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Mar 11, 2008 Feb 14, 2012 77 17809

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Sponichi: Talks between Texas Rangers and Yu Darvish are apparently not going well
by Gen on Jan.07, 2012 @ 12:29 pm, under MLB, NPB
Yu Darvish began his training in Miyazaki on Friday. The media was pretty much shutout from the workouts — the Nippon Ham Fighters asked reporters to refrain from making contact with Darvish (for interviews and photos).
Sponichi reports that talks between Darvish and the Texas Rangers are not going well — Darvish is looking for around 1.5B yen (or US$20M) a year at five years while the Rangers’ first offer may have been around 616M yen a year at six years. They also note that the two sides have yet to really start the negotiation process.
In a separate article, Sponichi wonders if Darvish has refrained from making comments to the press because he wants to make sure he can easily slide back into pitching for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2012.
link: http://yakyubaka.com/2012/01/07/sponichi-talks-between-texas-rangers-and-yu-darvish-are-apparently-not-going-well/

about 1 month ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 0 comments

Vernon Wells Further Reiterates He Is Not Worth His Contract

From an LA Times article by Helene Elloit, After a terrible start Wells revived in June, batting .276 for the month after recovering from a groin injury that put him on the disabled list, but that didn't last long. He's only three for 18 since the All-Star break. That's bad enough. But by an obvious gauge — the $86 million on his contract through 2014 — the trade that brought him to Anaheim from Toronto looks monumentally bad. "I'm never going to live up to it. It's not possible," Wells said. "So it's just go out and play and have a good time and try to win some games. That's the important thing now. I've never been able to play in the postseason and that's why I came here, to have a chance of doing that." Should Wells be commended for just being honest, or is the joke even more on Tony Reagins?

7 months ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 25 comments

Naps is catching CJ Wilson in tonight's match. Napoli is quoted that he "wants to put a sour taste in the Angels' mouths."

Napoli is batting .286, with three home runs in 21 at bats this season.

10 months ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 61 comments

MLB.TV is offering a free preview of what is available through subscription to mlb.tv all year long. The game is free today to all viewers. Just click on the link and find the LAA/ LAD game in the column to the left that lists the games and click the little TV icon next to it.

11 months ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 5 comments

In this podcast, Napoli talks about his tumultuous off season being traded twice in a week and how he feared pirates more than sharks on a cruise. A sense of bitterness can be detected when Naps says he is looking forward to facing the Angels to "show them they shouldn't have traded me."

Ben and Skin take a stab at accusing the Angels of being payroll bullies because the Rangers operate on half of the payroll budget that the Angels do. Mike corrects them and says no, the bullies are the Yankees and the Red Sox.

(For podcast click on "Audio" under Rangers News Feed heading and then the Ben and Skin Show.)

12 months ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 3 comments

Good for Vlad to land a nice one year deal for good coin.

about 1 year ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 23 comments 3 recs

This extensive article chronicles the lives of minor league players and the often grim realities they face trying to fulfill their dream to be major league baseball players. The article covers every aspect of the tough life in the minor leagues.

It is the flip side of the enthusiastic and often glamorous reporting fed to us on sports blogs of star players with large signing bonuses and the brightness of touted prospects with promising futures.

over 1 year ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 7 comments 2 recs

Bobby Cassevah Brought Up to Pitch in Relief.

Per Biggsy at AM830, Brian Stokes was placed on the DL today and will be replaced by Bobby Cassevah. Matt Palmer has been placed on the DL (shoulder) and not sent down to triple A and will not lose any of his major league playing time.

almost 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 19 comments

Notes About The Angels From NYY Official MLB Website

I am encouraged by Scioscia's desire to start Maicer as many as four times a week. We all would like to see his bat in the lineup more often. If these notes are indeed true and Naps is starting on Thursday must prove he is not so much on Soth's hit list and is healthy. We were all getting worried. Good to see Palmer sticking around in the bullpen upon Kazmir's return. Francisco Rodriguez was called up only long enough to get his name mentioned on Halos Heaven.

almost 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 2 comments

Washington said it was a one-time transgression, that at the age of 57 he had a weak moment and while the team was in Anaheim just before the All-Star break, he gave into the temptation and used cocaine.

almost 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 61 comments

Jackie Standley has pleaded no contest to selling a gram of methamphetamine to undercover officers in Lincoln Nebraska. She faces up to twenty years in prison and sentencing is set for December 16. Standley, 44, is the mother of Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 6 comments

Halos Heaven Five Angels In A Sports Bar

I came across this interesting collection of photos posted by a young lady from San Diego who was hanging out with her girlfriends at Nationals Sports Bar on October 1, 2006. They sort of tell a story of what happens when you run into five Angels players in a sports bar. She even captioned a few of the photos and describes an altercation between Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis which I found a little frightening. Anyway here is her story in pictures.

Continue reading this post »

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Steve Phillips, ESPN sports analyst, has been temporarily suspended by ESPN for an affair he had with his 22-year-old production assistant. The affair went bad when Phillips dumped assistant, Brooke Hundley, and she told all to his wife. Phillips' wife, whom he has three sons with, has filed for divorce.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 69 comments

Interesting, honest, no BS article from an east coast paper about the Angels/ Yankees match up.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 1 comment

Halos Heaven Bobby Abreu's Ex-WAG

I was reading some articles in the New York Post about how even the wives and girlfriends of other Yankee players are growing sick and tired of Kate Hudson, Alex Rodriguez's girlfriend, for her cheering antics, public displays of affection, and carousing in the front row stands instead of taking her place with the other wives and girlfriends in their appropriate private suites. A rift has grown against Kate led by Minka Kelly, Derek Jeter's girlfriend and star of "Friday Night Lights" (she played the daughter of the auto dealer in the show). There now has formed the "Kate camp" and the "Minka camp" of wives and girlfriends.

The New York Post article linked to WAGrankings, a website devoted to provocative photos and brief stories about Wives And Girlfriends (WAG) of professional athletes (note: some of these photos not safe for work environments). I looked through to see if there were any Angels player WAGs and found only one, Alicia Machado, a latin beauty linked to Bobby Abreu.

The story that went along with Alicia was kind of good. She and Bobby were all set to tie the knot in 2005 when Bobby was still with the Phillies and had won The Home Run Derby that year. Alicia Machado was crowned Miss Universe in 1996 and was a big star in Latin America. In 2005 Alicia appeared as a cast member on the Spanish celebrity reality show "La Granja" and was taped having sex with a fellow cast member Fernando Acaso. After the show aired Abreu immediately called off the engagement and ended the relationship. It was a big scandal in Latin America and Alicia publicly apologized for her actions. Alicia Machado also appeared in the Mexican and Venezuelan issues of Playboy in 2006. She appeared in US Playboy in 2007 and dedicated the issue to Donald Trump.  Alicia gained twenty pounds during her reign as Miss Universe that caused her humiliation when Donald Trump described her as "an eating machine."

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The trial of Andrew Thomas Gallo, charged with driving drunk and killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, has been postponed for six months to give his new Deputy Public Defender sufficient time to prepare a defense. The Public Defender, Bryan Harris, was appointed by the court after Gallo's private attorney quit the case.

Gallo is charged with three counts of second degree murder and the trial date is now set for April 19, 2010.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 1 comment

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With his nasty whiskers and mean fastball, Kevin Jepsen reminds me of "The Big Bad Wolf."

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 14 comments 3 recs

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On Halos Heaven Brandon Wood was always nicknamed Jesus by his rabid followers and when Sean Rodriguez was brought up earlier in the season ahead of Wood, he became Sean the Baptist.
The Rays got a tremendous player in Sean and I hope his career blossoms as I am sure it will in the Florida swamp.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 16 comments 6 recs

Justin Speier has been unconditionally released by the Los Angeles Angels to make room for pitcher, Trevor Bell, who will make his season debut on Wednesday.

Good luck and good riddance Justin.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 7 comments

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Rangers on Friday decided that 49 times was enough.

Just 48 hours after Vicente Padilla hit Kurt Suzuki with a first-inning pitch that resulted in retaliation aimed at Michael Young, the team finally cut ties with the volatile right-handed pitcher. After 49 hit batters over three plus seasons, Padilla was designated for assignment. The team has 10 days to trade or release him. General manager Jon Daniels made it clear the Rangers are through with him.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 3 comments

siteanalytics.com conveniently allows you to compare site traffic between up to three websites at a time. The product is this sexy graph that compares site traffic between my two selected sites, halosheaven.com and angelswin.com. The point of this was to try to uncover some factual information about the amount of site traffic angelswin.com receives (but does not disclose on their website) and see how it compares to Halos Heaven. Siteanalytics did it all for me.

Mouse over the dates along the bottom of the graph for a total number of unique visitors per month for each site. Click on the Unique Visitors box for a menu of other statistics such as rank, page views, and other information. Halos Heaven ranks #118,460 and angelswin ranks #407,997.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 33 comments

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Yankees third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, had nothing to smile about while cruising Los Angeles this past weekend with actress Kate Hudson. A-Rod and his team were swept by the LA Angels in the three game series.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 6 comments

Halos Heaven Orioles' Billy Ripken 1989 Fleer Card

Since we are in the middle of a series with the Baltimore Orioles, I am posting this little bit of comical Orioles baseball history. Billy Ripken played second base for the Orioles (1987-92, 96) along side his brother Cal Ripken Jr. and managed by his father Cal Ripken Sr. 

Ripken posed for this 1989 Fleer baseball card holding a bat that had "F-CK FACE" hand written on the knob and clearly visible in the photograph. Once this "error" was discovered a minor scandal ensued for Fleer and it's young bubble gum chewing Orioles fans. Once the card was released, and the offensive phrase discovered, Fleer hastily issued subsequent versions of the card. The first version after the original "error card" was the white blob where a dab of thick white correction fluid was applied over the knob. The second and third versions had the phrase covered over with black marking pen and a black square. The white blob version has the highest collectible value. 

Years later, Ripken claimed the "F-CK FACE" bat was his batting practice bat and the use of it in the photo was unintentional on his part. His explanation was that he wrote the phrase on the bat himself to distinguish it from his game bats.

Billy Ripken now owns three minor league baseball teams with his brother Cal. He served most recently as the first base coach with the US National Team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

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via farm3.static.flickr.com


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Ken Rosenthal reports the Angels have been trying to put together a package involving catcher(s) and middle infielders for Diamondbacks right handed pitcher Dan Haren.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 2 comments

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Marlins second baseman, Dan Uggla, relaxes in bed while signing boxes of souvenir baseballs.

over 2 years ago Xlarge_aad6696334484f88c36b9225d861fe6d_tiny 44FAN 4 comments