I spoke with Tim Mead from the Angels Front Office today. I Told him about my complete hatred of this dumb song, he said that he feels that most people enjoy it. I told him that I disagree and that the only reason people sing along is because of the repetitive lyrics. I told him I would be sending him a petition signed by people who want just about anything BUT that song. So please sign.

End Buttercup

(I tried embedding the petition so it was easier to sign but couldn't do it)

Former Angels slugger Chili Davis has been hired by Oakland to be their hitting instructor. Maybe he'll be their community relations department too. In charge of children's activities in the area. I never forgave him for the NUMEROUS times he was asked for an autograph, or the cuss out he gave a young kid and his mom for the audacity of them asking HIM for an autograph.

He was the Dodgers Instructional hitting coach and now the Athletics hitting coach. Is he trying to go to all of our rivals? Next year him and Dave Henderson will coach the Mariners or something.

Oh well here is the link...

There is this really cool new feature on Fangraphs that lets you chart WAR, either by season, or by team. It also lets you see what a players WAR was based on their age.
So without further ado;

The surprise for me was that Fergosi was #1. I knew he'd be high, but not #1. Also look how high Vladdy is on the list with only his limited time with the team. really goes to show you how important he was to this team. Oh... and what's this Mike Napoli is on the list? well surely Mathis must be ahead of him let me check... Nope he's not there at all.

So yesterday the season officially 'ended' for the Angels. We as fans knew it was likely over a month ago. We now need to turn our attention to the upcoming draft, why? Because the first 18 spots in this order are protected draft picks and cannot be taken away, for instance if we signed a certain speedy LF from Tampa. Or a 3b from Boston. We need to root for Houston, Dodgers and Detroit to win some games so that if we decide to actually score more than 1-2 runs a game and win a few in the final week 1/2 that we don't move past 18 on the list.

Draft#:1

Draft#:2

Draft#:3

Draft#:4

Draft#:5

Draft#:6

Draft#:7*

Draft#:8

Draft#:9 (Cubs)

Draft#:10

Draft#:11*



Draft#:12

Draft#:13

Draft#:14

Draft#:15

Draft#:16

Draft#:17*

Draft#:18 (mets)

Draft#:19

My daughter is 4 years old and is a baseball savant. She calls balls and strikes on TV and even tells me when the umpire 'should' have called the pitch a strike. She can name all the players including the coaches, and has favorite players and guys she doesn't like. A group of parents and I were talking and we were commenting about how perceptive some kids can be, and the fact that they are so honest about their feelings. So my wife and I decided for fun to get her perception on some players, it turns out she is more perceptive than we thought.

Below are some of her observations and feelings.

Kendry Morales - He has weird teeth, hits the ball hard

Howie Kendrick - I like him daddy, he always smiles, gets hits, and is friends with mike scioscia (she is referring to the Howards commercials)

Erick Aybar- He doesnt always get hits, but sometimes dives for the ball. Throws hard

Brandon Wood-  I dont like him (why audrey?) because he always swings and misses (And what happens after that?) its the other teams turn to bat.

Mike Napoli - He always has a beard, hits homeruns, I like him

Jeff mathis - why is he catching today? where is Mike Napoli?

Torii Hunter- He is my favorite Angel, now that Vladdy and Chone Figgins is gone. He is the best. (she names her fish Torri Hunter)

Bobby Abreu - He seems like he is slow. Why does he always look at the umpire after the pitch?

Juan Rivera - Sometimes he hits Homeruns but I dont know if I like him or not

Macier Izturis - No daddy no!  (she cowers away at his photo and when he comes to bat covers her eyes. She is scared of him, but listens to what happens and claps for him)

Rob Quinlan -Why is he batting, look how he's batting daddy

Mike Scioscia- Why is he always rubbing his mouth

Scott sheids - Uh Oh

Brian Fuentes - (she only sees him when its away games because she can't stay up late. but when we showed him to her for this post she rolled her eyes and said...) Not again... (she hates when the other team scores and this is what she says when the score, but also what she says when he comes into the game)

Chone Figgins and Vladdy- We still like them right daddy, can we still root for them when they aren't playing the Angels?

John Lackey - BOOOOO Red Sox!

when I asked about the pitchers she says -We need some better ones.

I know this is a departure from all of the, "I hate Tony Reagins for not making a trade" or "what are we going to do about..." posts, and I am sure that most won't care. I found it interesting that most of the things that we feel while watching the games are being felt by kids too. My daughter watches each game and always comments. I just thought I'd write them down. 

Finally when I said what would you want to say to the Angels Audrey? ---- "Get some hits! and throw strikes!"

Kids are smart. Get some hits and throw strikes Angels.

via i873.photobucket.com

This is what she does when Maicer comes to bat.. and she asks, "Did he get a hit" she just doesn't want to look at him

via i873.photobucket.com

She got an autograph from Torii Hunter

via i873.photobucket.com

Hey dummy's ... Pineiro is replacing the AAA guys that pitched last year, Weaver is replacing Lackey. Well maybe Pineiro can replace Lackey.

We all know that Wins and Losses are a dumb stat for pitchers so I eliminated them but here are two lines for the season so far

Player A

GP    QStrt         IP              Hits    ER     HR   BB    K's     K/9        WHIP      ERA

14          9         91.0              95      45    10    22      59    5.84      1.29          4.45

Player B

GP       QStrt         IP           Hits    ER     HR     BB      K's      K/9        WHIP      ERA

13          8              81.1        93      41      8        35     44      4.87          1.57      4.54

Pretty darn close. I know Weaver is our Ace and Maybe Pineiro could pitch better, but that is my point. He COULD and probably WILL be better than he was in April and most of May. The Pineiro of the last 4-6 weeks is more likely what we have.

And also we are only committed to 2 years with him, and then we can bring our stud pitchers in our system up. The future is bright for the Angels and we should all be excited. By the way Pineiro is player A

From AP/TMZ
The New York Yankees better clear out some space in their jewelery boxes -- TMZ has learned the team will be getting their World Series rings on April 13th ... when they play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

This just in presenters of the rings will be the umpires from the ALCS who are big Yankee fans and are happy to be on hand to present the rings, one ump said, "Considering what Bud (Selig) and the umpiring crew did to help fufill this dream of a championship, we feel like we are really a part of the team."

That last part was kind of made up... or was it?????

Let's sweep them at their damn ring ceremony!

At least Physioc isn't the announcer anymore or we'd have to listen to him blabber on about the great Yankees during the telecast.

This (with the thanks of http://riveraveblues.com/2010-draft-order/)

I am excited to see that the Angels have 8 picks in the first 106 picks. that is 8% of the picks according to my 7th grade math

I am bummed to miss out on resigning Vlad, Lackey and Figgins. But, with the great draft it seemed like we had last year and a whole bunch of great picks this year, it is exciting as an Angel fan to see that we are restocking for the future.

We have young guys ready to hopefuly make a difference in the next few years and now we can be sure with last year and this year that in 2015 we'll have a great team on the field.

First Round
1. Nationals
2. Pirates
3. Orioles
4. Royals
5. Indians
6. Diamondbacks
7. Mets
8. Astros
9. Padres
10. Athletics
11. Blue Jays
12. Reds
13. White Sox
14. Brewers
15. Rangers (for failure to sign ‘09 first rounder Matt Purke)
16. Cubs
17. Rays
18. Angels (from Mariners for Type-A Chone Figgins)
19. Tigers
20. Red Sox (from Braves for Type-A Billy Wagner)
21. Twins
22. Rangers
23. Marlins
24. Giants
25. Cardinals
26. Rockies
27. Phillies
28. Dodgers
29. Angels (from Red Sox for Type-A John Lackey)
30. Angels
31. Rays (for failure to sign ‘09 first rounder LeVon Washington)
32. Yankees

Supplemental First Round

33. Blue Jays (for Type-A Marco Scutaro)
34. Braves (for Type-A Mike Gonzalez)
    
35. Red Sox (for Type-A Billy Wagner)
36. Angels (for Type-A John Lackey)
    
37. Angels (for Type-A Chone Figgins)
38. Blue Jays (for failure to sign ‘09 sandwich rounder James Paxton)
39. Rays (for Type-B Gregg Zaun)
40. Tigers (for Type-B Brandon Lyon)
41. Rangers (for Type-B Ivan Rodriguez)
    

Second Round

42. Nationals
43. Pirates
44. Braves (from Orioles for Type-A Mike Gonzalez)
45. Royals
46. Indians
47. Diamondbacks
48. Mets
49. Astros
50. Padres
51. Athletics
52. Blue Jays
53. Reds
54. White Sox
55. Brewers
56. Cubs
57. Rays
58. Mariners
59. Tigers
60. Braves
61. Twins
62. Rangers
63. Marlins
64. Giants
65. Cardinals
66. Rockies
67. Phillies
68. Dodgers
69. Blue Jays (for failure to sign ‘09 second rounder Jake Eliopoulos)
70. Blue Jays (from Red Sox for Type-A Marco Scutaro)
71. Angels
72. Yankees

Third Round

73. Nationals
74. Pirates
75. Orioles
76. Royals
77. Indians
78. Diamondbacks
79. Rays (for failure to sign ‘09 second rounder Kenny Diekroeger)
80. Mets
81. Astros
82. Padres
83. Athletics
84. Blue Jays
85. Reds
86. White Sox
87. Brewers
88. Cubs
89. Rays
90. Mariners
91. Tigers
92. Braves
93. Twins
94. Rangers
95. Marlins
96. Giants
97. Cardinals
98. Rockies
99. Phillies
100. Dodgers
101. Red Sox
102. Angels
103. Yankees

Supplemental Third Round

104. Blue Jays (for failure to sign ‘09 third rounder Jake Barrett)
105. White Sox (for failure to sign ‘09 third rounder Bryan Morgado)
106. Angels (for failure to sign ‘09 third rounder Josh Spence)

The Angels will have a good chunk o' change coming off the books this off season.

-- Guerrero - $15m
-- Escobar - $9.5m
-- Lackey - $9m
-- Figgins - $6m
-- Abreu - $5m
-- Oliver - $3.6m
-- Quinlan - $1m

Continue reading this post »

Just announced.

Good for him, he definetely deserved it.

Question, If a player changes leagues what is the rule for Gold Glove? Seems to me that Texiera should have won, either for National leauge or American.

Also side note, Reports are that Frankie has gotten the 'not interested' vibe from the Tigers, Orioles, and Indians. Leaving only the Mets as a likely canidate.

Funny if he has to come back to us for what we paid him last year, because no one will pay him.

The poll on whether we wanted to see Wood or Aybar in there got me thinking.

Because this is the deepest Angels team I have ever seen, I feel that setting up who will make the post season roster, might be Soth's toughest managerial task yet. He has to take into cosideration Veterans who have been there before, fading talent, injuries etc... I'm sure that even some of us here cant really decide. Im not talking who is going to be the 25th guy on the roster, there are some big decisions to be made.

So assuming that Soth will carry 10 pitchers and 15 positional players

I will list the no-brainer picks that aren't really debatable

Pitchers

Lackey,Garland,Saunders, Santana, Arredondo, Shields, Krod, Weaver

Positional Players

Vlad,Tex,Torii, Mathis, Napoli, GA, Figgy,

Some are more likely to make it than others (i.e Rivera etc....)

But what is the rest of your postseason first round roster look like

You have 2 pitchers and 8 positional players to select.

". Angels pitcher Kelvim Escobar had right shoulder surgery Tuesday in New York. Mets team doctor David Altchek repaired Escobar's posterior labrum"

This kind of went unnotticed with all the trade deadline stuff going down. This is kind of a bummer and I wish he would have gotten it sooner... there is no mention on how long they think it will take to heal, and when he does what happens then? I know we are all caught up in pennant fever and next year is ages away, but I love Escobar and yet love the way our rotation has blossomed this year, tough to say who takes a seat.

Sports Ill. has a great article this month on our own HK.

It talks about his ability to hit even from toddler age and the importance of his Grandma to him. They also say that it is concievable that he in the future can hit .320 and 20+ jacks a year. One scout even says that besides a batting title, if he continues to mature defensively a gold glove wouldn't be out of the picture

Apparantly Mike Napoli has been working out with Miguel FatCab. Miggy has claimed that his oath to get into shape is working, most would think this is a ploy to eleviate any concerns about his bad habits. But Napoli has confirmed this and says, "He looks, good.... He's starting to slim down, and he's getting real strong."
If our main concern about this guy is his weight, defense at third being second, maybe this is the best time to pull the trigger. I love Howie and think he will be a star. But you have to remember that our younger guys are all 'possibly' going to be stars this guy is the real deal. think of it as getting rid of a pitcher who's a head case (Santana) and a great young second baseman to get the future A-Rod.
Pull the Trigger Reagins

I've been thinking... A lot of us have been coming to this site for awhile and besides the occasional Vegas trip not many of us get to intermingle or see what our fellow HH'ers are like. I figured I'd make this post because it would be nice to hear a little bit about each person that posts here regularly. Plus until the winter meeting we know nothing of great importance is going to happen anyway.
Maybe after getting to know your HH'ers next time your at the game you can say hi.
I figured the best way is to have every say where you sit if you have season seats, what city they live in, what year they became an Angels fan, best angels memory and something about themselves, maybe an interesting tidbit.

I'll start:
Sinatrasratpack is 27 years old

Continue reading this post »

Geoff jenkins of Mil, had his option declined by the Brewers, Geoff had 21 HRs and could be had for cheap. The story on him has always been that his hitting would improve if you could get him out of Left Field. assuming he could move that # to 25 HRs .275 avg. .330 Obp. Would he be better that what a tandem of Juan Rivera and Reggie Willits could give us?
I love both those guys but they are also extremely tradeable right now and we can get something for them while cheaply replacing their #'s... Just a thought

Hoping that someone can help me with this...it has been bugging me all season. What are those rope looking necklaces that most pitchers wear? Like 70% of pitchers and only pitchers wear them. This can't just be a fashion statement. I have tried to figure out if there is some sort of pattern or what but have come up empty. Can anyone shed some light?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you think we should stand pat, Do we need that big bat. assuming that Willits, Aybar, Wood, Adenhart, and others always brought up in trade rumors are on the trade block. Would you want this to go down, and for whom Vote in the poll--------------------------
------------------------------------------------

Its time for America's fasting game show sensation; "Take it or Leave it" where you decide whether the stats provided are adequate or do you think you can get better by letting them play it out on the field. A game of letting it ride. Post your take it's or leave it's and let's gamble

Hitting
R Willits .315  35 sb  55 RBI
OCab      .300  8 HR   80 RBISs Gold Glove
VLAD      .329  39 HRs 140 RBIs
Kotch     .295   17 HR  89 RBIS  Gold Glove
Figgy     .289   4HR    41 SB
Napoli    .260   15 HR   Solid Def
HK 47     .295   7 HR Plays 95% Of remaining games
GMJ       .279   18 HR   30 Doubles    Gold Glove
GA        .275   DH's 55 of the remaining games
Hillensuck          DFA   (okay thats an easy one)

Pitching
Lackey  20 wines 3.5 ERA 195 SO Cy Young runner up
Santana  11-10  4.8 ERA  
Escobar   17-10  3.1 ERA  On 15 day DL one time
Colon     13-11  4.5 ERA  One more time on DL
Weaver    15-9   3.8 ERA  185 innings pitched
Shields    6-5 2.5 ERA  70 games pitched  .90 Whip
KRod       45 SVs   95 SO    5 blown saves
Oliver  5.9 ERA    40 innings pitched

Angels Record 99-63

Sure maybe GMJ and Kotch will hit better but are you willing to risk the Gold Gloves. Time to decide

Back on April 17th I posted a diary discussing the shortcomings of a certain leftfielder. I proposed that I track my findings for 2 weeks and see the results. The experiment was to see how many times GA either;
A-hit a weak grounder to second base;
B-struck out on a ball in the dirt.
I assigned 1 point for each occurance.
From April 17th -April 30th GA has played in 10 Games.
His Points total is -----11----
keep in mind he actually drove the ball a little bit, which took away some of the strike out points I had anticipated.

I did not count 1 hit to second that someone made an error on and didnt get him. I also didnt count another time where it was hit to second but the first baseman ran way over and nabbed it. I also could have easly counted another time when he hit the ball solidly to second and the 2nd baseman just made a good play. But the experiment was specific 'weak grounders to second'

Averaging 3 at bats per game X 10 games = 30 at bats (average) 11 points Thats a .367 average that is exactly 100 points higher than his average. There is a major hole in his swing and basic approach at the plate. I will say though that any pitcher who pitches GA accross the letters is a unprepared idiot, he is still on of the best hitters in the game at balls up. I will venture to day that in a normal 2 week span this number would be even higher, he did have a decent streak there for a while of driving the ball pretty solid.

I know this wasnt the most scientific experiment but if a doofus like me can figure this out than most of the other teams can. We thought that he had a few good productive years left in him but this might be the last year that his everyday services are needed.
Just my opinion

Rev... I have been wanting to keep track of something for years now and I think you are just the man to help. A couple of years ago some friends and I noticed that Bengie Molina always seemed to make the last out of an inning. We called him 3rd out, we kept tack and We were right, most of the 3rd outs were him. Now its time for the next experiment, GA always seems to swing and miss at a ball in the dirt for strike 3. its never a fastball always a slider or curve, he also always grounds out to 2nd a lot. if you assign a point to every instance. 1 pt for a swing and miss strike 3 of a ball in the dirt and 1 pt. for a wimpy grounder to the 2nd baseman and just see how many 'points' he racks up in... I dont know a 2 weeks span or something like that. I think taht would be a fun experiment. we can post the nights points totals on the Halos heaven frontpage and the grand totals  too. Anyways just a thought Rev.

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the full game 6 and full game 7 from 2002. Not the stupid MLB authorized DVD. The full game... I would definetely pay for a dvd or vhs copy if anyone has it. I'm tired of searching for it on ebay etc... And since this has to be at least 300 characters.
Best TV show ever- the Simpsons
Best Movie ever - Godfather & Casablanca
Best alltime concert (dead or Alive) Social D opens up, bob marley finishes, and the encore is Frank and the ratpack

There thats 300

And its at Liberty Tax. So of course there are stupid unemployable 20 somethings dressed as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty with a sign out front. As I am waiting in the lobby in my Angels hat I overhear these two idiots (on a break from sign twirling) Talking trash about the Angels. I leaned over and told them that a guy who makes his living as Uncle Sam shouldnt be talking. he whipped out his Dodgers hat and proceeded to do the whole, "I am a cholo from LA and Dodgers rule." or whatever. He said that the Angels didnt even make the playoffs, so I have no room to talk. I said besides the fact that the Angels had a better record against tougher competition, its amazing that we won the same ammount of playoff games as the Dodgers last year, But that's funny we werent even in the playoffs How is that possible?
Long story short, in typical dodger fan like fashion they threatened to go key my car. I told them this was unwise and when they left I told the office manager that I had seen them out front yelling at people and smoking while on the corner, she called them in and fired them on the spot. As I was leaving I said, "don't mess with an Angels fan, we're smarter."
Just thought I'd get it off my chest, I was very proud.

i've heard some say that Bill Stoneman isn't a bad GM I've also heard people say that there wasn't a holocaust, both of these people are idiots. i understand the need to preserve our farm system but wasting the best years of Vlad, GA, Bart and others for a bunch of unproven minor leagers is insane

My prediction,
short of an ALCS visit Billy boy will be out of a job in 2008.
What do you think?