Back on May 13, I brought you the "Who Dat: Angels Edition" where I brought some lesser known Halos to the table. In that post, you got cozy with Trevor Bell, Bobby Cassevah, Ryan Budde, Kevin Frandsen, and Michael Ryan. Franny is really the lone guy from that post still making good for us. This weekend, though, there were some new names breaking through onto the roster (with Quinny and SOS getting a plane ticket to the SLC), and that made me feel ready for my second "Who Dat" of the campaign, and for good measure we'll explore the hottest MiLB players within the franchise, so we won't be surprised when people get called up in the near future.
Before we get to that, let's recap this way up and way down weekend that left us 46-39 and 3.5 games back of the Rangers:
Friday- Joe Saunders pitched 8 innings of 1 run ball against the Royals, and handed it off to the bullpen with the game after walking Billy Butler in the 9th with no outs and a 1-0 lead. Brian Fuentes promply allowed a RBI double to make it 1-1, and then Scot Shields blew up in the 10th, including almost throwing a wild pitch on a IBB (which he laughed about on the mound, mind you), as the Royals doubled their way to a 2-1 win. Keep in mind that the Halos had a runner tagged out at home in the 8th, and had a huge chance to win squashed by a diving Alberto Callaspo in the ninth. There was that "pit of the stomach" kind of feeling.
Saturday- Bruce Fecking Chen. Double Chen retired the first 18 Angels before his bid for perfection was muffed up by Erick Aybar's single to left on pitch #76. Ervin tried to keep pace, making shutout work until a Jose Guillen 2 run single in the 8th. Mathis hit a jack in the 8th to get us a run, and we added another on a Napoli sac fly in the 9th, but we fell 2-4 to Chen and Los Royals. Brandon Wood went 0 for 3 with a K, and we were staring a sweep in the face.
Sunday- A National audience. A third announcer to help make ESPN's Sunday Night broadcasters a little more palpable. An All-Star performance from our lone All-Star, Big Game Hunter. An 11-0 rout helped quell the fears of the typical Angel fan with one leg hanging off the bandwagon, and it was Torii doing most of the work. He tied a career high with 7 RBI, getting a 3 run jack in the 3rd, a 2 run bomb in the 7th, and a 2 run single in the eighth. Completely lost in this game, thanks to the offensive explosion, was the amazing effort from Joel Piñero. Yo-El Piñata went 7 innings of shutout bal, despite allowing 6 hits and handing out 4 walks. That's 2 double plays and 11 Royals left on base that helps that be a shutout. 11 Team LOB? Wow. Joel was getting into jams and working out of jams like that's how it is supposed to go. What wasn't lost in the game was Paul "Fatty Arbuckle" McAnulty going yard with a 2 run jobber in his MLB debut. Where the heck did "Mac-Anulty" come from?
Monday- Nothing can quite ruin the good feelings from a big blowout like a Scot Kazmir start. I usually bang on Kaz for not going anywhere beyond 5 innings. With the game at 1-2 in favor of the White Sox, Scioscia decided to push it, and kept Kaz in beyobd his baby sized comfort zone. The result: 6.3 IP with 7 ER. Ramirez, Quentin, and Viciedo all went yard on Kaz, and the Angels had no hope with that kind of collapse. Rojas and Goober figured Scioscia wanted Kazmir to keep working through "his game." Just another "Lorri" mistake. Feck me. Meanwhile, Floyd was mowing fools down. Outside of Howie's 3 for 4 game with a late RBI, the Angels only had three other players with a hit each. That's 6 of the 9 starters going 0'fer. Sigh.
Okay, enough of the 1-3 weekend recap. Let's figure out who these losers are!
Paul McAnulty: He's wearing a Red Sox hat in his MLB.com photo, which instantly makes me question him. But, his body type and jack in debut make me like him. Of course, Brandon Wood also hit a jack in his MLB debut...An Oxnard native and CSULB graduate, P-Mac really only went 1 for 6 in his first 2 games, so let's not start going crazy because of his impressive .167/1/2 start. He has played some ball with the Padres, his longest stint being 66 games in 2008 where he put up .207/3/13 stats. He pretty much has done this since 2005, impressing fans with a homerun here and a homerun there. He was cut from the Rockies in November 2009 before getting picked up by the Halos. He's hit .360/4/26 with SLC this year over 29 games. Don't fall in love with this guy, just enjoy anything he gives us.
Cory Aldridge: The eye injury to Juan Rivera, who should be back in the lineup today, cleared the way for Cory Aldridge to get some time. He's been spotlighted on the blog before, and the San Angelo, TX native hopes this time he might stick up. He probably won't, though. He started with the Braves in 2001, going 0'fer in 8 games. He also spent time in the Royals AAA organization. To be clear, he's been amazing in SLC this year (.309/10/53) and he deserves his coffee.
Bobby Wilson- Bobby gained his fame by getting run over by Mark Teixeira early this season. In 15 games he's hitting .196 with a jack and four RBI. We're kind of getting a lesson in the "replacement player" this time around, but I really like Wilson. Good hands behind the plate, and went 3 for 6 in a brief SLC stint the year (rehab work). Wilson is a part of the "four headed catching monster" we have in Napoli-Mathis-Wilson-Budde, and unless something happens after this year, Hank Conger will make the monster have 5 heads.
Rich Thompson- Most are probably really familiar with the Aussie since he played a good deal last season, but I wanted to add a pitcher and he went yesterday, so I picked Richie. He pitched for the Austrailian team in the World Baseball Classic, and in 19 games with Salt Lake this year, he held a 0.61 ERA, good enough to make him a PCL All Star. He'll be a permanent guy here, eventually.
When I see all these new names up with the club, I realize that I have seriously dropped off on my MiLB fandom. So, let's get it back going! Today, I'll highlight two hitters and two pitchers at each level who I'm excited about (not including the aforementioned).
AAA Salt Lake Bees (42-42):
+Mark Trumbo (1B/RF; Anaheim native)- Trumbo has been nuts in his 81 games for the Bees this year, hitting .269 with 20 homeruns and 69 RBI. He's amassed a .531 SLG, and is making me wonder why McAnulty is up instead of Trumbo (who will surely play RF if he stays with LAA because of the Kendry log jam at 1B).
+Peter Bourjos (OF; Illinois native)- How many times have we spotlighted the Burro? He's still kind of just waiting for his shot, hitting .275 with 8 jacks and 31 RBI in his 78 games this year. It's his speed that impresses, though, as he has 10 triples and 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts.
+Daniel Davidson (P; Panama City native)- Wow. Double D is 8-1 despite a 5.00 ERA in 15 starts this year. 59 Ks in 84.67 IP ain't bad.
+Raffy Rodriguez (P; DR native)- Raffy hasn't exactly impressed the typical fan, but his 5-3 record and 3.46 ERA with a 2.4 K/BB can't be denied. He has the stuff, now he just needs to not be a Brandon Wood.
AA Arkansas Travelers (31-50):
+Julio Perez (OF; DR native)- Perez may be hitting .230 over 54 games with the Travs, but he has busted 5 jacks for 29 RBI to impress me. He also has 21 walks in 200 ABs, which seems good to me for a AA guy.
+Jeremy Moore (OF; Shreveport native)- J Moore is another in the deep OF MiLB cave of the Halos. In 76 AA games this year, he's popping a .284/6/22 line with 12 steals and 3 triples.
+Barret Browning (P; Georgia native)- 5-4 with a 3.91 ERA over as a reliever is pretty solid. It earned B Squared a recent callup to the Bees. You have to love 44 Ks in 46 IP. So far with AAA, he's held a 1.35 ERA in 4 games.
+Jordan Walden (P; Fort Worth native)- 33 innings pitched with a 3.82 ERA has been pretty solid for this Texas League reliever. Add 34 punchouts, and you have a developing talent.
A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (45-37):
+Gabriel Jacobo (1B; Tulare native)- Wow. Talk about lighting up the 909/951. In 78 games this year, Jacobo is hitting .299/10/66. 95 hits in 78 games is impressive at any level.
+Tyson Auer (OF; Florida native)- A .332 average, 27 RBI, 8 triples, and (hang on for this) 40 stolen bases in 65 games with the Quakes did enough to lift the speedstet to AA just 8 games ago. This guy is nibbling on Bourjos' ankles.
+Tyler Chatwood (P; Fontana native)- A 8-3 with a 1.77 ERA, Chats has more than impressed those folks east of Orange County this year. He has produced 70 Ks in 81 IP, which is 7.7 K/9, and has held it down with a 0.7 HR/9. He recently got promoted to Arkansas, but it may have been a tad early as he's 0-2 with a 6+ ERA in 3 starts.
+Andrew Taylor (P; NC native)- The super reliever has been nails over 20 games. He's put together a 4-1 record with a 2.06 ERA. A K/9 of 10 and a 1.086 WHIP led to this homeboy getting lifted to AA. Since going up, he has a 8+ ERA in 6 games.
Hopefully that helps keep us all in the loop a little more when it comes to the up and coming Baby Angels, and hopefully I can continue to keep you (and me) posted on the haps in the three highest levels of the Angels' MiLB franchise.
Tonight's Angel game is going to be down right awesome. A battle of number ones is on tap as Jered "The Super Snub" Weaver (8-3, 2.82) goes up against Chicago's Jake Peavy (7-6, 4.70). Weaver is trying to put the All Star snub behind him, "Making the All Star game is something I've dreamed about since I was nine years old. I didn't make it. It is what it is." Joe Saunders decided to step it up and keep it real for him, "Personally, I don't know how a guy leads the league in strikeouts and has a sub three ERA doesn't make it. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Props to Joey for being straightforward welhen Big Baby can't. Did you know the Angelshave the best road record is baseball since 2004 at 297-230? Did you know Peavy is 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA in his career against Los Halos? Man, I hope we can bust these guys tonight.
Can you tell I have nothing to do at work?
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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