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Plate umpire Mike Estabrook gave Masahiro Tanaka the home field advantage over the zone that Garrett Richards got, leading Richards to look sloppy in giving up 3 runs with 5 walks. But think about it. The Yankees outscored the Angels only 5-2 in the two games where the Halo offense kept slumping. That 11-4 win on Saturday when Mike Trout was Man On Fire, is an aberration, but in totality we can see that the Angels are not that far apart form the vaunted Yankee squad. Warm up the bats just a little, stabilize middle relief, and catch an even strike zone and the Angels can beat the Yankees in a series. Now all we have to do is avoid a ‘series’ that lasts only 1 game. Because that 1 game could look like yesterday, where the Yankees win 3-1. And the Angels dropped their first road series of the 2018 season.
Hustle through the Links today because the Angels are in Detroit for a 10:10AM PDT start.
Take time to salute those who sacrificed everything so that you could be relaxing and reading this today.
And dig these Blitz-Links:
A Hell Of A Lot Of Shohei Ohtani News
I wanted to see Ohtani pitch yesterday, too. But clearly we are all still in the honeymoon period with how the Angels are managing this wunderkind. There is no wrong move right now..............
New Yorkers are still pining for the Ruth that got away...........
Ohtani will be back on the mound on Wednesday (Jamie Barria got recalled Saturday right on cue, so my theory was dead wrong)............
Here. Enjoy Week 8 of Ohtani Vision.........
A Little Bit Of Mike Trout News
Just to enjoy all over again, Mike Trout made mincemeat of the Yankees Saturday night. That must have ruined the evening for a whole bunch of MFY fans thinking that Trout is almost as good as (insert name of latest hype machine beneficiary here)..........One of those 5 hits was an opposite field clip that went pretty high and pretty long, stunning people sitting at field level out in right field............
And here is a roundup of those names that are the almost-as-good-as-Mike-Trout hype machine beneficiaries de jour...........
Yeah, Mike, we want to see you get into the playoffs, go deep and cause a lot of damage along the way too..........
That 5 for 5 night was most beneficial. Trout leaped to 4.4 fWAR in a single bound, vaulting back into the MLB lead............
Sorry Tigers, but I am hoping you fail miserably............
Andrew Heaney is making a name for himself at the national (fantasy) level...........
Andrelton Simmons is getting noticed for his ability to avoid strikeouts. His 10 K’s have him at 163rd - and dead last - in all of MLB for qualified batters.
Did this LAA fan think that Andrelton Simmons needed to take his HR ball home for posterity?..........
Rene Rivera will be back. In August? He just underwent knee surgery...........
Your 1961 LA Angels. The best expansion team in MLB history...........
Everywhere In Baseball
Wow. That 5 for 5 game for Trout was brilliant, wasn’t it? Well, if so, what is the superlative for going 10 for 10?..........
If MLB wants to use humidors everywhere to equalize the baseball (and lower home run rates), why don’t they do anything about that right field porch in Yankee Stadium?..........Teams are not waiting for MLB to figure out how to cut down on home run rates. Being clever enough to use an ‘opener’ is the latest..............
Ronald Acuna is our latest rookie uber-phenom. And it is things like this, a freak injury that can happen randomly and take anybody out of the game for stretches, that is why you need to pay attention to great talent while you have it in front of you. Because there are no promises of forever............
Thank you, Jerry Dipoto.............And could Vlad Jr. be called up in time to play in Anaheim when the Blue Jays visit June 21/22/23?............
Dipoto is still working overtime to plugs the injury gaps in the Mariners. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that when June 11 rolls around and the Angels roll up into Seattle, the AL West will look a lot more favorable to us than it does today, Dipoto wheeling and dealing notwithstanding. We have a pretty soft run ahead of us. Seattle and Houston do not..........
Yet another head case in Arlington?.............
Tough times for the injured. Mookie Betts is day to day...........Yu Darvish is back on the DL, where he probably has a house account by now...........
The Duffle Bag
(h/t UniWatch) Stranger Things Night jerseys are smoking hot!..........And he sticks the landing!.............Dan Bellino: one tough guy..........Yeah, those tiny cocktail weenies get lost on my plate, too............This is one dad who is going to have a tough Father’s Day.............Adrian Gonzalez still cannot believe he stood there and did nothing............