Thor’sLinks: Halos Make Bucs Walk The Plank

A 5 o-clock start on a cloudless summer night is a tough assignment for MLB hitters. And yesterday afternoon both Halo and Pirates pitchers took advantage. For the Pittsburgh side it was Chris Archer, who had kind of had his way with LAA in the past (.220/.296/.286 against). For Skipper Brad, it was Dillon Peters, one of Billy Eppler’s $5 bin finds who was carrying into the game the sum total experience of 14 total games started over 3 years in the Big Leagues.

And just as it was that the Pirates had no business scoring 20 runs in 2 games against anybody, so it was that Dillon Peters had no business out-dueling a Chris Archer. But there it is, because baseball.

While Mike Trout is having another Mike Trout August (meaning: woeful), the est of the offense picked him up and scored 7 runs, one highlight being Albert Pujols becoming the foreign-born player with the most hits in the history of MLB. A good time was had by all.

Breath a sigh. Relax. Angels win 7-4. We still ain’t going anywhere but winning is more fun while going nowhere than it is to lose. The White Sox are now in town for 4 games. They are 8-6 this month, having just defeated Houston 2 out of 3 games.

And while you are at it, dig some Twenty-Four-Hours-Of-W-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Angels News

How curious. It turns out that Arte Moreno has THREE stadium options. One, renovate the current location (which could include an all-new ballpark). Two, move to Long Beach. Or, three, stay with the status quo until the lease runs out in 2029. This last little detail means that the City of Anaheim has no leverage to boot Arte out of the current stadium after 2020. Arte still has all the leverage..........

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2019 Los Angeles Angels Defense on showcase.............

($$) - If only the Angels had some starting pitching...........And every day that the current LAA staff fails badly, the price of Gerrit Cole goes up for every needy franchise in MLB..........

Mike Trout doing the job that Rob Manfred thinks he doesn’t do.,.........And Mike was not alone..........

With his 10th steal yesterday, Trout made some more history............

This must have made getting to the game fun yesterday..........

Matt Harvey is now a problem for the Oakland A’s to solve.

Hey! I am a Modelo drinker (although I prefer their Negro). Do I get to pick the Halo who acts as receiver?..........

Everywhere In Baseball

Jake Arrieta is most likely done for the year.............

This is crazy talk. Joe Torre upholds the accidental ejection of Brett Gardner by saying that, yes, it was a mistake but Gardner deserved to be ejected anyway. That’s bullshit. If Gardner does something difficult in inning 1 but the umpires let it pass and Gardner is not ejected, we don’t don’t overrule the umpires and go back in time and eject him anyway. The umps are the ones in control of the game, not Torre. The same is true for inning #2. And, over time, there is no such thing as a preponderance of evidence. If Gardner survives 9 innings, he survives. Torre doesn’t get to go back and have him ejected and the game resumed from some earlier point in time. So at the time of Gardner’s ejection, he was working with a clean slate. And a mistake was made at that point, about that event and that event only. And Torre should be eternally ashamed for making me stand up on behalf of the Yankees.........

Every day we have some umpire casting more weight in favor of RoboUmps. Yesterday it was Marty Foster..............($$) - All of which makes this article on RoboUmps in The Atlantic League very timely. Some key points for those without a sub: (1) pitchers and catchers lament the loss of the pitch framing power, that thing that lies to the ump and tricks him into getting the call wrong (see the brilliant framing on the Marty Foster pitch, by way of example); (2) the upper and lower limits of the zone are the exact shenanigans that I have been predicting for years, especially noticeable if the batter attempts to bunt. And (3) there is a slight delay between the completion of the pitch and the formal call on the field, one which has already caused chaos with baserunners..........

Nope. Home run records don’t matter at the moment. From 2016 through 2019 (and counting) we are back in what history might record as an asterisk era. If it were not including a juiced ball and only a function of pitcher/batter behavior, we could keep counting records and just consider it an era of its own, like the dead ball era. But it’s not exclusive to the actions on the field.............

Baltimore has already been eliminated from any chance at the AL East title. But those Orioles have a winning record against LAA this season (4-3), which is one reason why the Halos have an AL West E number of only 22. And then we can get to WC E number countdowns..........

Yasiel Puig has had a pretty challenging path from Cuba to America (smuggling, extortion, death threats). But yesterday he took advantage of his suspension to earn his citizenship. Congratulations, Mr. Puig!..........

The ladies are back in the Little League World Series. The full list of young women in the LLBWS over history is here.........

And more in the LLBWS, New England is stealing signs, and that is against the rules in Little League. Players and managers are supposed to be ejected, but umpires are not up to the challenge............

Final LLBWS, North Camden Little League was robbed back in June. Their snack stand was hit, and ruined, and that impacted their ability to raise needed funds. Bryce Harper is among the MLB players who have stepped up and donated to the cause, trying to save the season..........

The Duffle Bag

Netting may prove to protect from injury, but we now know that it is not 100% protective of one’s beer..........I am a fan of the Fresno Tacos (not so much the Grizzlies). I do not blame the organization as I mourn for our fallen taco warrior..........Teh White Sox found a way to beat the Astros on the field (taking 2 of 3), AND they found a way to beat the Astros on the video board..........