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Recently in Los Angeles Angels CategoryPlaying Pepper 2011: Los Angeles AngelsPosted on March 8, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Two years ago, I started a series I called Playing Pepper, where I asked questions of bloggers of each major league team about the season to come. Not only was that informative and entertaining, it led to the spawning of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. With spring training coming up, it's time to get back into shape by again playing a little pepper. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (80-82, 10 GB and third in the AL West) For the last few years, it's been just automatic that the Angels are going to either win or be in contention for the AL West title. Last year, though, the wheels fell off as just about everything went wrong. Even a late trade for Dan Haren couldn't right the ship enough to make a run at the Rangers. A lot of the same names are back this year, hoping last year was an aberration. I talked to Garrett Wilson of the Angels blog Monkey With A Halo. As most of my interview subjects have been, you can find and follow him on Facebook and Twitter if you want to know about the West Coast team. Coming up, we talk about a former Cardinal farmhand. OK, so I used that line this morning. Doesn't mean it's not still true. Continue ReadingSigns Of Cardinal LifePosted on May 25, 2010 at 7:54 AM
It wasn't a perfect weekend for St. Louis. Not that it was bad, mind you; anytime you win two of three it's a pretty good set. However, the signs from this weekend indicate that as nice as this series with the Angels was, better days are a-comin'.Heroes and Goats, quickly: Friday (9-5 win) Hero: Jason Motte. All the offensive fireworks were nice, but if Motte is his flammable self, it wouldn't have mattered. Throwing two solid scoreless innings in this one kept it from being a really wild game or a tough loss. Goat: Matt Holliday. In a game where almost the entire offense joined in the fun, Holliday went 0-5. Notes: Brad Penny's grand slam was nice, though it'd have been nicer if that wasn't just evening up the four runs he'd already given up. And, of course, it'd been much nicer if he hadn't strained his lat while doing it (or, at least, aggravating a pre-existing condition). Nice night for Felipe Lopez and Skip Schumaker as well. Saturday (10-7 loss) Hero: Matt Holliday. Finally got a home run in front of the home fans. Goat: Kyle Lohse. Yes, he wasn't at 100%, or even maybe 70%. But six runs in 3 and a third is going to get you the tag anyway. Notes: Nice to see Brendan Ryan with a couple of hits, including a double. If he can start getting back to being some sort of offensive contributor, things will improve immensely. It was also nice to see the team rally a bit, even if it fell short. When I saw them get down 9-2, I never would have expected a final score as close as it was. Sunday (6-5 win in 10) Hero: David Freese. Three hits, two RBI, one run scored. Are we sure he's just a rookie? Goat: Ryan Ludwick. 0-5, 4 K is not a good afternoon. Notes: Really thought about giving Ryan Franklin the Hero tag, with his two scoreless innings in a spot where he had to hold the Angels if only for morale's sake. Chris Carpenter could have had the Goat--I know he said afterwards he felt like that was one of his best days command wise, but five runs (four earned) is not a good day at the office. The biggest news out of this weekend, of course, was the DLing of Penny and the potential loss of Lohse. While it's good to see PJ Walters get the callup (especially after his strong work in Memphis) and it'd be interesting to see Adam Ottovino make his debut, it's still in the best interest of the club to have a healthy and effective Penny and Lohse. (Whether or not that's a state of nature that's actually possible is completely debatable.) At least Walters and Ottovino were doing well in Memphis and were legitimate callups (assuming they add Ottovino, but I really can't imagine they won't, especially if the specialists in LA can't quite figure out what the problem with Lohse is). If they hadn't been, this would be a bigger problem. As it is, Carpenter is going to have to get back to Carpenter levels and the offense is going to have to start clicking, because the pitching staff may not be able to do all the work anymore. You can't expect the new recruits, as it were, to live up to the level of Jaime Garcia. Even with his success this year, the team is carefully monitoring him. I don't think we'll see a complete game or anything from Garcia and Tony LaRussa probably silently cheers every time Jaime gives up his first hit, so he doesn't have to ponder that "leave him in with a no hitter" question. The other news of the weekend involved the first ever public dispute between TLR and Pujols. Pujols's level of frustration is growing immensely and it is showing in actions that we haven't seen out of him in his decade in St. Louis. An 0-10 series? No RBI in 10 games? One home run this month? We saw him struggle a few years back, but once he got going, he tore it up. We've never seen him go strong, then go this cold. No matter what he's doing on the field, though, TLR was completely in the right to tell him to knock it off and fire back at any criticism. It's easy to let ego get the best of you and frustration can build into how that is reflected, but getting put in place, as it were, should be a good thing for him. Not that it's a big deal, but everyone needs correction at some point or another. On a more light-hearted note, there was a nice article about the Cardinals and their walk-up songs today in the Globe-Democrat. I think it's pretty funny to see Wainwright taking such a personal interest in both changing Schumaker's song and trying to come up with one for Franklin. Occasionally, you have to think that starting pitchers have too much time on their hands, but it makes for a fun clubhouse, I'd think. Also, the Cardinals have announced a push for everyone to Stand For Stan. If there's anyone that deserves some recognition, it's Stan Musial. He's been a great symbol for St. Louis for a long time and has never gotten the attention he deserves. He had to be added to the All-Century Team by the commissioner's office after being left out of the fan voting. He's never even discussed in the "Greatest Living Ballplayer" discussion. Even last year, on his own turf, he was relegated to the back burner during the All-Star Game due to the president's decision to attend. President Obama owes Stan for that slight, at least. He needs to award the Medal of Freedom to Stan the Man while there is still time. Be sure to print out your Stan and sign the petition at the link above. Cards get to head into San Diego today for a series against the surprising Padres. San Diego holds a one game lead in the NL West at a time when most people thought they'd be weighing offers for Adrian Gonzalez. Going into Petco, you know that the offense is going to be struggling on both sides, so hopefully the Cardinal pitching can hold out. At least the Wagonmaker takes the hill first. Here's what he's done against the Padres:
Jon Garland goes for the Padres. Being that he's spent a lot of time in the AL in his career, there's not a lot of data to work with:
Late start with that West Coast game. With my schedule the next few days, I'll probably not be back until Friday, after the series has wrapped. Hopefully we'll have good things to talk about then.
Filed Under: Heroes and Goats
| Los Angeles Angels
| San Diego Padres
| St. Louis Cardinals
Comments (1)
Just EnoughPosted on May 21, 2010 at 8:04 AM
The cliche is that, for good pitchers, you have to get to them early or you don't get to them at all. Apparently Adam Wainwright, if you didn't know, is a good pitcher.After the Marlins scored two in the first off of Wainwright, it kinda seemed like it was going to be another one of those days. After all, with this offense, there was no telling when or how long it'd take them to come up with two runs to tie. Turned out, it didn't take too long, with David Freese getting an RBI single in the first, then the offense tacking on three more in the second. After that, the bats did their customary shutdown, but with Wainwright clicking on the mound, that's all they needed. The game story at the Post-Dispatch sheds an encouraging light on the outing of Matt Holliday. (And it's from Joe Strauss, whose picture you won't find next to optimistic in the dictionary.) Holliday seems to finally be getting a bit comfortable at the plate. Whether this is from Albert Pujols hitting behind him or it is just about the time he starts to warm up in a year (remember, he was hitting in Oakland before the trade last year), I don't know, but it bodes well for the Cardinals if he can get on track. This seems to be a good time to mention a new app for your iPhone and iTouch. If you are a Holliday fan, LMK has created an app that focuses completely on him. You get news stories that he's in and pictures that pop up on the web with #7 in them. LMK provided me a free copy of the app and I've tried it out. If you are a big Holliday fan, it's probably worth the couple of bucks to download this. As I look at it now, the news stream has stories from the Post-Dispatch, the New York Post, and Sports Illustrated, among others. Plus, if you find an article you like, there's a feature to save it to a different tab so you can refer to it later if you want. As I say, the only thing I got out of this was a free review app, so this isn't a paid endorsement. Search for Holliday or LMK at the App Store and take a look. Goat for the game goes to Joe Mather for his 0-4 day. Even tried to bunt his way on once, which was original, but not successful. Hopefully Colby Rasmus used his day off to get straightened out, as he's looked a little lost lately at the plate. It can't be all that good that this incarnation of the Cardinals is actually producing less at this point in the season than last year's version did. A team with Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel and Joe Thurston in the lineup scored more runs than this one with Holliday and an every-day Rasmus? That just doesn't make logical sense. If the law of averages holds, this team is going to explode soon, just because they'll have to have a big run to make it to their norms. The Cardinals get another taste of interleague play as the Angels come into town. If you've read this blog for very long, you know every year when this comes up I express my dislike of interleague play. I have heard a few others in the media think that it's time has come and gone, but I'm sure that as long as Bud Selig is commissioner, it's going nowhere, and I'm doubtful his successor would look at it either. Anytime the Angels come into Busch, my mind goes back to that 2002 series, the first time they were in town. It's a different stadium now and very few players are the same, but the emotional impact of that series, with Jack Buck passing on the evening of what turned out to be Darryl Kile's final start, has stayed with St. Louis for these many years. If they are still doing this in 25 years, I'm sure that's still the first thing I'll think of when the Angels and Cardinals get together. Former Cardinal Joel Pineiro returns to his old stomping grounds. I'm sure Pineiro wants to show that the Cardinals should have at least made an attempt to resign him last year, but with his results and Brad Penny's results this year, I don't think the Cards are that disappointed. It'll be interesting to see if having Pineiro on staff the last three years gives the Cards a bit of an advantage in knowing what he'll throw. Here's what he's done against the current Redbirds:
Coincidentally, Penny is Pineiro's mound opponent tonight, so we'll get to see the decision in a microcosm. Penny's had a little experience with the current Angel squad:
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