That’s it! The Angels will remain in Southern California for the rest of the season (although they will travel to Petco Park and Dodger Stadium). If the Angels are to make a run at the postseason, it will be from the comfort of their own beds.
The big team news of the weekend was that Albert Pujols hit home run #660. He is now tied with Willie Mays, and Alex Rodriguez is next on the list at 696. When Pujols signed in 2012, I sort of imagined he would reach this milestone, but I never imagined it would be like this.
David Fletcher is back. With such fill-ins as Franklin Barreto, Luis Rengifo, and Matt Thaiss at second base, it is truly a relief to see Fletcher make plays like this. He returns just in time to make a run at the AL MVP…
that this dude somehow is back in contention. Mike Trout has had two distinct “slumps” this season, and he also missed three games for paternity leave, and yet I would personally have him second on my ballot if the season finished today (Shane Bieber). He’s that insanely good.
The Angels are getting sued by a former clubhouse attendant. Harkins claims that the Angels knew about his wrongdoing and approved of it.
Shohei Ohtani is struggling, while Jared Walsh is looking up. Matt Thaiss has also gotten looks.
The Rangers rebuild is apparently not going well, except they keep beating the Angels.
MLB has a postseason bubble plan. It would be really nice if the Angels could get there, because I think this team could be very successful at either Dodger Stadium or Petco Park. (I already dislike the new Rangers stadium for a variety of reasons, and I abhor Minute Maid’s dimensions.)
The Astros visited LA this weekend. Dodgers fans greeted them kindly.
Alex Mills of the Chicago Cubs threw a no-hitter, getting five whiffs all game while not throwing a pitch faster than 91. Definitely an anachronism there.
There was football. It was fun.
Crook Steve Cohen* and the Wilpons have agreed to a deal so Cohen, noted crook, will own the Mets. From CBS Sports, I found this interesting…just speculation.
If Cohen is “cleaning house” and needs a new GM he should get one who knows New York, someone who’d fit in well, someone like….Billy Eppler?
Anyway, from wikipedia:
so they’ll let in anybody who has enough money.
That is first choice, second choice was JLo and ARod, so one cheater over another. Good find Eric. Like your GM advice too. +1
I know, right?
It is strange how Selig and Manfred think about the Game they are entrusted to protect. The politics of how poor ownership in Montreal and Miami got to improve their lot and a parking lot magnet with no money all came out smelling like a rose. So the bad management in Miami got the Red Sox, Dodgers got sold out to the loser of the Red Sox bidding war before Selig stepped in and put a halt to the bidding war. And the guy that choked the chicken in Montreal got Miami. Now it looks like the same stuff of who you know and who you bl__. When Arte does sell the team his new stadium will not come with the deal l’d bet. There is no lipnus test for finding honest rich people to buy these teams.
Seattle is only 1 1/2 back of Houston and we’re 2 back of Seattle. Looking at the AL only 2 AL West teams will make it. We’ll know by the end of the next series, I think, if we even have a chance. We have to sweep Arizona. Well, really we have to sweep everybody but for sure we need to gain on both Seattle and Houston because time is running out!
Look for Trout to go off these last 12 games. He will be happy and relieved sleeping at home every night.
Walsh is awesome right now. Might as well insert him as closer too.
Can’t be much worse than who we have now, and in this case, we do know that he is also a legit pitcher.
To me Trouty is second in MVP with Rendon in the top ten. As you know Fletch has always had me in his corner and if not for an ankle injury would have imho finished top 5. He was leading the league in hits when he went down. Bundy would have finished 4th in AL CYA for me. The Angels just had to many below the norm years from to many players and while a handful were very good or better to many could get over Mendoza Line including Albert, Ohtani, Bemboom, Renny, Thaiss, JUp, Barretto, and finally Adell with an excuse for being a Rookie. Albert is just done and has been for years, Ohtani and JUp have no excuses for their dismal performances. Thaiss is just a bust with us and may perform better else where. Ward did just well enough to possibly be a bench player and Walsh just might be the real thing. Walsh being a lefty and a darn good fielder is maybe ready to have a decent MLB career.
Let me finish this up. NL MVP is Freddie Freeman of Atlanta and NL CYA is tough but l am going with the Cubs Yu Darvish barely over the Mets DeGrom because without Darvish’s return to prominence the Cubs would not be where they are and the Mets are the Mets whether Jacob is there or not. They have numbers that are other worldly.
If there is any Team respect left in Arte he will demand the Albert is traded to the Cards for a bag of dirty socks let him finish it out where real Baseball Fans live. Final number of HR’s could be 670 and then the Baseball World can shower him with praise the rest of his life.
Since H.T. brought it up my American League MVP is Jose Abreu of the White Sox who is just flat out hitting every pitcher and every pitch anywhere he wants with power. Bieber is my CYA winner.
Abreu is having a really good season!
It’s not quite fair to compare Abreu and Trout to determine an MVP since they did not face the same competition. What you need are three regional MLB MVPs. For the MLB West, the MVP award is a toss up between Trout and Tatis, Jr. For the MLB West Cy Young, I have Kershaw in the lead, followed closely by Lamet of San Diego and our very own Dylan Bundy. And for MLB West Rookie of the Year, Lewis of SEA has the clear lead.
Bob Nightengale made a good point for once!
Who would of though Oakland was going to finish higher up the standings that the Asstros? Well they did because some players had some good years going on and that included Matt Chapman. Chapman is regarded as the best fielding Third Baseman in the American League is down and will have hip surgery. Tough break. Tampa Bay loses Ji-Man Choi going forward. At this point l still like Tampa Bay’s potential to make the World Series with their pitching staff and great Pen. Even with Cody Bellinger seemingly just a shadow of last year the Dodgers can score runs at will and have great staters and awesome Pen. We need help to make the playoffs and we need our awkward hitting lineups to pull use up as just a handful of games remain. My fear of not doing a good job of tanking because we are a better team than the one that keeps showing up and because year after year we are just middleing has happened. lt is difficult to root against this team. Yhe one loss that sticks with me is Blackmon’s GS in the bottom of the 9th. I n the end it might not matter, but l still don’t want to miss the Playoffs by one game.
It’s the curse of Barry Bonds. In exchange for denying the greatest player of his generation a World Series championship in 2002, the Angels were cursed with the inability to win a single playoff game while possessing the game’s next great generational talent.
So, this was supposed to be the week I spend in LA for work and therefore make my way to see a game at the Big A.
Stupid 2020.
Also, a friend just reminded me that Mad Max took place in 2021. At this rate, would anyone be surprised?
“We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home”
All we got is a bunch of LOBsters
3.5 back of the Astros. Baseball is a crazy game. Anything can happen!
But it usually doesn’t.
Not a popular thing to say, but we should root for the Dodgers to sweep the Padres these next 3 days. If they do, it basically cements the Dodgers as the first seed and Padres as the 4th seed, which means it’s likely both teams have nothing to play for the last week of the season.
If neither team has anything to play for, we are more likely to face their “B squads,” which can only help us.
I’m down with that plan!
We will win some games.
The Tao of TAME
I always pictured Borat in my mind while reading a TAME post!
EMAT…..for-evuh!!
I’d like to believe that, but there was 1988 when the team lost their final 12 games to close out the season. I think this one will do better, but …
No hitters, here we come