Today's Halolinks begin with this philosophy: The best way to begin a winning streak is by smacking the Rangers:

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Eight is great for this team with a winning record (26-25):

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Please keep your clothes on if you're reading today's Halolinks in the Quad:

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Don't look now, but the Angels have won two in-a-row! Celebrate with some links:

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Wednesday links are the humpiest:

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Back home Tuesday edition of Halolinks:

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This is a quick, See-Ya-Mickey edition of Halolinks:

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One thing besides the Angels getting shutout that you can count on are Halolinks. Except maybe tomorrow since I'll be on an airplane heading to Orange County to nab my soon-to-be triple-A all-star Peter Bourjos bobblehead. Anyway, here's today's links, we'll worry about tomorrow later:

• And yet another nobody pitcher tosses a shutout against the Angels: Athletics 5, Angels 0 - MLB News - FOX Sports. "''I don't know what it is,'' said (Tyson) Ross, who has given up just six runs over 25 2-3 innings at Angel Stadium in his career. ''I feel comfortable on that mound, with the backdrop, everything. I'm able to get on top of hitters and get some action early in the count.'' Here's a hint; It's not the mound. Another hint? It's the team you're throwing against! Anyone else getting tired of these quotes from Scioscia? ''This team is too good to be shut out as much as we've been shut out this season,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ''I think we had better at-bats than it's going to show in the box score. ... It's going to be a grind. There's only one way out of the hole, and that's to grind, inch by inch.'' For starters, why not put the best players on the field? In 2010, Peter Bourjos was good enough to move gold-glove centerfielder Torii Hunter to right field. Are the Angels saying that Bourjos was good enough to move Hunter, but isn't good enough to force Vernon Wells out of left field? Okay, I get that Hunter's bat wasn't replaced in the batting order with the move to right, but someone's was...Hidecki Matsui took a seat, and so did Bobby Abreu when Bourjos started playing full-time.
  
• Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels - May 14, 2012 - MLB.com. "If eight shutouts in mid-May seem like a lot, it is. It's not only the most in the Major Leagues, it's double what anybody else in baseball has put up. And it's not only the most the Angels have been shut out through the first 36 games in club history -- no team has had more through that span since the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas (now the Dodgers), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. "That's a lot of shutouts," left fielder Vernon Wells said. "Obviously, it's not something you expect, especially at this point in the season. We haven't played that many games to have that many shutouts." Uh, yes you have Vern.
  
• Oakland's Ross delivers Angels' 8th shutout loss - Yahoo! Sports. "For all of the Angels' offensive problems, their No. 2 starter's struggles might be even more worrisome. Haren didn't make it out of the fourth inning of his last start when his back tightened up, resulting in the three-time All-Star's shortest start in seven years. He was no better against the A's, his former team, allowing a baserunner in each of his first five innings and finishing his six innings with four walks." If the team can't hit, and now they seem to be having trouble pitching, this is going to be a LONG summer. According to this article: Pitching without a net - ESPN Los Angeles. Haren is still dealing with back trouble, "Haren has been dealing with some lower-back stiffness in his past two starts and his stuff isn't quite as crisp, but in a typical season, an offense would be working with enough flow to give you the occasional breather from the heavy lifting. Haren gave up a couple of runs in the fifth inning to put the Angels down 4-0 and it felt like the lights had turned off at Angel Stadium."
• In case you haven't heard: Hunter leaves Angels after son’s arrest - Angels blog : The Orange County Register. "Angels right fielder Torii Hunter left the team Monday, the same day one of his sons was arrested in connection with a sexual-assault investigation in Texas."
• In case you haven't heard - Part 2: Bryce Harper of Washington Nationals hits first major league home run - FOX Sports. "Harper is the youngest player in the majors - and, at 19 years, 211 days old, the youngest to hit a homer since Adrian Beltre of the Los Angeles Dodgers connected when he was 19 years, 171 days old on Sept. 25, 1998, according to STATS LLC." He's also the youngest to take a curtain call after his first home run.
  
• I read this headline The Royals aren’t cursed… they’re stupid - HardballTalk, and thought, "The Angels aren't bad...they're stupid". Major league players are the best in the world, no doubt about that, right? But what do the people in charge of those best players have to do to get where they are? Shouldn't they be the best in the world too? It's frustrating, and I hate to beat a completely dead horse again, but the Wells trade is a great example of world-class frustration for fans. Everyone knew that deal was bad, why didn't the guys in charge? Now, over a year later, everyone knows Wells shouldn't be in the lineup everyday, what are we as fans missing that the guys in charge know?
  
• College pitcher Chris Gilmore wins $1 million in MLB 2K12 ‘Perfect Club’ challenge - Yahoo! Sports. "My athletic director [Jeff Carr] says I throw like Dan Quisenberry," Gilmore said with a chuckle." That's funny because I throw like Dan Quisenberry too. It's just that Quisenberry died in 1998. Also, doesn't Kate Upton own something other than that black dress? I'm not complaining, she looks great, but it's got to be pretty shabby about now.
  
• John Axford needs a refresher course in the Scioscia school of Cliches: Axford: 'I put my wife into contractions'. "I put my wife into contractions with my performance tonight!" he wrote. "So I had to run to the hospital. The streak is over so now you can talk about it. The luck I've had in the past didn't show up tonight! All I can do is begin another streak and keep my head up! Cliché…cliché…another cliché. Gotta go! Love, Ax." Doesn't he know he can't use the word "cliche" when using cliches??
  
• Strat-O-Matic World Record Attempt - the Strat-O-Matic Game Co. "Carow, age 32 of Farmington, MN, was crowned the Ultimate Strat-O-Matic Fanatic at the Company’s 50th Anniversary Celebration last year. Despite playing for just 21 years, Carow’s impressive credentials include: over 10,000 games played, sleeping through his prom after an all-night Strat-O marathon, and playing Strat-O-Matic on his honeymoon with his first wife." I once played Strat in a motel room in Phoenix. With another man. It was a dark time in my life.
  

Sometimes the stars align and greatness is thrust upon us. And thus, today's thrusting Halolinks:

• Hey, did you hear? Ervin Santana was suffering from lack of support. Imagine that, a lineup that features a 3-time MVP (and ROY), another ROY runner-up, a couple of guys who once hit 25+ home runs, Captain Awesome, Destructobeam, and Vernon Wells, couldn't scrape together one frickin' run? Gripes. Angels' Santana finally gets run support -- and a win - Yahoo! Sports. "Before Santana took the mound against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, the Angels had not scored a single run in his previous five starts." Another interesting tid-bit, "In the bottom of the third inning, he pitched with a lead for the first time since his last start of 2011."
• Within another article about the Halos' lack of run support for Santana, there was a quote from Pujols about the upcoming series against Texas: Angels' offense finally gives Santana some support - The Orange County Register. "I know you guys are going to write a hundred articles between now and Friday," Pujols said of the looming test in Texas. "They have a good ballclub. We're not going to get caught up in that. We're just going to get ready to play." You would think a guy sucking as much as he is would have a little humility. You know what, maybe if you did "get caught up in that" you'd pull your head out of your butt like you're trying to pull everything else. And I would hope you'd get ready to play...WTF Albert, what have you been doing up to this point? I'm glad to see Bill Plunkett and I aren't the only ones getting tired of Scioscia's interesting quotes, "Angels manager Mike Scioscia was ready with his standard answer when asked about his team's readiness to face the 20-10 Rangers. "Our challenge is in-house," Scioscia said. "We have to become the team we can become. We have to keep moving forward, keep getting better."
• I wonder what the answer would be if you asked the other 29 major league managers, "Who would you rather have in your lineup today; Vernon Wells or Peter Bourjos?" Peter Bourjos rides the bench again for Angels - latimes.com. "It will all work out one way or another," said Bourjos, who is batting .192 with a .259 on-base percentage. "I think I'm too good of a player for it not to." He's exactly right, he IS too good for it not to. Some good news from Dan Haren regarding his back, "I had back issues last year, and this is not as bad as it was then," said Haren, who had trouble "finishing" his pitches in a 32/3-inning, five-run, eight-hit outing. "But it took two weeks for it to go away completely."
• Easy there big fella. Kernels' Cowart thriving under pressure - MiLB.com. "Cowart has homered three times in five days, giving him five longballs, 12 RBIs and nine runs scored in 10 games since the end of April. No Minor Leaguer has more homers during that span and only five have driven in more runs."
• The more I hear C.J. Wilson talk, the more I like him: Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers - May 11, 2012 - MLB.com. "I think the biggest thing will just be that we'll be playing in front of a huge crowd in a stadium that's relatively hostile to our team -- and I'm sure will be fairly hostile to me," he said. "I think a lot of people will boo me and stuff."
  
• The Jump-Step and Other Unrepeatable Deliveries - FanGraphs Baseball. "Jordan Walden has a jump step in his delivery. Jordan Walden has control problems. Does one cause the other?"
• Some people are blessed with more than one gift: Country singer Charley Pride's life comes full circle - National Post. "Pride had big plans back when he was a kid growing up in Sledge, Mississippi. And being a black country music singer in a white man’s singing world wasn’t it. In the 1940s, with the sun beating down on the baked Delta earth, picking cotton next to his sharecropper father, Mack, Pride was dreaming of another place. A baseball diamond."
• This is the greatest photograph of all time. It sums up life's greatest battle between man's desire to express himself and woman's desire to have man STFU. America: What Was This Man Trying To Say To Jonathan Papelbon? - SportsGrid. "While it's certainly conceivable that this gentleman was only trying to tell Papelbon Good job/solid effort/we'll get 'em next time, given that Papelbon had just given up three run home run to the Mets, it was probably something more along the lines of You're dead to me."
  
  
• NY antitrust lawsuit accuses MLB of video monopoly - FOX Sports. "The plaintiffs, several fans, said in the lawsuit that they are blocked from obtaining Internet-delivered videos of local games without paying a costly subscription fee." There's no way MLB will lose this lawsuit, but I would love if they were forced to allow the embedding of highlight videos without the mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period.
  
• The Greatest Thing You’ll See Today - theScore.com. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but you will enjoy it.
  
• Inquiring minds want to know: Is Lenny Dykstra Entertaining The Fellas In Jail By Showing Off His Wiener? - SportsGrid.
• Well I guess that's one way to put it:
  
• Sort of flow-chart-ish picture: Pop Chart Lab — A Meticulous Metric of Baseball Team Names

"Not again!" A shutout, not that there's another edition of Halolinks:

• The worst part about last night's game might not be the outcome, but rather the possible injury Dan Haren is dealing with: Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins - May 8, 2012 - MLB.com. "I just could never get it right today," Haren said. "And I think it was obvious." The 31-year-old right-hander -- now 1-3 with a 4.19 ERA -- chalked it up to a lower back that stayed tight throughout the night and didn't really allow him to get much on his pitches. "A lot of times you start loosening up throughout the game, and today it was kind of the opposite," said Haren, who doesn't expect the back ailment to affect him moving forward. "It just progressively got a little bit worse.
• Shutouts. It's kind of freaky how often this Halos team, with its potentially potent offense, has gotten shutout this season...and by whom: Diamond sparkles for Twins, topping Angels 5-0 - Yahoo! Sports. "The Angels were shut out for the seventh time this season, four more than the Twins." If it weren't bad enough that the club got shutout last night by a former Rule 5 draft pick just called up from the minors, the Angels got shutout by a team with the worst record in baseball (8-21). Here's what the OC Register has to say about the Angels lack of scoring: Angels can't shake blank look on offense - The Orange County Register. "The shutout was the third time in the past six games the Angels' offense has been blanked, the fourth time in their past 10 games and the seventh time in 31 games this season. That is the most in the majors.Over the past few years, Angels hitters have had a tendency to provide learners' permits for pitchers fresh up from the minors – "at times it seems like a trend," Angels manager Mike Scioscia acknowledged."
• It's kind of odd when a pitcher doesn't like shutouts, but that may be the case with tonight's starter Ervin Santana: Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins - May 9, 2012 - MLB.com. "With a 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday, the 29-year-old right-hander became the first pitcher since at least 1974 to have his team shut out in five straight starts. The next run the Angels score for him will be the first since April 8 -- his first start of the year."
• This MLB link has a couple of interesting posts: Morales out again vs. left-handed starter - angels.com. The first one regards Morales' lack of playing time against lefties. "My timing's good, it's there," Morales said of how he feels from the right side of the plate. "I just have to wait for them to give me the opportunity. That's it." I think the club is using the left-handed excuse to give Morales time off to rest his surgically-repaired ankle/leg. The second post is about how lucky the Angels and Scott Downs are after Downs faced another injury, "On Tuesday, Downs threw a 12-pitch bullpen session and took part in some agility drills at a soggy Target Field. And now, manager Mike Scioscia anticipates Downs being available as his closer no later than Wednesday."
• Orioles, Rangers have best bullpen ERAs so far - HardballTalk. Here’s the list of ERAs for every major league bullpen to date (Angels' pen ranks 29th out of 30). It's also worth noting, the Angels relievers have thrown the least amount of innings in the majors. Makes sense. The starters have been doing fantastic, while the relievers have been ineffective.
  
• Another Albert Pujols analysis: Albert Pujols slumping badly in first season with Los Angles Angels - Tom Verducci - SI.com. "The truth is that Pujols has looked as unsteady as the numbers suggest. He is taking strikes early in counts (he has one first-pitch hit; last year he had 19) and swinging at balls later in counts, occasionally losing his balance at the plate (which almost never happened before), swinging at a greater percent of pitches than at any time in his career (47 percent) and taking fewer walks and rolling over outside pitches (31 groundouts to the left side of the field). His next opposite field hit will be his first." Scary part about this post: A Graphic Look at Pujols and His Bad Contact - Beyond the Box Score, is the downward trend of Pujols' OBP.
  
• Weaver delivers Top 10 list on Letterman - The Orange County Register. "I'm sweating bullets," Angels right-hander Jered Weaver said as a crew set up to tape him reading the Top 10 list for the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Tuesday. "I wasn't this nervous in the ninth inning of a no-hitter."
  
• Uh-oh: Josh Hamilton of Texas Rangers hits four 2-run HRs against Baltimore Orioles - ESPN Dallas. "Hamilton also hit a two-run home run in his final at-bat on Monday's win over Baltimore, giving him five such homers in his last six at-bats. "This is just a couple of games. This could get even better. We don't know," Holland said. "There's more to come. It's unbelievable to see what's going on with this guy." Hamilton, who is in the final year of his contract and could become a free agent after this season, leads the AL with 14 homers and 36 RBIs, and his 5-for-5 effort raised his batting average to .406." Josh Hamilton Bombs His Way Into History - FanGraphs Baseball "Hamilton now has 14 home runs on the season, two more than the San Diego Padres and just three behind the Minnesota Twins."
• Nationals GM Mike Rizzo Fined For Hamels Comments - Baseball Nation. "I've never seen a more classless, gutless, chicken (expletive) act in my 30 years in baseball,"
• Very interesting story as to how SB Nation's Ohio State blog did a good thing: How An Ohio State Blog's Reporting Led To The Arrest Of A Fan Who's A Convicted Sex Offender. "The arrest was the culmination of some terrific investigative work in the last week by the OSU blog Land-Grant Holy Land, which was the first to discover Waugh had pled guilty in Kentucky four years ago to five counts of possessing kiddie porn." Here's the original post: The Cautionary Tale Of @Bdubstriviaguru - Land-Grant Holy Land. "The Ohio State athletic community was turned upside Thursday afternoon when it was discovered that a registered sex offender was communicating with student athletes through the social media platform Twitter. Players have since been warned with law enforcement brought in to pursue further action. Read how it all went down."
• Usually, when someone mentions balls, a guys crotch, and a woman's face, there's some cheesy music playing in the background and the kids have to stay out of the room. Not with this video:
  
• If you're into that sort of stuff: "Here's Our Resident Nerd, Picking His Nose"
• Two days in a row for former Angels: Former major league outfielder Rusty Torres faces sex abuse charges - HardballTalk. "Prosecutors say Torres worked for the Town of Oyster Bay as a baseball coach... His best season came in 1976, when he hit .205/.299/.356 with six homers and 27 RBI in 264 at-bats for the Angels."

Part 1 of the series.

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Jered Weaver will be handling the "Top 10 List" on the Late Show tonight with David Letterman - #Angels

— Eric Kay (@EKayAngels) May 8, 2012

The Angels return to Minnesota, Tuesday Halolinks are here on Tuesday (Hazzah!):

• MLB Recap - Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins - May 07, 2012 - CBSSports.com. "Weaver threw 121 pitches in his start against the Twins last week, and didn't have much left when he took the mound on Monday night. "I just felt gassed there a little bit," Weaver said. "Obviously I'm one to kind push through stuff and ask to go one more, but I don't know if it was mentally draining or physically draining. I don't know what it was but I just felt a little gassed out there towards the end of the game."
• Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins - May 8, 2012 - MLB.com. "With the bullpen struggling, (David) Pauley got the call up to the Majors from Triple-A Salt Lake to replace reliever LaTroy Hawkins, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday with a broken right pinkie finger." Pauley had a 2.29 ERA in 19.2 innings. In those 19.2 innings, he struck out 16 while walking just 4 batters.
  
• If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle: Angels-Twins Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "If Albert Pujols can continue emerging from his slump, the Los Angeles Angels might have a good chance for their longest win streak of the season. The Angels will seek that fourth consecutive victory Tuesday night against the major league-worst Minnesota Twins." Okay, I'm not trying to be a negative Nellie (aunt Nellie?) as I think the Angels are getting closer to being the dominate team we all thought they'd be before the season started.
  
• Two powerhouses weigh in on Albert Pujols: Baseball ProGUESTus - Matt Welch: Splat Albert - Baseball Prospectus. "That's right: the guy was so damned good he slugged .500 at his worst, putting up an OPS+ in the second-worst month that matched Torii Hunter's seasonal career high. But in 2011, after a month of uncomfortable and unprecedented attention to his contract situation, Pujols came out of the gate looking more like Vernon Wells" And: La Russa weighs in on the Pujols slump - STLToday.com. "During a speaking engagement last week La Russa told a crowd that Pujols is bothered deeply by the time spent away from family, which is in St. Louis until school is out for the summer. "I don’t think he wants sympathy," La Russa said. "I just have an understanding of what he’s going through." Part of Pujols’ mantra is that he has moved on from St. Louis, that nothing has really changed. However, friends of Pujols inside and outside his former organization describe a proud man wounded by what he considers an incomplete depiction of failed talks with the Cardinals, who never approached the same contract structure after he rejected a nine-year, $198 million bid in January 2011."
• Walden, Frieri to close while Downs recovers - angels.com. "That's my dream," Frieri said. "My dream is to one day be a closer and to save a game in the Major Leagues. I think that's every reliever's dream -- to be a closer. If that does happen, I think I'd be mentally ready for it. I have confidence in myself, no matter who's up there hitting."
• Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels suspended five games, fined for throwing at Bryce Harper - FOX Sports. ''I was trying to hit him,'' the two-time All-Star lefty said Sunday night. ''I'm not going to deny it." Hamels began serving his suspension Monday night."
• Former MLB player Chad Curtis under investigation - wzzm13.com. "Barry County Prosecutor Tom Evans says the investigation involves inappropriate touching of students."
• Be sure to check this GIF out, it's pretty funny in a sad sort of way: Buck Showalter Still Gets No Respect - Bugs & Cranks. "He’s leading what is arguably the best team in baseball right now. He built a foundation in the Bronx, for which Joe Torre took all the credit. He did the same in Arizona years later. Yet, his own team won’t even throw the man some love. Hail Buck Showalter."

Last night's game made me very happy. From writing "NA" on the back of the mound, to signing a team friendly 5-year deal to stay in Anaheim, to having his wife and parents in the stands for each of his starts, Jered Weaver DESERVED that game. Here are some links:

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Can someone say "winning streak"?:

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As things on the field get better, other things may be getting worse:

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I recently changed jobs. My job is pretty easy, the type of work where you can pull a guy off the street and within a couple of weeks he'd be doing fine. While doing this job, the company I work for likes to track a person's production as they do the task assigned. Typically, my production is in the 120-130% range, in other words, I'm the Albert Pujols of my department, but after working in my previous department for a little over a year, I changed jobs.

Actually, I didn't change job, but rather I changed the department in which I did my job. The different departments within my company work various hours in order to avoid having too many people working at one time and running into each other. The situation at home had changed for me, so I needed to shift my hours a bit. I now do the exact same job, just in a different area.

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Here's an interesting group of clips/links. From reading all of the feeds I get each morning, there are two "feelings" I get from each quote and analysis. The first is optimism. The players seem to know that it's just a matter time that they start hitting and winning ballgames. And they're right, this team is too good to continue to lose. However, there's also an underlying feeling of finger pointing, and most of the fingers are aimed at Halo skipper Mike Sciosica. Here are the links, I did my best to try and not take quotes out of context, but it's up to you to read and feel:

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While doing a short bit of research for today's Halolink's "theme", I came across these words of wisdom: "The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount." I find it interesting how hard it is for some people to realize it's time to dismount. Here are today's links:

• It seems everyone has the same thing to say about the Angels, or specifically, Albert Pujols: Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay Rays - April 24, 2012 - MLB.com. ""I'm just not that far away from breaking this thing off, and this offense is not too far way, either," Albert Pujols said after going 0-for-4 and extending his homerless streak to 69 at-bats. "I keep telling the guys, 'It's going to be fun. Just keep fighting, keep pushing.' And I can't wait until it's the other way, believe me. Because it seems like every break is going the other way, and I can't wait until it goes [our] way, because it's going to be fun and everybody's going to enjoy it." More on Pujols' struggles a little later, but this article did have something none of the others did; This interesting bit of salt-in-the-wound, "The last home run the Rays gave up came April 18, by Jeff Mathis." Ouch.
  
• Does it really matter the Angels aren't hitting when they run into a pitching performance like last night's? Rays 5, Angels 0 - FOX Sports. ''Great command of all his pitches,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said. ''He pretty much brought out the kitchen sink. Probably one of his best performances as far as using his entire repertoire.'' Price struck out six and walked one, throwing 80 of 119 pitches for strikes." Does anyone else find it interesting that pitchers facing the Halos have no trouble throwing strikes? Maybe they aren't throwing more strikes, it's possible the Angel hitters are just swinging at anything...
• Pujols still lagging at plate, but not the only one - angels.com. "The biggest red flag Hatcher sees lies in the over-aggressiveness of his hitters. The Angels have swung at the fourth-most pitches out of the strike zone in the AL, 31.9 percent, and as a result have drawn the third-fewest walks. "It's the 3-1's and the 3-2's; we don't get challenged in those counts because they know they're going to swing," Hatcher said. "You've got to give yourself a chance to just relax and cut your swing down and see the pitches. Guys are swinging like they know guys are going to throw a strike right there." Hey Mick, they are throwing strikes right there...and over there...and up there. Seriously though, this seems like a very insightful comment from the Angels hitting coach.
  
• Dead horse alert: Angels-Rays Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "Pujols is hitting .232 with four RBIs while still seeking to end the longest home run drought to start a season in his career. The nine-time All-Star is mired in an 0-for-16 slump after going 0 for 4 in Tuesday's 5-0 loss in the opener of this three-game series." No worries, C.J. Wilson takes the hill for the Halos. All they need to push across is one.
  

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

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Kind of a weird bunch of links today. It happens after an off-day, so we'll call this the "WTF Halolinks":

• It's time to light this candle: Angels-Rays Preview - Yahoo! Sports. ""We're going to get going, it's only a matter of time," right-hander Dan Haren told the Angels' official website...The Angels are waiting for that to happen with Pujols. He's gone 16 games without a home run to open the season - a career worst in that situation - and is batting .246. He was 0 for 11 with three strikeouts over the weekend."
• We love your confidence Albert: Pujols' homerless start just part of Angels' woes - Yahoo! Sports. "'Whenever it happens, whether it's going to be tomorrow or a month from now or two months from now, I don't know when, it's going to happen,'' Pujols said. ''I know I have power. I know I can hit the ball from corner to corner. I know all that, but I'm not going to think about getting caught up and saying, 'Man, I haven't hit a home run.' ... I have, what, 445 for a reason.'' 445 what? Trips to the batting cage? Hits on Weatherbug to check the marine layer? Hey Albert, 445 don't mean shit...
  

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

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This is the 12th different Halolinks post in 12 games:

• Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels - April 18, 2012 - MLB.com. "10: That's the number of lineup combinations already used by manager Mike Scioscia, who's still trying to get a feel for how he'll use his deep slate of position players." Ten different lineups in 12 games. While I don't think that's a big deal, especially when you're trying to get players into the game, but those players have to be GOOD. And if the reason you keep trotting out these old guys is to keep them "fresh", what about the young guys...the guys who should be playing 98% of the games, isn't it important to keep their playing time consistent? Of course it is. Sitting Peter Bourjos is never a good idea unless he's nursing an injury. He needs to be in the lineup everyday.
• How much of Colon's success last night was due to his pitching and how much is due to who he was pitching against? Colon goes 8 scoreless to lead A's over Angels 6-0 - Yahoo! Sports. "It wasn't as though Bartolo Colon didn't give the Los Angeles Angels anything good to hit. The Oakland Athletics' right-hander threw 82 of his 108 pitches for strikes against his former team - including 38 in a row at one point. But the Angels' vaunted offense managed only four hits over eight innings against the 38-year-old Colon, who struck out five and walked none in a 6-0 victory on Wednesday night." Something I noticed while watching last night's game was the number 0-2 and 1-2 counts Angels' starter Ervin Santana had, but somehow couldn't do anything with. Santana faced 30 batters last night. Of those 30 A's batters, Santana was able to get to 0-2 or 1-2 eleven times. Typically when a pitcher is dealing like that he's going to see success. Not Ervin. Not last night. Those eleven batters went 5 for 10 (one base on balls) including Yoenis Cespedes' first inning, 3-run bomb. Santana had the Cuban rookie swinging over the top of two sliders, but then, in what became a pattern all night, was unable to put Cespedes away. Santana managed to get three strikeouts after going 0-2 or 1-2, but that number should have been significantly higher. Is Santana's inability to "put the batter away" signs of a possible crappy 2012?
• Perhaps the Angels scoring problems is a result of the hitters not knowing their "roles": Athletics-Angels Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "C.J. Wilson has been one of the few bright spots during the Los Angeles Angels' difficult start to this season.The left-hander allowed one run for the second straight game and scattered six singles over six innings during a 7-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday. Los Angeles has scored a combined three runs over its back-to-back defeats after totaling 18 over its previous three games." Let's hope Wilson can continue his winning ways by throwing a shutout.

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

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Mid-week, frustrated Halolinks:

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We're over the opening night jitters Halolinks (oh, and file your taxes!):

• Now that's more like it, great pitching and timely hitting: Angels 6, Athletics 0 - FOX Sports. "Morales hit his first homer in nearly two years and drove in four runs, and Weaver recorded his 1,000th career strikeout while pitching five-hit ball into the seventh inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 6-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.''I was happy he got around the bases in one piece,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said." Here's something that makes Weaver so special...besides being extremely talented, he seems genuinely happy to be in Anaheim, "Weaver struck out six, rolling his career total into quadruple digits when he fanned Josh Reddick in the sixth inning.''I've got them all in an Angel uniform, which is pretty great,'' Weaver said. ''
• Let's see if Haren can get his crap together and stop giving up so many hits: Athletics-Angels Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "Haren will try to help the Angels win consecutive games for the first time this season Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics.The Angels hope Monday's mound success will rub off on Haren (0-1, 6.97 ERA), who has allowed eight runs and 20 hits over 10 1-3 innings while striking out 12 in his first two starts." Another look at Haren's start tonight is here: Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels - April 17, 2012 - MLB.com Preview. "The right-hander has also failed to reach the sixth inning in back-to-back starts for the first time since July 2009. "With Danny, his first couple of starts, the ball has definitely been up a little bit," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "This guy's a total command guy, and he's uncharacteristically getting into some hitting counts."

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Who's smarter, Jerry Dipoto or Jon Daniels? Let Halolinks answer that question:

• The Angels signed CJ Wilson this past off season and yesterday he made his Halo debut: Wilson wins Angels debut, 5-1 in Twins home opener - Yahoo! Sports. "Wilson (1-0) allowed three hits while striking out five, giving up only one fly ball, a home run by Josh Willingham off his work-in-progress changeup." Meanwhile, the Rangers spent over $100M to sign Yu Darvish to replace Wilson in the their rotation. He made his Rangers' debut yesterday: Yu Darvish recovers after shaky start for Rangers - Yahoo! Sports. "Darvish retired 10 straight batters at one point and finished with a line of five earned runs, five strikeouts and four walks over 5 2/3 innings." Okay, it was only one game, but my money's still on Wilson to be the better signing over the course of the contract.
  
• It's been three years...Angels recall Adenhart on third anniversary of tragedy - The Orange County Register. "Monday is the third anniversary of the tragic drunk-driving accident that took the lives of Adenhart, Henry Pearson and Courtney Stewart and left Jon Wilhite with traumatic injuries. "You never forget," said (Bobby) Wilson, the Angel who has kept most closely in contact with Adenhart's family since the accident. "I definitely keep in touch with them just to let them know someone's thinking about them. It's never going to be easy for them and I just don't want them to feel that nobody remembers or cares. I just want them to know we're always thinking about them and remembering Nick."
• I still tear-up whenever I see Weaver write "NA" in the dirt. Adenhart always in Weaver's thoughts - angels.com. "On the morning of Dec. 8, when his team signed free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, Angels ace Jered Weaver woke up to an overflow of missed calls, voicemails and texts. His initial thought: fear."

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Consider today as the "standing in line" day of the 2012 Angels baseball season. Without a game today, it's like waiting to get on Space Mountain...the anticipation of a glorious adventure. The ups and downs of the season, the head-jerking turns, the lightning-fast journey that ends way too soon. Sure, we get a view of the idiots on the other rides, but they're wasting their time because this one's the best. Today we wait. Tomorrow the ride begins!

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Two days until the Angels' season starts. In other words, today is Opening Day Eve eve.

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The final Tuesday spring training edition of Halolinks:

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I've been seeing comments about batted ball statistics all over the comment sections of various websites. I'm not sure if it's a topic everyone is talking about, or if it's that phenomena where you notice more of what's been on your mind. Kind of like if you're thinking about buying a certain type of car, that's the car you see most often while driving around. I've been thinking about batted ball data, and it seems like comment sections are filled with questions about line drive percentages, and fly ball rates. Since it was on my mind, I decided to take a closer look. In this part, I'll go over the three types of batted ball types and the effect on batting average of ball in play. Part 2 will cover the batted ball data for the Angels.

There are three types of batted balls; line drives, fly balls, and ground balls. Fly balls are also broken down into infield and outfield fly balls. The batted ball data for a player will be displayed in percentage form, with the total equaling 100%, for instance, Mark Trumbo's batted ball data for last season is:
LD% = 15.9%, GB%=45.7%, FB%=38.4%, and within the total fly balls, 17.3% did not leave the infield.

What I wanted to do with this data is to see how it related to a player's batting average of balls in play (BABIP), specifically, which type of batted ball has the greatest impact on a players batting average. There's some common sense that goes into reading these numbers. Obviously, a line drive has a better chance of becoming a hit, right? I mean, unless a line drive is hit right at someone, the chances are pretty good it's going to fall in for a hit. Conversely, a fly ball, unless it leaves the park, is more likely to be caught than land between fielders. Makes sense, right?

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