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Thank you, Anthony BemBOOM, for arriving in Boston just in time to wake things up in a game that was lazily heading towards an extra-innings result easily swayed in favor of the Red Sox, and by any number of simple little things.
BemBOOM would have none of it. First, in the bottom of the 8th with Mookie Betts as the go-ahead run on 1B and only 1 out, BemBOOM gunned down Betts trying to steal. The ball was placed perfectly, and strides ahead of Betts’ arrival. Then, in the 10th-inning, with Kole Calhoun on 3B and 2 outs, BemBOOM wasted no time and slapped the first pitch he saw into right field, diving in what would be the winning run.
BemBOOM was not alone in carrying the team over the finish line. This matchup was heading towards a loss until Kole Calhoun stepped up and smacked a game-tying home run, which is how BemBOOM’s heroics got teed up in the first place. That, by the way, as Calhoun’s first home run in Fenway, too.
Thus endeth an atrocious road trip. 7 straight losses concluding with 2 wins in Boston to split with the BoSux. Over the last 16 games, the Angels won only 4. Nails in coffin kinda stuff. Now here come the Pirates. In their most recent 32 games, Pittsburgh has lost 26 of them. We got a chance.
Wake up to these Happy-To-Be-Ruining-Boston’s-Weekend-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
($$) - Andrelton Simmons knows as well as we do that this has not been his finest season.............
The market of starting pitchers this coming offseason is not overloaded with names. And we might expect that some of those names might not wander away from their current franchise. But Billy Eppler is going to “be in” on names, you can be assured.............
($$) - Shohei Ohtani is not as impactful this season with his bat as last year, although he is happy with his learning curve. The key difference is that his launch angle is down, taking his home run distance with it..............But Shohei had another bullpen session, and is now at about 80% of the way back to normal. Good news, of course, because this means that he will easily be ready in time for Spring Training.............
Jose Briceno has been released.............Miguel Del Pozo has been acquired.............Kevan Smith was placed on the 10-day IL, which is how Billy Eppler made room for Anthony BenBoom............Jaime Barria has been optioned back to AAA.............Adalberto Mejia is back within the organization............Andrew Heaney got re-instated on Saturday. He had a pretty good outing, too. 3.2 innings pitched, 3 hits and 1 run allowed with 4 strikeouts...........
Jose Saurez thinks that he is tipping pitches. For the sake of all that it holy, I sure hope that turns out to be the problem...........
Keynan Middleton had another rehab outing. Middling results, but we care more about how he feels afterward............Noe Ramirez had a rehab outing, as well..............And Griffin Canning might get back into the rotation mid-week..............
Trout Porn: “One of the great things about his player page that’s really almost unlike any other player page is that every year he gets new bold ink,” Sam [Miller] said at the time, noting that each season, Trout turns into “a totally different best player in baseball.”.............($$) - Mike is on the verge of leading the AL in OPS for the 3rd consecutive season. This has not been done since Ted Williams in 1946-1949, and only 3 times in history (Williams, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb).............With his home run in Fenway over the weekend, Trout has now homered in every MLB ballpark at least once.............In a somewhat surprising reveal, FiveThirtyEight informs us all that Mike Trout rarely swings at first pitches, and tends to not swing until he has 1 strike against him. Smart kids they have over there at FiveThirtyEight.............Mike is continuing to convert writers that he is our opportunity to watch Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Ty Cobb at their peak.............And Mike Trout is on a pretty decent home run hitting rate. Honestly, though, instead of a PEDs asterisk these rates are liable for a juiced ball asterisk..............
Here is some fun. This again is Mike Trout’s Fenway home run. Pause it before the pitch. Look at the fans right behind. In the second row above the Mitel sign on the left you will see a dark-shirted person holding up a camera. They are taking a video, and will have the fan perspective on Trout’s homer. That video is right here.............
Weekly Mike Trout Career WAR Perp Walk. Mike is running down #89 Rafael Palmiero’s 71.9 bWAR a bit faster than I expected. He sits at 71.7, and just on the other side of Palmiero are Harry Heilmann at 72.2 and then - ta da! - Derek Jeter at 72.4...............
Everywhere In Baseball
Power slugging Bryce Harper, having been paid a powerful fortune to move to power-friendly Citizens Bank Park, seems to have lost his power.............
Chris Davis has been so bad, for so long now, that one would think him to be the first person who knows that he is a liability. Apparently not, blowing up on his manager for having the audacity to take his raggedy-ass bat out of a game...............
On the other end of the spectrum is Aristides Aquino, the rookie who was called up to take over from Yasiel Puig when Puig was traded away to Cleveland. Aquino has been torturing MLB pitchers without mercy via his power stroke, with 7 home runs in his first 10 games. I watched the replays of some of those mashes, and it’s only a matter of time before these MLB pitchers stop serving up meatballs to the kid..............
The legacy of Tony Gywnn reveals that today’s ballplayers don’t really care about Batting Average. Sabremetrics has driven the value of BA to the back of the bus. As Alex Bregman says, “All the hitters care about is OPS.”............Maybe this explains why Kris Davis doesn’t bother to hit .247 anymore.............
MLB is on the verge of releasing baseballs that have a built-in grip surface, which will retire the age-old process of rubbing up game balls with special mud. It’s just a matter of time before they get the science close enough to their satisfaction. Enjoy the nostalgia while you can..........
If one accepts the accuracy of all the historic electronic strike zones on faith, umpires rarely, but do, call a perfect game..............
MLB is taking the White Sox and the Yankees to an Iowa cornfield. THE Iowa cornfield, to be exact..........
I had completely forgotten about Chris Carter. It was just 2016 when he led the NL in home runs with the Brewers, but we saw enough of him when he was with Oakland and Houston. He has been out of MLB since the middle of 2017, but he is tearing it up down in Mexico, about to break the single-season home run record there.............
My mind remains completely blown by this. It’s why I keep taking potshots at Boston GM Dave Dombrowski. The Red Sox will seriously entertain trade offers for their 201 AL MVP Mookie Betts............
Baseball stadiums continue to make strides towards being more ecologically mindful, but what happens down the road if climate change renders summer weather less tolerable for our fair weather sport?.............
Part 3 of FanGraphs intro to getting your own saber data using Rust.............
Bill Walton comes to Baseball, and in Anaheim............
...........And we might finally be nearing the end of the Tim Tebow era.................But maybe not the end of the Cody Allen era?............
The Duffle Bag
Angel Hernandez is a not very good umpire, as Joey Votto will be happy to tell you.............Dude, now you can say that, yes, you did hit the ball out of the park.............Dodgers seem to be the kind of team that take losing kinda hard...........So when do we all get our own “Not Justin” jerseys?.................Sean Newcomb got kinda hot after his latest fail. Fortunately, there was a fire extinguisher present............The Cardinals are going to change their logo. Not that anyone except for everyone who already owns the merch with the old logo would notice............Baby Vlad versus Aroldis Chapman. When an irresistible force meets an immovable object.............Job Posting: the Blue Jays are looking for a web developer............Catch the ball, save the burger..............