Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
To focus on the positive for a moment, Shohei Ohtani pitched seven innings of one run baseball Tuesday night, picking up 10 strikeouts and issuing only one walk. Says Joe Maddon, “It was all there. It couldn’t have worked out any better, other than the outcome.” Ahh those pesky outcomes!
Shohei Ohtani also made another of his juggling plays. This time I think he was mainly just trying to protect the family jewels.
Does Shohei have two different cutters?
Anthony Rendon is almost ready to play. He reports that “Having my kneecap go almost fully around my knee didn’t feel great.” I’m willing to take his word for it.
Felix Peña cleared waivers and he’s been outrighted.
Links From Around Baseball
Assuming there’s no work stoppage, who will opt out and who will opt in? Should they?
Drew Robinson hit his first home run after joining the Sacramento River Cats.
Mike Soroka seems to be another one of those hard luck pitchers like Garrett Richards or Matt Shoemaker. Everything just keeps falling apart.
MLB Trade Rumors has a new database of which agency represents which player. It looks a little more convenient than how this information is presented on BBRef.
The Yankees have had several positive COVID tests recently.
Dustin May had his Tommy John surgery so now it’s all over but the rehab.
Final from Salt Lake City: Tacoma 15, SLC 5. Peters lost his stuff in the 6th. Ben Rowen let in 1 inherited runner to tie up the game, then gave up 7 of his own. Adell 0 for 4, 3 ks. Marsh 2 for 3, HR, SB
Adell – 30 AB – 13 Strike outs – hitting .200 – 4 walks 😩
3 HR – 7 RBI 😐
He’s staying there if he strikes out at a nearly 50% clip. How’s his defense been?
Now that Albertross has a documented reputation as an egotistical malcontent, any chance that he will get picked up? I can’t imagine anybody signing him as an everyday player, and he won’t ride the pine gracefully.
Marsh tonight: 1 for 2, the hit being a homerun, one stolen base, and a walk. Bees currently up 5-2.
Diddlin’ Peters on the mound.
y’all no one told me that Taylor Ward was fast.
I legit did not know this until today.
94th percentile in sprint speed for this year (89th in 2020, 82nd in 2019)
Would have been a perfect occasion for the draft scene gif, but couldn’t find it…
He turned out to be a decent draft choice, but should not have been #1.
Hopefully Boston is getting it all out of their system tonight.
Yeah, I hope so…. I’m glad they’re scoring a lot.
Usually I figure 40 games or 1/4th of the season is long enough to get a good feel for how good or bad a team is. If we should win our next 4 then I’d think we’re a .500 team. If we lose our next 4 then we’re done and can think of 2022 and the draft.
That’s fair enough.
Trash Pandas finally commence their inaugural season :
“Fans packed $46 million Toyota Field for the Trash Pandas home opener, the team’s seventh game after opening the season with a 2-4 trip to Chattanooga. The team wore special jerseys with gold lettering to commemorate the event and country music star Lee Greenwood sang the national anthem, then his epic “God Bless the U.S.A.” in the seventh-inning stretch.
The Tennessee Smokies, however, had no sense of place and defeated the Trash Pandas 4-3 in 10 innings.”
Link : https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/trash-pandas-home-opener-its-amazing-everything-is-great-here.html
Taylor Blake Ward (@TaylorBlakeWard) Tweeted:
Brandon Marsh has been added to the AAA Salt Lake roster
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1392909666070323207?s=20
Pujols cleared waivers.
Also, water is wet and the sun rose in the East today.
I think someone in the AL will scoop him up and he won’t hit any better. Cleveland? Toronto?
Just please not the AL West. I don’t think DiPoto would have him after their prior spat. Oakland seems too smart. I wonder if Texas would sign him just to troll us.
Until he plays us of course……..
My initial thought is Baltimore where he won’t be blocking anyone and can play in the AL East bandboxes.
But Colorado makes a lot of sense as does Cleveland.
Nah, all teams know his tendency to GIDP. He is going to the Dominican League to prep for the Olympics.
Leadoff to get more HR chances and avoid GIDPs!
Or put his team back n a one out hole.
IBB, for the ol’6-3-6 Double Play
Heaney remains perplexing:
Game 1 – Homer-happy walk machine makes his debut.
Game 2 – The induced poor contact (.250 BABIP) and lots of Ks (9) were well worth a few walks (3).
Game 3 – Continued to induce poor contact (.222 BABIP) but with a worse K/BB rate.
Game 4 – Almost unhittable (.182 BABIP) with 0 walks and 10 Ks!!!
Game 5 – Homer-happy walk machine returns.
Game 6 – Found his control with a stellar K/BB ratio, but was more hittable (.308 BABIP) than his prior good starts.
Game 7 – Homer-happy and super hittable (.353 BABIP) with a reduced K/9 rate, but successfully controlled the walks (0).
Conclusion – the nickname “hot pocket” might have been given to the wrong Angel.
Heaney is the very definition of inconsistent. It’s what makes him maddening. He has super high potential but just can’t find it during at least half his starts.
Normally when I think of a career ERA+ 95 guy I think of a mediocre innings eater. Heaney, however, has flashes of brilliance, flashes of suck, and rarely eats innings over the course of a year.
Great point. I would contend that his inconsistency makes him technically worse than a mediocre innings eater since the down days are almost auto losses rather than an innings eater who keeps their team in a majority of games.
Not necessarily, because I would hazard that we would still win a similar number of games given that we know Heaney’s starts as we would given some guy who goes 5 innings, 3 runs each time.
Just because we’re “close” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “better.” Have to sum up the expectations.
My thinking as well. Normally with a 95 ERA+ you know what you’re going to get and can game plan accordingly. A guy is going to go 5-6 innings and give up 3 runs.
With Heaney you have no idea if he’s going 8 or 2, whether he’ll give up 8 or 2, you simply can’t plan for him.
Nailed it! That’s what I was trying to say.
He’s a 9-11 pitcher every year.
I don’t call that a guy with huge potential ( stuff is very average, typical Angel draft pick who we can lowball into a cheap signing bonus ).
Heaney is not who you mean, It’s Dylan Bundy ( #4 pick in 2011 Draft )
Dylan Bundy will never be the big winning starting pitcher that many predicted of him. We need to unload him this July, because I wanna win.
https://stathead.com/baseball/player-comparison.cgi?player_id2=bundydy01&p1yrfrom=2021&type=p&player_id1=heanean01&p2yrfrom=2021&sum=0&request=1
Comp of Heaney and Bundy. Very similar. Bundy’s FIP a bit better because of 2 fewer home runs.
This comp generated from Heaney’s bbref page. Neat function.
A combined 1-7 ( Bundy has way better stuff than Heaney though )
He isn’t good and bad at the same time, he switches between starts. More like a an Icy Hot.
Cold to induce pain and hot to relax it away.
Ha! Perfect…..Icy Hot = Heaney….we should alert the internet.
Man, this is the Seventies again. Except now I can drink. Legally, that is.
70s Angels baseball. Where a young boy learned his first real lessons in dealing with disappointment, delayed gratification and what it is like to love and root for the underdog. Those lessons have served me well in many facets of my life.
Delayed gratification would be nice…..we might not have any gratification.
I was thinking of the joy I felt in 2002 which was so unbelievably better and intense after all that suffering.
What is the ideal amount of suffering? 5 years? 10? Our 20 years in-between championships? Or 107 years like the Cubs with Madden?
Or do you want to grow up being an elitist, arrogant dick, like the fans in Boston the last 20 years.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/10/all-of-bostons-11-championship-teams-since-2001-ranked
I’ll take any increase from our first and only in 2002.
Growing up a Laker fan has spoiled me, counterbalance with being a suffering Angels Fan.
More suffering to come with the Angels, it’s OK, I’m accustomed to it.
Your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nnaeO6QSPI
Boston fans are the worst.
I think a Championship every 15 years and 5 of those 15 being competitive would work for me and avoid complacency in the fan base.
Every MLB and MiLB team seem to have 2 or 3 TJS every year proving that the 100 pitch count limit saves nothing and does not protect the elbow. Could the opposite be true, that pitching more than 100 pitches makes for a stronger elbow and shoulder?
Lack of quality depth was exposed in last night game as Maddon sat Trouty, Fletch and JUp along with Redon on the IL. Did any of us really think that the line up Misfit Players would pull this off? I now totally believe Joe Maddon is not that smart of a manager and he cost us games in the loss column.
Don’t you think Maddon realized that lineup was not competitive??
Don’t you think there was a reason he sat Trout and Fletch??
Come on Gramps don’t be simple minded. The concept of resting players and the value it provides is surely not beyond your comprehension.
While the analytics revolution in baseball has totally changed the game, it has also leaked over to other sports like basketball and football where numbers and statistical analysis now play a huge role in philosophy. PER in the NBA has become their equivalent to WAR etc…
On the flip side, the NBA has influenced MLB as they started the “Load Management” revolution, and now many baseball teams have begun to regularly rest players (especially stars) even when they are not injured. The idea is that this improves performance in the long-term even if it may hurt the team in the short-term.
Popovich was really the one who started this, and the years when he began regularly resting Duncan, Ginobili, Parker etc his Spurs were making deep playoff runs every year.
There is something to be said for “Load Management” and especially when a player like Fletcher is not performing up to expectations AND has been playing everyday (i.e, not rested) this is a good way to help said play clear his mind, relax and comeback with new vigor and focus.
The baseball season is a long haul. A grind. It therefore behooves teams to periodically rest everyday players instead of just running them out there day after day after day as if they were robots. It is a good idea EVEN if it maybe means losing a game in the process. The idea is that performance will improve down the road and that game, those games will be made up.
So your comment and snide remarks like the one by Bluto about Maddon “fielding his best lineup” are actually short-sighted and ignorant.
fire me up frosty
Snide remarks? Kind sir be it known that my comments were pure and unadulterated sarcasm and nothing less. When you are done nursing Mr. Maddon, honor will be restored through pistols at dawn.
Will this be the old school gentlemanly, 18th century, 20 paces?
Or, old west style, 1880’s western, dusty street outside the saloon?
Gentlemanly conduct and civility rule the day, so of course Elizabethan courtesies must be extended.
So Jack has been “challenged“….Don’t you need to hit him in the face with a glove?
Swords or Pistols? Where and the date and time…it’s on.
This being CTPG, a fish is appropriate.
Possibly the most sublime 15 seconds of British film ever.
For those who haven’t seen the entire sketch…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XeDvKqI4E
Pistols at dawn. Come on man
Which one of ’em will caper nimbly about a lady’s chamber to the lascivious playing of a lute?
Ah yes, Lady Anne Neville
Yippie Kai Yeah, a dual.
We’re getting TWO duels?
A dual duel.
Maddon is a “manager of the people,” he is good at that. Able to communicate up, down at out. I think he is very personable and I like that. But Joe will never be accused as being a “tactical manager.” I would argue in today’s high-salaried world, better to be the former, than the latter.
Today IS the day off. Agree w/GrampaBasball, we rolled an “L” out there yesterday, not easy to take as a supporter. That was a loser line-up last night, no other way to sugarcoat it. Heaney had to hurl a shutout to win.
Baseball is a long season and with travel can be a grind but the game itself, does not require load management like the NBA. Standing in center field with a position card tucked away in the cap, not much physical or mental stress. But you need to play your way out of slumps. Joe should have staggered the days off for his best players and not have them all sit out on the same day, “IF” they really needed one, especially as they lounge around Boston today.
Respectfully disagree. There is a common misconception that because baseball is not a contact sport, or that one is not running constantly like in soccer or basketball that it is somehow not taxing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As the batter stands in the box and prepares to face a rock hard projectile being hurled at him of speeds often upwards of 95 mph, which if off-target could not only gravely injury him but end his life, he is required to maintain the utmost concentration and focus, not only to attempt to hit said projectile, but to protect himself. This mental focus is in and of itself draining when required day after day after day. So I beg to differ with your assessment.
Further, baseball has nagging injuries and pains just like other sports, sometimes more. In many cases players don’t disclose the nagging injuries they have, be they strains, deep bruises, etc. Yes, I understand that players are making alot of money and in the eyes of many that should more than compensate for the physical and mental sacrifices they make. I would not argue that point. There are indeed well compensated.
But my argument is about the value of resting players in terms of performance of said players. I have noticed myself for many years that in a high percentage of cases a player coming off a single day of rest has a big game. It is often the case that this player was performing poorly immediately prior the day of rest. Does this mean the rest day was the reason for the HR, or big-day or whatever? Not necessarily. But the correlation is worthy of discussion.
In terms of the Angels and yesterdays lineup, as Fan mentioned by resting those guys Maddon provided them with essentially two days off. I think there is value in that, especially since the Angels will be playing like a month straight of games coming up, thanks largely to the cancellation of the last two games of the Twins series at home. I think Maddon was/is well aware of that.
Maybe you think yesterday was not the best day to rest those guys. I would entertain that argument. But if so, you should suggest another day. I don’t think you or anyone else can effectively argue that days of rest in Major League Baseball are not necessary.
Holy Cal Ripken! Probably shaking his head after reading this. Does the sport require mental focus and having a fortitude to play through “nagging” injuries? Hell yes it does. Rest is…okay, but do it smartly where it won’t lessen your chance to win a game. Joe rolled a “L” out there.
Cal Ripken Jr.
He was a freak of nature. Not even sure he is from this planet.
When I saw video of him twisting his entire body into a pretzel-like shape that appeared to be humanly impossible that opinion was strengthened…
They gamed the system for Cal Jr to get that record. Yes he was good, but mortal. Just think how much better his stats would have been if they just played him right.
Soggy Joe is the worst. His lack of talent was hidden in Tampa by the FO. The players in Chicago got tired of his wacko style of managing winning the WS in spite of his managing style. He fleeced Mr Moreno, a man that likes the big names up in lights, by getting a nice three year deal knowing he wouldn’t get fired until year three of the contract.
Joe is terrible at his job.
I like you spy.
🤗
“I now totally believe Joe Maddon is not that smart of a manager and he cost us games in the loss column.”
While I respect anyone’s right to their opinion, I will point out that last night should not have been the tipping point for you. Trout and Fletch were grinding in Houston. Trout, in particular, was having a terrible series.
Maddon clearly thought both needed a rest and with the Thurs off day, missing one game will give each two full days off.
Did it suck from a fan perspective to see that particular lineup on the field – yes for sure. It was a brutal game. But Maddon needs Trout and Fletch firing on all cylinders and if sacrificing one game helps towards that end, particularly on the way into Fenway Park, then the thought process is justified. Yesterday’s decision to rest Trout, Fletch and JUp should not have been the tipping point for you on Maddon.
I’d just rather sacrifice a non-division game than an in division one. As much as I hate the Dodgers and Roid Sux, if rest needs to be taken I’d rather have them punt one of those games.
That is an argument I respect and don’t totally disagree with. If I was going to question Maddon’s choice of days/games it would be because we were playing a division opponent in a rubber game.
The other side is that it gave those guys essentially two days off, which I do think has value.
I can see your point and would agree with it if Trout and Fletch had not been so awful in the first two games. Trout has been flat out terrible in Houston. Rather than have them press, and likely become more frustrated, give them two full days off to chill and refocus. I think that’s a legit thought process.
I honestly don’t ever recall seeing a game where it was “sacrificed” but that is exactly what I felt last night.
I think you’re onto something. The problem with guys blowing their arms out is that every pitch thrown nowadays is maximum effort. Back in the day guys would pace themselves a bit, dial up the big fastball from time to time but not go max effort every pitch.
Tao never told us the second half to his “Tao of Tame.”
All we’ve heard to this point: “We will win some games.”
The other half hiding all this time: “We will lose many more games.”