Friday, August 31, 2007

Ex-Angels Report 8/31/07

Notes & Stats from former Angels
  • Ramon Ortiz had allowed only one run in his first 5 relief appearances with the Rockies until last week when he gave up 3 er in 3 ip to the Pirates and 4 er in 1.2 ip to the Nationals.
  • Paul Byrd has won three straight starts for the Indians and is 13-5 on the year with a 4.43 era.
  • Troy Percival has an era of 1.54 in 12 August appearances to go along with a whip of 0.77 and baa of .167.
  • Relief pitcher Russ Springer has a career high of 7 wins this year with the Cardinals. The 15-year veteran who pitched for the Halos from 1993-95 is 7-1 with a 2.58 era.

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  AB   R HR RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OPS
Damion Easley     NYM 193  24 10  26  19  35  .280  .824
Jose Guillen      SEA 479  73 19  84  37  95  .290  .818
Troy Glaus        TOR 359  54 17  55  52  96  .251  .798
Jamie Burke       SEA  88  15  0   7   5  12  .307  .758
Scott Spiezio     STL 184  26  3  27  22  35  .272  .757
Bengie Molina     SF  420  31 14  74  12  45  .281  .727
Jim Edmonds       STL 303  31  9  37  32  59  .251  .711
Jose Molina       NYY  35   4  0   2   2   3  .286  .687
Alfredo Amezaga   FLA 367  42  2  27  30  44  .262  .680
David Eckstein    STL 345  42  2  25  19  20  .290  .679
Darin Erstad      CWS 255  25  2  27  22  36  .263  .661
Shea Hillenbrand  LAD  55   5  1   9   2   5  .255  .653
Jeff DaVanon      OAK  43   7  0   3   5  11  .233  .608
Orlando Palmeiro  HOU  93  12  0   6  13   7  .237  .605
Adam Kennedy      STL 279  27  3  18  22  33  .219  .572
Sal Fasano        TOR  45   5  1   4   2  19  .178  .540
Alberto Callaspo  ARI 126   9  0   5   8  11  .206  .511
Steve Finley      COL  94   9  1   2   8   4  .181  .490
Josh Paul         TB   96   8  1   9   5  26  .198  .488

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  G  W-L  SV   IP   BB   K   ERA   BAA
J.C. Romero       PHI 31  0-2   0  20.2  18  20  2.18  .167
Troy Percival     STL 23  3-0   0  26.1   6  27  2.39  .191
Russ Springer     STL 63  7-1   0  52.1  17  55  2.58  .192
Bobby Jenks       CWS 57  3-4  36  55.1  12  49  2.77  .190
Kevin Gregg       FLA 62  0-4  26  71.0  34  73  3.04  .201
Brendan Donnelly  BOS 27  2-1   0  20.2   5  15  3.05  .235
Matt Wise         MIL 50  3-1   1  49.1  15  37  3.65  .267
Joel Peralta      KC  51  1-3   1  76.2  16  65  3.87  .273
Derrick Turnbow   MIL 64  3-4   1  58.1  35  76  4.01  .179
Jarrod Washburn   SEA 26  9-11  0 161.1  50  93  4.13  .272
Paul Byrd         CLE 25 13-5   0 154.1  21  74  4.43  .299
Aaron Sele        NYM 29  3-1   0  47.2  20  27  5.10  .347
Scott Schoeneweis NYM 57  0-2   0  48.1  25  31  5.21  .284
Gary Glover       TB  55  5-4   2  65.0  23  41  5.54  .307
Jeff Weaver       SEA 21  6-10  0 117.0  27  66  5.62  .309
Jake Woods        SEA  4  0-0   0  10.2   7   4  5.91  .220
Ramon Ortiz       COL  5  0-0   0   8.0   4   4  7.88  .344
Bret Prinz        CWS  4  0-0   0   3.1   2   1  8.10  .286

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Down On The Farm 8/30/07 The 40-Man Roster

Major League Baseball rosters expand to 40 players every year on September 1st. This year that happens Saturday and the Angels are expected to call up a few players. Most, if not all, of the players called up have been with the Angels at one point this season. Here's a list of the Angels minor league players on the 40-man roster.


Pitchers                           W-L ERA
Jose Arredondo rhp 23 6'0" 175 A   2-4 4.80 
Marc Gwyn      rhp 29 6'3" 215 AAA 2-1 3.29
Greg Jones     rhp 30 6'2" 205 AAA 4-2 4.96
Chris Resop    rhp 24 6'3" 215 AAA 1-3 4.57
Steven Shell   rhp 24 6'5" 210 AAA 7-3 4.95

Catchers                        AB HR  AVG  OPS
Bobby Wilson   24 6'0" 220 AAA 121  3 .314 .861

Infielders                      AB HR  AVG  OPS
Matt Brown     25 6'0" 200 AAA 375 19 .277 .871
Brandon Wood   22 6'3" 185 AAA 419 22 .270 .828

Outfielders                     AB HR  AVG  OPS
Terry Evans    25 6'3" 205 AAA 455 15 .312 .861
Nick Gorneault 28 6'3" 220 AAA 454 17 .256 .765
Tommy Murphy   28 6'0" 190 AAA 288  3 .264 .711
Juan Rivera    29 6'2" 225 AAA  47  0 .255 .656



Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Santana's ERA last night - 135.00

Ervin Santana made it through 1/3 of an inning and gave up 5 runs. So his ERA for the game would be 135.00. Yup One hundred and thirty five runs. Take that Texas.

Santana's outing was tied for the shortest of his career. Last Aug. 10 at Cleveland, he recorded an out before the second batter lined a hit off his left knee and forced him from the game.

He has allowed at least five earned runs nine times in 22 starts. Before this meltdown, he had allowed just two earned run in 14 innings while going 2-0 against Seattle.

Fortunately, Jeff Weaver pitched like he did for us, Weaver allowed eight hits and the five runs in 4 1/3 innings. The Angels have scored 11 runs and have four home runs in 8 1/3 innings in Weaver's last two starts against them. He is 0-2 with an 11.12 ERA in three starts against his former team this season.

Santana spotted the Mariners a five-run advantage, but the Angels came storming back for a 10-6 triumph, extending their American League West lead to four games over Seattle.

The comeback climaxed in the eighth when Gary Matthews walked, stole second and scored on Kendry Morales' drive to left. Reggie Willits later walked with two outs, and Orlando Cabrera singled. The Mariners brought Rick White in to face Vladimir Guerrero, and Guerrero slammed his two-run single to left.

Guerrero is batting .509 this season against the Mariners and has 62 RBIs in 67 games against them in his career.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Jordan and John Lackey

Back in the Nineties when Michael Jordan was dominating the NBA, it seemed almost once a year he would come out and tell the media that he had the flu or some other ailment that would prevent him from performing up to the Jordanesque level that he normally did. But it seemed every time that happened, he would drop an insane number. He averaged thirty points and something like ten rebounds, but on those nights he was always throwing in close to fifty or more.

Well lets fast forward in time and change sports. John Lackey was just sick last night. A complete game seven hit shutout, with no walks and five strikeouts. The only problem with that totally sick performance was that Lackey was actually sick.

What was not widely known was that he almost did not pitch. The Angels were ready to replace him if he could not go. An alternate game plan was in place in case our big Texan lost it, but like Jordan, when John felt down he raised up his game. I remember watching the game last night thinking that Lackey looked a little pale. It also seemed like the team was treating him like he was pitching a No-no. But I found out later he was battling a case of Strep throat. I just hope next time he pitches he feels better?

Maybe it was his exhausted body, his total concentration on just pitching and finishing the game, but he did something he had not done for a while. He pitched great. He did get a few timely double plays and important outs, but he pitched like I have not seen from him in a while. You could tell he was on. He did not seem to get upset at plays like hits or hits that could, or should, have been outs. He usually shakes his head, mouths some expletive or throws his fists and body around in disgust or triumph. But last night we saw little of that. He just pitched and pitched well.

Lackey has not allowed a run in 24 innings against Seattle and amazingly all the hits against big John have been singles, 18 in all, moving to (3-0) against the Mariners this season.

GA did give us what I asked for yesterday, RBI’s not ten of them, but three. I asked for ten over a few days, so he still has two more games to get another seven.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Seattle. Angels. AL West.

O.K. we salvaged a split with Toronto. We can all breathe. Tonight we will be starting a three game series with Seattle. So far the series standings for the year are at 8-4, pretty good considering that the Mariners are just two games back.

Is this next series the most important one of the year? No not yet. If we sweep the Mariners maybe it is the most important series, if they sweep us, possibly it is even more important. But with six weeks left there is still a lot of baseball left.

Right now we should all be hoping the Yankees continue to cool off and head back towards the team that started the year, not the team that was dominating everyone just over a week ago. The Halos are two up on Seattle and Seattle is two up on New York. I have to mention Detroit in the Wild Card race because they are still in it at four games behind Seattle. Even a small winning streak from the TiGGer’s can bring them back into the front of the picture fast.

Tonight Lackey will be going again for the Angels and after his last two starts lets hope he returns to form. The key to this game is going to be offense. Kendry Morales needs to hit like he has been hitting in Salt Lake this last month and Garret Anderson needs to show some consistency. I will take ten RBI’s again lets just spread them over a few games.

Remember to wear your red and watch out for more evidence of the arm switching conspiracy. I’ve been hearing rumors of some alarming but good news when Seattle visited Texas.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Angels vs Mariners - Batter vs Pitcher breakdowns

The Angels head up to Seattle to face the Mariners.

I thought it might be nice to see some "Batters vs Pitchers stats for the upcoming series...

Monday 7:05 John Lackey vs Miguel Batista

MARINERS vs John Lackey (8-8 4.27 era career vs Mariners, 6-5 3.12era career at Safeco)

           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Ichiro     21/67  1  .313  .731
Vidro       4/10  0  .400  .800
Guillen     1/6   0  .167  .452
Ibanez     14/41  0  .341  .803
Beltre      7/36  1  .194  .542
Sexson      9/28  2  .321  .994
Johjima     7/20  1  .350  .900
Lopez       8/25  0  .320  .720
Betancourt  5/21  1  .238  .810

ANGELS vs Miguel Batista (4-3 5.62 career vs Angels)
           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Anderson    3/12  0  .250  .641
Cabrera     6/28  1  .321  .867
Figgins     2/10  0  .200  .773
Guerrero   12/23  1  .522 1.324
Izturis     1/11  0  .091  .348
Kendrick    0/3   0  .000  .000
Kotchman    3/9   0  .333  .844
Mathis      1/2   0  .500 1.000
Matthews    3/18  0  .167  .528
Morales     2/3   1  .667 2.333
Willits     4/5   0  .800 2.000


Tuesday 7:05 Ervin Santana vs Jeff Weaver

MARINERS vs Ervin Santana (3-2 4.58era career vs Mariners, 1-1 6.75 career at Safeco)

           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Ichiro      4/17  0  .235  .585
Vidro       3/6   0  .500 1.000
Guillen     2/9   0  .222  .444
Ibanez      6/13  1  .462 1.588
Beltre      3/18  1  .167  .544
Sexson      3/13  3  .231 1.335
Johjima     0/6   0  .000  .000
Lopez       2/15  0  .133  .388
Betancourt  4/15  0  .267  .533

ANGELS vs Jeff Weaver (5-7 3.54 career vs Angels)
           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Anderson    7/34  1  .206  .576
Cabrera     1/10  0  .100  .282
Figgins     2/9   0  .222  .522
Guerrero    3/14  1  .214  .643
Izturis     1/4   1  .250 1.250
Kendrick    0/0
Kotchman    2/3   0  .667 2.083
Mathis      1/2   0  .500 1.500
Matthews    5/8   1  .625 2.125
Morales     0/0
Willits     1/1   0 1.000 2.000


Wednesday 1:35 Jered Weaver vs Felix Hernandez

MARINERS vs Jered Weaver (2-1 5.22era career totals vs Mariners, 1-1 6.11era at Safeco)

           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Ichiro      6/13  1  .462  .571
Vidro       2/7   0  .86   .571
Guillen     3/7   0  .429  .857
Ibanez      7/13  1  .538 1.523
Beltre      4/14  0  .286  .762
Sexson      0/9   0  .000  .000
Johjima     4/14  0  .286  .690
Lopez       2/13  0  .154  .308
Betancourt  2/11  0  .182  .630

ANGELS vs Felix Hernandez (2-3 4.28era career vs Angels)
           H/AB HR   AVG   OPS
Anderson    3/14  1  .214  .629
Cabrera    13/23  0  .565 1.217
Figgins     3/20  0  .150  .390
Guerrero    9/20  1  .450 1.100
Izturis     3/15  0  .200  .467
Kendrick    0/9   0  .000  .000
Kotchman    3/8   1  .375 1.125
Mathis      0/3   0  .000  .000
Matthews   11/27  2  .407 1.167
Morales     2/6   1  .333 1.167
Willits     0/10  0  .000  .167

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Rivera gets winning rbi after lousy game

Juan Rivera doubled home two Bees with two outs in the top of the 9th to give Salt Lake a 9-8 victory. With first base open, the Colorado Springs pitcher intentionally walked Kendry Morales (31-for-69, .449 avg in August) to get to Rivera.

Rivera had a rough day until the 9th inning. He grounded out to shortstop leading off the 2nd and 4th innings. In the 6th inning, he flew out to center field.

In the 7th inning the Bees had scored 4 runs to cut the deficit to one before Rivera came to bat. With runners on first and third, Rivera grounded into an inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

In six games with Salt Lake, Rivera has 6 hits in 23 at-bats (.263). Two of the six hits have been doubles with the other four being singles. He also has two walks and four rbis.

- Third Baseman Matt Brown had 3 hits for the Bees.
- 23-year old relief pitcher Rich Thompson got the win in relief. He pitched two innings allowing two hits and striking out five. He is now 3-0 with a 2.01 era.

The Arm Switching Conspiracy Continues - Is Balco Involved?

More evidence is coming in everyday that there truly was a switch in pitching arms between Darren Oliver and Scot Shields.

Jose Canseco has come out and said he has seen this practice for years and that he believes fifty percent of MLB has had the surgery done.

Mark Prior fell asleep, one day and next thing you know he looks more and more like a college pitcher than let’s say a pitcher whom was drafted a couple years ago by the Red Socks and now is their top closer.

I am not saying anything but one top Balco chemist has come out and said that the practice used to go on all the time. He said the president of Balco had to talk Bonds out of a pitching arm when he (Bonds) decided he also wanted to pitch as well as break the all time home run mark.

Jim Abbott recently came out against this practive calling it a stain on all of baseball worse than steroids ever were. Stay tuned for more on this developing story.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

G.A. a Heck of a day. Figgins?

Ok, Ok, Garret Anderson had one of the best nights of his career statistically, and the bad part for the Yankees is it could of been a bit better. He was only 4 for 6. He left two runners stranded on base and looking at him with total disbelief. How could he do that!

That was only one of many not so kind thoughts that went through their minds as they had to make the long trek back to the dugout after Anderson’s horrible attempt at a single ended up in the shortstop's glove.

I heard from a reliable source that the a hit man was called after that incident. Not really - I had to have some fun. I just finished reading from five different publications on the same things. Little did they say that while Anderson was hitting the heck out of the ball last night it was not until the sixth inning when Anderson hit the Grand slam that the fans started to breath easier.

Going into the top of the third inning we were all thinking that we had this game in the bag. Escobar was pitching and we had a six run lead. But after Kelvim walked the first two batters (something he has not done in a very long time) Jeter singled and Abreu doubled to deep center. Molina and Cabrera scored and we all were thinking oh shit. Not this, could we lose after ripping Mussina for all those runs? After two more Yankee runs scored, we were now only up by two! Scared.

Then, after we had batted around and scored five more runs in the second, we did it again in the third. Sure it was against pitchers who should not even be in the majors except that the Yankees were unable to get quality relief help this year with trades. A Little breathing room was granted until GA finally put the game in the fridge.

Anderson's power surge was not the biggest news for the night, it was the substitution that occurred in the fourth inning when Robb Quinlan came out to play third base in place of Chone Figgins. Figgins will have his wrist (which is listed as a sprain) evaluated today and is said to be day to day. Angels pitcher Marc Gwyn who got the three inning save last night was optioned back to AAA Salt Lake and Brandon Wood was called up to help out in the absence of Figgins.

Anderson Knocks In 10

Garret Anderson set an Angels team record by hitting in 10 runs in tonight's 18-9 victory over the Yankees.

Anderson doubled in two in the first inning, doubled in one in the second, hit a 3-run home run in the third and topped it off with a grand slam in the sixth. G.A. came up with two on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but grounded out to shortstop.

The ten runs batted in was one short of the American League record held by Tony Lazzeri who had 11 for the Yankees in 1936. The previous Angels record was 9 by Vladimir Guerrero on June 2, 2004 against the Boston Red Sox.

There have only been 12 players in major league history to have 10 or more rbi in a single game. The last time it happened was also during a Yankees vs Angels game. Alex Rodriguez had 10 rbi on April 26, 2005 at Yankee Stadium.

Top RBI games of All-Time
12 - Mark Whiten, St. Louis, Sept. 7, 1993
12 - Jim Bottomley, St. Louis, Sept. 16, 1924
11 - Phil Weintraub, New York, April 30, 1944
11 - Tony Lazzeri, New York, May 24, 1936
10 - Garret Anderson, Angels, Aug. 21, 2007
10 - Alex Rodriguez, New York, April 26, 2005
10 - Nomar Garciaparra, Boston, May 10, 1999
10 - Fred Lynn, Boston, June 18, 1975
10 - Reggie Jackson, Oakland, July 14, 1969
10 - Norm Zauchin, Boston, May 27, 1955
10 - Walker Cooper, Cincinnati, July 6, 1949
10 - Rudy York, Boston, July 27, 1946

Top RBI Games in Angels Team History
10 - Garret Anderson, Aug. 21, 2007 vs New York (AL)
9 - Vladimir Guerrero, June 2, 2004 vs Boston
8 - Adam Kennedy, April 18, 2000 at Toronto
8 - Don Baylor, Aug. 25, 1979 at Toronto
8 - Leon Wagner, Sept. 28, 1961 vs Washington
8 - Lee Thomas, Sept. 5, 1961 at Kansas City

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Secret Surgery For Shields and Oliver ?

There is a rumor circulating in the Angels' clubhouse that relievers Scot Shields and Darren Oliver both had a secret surgery during the All-Star Break.

According to the rumor, Shields and Oliver drove to Beverly Hills to visit Dr. 90210 to have their arms exchanged. Arm-replacement surgery isn't Dr. 90210's specialty, he jumped at the chance to help professional baseball players.

It's hard to believe that during the 3-day All-Star break, the players could have the surgery and recover enough so that the Angels' management wouldn't notice.

In fact, nobody noticed until some investigative reporters looked at the pitchers' statistics. Before the All-Star break, Shields had a 1.70 era. After the break it is 8.56. Oliver's era was 5.79 before the break and 1.04 after the break.

I realize, that this seems highly unlikely, but it really is the only logical way to explain the drastic changes in both players performances.

If you look closely in this picture, you might see where Oliver's pitching arm looks like it might have previously belonged to Shields.

Monday, August 20, 2007

NEW YORK CITY! Get a Rope.

I opened up the local paper today, and read the first section to see whom in the world we have pissed off. Then, I head over to the C section of the paper and see a nice story on Kevin Durant and his chances to make the USA team in basketball, but then a huge picture of the Yankees in the middle of the page overpowers me and I have to look.

The article is all about how the Yankees are the shit and bla bla bla. Never mind you the two first place teams in the country just finished a four game series that ended in a 2-2 split.

Now shocking as it may be, I do not live in Orange County any more, not even Los Angeles or Riverside. My days of working down the street from Anaheim Stadium for the mouse are far behind me, but I do live in a great town (Las Vegas) where everywhere you go you always seem to see Angels gear.

Now as I read the Yankees article, I flip to the next page of the article and it briefly mentions that the next series that the Yankees face is against the first place Angels. Wow a mention. But I still sit in my chair and think, “Do I live near New York?” Nope they are a couple thousand miles from here or a very long and boring Southwest flight away. Where as the Angels are just a reasonable drive away.

I could go to the series tonight and say to those Yankee fans that always show up, “Here’s a quarter call someone who cares.” The sad thing is what I learned that from a Yankee fan back when I was in Jr. High - the Yankee fans out number the Angel fans every time they come to town. But it is our town now, as it never has been, in all the years since the Halos left Chavez Ravine.

All the papers that are on this side of the Mississippi should know that you don’t print a thousand word article about the Yankees. They should do articles on the Diamondbacks, Angels or Padres, the teams that are winning. Even the Mariners who are playing great should be getting more ink than the Bronx Roiders. But I am just venting. Have a good day, go support our Angels and wear your red.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Ex-Angels Report 8/19/07

Notes & Stats from former Angels...
  • Bobby Jenks has tied a major league record by retiring 41 consecutive batters.  That's 13.2 innings of no base runners.  He hasn't pitched in a week, since he only pitches in "save situations" and the White Sox have lost seven straight.
  • Ramon Ortiz was traded to Colorado and made his Rockies debut against the Dodgers allowing 2 hits and 0 earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched.
  • Shea Hillenbrand went 4-for-6 in last night's 7-4 Dodgers loss.  He has hit safely in 4 of his 6 games with the Dodgers.
  • Jeff DaVanon, who was released last month by the Diamondbacks, is now with the A's.  After hitting .321 (9-for-28) at AAA Sacramento, the A's called him up where he has gone 2-for-5 in two games.
  • Damion Easley is on the 15-day DL. He injured his ankle yesterday advancing to second on a wild pitch.
  • Adam Kennedy is out for at least six weeks after arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
  • David Eckstein had 5 consecutive multi-hit games from August 10-16.  He was 11-for-23 during that stretch.
  • Derrick Turnbow had not allowed a hit all month (6 ip) until Thursday against St. Louis.  He gave up 4 earned runs on 3 walks and one hit in 1/3 inning.
  • Jose Molina had his first career 4-hit game against Cleveland on August 11th.
  • Jarrod Washburn has lost his last three starts and hasn't won a game since July 4th.
  • Jeff Weaver has won 3 starts in a row including a 5-hit shutout last Sunday at Chicago.
  • Jose Guillen had 5 rbi in today's 11-5 win over the White Sox.
  • In 7.1 innings this month, Troy Percival has allowed only one run on two hits and one walk while striking out eight.
  • Troy Glaus has gone 21 games without a home run.

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  AB   R HR RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OPS
Jeff DaVanon      OAK   5   2  0   1   0   1  .400 1.200
Damion Easley     NYM 193  24 10  26  19  35  .280  .824
Jose Guillen      SEA 429  65 16  72  35  86  .287  .805
Troy Glaus        TOR 323  48 15  49  46  83  .254  .798
Shea Hillenbrand  LAD  21   2  0   3   1   2  .333  .792
Jamie Burke       SEA  82  13  0   7   5  12  .317  .787
Scott Spiezio     STL 184  26  3  27  22  35  .272  .757
Bengie Molina     SF  390  27 13  68  12  42  .272  .714
Jim Edmonds       STL 274  27  8  33  29  54  .248  .710
David Eckstein    STL 310  40  2  24  17  17  .297  .699
Alfredo Amezaga   FLA 355  40  2  27  29  43  .265  .687
Darin Erstad      CWS 227  24  2  26  19  33  .269  .672
Jose Molina       NYY  29   2  0   2   0   3  .276  .646
Orlando Palmeiro  HOU  88  11  0   6  11   7  .227  .581
Adam Kennedy      STL 279  27  3  18  22  33  .219  .572
Sal Fasano        TOR  45   5  1   4   2  19  .178  .540
Alberto Callaspo  ARI 126   9  0   5   8  11  .206  .511
Steve Finley      COL  94   9  1   2   8   4  .181  .490
Josh Paul         TB   81   7  1   6   4  19  .185  .458

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  G  W-L  SV   IP   BB   K   ERA   BAA
Ramon Ortiz       COL  1  0-0   0   1.1   0   0  0.00  .400
J.C. Romero       PHI 23  0-0   0  16.0  14  16  1.13  .137
Russ Springer     STL 57  5-1   0  46.1  15  50  2.91  .199
Bobby Jenks       CWS 54  3-4  33  52.1  12  47  2.92  .194
Kevin Gregg       FLA 58  0-4  26  66.0  31  63  3.00  .200
Brendan Donnelly  BOS 27  2-1   0  20.2   5  15  3.05  .235
Matt Wise         MIL 49  3-1   1  49.0  15  36  3.67  .265
Joel Peralta      KC  47  1-2   1  72.2  15  61  3.96  .270
Jarrod Washburn   SEA 24  8-10  0 149.1  48  84  4.16  .273
Derrick Turnbow   MIL 60  3-4   1  54.1  31  72  4.31  .185
Paul Byrd         CLE 23 11-5   0 143.0  18  70  4.41  .302
Aaron Sele        NYM 26  3-1   0  44.0  18  26  4.91  .337
Scott Schoeneweis NYM 51  0-2   0  42.2  24  28  5.06  .267
Gary Glover       TB  50  5-4   2  61.0  21  38  5.31  .301
Jeff Weaver       SEA 19  5-10  0 106.2  25  59  5.57  .305
Jake Woods        SEA  4  0-0   0  10.2   7   4  5.91  .220
Bret Prinz        CWS  4  0-0   0   3.1   2   1  8.10  .286

Friday, August 17, 2007

Santana, Rivera & Kendrick

Updates on minor leaguers Ervin Santana, Juan Rivera and Howie Kendrick.

Ervin Santana

Who? Santana. What? Santana. Really? Santana. I'm in denial.

Prior to tonight, Ervin Santana had two starts in Boston and never got to the 5th inning. He had started two games, lasted 8.0 innings and had an era of 12.38.

Without completely acknowledging what happened tonight in Boston, I'll just say that the last time Santana allowed only one run on the road was last season. September 24th at Oakland. The last time he allowed one run or less outside of California was June 6, 2006 at Tampa Bay.

Juan Rivera

After going 4-for-10 in 3 games at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, outfielder Juan Rivera is continuing his rehab assignment at Triple-A Salt Lake.

In his first game yesterday he started in right field and was 0-for-2 with a walk. Tonight he went 1-for-4 with a walk as the clean up hitter. He singled home Nick Gorneault in the 8th inning for his lone rbi.

The Angels plan for Rivera to use Salt Lake as a spring training period for him and don't expect to call him up for another 10-14 days.

Howie Kendrick

Howie is also doing a rehab assignment at Salt Lake although, unlike Rivera, he should be back up any day now. Tonight was his 5th game with Salt Lake and he went 1-for-6. Including tonight, he is 6-for-21 (.286).

Although, he is probably ready to be called up, I would like to see him get a few more games under his belt at Salt Lake. Two reasons. First, Maicer Izturis has been playing well in Howie's place. Secondly, when Howie returned in May from a broken finger, he returned too soon. He hit 5-for-40 in his first 12 games back.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Matt Harvey Going Going Gone.

The deadline to sign 2007 draft picks passed at 9 p.m. (PT) Wednesday and the Angels did not reach an agreement with right-hander Matt Harvey. The third-round pick was the Angels’ highest selection still unsigned.

That the Angels were able to snag first-round-caliber talent in the third round of the June draft became moot Wednesday when they were unable to sign highly touted Connecticut high school pitcher Matt Harvey, who rejected an offer of $1 million and will attend the University of North Carolina.

A 6-foot-4, 210-pound product of R.E. Fitch High School in Groton, Conn., Harvey is represented by Scott Boras. Ranked among the premier prep products available, Harvey fell in the Draft when word circulated that it would take a $2 million bonus to sign him.

The Angels, who did not have a first-round pick, offered what they thought was about mid-first-round money -- the Rangers signed Texas high school pitcher Blake Beavan, the 17th overall pick, for $1.5 million -- but it wasn't enough to lure Harvey away from college.

"I'm real excited about going to college," Harvey said. "It was going to take something special to get me away from school," and what the Angels offered wasn't "near what it was going to take."

Under new rules governing the draft this year, Harvey will go back into the draft pool and the Angels will be compensated with another third-round pick in next year’s draft.

"We picked him knowing he had an agent who it might be difficult to get a deal done with, but also knowing if we failed to make a deal, we'd get a replacement pick," Stoneman said. "The offer we made was very generous for a guy drafted 118th” Stoneman said on Wednesday night.

Stoneman said he didn’t consider drafting Harvey a gamble because "we didn’t view the downside as being that much (because they will receive another pick as compensation in 2008) and the upside is getting a guy we really liked."

The Angels spent weeks trying to determine Harvey's value but didn't make their offer until Tuesday, one day before the deadline to sign him. It was common knowledge what Harvey was looking for, so did the fact the Angels came up considerably short make Harvey wonder why the Angels bothered drafting him?

"I don't really know," Harvey said. "You always think, if they're going to draft me, why wouldn't they make a run at me? I'll just go to school and be a top-five pick in three years and double what I could get now."

Angels scouting director Eddie Bane had a different perspective."You have three years to sit there and worry about injury," he said. If Harvey took the offer, he'd be "financially set for a long time," Bane continued. "It's baffling, but it's expected."

"What we've tried to do with all our guys like Jered Weaver, (Nick) Adenhart, (Sean) O'Sullivan is evaluate these kids each in their own right, put them where we think they would fall in a quote-unquote normal draft (without sign-ability issues)," Bane said. "That's what we did with Harvey."

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Down On The Farm 8/14/07

News & Stats from the Angels Minor Leaguers

AAA-Salt Lake
The Bees have a 3 game lead over Colorado Springs after sweeping a 4-game home set with the Portland Beavers. Brandon Wood went 8-for-18 in the series. Kendry Morales hit two home runs yesterday (2nd & 3rd of the season) and is hitting .459 in August (17-for-37). Tommy Murphy is 9 for his last 13 with 5 doubles.

AA-Arkansas
Nick Green and two relievers combined on a 2-hit shutout of the San Antonio Missions yesterday. Arkansas is 25-24, one game behind division leader Springfield.

A-Rancho Cucamonga
Juan Rivera began his rehab assignment with an 0-for-3 yesterday. The Quakes are in 3rd place, 5 games behind Lancaster. Chris Pettit was named the Angels Minor League Player OF The Month for July. Alex McRobbie pitched a complete game shutout last Friday against Inland Empire.

Players with an asterisk are on the Angels 40-Man Roster

 Player        Pos Age  Lg   H/AB   AVG  OPS MISC
*Terry Evans     OF 25 AAA 129/413 .312 .856 14-hr
*Tommy Murphy    OF 27 AAA  61/237 .257 .680 12-sb
*Kendry Morales  1B 23 AAA  72/219 .329 .809 3-hr
*Matt Brown      IF 24 AAA  94/341 .276 .863 16-hr
*Brandon Wood    3B 22 AAA  99/365 .271 .832 19-hr
*Jeff Mathis     C  24 AAA  61/250 .244 .671 5-hr
*Nick Gorneault  OF 28 AAA  99/404 .245 .578 15-hr
*Ryan Budde      C  27 AAA  46/156 .295 .816 4-hr
*Bobby Wilson    C  24 AAA  26/77  .338 .958 16-rbi
 Sean Rodriguez  SS 22 AA  105/435 .241 .733 12-hr
 Bradley Coon    OF 24 AA   46/162 .284 .719 16-sb
 Freddy Sandoval 3B 24 AA  126/412 .306 .864 65-rbi  
 Chris Pettit    OF 22 A+   71/203 .350 1.008 9-hr
 Hank Conger     C  19 A    72/244 .295  .818 9-hr

 Player          Pos Age Lg   IP   W-L  ERA MISC
*Joe Saunders     SP 25 AAA  86.1  4-7 5.11 84-k
*Ervin Santana    SP 24 AAA  32.1  2-1 5.01 32-k
*Greg Jones       RP 30 AAA  48.0  4-1 3.94 36-k
 Jason Bulger     RP 28 AAA  44.1  4-2 4.26 72-k
 Kasey Olenberger SP 29 AAA 158.0 10-5 4.56 104-k
*Marc Gwyn        RP 30 AAA  48.0  1-0 3.00 14-sv
*Steven Shell     RP 24 AAA  49.2  5-3 5.44 39-k
*Chris Resop      RP 24 AAA  45.1  1-3 4.57 39-k
 Matt Wilhite     RP 26 AAA  64.0  3-4 3.94 3-sv
 Rich Thompson    RP 23 AAA  17.1  2-0 2.08 22-k
 Nick Adenhart    SP 20 AA  152.0  9-6 3.85 90-k
*Jose Arredondo   RP 23 A    29.0  2-4 6.52 26-k
 Nick Green       SP 22 AA  152.0  9-6 3.85 1.12whip
 Darren O'Day     RP 24 AA   22.1  3-3 3.22 5-sv
 Brok Butcher     SP 23 AA   29.0  1-2 5.90 18-k
 Stephen Marek    SP 23 A+  110.1  7-8 4.89 84-k
 Tim Schoeninger  SP 22 A+   46.2  5-3 6.75 36-k
 Douglas Brandt   RP 22 A+   32.1  1-0 3.34 34-k
 Sean O'Sullivan  SP 19 A   129.1  8-6 2.37 106-k

Seattle? Is it 1995?

Now with less than two months left to go in the regular season it seems remarkable that we are still fighting for some breathing room even though Oakland is 13 ½ games back entering today’s play.

Before the season started it seemed that the Angels would again be challenged by Oakland as the two teams have dominated this decade. But with a new coaching staff, a few new players and a rash of injuries the A's ahve struggled.

The team that is challenging us is no other than the 1990's dominant Seattle Mariners. But this team does not have Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., or Alex Rodriguez. Nope this team has Jeff Weaver who looked closer to being a starting pitcher in an Independent league not the American League at the beginning of the season. But over his last ten starts is starting to resemble the pitcher he was with the St. Louis Cardinals in the payoffs last year.

They also have another former Angel, center fielder, Jose Guillen whom was a clubhouse problem while in Anaheim. Guillen is batting just .287 but still he has some power and a desire to kill everyone whom he thinks wronged him in Anaheim.

The only good thing about Seattle is that their first baseman Sexson is batting an abysmal .210 but he still has the home run potential (19) that still brings fear into everyone’s minds. And even though closer JJ Putz almost blew the All-star game save before Frankie threw a class A gem, I am being facetious, he still is leading the AL in saves just ahead of former Angel farm hand BobbyJenks.

These last months are going to be tough because we will be facing teams that have a combined winning percentage above .500 while Seattle will be playing a schedule that is far easier with the teams combined win percentage a shade below .500.

The leg of baseball that we face is going to be murderous. Last time we were in Boston they kicked the living sheot out of us. And Toronto is no easier. With Seattle playing the free falling Twins it looks as though we will have to play like we did back in '02 when we kept pace with Oakland down the stretch when they had their long winning streak that reached over twenty wins.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Shea in Chavez Ravine

Shea Hillenbrand recalled: The Dodgers announced prior to Monday night's game that Shea Hillenbrand, who was signed to a Minor League contract on Friday, was recalled and would be available in Monday's game.

Hillenbrand was hitting .538 (7-for-13) with a homer and four RBIs in three games with Triple-A Las Vegas.

Hillenbrand opened the season with our Halos and played in 53 games, hitting .254 with three homers and 22 RBIs before being released at the All-Star break.

Hillenbrand signed a Minor League deal with the Padres less then three weeks later, but he was released on Wednesday, after hitting just .147 at Triple-A Portland.

Dodgers manager Grady Little, who also managed Hillenbrand in Boston in 2002 and part of 2003, said he never had any trouble with Hillenbrand, who got into a highly publicized dispute with Toronto manager John Gibbons just before the Blue Jays traded Hillenbrand to San Francisco last July. "I don't even think any of us has the right to answer that question if we weren't there," Little said. "Those who believe everything they read and hear, that is their own fault."

The two-time American League All-Star, who can play both corner-infield positions, has a .285 career average in seven Major League seasons. To make room on the roster, the Dodgers optioned outfielder Delwyn Young to Las Vegas.

Kotchman is pretty damn good...

Casey Kotchman is pretty damn good. And when I hear people say that his ceiling is JT Snow, I cringe.

Snow was one of my least favorite Angels of all time. Ever need a HR late in the game when leading by 8 runs? Snow's your guy. Sure, he had a good glove, but his stick was as untimely as Rod Carew's. (Yes, young'uns, Hall-Of-Famer Rod Carew was UN-clutch - ask an old timer.)

Kotchman is clutch and I think he will develop into someone who can hit 20-25 home runs a year. His real downside is his health. He seems to have been on the strange desert island that Dallas McPherson was on when he caught his injury bug. It's also the same bug that all basketball players get the day the sign with the Clippers.

In any case, what I was hoping to point out here is that Kotchman is having an incredible year.

He's hitting .307 (17th in the AL), has an on-base percentage of .372 (27th), a slugging percentage of .488 (22nd) and an OPS of .860 (21st). And all of this comes at age 24 after missing most of last season with a mono infection.

His numbers are really extraordinary if you take away the slump he had following his concussion. He was injured on June 16th, and I'm excluding the 19 games he played in from June 25-July21. I realize such an inclusion warps his stats, but other than that period, he has been solid all season. The sample size is pretty good as he has 267 at-bats not including his slump.

Excluding those games he is hitting .352 which would place him 2nd in the AL behind Magglio Ordonez. His OBP would be .418 which would be 4th in the league behind Ordonez, David Ortiz and Jorge Posada. His slugging percentage would be .562 which would be 3rd in the AL behind Alex Rodriguez and Ordonez. And his OPS would be .979 - tied for 3rd in the league behind Rodriguez and Ortiz.

I don't think he's quite that good, but I think he's a heckuva lot better than JT Snow.

Santana has so-so start

Ervin Santana made his 5th minor league start yesterday and pitched what is technically a "quality start."

Santana pitched 6 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs. He struck out 5, walked 3 and got the win as Salt Lake downed Portland 9-5.

Santana is now 2-1 with a 5.01 era. His next start is scheduled for Friday against Tucson. There is an outside chance that the Angels will call him up to pitch Friday at Boston where the Angels have a double-header, but I think Chris Bootcheck is more likely to start.

Kendry Morales was 4-for-4 with a walk and 2 runs batted in. Tommy Murphy was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3 rbi. Reliever Marc Gwyn came into the game in the 9th inning with one out and the bases loaded. He went to a full count on Hiram Bocachica before getting him to hit into a game-ending double play.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Dodgers Sign Hillenbrand

Let me get this straight. You're fighting for a playoff spot and your team was just shutout in 3 straight games. So what do you do? Sign Shea Hillenbrand.

The Dodgers signed infielder Shea Hillenbrand to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Hillenbrand was recently given an audition by the Padres and hit .147 (5-for-34) at Triple-A Portland. His ops was .348.

In 53 games with the Angels this season, Hillenbrand hit .254 with 3 home runs.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Twins in town Escobar to deal.

Kelvim Escobar has pitched sound in his last three starts, but he has zilch to show for it. Kelvim has been hindered by a lack of support from an offense with 574 runs and whom rank is fifth in the AL.

The Halo’s only have managed two runs for Escobar in his last three outings, while he has held opponents to a minuscule .238 batting average.

He hopes to avoid losing his fourth straight outing Friday night when we open a three-game set with the Minnesota Twins.

Escobar (11-6, 2.79 ERA), whose ERA ranks second in the league behind the Okland A’s Dan Harin (2.46), has dropped three consecutive starts, despite pitching well with a 2.45 ERA.

Escobar won his last meeting against the Twins on June 5, allowing just three hits in his second complete game of the year in a 5-1 win at Home. His only blemish a solo shot to center by Torii Hunter. The Halo’s took two out of three in that series before the Twins turned the tables did the same in Minnesota from July 20-22.

In the 10 starts between the Twins visits, Escobar has gone 4-3, yielding more than three runs and a double-digit hit allowance only once.

LAA: RHP Kelvim Escobar (11-6, 2.79 ERA)Escobar was a victim of the A's ultra-patient hitters on Saturday, losing a game after giving up two singles -- one a bloop -- while walking seven in seven innings. One of the runs was unearned, the product of his own error. There was nothing wrong with his stuff, but Escobar's command clearly was not what it needed to be -- and the offense fell silent, wasting opportunities. Escobar is 6-3 with a 2.11 ERA at home.

MIN: RHP Scott Baker (6-4, 4.43 ERA)Baker shut out the Indians for eight innings on Sunday. He allowed only four hits and fanned four against Cleveland on Sunday. He pitched out of jams and made a diving defensive grab that that turned into a double play. Baker lost in Anaheim on June 5, when he gave up five earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Ex-Angels Report 8/9/2007

News & Stats from ex-Angels
  • The St. Louis Cardinals have placed Scott Spiezio on the restricted list while he tends to an unspecified problem. Details are not publicly released due to privacy laws. While on the restricted list, Spiezio is still property of the Cardinals and paid by them as well.
  • Bobby Jenks has retired 35 consecutive batters over his past 12 games. He is 3 batters shy of the AL record set by David Wells of the Yankees in 1998. The major league record is 41 set by Jim Barr of the Giants in 1972.
  • Troy Percival keeps going strong. He hasn't allowed a base runner in his past four outings (4.1 ip) and has a 2.65 era and .183 batting average against on the season.
  • Since going 2-for-4 in his Yankees debut, Jose Molina has gone hitless in 7 at-bats.
  • Last Thursday, 37-year old Damion Easley hit his 2nd career inside-the-park home run. It came in the 6th inning against Chris Capuano at Milwaukee.
  • Ramon Ortiz recorded his first win since April 17th when he started the season 3-0. Ortiz pitched two scoreless innings of relief against the Indians for the win.
  • Derrick Turnbow has returned to form. After giving up 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Cardinals on July 29, he has pitched 5 hitless innings (in 5 appearances) for the Brewers.
  • Fellow Brewer reliever Matt Wise is struggling. In his past 6 outings (2.1 ip) he has allowed 10 hits and 4 walks while getting only 7 outs.
  • Troy Glaus has been in a big slump since the All-Star Break. He is hitting just .191 and his ops is a meager .606.
  • Also struggling is Rays catcher Josh Paul. He is 2-for-20 (.100) since returning from the DL.
  • Jose Guillen has had three 3-hit games already this month. He's hitting .379 for the month after hitting .340 in July.
  • Paul Byrd threw a 4-hit shutout against the Twins on Monday. It was his first shutout since July 1, 2005 when he pitched for the Angels.
  • Jeff DaVanon was placed on waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks and is now a free agent. DaVanon joins Shea Hillenbrand, Hector Carrasco and Steve Finley in the free agency pool.

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  AB   R HR RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OPS
Jose Guillen      SEA 394  57 14  67  32  79  .289  .803
Troy Glaus        TOR 300  48 15  49  42  74  .250  .801
Jamie Burke       SEA  73  12  0   7   4  11  .329  .798
Damion Easley     NYM 182  21  9  24  15  33  .269  .785
Scott Spiezio     STL 184  26  3  27  22  35  .272  .757
Bengie Molina     SF  363  24 12  63  10  39  .273  .712
Jim Edmonds       STL 243  23  7  27  28  50  .247  .710
Alfredo Amezaga   FLA 345  40  2  26  29  42  .270  .698
David Eckstein    STL 277  36  2  18  14  14  .289  .687
Darin Erstad      CWS 200  21  2  23  15  27  .265  .655
Orlando Palmeiro  HOU  83  11  0   6  11   7  .241  .614
Adam Kennedy      STL 268  25  3  18  22  32  .220  .580
Sal Fasano        TOR  45   5  1   4   2  19  .178  .540
Jeff DaVanon      ARI  26   5  0   1   5   8  .154  .534
Alberto Callaspo  ARI 126   9  0   5   8  11  .206  .511
Josh Paul         TB   69   6  1   6   4  18  .203  .507
Steve Finley      COL  94   9  1   2   8   4  .181  .490
Jose Molina       NYY  11   1  0   1   0   0  .182  .439

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  G  W-L  SV   IP   BB   K   ERA   BAA
J.C. Romero       PHI 18  0-0   0  11.2  13  12  0.77  .132
Russ Springer     STL 53  5-1   0  42.2  15  47  2.95  .201
Bobby Jenks       CWS 52  3-4  32  50.1  12  46  3.04  .201
Brendan Donnelly  BOS 27  2-1   0  20.2   5  15  3.05  .235
Kevin Gregg       FLA 54  0-4  23  62.0  29  59  3.19  .211
Matt Wise         MIL 46  3-1   1  45.2  14  33  3.55  .254
Joel Peralta      KC  43  1-2   1  67.2  14  56  3.72  .262
Derrick Turnbow   MIL 57  3-4   1  51.0  27  65  3.88  .191
Aaron Sele        NYM 25  3-1   0  43.2  18  26  4.12  .327
Paul Byrd         CLE 21 10-4   0 135.0  16  64  4.13  .296
Jarrod Washburn   SEA 22  8-8   0 135.2  44  73  4.18  .274
Ramon Ortiz       MIN 26  4-4   0  88.2  14  41  5.18  .298
Gary Glover       TB  46  5-4   2  57.2  18  37  5.31  .293
Scott Schoeneweis NYM 48  0-2   0  40.2  24  26  5.31  .277
Jake Woods        SEA  4  0-0   0  10.2   7   4  5.91  .220
Jeff Weaver       SEA 17  3-10  0  90.0  24  46  6.20  .324
Bret Prinz        CWS  4  0-0   0   3.1   2   1  8.10  .286

Should The Angels Get Mike Piazza?

Mike Piazza of the Oakland A's cleared waivers this week meaning the Angels could trade for him before the August 15th deadline. With Jose Molina gone and Mike Napoli hurt, the lack of major league catching depth has become apparent for the Angels. But does this mean that they should target Piazza?

My answer is yes, but don't expect too much out of Piazza. He's 10 years removed from his best season when he hit .362 with 40 hr and 124 rbi. And he's never been known for his defense. However, experience carries a value and the Angels are in a pennant race and that experience could make a difference.

His power seems to be gone - he has hit only 3 home runs this year in 178 at-bats. That's 1 hr every 59 at-bats. Numbers that are eerily similar to Shea Hillenbrand's power numbers this year - 3 hr in 197 ab. And we all know how effective Shea was.

However, all three of Piazza's home runs have come against the Angels. Stranger yet, they have all come at Angel Stadium in just 30 at-bats.

So if Piazza comes to the Angels will we get the 1 hr every 60 at-bats of Piazza 2007 or will we get the 1 hr every 10 at-bats at Angel Stadium Piazza?

Whatever his power output would be, Piazza would be an upgrade over Jeff Mathis or Ryan Budde based on experience alone. That's why I'd like to see him on our bench come September.

Strange Drop Off In Power
At-Bats Per Home Run

2007 59 ab/hr
2006 18
ab/hr
2005 20
ab/hr
2004 22
ab/hr
2003 21
ab/hr
2002 14
ab/hr
2001 14
ab/hr
2000 12
ab/hr
1999 13
ab/hr
1998 17
ab/hr
1997 13
ab/hr
1996 15
ab/hr
1995 13
ab/hr
1994 16
ab/hr
1993 15
ab/hr
1992 69
ab/hr

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Does the best team win the World Series?

The Cardinals proved to me last year that the MLB playoffs are a complete crap shoot - each team has a 1-in-8 chance of winning the World Series.

Since the advent of the Wild Card in 1995, there have been 17 teams*
win 100 or more games in a season.  How many of those teams won the World Series?
*because there were only 144 games played in 1995, I'm excluding it from this study. The Braves (90-54) beat the Indians (100-44).

1997 Braves    101-61 Lost in World Series
1998 Yankees   114-48 Won World Series
1998 Braves    106-56 Lost in NLCS
1998 Astros    102-60 Lost in 1st Round
1999 Braves    103-59 Lost in World Series
1999 D'Backs   100-62 Lost in 1st Round
2001 Mariners  116-46 Lost in ALCS
2001 A's       102-60 Lost in 1st Round
2002 Yankees   103-58 Lost in 1st Round
2002 A's       103-59 Lost in 1st Round
2002 Braves    101-59 Lost in 1st Round
2003 Braves    101-61 Lost in 1st Round
2003 Yankees   101-61 Lost in World Series
2003 Giants    100-61 Lost in 1st Round
2004 Cardinals 105-57 Lost in World Series
2004 Yankees   101-61 Lost in ALCS
2005 Cardinals 100-62 Lost in NLCS

That's right.  Only one team out of 17 has won the World Series. That's far worse than 1-in-8 and those are the best teams.

You could flip coins.  The 17 teams listed with 100 wins should win more than one World Series shouldn't they?

In fact, if you total up playoff series', those 17 teams have won 15 series and lost 16 series.  That's not even .500.

Amazingly, there have been 2 teams with less than 90 wins, win the World Series.

 Wins  Teams Titles Percent
100-116   17     1     5.9%
 95-99    31     4    12.9%
 90-94    25     4    16.0%
 82-89    15     2    13.3%

The pundits will be quick to say that the "hottest" team won the World Series, yet rarely is this "hottest" team chosen before the playoffs.  "Hot" does win, but who knew Jeff Weaver was "hot" last year?

I'm not trying to argue who's hot.  Or how to figure out who's hot.  It changes every year and someone is right that year and wrong the next.

I'm just realizing that since the odds of winning the World Series is equal for all teams in the playoffs, then the goal of each team should simply be to make the playoffs.

And that's what the Angels' goal is - make the playoffs.

Here's one more breakdown.  If you ranked the record of the 8 playoff teams, here is how many series each "seed" has won. i.e. The team with the best record has won 13 series and lost 12 series.  There are different numbers of team at each rank due to ties.

Record Teams Wins Losses  Pct  Titles
Best     13   13    12   .520     1
2nd      11    9    10   .474     1
3rd      12   12     9   .571     3
4th      11   10     9   .526     2
5th      10    4    10   .286     0
6th      12   10    10   .500     2
7th      10    9    10   .474     0
Worst     9   10     7   .588     2

Santana Has A Good Outing

Like many Angels fans, I've done a lot of Ervin Santana bashing this year. So I feel obligated to comment when he has a good performance in the minors.

Like tonight - 7 innings pitched, 2 earned runs, 10 strikeouts and 1 walk. No decision as the Bees lost 8-4 to Round Rock.

Unfortunately, Santana is still very inconsistent. He has had 4 starts in the minors with 2 being good and 2 being bad.

Here's a look at Santana's 4 minor league starts this year.

Date    OPP  W L   IP  H ER BB SO
Jul 22 @SAC  0 1  7.0  2  1  3  6
Jul 27  OMA  0 0  6.1 11  6  2  4
Aug 01 @ALB  1 0  6.0 13  6  1  7
Aug 06 @ROU  0 0  7.0  6  2  1 10
Totals       1 1 26.1 32 15  7 27

Santana's era is 5.13. And it bears pointing out that Joe Saunders (5-0, 3.10 era with the Angels this season) was 4-7 with a 5.11 era at Salt Lake this season.

The four Salt Lake runs tonight came on two Brandon Wood home runs - a solo shot in the 6th inning and a 3-run blast in the 8th inning. Wood finished with 3 hits for the second straight game.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Moreno: "I made a mistake, and opened my mouth."

Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times published a good interview/article with Angels owner Arte Moreno in yesterday's paper. Since many Angels fans don't read the Times, I thought I'd pass the link on.

Topics include Mark Teixeira, Bill Stoneman, Moreno's thoughts on trades and signings and, of course, an apology for opening his mouth.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Shields Struggles In Oakland?

During the game tonight, the announcers pointed out that Scot Shields is now 0-7 at McAfee Coliseum in his career. He has 3 or fewer losses in every other road stadium in baseball. And only 12 losses in his entire career at home. So why the struggles in Oakland?

Stats before tonight:
                   g  w-l     ip hr   era  baa
Career in Oakland  18  0-6   28.1  6  4.13 .219
Career at home    177 26-12 293.1 13  2.39 .216
Career away       165 12-20 256.0 27  3.16 .230


His big problem in Oakland is he gives up the long ball. In 29 innings, he has given up 6 home runs (1 every 4.8 innings). Compare that to his home numbers where he has surrendered 13 career home runs in 293.1 innings (1 every 22.6 innings).

His era isn't that bad - 4.13 and his batting average against is .219 which is a bit lower than his career baa of .223.

Because of the 7 losses, some people might say that Scioscia shouldn't use Shields in Oakland, but I disagree. There's no reason to think that Shields can't pitch there. (Unlike Boston where I'd keep him out of every game. Blog) Last year he made 5 appearances in Oakland (6 ip) and was 0-1. In those 6 innings, he struck out 9, walked 1 and allowed only two hits. Great numbers. Unfortunately, one of the two hits was a 2-run home run which resulted in a loss.

The majority of the home runs Shields has allowed came in one game. On September 11, 2003, Shields started the game for the Angels. He lasted only 4 innings and allowed 7 runs (4 earned) and gave up 4 home runs. So if you take this game away from his statistics, his stats look different.

Stats At Oak. as reliever (not including tonight)
                   g  w-l     ip hr   era  baa
Career in Oakland  17  0-5   24.1  2  2.22 .209

So it turns out that one bad game in 2003 has caused most of the damage to his stat line. If you're curious to how far the Angels have come since that day, here's their starting line up that day. (Link to Box Score)

c Jose Molina (replaced by Tom Gregorio)
1b Scott Spiezio (replaced by Robb Quinlan)
2b Adam Kennedy (replaced by Trent Durrington)
ss Alfredo Amezaga
3b Wilson Delgado
lf Adam Riggs
cf Chone Figgins
rf Eric Owens (replaced by Barry Wesson)

Keep pitching Shields, today was just one bad outing for him.

Down On The Farm 8-2-07

News & Notes from the Angels Farm System

AAA - Salt Lake
The Bees are riding a four game winning streak and are tied for first place with the Sacramento River Cats. Ervin Santana had another poor outing (6 ip, 6 er, 13 h) but the Bees still won thanks to 6 rbi from catcher Booby Wilson and 3 hits from Terry Evans who fell a homer shy of the cycle. Erick Aybar is in a rehab assignment with the Bees and is 3-for-8 in two games. Last Monday, Pedro Liriano and three relievers combined for the Bees first shutout of the season, a 1-0 victory over Iowa.

AA - Arkansas
The Travelers are 21-18, 2 games behind Springfield in the Texas League North Division. After winning 10 straight from July 17-27, the Travs then dropped 4 in a row before winning today.

A - Rancho Cucamonga
The Quakes (20-21) are in 4th place, 5 games behind Lancaster. On Monday, Alex McRobbie and two relievers combined to shutout Stockton 7-0.

Player        Pos Age Lg   H/AB   AVG  OPS MISC
Terry Evans     OF 25 AAA 122/380 .321 .877 20-sb
Tommy Murphy    OF 27 AAA  49/199 .246 .661 11-sb
Kendry Morales  1B 23 AAA  56/187 .299 .713 21-rbi
Matthew Brown   IF 24 AAA  94/341 .276 .863 16-hr
Brandon Wood    3B 22 AAA  84/327 .257 .804 16-hr
Jeff Mathis     C  24 AAA  61/250 .244 .671 26-rbi
Nick Gorneault  OF 28 AAA  90/373 .241 .729 13-hr
Ryan Budde      C  27 AAA  46/156 .295 .816 4-hr
Bobby Wilson    C  24 AAA  17/53  .357 .904 12-rbi
Sean Rodriguez  SS 22 AA  101/406 .249 .738 12-hr
Bradley Coon    OF 24 AA   35/121 .289 .718 13-sb
Freddy Sandoval 3B 24 AA  116/375 .309 .875 10-hr  
Chris Pettit    OF 22 A+   58/165 .352 1.041 9-hr
Hank Conger     C  19 A    70/236 .297  .828 9-hr

Player          Pos Age Lg   IP   W-L  ERA MISC
Joe Saunders     SP 25 AAA  86.1  4-7 5.11 84-k
Ervin Santana    SP 24 AAA  19.1  1-1 6.05 17-k
Greg Jones       RP 30 AAA  48.0  4-1 3.94 36-k
Jason Bulger     RP 28 AAA  43.2  4.2 3.92 71-k
Kasey Olenberger SP 29 AAA 145.0  9-5 4.66 95-k
Marcus Gwyn      RP 30 AAA  45.1  1-0 2.78 13-sv
Steven Shell     RP 24 AAA  47.2  4-3 5.66 37-k
Chris Resop      RP 24 AAA  45.1  1-3 4.57 39-k
Matt Wilhite     RP 26 AAA  61.2  3-3 3.50 33-k
Rich Thompson    RP 23 AAA  13.0  1-0 0.69 17-k
Nick Adenhart    SP 20 AA  120.2  8-4 3.28 86-k
Jose Arredondo   RP 23 A    48.0  1-3 4.50 52-k  
Nick Green       SP 22 AA  140.1  8-6 3.91 2-cg
Darren O'Day     RP 24 AA   41.0  5-2 1.98 36-k
Brok Butcher     SP 23 AA   20.0  1-1 5.40 4-gs  
Stephen Marek    SP 23 A+   97.0  5-8 5.29 77-k
Tim Schoeninger  SP 22 A+   35.2  5-1 6.56 31-k
Douglas Brandt   SP 22 A+   25.1  1-0 4.26 25-k
Sean O'Sullivan  SP 19 A   115.2  6-6 2.57 98-k

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Mathis starting to come around.

Jeff Mathis has had what many in the Orange County area would consider a very good week.

And when you say it is Mathis that is having that week it is just all the more impressive.

His ability to handle the everyday catching duties in the wake of Mike Napoli's hamstring injury have been alleviated by the way Mathis has handled the pitching staff in the last week since he assumed the starting job.

Mathis had a four-game hitting streak before Wednesday in which he raised his average from .095 to .250. Mathis also caught the Angels' first consecutive complete games in more than 14 years earlier this week - a feat some would not think possible a month ago when Mathis was still the starting catcher for Salt Lake.

"Jeff's feeling much more comfortable with everything about catching, both his pitch selection and his rapport with the pitchers," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "I think he's much more confident and comfortable right now, and I think it's translated into him catching good ballgames and it's reflected on some good performances by our pitchers."

Scioscia said Ryan Budde probably would get one start during the four-game series in Oakland that begins tonight. Budde has caught both Mosley and Saunders while in AAA so a start tonight or Friday is a real possibility.

Angels Farm System #1

Minor League News recently released their 4th annual Fab50 Baseball Rankings and proclaimed the Angels as the Farm System Of The Year.

MLN ranked 4 Angels prospects among the Top 50 - 3rd Baseman Brandon Wood (11th), Pitcher Nick Adenhart (20th), outfielder Terry Evans (28th) and pitcher Nick Green (42nd).

So basically we have good players in the minors who we can dangle in front of other teams yet never trade them.

For comparison here's a look back at Baseball America's Top Angels Prospects to start the year.

1. Brandon Wood, ss
2. Nick Adenhart, rhp
3. Erick Aybar, ss
4. Young-Il Jung, rhp
5. Stephen Marek, rhp
6. Hank Conger, c
7. Jeff Mathis, c
8. Sean Rodriguez, ss/2b
9. Sean O'Sullivan, rhp
10. Tommy Mendoza, rhp

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Ex-Angels Report 8/1/2007

Notes & Stats from Ex-Angels in the Major Leagues
  • Jose Molina made his Yankees debut last Thursday in a 7-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Molina went 2-for-4 with one double.
  • Jose Guillen hit .340 in the month of July.
  • Adam Kennedy had his best month as a Cardinal in July. He hit .269. He hit .172 in June, .229 in May and .229 in April.
  • Josh Paul is back with the Devil Rays after spending two months on the DL with a left elbow injury. He homered in his first game back against Boston on Saturday.
  • Hector Carrasco was signed to a minor league contract by the Washington Nationals. In 5 appearances at AAA Columbus, he has a 2.70 era in 6.2 innings pitched.
  • Royal reliever Joel Peralta picked up a 3-inning save on Sunday in their 10-0 victory over Texas. It was his first save this season and the 2nd save of his career.
  • Bobby Jenks has gone six straight appearances (6 ip) without allowing a base runner.
  • Shea Hillenbrand and Steve Finley still remain without a team.

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  AB   R HR RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OPS
Troy Glaus        TOR 277  44 15  49  37  63  .267  .847
Jose Molina       NYY   6   0  0   0   0   0  .333  .833
Jose Guillen      SEA 362  53 13  62  29  72  .282  .792
Scott Spiezio     STL 173  26  3  27  20  32  .283  .785
Damion Easley     NYM 169  19  8  22  14  29  .266  .776
David Eckstein    STL 247  33  2  15  11  12  .304  .719
Bengie Molina     SF  332  21 10  53   9  35  .271  .704
Alfredo Amezaga   FLA 326  37  2  24  25  41  .270  .689
Jim Edmonds       STL 221  23  7  26  24  46  .226  .663
Darin Erstad      CWS 182  21  2  21  13  23  .264  .652
Orlando Palmeiro  HOU  76  10  0   5  10   6  .250  .634
Adam Kennedy      STL 250  23  2  17  21  27  .224  .580
Josh Paul         TB   55   5  1   6   4  14  .236  .579
Sal Fasano        TOR  45   5  1   4   2  19  .178  .540
Alberto Callaspo  ARI 126   9  0   5   8  11  .206  .511
Jeff DaVanon      ARI  21   3  0   0   4   5  .143  .498
Steve Finley      COL  94   9  1   2   8   4  .181  .490

EX-ANGEL         TEAM  G  W-L  SV   IP   BB   K   ERA   BAA
J.C. Romero       PHI 14  0-0   0   7.2   8  10  1.17  .179
Russ Springer     STL 48  5-1   0  39.0  15  46  2.77  .193
Brendan Donnelly  BOS 27  2-1   0  20.2   5  15  3.05  .235
Matt Wise         MIL 42  3-1   1  44.2  10  32  3.22  .238
Kevin Gregg       FLA 51  0-4  21  58.0  28  56  3.26  .203
Bobby Jenks       CWS 47  3-4  30  45.1  12  41  3.38  .220
Joel Peralta      KC  41  1-2   1  66.0  13  56  3.41  .255
Aaron Sele        NYM 21  3-0   0  35.2  18  22  4.04  .309
Jarrod Washburn   SEA 21  8-7   0 129.1  42  69  4.11  .272
Derrick Turnbow   MIL 52  2-4   1  46.0  22  58  4.30  .207
Paul Byrd         CLE 19  9-4   0 120.2  13  60  4.40  .301
Gary Glover       TB  42  4-3   2  54.0  18  35  5.00  .282
Ramon Ortiz       MIN 23  3-4   0  83.2  14  38  5.27  .299
Scott Schoeneweis NYM 45  0-2   0  38.2  24  26  5.59  .284
Jake Woods        SEA  4  0-0   0  10.2   7   4  5.91  .220
Jeff Weaver       SEA 15  2-9   0  80.0  21  43  5.96  .314
Bret Prinz        CWS  4  0-0   0   3.1   2   1  8.10  .286