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WeekEnd HaloLinks: Halos Handler the Ver

Andrew Heaney outguns Justin Verlander, even as Verlander mowed down LAA bats.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v Houston Astros Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Imagine striking out for 15 of the 27 total outs you suffer in a game, collecting only 2 walks, stranding 7 runners on base, enduring a mediocre outing from your closer, and only getting 3 extra-base hits. And you have been facing Justin Verlander again, again.

But you win 5-2 anyway. Hats off to Andrew Heaney. An actual LA Angels starting pitcher. Who started a game. Against a top-tier team. Opposite a top-tier pitcher. And was brilliant.

We splurge on a collection of Holding-Strong-At-An-Elimination-Number-Of-26-HaloLinks:


A Little Bit Of Shohei Ohtani News

ShoTime! returns to Sunday! SUNday!! SUNDAY!!! This one is easy, because 90% of every LAA-related story across the entire Internet last night was the announcement that Ohtani retakes the mound for Sunday...........

But let’s look at this application of insider experience and supposition. At 2:13 PM yesterday OCR writer Jeff Fletcher noticed that Odrisamer Despaigne was no longer listed as a starter, but as a reliever. He wondered if that meant that Shohei was the starter listed as “TBA” for Sunday?.....CBS Sports Fantasy Baseball tracker picked up this tweet, taking Fletcher’s lead.....Almost an hour later, at 3:07 PM, Fletcher reported the news. This was confirmed, simultaneously, by LAA via MLB coverage crew member Maria Guardado...........

So Shohei is back on the mound. Shohei on the mound is a beast...........

Ohtani bat flip. Mondo chill...........

Jon Heyman taking on MFY fans all over, as he pimps for Shohie Ohtani as AL Roy...........

And Fox Sports is not going to allow any other team in any other sport to steal away “ShoTime”..........

A Little Bit Of Mike Trout News

Yeah, no. Mike is batting only .214 so far this week, so there ain’t nothing worthy of talking about here...........

A Little Bit Of Angels News

By the way, Jeff Fletcher is also predicting that Matt Shoemaker starts the Monday game against the

This is what the world has come to. Giving us advice on what to do with the final whatever number of games are left in the career of Albert Pujols. But it’s all a waste of Internet storage space. Not a damned thing will be done about Pujols until he reaches 2000 RBI’s, 661 home runs, and 400 GDPs...........Because LAA loves Albert Pujols..........

Ranking the past 25 World Series Champs, the Halos come in at #13. (To save you all the other clicks, the Yankees and Red Sox entries ahead of us are #7, #4, #2 and #1.)...........

That Jose Rojas kid working his way up the farm ladder...why do I know that name?.............


Everywhere In Baseball

It’s trade deadline day again. This is the one that defines what players can participate in the playoffs this year. So expect some action. SI did. They expected Andrew McCutchen to be moved...........

Guess what? Andrew McCutchen was moved. To the Yankees...........

In other big news, the Cubs picked Bobby Wilson off the Twins. That’s yet another ex-Halo catcher to find themselves suddenly in the hunt for a 2018 WS ring. Wilson, lest you forget, was the odd man out after the 2012 season with Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger behind the plate. The Blue Jays picked him off the waiver wire.............

Another uber outfield shift. Enough to stun Jose Ramirez, and then get him out easily............

Bookmark this. We fans all knew that the 2017 Free Agent class was unimpressive. We predicted it, we commented on it, and we berated the MSM for forgetting it while they bashed ownership with accusation of collusion. Well, guess what is now one of the major disappointments of the 2018 season? The 2017 Free Agent class...........

Which is timely, because Jeff Passan is already out there at sea drilling his gun teams on the USS Collusion in order to be ready for the shelling over this upcoming winter...........

But, fairly, Service Time Manipulation is something that will have to be addressed...........

David Ortiz denies all those pages in the forthcoming expose linking him to gamblers. So there. All settled...........

Ok, robo umps, deal with THIS at-bat by Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen...........It’s why humans will always be back there, even well after the cameras take over. Because figuring out shit like that can be hard...........

With the AFL rosters being announced.....and the Angels have a few exciting kids in attendance.....there will be enough rising superstars that a special weekend trip would be well advised...........

To promote in-State sports betting, there is a strategic approach for the first bet placed as a PR stunt. In California, what would YOU bet if YOU were Governor? (Stick to sports, people...) I think, at this point, it would be $50 on Ducks win Stanley Cup, $50 on Rams win NFC, and I would stay far, far away from any Warriors/Lakers action as a politician...........

I predict that one of the greatest drags on cord-cutting will be the lack of faith and imagination among sports execs to truly unleash their product for streaming options. I see this, somewhat, in this NFL review. The NFL is sticking with what’s comfortable: reaching their consumers at the deepest possible penetration via their current broadcast structure. But what is not being exposed in that article is the self-fulfilling control structure of blackout rules. Imagine, conversely, if any sports fan could fire up their smart TV, and then pick which version of their Packers game they prefer to access? Some might want the multi-camera stream. Some might want split-screen to share some other broadcast. Some might want traditional. Some might want the props bet chirons. And public spaces might want commercial-free so as to not impose commerce on their customers. Now go back and re-read that link. By giving consumers the ultimate choice to tailor the viewing experience the sports league actually INCREASES the potential of reach. And if those streams are feeds off the existing NFL broadcast partners, there is no threat to the existing television contract auction model..........


The Duffle Bag

Sorry, dude. But it’s every person for themselves on balls hit into the stands. It violates the unwritten rules of fouls ball etiquette to blame the chick in front of you for taking one on the noggin..........One day you are AL Player Of The Week, a couple of days later you are Kendrys Morales, Clearer Of Waivers and free to be sent packing...........Yeah, that would be a fantastic catch, if only Souza was not wearing flannel pajamas...........Josh Donaldson feeling some bad blood (or, wait, it’s now called ‘disrespect’) with all the trade talk?.............Those of you who watched the game last night suffered through a lot of Ted Williams 100th Birthday factoids. But did you hear about this amazing one?............As a dude who spent a few days earlier this month down in San Diego for Tiki Oasis 2018....this is a celebration that I can totally dig............If you are not going to get very many MLB hits in your career, make ‘em count..........