Before we get started: an eternal thanks to all who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. We honor that sacrifice this weekend. If you lost a loved one in defense of our freedom our hearts and thanks go out to you as well.
Now let’s get back to baseball….
You hear that? It is the greatest sound in the sporting world. Bahstun fans crying. It is even greater when those tears are the result of an absolute beatdown at the hands of the Angels.
In three games Angels pitching limited the Roid Sux to 4 runs, with half of them coming off Aaron Loup. I’d imagine scoring off Loup is about as gratifying as ordering a Big Mac, and nearly as challenging.
And the Angels bullpen is looking to get better. Welcome to The Show Sam Bachman!
Here’s what we can look for out of the Angels first round pick of 2021.
Bachman will be used out of the bullpen, joining fellow 2021 draftee Chase Silseth, who played a critical role in the win Monday. The hope is Bachman’s electric stuff will play better in shorter bursts, like it has with Silseth.
Youth is truly being served on the Angels this year. 2022 first round pick Zach Neto is playing great baseball right now and had another great week on both sides of the ball.
He killed the Sux on defense.
And with the bat.
I’m of an age when kids mimicked pro players batting stances. I think there was just more variety in the 80s and 90s than there is now. Or perhaps we didn’t have video games and had to amuse ourselves. Either way, I’ve carried over my interest in batting stances, leg lifts, etc. to today.
Much has been made of Neto’s leg kick. He’s not alone. Check this out:
But wait, there’s more. How many of us had written Matt Thaiss off before the season? After a really brutal showing last month against bahstun that made him sick to his stomach, Thaiss has really rallied of late. He had a key hit Sunday, a very clutch home run on Tuesday, and is currently sporting an OPS+ of 118.
Speaking of Angels draft picks we’d kind of written off, Griffin Canning spun a gem on Tuesday in what the team hopes is a stepping stone in his career.
The fact this team is winning with Renfroe and Trout slumping and Rendon on the IL is inspiring. Ward isn’t playing well, either. But it is a long season. I’d imagine these guys heat up at some point.
Trout did look to break out of his funk a bit against the Sux. He passed Joe DiMaggio on the home run list Wednesday night when he belted the 362nd big fly of his career.
There are lots of moving pieces with the pitching staff right now. Barria was a reliever, now he’s a starter. Silseth has moved back and forth. Davidson as well. And then there’s the most important question of using Ohtani and keeping him happy. Enter Jeff Fletcher.
You can catch Ohtani on the hill Saturday night at the Big A.
From around baseball:
Vlad Guerrero Jr. put a smile on a young cancer survivor’s face last weekend. Good on ya, Vladdy.
Meanwhile, police in the Dominican Republic are looking for a Cubs prospect they think shot and killed a guy.
The Texas Rangers are bashing the ball. There’s a lot of reason for optimism in the Lone Star State.
Also plenty of reason to be happy if you are a baseball fan in Las Vegas as the A’s have a financing deal to build a stadium on the site of the Tropicana Hotel, complete with a strip view.
Carlos Correa is non stop drama, even during the off season. Now his slow start to the year has stopped in its tracks due to multiple injuries.
It might not be MLB, but these gals can play. NCAA Softball Super Regionals are underway and here are some storylines to follow.
Big tee ball game tonight against the Padres followed by a team pizza party. We moved to coach pitch a few games ago and our team is doing pretty well. I’m glad I’m not the coach pitching, ha ha. Only one game after this one. Spending this time with my son is priceless and I’ve also grown really fond of the other kids on the team.
Have a great weekend. Link what I missed.
Celebrate!!! Patty O game!!!!!!
Take a shot every time angelslogic complains – you’ll be hammered by the 3rd
The solution is to be hammered in advance.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with Patty O.
He says stuff sometimes where I think “that was corny” or what ever, but it’s a baseball announcer, he’s supposed to be loud and corny. He’s neither good nor bad. I think the problem is more just a bunch of “HEEE NAW VICTOR!” piss. Cause, if you’re frail enough, Victor Rojas is a hero to you and nothing else will do.
I actually like the guy. He’s goofy as hell
Uh oh. Patty O is gonna talk some. OK grown men, get ready to cry out like you’ve been stabbed.
🤣
Had no idea that Bachman had no soul
Huh?
Ginger…..Like May of the Doyers and Turner of the Red Sux’s.
Ah, gotcha.
As much as we all want Loup gone, Moronta has been worse this week.
Devenski saved his butt twice in bases loaded situations.
I believe the main reason ( even over and above the $7.5 million reasons) That the Poupster is still on this team is that he’s left handed and both Ingram and Torres have shit the bed down on the farm this year.
I’m disappointed in Torres. Toured him several times during the off season.
Hopefully it was the crappy ball and he gets back on track.
Cheer up Jeff. Apparently the Angel brass thinks there’s still something there.
https://twitter.com/AngelsMiLB/status/1662219057041674241
Pina. Bueno.
I remember Nevin had Estevez start warming up once it was 1st and 3rd in the 9th inning even though there were 2 outs. If Loup allowed another runner, he would have been replaced, and it would have been both Loup and Moronta being off the team. I was feeling pretty nauseous.
Yes, it’s probably time for the Malagasy Madness to be over.
Mickey is a lefty’ist
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/05/24/sizzling-mickey-moniak-waits-for-angels-to-give-him-a-chance-against-lefties
I’m fully supportive of this.
Thats what Hanes said.
Catchers R’ Us
https://twitter.com/ByRobertMurray/status/1661905626103185408?s=20
The Depths
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1661439637368471552?s=20
Conflict between who Nevin would select vs who I would like Nevin to pick for starting lineup:
Ward LF/Trout CF/Ohtani DH/Renfroe RF/Drury 1B/Urshela 3B/Rengifo 2B/Wallach C/Neto SS
vs.
Moniak LF/Trout CF/Ohtani DH/Renfroe RF/Walsh 1B/Drury 2B/Urshela 3B/Wallach C/Neto SS
Back by popular demand, Go Halos!
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Nihongo onanako’s totemo kirei
I recall there was a popular Chinese magazine that used to feature good looking young actress on their front cover, but under Government guidance, they were forced to place photos of their senior essential officials instead. The sale of the magazine soon plummeted precipitously and had to beg their prime minister to return to female photo.
By the way, those cheerleaders are from Taiwan. I am aware that I get into NO trouble saying they all look the same. It is like when African American use that dreaded b-word, they don’t get into trouble.
Interesting, couple of the girls look Japanese and no, they all don’t look the same. I lived in Tokyo for 3.5 years and my GF was from China. We spoke to each other in Japanese.
I see every one of those women above as unique and special and am willing to spend some time with any of them.
I swear Nevin waits for me to post my estimation on staring lineups:
Official Starting Lineups:
Ward LF
Trout CF
Ohtani DH
Renfroe RF
Drury 1B
Urshela 3B
Rengifo 2B
Wallach C
Neto SS
Do you wonder if Rengifo holds some embarrassing photos of Nevin or Minasian like Vladimir Putin on Donald Trump (allegedly)?.
Go Halos, keep the streak going, I would love to see ShuffleBot for next 10 nights and longer.
Awesome for a night
back to the Rally Monkey
Per MLBTR, Moronta got DFA’d.
‘Bout time.
So no more meal money for him?
Oh the horror!
Trout might have been the only Angels player who regretted to see Moronta gone because Mike was feeling a little bit better about his body image while Moronta was in Anaheim.
Random thought of the day to distract you from this queasy feeling of cliff hanger of Moronta or Loup question.
Shohei rarely takes his batting practice on the fields, but last Tuesday, he showed up for batting practice on the field, which caused stampede for hundreds of media reporters. No injuries or death reported. Apparently Moniak, who followed Shohei in turn, was interviewed by a reporter and asked to opine and he jokingly quipped that he hated watching it and felt powerless.
During WBC this March, Shohei appeared for batting practice in every game in Tokyo, Phoenix and Miami, with intention to “scare” the opponents. It is well documented that Japanese people paid to fill the 30K capacity stadium to watch Shohei conduct his out on the field batting practice for an exhibition game. I am actually surprised that Arte has not picked up on this that he can probably generate more money by requiring Shohei to practice batting outside.
I keep checking MLBTR to see who is going so Bachman can get added.
I sincerely hope the front office has already spoken to whoever it is. Keeping a guy in limbo this long would not be cool.
Laid off via text.
Laid off via twitter
The new broke up over the answering machine.
Having a girlfriend’s friend inform you you’ve been let go….damn you Vicki from 7th grade!
After getting off the bus like USC’s Lame Kiffen.
Isn’t it Moronta?
I don’t know if there is an airport in Anaheim, but could someone from CtPG go there and stake out who shows up with his suitcase and inform us? Oh, I forgot Arte is too cheap, so we should probably check Greyhound station instead. 😁
Our old friend, Jose Iglesias, opts out of Padres deal even though their present SS Ha-Seong Kim is now on IL. I speculate Iglesias is aiming for the Kabuto handing ceremonial position now that Brett Phillips is DFA’d. 😆
I liked him. He was solid defensively and handled the good, high fastball really well..
Besides, he is friends with Shohei and his mom.
He, like so many other players, just had a weird defensive collapse for us. Also probably brought on by shit fan JuJu because he wasn’t the expensive star FA everyone wanted so they piss vibed him into not only NOT being a huge star but not even having his normal skill set.
And then, after he escaped the donkey farm, he crushed it in Boston and was his normal 1.2 WAR self in Colorado.
I just want you to know that Ive become really fond of your term donkey. It legit makes me laugh every time.
Such a perfect word for the context in which you use it.
Funny thing is, I like actually donkeys. Noble beasts.
Do you feel the same way about mules?
Nah. Too big. Donkeys are small and, in my experience, actually don’t complain much. They abide, like The Dude.
I concur.
Word
Aww
Doxie on a Donkey
he was horrible defensively during his time here. every defensive metric out there confirmed that Frosty.
Never just trust those Lylin’ Eyes.
Neto is a better fielder than Bo.
I consider Bo or Trea the #1SS in baseball, but I love having Neto there to balance the high $$ contracts, considering they are either aging, or underperforming, or both.
Yah. Wander Franco is hidden on the Rays, but that dude can field and throw a mile plus he hits. He’s really good.
An astute observation. Probably one of the strong candidates for AL ROY if it were not for Shohei. $182M x 11 years contract.
Bo Diddley or Bo Derek?
Bo Jackson of course. Bo knows shortstop.
If you could change one thing about the Angels ’23 what would you chose?
7. New ownership, front office
“Fk the World Series if Arte! Fk you dad!”
Sounds like Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club.
That sullen sassy fingerless glove style puss puss…. yeah, that’s pretty much the CtPG guy vibe. But with no dad that actually beats on you… he just forced a Ford on you while your friends got BMW M3s.
#2 and #6 and
#7 – play some defense ffs
When I was taking a test with multiple choice questions in college, I always chose all of the above when uncertain.
I always chose “C.”
B for me.
I know I should have chosen “C”, or I would have passed that Econ 101 class.
Neato ROY. Easy choice for me
ZNALROY is expected at this point but i dont see him hitting .300
in AL…..Volpe, Jung, Gunnar all there with him in bWAR but they have all played an additional month in the MLB than Zack.
At current pace, he’s an easy choice for ROY
Jung is impressive, a lot of very good rookies in the AL.
I don’t want the Dodgers to even reach the Series.
Angels win it all while the Dodgers clunk and miss the playoffs or go out in the first round would be the best possible.
Beating this edition of the Dodgers in 7 games with 5 decided by one run for myself would be over the top payback.
With that said, yes watching Trout have a massive season would vault him to ths stratosphere in how his career numbers would look. Plus, that would take us to the PO and beyond. 🚀
Angels v. Dodgers World Series has the potential to be absolutely horrible. How long would it be until the two teams meet up again in the WS so the loser could exact revenge?
I take #6 BUT I want that WS to be a humiliating feast of soul meat for the Angels. A four game sweep where the Dodgers get like seven total hits and the Angels just crush every pitcher they send out. I want the first 2 games to be at Doyer stadium. I want 7 hours of stunned, disgruntled, mournful silence from all their all-star fans who could get tickets. I want to be able to hear the fights in the beer lines over the broadcast mics in that stadium of silent sadness. I want to laugh as broadcasters try to be peppy while highlighting the stars of Fox’s TV shows who are in attendance. I want to see LeBraun cry for the Doyers. I want it to be so disgusting a slaughter that people have to look away, like to a level that MLB considers a slaughter rule to prevent their flagship franchises from being shamed so horribly that fans can’t look upon them anymore.
Then two games at the Big A that are a total party.
Well done brave one. It’s amazing how you harbor no bitterness and maintain such an upbeat persona despite the circumstance associated with Angels fandom. Doyers must cry!
I see Dodgers and the very fiber of my being says “yuck”. Only the Yankees are more yuck…. maybe.
Maybe a tie, for me.
O’Hoppe comes back a couple weeks earlier than expected and hits the cork out of the ball for the rest of the season.
G) All of the above
Love, love the tee ball video. I coached my son’s team for a few years where I compared it to herding cats with kids watching planes or picking flowers in the outfield. You will forever be grateful that you took the opportunity to serve those kids.
I distinctly remember one of my nephews chasing a butterfly in the outfield during a tee ball game.
Another nephew hit the ball off the tee in his first at-bat and then keep running straight into right field from first base and would not stop.
My own memory of me playing tee ball that my mother likes to recount is that I did not know that you could stop at first base. So I hit a ball and just kept running around the bases. With bad throws, etc. I scored.
Sounds like Ward running the bases. 😀
Thanks. This is the most fun I’ve ever had. It is certainly organized chaos at its finest.
I kind of assumed the duty of first base coach and that gives me the chance to reward each kid with a high five or fist bump a few times per game.
I also get to see their faces as they run down the line. Some are ear to ear smiles, some are trying with everything they have, and some are off in la la land.
You are right that you get to know your kid’s teammates well and their parents. My wife and I were fortunate that my both sons liked playing baseball and decided to play on all star teams during summer. All those travels to many towns like Tri-Cities, Wenatchee, and Bend, staying in motels and sitting outside the swimming pool sipping microbrew or wine, talking about how kids did in the day’s games (sometimes up to 3 games during one day). Many non baseball parents thought we were crazy “wasting” our summer that way.
As I try to use my remaining cerebral cortex matter in predicting today’s starting lineup, I would like your input regarding who should be in ever important 1 hole. From what I understood from Nevin’s post game comment after Wednesday’s victory against Red Sux, Moniak will sit today. Marlins starting pitcher is lefty. Multiple question format.
Neto should lead off and ward bat 7th behind Renfroe ans Drury.
C
I see you are “C”onsistent.
Bachman got the call up.
And will go to the bullpen.
But it seems a bit odd: he was starting in AA and wasn’t dominating; and, there are some other pitchers who have been more successful to date in the Angels farm system.
I hope this works out.
The bullpen can use another electric arm.
if he was here Wednesday, he could have pitched to Turner
Just read the Cubs’ prospect story. I simply don’t understand people. You get a $500,000 signing bonus and allegedly decide to shoot a guy over $2,750?
Pride. How dare he steal from me?
Things like that matter to 18 year olds. With age, you realize you got off cheap.
https://youtu.be/78-4RobJQ0Y
Yeah, I was gonna say, it’s not the money, it’s what the stealing says about you. And young athlete’s got an ego and a small brain.
Oh my God! A pitcher pitches on only FOUR days of rest? Why I never… I say let’s do it. What do they have to lose?
This is old school baseball….
I know.
This is like the cliff hanger “Who shot J.R. Ewing?”. Still nothing on Loup or Moronta yet…..
Yes, I liked watching night time soap operas in addition to afternoon ones. It was to learn proper English.
I was more of a “Who shot Mr. Burns” kinda guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwP3wes4M8
JR Ewing. Great band.
Your English is excellent.
What language do you think in?
I felt I was getting the hang of it when I finally dreamt in English. It is also so much fun when I converse with someone who is bilingual in English and Japanese. We become much more creative and expressive in describing things in general.
Yeah, the “dream in a language” seems to be the common marker that you’ve got it down pretty good.
When I have night terrors, it’s always in Dutch. The kid from the Dutch Boy Paint is chasing me with a rake. Screaming
“Ga naar de keuken en maak wat kaaskwark voor me!”
OMG cheese curds the horror!
Then he slyly insinuates his sinister sinews stridently throughout the inner workings of your life and before you know it you are sleeping on a park bench while he drives your Chevy Lumina with your kids in it and does horrible bedtime dress up games with your wife and walks your dog while forming dubious alliances with Spain!
Or so a friend told me….
Keep this AL West Career Home Run Leaderboard in mind this weekend, and if Trout homers, please celebrate accordingly.
How about all-time AL leaders? Little underwhelming to reflect on a division only basis vs the overall league, better yet, all of MLB.
Two main # i watching for 2023 Trout are:
When Trout became the Angel franchise leader a long time ago, it was a big deal. Becoming the AL West HR leader is more difficult and should be a bigger deal.
And if we resist celebrating Trout’s ascension to the AL West All-Time HR crown because we’re holding out for Trout to take over Babe Ruth as the American League’s All-Time HR king, it is highly likely that we will never get to celebrate.
Yawn. I’m sure George Brett was pretty high up on the AL West leaderboard for quite some time.
It looks like a made up stat that yearns to make Mike Trout sound more impressive than he already is. And, it’s just a stretch, like those “He leads all of MLB in hits to left field on Thursdays when the moon is waxing” stats that mediocre teams toss out on a broadcast.
Man, you guys are no fun.
Not to pile on but I’m in the same camp as FungoAle, just having fun wasting time before I bail on work early before the long weekend.
I really don’t think divisional stats matter much. Feels like the crud you get on the national broadcast where they site some player who has a .500 average versus red headed, left handed side arm pitchers in late/close situations on Wednesday business special getaway day games.