Humor Me

Santana's ERA over the last two months is 3.43. When Escobar comes back, what happens? Here's my suggestion, and feel free to disagree with me in the comments section, but I say Kelvim goes to the bullpen for the rest of the season, and we ride Santana in the rotation. If they make the playoffs, they'll cut the rotation to four anyway. Escobar has the bullpen experience from Toronto, and Santana really doesn't. Honestly, with Santana pitching well for a fifth starter, and the other guys pitching pretty well (assuming a healthy Washburn), doesn't this make the most sense? I realize that the Angels won't do it, because they don't like doing things that make sense (see: Kennedy hitting ninth; Finley hitting anywhere; etc.), but to me, I think this is the best possible use of their pitching resources. Plus, if he's only needed for one or two innings at a time, it may allow Escobar to come back a little sooner (no need to build up the stamina).

Who's with me?

I didn't see it, and I don't want to see it

I can't even come up with words to describe how absolutely pathetic this bullpen has been lately.

Matt, I don't know how you can watch crap like that and maintain any confidence.

Usually reliable - A's 4; Angels 2

The usually reliable Scot Shields really picked a bad time to have a crappy inning. The usually reliable Orlando Cabrera really picked a crappy time to fail to come up with a pretty easy ground ball (his 0 for 5 doesn't look all that great, either). If and when this team fails to make the playoffs, it will be letdowns like tonight's that we'll look back on.

The kid was fairly sharp again, escaping some early trouble before settling down and pitching well enough to win. When your rookie starter outduels the hottest pitcher in the AL, that's a game that you MUST win. You simply cannot afford to lose when you get a very good performance out of your fifth starter. This one hurts.

The debacle that is Steve Finley continues to suck up time in center, and just to just plain suck at the plate. Of course, as I type that, he homers, but oh well.

Byrd vs. Blanton tomorrow. Starting to look like a must win (or as much as one can look like at this point in the season), as I can't see this offense doing much against the rookie in Seattle on Friday.

Angels 9; A's 2

The Angels needed a game like this, and it couldn't have come at a better time. They got the breaks in the first two innings, and Lackey continued his recent dominance with seven strong innings. A couple or errors, a couple of bloops, a timely strike out by Finley, and really only a couple of hard hit ball, and the Angels had a 7-0 lead. Vlad came into the game with only two career grand slams, one coming just a couple of weeks ago.

Peralta really did not look sharp at all in the 8th. I don't know if it's harder to concentrate when you've got a huge lead like that, but a rookie really needs to take advantage of his chances to pitch. On the other hand, Esteban Yan has looked pretty good lately, and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

No doubt Matt is already spending his $50. Hey, that's great. Like I said at the time, if the Angels finish strong and win the division, it will be the best $50 I ever spent. Now Fat has joined the fray and given me a chance to win $10 of that money back should the Angels meet the Sox in the playoffs, provided the Angels can come up with at least one quality start should the series take place. But ssshhhhhh, don't tell him that the Angels have the second best starter ERA in the AL.

I'm gonna get myself connected...

Finally have internet access, the non-stolen kind, in my apartment. The cable guy took his sweet time getting here, but he actually ran a line 3/4 of the way across my apartment, and you can barely tell, so things are looking pretty good. Full range of cable TV is back as well, with the baseball package (for which I had to talk the guy out of charging me another $120). All of this comes in time for the Angels not to be on. But the fireworks don't begin until tomorrow night.

Anyway, took my first trip to Ikea yesterday, just to browse a bit (need a coffee table now that I'm in a bigger place). Have to say I was less than impressed. Some of the stuff looked nice, I guess, but it's not like it was super cheap, and quite frankly, I can't believe that people drive over from Ohio (like my sister's friend) just to shop at Ikea. To each their own, I guess.

I guess I could comment on the Angels playoff prospects, but I feel like I've done that already, and Matt, Rob, Richard, and The Chronicler have done so more recently, and probably more entertaining...ly. So go read them.

They won **UPDATE** Kotch!!!!

Didn't see it. Still in a virtual tie for first. Looks like they actually scored some runs.

Played Kemper Lakes today. Had to get the round in before they go private. Nothing to write home about. The last three holes are pretty sweet, though, and but for a poor first putt on 18, I would have parred all three. I'm hammering the new driver. three or four drives over 300 yards. No joke (those GPS things on the newer carts are sweet).

*update*

Casey Kotchman with two jacks, including a granny. Wow. That's some nice production. Just caught the hilights on SportsCenter.

Ironically, the next hilight was Eckstein hitting his fourth grand slam, then Ramon Ortiz throwing the ball away three times.

The injuries finally catch up

Chris Bootcheck gave them one fine start, and the rest of the staff blew it. Asking him to completely shut down major league hitters again was too much to ask. And really, this game was over before it started. Honestly, there was no way the offense really had a shot against a guy with an ERA just south of seven. I mean, Hendrickson, that guy's a real stopper.

These guys fucking suck. What an embarassment. Welcome to first place, Oakland.

My bastard neighbors

Apparently they don't realize that I need their wireless connection to listen to Angels games, and they didn't hook up until about midnight tonight, so I got updates on my cell phone while watching Dig! again. It's the story of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols (see sidebar for links). If you haven't seen it, well, what the hell are you waiting for? In lieu of writing all of this crap again, I'll repost a review I wrote on PlanetSocks:

Missed this when it was in the theaters, but that's because it was only out for about a week. I'd be interested in hearing what other people thought of this movie, especially those who were either unfamiliar with or not fans either the Dandy Warhols or the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Personally, I've been a fan of the Dandys since "Come Down" came out seven or eight years ago (you've probably heard some of their stuff in movies or commercials), and I've become a fan of BJM in the last few months (I suggest listening to some of "Tepid Peppermint Wonderland" for those who are unfamiliar with their work).
Courtney Taylor: Didn't really seem different than I expected him to be. Arrogant, talented, kind of a pretty boy. He actually seemed a bit more down to earth compared to what I've seen in interviews, and he's downright normal compared to Anton Newcombe.

Peter Holmstrom: Seemed like the most well-adjusted person in the entire movie, except for maybe Miranda Lee Richards, but she was only in a small bit of the film.

Zia McCabe: I'm still in love with her, and damn she's hot when she's wearing glasses. I was glad to see they included a bit with her topless, since she hasn't hung 'em when I've seen them live.

Anton Newcombe: Fucking nuts. He's channelled the late '60s Stones perfectly, though. The guy knows his shit when it comes to writing music. Seriously, if you like the Stones, put on a BJM record, and it will sound incredibly familiar for something you've never heard before.

Joel Gion: Fucking hilarious. Probably the most entertaining aspect of the movie. You gotta love a guy who's only contribution is playing the tambourine. And his joke about dicksucking was probably the funniest part of the movie.

Matt Hollywood: Also wrote some very good stuff for BJM. Seemed easily irritable at times, but I'd imagine that anyone with his talent would get pissed off at Anton. A lot.

Peter Hayes: Alright, so he's barely in the movie, but I had no idea that was once part of BJM. He's one of the front-men in Black Rebel Motorcycle Club now, who you will like if you're into the Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Spacemen 3, or other shoegazer stuff.

I'd suggest getting hold of a copy of the two disc special edition DVD. I don't usually go for the extra bits, but the "where are they now" stuff was pretty good.

Fafnir channels Aesop

And I wholeheartedly agree with him. Lions *are* annoying.

Pathetic

I swear, sometimes this team looks like they're trying to lose. Mr. Defense out at shortstop has a pop fly go off his leg (I wasn't even sure that was possible). They have the 1-2-3 hitters coming up with runners on first and second with no outs, and they can't even move the runners up a base, let alone get them in. Frustration is setting in.

It's a fiendish plot - Angels 8; Orioles 4

I blame the recent success of the Angels (all two games of it) on Matt Welch. Somehow I believe he engineered the recent slide which caused perrenial pessimists like me to lose faith. It was in that moment of weakness that he swooped in with his devilish plan to separate me from 50 of my hard earned dollars. Rob McMillin is an unwitting accomplice, as he wrote the post that led to the following exchange:

Matt: Maybe I'm easy to please, but a World Series, a Division Championship, and a likely second consecutive Division Championship (plus a decent shot at the Series), all while assembling (and not squandering) baseball's best minor league system, doesn't really strike me as a bad job.

Me: When? 2006 and 2007? Because they sure aren't winning it this year.

Matt: Seitz, put your money where your pessimism is -- fitty cash dollar bills. I say we win, you bet on the rookie rotation, Scott Hatteberg and Jay Payton. Deal?

Just another case of me letting my mouth write a check my butt.....well, I actually can cash this one, because it's not that much money. Regardless, it will be $50 well spent if the Angels actually pull this out.

So he calls me out. I, of course, can't back down*, and now here we are. And of course, true to form, right after giving up on them, the Angels take the first two from an admittedly reeling Orioles team *AND* the A's lose for a change.

Lackey narrowly averted the Lackey inning tonight, and apparently the bug was still in the mound area, because Bedard caught it in the bottom of the fifth, allowing the Angels to score six times. And just as I was exchanging emails with Stephen Smith, badmouthing Cabrera and talking about how he really isn't any better than Izturis (that was me doing that, not him), all things considered, the OC delivered a big hit and Ztu made two of the three outs in the inning. Bigmouth strikes again.

So I hope you're happy, Matt. It's a good thing this won't be decided until October, or else this would be cutting into my golf budget.

Sometime this week I'll write something about the NHL signings, but I'm waiting to see what the Kings end up doing. I like Demitra, but I want Palffy back. Although if the Simon Gagne for Mike Cammalleri rumors are true, I'll learn to live without Ziggy. I'll give it another day or two to shake out.

*Kind of reminds of a hockey game I played in many years ago (yes, there was organized sreet hockey in Southern California once upon a time). We had a UCR team, and we were over our heads in the division in which we were playing. In one game, we just couldn't get anything going. We finally got an odd man rush, only to have the ref, who was probably in his mid-fifties, get in the way of my line-mate and good friend, ruining the two on one. Apparently refs don't like to be called out on this type of thing. On the next face off, I, clearly pissed off, walked up to him and said "Could you please try to stay out of the way next time?" To his credit, he gave me an out, saying "you're not talking to me are you?" The idiot that I am, I responded "Yeah I am!".

I spent the next 8 minutes in the penalty box. But dammit, my honor was at stake! I did score a goal within about 45 seconds of leaving the box, so maybe I just needed the rest.

Shhhhhh

Don't tell anyone, but I'm writing this while stealing someone else's wireless connection. Apparently they don't use a network key. Woohoo! The connection's not great. I can't really get the video, but I did catch the first four innings of the game at a local bar. Then I realized who was on the mound. Sitting through Ponson vs. Colon, it dawned on me that I might be there until about 6:00 tomorrow evening before the game ended, so I took off before dropping more cash.

Angels up 6-1. Two homers for Vlad. Let's hope that holds up.

Had to push back the cable/internet appointment to Monday because of a meeting at work that I couldn't get out of. I've never wanted to quit my job more than I do right now. We find out what our raises are going to be this month, so that could be the deciding factor.

Night #1 with no internet

The cable guy isn't coming until Wednesday morning. I was too lazy to a) call far enough ahead to get a better appointment date for the new apartment, and b) go to Starbucks last night before it closed, where I could have taken advantage of the Wi-Fi. Tonight will probably be more of the same, although I'll probably walk the 100 yards to a sports bar to watch the Angels, I'd imagine.

Anyway, I'm trying to avoid doing actual work, and Jen (who has a great blog if, like me, you spend a fair amount of time at bars, but are interested in seeing it from the bartender's perspective once in a while) asked for a comment on Raffy, so here goes.

I've never been a huge Palmeiro fan (well, except for Orlando Palmeiro, of course), but I've never been a big detractor of his either. He's always just kind of been there, playing for teams I've neither liked nor hated, except maybe when he was with the Rangers, and they always had more hateworthy guys back then. It was tough to focus on one guy when EVERYONE on that team could mash. Quite frankly, over the last year or so, before this news came out, I was a little surprised at the "will he or won't he" hall talk. His numbers, in a vacuum, are more than hall worthy, despite the lack or awards and post-season heroics. But now, I think he's out. Both for the stigma associated with steroids, and the increasingly likely possibility that he lied to Congress (assuming both that we are indeed talking about steroids, and that he didn't start juicing the day after his testimony). Which isn't to say that I wouldn't vote him in. I just don't think the writers will.

I've made my position pretty clear on Primer over the last couple of years, but in my book, if it's not illegal, and not against the rules of baseball, it's not cheating. Obviously, it is against the rules now (the legality is questionable based on facts not known), but it's pretty clear that without false positives or any such nonsense, Palmeiro was cheating this year. I feel a little cleaner knowing that I never took him off of my bench before trading him in my fantasy league. But now that I think about it, let's take a look at something. Here are Palmeiro's splits this year, April through July:

AB	H	2B	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG
77	19	3	1	247	298	325
86	26	4	6	302	412	558
93	25	3	5	269	317	462
87	26	2	6	299	379	529

So what do we learn from this? Well, nothing really. But I *did* learn how to make tables in HTML, so for that, I think this little bit was instructive. Also, we learned that he's a much better hitter than Darin Erstad, but I'm guessing most of us already knew that. I would note that over the last three years, he hasn't been a slow starter, so that April is out of line with what he's accomplished in the past. Maybe he started juicing after his Erstadian start to the season.

And by the way, how much schadenfreude (which, as I've learned from t-shirts, is a dish best served warm) is Ryne Sandberg feeling? I mean, the week just keeps getting better for him. First he gets inducted into the hall, then he finds out that the guy who was banging his wife 15 years ago gets busted for roids. If I'm Ryno, I'm heading down to the 7-11 to buy some lottery tickets.


And as a parting shot, the Onion really is scraping the bottom of the barrel for pictures these days, aren't they? I mean what's up with this guy? At least make it believable. If he's 28, I'm 15.

Moving done

Now I just need to unpack.

Looks like I picked a good weekend to not be able to watch the Angels. I appreciates Matt's optimism per his post on Rob's site, but man, I just don't think these guys have it. No killer instinct. Teams that win ham 'n egg it well. This team does the exact opposite of that. I have zero confidence in their ability to win consistently. It's the east coast trips that seem to kill them every year, and this week looked like the beginning of the end.

Met up with the Fatman and his lovely girlfriend this weekend for a few beers and some food. Thanks for coming out to flyover country.

Angels 4; Yankees 1

The kid finally pitched well on the road, holding the Yankees to one earned run over six and a third on just six hits and two walks, while striking out five. The offense actually showed up for an inning, as Anderson and Bengie hit home runs that accounted for three. An RBI ground out by Rivera and solo shot from Tino completed the scoring.

Big win against a team that the Angels have really seemed to handle over the years. After the debacle of the last three nights, it was very important to get off to a good start this weekend. Santana has won his last three starts, and four of his last five. He's making it easier for the Angels to figure out that they don't need another arm, especially if it comes at the expense of picking up another bat. The guy's a fifth starter right now, and he's giving them what you'd expect out of a fifth starter, which is something near a .500 performance given normal run support. Unless they just get overwhelmed by an offer, they shouldn't deal for another arm, unless it's for the pen and it comes cheap.

Still working on packing up the apartment in preparation for the movers tomorrow. The day off from work was very nice.

Etymology

The root word of "catcher" is catch. For the second night in a row, the Angels lose a game because the person playing the one position on the field whose name comes from the word "catch" has failed to actually catch the ball. Last night it was Bengie, who admittedly, couldn't handle a tough pitch in the dirt, but his defense has been so piss poor this year that I refuse to give him the benefit of the doubt. Tonight it was because Jose couldn't catch a pitch that was essentially a strike (despite what Rapuano thinks he saw). Pathetic.

Folks, when things aren't going your way, they just aren't going your way. Take my post from yesterday, for example. Pretty much everything bad or stressful that could be happening to me right now is in fact happening. And it doesn't appear to be any different for the Angels.

I said on a couple of message boards after Frankie that if the Angels could hold the Jays scoreless for another nine innings, they just may score again. Guess I was wrong.

Wow. This team really sucks. Or at least the offense and defense do. The pitching is still good, I guess.

Moving this weekend, so the posting will be hit and miss. Mostly miss.

Can it possibly get worse?

I'm working on a project that has absolutely zero chance of making its deadline. I'm missing out on the one and only worthwhile outing that my firm puts on all year tomorrow so that I can be the only person who gets to stay in the office and work on it. I have an apartment that's still completely full of a bunch of crap, and it all needs to be out by Sunday at noon. And to top it all off, the Angels are really crappy.

Seriously, my life sucks.

Something Wild

Time to start being realistic and looking at the wild card race. This team is reliably unreliable.

Thank God for the good minor league guys. It gives us something to follow when the major league guys forget how to play.

Anyway, Toronto games don't make it to Extra Innings (freaking Canadians), so I closed the window on the computer early. But hey! Bad News Bears (good version) is on one of the HBOs.

Light posting

I know, I know, I'm totally slacking. Super busy lately, what with a ton of crap going on at work, the wedding last weekend, moving this weekend, etc. Now with the Angels on th e East Coast, my ability to see entire games will be challenged greatly. I'll do my best. That's how much you all mean to me....*sniff*

Happy anniversary to Matt and his wife Emmanuelle, neither of whom I've ever met, but about whom I've read a fair amount. Sorry about the puking incident, though.

It could be worse. Two weeks ago at my buddy's bachelor party, the best man got so sick that he was forced to leave early and had to be picked up by his mother. That's something you never live down. He blames the Bubba Burgers, but hey, nobody else got sick. I'm guessing it's gotta be a pretty humbling experience to ask the stripper, who was in the process of giving him a lap dance, where the bathroom is. One of the other groomsman has termed the illness "stripapukalikis", which I mention only because he's a teacher, he's bored, and he'll probably google that term at some point. Hope I spelled it right, Po.

Yup

The good guys won. Aint got nothing more to say. I'm drunk, and I'm drinking water in preparation for the inevitable hangover.

And where the hell has Fat been lately?