MondoLinks: SlumberLumberLand

For decades the City of Anaheim has had a Frontierland, a Tomorrowland, an Adventureland, and a Fantasyland. This season to date, the Angels have helped expand the theme park further east on Katella Ave. and now we have SlumberLumberLand. Except for a 13-run burst on April 3rd (against Cleveland), and a 13-run burst on April 6th (against Oakland), this team has scored as many as 6 runs in a home game only once. Since that April 6th, they have scored as many as 4 runs at home only twice. In their last 9 home games, they have scored a combined total of 15 runs over 82 innings. That’s about 1 run every 5 ¹⁄₂ innings.

The good news is that the Angels are not forced to play all of their games at home in front of their own supporters. The bad news is that they still have three home games left this week, starting tomorrow against the Orioles.

But, hey, Tyler Skaggs gave us another great start last night. That’s not something that has been happening much this year.

Angels lose 2-1. Because that is so much more productive than losing 11-1. Fewer beach balls.

Have some Mike-Trout-Left-Standing-On-Deck-With-The-Tying-Run-In-Scoring-Position-Links:

A Little Bit of Angels News

Not a whole hell of a lot went right for LAA over the weekend. Not much even went unshitty. But there was this: Kole Calhoun playing a little D. The first highlight was the best athletic performance, but that second play might be the funniest. How dare the umpires call Giancarlo Stanton out at second base for not tagging properly? And how double-dare the umps for even considering that Didi Gregorius failed to hustle and score before Andrelton Simmons ended the inning with the double-play at 2B?? From my POV, I think the umps got both calls wrong. I think that Stanton tagged up just fine, and I think that Simmons tagged 2B before Gregorius tagged home plate. But the first umpire screw-up would have negated the second screw-up and the run scored anyway...........

Shohei Ohtani (a modest guy) had already slipped from being Every Sunday Dude, to being Every Tuesday Dude. His ankle sprain will force him to miss his upcoming Tuesday start, . It also cost us a chance to see Ohtani face off against old nemesis Masahiro Tanaka. But it’s such a slight issue that Ohtani will now become Every Wednesday or Every Thursday Dude...............Nick Tropeano will do the Tuesday duty this week...........If you had to plunk down a hundred bucks on a bet as to which will happen first - Ohtani no-hitter or Ohtani cycle - what would you do? I would bet cycle. David Schoenfield of ESPN bets no-hitter............Shohei’s MLB success has people baffled as to how to even analyze him. So, they are left with nothing other than Wonderboy, “the most important player in baseball”.............

Obvious Buster Olney gets in on the act with a few obvious observations of how Mike Trout is obviously getting better as he enters his prime. In the article, though, is a cute reminder that even Major League Baseball players need to be told (by other Major League Baseball players) that when on defense they need to visualize what they will do if the baseball is hit to them. They don’t teach that to 9-year olds anymore?............

Billy Eppler did damned good with Shohei Ohtani. But (so far) he hasn’t been as avored with what Zack Cozart has been doing. So Billy gets one Top 10 2018 FA signing and one Bottom 10..........

Oh sure. NOW St. Louis wishes that they still had Albert Pujols...........Somewhere around here I linked to a projection that Albert would get his 3,000 hit an May 2. I an too GA to track that down, but that dude who fingered that date is looking damned smart right about now............

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mr. Anderson. It was an interesting journey..........

Why is this Griffin Canning guy taking so long to get through our farm system? He’s already had, what, 5 MiLB starts for his career?..............Eppler has figured that the Minnesota Twins can have back their Luke Bard...............Eduardo Paredes back to Salt Lake, and Akeel Morris is back up............And David Fletcher is still doing amazing things after Tempe, now out of Salt Lake City...........

Condolences to Mark Langston...........

Everywhere In Baseball

What good is it for a MFY fan to have a Didi Gregorious enjoying a hot April when you have to deal with the brilliance of Andrelton Simmons in the same League? You find an angle to link them together so that you can start promoting your Didi in the national conciousness..............

Pirates Jung Ho Kang has been granted a visa, and will be rejoining the team. No future punishments by Pittsburgh have been proposed, but MADD won’t be a team sponsor any time soon...........

Here is all the data you need to know that Baseball has hit an equilibrium of attendance health. Except, of course, for what might happen this season as we hit the Tanking Era hard...........

Why are we talking about a 154-game season? Just because of all the postponed games? If we want to go back to the 1950’s, just bring back regularly-scheduled double-headers. “Problem” solved, AND it would keep Joey Votto happy, so there’s that............

The Halo offense might have been exposed for being the Ass of Chimera, but at least it ain’t getting shut down by a Pablo Sandoval...........And that might be a Pablo Sandoval who could get another crack at the mound..........

Stephen Strasburg taking a shot at his Nationals teammates............

K-Rod still clinging to a baseball life. Now with the Long Island Ducks............

The Duffle Bag

Eff Ewe, Jerry Dipoto..............Yawkey Way has been renamed. Except the street signs have not been changed. And the Yawkey Foundation is still pissed off. And even the Mayor..........If you are going to make your MLB debut, make it like Nick Kingham..........Get a suspension from the MLB Front Office? Still need to be a part of your team? Buy yourself a ticket, a hot dog, and a beer...........Why Oh why do they build baseball stadiums where fan interference on home runs balls is even a possibility?...........What a crack up. Salvador Perez and Tim Anderson are in a beef? Their COMBINED team wins wouldn’t be better than 3rd place in any other MLB division (Well, maybe the NL West).............Randal Grichuk still working to keep his name on the marquee............Need a job? Here’s a good one! Data Science Internship with MLBAM............