Tag: Anaheim Angels

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MLB General

The Full Count: Brawlin’ in Arlington


1. A good ol’ fashioned basebrawl: The Texas Rangers and LA Angels actually played yesterday, but few will remember this game for Texas’ 9-3 victory or 8-run third inning. That’s because in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, Adam Kennedy was hit by a pitch and charged the mound, setting off a benches-clearing brawl. Two Rangers had been hit the inning before, leading to the ejection of Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Rangers manager Buck Showalter was tossed after the fight as well as Kennedy. This type of thing can only be explained by watching, so watch it here.

2. Closing in: Watch out, St. Louis. Your usual huge lead in the NL Central division has all but disappeared this season. Now, after a defeat to the Reds, Cincy is closing in on the defending division champs. Yesterday they mauled the Cardinals at the New Busch by hitting 5 homers in a 7-2 win. Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion hit two big flys in the first three innings to give the Reds a 4-0 lead. That was followed by Adam Dunn (36), Ken Griffey Jr. (24), and Rich Aurilla (17) homeruns. Bronson Arroyo, who had been winless since June, finally emerged victorious by holding St. Louis to 1 earned run. Now the Reds are just 1.5 games out in the division, and they could possibly lower that to a half-game by tomorrow.

3. Reaching 70: Only one team in the National League, the Mets, has reached 70 wins. The AL East and West combined feature one 70-win team as well, the Yankees. Amazingly, the AL Central has three teams that have reached that plateau after the Twins did it last night. Minnesota beat up on Cleveland 7-2 last night for the win. Joe Mauer had 2 RBIs, Jason Bartlett went 4-4, and Michael Cuddyer drove in three runs to lead the team. Carlos Sliva got the win and is 4-1 with a 4.73 ERA since the All Star break, good considering his horrendous first half. Now Minnesota is just 1 game away from the Wild Card leading White Sox, who lost again last night to the pitiful Royals. The teams will play in a weekend series that will give one of them bragging rights in this tight race.

4. Cabrera’s day: Though Miguel Cabrera doesn’t really get mentioned among some of he elite hitters in the game, his all-around play over his short career has been truly extraordinary. Yesterday he led the Marlins to a surprising 15-4 crushing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had won 17 of 18 coming into the game. Cabrera hit two homers, his 19th and 20th on the season, while compiling 5 RBIs, 3 hits, and 3 runs. His performance raised his average to an outstanding .337, which ranks second in the NL. He also ranks second in on-base percentage and sixth in OPS. He is having the best of his 3 standout seasons, with career highs in each of the above percentage categories. Cabrera is truly a young stud, and incredibly is only 23. He is the leader of a young, surprising Marlins team that is only 8 games below .500 despite a minute payroll.

5. We’ll play anyone but Oakland: The Seattle Mariners have just slightly struggled against the A’s on the year. Make that mightily struggled. The team lost their 15th consecutive game against Oakland last night as they fell 4-0. That means Seattle is 55-49 against every team but the A’s and 1-15 against them this year. This is the longest streak since 1974 by any team against a divisional opponent, Elias Sports says. Dan Haren won and struck out 8 while the bullpen held their ground. Now Oakland, after sweeping the Mariners, has won 6 games in a row and 10 of 11 overall. Their streak is similar to the Dodgers’ but has received much less acclaim.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Angels back on top

1. Back in Business: Despite being 11th in runs scored, OPS, and batting average in the AL, the LA Angels have managed to come back and tie for the AL West lead. The Angels, who in May were in last place, have used some excellent starting pitching to tie the A’s. Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar have all been impressive, but none more so than John Lackey. Lackey, who earned the victory last night over Tampa, is 9-6 with a 2.89 ERA that ranks third in the AL. Their entire staff’s ERA, now at 4.05, is second in the major leagues. While they it would be unlikely for them to repeat last year’s ALCS performance, this team should make the playoffs.

2. Follow the Leaders: The Boston Red Sox are leading plenty of things right now. Most importantly, they have a 2.5 game division lead and earned their 60th win last night, becoming the first team besides the Tigers to do that. They beat the Oakland A’s 7-3, with Josh Beckett earning the victory to become the major league wins leader. Beckett has 13 wins despite a 4.77 ERA, meaning both the AL and NL wins leaders have below average ERAs. Interesting…Meanwhile, David Ortiz extended his lead in homeruns with his 34th of the year. He also leads in RBIs with a commanding 95. Both him and Manny Ramirez homered, the 41st time in the last four years they have homered in the same game. That, not surprisingly, is first among all teammates since ’03. So it’s good times in Boston right now. But none of this will matter if the Red Sox can’t capture their second World Series title in three years.

3. About to get passed: The Chicago White Sox, once thought to be the invincible giants of the AL, have suddenly found themselves struggling to stay afloat in the Central. The Twins, who have gone 11-2 since the All Star break, defeated the ChiSox 7-4. Joe Mauer, who along with Justin Morneau has almost single-handedly supported the Twins’ offense, hit a three-run homer and sac fly in the victory. Brad Radke, who has won his last 5 decisions, earned the victory. Radke, well-known because he never issues a walk, has lowered his ERA almost 2 points during that stretch. These teams will meet twice more in this series, including an intriguing Santana-Contreras matchup tomorrow.

4. Race for the Card: Of all the races down the stretch this season, probably the most interesting will be the NL Wild Card race. Eleven teams are within ten games of the lead, including seven within five. The Reds are the current leaders, while the entire freaking NL West follows them. The Braves, who about a month ago at this time looked awful, have catapulted themselves back into the race with an 8-2 record in their last 10. They are 4.5 games back, while teams ahead of them such as Milwaukee and Colorado are faltering. San Francisco and Arizona are right on the heels of the leaders, but with their inconsistency who knows what will happen. And yes, this paragraph just set a new record for “most mediocre teams mentioned in the same few sentences.”

5. Improve your strengths and ignore your weaknesses: That must be the strategy the White Sox are following at the trading deadline. While there hasn’t even been a rumor about the team acquiring a starting pitcher to improve their sinking rotation, the team apparently might go after the best hitter on the market. Yes, Alfonso Soriano might be headed to Chicago. While the likeliness of that happening is iffy, the entire move itself is questionable. Why would a team look to upgrade a major league best lineup when they have far greater concerns? They have been losing recently because of pitching, not their hitting. Outfielders Jermaine Dye and Scott Podsednik have made All Star teams in the past, so it’s not like there is a weakness there. This move shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t make any sense if it did.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Chipper’s streak ended



Not that kind

1. Streak vs. Streak: 3 streaks were on the line when the Braves traveled to St. Louis yesterday. Each team had winning streaks to keep up, as both came into the game undefeated in July. But the most important streak on the line was Chipper Jones’ 14 straight games with an extra-base hit, tying a major-league record. Unfortunately, Chipper could not break the 80-year-old record, “only” managing 3 singles on the day. But that was the only bad news for the Braves, as they routed the Cardinals 15-3. This marked the fourth game in a row the Braves had scored in double digits; they have 51 runs in those games. Brian McCann homered for his third straight game (a grand slam), Wilson Betemit had 4 hits and drove in 5, and red-hot Adam LaRoache went 4-4 with a homer. The Braves piled up 20 hits in all, crushing Jeff Weaver in his first start as a Cardinal. Though Chipper may not have extended his streak, he’s now hitting .333, good for third in the NL. The Braves are now closing in fast on the Wild Card lead, and though 7 teams are ahead of them, none seem as dangerous as the perennial playoff contenders.

2. Different Directions: That’s where the Cleveland Indians and the LA/Anaheim Angels are headed. The Angels, despite starting the year in last place, have won 7 in a row and are only a half-game back of the division-leading A’s. Meanwhile, the Indians are further away from playoff contention than you are, having lost 8 of their last 10 games. Last night (as always in baseball) the hottest team prevailed, as the Angels doubled up on the Tribe 10-5. Jake Westbrook was shattered for seven runs in just 3.2 innings, as the Angels 3-4-5 hitters drove in 2 runs a piece. The Indians are now 21 games out of first place after narrowly missing the playoffs last year.

3. Stung by the D’Backs: In the NL West division this year, things can change very quickly. That has been showcased by the remarkable emergence of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who started the month in last place but are now in second. Last night they beat up on divisional foe Los Angeles 8-3, with rookie Enrique Gonzalez winning his third major-league start. Eric Byrnes homered with 3 RBIs for Arizona as they cruised to another victory. So now, despite being 46-46 and outscored on the season, the Diamondbacks find themselves 3 games back of the Padres for the division lead. The bottom half of the West–the Giants, Dodgers, and Rockies–are all on significant losing streaks.

4. E for Everybody: Monday’s slate of games featured many more errors than usual. The Yankees committed 4–including 3 by A-Rod–and still beat the Mariners (3 errors). Texas had 3 missteps themselves, and it showed as they were pummeled by Toronto 10-1. But it doesn’t end there. The Royals, Giants, Nationals, and Phillies committed 2 errors each–and all of them lost. So on the day 12 of 24 teams had at least one error, and those teams went 4-8. It just shows how important defense is in baseball and how sloppy teams usually don’t win.

5. Superstar available–for a price: It is by now common knowledge that Philadelphia outfielder Bobby Abreu is on the trading block. But teams will have to have deep pockets in order to acquire him. Abreu’s current contract includes a full no-trade clause, and for him to waive it he’s going to need something in return. That will either be an extension on his current 5 year, $64 million contract or an agreement to pick up his $16 million option for 2008. That means only large-market or playoff-contention teams should be in the running for Abreu. As usual, the Yankees and Red Sox will be potential suitors, in addition to the Mets and Tigers. Wherever he lands, he isn’t the best player available. That title goes to Alfonso Soriano, though he will likely be equally expensive.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Sweeps season

1. Bring out the Brooms: Sunday’s games featured 5 teams that completed a sweep. Two of them are the aforementioned Yankees and Braves, while the others are the LA Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. The Angels crushed the D-Rays by a combined 20-7 in the series, including a 7-5 win yesterday. Howie Kendrick, their highly touted prospect, went 3-4 with two RBIs. The team is now above .500 for the first time in months and appears to have finally recovered from their awful start to the season. Meanwhile, the Reds completed a Rockies sweep with a 6-4 win. All four of this series’ games were decided by two runs or less, meaning this is one of the closest sweeps you’ll ever see. Adam Dunn hit his 30th homer of the year, becoming the third-fastest Red ever to reach that mark in a single season. For the Rockies Jose Mesa blew his 6th save of the year. The final sweep was in St. Louis, as the Cards used a 4-5, 3-RBI performance by Albert Pujols to finish off the Dodgers. Brad Penny, in his first start since the All Star game, allowed 6 runs and 10 hits in five innings. The combined score of that series was 21-6.

2. Another Braves Streak: The Braves’ 14-year division title streak arguably isn’t the most important 14-game streak for the team right now. Chipper Jones, the former All-Star and NL MVP, notched an extra-base hit for the 14th consecutive game last night. He did so by nailing a homerun and going 3-3 in the Braves’ 10-5 win over the Padres. The win gave the Braves a much-needed road sweep of San Diego, with a total of 36 runs in the series. Chipper’s extra base hit streak has tied an 80-year-old major league record, first set in 1927 by Paul Waner. Jones is now hitting .564 with a remarkable 1.836 OPS in July. He has raised those stats from .291/.839 going into the month to .329/.976 now, both good for fifth in the NL. Jones has also hit 6 of his 15 homeruns and 18 of his 57 RBIs this month and is a sure-fire lock for NL Player of the Month. Atlanta is still a dozen games behind the Mets, though they are just 5.5 back in a loaded NL Wild Card race.

3. The worst beats the best: Kansas City, who owns the worst record in the AL, had yet to beat the division-leading Tigers on the season going into Sunday’s game. Well that finally changed, as the Royals edged Detroit 9-6. Before the loss the Tigers were 11-0 against the Royals on the season with 3 series sweeps. They narrowly missed out on their fourth as they were up 3-0 in the series until yesterday’s loss. Leading the Royals was Joey Gathright, a Devil Rays outcast, who hit 4 RBIs and a triple. Underrated David DeJesus, likely the Royals’ best hitter, went 4-6 on the day to improve his average to a team-best .309. The loss ruined a great day by the Tigers’ Marcus Thames, a breakout player this year who homered twice and drove in 5 runs. It’s not that this game truly matters–the Tigers still own a 29.5 game lead over incompetent Kansas City.

4. Ready for battle: Many thought the Red Sox owned the AL East going into the All Star break. The Yankees changed that kind of thinking when they completed a sweep of the defending champion White Sox on Sunday. That moved New York to a mere half-game back of the stumbling Red Sox, who went 1-3 against the A’s over the weekend. The Yanks defeated the White Sox 6-5, 14-3, and then 6-4 yesterday to capture the sweep. The big news from Sunday’s game was Mariano Rivera, who worked two innings to complete his 400th career save. He is one of only four players–including Padres All-Star Trevor Hoffman–to reach that mark. 21 of Rivera’s saves have come this season and he has a 2.02 ERA. His career ERA is just 2.31 with a 1.04 WHIP. While many closers–including the all-time saves leader, Lee Smith–have struggled getting into the Hall of Fame, Rivera is one who will be first-ballot.

5. O Brother, Where art thou?: While rookie Jered Weaver is tearing it up for the Angels with a 1.12 ERA and 6-0 record, his brother Jeff is just trying to start over. Big Weaver was recently traded to the Cardinals for a minor-leaguer, and he will have to prove that he is even worth that. He went 3-10 with a 6.29 earlier this year for the Angels, and he will make his first start for his new team tonight against the red-hot Braves. Weaver is one of the most overpriced players in the majors this year, with the above performance for an 8 million dollar price tag. The Cardinals need him to perform, as Mark Mulder is on the DL and much of their staff has struggled.

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MLB General

Full Count for Wed May 24 2006: Marathon

1. Time for extras: It was the longest game of the season when the Mets and the Phillies faced off at Shea Stadium. The game went to extras and then just kept going as it lasted 5:22. While the contest had been high-scoring in regulation as it was tied 8-8, no one could score in extras until the 16th inning. That was when Carlos Beltran hit a solo homer to finally win this game for the Mets. David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Cliff Floyd went yard earlier in the game for New York, who improved to 27-17 on the season. The Phillies, in a hugely disappointing loss, fell to four games back of the Mets. This was the longest major league game since the Houston-Atlanta 18 inning showdown in last year’s playoffs.

2. The Empire Strikes Back: Coming into Tuesday’s game at Fenway, the Yankees had lost four of five to the Red Sox on the season. But they weren’t going to let the Red Sox take a 4 game lead in the division, so the Yankees defeated their hated rival 7-5. New York won off of homers from Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez, as well as five scoreless innings from Jaret Wright. Though the Yanks were up 7-1 in after 7, Manny Ramirez did all he could to bring the Red Sox back, driving in four runs over a two-inning span. But it wasn’t enough, as Mariano Rivera decided not to pitch as terribly as he has been lately. The victory puts New York within two of the Sox as they look to win the division yet another time.

3. Everyone else is doing it: Apparently the homerun leaders in both leagues decided to distance themselves from the rest of the pack on Tuesday night. Almost every significant player homered, including league-leader Albert Pujols. Pujols hit his 23rd big fly of the season and continues to keep a record pace. In the AL, leader Jim Thome of the White Sox went yard for the 18th time this season. The hitting rubbed off on his teammates too, as Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye each hit their 12th homer. In the Nats victory over the Astros, both Alfonso Soriano (16) and Morgan Ensberg (15) hit shots. And Vladimir Guerrero rounded the bases, giving him 12 blasts of his own on the year. The homerun race in both leagues this season will definitely be a fun one.

4. Calling all Angels: Where have the LA Angels been so far this season? If you said last place in the MLB’s weakest division, then you’d be correct! For some unknown reason, the Angels have not been able to duplicate their success from the past few years despite no significant personnel changes. However, last night brought only good news to the Angels, as they defeated division leader Texas while Seattle and Oakland both lost. John Lackey pitched well to lower his ERA to a respectable 3.50, and struggling Felix Rodriguez picked up his 11th save of the season. The Angels are still five back of the Rangers in the West.

5. At least he didn’t get hurt: Kerry Wood has frustrated just about every baseball fan with his incredible talent marred by nearly constant injury problems. Last night, in his second start of the year, he was unable to defeat the pitiful Marlins. Wood allowed 3 runs in only 5 innings pitched, though he left the game with a 4-3 lead. It was Ryan Dempster who denied Wood’s quest for his first win in 10 months, as he blew a save chance in the 9th inning. The Cubs’ record against the Marlins has fallen to 2-3 on the season, which is rather pitiful considering the Fish are 13-31.

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Anaheim Angels

Man sues over Mother’s Day tote bag



The $4,000 tote bag

There should be a law that if someone brings about a lawsuit that is deemed ridiculous by 99% of the country, he/she should be forced to watch Cool as Ice nonstop for the next year. Either that or have to bathe Rosie O’Donnell. And that law should be passed in time for Michael Cohn, a fan that is suing the Angels because he did not receive a Mother’s Day nylon tote bag.

Cohn is bringing a class action lawsuit that alleges that any male or fan under the age of 18 that didn’t receive a tote bag last May is entitled to $4,000 each in damages because they were treated unfairly. Cohn wrote a letter to the team last June and they sent him four tote bags but that wasn’t enough for him. We’re not even going to speculate why he needs a womens tote bag. Perhaps he’ll sue over Angels eyeliner day too.

The team even modified the promotion this year and will give the bags to the first 25,000 fans over the age of 18 but his parasite lawyer says that violates the civil rights of those under 18.

You know what? Watching Cool as Ice or bathing Rosie isn’t enough. These people just need to be shot.

Links:
[AP]: Man denied bag says Angels discriminated