Some musings early in the season

On Sunday, I made it to my first game of the season. I was out of town for the earlier part of the homestand.

Couple of early season musings:

• Is anyone else slightly depressed that we are starting the season with Izturis at third base? I realize it is just temporary with the injury to Figgins, but the whole third base situation seems closer to some unfortunate third base years - Dave Hollins, Jack Howell - than exciting one's (Doug DeCinces, Troy Glaus).
• I'm glad the whole HGH things seems largely behind Gary Matthews Jr. I think he will be an exciting lead off hitter this year, and he's already paying dividends in center field.
• Is GA back? I hope so.
• Finally, this was my daughter's first game - she is 14 months - and I was quite happy with how child friendly Angel stadium is. I've noticed it before, of course, but this time I really started getting excited about all the different games in the outfield pavilion she will be able to play in future seasons.

Go Halos!

Snowed out

The Angels series in Cleveland starting tomorrow has been moved to Milwaukee.

After getting 10 inches of snow the past few days, Jacobs Field is in no condition to be played on. The two teams will play in Milwaukee at Miller Park where the retractable roof guarantees that the games will be played.

My personal over-under for attendance Tuesday is 2,300. I wanted to set the line at 2,727 but thought that it was too high.

If you're wondering why, the Indians didn't swap homestands with the Angels, it comes down to (drum roll please) money.

Week In Review

Picture of the Week - Garret Anderson slides safely in to home on Opening Night.

The Angels finished 5-2 in their first week of play. They are in first place in the AL West, one game up on Seattle (2-1).

Hitting - So far, the hitting has been a little bit better than expected. The Angels are batting .286 as a team which is 3rd in the American League. They're 1st in hits in the A.L., 2nd in home runs, 3rd in runs scored, 3rd in doubles, 3rd in stolen bases and 5th in the all important OPS.

RISP Worries - With all the good hitting that has taken place, the Angels are only hitting .210 with runners in scoring position and .083 (2 for 24) with runners in scoring position and two outs.

Vladimir Guerrero has been on a tear - His .440 avg, 3 home runs and 10 rbi are all 2nd in the American League.

What's a walk? - The Angels aren't known for taking walks so it is refreshing to see that Gary Matthews Jr is in the Top 5 in the AL in walks. Matthews is tied for second in runs scored with seven. The last Angel to finish in the Top 10 in the AL was Troy Glaus in 2002 who finished 8th.

Anderson & Kotchman - These two speedsters are among the ten players leading the AL in doubles with three apiece.

Pitching - The pitching has been fantastic. Their team ERA of 2.00 leads the American League. They also lead the AL in strikeouts and saves. They have the 3rd lowest whip at 1.21.

Lackey starts strong - John Lackey and Johan Santana are the only 2-game winners in the AL so far. In two starts, Lackey has only given up 1 earned run. He also is 4th in the league in strikeouts with 11.

K-Rod shaky - Francisco Rodriguez is tied for the league lead in saves with three. He also has one loss and an uncharacteristically high baa of .353. His career batting average against .183.

Jump off the bandwagon, the perfect season is history

Why do we even bother to watch? If they can't win every game, what's the use?

161-1 just doesn't have the luster of 162-0.

Well, back to reality. Today was spent reading people's accounts of how Frankie is cheating with Vaseline, Vagisil or melted Peeps rubbed in to his hat and then applying it to the baseball. So first off, I must say, I condone cheating in baseball. Right or wrong, it's part of the game. It's like fighting in hockey. Or taking an extra step in basketball. Or grabbing genitals in rugby.

I just don't believe it in Frankie's case. There are reasons to cheat in baseball and he doesn't meet any of them.

• You suck. Ex-Pitcher Jason Grimsley sucked so he took steroids. He spent most of his 15 year career as a relief pitcher and earned $10 million dollars by cheating. His one year of 100+ innings came with the Angels back in 1996. He went 5-7 with a 6.84 era and was paid $425,000 for his service.
• You're old. The old guy tries to regain his old form.
• You're coming back from an injury. Again, trying to regain old form.
• You're in a contract year. Ask Gary Matthews Jr about this one.

In any case, Frankie is neither crappy (led the majors in saves last year) nor old (He's 25) nor injured, nor in a contract year (this past January he signed a one year deal for $7 million.) So contract year has to be the reason.

Notes from game #4: A's 4 - Angels 3

Surprise! the A's and Angels' game is decided by one run.

Colon looking good - He pitched four shutout innings for Rancho Cucamonga tonight. He gave up one hit and one walk and struck out five. He retired the last ten batters he faced. His next rehab start is scheduled for Tuesday, April 10th at 7:05 vs Inland Empire. Next up for Rancho Cucamonga: Jered Weaver

Let the DH Carousel begin - What were the odds on Reggie Willits batting DH during the first week of the season?

Matthews to tempt fate - Gary Matthews JR is going to wear jersey #42 to honor Jackie Robinson on April 15th. The last Angel to wear #42 was none other than Mo Vaughn. Hopefully, Sarge2 doesn't stumble down the dugout stairs. Ironically, the Angels will be playing in Boston that day.

Moseley debut tonight - Moseley has two career starts including one against the Oakland A's. He allowed 7 earned runs in just 4 innings. Somehow he managed to escape without a loss as the Angels rallied to tie the game at 10 in the 8th inning. The A's won it in the 10th by a score of 11-10. A one run game. Go figure.

Is it too early to write off the Rangers?

Three down, 159 to go.

Notes from game #3, Angels 4, Rangers 1

Three hits per game - The Rangers used to be a team of big hitters. Well, in the three game series, they had a total of 9 hits, that's three per game. On Tuesday Vladimir Guerrero had 4 hits, matching the total of the Rangers.

Piling on the pathetic hitting - The Rangers team batting average is .145. There are 11 Angels who have at least one at-bat this year and all 11 of them are hitting above .145.

Now that's a 1-2 Punch - The single A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have arguably the best two pitchers in the minor leagues starting for them this week. Opening night, the Quakes have former Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon pitching. The following night, Jered Weaver is scheduled to start for the Quakes. Opening night is Thursday, April 5th at 7:05 vs the Lake Elsinore Storm. Game two of the series is Friday at 7:05 against the Storm at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga. If you need more incentive to head out to Cucamonga, there is a fireworks show following the Thursday game.

Vladimir Guerrero continues to destroy Texas - He has now hit safely in 800 of 801 career games against the Rangers. Well, not quite 800, but you get the point.

Off the pace - After Opening Day, I really thought that Shea Hillenbrand might get thrown out trying to steal 324 times. Unfortunately, the numbers have caught up with him and he is on pace now to be thrown out only 108 times.

Cub Check - Two of the Angels' biggest post season targets last year were both re-signed by the Chicago Cubs. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez has 4 singles in 9 at-bats thus far, but no rbis. Slick fielding Alfonso Soriano is 2 for 8 with 0 rbis.

Vlad the Ranger Killer

Vladimir Guerrero continues to scorch the Rangers. Here's a look at his career vs. Texas.

56 games
218 at-bats
96 hits
18 doubles
0 triples
21 home runs
49 rbi
26 bb
.440 avg
.502 obp
.812 slg
1.314 ops

Last year, Vlad had 657 plate appearances. If you take his career numbers against Texas and project them to a full season (657 plate appearances), here's what they would look like.

258 hits
48 doubles
0 triples
57 home runs
132 rbi
70 bb

Tim Salmon used to be the Ranger Killer, but his numbers pale in comparison to Vlad's.

158 games
567 at-bats
200 hits
39 doubles
5 triples
35 home runs
119 rbi
95 bb
.353 avg
.447 obp
.624 slg
1.072 ops

Day 1 - 162-0 !!!

One down, 161 to go.

Notes from game #1, Angels 4, Rangers 1

Defensive woes continue - Mike Napoli dropped a routine pop up and Gary Matthews Jr dropped an even-more-routine fly ball to right center field. Not only did these errors cost the Angels outs, they caused John Lackey to throw 20+ more pitches in the 3rd inning. However, as annoying as errors are to a pitcher, there is no reason for Lackey to show his appreciation/frustration by walking the next two batters.

The bullpen is good - Justin Speier, Scot Shields and K-Rod pitched a combined 4 innings without allowing a baserunner.

Another year with no lefty in the pen? - Darren Oliver is the lone lefty in the bullpen this year. While the rest of the bullpen did their job last night, Oliver pitched to two batters and gave up a single and a walk. Could this be J.C. Romero all over again?

Caught Stealing record within reach - Shea Hillenbrand was caught stealing twice last night. At that pace, he will be caught 324 times this year. That will shatter Rickey Henderson's 1982 record of being caught 42 times in one season. It would also give him 333 for his career - two behind Henderson for the record. The real question here is why was Hillenbrand going? In 870 career games, he has stolen only 16 bases.

Let the 'We shouldn't have left Erstad go' complaints begin - Darin Erstad hit a 2-run home run in his first at-bat for the Chicago White Sox. The home run was useless as Chicago was already trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the 1st.

Other teams are benefiting from our good bullpen - Joel Peralta faced 7 Red Sox and struck out 4 of them including David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Brendan Donnelly faced one batter and struck him out. J.C. Romero faced two batters and retired both of them.