Transcendent

Three years ago, while the Wrens and AC Newman were the big interests for me at the Intonation Festival, at the time curated by Pitchfork, later to become the Pitchfork Festival, it was Broken Social Scene that really blew me away. I owned "You Forgot it in People" at the time, but it wasn't until I saw them at that show that it really clicked for me, and that set was the highlight.

Two years ago it was the Walkmen and Destroyer that piqued my interest, and both were excellent, but when all was said and done, it was Ted Leo that made the biggest impression on me. He was someone I hadn't listened to very much at the time, and I left the park a big fan, and immediately bought Shake the Sheets and Hearts of Oak.

Last year, I'm not gonna lie. The lineup mostly sucked. And the people I usually go with couldn't make it. So I had tickets that went unused for Friday and Saturday, but I showed up for a couple hours on Sunday to hear New Pornographers play a few tracks from their, at that time, unreleased new album Challengers.

This year, Sunday was the big draw, with Les Savy Fav, the Apples in Stereo, Spoon, etc. But for the first time in four years, it was the one band that I really wanted to see that delivered the best performance, and easily the best set I've ever seen at a festival setting, leaving me hungry for a show at a more intimate, or at least indoor venue. Spiritualized delivered far and away the best set.

I'll admit that I came to the show expecting to hear a stripped down, mostly acoustic, mellow set of material off the new album. Most of the shows that J. Spaceman played since his return to health were of the Acoustic Mainline variety (a take off on the Electric Mainline - Pure Phase album). But to my surprise, he showed up with two awesome backup vocalists, and a fully plugged in five piece setup. And while they did the mellow stuff at times, they simply blew doors when they wanted to. He played a few songs off the new album, most notably Sweet Talk and the first single, Soul On Fire. He also reached back to Amazing Grace for Cheapster and She Kissed Me (and it Felt Like a Hit).

But the highlights came early and late. They opened with You Lie, You Cheat off of the new album (Songs in A&E). As that faded out, the band slowly worked it's way into downright numbing version of Shine a Light, from Lazer Guided Melodies. If you've got a copy of the track handy, fast forward to about the 11 minute mark, picture the sax is a guitar, and imagine that the wall of background fuzz is about 100 times louder than you'd expect, and you'll get the idea. After working through the rest of the set, they finally launched into Come Together, the one song my friend wanted to hear, and for me, that was set to be a real highlight, until they segued out of the song, into some distortion and reached back into the Spacemen 3 catalogue for arguably my favorite Pierce associated track ever, Take Me To the Other Side, which was a really terrific way to end the set. If I weren't a Spiritualized fan before the show, I would have been on the way out. It really was transcendent, and it was probably one of the five best live sets I've ever seen, regardless of setting. I'll try to link to some videos as soon as P4k puts them up.

This should be a link to their set for streaming via audio. If it's not, then enter the time and date (July 20, 5:00 pm) and it should work.

WANT!

Since the end of January, I've been dieting and exercising more. The exercise primarily consists of riding my bike, which is set up on a mag trainer, for about 30 minutes a night, fairly strenuously (at a cadence between 85 and 120). I'm currently down about 40 pounds over that time. I may just need to celebrate by treating myself to one of these:




These things look totally awesome, and way more comfortable than a regular trainer.

NHL, Free Agency, and the Kings

The Kings have done nothing in free agency this season. For all none of you that give a shit about the Kings, you can move on, but I'm actually happy about this. No free agent is going to make the Kings appreciably better than they already are, and unless you're an idiot like Marian Hossa, you wanted a deal that was of a length that would block prospects.

So the Kings go into the next season with a really awful team, but one that will be full of kids getting experience. The worst case scenario is that they're competitive and end up with the sixth or seventh pick instead of the first or second.

So this year they're going to suck. That's pretty clear. But I still think they'll be fun to watch. In 2009, they'll have two goaltenders ready to shoulder the load with Bernier and Zatkoff. The defense will consist of Jack Johnson, Thomas Hickey, Drew Doughty, Colton Teubert, Vjateslav Voinov, and Alec Martinez. The first two lines will feature Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Patrick O'Sullivan, Alexander Frolov, Brian Boyle, and Teddy Purcell. That's assuming Matt Moulson, Oscar Moller, and Scott Parse don't force their way on to those lines.

The goaltending will be solid. The defense will be skilled and very physical. The offense will produce. And the best part will be the depth. Dean Lombardi is building a team that will not only be good, but will be able to withstand injury.

Make no mistake, 2008-2009 won't be very good. But they will be fun to watch, and starting in 2009, the Kings will be ass-kickers.

Embarrassing

There's no other way to describe it. The Dodgers basically just said "You guys suck so bad that we don't even need a hit to beat you."

I'd say that Lackey needs to go out and pick them up tomorrow, but other than hitting a couple of homers, I'm not sure what he can do. This is the most pathetic performance I've ever witnessed. I'll admit, I was hoping that Ethier's ball would go over GA's head, just so they'd have a hit.

This is quite possibly the lowest moment in the history of the franchise. This is laughing stock territory. This is losing to Appalachian State territory. This is something you never, ever live down.

You build from the net out

And Dean Lombardi has committed the Kings to doing just that. They had a tremendous first round tonight. In Drew Doughty, the Kings selected a defenseman who, alongside Jack Johnson, can lead the Kings power play for the foreseeable future. Thomas Hickey will figure into that as well. And in case you thought those guys were too small, they dealt Cammalleri, took Colton Teubert with the 13th pick, and added a third rounder next year in the process. Teubert is 6'3", and has knack for cracking skulls that dare skate through the crease.

So the Kings future includes the top goalie prospect from juniors, the top college goalie from last season, and a top four defense corps of Jack Johnson, Thomas Hickey, Drew Doughty, and Colton Teubert. The only problem I see with that group is that it only includes two Americans.

Last season the Kings, as a team, were bad. But they were fun to watch, at least for me, because they had guys I could pay attention to that were interesting players. Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Patrick O'Sullivan. This year they'll work Teddy Purcell, Matt Moulson, and Brian Boyle into the mix. Hickey may make the big club, and Doughty is very likely to be in L.A. next season.

The Kings aren't going to win the cup next year. They may not even make the playoffs. But the tide is turning, and the team is moving in the right direction. Now let's sit back and see what Dean does with the other boatload of picks he has in this draft.

A Night to Remember

I am an Angeleno. I've lived in Illinois for almost ten years now, about seven of those in Chicago, but no matter how long I make this part of the country my home, it will always feel temporary. I will never stop being an Angeleno (I know, technically I grew up in Temple City/San Gabriel, not Los Angeles, but it's a regional thing). I rarely read the local papers here, unless I'm reading something about the Illini, or laughing at their coverage of an incredibly minor earthquake. I don't want local news. All I know about what's going on Chicago can be attributed to listening to Morning Edition on NPR, which covers some local news.

But the first thing I do every morning when I sit at my computer is pull up the L.A. Times website. I never watch the Cubs, Sox, Blackhawks, or Bulls, but I watch every Angels game, every Kings game, and the Lakers when they're on regular cable. My blood is completely Southern Californian (with a pinch of Montana thrown in there on my dad's side).

That's why what I did Friday night was so special. Due to some earlier travel plans for work that fell through, I had a plane ticket home last weekend, and I used the trip to take my parents to see John Wooden and Vin Scully live and on stage with T.J. Simers, with whom I have a smidgen of history and for whom I have a fondness. It's a night that won't soon be forgotten by anyone who attended, or by the folks at the two charities, for whom the event raised nearly a million dollars.

About 13 or 14 years ago, I was at the L.A. Open at Riviera, on the balcony overlooking the first tee when Byron Nelson walked out. I can't remember why exactly he was there, but the crowd around the tee spontaneously gave him a rousing ovation. I said to my dad at that time that there are a few people in town who would get the same reception almost no matter where they were. John Wooden and Vin Scully were among them (maybe to a lesser extent Magic, or Dave Taylor at the time). When they entered the stage Friday night, the place erupted in a standing ovation before Wooden and Scully even made it out from behind the curtains.

Simers was terrific, with his typical playful irreverence, but was massively overshadowed by the two legends, who gave as good as they got all night long. They traded jabs with Simers, regaled the crowd with stories from the Dodgers' and Bruins' past, and talked about their upbringing, their families, and philosophies for a successful life. It was a great event from start to finish, and the opportunity to spend it with my parents made the night even better.

My dad hasn't been in the best of health over the last few years. I won't go into details, but he can't quite do some of the things that he used to do. That's why the weekend was so special. I got a chance to play golf with him, something I thought I'd never be able to do again, but his condition has improved a bit recently. We watched the U.S. Open on Saturday afternoon, and headed down to Anaheim for the Angels game on Saturday night, something we did all the time when my brother, sister and I were growing up, but something we hadn't done in six or seven years. It was the perfect fathers day/birthday weekend.

The only unfortunate part of the Wooden/Scully event is that it likely will never happen again. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. There are no two figures in the Southern California sports landscape who are more iconic and legendary. If you missed it, you should really try to catch one of the replays on Fox Sports. It may not feel like it felt for those of us lucky enough to witness it in person, but it would be a good start.

Fakey Fake

Always been down with one of them too
You were the fake and I was the fool
But you were too young to know all the rules
So I was the fake and you were the fool

I went to law school with a guy named Jimmy. Bostonian. Great guy, but typical Boston fan. So anyway, I was at his place tonight watching the Lakers and Celtics in game one of the NBA finals.

Let the record show that the minute Paul Pierce went down with his "injury", I predicted that he'd milk it for all it was worth, and come back in the fourth quarter. I was wrong about the timing, but right about him being a fucking faker. Seriously, have you ever known someone who injured A knee, yet couldn't put weight on his GOOD knee to walk off the court? Only Boston fans could be dumb enough to buy into his act.

It wasn't the Lakers' night. Countless shots went down only to rattle back out. And the officiating, was of course, atrocious. But this is the NBA, so I expect it to be atrocious in the other direction next week. But the point is, Paul Pierce is a faker, Ray Allen is old, and Kevin Garnett only plays three quarters per game, so I'm not particularly concerned.

Go Lakers.

Major Leaguers

When I started doing this a few years ago, and I was doing game recaps every night, I always tried to write about things I observed that maybe didn't get talked about by the broadcasters or written up in the paper. After a couple of years, I felt like I was writing about the same things all the time, and it sapped a little bit of the interest I had in writing. It just felt like I was writing things I had written before.

Last night, however, I saw something that really got my dander up, so to speak. Now, I understand that the Angels offensive philosophy is to be aggressive, and they're going to swing a lot. If you haven't figured that out by now, you haven't been watching very long. But what happened in the sixth inning was ridiculous. To take you back, you'll remember that the bottom of the fifth inning finished with the Mariners scoring three unearned runs, thanks in large part to Howie Kendrick's error on a routine grounder, and Robb Quinlan's inexplicable decision to go the long way on a throw for the third out, instead of a quick flip to second, which resulted in the second error of the inning. The defense hung Joe Saunders out to dry, and made him throw 12 more pitches than he should have to get out of the inning.

I don't know about you, but if I were a hitter due up the next inning, and my pitcher just had to work a lot harder than he should have to get out of an inning, I might want to slow things down a bit, take a few pitches, and let him catch his breath before taking the mound again. The Angels offense gave Saunders about 45 seconds. Maicer Izturis actually saw four pitches in his at bat, but Kendrick and Torii Hunter combined saw half that. Isn't this baseball 101? In the NL, if you pitcher grounds out, and you're the next hitter, you take a few extra seconds in the on deck circle. You walk more slowly to the plate. You give the guy a break.

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but this goes hand in hand with the insane number of times you see one of these guys swing at a pitch from a pitcher who has just thrown six or seven straight pitches out of the strike zone. I understand aggressiveness, but sometimes, you need to use your head. You need to help your own pitcher, and not help out your opponent.

Still, they're winning. That makes six series in a row that the Angels have had the upper hand. If they win two out of three all year, I think they'll be alright. Congratulations to Hokie Joe on win #9, and nice work from Arredondo and Frankie to lock things down. Let's see them get that sweep.

Engel Notitzen

• Yes, the Angels have finally come to my city. No, I won't be going until Sunday night's game. And really, this is the worst game to go to, since it's on ESPN. That means it's the one game that won't have Hawk and DJ calling the game in this town. Then again, I LOVE listening to those guys when the Angels win, like they did tonight. I do have tickets for two games when the Angels return in the fall.
• I think we're far enough into the season where we can say that Joe Saunders is a stud, and Ervin Santana is turning into the pitcher we thought he could be. He had his issues last night, but he pitched well enough to win. Saunders, meanwhile, was awesome again tonight. His BAD games are still pretty good. And he's what, 23-9 in his major league career? Those are MLB '08 - The Show numbers.
  
• Nick Adenhart hasn't been lights out since returning to Salt Lake, but he still hasn't given up a homer this year, and that includes about 50 innings between Salt Lake and Los Angeles of Anaheim. Pitchers can control three things - walks, strikeouts, and home runs. He's already doing one about as well as it can be done. If he can start keeping the ball closer to the strike zone, he'll be very good
  
• Meanwhile, John Lackey is already very good, and his return has been excellent. Two starts, 14 innings, two runs. That's a little better than Dustin Moseley and Adenhart were doing. And even without him and Escobar, they're still in first place. This is what we call 'poised to deliver'.
  
• As for Escobar, the emergence of Saunders and the resurgence of Santana, coupled with the struggles of the bullpen have to have the Angels braintrust thinking. It's like a perfect storm. Five fully functioning starters, a lackluster pen, and a terrific arm that a) may have trouble pitching deep into games, and b) can be very effective in short spurts. Might we see a 2005 redux with Escobar coming back but pitching primarily out of the pen? I'm up for it.
  
• It's nice to see how much the Mariners suck, isn't it?
• Remember how much A's fans whined last year about injuries? The Angels have been hammered by injuries this year, and yet they're still winning series after series. That's all about depth. And you may get discouraged if you're a subscriber to The Prospect Report. The Angels don't have the boatload of young prospects that they've had in years past. But almost no team in baseball has the depth that the Angels have right now. And there's more more to this depth than just an ability to fill in. I'm a firm believer that a taste of the bigs from time to time makes a prospect a better, hungrier player. The Angels are competing with Sean Rodriguez and Brandon Wood in the majors right now, when they shouldn't be here. I believe it will make the Angels better when those guys should be here.
• Still, I want to see this team in October with Lackey, Escobar, Figgins, and Kendrick at full steam. I think with a full roster, they're one of the two or three best teams in the game. They happen to be fortunate this year that they may still be able to cruise in the division with a depleted roster.
• The 2010 All-Star game. If you haven't been before, you should pay a lot of money and go to all of the events. I was there in 2003 when it was at Commiskey, and it was a lot of fun, though I don't feel the need to go again. I got to see GA win the home run derby AND the MVP, so it was worth it, but it was expensive. Still, if you have the means, go and enjoy.
  

The Sound of Silence

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The Book on Nick Adenhart

Or rather, the pamphlet, since this is going to be short. It's gonna sound stupid, but right now, the way to get to Nick Adenhart is to get someone, anyone, on base. So far, that hasn't been a problem. He's allowed almost half of the hitters he's faced to reach base safely, 31 (18 hits and 13 walks) out of 63. His WHIP is over 2.50.

There's no way to sugar coat it, he hasn't been very good, although he's shown flashes. In fact, in the first inning of all three major league starts, he hasn't allowed a baserunner. Even better, seven of those nine outs have either been ground outs or strike outs. Actually, he's retired the first four hitters in order in every start (five in the Royals start).

But in each of those starts, he's allowed a man to reach base in the second inning, and that's where the trouble starts. He's given up nine runs in those second innings, despite the advantage of having retired the leadoff hitter. And the reason he's running into trouble is because he has not been able to successfully pitch with runners on base. Blame it on jitters perhaps, but more likely it's a mechanical flaw that comes from pitching out of the stretch. He's a little wild as it is. He gets worse with runners on.

Adenhart has faced 33 hitters with the bases empty. Seven of them have reached via the hit, and five via the walk, for an OBP against of .364, which isn't great, but isn't awful. Once a batter reaches, however, he goes from adequate to much worse. He's faced 30 batters with runners on base, and allowed an alarming 19 of them to reach. That's OBP against of .633! In other words, once one man gets on base, almost two of the next three are also likely to reach base. That's nuts. Keep in mind that he's not a strikeout pitcher to begin with, and he only has four strikeouts in his 12 major league innings, but none of those have come with runners on base, so he's not helping himself out once he gets into trouble (though he has induced three hitters to ground into double plays).

Those numbers are pretty distressing, or they would be for any other pitcher, and of course all of the caveats about sample size still apply. But first of all, he's only 21, so to the extent these are a function of nerves, he has plenty of time to learn to deal with them. Second, he was only slated to make three starts, assuming the healthy return of John Lackey, so he's got some things to work on, and he can do it in the minors. Perhaps most importantly, the one thing he doesn't do is give up home runs. He's now pitched 404 innings in professional baseball, and has seen only ten of his pitches leave the yard in fair territory. That means he can get away with allowing a few more hitters to reach over the course of a season, because he's not susceptible to the back breaking three run homer. But he simply can't allow the number of baserunners he's allowed at the major league level. Shockingly, he's actually 1-0 in his major league career, thanks to the 23 runs the Angels have scored in his starts.

I have no reason to believe that with some additional minor league seasoning, he won't turn into solid, if not spectacular major league pitcher, and he has a great deal of upside. His minor league numbers compare favorably to Brandon Webb. Not that he'll be that successful, but if he be 75% of a Brandon Webb, that's a damn good major league starter. I think the Nick Adenhart experiment was a success in that it will eventually make him a better pitcher. I could see him being a fixture in the rotation as early as next year if there's a spot, and as we're learning from the current health situation, there's always a spot.

Where I've been

In short, working, traveling, playing golf, and attending birthday parties for one year olds. Oh, and drinking.

So that's part of the reason I haven't been writing. I was in Atlanta last week, and travel itself kept me from watching Tuesday's game. The hotel I was at has crappy internet service, so it's virtually impossible to watch a game over the computer, so that took out Wednesday. Friday was travel back from Atlanta, and meeting up with drunk friends after the Cubs game (which they attended and I didn't). Saturday was golf, birthday party, and drinking with a different set of friends. Sunday's game was pathetic and made me not want to write.

Actually, I did see a game Wednesday night. I headed down State Highway 400 from Alpharetta to Atlanta to see the Braves play the Padres. Funny that almost every Padres game I've seen in the last 20 years has been against Braves, going back to 1988 when I was the Braves bat boy for one game in San Diego. I saw a couple more at the Murph in the interim, and this was my first game at the Ted. Nice park. Parked for free since I got there in the second inning. Paid $20 to a scalper for a ticket and sat in the general vicinity of that seat. It was not by any means a full building, so you could more or less sit wherever you wanted down the lines. Enjoyed a couple beers and some peanuts.

From my vantage point, it appears you can only weather so many injuries, especially when Vlad is not hot. Lackey and Escobar? They can manage. Kendrick? They can still put runs up. Add Figgins to that, and Maicer, and you're starting to run into tough sledding. They need Figgins back ASAP, and if Kendrick can come back this week, it will be a nice boost to the offense. I like the experience that Rodriguez and Wood are getting, as it's always nice to know what you should expect when it becomes time to stick at the big league level, but those guys need to play every day against pitchers they can hit more consistently, and the Angels need their best hitters back in the lineup.

Also, Justin Speier has been less than impressive lately. Tonight's the first of four with the White Sox, which means I'll need to sync the radio from the net with the video from the local station, because I can't listen to the douchebags who call the Sox games.

Inauspicious Debuts - with a bunch of updates

As I write this, the Angles trail Oakland 4-0 in the second inning. After a nice start, Nick Adenhart, making his major league debut, gave up a hit, four walks, and another hit, which led to those four runs.

It's times like these I like to recall Ervin Santana's major league debut. On May 17, 2005, Ervin Santana faced the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland. He gave up a triple to Grady Sizemore, a double to Coco Crisp, a Single to Travis Hafner, and home run to Ben Broussard. He gave up the cycle to the first four batters he faced in his career. Since that game, he's 40-29, and that inlcudes an awful year last year, plus he's only 25.

The moral of the story? Stuff happens. Adenhart will be fine.

Oh, and now it's 4-1, thanks to Jack "Glove-butcher" Cust.

Update: Now it's 5-4 Angels, thanks to Cust and a lack of mental toughness on the part of the Duke. Back to you, Nick.

Further Updated: The Angels bullpen proves that if you're the Angels brass, it's pretty much damned if you do, damned if you don't when it comes to the Angels seventh starter position.

Updated again: This is what I wrote on BTF in response to all of the doom and gloom:
Ervin Santana - Major League Debut: 4 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 HR, and he gave up the cycle to the first four batters he faced.

Ervin Santana - Next Major League Start: 9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1BB, 7 K. That was against the eventual World Champion White Sox.

Something tells me that when a kid who is a top prospect is called up and stuggles in his debut, it's not the end of the world. It's May fer chrissakes. Can we please pull back from the ledge?

[quote]I don't know if he would have done any better if he had 4 days rest, but this looks really bad, shortsighted, and stupid.[/quote]Ervin Santana - [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE200505170.shtml]Major League Debut[/url]: 4 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 HR, and he gave up the cycle to the first four batters he faced. Ervin Santana - [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200505230.shtml]Next Major League Start[/url]: 9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1BB, 7 K. Something tells me that when a kid who is a top prospect is called up and stuggles in his debut, it's not the end of the world. It's May fer chrissakes. Can we please pull back from the ledge?
OR

Catching up

Last night's game notwithstanding, I think we can look back and say that the Angels had a pretty successful road trip. If you could pick one player who was the key to their success, it would probably be Casey Kotchman. All he did over the six games in Boston and Detroit was put up a 400/520/700 line, with two homers, four RBIs, and 5 walks. His six homers was good enough to tie for the league lead through the end of the trip. He continues to be their best hitter, with a line of 326/392/565, including last night's 0-fer. And that's before taking his gold glove defense into account. Despite all of the complaints about his proclivity for injury and illness, all of the rumors of his eventual trade from Anaheim, all of the attempts to sign a "slugging" first baseman to replace him, he's emerging as the best hitter on the team. All of this goes to show that people could stand to be a bit more patient. Very few guys enter the league and kick ass at 22 or 23 years of age.

Their numbers on the recent trip weren't wonderful, but the catcher spot continues to pleasantly surprise. Last year, the Angels got 14 home runs from that position, with a line of 229/299/372. That's over 162 games. This year, Napoli and Mathis have nine homers, and have combined for a line of 263/323/589. They're actually getting offensive production from the catcher position.

Chone Figgins has come back to earth a bit, but he hasn't plummeted. He's still hitting .314, and he had a pretty wretched trip, but he's got 18 walks in 129 plate appearances (one HBP), for an ISO OBP of .105. That's excellent for a leadoff hitter, especially one who will hit around .300.

Hokey Joe continues to impress, and Ervin Santana has been nothing short of outstanding so far. The Angels' fifth and sixth starters have combined to go 8-0 with a 2.75 ERA. They're allowing barely more than a baserunner per inning, they're striking out almost two and a half hitter for every walk, and they're keeping the ball in the park (6 homers in 68.2 innings). And to think but for the injuries, one of those guys would have started in the pen. They've nicely covered for shaky starts by Weaver and Garland.

And to close it out, the front end of the bullpen has been getting the job done as well. Despite shaky starts to the season, Justin Speier, Scot Shields, and Frankie Rodriguez all have it going. Frankie has saved his last six games, and has allowed four hits and two walks in that time. Three of those hits came in one appearance. Shields has been even better, allowing 9 baserunners in his last 10 innings, and two runs in mop-up work against the Red Sox.

Critics of the Angels bullpen have been silent lately, and all of the sudden, re-signing Frankie is looking more and more like a priority. A quick glance at the league's top closers shows a group that are either not on the market (Rivera, Papelbon, Jenks, Cordero), or not reliable (Sherrill, Isringhausen, Gagne). There's a reason Coco got that big contract over the off-season. And the only other reliable 9th inning guy on the market (Joe Nathan) is seven years older than Frankie. Remember, the comparison is not what Frankie is vs. what we'd like Frankie to be. It's between what he is vs. what else is out there (including going in house). If you're going to break the bank for Gary Matthews Jr., how do not do it for a franchise hero who is still one of the most effective players in the league at his position?

So a tough loss last night, but hopefully they got that performance out of the way early. Kendrick is set to return soon, as is John Lackey. And despite the early season loss of 37 wins from the previous year, the Angels still sit in a pretty good position as we head into May.

Checking in

Blogging will probably return to its normal, infrequent frequency sometime soon. I really want to say something about the Red Sox series, but between a busy week at work, a couple of concerts, and heavy practicing for the state Mid-Amateur championship, I've been a little busy and a lot tired over the last week or so.

But damn, the catcher and first base positions are kicking some serious ass right now, and the pen appears to have righted itself. I was going to call Rob out, but he did it to himself, so no need. Now let's get the Tigers, who have been scoring a lot of runs lately. Look for very high scoring games in this series.

New UCLA Post

I have a new post up at the SoCal Sports Hub on the decisions of Love, Westbrook, Mbah A Moute, and possibly Collison and Shipp to declare for the draft. Here's an excerpt:

Yesterday, freshman Kevin Love and sophomore Russel Westbrook declared their intentions to enter the NBA draft. Both have been projected to go anywhere from the lottery to the late first round. It has been widely rumored that juniors Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute will do the same. Word is that Josh Shipp is also considering going this route. When the season started, it was generally assumed that Love was one and done, and Collison was also probably gone after this year. Both had their ups and downs, and we can all look for faults in their game, but at the end of the day, nothing has really changed since those pre-season assessments. In the meantime, Westbrook showed the athleticism and scoring ability in starter minutes that had us all salivating after watching him in limited minutes last year. In doing so, he turned himself into a likely first rounder, and possibly lottery pick. Shipp and Mbah A Moute didn’t have tremendous seasons. Shipp likely regressed a bit. But their decisions, should they decide to enter the draft, don’t surprise me one bit.

These decisions have prompted a number of critical comments from UCLA fans. They generally fall into a few categories. I’m going to attempt to categorize those complaints and deal with them in this post.

Click here for the rest. I'm going to be do some more occasional posting over there in addition my stuff here.

Trends

Chone Figgins has hit in nine straight games, and his batting average has been barely affected. After the rash of walks to start the season, he's slowed down a bit. He's now averaging one walk every 5.7 plate appearances, which is still pretty damn good. We can talk all night about how they need production out of Vlad, GA, Hunter, etc., but if Figgins can get on base four times out of ten all year, it's really going to make the offense go, assuming he's not immediately eliminated by Matthews every time.

Scot Shields has allowed one base runner in his last four outings (3.2 innings), and none in his last three. He's also struck out four in that span. Worries over the arm troubles that landed him on the DL to start the season, well, they aren't so worrying anymore. Beyond the numbers, he's looked fairly sharp.

Another big series with the Mariners, but I think last weekend soaked up most of the early season drama. They should be able to just relax and play baseball for a while. Well see tonight whether Hokie Joe can keep it going.

Angels Sweep Rangers

Finally a bit of a return to normalcy after the way the Rangers took the Angels apart in the second half of last season. They got a decent start out of Ervin Santana on Monday, who looked like the road version of last year's model in the first inning. From there he settled down and tossed six scoreless innings before turning it over the bullpen.

Yesterday they got a less than adequate start out of Dustin Moseley, who gave up four runs in four innings, and really did himself in with five walks. It was the type of start that normal teams expect out of a fifth starter. The good news for the Angels is that Moseley is their seventh starter. The key for the April Angels is to get this team into May without a lot of damage done so that when Lackey and (God willing) Escobar return, they'll be poised for the mid-season run that puts the division away in late July/early August.

Don't look now, but over the last two days, the bullpen has provided seven innings of earned run free baseball, the only blemish coming when Erick Aybar's throwing error in the eight inning on Monday led somewhat indirectly to Frankie Rodriguez's save opportunity. Speaking of Frankie, two innings, two base runners (both walks), two strikeouts, and two scoreless saves, yesterday's being of the 1-2-3 variety. They actually looked like the real Angels bullpen this series. And don't forget Scot Shields' 1.2 IP, 0 baserunners, 2 Ks performance in the two games. It's no secret that the bullpen is going to be essential to the Angels' success this year, and if they can get the 7-8-9 inning guys going, things may turn out OK.

On the offensive side of things, Chone Figgins picked up three more hits in nine at bats, and saw his average drop 10 points. After two straight games without a free pass, he picked up number 13 in 69 plate appearances yesterday. His ability to get on base (currently a .507 clip) is probably THE reason the Angels have the top scoring offense in the league to this point, well, that and the fact that they've played as many or more games than everyone else. Mike Napoli (four homers) continues to pour on the power when he's in the lineup, and Casey "he'll top out at 20-25 homers" Kotchman also hit his fourth of the season. Maybe the experts are right, but my gut tells me he's got 35 homer power in him. Maybe not this year, but at some point.

Next up will be a contrast in styles as the Angels head home to take on the surprising Royals, who aren't plating many runners (3.5 per game), but are allowing even fewer to cross (just over 3 per). Fortunately they miss Brian Bannister and Zack Grienke, but Gil Meche is better than his ERA shows to this point (though Brett Tomko likely isn't). The Angels counter with Jered Weaver and Jon Garland, who could use a game against a low scoring opponent just about now. Just a quick two game set before another showcase series with Seattle this weekend. It would be nice to see them keep the momentum going.

One of Three

I think we all wish things would have gone a little differently in Seattle over the weekend, but them's the breaks, and when all is said and done, 1-2 in their building isn't all that awful.

Cause for concern:

• Two straight poor outings from Jon Garland.
• The bullpen continues to be less than impressive.
• Nobody seems to be able to get Raul Ibanez out.
• Gary Matthews Jr. is an out-making machine.
• Despite the flood of offense so far this season, the Angels sit just one game over .500.
• Howie Kendrick can't seem to stay healthy.
• The defense is at times not so good.
  

Cause for optimism:

• Lackey's throwing again.
• Frankie's velocity was up a bit yesterday, even though his location wasn't great. Maybe getting guys back into their normal roles will help everyone calm down a bit.
• Raul Ibanez doesn't play for the Rangers.
• I'm sorry, I can't think of anything positive about Matthews.
• Howie, when healthy, is on fire.
  

The strength of the offense actually may be sustainable. No, I don't expect Figgins to hit .400, or Howie to hit .500, or Kotchman to stay as hot as he's been. But I also expect a little more out of Vlad than we've gotten so far, and I expect those three to hit all season.

In Figgins' case, I think we're getting past the point where we can call his success over the last four and a half months of regular season action a fluke. I've mentioned before that I think somewhere between .300 and .310 is a fairly conservative, yet realistic estimate of what he can do this year, and if the plate discipline (12 walks in 50 plate appearances) is real, and I suspect it is (to an extent - I think one walk every 8-9 appearances is a realistic goal), then he could be poised for a very fine season.

Kendrick is Kendrick, and if he's in the lineup, he's going to hit. He doesn't seem to be a guy that pitchers can figure out for very long. As he makes his way around the league a few times, they may catch up to him a bit, but he's had sustained success at the lower levels, and he just seems like the type that will be able to adjust to what the pitchers at this level will do.

As for Kotchman, the average isn't a surprise. I don't expect .370, but it's a small sample, and I do expect him, if healthy, to stay north of .300 all year, and if things break right, .325 or so isn't out of the question. As for the three homers, I'm not surprised. I know the pundits don't expect him to ever show a ton of power, and maybe their right. But what I saw last year and this are: 1) a lot of doubles, which usually portend decent power numbers; and 2) although he didn't hit a lot of homers last year, many of them were LONG home runs. He wasn't hitting shots that scraped the wall. He crushed a few of them deep into the right field seats, which isn't easy to do in Anaheim. Already this year he killed one in Minnesota, AND he hit one out in Seattle that was on a pretty good pitch, not a pitch a guy with little power should have been able to hit out. The predictions are that he'll top out around 25 homers. I think we may see that many, or more, this year assuming good health (a big assumption).

The Angels routinely have trouble firing on all cylinders at this point in the season. They muddle along doing some things well and other things not so well until they hit a summer stretch where they start to assert themselves. That's pretty much what I see happening this year as well.

0 for 2. Series Finale Tomorrow

Until then, enjoy some Paisley Underground. This be the Long Ryders. Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of "Here Comes That Train Again" and "The Light Gets In The Way" on youtube.

Looking For Lewis and Clark


Lights of Downtown


Gunslinger Man