Boom goes the broomage! Keep tweaking the starting rotation, get Shohei Ohtani and Justin Upton back in time, and I like the chances of this version of the Angels.
Start with that starter tweaking. Tyler Skaggs goes 6 innings, gives up only 2 runs on 4 hits, and walks only 3. Pair that with the 5 shutout inning, 3-hit outing he gave us his last appearance, and Skaggs is back-to-back solid.
I was going to post a link to some Brian Goodwin data showing off his surprising start to 2019. But then he went out and was 3 for 4 and scored a run to render that data obsolete. As I post this, he has the 9th highest Batting Average in all of baseball, 6th-best in the AL. So keep that kid batting directly behind Trout, something that Skipper Brad only started doing 4 games ago in the Sunday game against the Royals. Trout has only been walked 3 times in these 4 games, and even hit a home run last night, something we haven’t seen in 12 games. Imagine Ohtani and Upton then behind Goodwin. Sheesh.
In the end we get an Angels win 6-2, That’s outscoring Toronto 16-8 in the 3-game set. 6 wins in their last 7 games. Their 15-17 overall record bumps them up to 9th overall in the AL, with only 6 AL teams having more wins. A day off today as the Angels start a very long road trip. They won’t be back home until the 17th, two weeks from today.
You noticed that there was no Baby Vlad last night, right? After 5 whole games he already needed a rest.
Let’s spend the weekend sharing these Patear-Algún-Culo-Houston-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Curious stuff. Beginning with 1992, after each season there is a poll taken among the players themselves for the Players Choice Awards. Two of the awards are MLB Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player. Do you know how many times the very best player of our generation has won overall MLB Player of the Year? Zero. Do you know how many times he has won even AL Outstanding Player? Once, in 2014. One award voted to Trout by his peers out of 14 honors handed out. So when I read something like this, where a Marcus Stroman see Trout in person, gets smacked around on a 2 for 3 night with 3 bases and a 3-run double, and walks away calling Mike “the best player ever”, I gotta wonder where the hell has his vote been?..........
Shohei Ohtani: Put me in coach, I’m ready to play...today..............
People need to not talk about Tommy La Stella. No sooner does he get a feature article for his newly discovered power, than he flops at leadoff by going 0-for-5...........
Via UniWatch.....here are the special patches that the Angels will be wearing this weekend..........(Look at Mike Trout showing Rob Manfred how to market MLB!)......That Sunday game, Harvey versus Verlander, could be MLB marquee material. Please please please stay on your recent road to recovery, Matt.............
Props to Simba for his upcoming charity event. You are all invited...........
Really? Cam Bedrosian is the most ‘Star Wars’ name on the Angels? I suppose. I might have made a run at Ty Buttrey myself...........
I missed it. Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of Jered Weaver’s no-hitter. Sorry, Weave...........
If you break down Kevin Maitan’s splits into small enough units, everything is going to be fine...........
Long Form for the weekend: echos of MLB strikes past. Could they be foreshadowing one in our near future?............
Everywhere In Baseball
Andrelton Simmons ain’t doing too bad at the plate so far. But by 2019 MLB shortstop standards, he is merely meh............
If we build robot umpires and involve deep learning technology, could robots umps eventually become so smart that they fire Rob Manfred?...........
First they take away the clubhouse beer. Then they take away the clubhouse chicken. Now they take away the clubhouse video games. What’s the BoSux players supposed to do now? Just play baseball or something? It’s pretty classic administrative pettiness, however. They won the World Series playing Fortnite just a few months ago. So how can Fortnite be the reason that they are losing now?..........At least we’re not talking about real warriors and their video............
I am reading some phenomenal things about the upcoming Toy Story 4. Learning that THE RICKY is featured only adds to the intrigue...........
Noah ‘Thored’ the Reds. I’m calling it. When a pitcher does 100% of the work, throwing a 4-hitter and hitting a solo homer to produce the only run in a game, that pitcher has Thored it..........
Now that we Chris Davis took away our opportunity to laugh at his struggles, he is not anything pitchers want to face anymore..........
Irony is lost on Chicagoans. Cubs VP of communications is so upset with the accusations that there has been any pressure applied by the Cubs organization to avoid negative media messages, that he applied pressure trying to get a negative media message taken down..........
Hey, Manfred, how is that plan going that your good buddies in Miami are running which is accidentally making them millions and millions of dollars by gutting payroll while they get to exploit existing MLB revenue streams? You know, the one that a lot of your bosses are running at the same time? The one that is driving away fans all over the country? You should do something. Maybe blame the players? Maybe change a rule and eliminate second base?.............You can’t blame falling offense. Offense is not a problem...........You already solved that by juicing the ball...........
The Twins, man, I think they are an amazement. I think they are real. But I don’t think they should be a surprise. They went from 30 games out of the Wild Card in 2016 to being a WC in 2017. They showed only a couple of glimpses of competitiveness in 2018, but overall they should be seen as a team rising.
One of the best thing about rooting for a team is getting to root against rivals. Oakland is a rival. Oakland is worth rooting against. Especially after decades of snobbery from their belief that they are so data superior. And it’s great when they give me solid reasons to enjoy my rooting against them. Take, for example, how they botched all their offseason plans..........And let’s face it. The A’s are nowhere near the most clever team in baseball anymore. That would be the Tampa Bay Rays...........
But hot dog vendors. We got nuthin’ on Oakland’s hot dog vendor. I bow to his tube steak preeminence............
I don’t watch enough TV to have any first-hand experience with the current Jeopardy! freak. But getting into MLB just because he knows a lot about the geographical features of Kyrgyzstan would seem like a stretch. However, there was a point where hiring some guy just because he knew how to use a scientific calculator was a head scratcher...........
Reality is going to take away from you all your TikTok jokes. The joke ain’t funny anymore when MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL/ESPN is using TikTok for highlights...............
Ok, as an old fart, Queen was the anthem band of my high school years. I grew up with Queen (and Led Zeppelin, and ZZ Top) when my older brothers were jumping on the Bruce Springsteen bandwagon. So I am happy that Bohemian Rhapsody has claimed another generation or three of fans. And I am happy that they are not mis-hearing the lyrics to Fat-Bottomed Girls. I’ve heard people sing those lyrics as “back-bottomed...” or “flat-bottomed...”...........
Ye Who Trolls Shall Be Trolled..............
I’ll bet you did NOT see this coming: Troy Tulowitzki is injured, trying to rehab from yet another injury...........
Truly, it must be very difficult for Venezuelan players in MLB right now...........
Craig Gentry retires. That is just a more formal announcement for all those who failed to notice that he retired during the 2015/2016 seasons..........
Just to make a point, but the Internet has grown and thrived and dominated civilization without copy editors. Doing daily news dissemination ain’t The Great American Novel..........
The Duffle Bag
Pay attention to the fans in the background trying to distract Felipe Vazquez. Then it will make sense...........Come on, Victor and Gubi, we need this! Put some shit on the other broadcast teams. Just say no to those unwritten broadcast rules. Verbal bat flips! Or fans, have some fun with fan shots.........When bling goes bad..........Eddie Vedder got no game...........Wait a second. They serve REAL KNIVES to all hungry fans at Minor League ballgames??............So you are telling me that Noah Syndergaard stood in hour long lines like normal folk to see Endgame the first weekend? Or, well, hell. It’s just a modern SciFi/Fantasy movie. Maybe Thor just solved all of his problems via time travel, too...........Phillies fans aren’t the only ones booing Bryce Harper. Smashmouth ain’t going to let his rejection of their favorite Giants go without social media mockery..........