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That’s a Major League ballgame, right there. The Dodgers pumped themselves out to an early 3-0 lead off of young Griffin Canning by leveraging a couple of doubles in the top of the 2nd inning. The LAA pitching staff locked up the vaunted LAD offense and the Dodgers were held in check from then on out.
The Angels kept the Dodgers close, while they started to work their way back. A solo home run by Kole Calhoun was the only result for the first 6 innings. Then a game-tying 2-run home run by Mike Trout in the 7th.
Enter the 8th.
LAD skipper Dave Roberts brought in not-so-fan-favorite Joe Kelly to relieve. Too much fun to be had there. Shohei Ohtani and his go-ahead representing run leads off with a 4-pitch walk. Kole Calhoun goes down on a 4-pitch K. Pinch-hitter Brian Goodwin draws an intentional walk. Kelly thanks his manager for that vote of confidence with a wild pitch, putting Ohtani on 3rd and Goodwin on 2nd. Kelly goes ahead and walks Jonathan Lucroy. The bases are loaded.
Let’s pause for a moment here. Since May 24th, Ohtani and Goodwin and Lucroy have been batting .259, .238 and .089, respectively. Kelly walked all of ‘em.
Ok, where were we? Oh, yeah. Bases loaded and 1 out. Tie game in the bottom of the 8th. Wilfredo Tovar slaps a short infield hopper that is plucked up by LAD 3B Max Muncy, who throws high to home plate. Catcher Russell Martin leaps up, catches the ball and comes down to touch home plate. Ohtani chooses to slide past the plate so that he can touch with his hand. His body obscures plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, who calls Ohtani safe with the winning run. Ohtani’s body (and Martin’s own foot) also blocks the replay cameras. Call stands.
So Joe Kelly celebrates with another wild pitch, and Brian Goodwin also scores. 5-3 Angels and not a single hit of any kind was required.
Ho hum. Hansel Robles comes in and finishes things off. Angels rule LA.
Slide right in under these Close-Enough-For-A-W-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Good news, everyone! Matt Harvey suffered a setback in his MiLB rehab stint and thusly shall be held out of the MLB lineup for even more games to come. Now, for the finger waggers out there, this has nothing to do with wishing ill will upon Harvey. It’s all about wishing for the best possible opportunities for success on behalf of the Angels. Harvey is making plenty of money, and will be back in time to start collecting those $250,000 per game bonuses once he makes his 15th start. Harvey will be just fine.........(Since you are undoubtedly wondering, Trevor Cahill’s bonuses are driven by innings. He needs to reach 100 IP before he starts to get spiffs. He is at 57 now.)..........
Tim Mead is packing up his office and heading to Cooperstown to take over. And I love this quote from Bill Bavasi: “I think a lot of folks there are in for a rude awakening. I don’t mean that with any disrespect. Every one of them, from the owner on down, appreciate Tim. They get it. I don’t think they know what it’s like when you’ve had that secret weapon for so many years and to go that cold turkey in the middle of the season. I say that with complete love for the Angels. I just know how important that role is to a major league sports franchise.”..........
Whoever that Will Wilson kid is that the Angels drafted with their #1 pick last week, they signed him to a contract...........
Mike Trout is dominating the AL All-Star voting. I suppose that we can now sleep comfortably at night knowing that the general baseball population of this country has finally conceded that Mike is our special generational gift to the entire sport. Let’s celebrate with some Trout Bombs..........So here comes the guilt that partners with so much celebration. We bark about bad plate umpiring. We beg for RoboUmps. Mike Trout is one guy who being gifted quite a bit of favorable calls. RoboUmps will reduce Mike’s advantage. As an Angels fan, you must accept that............
Tommy LaStella leads the AL voting for starting second baseman. Deservedly so, as The Boss points out..........Notice that Tommy is not just doing something cool for the Halos, or for the American League. He is doing something rare among all current Major League Baseball players..........
Andrelton Simmons is almost back?..........He was already taking batting practice..........
Angels Stadium has become a hitters park?............
You know, when all is said and done the Angels as a franchise have historically done a better job of using their first round draft choices to figure out who will be an MLB ballplayer than the Dodgers have done............
The frequent flyer express between Anaheim and Salt Lake City is active and in demand...........
Everywhere In Baseball
StatCast has added a new graphic tool to measure outfielder play. Jump, Reaction, Burst, Route. Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun are pretty crappy when it comes to getting a jump on balls off the bat. Calhoun doesn’t run good routes, either, but Mike sure as hell does (click on the column header to re-sort).............
Women’s Professional Baseball is certainly in need of more support and exposure. But it will take some media empire to volunteer time and money to do the hard work of covering the sport in order for that sport to garner the exposure necessary for enough sports fans to connect. Only then will we see what kind of natural audience and economic impact the sport can have. The deal, though, is that media coverage is expensive, and can come at the expense of other sports that already have some level of fan attention. It’s easy to give media the tongue lashing. It’s a whole other thing to come to the debate with solutions..........
This will come as a major surprise to the readership here. Josh Donaldson is still a hot-headed dickwad...........Jameson Taillon, Pirates pitcher, was notably unhappy with the impact of ejecting Pittsburgh SP Joe Musgrove..........
Just a reminder that it is Madison Bumgarner who is the one who needs to do some growing up...........
The Angels are not the only American League team behaving so badly that they are making the Texas Rangers look good. But they are the one team who counts..........
The Padres are hard at work trying to figure out how to bring back brown to the masses. And they are committed to let the masses tell them how to do it..........
The College World Series in Omaha is set, and the West went down hard. No Stanford and no #1 overall seed UCLA, those teams going 1-4 against Mississippi and Michigan, respectively..........
The Duffle Bag
Anaheim fans know how to baseball.....Maybe not as good as Atlanta fans, but...........Dear Dodger fans. You are welcome for the chance to watch your baseball team on that modern contraption known as television..........That was real quick. And nails..........This back-to-back-to-back home run thing is becoming a habit...........If you ever want to buy a game used MLB jersey, and you can only afford one, a Babe Ruth would not be a bad choice...........Imagine a fairy tale world where the left side of the infield has both an Andrelton Simmons AND a Nolan Arenado.............