162-0

With last night's win, the Angels move one game closer to the 162-0 game perfect season. Of course, a loss tonight drops them to 81-81, likely good enough for third in the AL West. No pressure, guys!

It's interesting how some small sample sizes seem traumatically ridiculous, but a single night of Brandon Wood at-bats is enough to convince his detractors that he isn't ready to be in the big leagues. He went 0-4 with 3 swinging strikeouts and a popup to third, not really an ideal show of force for the new starting third baseman. Regardless, if Scioscia panics and takes him out of the lineup, he won't ever start hitting the ball, and then the Angels will find themselves suddenly very thin in the infield. The sight of Tony Reagins in a luxury box on a Thinkpad was oddly reassuring.

Jered Weaver was pretty average. His success this year will be determined by home runs. Prevent them, and he's staring a great season in the face. Allow too many, and he'll become weirdly reminiscent of his brother, and the Halosphere will start the march for Reagins' head. Weaver did manage 6 strikeouts in 6 innings while moving the ball around pretty well, but the two-run homer to Young was a bad pitch in a situation where any number of better choices were available.

The bullpen looked pretty poor, with Jepsen loading the bases and escaping by the web of Kendry's glove, the sharp line drive saved from right field in the hands of our Cuban hero. Rodney managed to throw more than twice as many balls and strikes while getting three outs. I would have liked to have seen Shields for the first time in a year, but I suppose I can wait. Fuentes was uncharacteristically solid.

The offense has been discussed elsewhere, but I'd like to make two points:

1.) Erick Aybar looked like a brilliant facsimile of Chone Figgins last night, seeing 24 pitches overall, including 10 in his first at bat before walking to first. He went 2 for 3 otherwise.
2.) Bobby Abreu, despite having a terrible night in the batter's box, made two nice running catches in the outfield to end the game. Mark your schedules with a little happy face - it's not often Abreu will get accolades for his defense.


Kings

Baseball makes me appreciate hockey much the way hockey makes me appreciate baseball. It's a pleasant combination of sports, but their intermingling period is much too short. My personal choice for extending said intermingling? A Kings Stanley Cup.

Los Angeles plays the Ducks tonight at 7 Pacific. There are three games remaining after this, plus a minimum of four playoff games.

Blogging from Connecticut

Connecticut ranks pretty high on my list of awful states, mostly because it's perennially between where you were and where you're going. Although the lack of tolls on the highways is a nice touch, it's really no consolation for the complete lack of off-highway amenities and the general idiocy that plagues the roads. Stupid license plates, too. I imagine the state itself is quite nice, but there is never anything here for me.

Naturally, I'm blogging from Connecticut. Apparently Greyhound has decided to replace their 70's-era buses with modern ones featuring power outlets and free WiFi, although the speed and latency of the connection are likely less than optimal for online Crysis. And whoever designs these seats clearly has no concept of what an armrest actually does. Hint: It shouldn't exist only to stab customers in the ribs.


Angels 13, Minnesota 4

Apologies to Matt Janning, but the Angels absolutely demolished the Twins this series. Payback, it seems, for an early season sweep in the Metrodome, but scoring 35 runs in three games seems a little uncouth, for those of us interested in baseball etiquette.

One Twins blogger thinks the Angels are this year's champions, but I'm unconvinced this offense can keep putting up crooked numbers with such frequency. The pitching is still suspect, but an offense like this hides blemishes. It also happens to be how the Angels won in 2002...remember, their top-line pitchers were Kevin Appier and Jarrod Washburn. Formidable, indeed.

Jered Weaver was solid today, and I'd say he was spectacular if not for those long fly balls over the fence. His godlike HR/FB% at the beginning of the season has made quite the regression to the mean, and he didn't help matters by giving up another two amidst his 6.1 inning, 11 (!) strikeout, 4R performance.

By the way, I'm starting to realize that we're witnessing one of the weirdest seasons in recent memory. A team which is unlikely to contend beyond this season (for a year or two, at least) is scoring runs and winning at a historic pace despite missing several parts for some or all of a season:

• a hitter who has largely carried the offense since 2004 in Vlad Guerrero
  
• a center fielder who has been on pace for a career year in Torii Hunter
  
• an All Star starting pitcher who had one of the highest average fastball velocities in the majors last season in Ervin Santana
• the de facto staff ace in John Lackey
  
• a record-setting closer now pitching in New York in Frankie Rodriguez

And that's ignoring the death of a top prospect pitcher in Nick Adenhart, the best 8th-inning pitcher in baseball in Scot Shields, and last season's best reliever in Jose Arredondo. Oh yeah, Kelvim Escobar has made his last professional pitch, maybe ever, but definitely for the Angels.

If this team can make the playoffs, I'm feeling a lot better about their chances than I have for the last couple years. Something is working.

In-game notes

Today's post is sponsored by my engineering education, without which I'd be far less likely to go on a murderous rampage. First things first.

Angels 1, Twins 7 (in progress)

Yes, the Angels are on an unlikely 9-game winning streak. Yes, I realize I'm complaining about a team which will be 3.5 games in first even if they lose this game. But I'd like to point something out, here. Ervin Santana's fastball velocity average, number of fastballs, and number of pitches per inning:

1st: 94.1(18 fastballs, 29 pitches)
2nd: 91.7 (9 fastballs, 13 pitches)
3rd: 92.4 (7 fastballs, 14 pitches)
4th: 92.8 (19 fastballs, 29 pitches, did not complete inning)

For those of you interested in biomechanics, this is how you can tell a pitcher is tired. From an average of 94.1 with a peak of 97 to an average of 91.7 with a peak of 93. All this data, by the way, is from MLB Gameday which uses PitchF/X. The stadium gun as used by my13 TV was showing 89 mph on Santana's fastballs...if that's correct, Santana is more than just tired. But I've been saying he's still hurt, so who knows. It's also important to note that the Angels bats were busy getting no-hit, so Santana was getting absolutely no rest between innings. This is classic pitcher abuse. It's not about pitch counts, it's about tired pitch counts, and when your starter has to throw frequently with little rest, you see a decline in pitch quality and an increase in the likelihood of injury.

Not really pointing fingers here, because there's not a lot Butcher/Scioscia could've done, but it's fun to look at the data.

The best part about this little analysis I just did? It's now part of my schoolwork.


2010 All Star GameThe logo's out, and it looks awesome. Really, quite good-looking. Some folks have been complaining about how the star looks like a Texas star, but it is the All Star game, and besides, ever look at the Californian flag? That red star is not, in fact, a nod to Soviet Russia, but rather to the the Republic of Texas. So if you want the California Angels name back, whining about the star is dumb.

Of the game itself, I'd rather like to go, but I'm sure I'll be priced out of it regardless.

Letter to Scioscia

Dear Mr. Scioscia,

I know you don't know me very well. My name is Brian Fuentes and I am in your bullpen. I am here to replace Francisco Rodriguez to the best of my ability. I put up stellar numbers in hitter-friendly Colorado for several years with some minor inconsistency, but nothing major. As I am left handed, I am particularly adept at turning major league left handed hitters into outs. I have given up just 10 home runs to lefties compared to 31 for righties, and have a strikeout to walk ratio which is an order of magnitude greater.

I'm not sure if you know this, but Jason Kubel of the Minnesota Twins is a lefty. He had already hit a single, a double, and a triple, and the rest of our bullpen, all right handed, seemed incapable of getting him out. I feel as though I could have made him ground out harmlessly to first, or perhaps pop up in the infield.

I, unlike Francisco Rodriguez, do not need to be babied. I just received a large contract from your owner, Arte Moreno, and I would like to be used in the highest leverage situations possible. I am not interested in gaudy save totals or sparkling pitching stats. All I want is to help this team win games and get to the World Series.

This division is very weak, but the Mariners are already holding a 3.5 game lead. Oakland is an improving team, and Texas is always a threat to make a run. Our farm system is pretty poor, at this point, so we really need to make the playoffs this year as it is probably our last serious year of contention for the forseeable future.

As such, please feel free to call me any time via the bullpen phone. I'd be happy to work for you.

Sincerely,
Brian Fuentes