4%?? Then I went reading the tweets below. HihgHeats tells us that the 'model' is "...based on historical fact--it's not predicting for future players--just saying what happened in the past"......So at that point I think I got it. Then I keep reading, and HighHeat says later, about a specific data point "It's a 1% chance for the criteria you describe--I'm not sure any guy has actually done it since there are well fewer than 100 such guys". So WTF? Is the table built on what has actually happened or not? If it is, then it should be easy to track down who it was that fulfilled that "certain criteria"...........
There was a Hall of Fame induction "celebration" yesterday. You may have missed it because MLB is working so hard to figure out how to promote the game to future generations...........By the way, celebrating some guys making it into the Hall should not not become the keynote event for reloading one's guns against guys who are NOT being celebrated.............
I join Gubi in wishing Lee May many forevers Resting In Peace...............
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The Duffle Bag
The Cardinal Way: managers pissing off players, and players taking shots at managers..............Dickhead Price and his vaunted tough-guy showboating just tough-guyed his act right back to the DL from whence he came. Speakingn of Price. (With all his sudden spare time) he's going to talk things out with Eckersley, but not back down from his stance. Which, in simple terms, means that he is going to give Eck all the time he needs to grovel and apologize..........When you have a front row seat behind a dugout, you owe it to the rest of the attendees to step up your game............Mike Trout debut merchandise or Aaron Judge debut merchandise? 20 years from now, which one do you think will be the museum pieces? Don't ask Yankee fans. Just take their money as fast as they can give it away............Everybody has their type. Screw autographs............
Best from reddit: Watch carefully as this member of NYC's Finest races to grab the game-winning home run ball off the ground and start partying. You know, instead of immediately going into action as post-game security watch..............Tough times with foul balls in Oakland. One spoiled little fan lose his dignity, and an other fan loses his entire dinner - burger, fries and all...............
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Jordan Serena Destiny Watch
In Inland Empire baseball Serena saw action all weekend. He must have been overwhelmed. He went 1-2, 0-3, 0-4 and is batting .235...............Jahmai Jones, meanwhile, was 5 - 14 with 4 runs scored, a couple of doubles, and 4 RBI. Batting .327, he seems to be adjusting to High A pretty well..........
In Mobile, over the weekend Matt Thaiss went 5 for 13 4 runs scored and 4 RBI, now batting .288..........Taylor Wardwas 3 for 8 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, now batting .292..........And Jose Rojas was 4 for 11 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, batting .224..........
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