After losing two out of three to Joke-land over the weekend by a combined score of 15-8, the Halos welcomed the Indians to the Big A for a slightly early Labor Day start. It ended up being a nightmare. Danny Boy Haren had a very decent outing (outside of a dumbass walk with the bases loaded), and the bats did enough to keep it tied at two, but that damned bullpen blew it all to hell. After getting two outs in the ninth, Fernando Rodney promptly gave it all away. "Fraud" coughed up a double, hit the next batter, and then watched as The Soo Choo Train belted in what would become the winner. The Halos were set down on just 11 pitches in their last chance ninth inning, just an inning after everyone and their mother struck out with men on in the eighth. The 2-3 loss was tough to watch.
The minuses:
-Fernando Rodney blew it again!
-7 left on base.
-Kendrick, Abreu, Aybar, and Mathis all went hitless (0 for 14, combined).
-Mathis is STILL starting, but hopefully that will end with Conger's callup.
The pluses:
+Haren looked pretty good, going 7 innings of 2 run ball with 6 Ks, but he did have 4 walks.
+Peter Bourjos rocked an exciting triple and scored in an average boosting 1 for 4 effort.
+Torii Hunter blasted #20 on the year, as the Halo triple crown race heats up.
+Napoli is still humming, going 2 for 4 with two doubles.
After the game, the Halos made some callup announcements (as reported on LSF's "Instant Suffering"- I hope you like the new name). After cutting GMJ replacement Brian Stokes (we hardly knew ye!), the Angels reported their plans of calling up Mark Trumbo, Hank Conger (I guess you can move guys onto the 40-man and call them up), Kevin Frandsen, Matt Palmer, and Bobby Cassevah. I couldn't be more pumped up, and hope at least Conger and Trumbo start tonight. As for Stokes, he leaves after an 0-0, 8.10 injury plagued effort for the Angels, and today is his birthday. Ouch. Happy birthday, buddy.
In case you're still really following the Halo Triple Crown Race (which, I feel, needs a corporate sponsor- leave suggestions in the comments), Torii seems to still have a shot:
Big Game Hunter: .292 (1st), 20 (2nd, -2 on Napoli), 73 (2nd, -1 on Godzilla).
Let's hope he can pull it off! At 66-72, the Angels are just plain bad. It doesn't even matter that Texas is fading. In third place we're 9.5 back of the Rangers and 2.5 back of Oakland. The Rangers have a magic number of 16 to eliminate Los Halos. The series with the Indians continues tonight as Trevor "Ding Dong" Bell (2-4, 4.85) looks to continue his recent solid pitching against Justin Masterson (5-12, 5.04). In his 6 August appearances, Masterson (a rookie) held down a 3.28 ERA with just 31 hits allowed in 35.67 innings. He's a groundball pitcher, who may be finding his way as the season closes out. Our version of a young hurler finding his way is Bozo Bell, and he's been hot as of late. Trevor went 6 innings of just 2 run ball in his last outing, his second straight solid start. Besides getting Palm Tree and Cassevah, the bullpen might also be getting a rehabbed Joel Piñero soon, who is throwing a 4 inning simulated game as I type at Angel Stadium. Scheduled to miss the whole season with that oblique problem he got while warming up for a day game, he's now probably going to be back in a reliever role before the end of the month. Not bad.
Speaking of the bullpen, while I watched Sweat-nando blow the game last night (after being surprised that Jepsen didn't do the very same thing an inning earlier), I started wondering: Is Fernando Rodney the worst reliever on the team? I'm sure he's not, but with his memorable collapses (from last night to that Boston grand slam), it sure seems like he's in the running. Let's break it down, and find our bullpen's biggest problem child. We'll start by looking at the active relievers and their basic stats (W-L-ERA-K/9-WAR) and we'll go from there.
Rodney: 4-2, 3.97, 1.46, 0.8
Jeps: 2-4, 4.72, 2.30, 0.2
Scottie: 0-3, 5.32, 1.19, -0.4
Hat-Cisco: 1-3, 3.67, 1.84, 0.6
Palmer: 0-1, 6.26, 0.69, -0.3
Bulger: 0-0, 5.32, 1.53, -0.1
Aussie: 0-0, 1.54, 3.33, 0.3
Kohn: 0-0, 3.09, 0.89, 0.2
Cassevah: 0-0, 5.56, 1.75, -0.1
Waldo: 0-0, 1.80, 10.00, 0.1
A couple of things jump out with the stats alone. First, Fernando Rodney is not only NOT the worst pitcher in the 'pen; he's arguably the best. Just because the hugely memorable blown games stick out in our minds doesn't mean he's the worst, although it felt that way last night. Second, there is clearly no way Scot Shields is back in an Angels uniform when his contract expires after this year. So, here is the official "LSF Halo Bullpen Shit List" sorted for you from worst to first (I'll leave out pitchers like Bulger, Thompson, Cassevah, and Palmer, who haven't really pitched enough to be cast one way or the other).
1. Scot "Gas Can" Shields
2. Kevin "Big Country) Jepsen
3. Mike "Kohn Head" Kohn
4. Jordan "Waldo" Walden
5. Fernando "Sweaty Boy" Rodney
6. Francisco "That Ain't Nothing Compared To Your Hats" Rodriguez
Remember, that's from worst to first (ie, sixth is the best pitcher in the 'pen). Honorable mention goes to Richie Thompson for being the best Austalian pitcher in the business, and recently having a new baby welcomed into his family.
Finally, it's time to match our feelings with those of Sam Miller from the OC Register. In honor of the Angels 50th season, Miller is counting down the top players by position in Halo history. That should give us plenty of fodder for a couple of weeks. Today he graced us with his first baseman list, and I thought it would be fun to compare the OCR's list of best Angels first basemen of all time to the LSF's.
First, Sam Miller's top 9:
9. Casey Kotchman
8. Scott Spiezio
7. Steve Bilco
6. Kendry Morales
5. Joe Adcock
4. Don Mincher
3. Mark Teixeira
2. Rod Carew
1. Wally Joyner
And, Sam Miller's "most likely to join the list in the future":
Mark Trumbo (that's pretty trendy, even for Miller)
Now, I find a few things wrong with this list without even looking up stats. 1) Where is JT Snow? 2) Who are Steve Bilco and Don Mincher? 3) Really, Teixeira is the third best Angels first baseman of all time? Please! 4) Sure, Spiezio hit one of the most important Halo homers of all time, but is he the 8th best one bagger in team history? Is Sand Frog the 8th best band in music history?
When I look to set out my Top 9, I want to first create a pool of players to choose from, and then pick 9 from there. First, here are the five firstbaseman to start the most games at the position for the Angels (in order):
Wally Joyer, Rod Carew, Darin Erstad, JT Snow, and Jim Spencer.
Right there, you already find three players who didn't even make the OCR list! Now, we'll list the main starters from most recent to most past (going back only as far as I want to):
Kendry Morales, Casey Kotchman, Darin Erstad, Scott Spiezio, Mo Vaughn, JT Snow, Lee Stevens, Wally Joyner, Rod Carew, and others (including Bilko, Adcock, Mincher, and even Bruce Bochte).
In all, Baseball Reference lists 22 players who primarily started at first base in the Angels 50 year history (interestingly, SS has had the least at 17). I'd like to personally thank Baseball Reference for not including Mark Teixeira on the list, as playing for a team for two months in NO WAY qualifies you to be listed among the all-time anything. And the Register lists him #3? OCR lost some respect with that one. Now, we'll take 12 listed from my pool and figure out their total WAR and average per season WAR while with the Angels (WAR being the all encompassing stat du jour) and then mix that with my own personal feelings to make our top 9:
Joyner's Total WAR is 18.1
Joyner's Average WAR is 3.02
Carew's Total WAR is 16.4
Carew's Average WAR is 2.34
Erstad's Total WAR is 28
Erstad's Average WAR is 2.55
Snow's Total WAR is -2.1
Snow's Average WAR is -0.53
Spencer's Total WAR is 0.2
Spencer's Average WAR is 0.03
Morales' Total WAR is 4.2
Morales' Average WAR is 0.84
Kotchman's Total WAR is 3.7
Kotchman's Average WAR is 0.74
Spiezio's Total WAR is 6.2
Spiezio's Average WAR is 1.55
Vaughn's Total WAR is 2.5
Vaughn's Average WAR is 1.25
Bilko's Total WAR is 3.2
Bilko's Average WAR is 1.6
Adcock's Total WAR is 4.9
Adcock's Average WAR is 1.63
Mincher's Total WAR is 4.9
Mincher's Average WAR is 2.45
Now that the objective stuff is laid out, it's time to mix it with the subjective memories (in my mind only, not in type). Here, my friends is my top 9:
9. Mo Vaughn
8. Scott Spiezio
7. JT Snow
6. Steve Bilko
5. Joe Adcock
4. Jim Spencer
3. Darin Erstad
2. Rod Carew
1. Wally Joyner
So, I'm learning a little about myself as I put this list together, and a couple of things jump out. Sam Miller has the same 1, 2, 5, and 8 as I do. Compared with the OCR list, I have left off Kendry Morales, Casey Kotchman, Teixeira, and Mincher. I'm as shocked as you are that I also put Spiezio eighth, but hey, I guess that homer did mean something. Also, despite being decidedly worse, I put JT up there for all the fond memories. And, to those who question Darin Erstad as #3 or Mo Vaughn as #9, I'll say 1) Erstad primarily was a 1B even if we mostly remember him catching the World Series winning ball in center field, and B) Mo Vaughn, despite previously falling into the dugout, put up one of the Angels best offensive seasons in 2000 with .272/36/117 numbers even while leading the league in Ks at 181. Remember that slugging 2000 squad?
Oh, and my player most likely to make the list in the future:
Obviously, it's Kendry Morales. In my opinion, Kendry will crack the top 3 of my list when it's all said and done.
So, we've got some lists for you today, don't we? Hope you enjoyed the mindless blatherting, and leave your douchy comments if you are so inclined.
Now let's go scalp us some Indians.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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