jimmuscomp
Mar 11, 2008 May 30, 2012 37 2091
I am a composer, guitarist and educator at CSU Bakersfield. When I'm not busy with a musical endeavor, I'm busy chasing my 6-year old triplet boys around the house. HH is a nice place to get away for 20 minutes a day...
I am into stats. I feel like there is a lot of information to glean from looking at hard numbers. They matter, and they can allow you to retain an objectivity that you can not keep when solely watching with your eyes.
website: Jim Scully Home
email:
a fan of
Los Angeles Angels
RSSUser Blog
Pujols, A-Rod and Marketing the Angels in Los Angeles...
by jimmuscomp on Dec 8, 2011 4:11 PM EST
on Halos Heaven
I began using the internet in 1995 - as an undergraduate student in music. Like many, I was using AOL as my ISP at that time and I barely understood the real internet. However, what I did understand was that AOL delivered pretty advanced baseball information to me within a few, well placed clicks.
Within a short amount of time I had found a plethora of message boards on AOL that fed my desire for information about the Angels. It was stunning, really. I could read about a spring training battle between William Van Landingham and Omar Olivares for the 5th spot in the starting rotation. I could bond with fellow posters about the debut of Troy Glaus. I could opine about the amazing quality of Darin Erstad in 2000. And how big a pile of crap Erstad was in 2001.
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I'm just so happy for Casey Kotchman....
Not really related to the Angels today - but I knew Kotchman was having a good season in TB, just wasn't sure how good.
Turns out, he's doing what I had hoped (and expected) him to do here: .400 OBP/.450 SLG. 30 walks and 40 K's while playing - I assume - really great defense at 1st. I'm just happy he didn't flame out entirely.
I am so tired of the "JETES GOTZ NUMBA TREE-THOUSUND" crap. I come to HH to avoid this stuff. But what are the three most important baseball stories on SB Nation?
Jean Segura looking good...
Last night a colleague visiting from another university wanted to go see a minor league baseball game, so we went to the Bakersfield Blaze game, and they were playing the 66'ers.
So, I lucked into getting up close and personal with Segura and Jose Jiminez.
Segura led off and drew a 5 pitch walk, and ended up stranded on third after a pick off (the first of three awful base running plays by the 66'ers).
Segura came up for his third AB with runners on 1st and 3rd and CRUSHED a ball to left missing a HR by 8 feet off the high LF wall at Sam Lynn Ballpark. One runner scored and he cruised into 2nd with a double.
I left in the 6th (my kids were with me and 6- year olds go ape-crazy at 9 PM) but didn't miss much else.
Back to base running. In 6 innings I saw: a bad pick-off with 1 out and runners on the corners in the first, a caught stealing, and...a caught stealing on a DELAYED steal with a runner on 3rd.
Bad base running...
Segura was fun to watch, but the team didn't look at all interesting beyond him. Jiminez was Ok, but not good defensively. He pulled a Mathis and tried to throw it into CF on a steal attempt.
Anyway, just thought I'd share.
Howie Kendrick & the Increasing Walk Rate
by jimmuscomp on Apr 7, 2011 12:06 PM EDT
on Halos Heaven
I haven't really been watching many games since the KC series, but I have been looking at box scores and following a bit on MLB AT-BAT 2011. While I have been pleased to see Howie hitting the cover off of the ball, I have noticed that he is doing more than that. He is taking walks. At 3 times his trAditional rate!
Howie's highest career walk total in a season is 28. In 658 PA's.
This year he has 5 walks. in 30 PA's.
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Rob Neyer joins SB Nation as National Baseball Editor
He may typically undersell the Halos, but Rob Neyer (along with Baseball Prospectus) was my first exposure to more advanced statistical analysis of baseball. His early writings educated me constantly about things that I found imminently interesting.
I pretty much stopped reading him when he went beyond the paywall at ESPN.com, but when I did read him I was always entertained.
Congrats of getting away from the World Wide Leader, Rob and good luck with your new gig...
Deja vu all over again - Halos showing interest in K-Gregg
Filling bullpen holes with expensive "closers". That's some awesome trAdition!
I didn't like the Gregg trade for Resop, but he's going to be expensive and not really worth the money at this point.
Rodney v. 2.0???
So much for Prior...
So, Mark Prior signed with....
wait for it....
The Texas Rangers tonight.
Wood vs. Aybar: Another View
by jimmuscomp on Apr 30, 2009 1:11 AM EDT
on Halos Heaven
My question is really simple: what has Aybar done to be given any preference over Wood?
Looking at the play of Erick Aybar and Brandon Wood in the majors and minors over the last four or five years is illuminating, but at no time in their careers has Aybar been considered the "better" prospect of the two. Now, Aybar was AHEAD of Wood because of age, but Wood has always put up better numbers...
Aybar's big season in High-A was great... 20 years old, .370 OBP and .485 SLG. 50 extra base hits and 51 steals (with 36 caught stealing!!!).
Even that season - the gold standard for Aybar and his best possible performance is dwarfed by Wood's High-A season..
Escobar in the mid 90's...
He could be ready by late April or early May....
I love Escobar and can't wait to see him back.
Vlad may have his VISA revoked...
Hat tip to Rob at 6-4-2...
Apparently the State Department is deciding what to do with all players from the Dominican re: the age-gate scandal. Recourse could include revoking or suspending his VISA which allows him to work in the U.S.
Aybar Puts Failed Bunt Attempt Behind Him...
Just a basic article about Aybar and overcoming the missed bunt. But, the article also has quotes from Scioscia about how Aybar and Izzy will battle for the starting SS job...with nary a mention of Sheriff Woody.
Wood has no shot at the SS job. Kinda lame.
OC Register Top 13 Angel Prospects
HH diarist rghan gets a credit in this compilation list put together by the Register...
John Sickels ranks the Top-20 Angel Prospects
With the killer job that rghan is doing on a Top-10 Prospect List, I thought it was appropriate to post this blog entry by John Sickels about his Top-20 Halos prospects.
Q-Dog signs to avoid arbitration
Quinlan signs for $1.1 million plus incentives to avoid an arbitration hearing with the Halos. Only Santana and Izturis remain headed to arbitration...
K-Rod's new role in NY: Closer (70% of the time?)
by jimmuscomp on Dec 18, 2008 8:50 PM EST
on Halos Heaven
Met's manager, Jerry Manuel said this to the press after the press conference where K-Rod was introduced as a Met:
"I do think that if we are to be where we expect to be, we'll have to have more than one guy save games."
He went on to say that Putz would be available when K-Rod had been over used, but also said the following:
[K-Rod] doesn't have to save, say, 75 games. The other guy [Putz] can save 35, whatever. That's big for us."
Anyone think that K-Rod's feathers will get ruffled a bit if this becomes a situation where there isn't a set-in-stone closer and Putz blows a save when K-Rod is totally healthy?
Anyway, I immediately thought this was a stupid thing to SAY publicly, but probably a pretty good idea in practice.
Here is the link to the article: K-Rod and Putz: Co-Closers!!!
(Hat Tip to BBTF)
D-Mac up with Florida...and drawing walks.
So far, in two games, D-Mac has 5 plate appearances, 3 walks, 2 runs and 1 K.
Here's hoping he crushes the ball and makes the Halos look stupid for letting him go.
Torii Hunter said he had no interest in predicting what might happen in New York should the Yankees miss the playoffs.
"The Yankees? Who cares?" Hunter said. "That ain't my side of town.
"I'm from the West Coast. West Side!"
Re-Sign Juan Rivera Now!
by jimmuscomp on Aug 1, 2008 2:22 AM EDT
on Halos Heaven
So, the signing of Gary Matthews Jr. was panned throughout the Halosphere when it went down. I talked about it here. Rob at 6-4-2 talked about it here. Rev Halofan talked about it here.
There were lots of reasons to hate that signing - from the length of the contract to the crazy cash, to the fact that Matthews Jr. pretty much sucks at baseball. But I also thought that this ill-advised deal spelled the doom of Juan Rivera in Angel Red. Sure, he wasn't going to play much in 2007 after breaking his leg in winter ball between his breakout 2006 season and spring training 2007, but when he DID recover, he had nowhere to play.
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Angel minor-leaguer suspended 50 games...
Thomas Mendoza - High-A ball pitcher with a 4-12 record, ERA approaching 5 and bak K numbers. Nothing to see here. Hopefully Arte releases him when his suspension is up.
Jose "Headcase" Guillen wants out of KC...
Hilarious...
He signs a big contract there and now six months later, he wants to be traded.
Damn.
Teixeira Targeted...again!
So, it looks like the Halos are looking at Teixeira again this year. The Braves want a first baseman, power-hitting outfielder and a starting pitcher. The LA Times posits that the Halos could part with Kotchman and Rivera to get Tex.
If that happens, I am annoyed. Big. Time.
Lineup Analysis
by jimmuscomp on Jul 28, 2008 11:48 AM EDT
on Halos Heaven
There is a great tool available online via Baseball Musings called the Lineup Analysis Tool. Basically, you input the names, OBP and SLG for the nine guys in the starting lineup and through a series of calculations, the software tells you how many runs that lineup will score (on average). Sounds cool, huh? Well, it goes a step further. It also spits out the best and worst alternative lineups using the same names and stats.
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Casey Kotchman devolving before our eyes...
by jimmuscomp on Jul 26, 2008 10:41 AM EDT
on Halos Heaven
I decided to look at the Halo stats last night for shits and giggles when I stumbled upon what I thought must be a typo.
Kotchman has 18 walks this year.
Matthews out indefinitely! Woo hoo!!!
Matthews has a slight tear in a tendon in his knee. Season-ending surgery, anyone?
Getting him on the bench will be the best upgrade this offense could get in the second half and if he is really hurt, Scioscia can't play him because of veteran mojo! It's a win/win situation.
Frankie is going to opt for Free-Agency!
by jimmuscomp on Jul 14, 2008 4:06 PM EDT
on Halos Heaven
Well, K-Rod came out and said what we all thought he would - that he will opt to test the free agency waters this winter.
He will NOT try to reach a deal with the Halos on an extension and his quote is a little pissy...
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BAVASI: Be afraid, be very afraid...
by jimmuscomp on Jun 21, 2008 12:29 PM EDT
on Halos Heaven
So, you think the firing of Bill Bavasi as the M's GM is all good news? So far it is, but we all might want to take a deep breath and hope that this nugget from the L.A. Times is true...
Scioscia looking to infuse lineup with OBP
by jimmuscomp on Jun 16, 2008 5:19 AM EDT
on Halos Heaven
It seems that Scioscia is finally starting to come to grips with the fact that starting Matthews and Anderson and their 500+ AB's of .300-ish OBP might be acting like an anchor on the offense. It seems that he is thinking about increasing the roles of Rivera, Willits and Quinlan to increase the team OBP.
Beckett scratched...
by jimmuscomp on Apr 22, 2008 5:25 PM EDT
on Halos Heaven
Josh Beckett was scratched for the start this evening. Glad we miss him - he owns the Halos as of late.
What does this do to our pre-game poll?
ANSWER: Pregame Poll changed to "Boston Starting Pitcher" (Rev out!)
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Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long. Right now it's only 59 words long. Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long. Right now it's only 59 words long.
Hud on the radio
by jimmuscomp on Apr 2, 2008 6:02 PM EDT
on Halos Heaven
So, yesterday I was driving home from my teaching gig and listened to the last few minutes of pre-game and first few batters of the game on the radio. When I turn on the radio I am greeted by Hudler trying to recite the line-ups. It was gawd-awful!
Here are a few memories...
1) Batting ninth...Bartlett. He is looking to get a batting average so far this year.
2) Batting fourth...er...the clean-up hitter...Justin Morneau. He is hitting .000 this year - still looking for that first hit.
3) Batting second for the Halos is Gary Matthews Jr. This is pretty much the same lineup as yesterday for the Angels.
Those are the only ones I can remember. Realize that it was delivered as though he had never done it before and with a TON of pauses. It was terrible. I was actually laughing out loud as I drove home.
To cap it off, Terry Smith lauded Hudler when he was finished, "That was a great job there, Rex. Really good work. Just great work there, Hud." It was comical - you could almost hear the tongue in the cheek as he spoke.
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