Thursday, June 29, 2006

Hooray for third party videos!

This video was made by a fellow Angels fan (the Goat, apparently), and recently posted to Youtube. Read more about the deal in this thread at the Rev's site. It's for "OX4", which is probably the best song on Ride's 'Going Blank Again' album, although it's unquestionable overshadowed by the opening track "Leave Them All Behind", which is the second video down. Enjoy. And I'll just note, one the crappy things about videos and songs on the radio is the good stuff they cut out to package it into a few minutes. One of the best parts of LTAB is the two minute introduction, which is entirely cut out for the video.



Angels blow it again

Walks, defensive mistakes, untimely pitching, the same old story for the Angels, as they build on an unexpected come from behind thriller on Monday by dropping the next two games in less than dramatic fashion. The bright spots were once again Orlando Cabrera, who reached base three times, and Mike Napoli, who ripped an RBI double in the seventh to tie the score and give Angels fans hope for a half inning until Scot Shields threw up all over himself.

Ervin Santana suffered through one bad inning, and a couple where he made a lot of pitches, which meant he only last through seven, and even that was on more than expected. He settled down and breezed through his last few innings, but a multitude of walks, including one that drove in the Rockies first run, pushed up his pitch count.

I'm not sure how much longer they can go on like this. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's time to start playing the guys who will part of the next good Angels team. I'll settle for Kendrick and Jered Weaver right now. And I really think they need to test the market for Cabrera. Someone needs a short stop, and he'll never have the value he has right now.

Three with the Dodgers, who had it handed to them by the Twins. We'll see if the Angels can salvage some pride after the drubbing they took earlier this season.

Farmar Stays Home

Not exactly the way we were hoping he would, but Jordan Farmar was selected by the Lakers with the 26th pick in the draft. Of course, I watch the NBA about as frequently as I update this blog, so while I root for the Lakers, my interest in professional basketball is virtually nil. However, it's nice to see Jordan selected in the first round, and it's good to know that he'll be staying in LA. As someone mentioned over at Bruins Nation, I'm not sure he's the perfect fit for that system. The trianle offense doesn't really require a true point guard, and you'd usually prefer someone at that position with a little more size. But that assumes that the Lakers will be playing for Phil Jackson or a protege for much of Jordan's career, which they probably won't. I can't imagine much will be expected of him next year, but you never really know how a guy is going to adjust.

Ryan Hollins was also selected, going with the 50th pick to the Charlotte Bobcats. Just goes to show you how different the pro game is from the college game. Hollins went one pick after Leon Powe, who has ten times the skill of Ryan Hollins. But Hollins is tall, and can leap out of the building.

The Illini made a little noise as well. James Augustine went to Orlando with the 41st pick, and in effort to increase the sale of their merchandise in Central Illinois, the Utah Jazz selected Dee Brown with the 46th pick, reuniting him with former backcourt mate Deron Williams. The Jazz instantly became the second favorite team for a lot of Bulls fans, if not outright favorite. As much as I despised the Jazz in the Malone and Stockton days, I admit I'll be rooting for them now.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Angels getting killed

About that corner....they're still turning it. Might be a while.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Rockies 4; Angels 5

This was kind of a fun game to watch. Turn it on, get discouraged, do other stuff around the apartment while the game plays in the background, give up hope, then watch the Angels put up a five spot in the 8th to win the game. And just in case you got a little too happy, Frankie made matters a little more interesting by giving up a two out shot in the ninth, suddenly making a two out RBI single by Juan Rivera all that much more important. Frankie then gave up a 390 foot shot in to JD Closser that fell just short of the wall and into Chone Figgins' glove.

Even the most pessimistic among us keep hope alive after just about every win, and wins like this go double for that. When the team comes back and wins a game that they really shouldn't, you always think it's the one that helps them turn the corner, that leads to a long winning streak. Well, we'll find out this week if that's the case.

But while the team has teeter-tottered between being in the race and out of the race, three players have made the season worth watching. One is plying his trade in triple A due to an inexplicable brain cramp that seems to have afflicted all of the team's upper management. Meanwhile, we've been treated to fantastic first halves from Orlando Cabrera, who has now reached base safely in 54 or 55 straight games, and Michael Napoli, who has added an ability to hit for average to the plate discipline and power he showed in his minor league career, a career that he doesn't figure to continue. Both played major roles in tonight's victory, with the OC extending his streak with an RBI single in the ninth, and Napoli ripping an opposite field double that drove home the tying and and go ahead runs. No matter what happens this season, they've provided a heck of a lot of entertainment.

And they all provided a nice present for John Lackey, who pitched well enough to win, and actually did win for once. He had to be patient, but he got a double play line drive to escape a bases loaded, one out jam in the second inning that could have essentially iced the game for the Rockies if it had been a few feet up, left, or right. But such is baseball. And if the Angels do use this game to spur them to bigger and better and things, they can look back at that lucky line drive as a turning point.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Haven't posted much

A short vacation and a mediocre team to follow will do that to a guy. The Angels continue to muddle along at a pace that will seem them reach .500 sometime around never, and with the A's making their patented mid-season surge, the whole "we're still within striking distance" thing will no doubt be over soon. Meanwhile, Jered Weaver's alleged mental issues with being demoted appear to be far fetched, as he absolutely dominated in his second AAA start since inexplicably being demoted over a week ago. He struck out 14 and gave up two hits in a complete game shutout. Well done, braintrust.

Across the globe, the U.S. got dicked in both games against Italy and Ghana, and predictably limped home after failing to make it out of group play. The English have yet to play an inspired match, but they also have yet to lose. Only they and the Germans remain among teams I'm fond of now that the Dutch have bowed out in one of the most poorly officiated games of the tournament. Someone explain to me how it's not a penalty when you kick a guy in the chest in the 18 yard box.

The NHL entry draft was yesterday, and well, I didn't even know about it. Anyway, Pavol Demitra is gone, making my decision to get my most recently purchased jersey customized with Lubomir Visnovsky all that much more prescient. In return, they get a top prospect Patrick O'Sullivan, who's American, and with the pick they received in the deal, drafted Trevor Lewis, who also appears to be American. So thumbs up as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, I was kind of writing just to write today, so that's what you get.