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We open our second half with a hometown ceremony to honor Tyler Skaggs. 7:01 PM PDT tonight............
I wish that MLB web designers would open up their page forms and allow a team like the Angels to forecast the proper pitching arrangements. It’s pretty meaningless to claim that Taylor Cole is facing off against Mike Leake tonight, when we all know that Cole is the Opener and will be handing the ball off to Felix Pena. The Angels have even formally announced it via alternate channels. And you are probably wondering whither be Griffin Canning? Pushing Canning out to the Houston series gives the young arm more rest, and will reduce the total innings pitched in his first MLB season.
These are the first of the All-Star-Break-Is-Over-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
With the All-Star Game over and no further need to protect the positive vibe of our annual mid-term party, Joe Torre laid down his 2-game suspension on Good Guy Jake Marisnick for clobbering Good Guy Jonathan Lucroy.....I linked to this yesterday but it’s worth repeating, since these are certainly more expert people doing a more expert study than what has been happening among the twitter cops........
Spend some time with your nose against the window of our future, where you can’t wait for Jo Adell to arrive............
JC Ramirez had another rehab start last night. Shaky start giving up 3 runs in the first frame, including back to back home runs, but then he settled in and...kept on being shaky. Solo home run in the 4th...3-run home run in the 5th...That 5th inning, after an initial ground out, went base hit + base hit + K + home run + walk + ground out = hit the showers.
Keynan Middleton had another rehab start last night. Shaky start but looked pretty good. Good enough to be welcome in Anaheim.............
Everywhere In Baseball
Changes are coming. Robo Umps are making their debut in The Atlantic League.........
Although the pitchless IBB is still in effect, its impact is getting even less meaningful than it already was. That is because teams are issuing IBBs with far less frequency. And why not, when strikeouts are getting easier and easier to come by?...........
We already did the rise of walk up music. Now let’s go behind the scenes and into the clubhouse, where in every modern MLB clubhouse somebody needs to be the DJ.............
Being the slobbering science and physics loving nut that I am, I am watching Part 3 of the American Experience series “Chasing The Moon” Wednesday night. My whole body is shaking from chills as I re-live the moment when the LEM touches down on the moon’s surface (the tears will come later when Armstrong and Aldrin are taking their first steps). And then we are shown public responses from around the country. Here is where baseball comes in. In the video linked above, slew forward to the 1:01:36 mark. It’s July 20, 1969 (of course) and the Yankees are hosting the Washington Senators in Yankee Stadium (the Yankees would win in a walk off in the 11th inning). In fact, the scoreboard reveals that the California Angels are leading the Oakland A’s 1-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning back in Anaheim, after an Aurelio Rodriguez home run off of Vida Blue. But keep going until the 1:01:49 mark. The fans are standing and cheering and they are all waiving a real wood baseball bat into the sky. Yeah, kids, back in the 60’s every team had a “bat game” and everybody in attendance was given a real, full-sized, baseball bat..............
Let’s chat a bit more about that moon landing. Ignore the preamble of this SportsIllustrated piece and scroll down to the photo of the Perry brothers, Jim and Gaylord. Now, Gaylord was not a distinguished MLB batter. For his career, his slash line was .131/.153/.164 with an OPS of .316. Yeah, those are not typos. Gaylord’s career SLG was .164. With that background, and in the context of the moon landing, everything in the article from that point on is sublime green cheese...........
Remember that conversation earlier this week about the chances of hitting on a draft choice, even a first rounder? The Royals are finally calling up Bubba Starling, the #5 overall pick in what has been an illustrious 2011 draft. Starling was a bonus baby out of High School, who now gets to start his MLB career. Now to blow your mind: Mike Trout is less than a year older than Starling...........
This is the reason that Christian Yelich, and not Mike Trout, was named MLB’s Best Player the other night...........Now let’s have fun watching Yelich and Cody Bellinger battle for NL MVP............
The White Sox are raising nets from foul pole to foul pole, first in MLB............
(Video) - Bud Selig is getting testy as the media is pushing back against his attempts to whitewash his PEDs history on his book tour...........
The Oakland A’s think they are doing a nice thing, posting an ad in an Australian national newspaper celebrating Australian national Liam Hendricks.........But, being Oakland, they found a way to shit the bed...........
Every now and then FanGraphs does something that leaves me with my head spinning. Yesterday was such a day. This piece analyzes how where teams are getting their WAR: homegrown versus trade versus Free Agency (and others). Two initial observations from me, though. 1st, with the recent revolution of teams foregoing the winter Free Agency frenzy, which has more to do with dollars than it does about WAR, doesn’t it become obvious that garnering production from other sources shall increase? Isn’t that the message versus implying that homegrown is such a productive path? And, 2nd, LAA keep stacking up so well in homegrown charts because of One Guy. Take Trout out as the outlier, and re-do those charts..........
Part 2 of hooking up with a pro team in Korea...........
Once Upon A Time teams spent the entire regular season vying for the chance to be the single victor for the League, and gain direct entry into the World Series. Simple, quaint, innocent. Of course it was pretty simple before expansion, and certainly before baseball moved West. Today we got divisions. It’s all we know anymore and the only way our brains think about how a season is progressing. In between we had a process full of debates, full of angry old men gripping hard to tradition, full of mistaken alignments, and full of Charley O. Finley..........
Trade Rumors
Your LA Angels, the only undecided (“Holding”) team in the American League.............It will take a couple of weeks before the press defines the Angels as buyers or sellers. Unsure whether they will check in with Billy Eppler first...........
If the Padres can’t get a Noah Syndergaard or a Zack Wheeler, they have a Plan B: Matthew Boyd from the Tigers...........
I don’t understand why this is, but I am starting to see Zack Greinke’s name show up in trade rumors, even as a long shot. His contract is so massive, and his 15 team no-trade list such a drag, I would have thought that he had negotiated himself into being stuck in Phoenix for the rest of his career......(Greinke is over here, too.)........
The Duffle Bag
Now somebody explain to me how MLB could be failing to market Tyler O’Neill to the lady fan base??. The Cards doing a bicep bobblehead is a good start...........This is what they mean about playing a pro sport in the hot cauldron of New York. Mickey Callaway and Brodie Van Wagenen are just getting toasted............David Price lost his good doggie. R.I.P., Rhass-rhow..........Rangers fans! Man drops his wallet and cash while trying to catch a foul ball. Pay close attention to the two men behind the action, one a blond in blue shirt and white shorts. The other dark haired with blue shirt and jeans. Yep. They each snatch a twenty or two, turn their backs, and are never seen again..........