Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) With the win, the Angels bring their magic number to six. With the Rangers idle, the Angels can't expect any help from that department today, but Texas faces the Red Sox in the weekend series at Arlington. The matchups will be Josh Beckett vs. Kevin Millwood tomorrow, Tim Wakefield vs. Matt Har...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) amp;lt;h3>Godawful: Tigers 9, Angels 6</h3> Any game featuring Jon Garland as a starter has a decent chance to get out of hand in a bad way, and this one surely did. The Angels kept getting leads, and the pitching kept coughing them back up, including a two-run lead i...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Yahoo box • Angels recap Pounding The Padres: Dodgers 8, Padres 4 I caught the tail end of this peering into Harry Caray's Pub in Wrigleyville and noticing Joe Beimel was on the mound for the Dodgers. Presuming it was late in the game, I reckoned it was the seventh or so, but no, it was the ninth,...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) With an eye to the Bees' postseason, the Angels limited their callups to C Ryan Budde, and RHPs Dustin Moseley and Darren O'Day from Triple-A Salt Lake. More callups should be expected after the Bees' postseason run is over, report Bill Plunkett.

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Jeff Kent will have knee surgery, possibly ending his season and career. The best-case scenario is a two-week return, the worst is his career is over. The Dodgers called up Chin-Lung Hu from Las Vegas to replace Kent on the 25-man roster. The early warnings that the Angels wouldn't get to reun...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Arredondo's adventures aside, Scot Shields pitched a scoreless if wobbly (two walks) eighth, saved from disaster by yet another Torii Hunter theft of a home run, this time off Hank Blalock. Frankie nailed down the save in another fairly uneventful ninth, earning his 53rd save almost lik...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Jeff Kent, sent for an MRI on Friday, has not yet received word of the results but it is expected his career is over. Kent, 40, has been playing through pain from slightly torn cartilage in his knee for about a month, fully aware that the continued grind of playing baseball on an everyday basis...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Gene Wojciechowski (and if you think I didn't cut and paste that last name, you're crazy) writes about the Angels' late success. One of the principle reasons for that has been owner Arte Moreno, something Torii Hunter appreciates: "Arte's awesome," Hunter says. "First of all, he knows my n...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) With the loss, the Dodgers extended a road skid dating back to August 9 that has seen them lose 10 straight road games. They're one loss away from tying the all-time Los Angeles Dodgers franchise mark of eleven, set in 1992 from June 2 through June 21. Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Anyway, true to his previous form, Nippert actually was pretty good against the Angels for the most part, and in fact came within a couple outs of a quality start. But after five shutout innings, he got into trouble, giving up a single to Chone Figgins, and a 1-1 count homer to Garret Anderson...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) That left matters to the Rangers' relief corps, and Jamey Wright simply couldn't get anything right. He walked the bases loaded to Garret Anderson, and then let Mike Napoli get a free pass to score the Angels' third run. After he got Brandon Wood to pop out, that brought in former Angels produ...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) No, Thank You, We Don't Want The Division Either: Nationals 5, Dodgers 4 Three home runs and the Dodgers still can't carve out a win from the floppiest quadruple-A team in the National League. 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position (worst offenders: Matt Kemp and Nomar), ten left on bas...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) John Lackey pitched his third complete game of the year and came within two outs of getting a CG shutout, missing only on a solo homer to Jack Cust, helping to rest a fairly taxed pen. The Angels pounced for four on A's starter Greg Smith in the fourth, singling and doubling him into submission....

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Phils Sweep As LOBsters Eat Dodgers: Phillies 5, Dodgers 0 The Dodgers stranded fourteen baserunners in this game, nine of them in scoring position with two outs; you're just not going to win if you keep doing that. The Dodgers got 13 hits without scoring a run, tying a major league record, a...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels finally broke through in the sixth with a leadoff homer by Mark Teixeira, but nothing further happened until the seventh. Juan Rivera's strikeout made it appear that the Halos were in for just another inning of the same sort of futility that had marked most of the previous six fra...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Back to the Angels versus Dodgers thingy in the Cal League, where both Rancho and Inland Empire are swimming upstream to get to the postseason. Rancho finished the day 2.5 games back of South division leader Lancaster, and Inland Empire 4.5 games back... neither team faces Lancaster again this...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) As it happened, the first couple innings looked like more of the same from the last week's playbook for the Angels, especially after Vlad bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end a men-on-the-corners situation in the first; Harry later told me I was quite entertaining while yelling epithe...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Yahoo box • MLB.com recap Mike Scioscia Still Thinks Justin Speier Doesn't Suck: Twins 2, Angels 1 (12 Innings) ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? JUSTIN SPEIER IN A CRITICAL SITUATION?????? F#%t%#@%^$&@#%$#!!!!!111!!1!!1!!!!!

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) And I say that with some optimism that they won't repeat this kind of performance in the postseason. Joe Saunders had nuttin', Shane Loux managed to be just better, and the bats were limp again. Update: Oh, and Jeff Mathis sailed another one, only he got bailed out by Gary Matthews, Jr.

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Good Grief! A Win! Angels 5, Rays 4 The Angels survived a hurricane, and worse, a meltdown by Jose Arredondo, to pick up a win, finally, against the Rays. I scarcely have the energy to write about it. Suffice to say that Jered Weaver got his first quality start in about two months, Garret Anders...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Yhency Brazoban made his first appearance at AAA since June 5. He had been at the GCL Dodgers on July 7, and made two one-inning starts with the Dominican Dodgers on August 14 and 18. Here, he recorded his first save of the year at this level. 2008-08-20: Jacksonville 2, Chattanooga 1 # De Jesus:...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) I was thinking about the Angels' alleged calls-a-good-game guy, Jeff Mathis, whose principle reason for being seems to be his hyperinflated value behind the dish. He made his major league leading twelfth error today in a crucial situation with a perilous one-run lead, throwing away a ro...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) It's nigh-well impossible to read much into regular season matchups, but the way the Rays have been marching through pretty much everybody these days, the message is clear that the Angels have some soul-searching to do come October, assuming they don't collapse between now and then. Tha...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Seven months later, with no explanation, the tear had filled in, his vision returned, and once again he started in right for the Red Sox. He was traded in the 1970/71 offseason to the Angels, where he languished for one final season before retirement was forced upon him. He made a comeback att...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Joe Saunders pitched a quality start, but Justin Speier couldn't hold it. I guess the thinking must have been that Arredondo shouldn't be used every day, but Speier's failure ended up bringing in Arredondo anyway, so what was the point?

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Brewers got off to an early 2-0 lead in the first on a Gabe Kapler home run, and added to it in the second on Jason Kendall's RBI single. The Dodgers tied it in the fourth on Casey Blake's two-run jack, and pulled ahead in the fifth on a Jeff Kent RBI single. The Dodgers got an insurance run in the...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) How strange is it that Angels fans barely acknowledge Mark Teixeira, yet Manny-mania is transcendent in Chavez Ravine? The question isn't moot; consider his first home appearance: Talking to another writer, he told me that before Teixeira’s first home game, he had prepped an item on th...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels placed Maicer Izturis on the 15-day DL with a sprained thumb. Kendry Morales got the callup from AAA Salt Lake to replace him on the roster. The Yankees DFA'd former Mariner first baseman Richie Sexson, and optioned Melky Cabrera to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yanks purchase...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Yahoo box • MLB.com recap The Dodgers Win The Series Against Philly? Huh? Dodgers 7, Phillies 6 I should have listened to the end of this one, because it would have been a lot more rewarding. The Phils amassed an early four-run deficit in the first against Brad Penny, who clearly had nothing, a...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) amp;lt;h3>Roster Notes</h3> <ul> <li>Scott Proctor <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodfyi13-2008aug13,0,2315740.story">won't return until Sep. 1 callups&l...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Old Friend Jarrod Washburn took the loss but pitched fairly well up to the fifth, when he allowed homers to Juan Rivera and Vlad Guerrero, accounting for three runs, and an RBI groundout to Mark Teixeira as well; Vlad's blast, a two-run monster to left, provided the winning runs for the Ang...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels did all their damage in the third, starting with an infield single by Gary Matthews, Jr. followed up by Mike Napoli's double. Napoli, a late replacement for Jeff Mathis, ripped the ball down the left field line, setting up an infield single by Chone Figgins, who cashed in Matthews....

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Eligible for a win after he left the game, Giese's bullpen let him down in the most spectacular comeback win the Angels have staged to date in this amazing season. The Halos first knocked out a pair in the seventh against Jose Veras to tie the game on a pair of solo homers by Garret Anderson and M...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Luckily, no matter how well Jered Weaver's former crosstown rival Ian Kennedy may have pitched for USC, he was far worse for the Yankees today, as the Angels pretty much knocked him silly, scoring twice in the first, one of those on a weird Torii Hunter double that might have been caught at t...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Vlad's At It Again: Angels 9, Orioles 4 I was downstairs reading Bill Shaikin's Times recap of this game a few minutes ago. As with most day games, I got caught unawares, but Vlad had a four-RBI day off another finesse lefty, with Mark Teixeira picking up a 2-for-3 game with three runs scored. E...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) News The Angels released OF Aaron Peel, who was trying to rehab from a broken clavicle. Cody Fuller was reassigned to Rancho Cucamonga, and INF Adam Morissey returned from a stint with Salt Lake. The Dodgers signed former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Eric DuBose to a minor league contract and...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Unknown, Pus-Throwing Lefty: Orioles 3, Angels 0 Shut out by lefty Chris Waters, making his major league debut, the Angels obliged and did what they usually do against unknown lefties, i.e. lose. The amazing part was why Mike Scioscia decided it was time to put offensive zeros Robb Quinlan a...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Sandoval, F: 4-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI Wood: 1-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI Morrissey: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K Wipke: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K Rodriguez, Fe: (W, 6-10) (in relief), 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 5.92 ERA Rodriguez, Fr: 2.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 4.63 ERA Rodriguez, R: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 2.31 ERA

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Angels Hide Pettitte, Yanks: Angels 12, Yankees 6 Closer than it appears because of a bad outing by Darren O'Day, who loaded the bases late and gave up a run on a bases-loaded walk and was ultimately charged with all three runs that frame. The Angels just moiderized Andy Pettite to the tune of...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Long Shot: Manager Mike Scioscia likes to have a lot of offensive options, and outfielder Peter Bourjos offers plus-plus speed and bunting skills, though it's unlikely that the Angels will want to start his service clock. About the rest: Red Sox: A pretty unimpressive story here, as "...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Well: let us see what this is about. Mark Teixeira is a 28-year-old first baseman, who has pretty much come up swinging ever since he hit the majors. He's on the last year of his major league deal (and I believe the final year of arbitration eligibility), so for this trade to work out for the Ange...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels' offense was perhaps a bit hobbled, with Robb Quinlan and Gary Matthews, Jr. spelling Casey Kotchman and either Garret Anderson or Vlad in the outfield, though Vlad did DH. The Angels really didn't hit lefty starter Garrett Olson well, perhaps because they've never seen him bef...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Orioles can hit: they're third in the league in home runs and fifth in slugging, so the high-scoring games we've seen lately aren't a surprise or anything. Still, it was one of those days where the ball was flying out of Camden Yards, and on both sides; Torii Hunter in particular got a pair...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) July 20, 1985: In first place most of the first half of the season, the team rode its 14-7 hot start to an MLB best 18 games over .500 with a 54-36 record following a 5-3 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway, with Mike Witt getting the win for the Angels. The Angels lost the division lead on September 6...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels broke records and made the outfielders work at the wall in this one, a wild offensive game with John Lackey posting the Angels' third weak start in a row. Luckily for him, the Angels offense bailed him out in the fifth, but here I get ahead of myself.

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Robert Kuwada at the Register notes that the Angels are the first team to 60 wins, and that over the last four years, the team first to 60 also made it to the World Series ("Boston in 2007, Detroit in 2006, the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and St. Louis in 2004"). Of course, the four years before that,...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) While this likely won't continue, the point is that it doesn't have to. If the Angels present Rodriguez with save chances in a perfectly normal 37.5% of their remaining games, and he converts 80% of them, he'll end up with 59 saves. Those are conservative assumptions: The Angels have a shabby...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Vlad and Torii homered in consecutive at-bats, Casey Kotchman was mega-clutch with a double down the first base line that recalled yesterday's heroic moment by the Admiral, and John Garland failed to suck against a team he could pretty much be expected to give up funk blast after funk bla...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Angels didn't do squat against Josh Beckett until the seventh — so what? The important thing was Vlad's first-pitch leadoff homer, the ensuing singles by Torii Hunter and Garrett Anderson, and Reggie Willits' perfectly executed 1-3 sac bunt. Beckett loaded the bags with an intentional...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Apparently unsatisfied with the five-run lead, the Angels got more in the sixth, with a Chone Figgins double and a one-out har-de-har-har "triple" from Maicer Izturis. Now, there's been some talk that Manny threw a pinch-hit at-bat in a July 6 game against the Yankees, failing to take the...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Offensively, the Angels are something of a Jekyll and Hyde act. In April the Angels were one of baseball’s more productive offensive teams. In May and June, however, they scored only 201 runs. That’s only six more than the Dodgers managed over the same period of time. Yes, the Angels played one...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) But it was Mike Scioscia's performance in the ninth that really won this game. With the Angels back 3-2 (thanks to a Jack Cust home run off Darren Oliver — does Scioscia ever pay attention to Oliver's weird reverse splits against lefties?), Torii Hunter led off with an infield single to a wob...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Unfortunately, Joe Saunders will miss tonight's game thanks to delays in his wife's giving birth, so the Angels will call up Dustin Moseley, ready or not. This one's likely to be a gimme for the A's, so enjoy your free win, Oakland. Even the Angels website preview features a story about Darre...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) What made so much of this even nuttier is that with all the hitting, it was a pinch-hitting Maicer Izturis who broke through in the top of the eleventh with a clutch single, while Ryan Budde made his first appearance of the year, and as far as I can tell, had no influence on its outcome other tha...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) But that Litsch was a relative unknown to the Angels at the time, and this time they were ready for him; it helped that his command wasn't quite where it needed to be, plunking Casey Kotchman in the first, and later walking Garret Anderson in the third; Kotchman went on to score on Anderson's...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) As for the offense, as expected it failed to show up against Roy Halliday, who brought his B+ game to the yard, allowing a couple runs on a Vlad Guerrero homer, but none else. Halliday only really got into two jams all night, men on second and third situations with one out in the third and with tw...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Angels have a culture that believes in winning over statistics, winning over awards, winning over everything. The Angels also have more home runs (71 as of this morning, vs 58) and a higher slugging average (.382 vs. .377). Some nights, many nights, the Dodgers are the worst possible embod...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Aybar later atoned for his screwup by ripping a homer in the seventh. Reggie Willits got a rare RBI in a sac fly in the eighth. And through Arredondo to Shields to Frankie (the latter earning his league-leading 34th save), the Angels never lost their lead or the game, and so did Hokie Joe end the...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) The Dodgers of the mid-1960s featured pitching, speed, defense and light hitting. The last quality was so notorious that teammate Don Drysdale, while briefly away from the team, was informed of a Koufax no-hitter and famously asked, "Who won?" — cribbed from B-Ref's Wiki, which is down r...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) It was a split-squad game, and while the Angels did play a number of probable starters, good and bad (Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Wally Joyner), the Mariners sent their bad starters (Al Martin, Bret Boone, David Bell) and John Olerud. New Angels backup catcher Jorge Faberg...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Win Number One For Lackey: Angels 3, Blue Jays 1 A win in Toronto? Believe it, brother; never mind that Vlad's only hit in the game was a lousy single, or that Garret Anderson didn't get credit for an RBI because he hit into a double play doing it. The man of the hour was John Lackey, getting into a...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) More evidence for Torre being outmanaged came in the seventh. Kuroda was clearly tiring: not only did he walk leadoff man Maicer Izturis, but he uncorked a pair of 50-foot wild pitches during Gary Matthews, Jr.'s at-bat that easily got Izturis to third. Matthews bounced out harmlessly to se...

By Rob Peter Gammons Shares Some Angels Love They're flourishing despite early-season adversity: The Angels have played a month without their two best starting pitchers, John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Their closer, Frankie Rodriguez, is just now rounding into form after dealing with two b...