MondoLinks: That’s Noe to Lose as Halos get Rougned up....

It took the Rangers to invoke the gods of weather in order to overcome the freeze that Jaime Barria was putting on them yesterday. After enough rain delays to mess up the already-fragile LAA pitching plans, the Rangers came storming back, quite literally, as Rougned Odor homered as the 3rd of 3 hits that Noe Ramirez would suffer in the 7th, and the Halos lose 4-2. That left them 1-3 in Arlington, and their 2018 record against Texas is down to 6 wins versus 4 losses.

Here come some We-Are-Down-To-An-Elimination-Number-Of-26-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Shohei Ohtani News

Shohei had another rehab BP session yesterday. In his next session, he will face live batters. Or Albert Pujols............

Meanwhile, we always have his pinch-hitting skills..............

Shohei had a pretty nice week............Somebody is going to have to explain how it is that he suffered a -0.4 Def value for the week, though, considering he has not put on a glove since June 6th............

And, to remind, the kid is very, very fast............Which is very nice when he does not get to leverage all of his power. But when he does, oh my...........

A Little Bit Of Mike Trout News

The funeral for Aaron Cox is set for Wednesday, so it makes sense that Mike would not be back with the team until next weekend.............

A Little Bit Of Angels News

David Fletcher with a gritty little Major League play. I gotta think that Fletcher might be the kind of guy who will drive sabremetricians nuts, kind of like David Eckstein used to do...............

In yet another mystery of the Universe, Akeel Morris somehow cleared waivers, and is now back in Salt Lake............

David Fletcher and Francisco Arcia will be signing autographs at the San Diego Credit Union in Laguna Niguel this upcoming Saturday...........

Everywhere In Baseball

Ah, here we go. Another windup on what is means to be “Most Valuable”. Because Mookie Betts is trailing Jose Ramirez in WAR, yet plays for a better team............And with Mike taking himself out of the conversation completely, the Mookie campaign is shifting into higher gears...........

The Cy Young Award, though, that one does require some keen and clever thinking skills............

Mike Clevinger, just to rub it in, is healthy and pitching great......And this overlay shows just how he can lay waste to a hitter............

Meanwhile, it’s never to early to label a player a sure-thing Hall Of Famer. Even if, as in the case of Ronald Acuna, it’s less than 75 games as a Big Leaguer...........Oh, and here comes yet another name to add to this hoopla: Michael Kopech...........

This is why you want to pay close attention to all the good news coming out of the Ohtani rehab process. Yu Darvish took his first rehab start. One inning later he took himself right back to the DL. That’s gonna make a lot of friends in the Wrigley bleachers...........

The Dodgers are in a dogfight in the NL West (the AL West and NL West being the entire fun and excitement of the MLB second half). So losing the rental they paid for dearly, for any length of time, is a big deal. Machado will be fine, but the razzle dazzle of this story is that he was HBP from Andrew Romine, a position play thrown onto the mound. That’s always an embarrassing thing. Romine was rather contrite.........

Where did all the first basemen go? 1B production is evaporated throughout MLB. And I blame Albert...........

Rougned Odor, though, he has found all kinds of production. We were just victimized by him. But before you, you Angel fan, allow the concept of pharma to slip across your brain pan, think Kole Calhoun. Because, yes, a change in swing mechanics can be very effective, and payoff suddenly...........

This is what happens when a very good joke goes over the heads of the very small minds of ESPN and MLB production teams, and smacks a hyper-sensitive Trevor Bauer right between the eyes...........

In the Little League World Series Team West, from Hawaii, is kicking butt. They have won both their games outscoring Southeast and Great Lakes by a combined score of 10-3. They now jump to Wednesday where, as an Elite 8 member, they take on Mid-Atlantic...........Just some real live MLB players hanging in the stands with kids and families, still in their MLB uniforms..........Big Al and THE Rhys Hoskins...........The LLWS players themselves don’t go home empty-handed, they cart off some nice swag. Wait til the NCAA hears about this...........One person NOT taking any swag back would be the manager of the Australian representatives, who took himself off the roster when he realized that he fell victim to a technicality..........Considering that admission into the LLWS is free, this effort seems rather counter-productive...........Next year the Little League Classic will feature the Pirates and Cubs. Because showcasing a Mike Trout or Bryce Harper or Ronald Acuna to the next generation of baseball fans world-wide are just not something that occurs in the minds of the MLB brain trust...........

Wouldn’t it a much better use of one’s time spent sitting in front of a TV to just watch The Sandlot again, rather than watch how they made The Sandlot?............

The Duffle Bag

Uh...isn’t this an example of MLB marketing JD Martinez? So, like, it can be done?...........You go, Sister Marj Jo!!............Yesterday the Astros has some unheard of catcher have a pretty good game. Almost a cycle.............You know how it is that you hate to see the pasty-faced Mariners fans invading Anaheim? Well, thankyouDodgerfansverymuch...........Conversely, since I get to hate the Dodgers, too, thankyouSeattleverymuch...........Instead of balking, it’s a lot more fun to just launch your pitch into the stands.............Carlos Gomez has some serious game. More, apparently, with the ladies than with the Rays. Gomez’ wife and kids might wanna chat with him about that...........Josh Donaldson might get shopped when he gets healthy? Considering Donaldson won’t be under contract with Toronto in about 10 weeks, and he hasn’t been “healthy” for more than a year, I don’t think that the Blue Jays should be working very hard on any such plans............