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Rinse. Repeat. The Angels rolled right back out onto the field again and rolled right over the Rangers again with a game of solid offense and pitching (albeit with a couple of defensive miscues...again). This time the final score was 6-2.
Across the first two games of this series, the Halos have outscored the Rangers 15 to 6, outhit them 20 to 10, out-slugged them 3 home runs versus 2, out-defended them 2 errors to 4, out-pitched them 26 to 20 K’s and only 5 walks versus 12. And the bullpen has pitched 9 innings and given up only 1 run on only 3 hits against 11 K’s and only 1 walk (last night the ‘Pen pitched 4 ho-hit, no-run, no-walk innings).
The team is currently 2 1⁄2 games out of 3rd place in the AL West and 4 games out of a Wild Card spot.
And Mike Trout clubbed a 2-homer game and drove in 4 RBI, running his fWAR to 5.7 - 0.1 behind Cody Bellinger and a full 2 fWAR ahead of AL runner-up Xander Bogaerts.
Enjoy your holiday with these Happy-Birthday-America-HaloLinks:
Tyler Skaggs
A death of a sports athlete is unlike other any other community............
There was nothing of any concern in the hours before............
Forget the baseball part. Tyler was just a kid. And newly wed. He and Carli were busy making plans and designs for life.............
The official patch..........
The UN-official hashtag...........Because of the official battle cry............
Well, it looks like the alumni of The Internet Graduate School of Human Pathology are out in force............Which is going to happen in this era as everybody wants answers to their questions, and are used to the instant gratification via the imprudence of Google............
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Welcome to The Big Leagues, Matt Thaiss.............
I need to reach out to Tommy La Stella and commiserate. I fractured my tibia a few years ago, myself. I have to say that it was the most painful moment of my human life. I also recall doing commuter trains and buses with them damned crutches, carrying my work pack. I was down 10 weeks, too, and I was not required to return to elite athletic status............
Tough times make for the hardest of honing stones, and Mike Trout is evolving into a leader............
And for all the great things that DJ LeMahieu is doing in New York, Mike Trout is steamrolling his way to another MVP...........
The Home Run Derby is set, and Shohei Ohtani is not a part of it. He was not invited, but that might possibly be the results of a back room conversation between the Angels and MLB. Ohtani wanted the invite, and the kid has already demonstrated monumental batting practice power for more than a year now, and he has the marketing magnetism both here in the US and over in Japan. Plus, the odds of him doing the Derby when he is in a pitching season are far slimmer. This would have been the perfect year...........
Justin Upton was pulled from the game with quad tightness in his left leg, but he has informed Skipper Brad that he will be fine...........
Shohei Ohtani has now appeared in 162 games and seems to showing some promise. I had been waiting another week or two when he would have the full 162 games as a batter, but MLBTR spilled the beans. Look at his specs. 153 games now and he has 34 home runs, 3 triples, 27 doubles, 53 walks, and scored 84 runs. Good for 4.3 bWAR for his bat alone.............
Keeping track on Garrett Richards, there is a chance he could make it back to the mound in September...........
Everywhere In Baseball
Adding to The Derby, here are your rules for 2019..........
Yeah. How dare the fans and MLB leave any of the Yankees off the All-Star roster???..........My guess is that Boone is lobbying for Torres to become Tommy La Stella’s replacement. Brandon Lowe is teed up to replace La Stella, but Lowe is hurting himself and also fouling a ball off his own leg.............
International Signing Day recap............
Part II on 2019 ZiPS mistakes. This time the position players...........
As good as DJ LeMahieu has been in 2019, imagine if he had stayed in Coors Field??............
Was a tear down of the Cubs a few years ago the very start of tanking? So now the Cubs are teeing up the potential of a new tank, one which might define the full cycle?...........
The DSL is off and running, and our future looks very very bleak. The Yankees’ kids just scored 38 runs. In one game............
The Duffle Bag
Um...OK...I love me my Trouty, but..............San Diego city sports fail.............This is how you throw out a ceremonial first pitch.............One of the few complaints about MLB in London was the excessive ticket prices, even when seats went unsold. Just to remind, MLB was over in London to make money..............Fred McGriff gives us the history behind his Tom Emansky commercial..........