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That didn’t last long. I won’t go into how incredibly busy I am right now, but I didn’t have any chance to catch any part of the game last night until the rain delay was almost over. I clicked the LAA web site to pull up GameDay and saw the headline eluding as to how Justin Upton and Mike Trout had homered. I clicked into the game. A quick scan realized rain delay and I saw the score of 7-4. I had to walk away from the laptop again. I had yet to fully comprehend what it was that I had been looking at.
So, for about 10 minutes, I tended other duties and lived in the light glow that the Angels were on the verge of a win.
10 whole minutes. It was nice.
It wasn’t until I came back and the game had just restarted my viewing and scrolled down to read the boxscore that I lost that glow. There it was. Jose Suarez had gone 5 innings, given up 10 hits (3 of them homers) and a walk, 6 runs, all well earned.
I miss those 10 minutes.
But David Fletcher snatched a pair of hits, but got saved from a lousy initial tag by a Joe Iglesias brain fart.....Justin Upton was overdue.....Mike Trout is pressing the leaderboards to take over the MLB home run crown. And now I am very glad that Shohei Ohtani did not participate in The Home Run Derby after all. I really did want him in it before the break. But had he done so, that Derby effort would be what we would all be blaming for his pretty atrocious second half. Nope. It’s all his own.
So, yeah, the Halos lost another. And they lost it on the mound. Again. This one 8-4. They are 3 games under .500 having lost TEN of their last TWELVE. The pitching staff is averaging an ugly 6.9 runs surrendered per game in this stretch while the offense is averaging a just-as-ugly 3.9 runs scored. But, hey, these are OUR guys!
On your day off, Mike, have a Happy 28th Birthday.
On we go with -HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Angels News
One of our centerfielders did NOT commit an error on defense Monday night. Can you guess which one?............
Billy Eppler remains ever vigilant in his quest to obtain quantity pitching debris cluttering up other franchises. Drew Hutchinson is his latest triumph..........
($$) - The Dodgers get a lot of credit for building such a solid pipeline of pitching talent. In this article the Angels serve as the foil to the Dodgers, what with the Angels being unable to identify, draft, sign, develop and maintain the health of MLB pitching talent at any meaningful quantity..........
ESPN give you a followup to my Monday Mike Trout WAR Machine update. In fairness, they spend a lot more time than I do telling you just how great were the full careers of the guys that Mike is already passing by.........
($$) - We love David Fletcher for his accomplished versatility. There is a reason he appears that way to us. It’s because he actually is..........
Everywhere In Baseball
Oh, goodie. Tim Beckham of the Seattle Mariners has earned himself an 80-game vacation free of pay for his use of the super-old school PED stanazol.....Not that he had anything to do with it, mind you.....Once upon a time (2008), Beckham was the Number One Overall Draft Pick of the Tampa Bay Rays. That promise never panned out and, apparently, Beckham turned to artificial means in order to sustain any semblance of his diminishing MLB career. But, hey, thanks Seattle! Thanks for Beckham’s 2-run double to cap off a 4-run 1st inning shelling of Chris Stratton back on April 1. Or the run-scoring single on April 18th when the Angels lost by 1 run, 11-10. Or that 9th-inning winning run homer he hit on April 19th................
If it is true that ‘Chicks Dig The Long Ball’, then we are smack in the middle of the Chicks Dig Baseball Era. That should be showing up in the studies by now, right? Because no fans in history have ever born witness to a long ball era such as this. It is more stupifying than stupendous. Nobody is flocking to stadiums to witness this stuff like they were back in the PEDs era...........
We know that the baseball itself has a lot to do with the HR frenzy. It’s not the only thing, but it’s a major thing. And we know that the changed ball had had an impact on things like pitcher blisters and curveballs in Colorado. We can add Masahiro Tanaka’s once-viscious splitter to the list of victims..........
Eppler picks up guys from all over the place and we presume that somewhere within the organization is a Mr. Fixit that can magically cull some surprising production out of said pitcher. Has it ever happened? Yes, but in Houston..........
Suddenly, that big green Sesame Street character that parades around Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia is a hot news ticket......Will Phillies Have to Ditch Phillie Phanatic Mascot?.....The Phillie Phanatic could be a free agent. Here’s why..........
Mookie Betts is so yesterday. Boston is now all about Rafael Devers..........
Garrett Richards had to exit his latest rehab start early with shoulder tightness. Sounds familiar............
Lots of people are up in arms over the black & white uni looks for the upcoming Player’s Weekend later this month. I get it. I am the guy who relished all the cool, fun and colorful MiLB special unis just yesterday. You are not alone by a long shot. But I don’t think that these are a bad idea. They are just a different idea, and one that targets a different market segment. Black and white sports gear is actually pretty popular. Think Oakland Raiders going back to forever. It’s something I would buy for myself, but I am already finding some audiences pretty excited about the stuff. Their cup of tea. Nothing wrong with finding new markets. Those brain dead nicknames (these are ‘the best’?), on the other hand. These guys could use some tips from aviators...........
Extended netting is coming to Toronto..........
As The Athletic continues to grow, the writers of The Left Behind Deadspin seem rather attentive to the finances behind the growth. As if Deadspin is flush with corporate accountants stacked with MBA and business finance degrees. They are supposed to be about sports, but wander off a lot into forays more of personal interest to their writers. Recently, they went union as is their right. But such a thing seems to be rubbing them uncomfortably. They don’t like public inspection. But they do like to publicly inspect a competitor loaded with proven sports journalists who happen to be accruing money. The Athletic is happy to pint out that the money they acquire is well spent.
I visit TheRinger a lot, and link to cool things there when they pop up. They may start popping up more often now that Ryen Rusillo is leaving ESP and joining TheRinger full time..........
The Duffle Bag
Change his stance, shave his beard, Bryce Harper is chasing down every lead looking for his Best Baseball Player Of His Generation talent...........Joe Musgrave finally did what I have been expecting somebody to do since April 22..........(h/t to reddit, since I had to go there and find it with MLB video searches for Josh Donaldson not working at the moment) Josh Donaldson pretty much daring the umpire to call the high strike on his ass..........Baker Mayfield did his schtick. The Cleveland Indians knew that radio chatterbox Colin Cowherd would be coming after Mayfield, and they were right..........Knew NFL coach of the Cleveland Browns Freddie Kitchens does not appear to know how this anonymous thing works..........