HumpLinks: Pujols Phinds his Phorm

And to think there was a chance all of that last night might have been missed. Those of you not local don't know that a rare lightning-heavy thunderstorm full of flash-flood quality rain squalls blew right through the OC area in the region of Anaheim just before the crowds were due to travel to the game. That would have been frustrating, as if the Phillies brought the cloud looming over their season with them on their road trip. Instead, last night we were treated to a glimpse of Albert Pujols' youth. Single, double, home run. That, and a bucket load of base hits by the rest of the team, and the Angels managed to wear down the Phillies with a 7-1 victory.

One would expect a pitcher's duel to be a quick game. And it WAS a pitcher's dual for 6 1/2 innings. The two Replay Challenges last night did not help. There in the 3rd inning we got to see Yunel Escobar try to score from second base on a shallow line drive to left field. It required a perfect play to nab him, so it was worth the attempt. The review of that play at the plate delayed the game 3 minutes and 3 seconds. Roughly 5 IBB's worth of delay. The play is completed at the 0:11 marks of this video, and the review is completed at the 3:14 mark. (The Simmons/Hernandez review required only 1:36.) I am of the opinion that Escobar was safe, but there was not a good angle to make that call. I also think that the lack of a proper angle is what forced the dude doing the review to take so long. He was trying to be too cute. "When was the tag made?" "When did the foot touch the base?" "Are we sure when the tag was made?" Round and round we go. Fortunately for Escobar, though, because he needed every one of those seconds to catch his breath from that 180 foot jog. Anyway, If you want a game to come in under 3 hours and you end up at 3:20, 4 1/2 total minutes of review represents 22.5% of your problem.

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A Little Bit of Angels News

In roster moves yesterday, the Angels dumped Brooks Pounders back to Salt Lake City, and replaced him with Eduardo Paredes. But to replace the spot of David Hernandez, they called up Ramon Flores and not Eric Young, Jr. i would have loved to see EYJ in the outfield and on the bases alongside Mike trout. Maybe it's because Flores was slightly hotter at the plate over the last 10 games (.273 versus .244)...........

Cameron Maybin please come back. And please be Cameron de June and not Cameron de April..........

Nick Franklin cleared waivers and was outrighted to AAA..........Poor guy. This was his 3rd DFA of 2017 and we still have 1/3 of a season left to go...........

Oh, that's right. Huston Street is on this team. I honestly had forgotten. He probably fell into my Hamilton/Wilson filter............Which is why I would have missed the news that Street is injured. Again...........

Nice promo there, LAA. I would have loved to meet Bobby Grich. It's just that I need a little more than 13 minutes lead time............

Yesterday was reporting on Trade Deadline Stock Taking Day. Everybody figuring out where everybody landed and why and what the value was in return. Today is reporting on what always happens immediately after: Winners and Losers Day......NBCSports gives us their idea of both.....TheBigLead gives us their losers.....TheSportingNews gives us both..........SBNation gives us both.....SportsIllustrated gives us both.....Yahoo! Sports gives us both.....CBSSports gives us both.....Nobody calls out the Angels in any way, and lots of folks grade the Astros and Padres as losers, with the Cubs as either losers or winners...........

THE consensus "winner" was the Dodgers. Yu Darvish put them over the top. But that Darvish deal went down to the last seconds and was a crazy time. And the Dodgers DID pay for the Darvish rental. Because they could. One thing to remember: the Dodgers spent a boatload of money on Free Agent players after taking over from Frank McCourt. That was part of their plan, to have a winning product on the field while they restocked their farm. And a main method they used to restock was to be aggressive with International signings. LAA was not. And in the past 5 years that has made a big difference in how the Dodgers can play the Trade Deadline now..........

Among the consensus "losers" are the Orioles. From the outside, things look pretty weird about their activity/inactivity. But that weirdness might have more than a little bit to do with a meddling owner...........

One fun story is Jurickson Profar, down in Arlington. If it is true that the Rangers are trying to tank, then it would be implied that the guys they kept are still there because the Rangers know they suck. One guy retained is Profar, who doesn't want to know that his own team thinks he sucks. It hasn't yet occurred to him that maybe all the other MLB teams thinks he sucks, too..........

A lot of bullpen arms were traded, not all of them. Some notable ones were left behind with their current teams. A telling line comes right at the end: "But you can also second guess some contenders. Should they have been willing to pay more for relievers who had a chance to not just be upgrades, but to be difference makers, in a game trending more and more toward the bullpen?" In such a game, might Eppler be excused for having presumed some better offers for Norris?.........

Doug Gottlieb, FOX Sports BASKETBALL expert, who is totally unaware of Adrian Beltre's full career, implies Beltre is a steroids cheater because: Dominican..............Now, to be clear, I have written quite a bit about the concern I have for the potential of PEDs use in Latin America. But Gottlieb's take is just ignorant. This is a Beltre who tossed out a 9.5 bWAR season before joining a shitty Seattle franchise for 5 years. Once he got out of hell and started playing for the playoff contenders of Boston and Texas, he re-ignited. And he has remained that way ever since...........

Toronto beer-throwing fan gets some sympathy in this long tome about his entire life. But it shouldn't matter that it was just one drunken incident. The idea here is that he has proven untrustworthy in an emotionally charged setting when allowed to get drunk. So either the Blue Jays stop selling beer to everybody, or they hold to their position of keeping this one guy away............

Ah, yes. You are not THE official scorekeeper at the baseball game. So why keep score? Because, hell, why not? Some people do crossword puzzles. Some people listen to play-by-play on the radio when staring at the game with their own eyeballs. Some people pay very little attention to the game they paid to attend, at all. Keeping score can solve all of those things..........

The MLB record for strikeouts in a single season is 223, set in 2009 by Mark Reynolds with the Orioles. Currently Aaron Judge is on track to reach about 221. This is assuming that he keeps up his post-ASG rate and gets 2 more games off. In the second half, he is striking out more than anybody in MLB. That means that he is gaining on the two guys still ahead of him for the season, overall: Miguel Sano and Khris Davis. One of those three is primed to set a new record if the wind blows just right. Could it be the early MSM favored AL MVP??..........

Things are getting more chippy in the Cards dugout...........And in the Astros dugout...........

Even more writers hiring on at TheAthletic. They keep this up, they might become a go-to Link source...........

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Nobody goes to Oakland A's games anymore. So the local security staff has run out of fans of opposing teams to beat up. Therefore, they have to now turn on the hometown fans..............Baseball nostalgia is a real thing, and a very healthy thing in which to engage...........Remember that Doug Fister guy we rehabbed but then released, rather than granting him a slot on our ravaged Anaheim pitching roster? Looks like yet another good call on Eppler and Scioscia's part...........First Career Home Runs for Pitchers Day! Jon Lester got one. He celebrated by getting his 2,000th strikeout. And Max Scherzer gets his first ever, then he celebrated by leaving the game with neck spasms (undoubtedly from all those air high fives)...........Austin Jackson showing Red Sox how to play their own field, er, bullpen...........

OT: RIP Sam Shepard..........