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Sure you noticed that Mike Trout was held out of the lineup last night. Because precautions.
Going up against the Houston Astros, this motivated Albert Pujols to put almost the entire team on his shoulders and power the Angels to a 9-6 victory. Pujols was 3 for 4, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2 runs with thunderous base-running hustle.
I say ‘almost’ because there were other strong shoulders in Trout’s absence. Kevan Smith drive in 3 runs. Justin Upton was 2 for 4 and scored 3 times. Andrelton Simmons homered.
On the pitching side, Houston was forced to roll out an Opener (see the Brad Peacock link, below), which is stunning when you consider the unholy amount of arm health that the Astros have enjoyed the past couple of seasons (last year their rotation started 96% of their games, including playoffs). The Angels enjoyed 10 hits and 4 walks against 7 K’s, stranding 6 runners in addition to the 9 who scored.
Griffin Canning has been scouted by MLB teams now and the book appears to be “don’t swing, especially if Jim Reynolds is calling balls and strikes”. In the 1st inning, George Springer and Jose Altuve must have felt that they were above such reports. They led off the game 1-2 by swinging at the first offering and both made outs. So Canning had 2 outs on 2 pitches. The Astros swung at only 2 of the next 23 pitches. Some of them were even worthy of not swinging at. Robinson Chrinos would then swing at 3 straight offerings and end the inning with the Astros up 1-0.
Canning would only garner one more out. In the second inning, the ‘stros would only swing at 1 of his next 17 pitches. That would be George Springer swinging again at the first thing he saw, this time for a single. We also had a couple of wild pitches in there. Thus, when Alex Bregman saw 5 more pitches, swung at 2 of them and the second one was another single, we had 3 total runs scored in 4 outs and Canning’s night was done. 22 total pitches, 3 swung at.
All in, 50 total pitches, 10 swung at, 10 others called for strikes. Lesson of the day? Pound the zone, pound the zone, pound the zone.
But, hey, he’s a kid. Let’s have fun with the W! 7-3 over the last 10 games, 1.5 games out of 3rd place, 4.5 games out of the WC, and 3 games above .500.
Smile with these Winning-Is-More-Fun-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Friday night’s Tyler Skaggs Memorial combined no-hitter, as told by the people involved..........
We were supposed to be seeing Houston’s Brad Peacock this week. But doing a bullpen session in advance of his start, Peacock didn’t feel so good. He was sent back to Houston for some doctor time............
Farm Report: Jordyn Adams is hot. Extremely hot.....Jared Walsh keeps popping up on the MLB Pipeline Prospect Team of the Week roster.....Now that we have some distance to reflect, Jo Adell still really stands out from The Futures Game..........
Trout Porn. The worst of Mike Trout over a single year is better than 90% of all MLB player CAREERS in history..........Mike Trout Monday roundup..........
reddit directs us to TheBaseballGauge where we learn that Mike still has a 12.8% chance of breaking the career HR mark. Only 2 other active MLB players even have an ember of any hope...........
This week FOX Sports launches Episode 1 of “About Trout”. I hope to live to see Episode 1500, when Trout is inducted into the HoF.........
Everywhere In Baseball
No, Mike Trout was NOT named AL Player of the Week last week. That would be Nate Lowe, who actually had an even BETTER week...............
Yes, yes, this. It was what I was preaching last year. Dave Dombrowksi built a Red Sox roster to win the World Series. They won the World Series. But the way he went about it was the usual Dombrowski method of clobbering the franchise for years to come. So we wonder, will Red Sox fans or even MLB as a whole tolerate a tanking cycle in Boston?..........
($$) - Now that we have live operation of RoboUmps, “You can’t get mad at TrackMan” is the reality for a short window of time. Eventually players will get savvy to the truth that TrackMan is only as good as the invisible Trackman technicians who set it up before games. Then we will be hearing TrackMan complaints from players...........
FiveThirtyEight starts to put some eyeballs, and numbers, on the foul ball netting issue in MLB..........
Here comes NASCAR to the MLB uniforms. I wonder if the players will get any of the revenue for having their likeness plastered all over some corporate ad campaign? the Players’ Union should have come to me for the details of my plan to occupy the sleeve in advance of owner ad revenue, and put merit badges there instead..........
Tim Mead’s first crack at HoF induction ceremonies comes this weekend, and it looks to be a good one..........
Breaking down yet another Red Sox/Dodgers marathon. This one 5 hours and 40 minutes of pain..........
Still with the Dodgers, last night they gave the Phillies pitching staff such a shellacking that home plate umpire Doug Eddings could not contain his frustration with their ineptitude. So when Yacksel Rios let one slip and nipped Justin Turner in the leg, Eddings went ballistic and ejected Rios on the spot. Eddings was the only guy in the entire stadium who was of a mind that this needed to happen. Even Justin Turner, the victim, was pleading Rios’ case. Eddings was having none of it. The Phillies pitching sucks. Period. Take a shower. Either that, or Doug Eddings is just an idiot. Nah, can’t be that. Eddings is beloved, right?? Good thing WE have never had a problem with anybody named Doug Eddings!..........
Trade Rumors
I forecasted a few weeks ago that this trade season would be a seller’s market. Well the sellers are thinking the same thing and their asking prices are exorbitant. And this line of thought always leads me to this cul-de-sac of curiosity: ow often is it that a selling team looks at a bidding team, sees some sign of extra need or desparation, and jacks up the price of the player they are shopping just for that team? “White Sox? Yeah, you can have Dash Dangerfield for those two scrubs and some pool money. Yankees? You can have Dash but you have to send back Didi Gregorious and Gio Urshela.”.............
In the context of sellers asking for the moon, the Brewers are looking to spend high for the chance to rent top-shelf Giants BP ace Will Smith..........
Zack Wheeler is the Mets’ Most Likely To Be Traded. A lot of hungry teams have been sniffing around Wheeler, the Red Sox being among them......But no longer. The Red Sox have dropped out......Maybe Zack Wheeler going to the IL with arm fatigue might have something to do with it..........
The Astros are beating the bushes - currently the mesquite bushes around Phoenix for Robbie Ray - in the hopes of adding to their rotation.........
The Duffle Bag
NSFW: Aybar tries to get to first base..............When the team you are broadcasting for sucks so bad you are embarrassed to show your own viewers..........Never troll the Oakland A’s social media maven. Never. As in ever.............
David Price recently lost his family pet dog, Astro, and wore a paw on his cap in honor. As I type this I have learned that our oldest family pet dog (Odie, 15 years) will need to be put down this week to end his arthritis pain. Following Price’s lead, I will be changing my avatar image in his honor for the balance of the season. Odie will be a great bat dog in the afterlife..........