scareduck

Per Victor Rojas. Looks like his 17-year-old son has been accused of sexual assault in Dallas.

Yes, it's been a harsh year what with a losing record and the slow-motion McCourt fiasco going on, but the Angels are outdrawing the Dodgers despite the fact that they also are two games behind the Dodgers in home games, 1,636,546 to 1,607,623. As viewed by average per-game attendance, the disparity is even more stark, 38,965 (5th overall in MLB) to 36,537 (10th overall). The recent interleague series home and away between the two teams was also interesting; Dodger Stadium still outdrew Angels Stadium, but not as much as in years past, when it routinely sold out ( Angels @ Dodgers series was in the 52,000 range). I have to look in my Lahman database, but I think that the Angels have never outdrawn the Dodgers over a full season before.

Molly Knight on Twitter reports the Dodgers are doing bobblehead giveaway nights at cut rates. Frank has days left.

The second GM in Angels history (and former Dodgers Vice President of Stadium Operations) passed on May 6. He replaced Fred Haney, running the team from 1969-1971, until he was fired and replaced himself by Harry Dalton.

The robot GM turned down the Vernon Wells trade as constituted, by the way.

Scioscia will guest-voice as himself, and presumably wear an Angels uni on-screen.

Just a Kevin Goldstein rumor at this point, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's clear that Frank is going to drag out this divorce if he loses in this stage, the farm system is being looted to avoid taking on major league payroll, and amateur bonuses, while not without hope, appear to be very, very limited.

Can't say I'm disappointed, especially given the overall failure of Brandon Wood and the underwhelming (relative to perceptions) major league performance of Howie Kendrick. The Angels need to improve their amateur scouting and development.

Per Dylan Hernandez of the Times.

It's a strain of his right rotator cuff, the same injury he had surgically repaired earlier.

Just a one-liner in this CSU Fullerton Daily Titan piece, but I thought you guys would be interested. Via Vin Scully Is My Homeboy.

Sure, it was a typo, but he was right nonetheless... hah!

Blogwhoring alert: the Angels' shutout of the Rangers set a Texas record for number of times shut out in a single homestand with four; you'd have to go back to 1984 for the last time they were shut out as many as three times in the same home stand. This is also the 11th time they've been shut out this year, the most since 2003.

Baseball Time In Arlington pieces together a series of events that, taken separately might not be meaningful, but in light of the team's proposed sale, might indicate the league is running things behind the scenes, something Tom Hicks denied earlier today. Lowballing the team's first-round draft pick, Matt Purke, is probably the most compelling thing on this list.

Rays Index speculates that the return on the Kazmir trade is Brandon Wood. Discuss.

A minor bit of blogwhoring, but Bud Selig's recent comments on the Giants' territorial rights being "sacred" are just so much hooey, as the Angels expansion into Los Angeles shows. For the right price, a deal can be done.

Proceeds to go to unspecified local charities.

David Eckstein's 3-run jack to left ties a game in the ninth that the Pads entered five runs back, 6-1. Hilarious! It was his first longball of the season.

Ken Rosenthal says the Rangers have requested outright release waivers on starter Vicente Padilla. He has a 5.57 ERA so far this year; the release may have been connected to him plunking Mark Teixeira twice yesterday.

A minor bit of blogwhoring, but I figured that some folks might be interested to know that the 2009 Angels bullpen is the worst in team history as measured by ERA (The second worst was the 1994 arson squad, with a 5.47 ERA, that is, this team is a full half-run worse; measured against league average of 4.88 ERA, this team's bullpen is more than a run worse than that at 6.01). The only two relievers with above-average ERAs (as measured by ERA+) are Darren Oliver and small-sample-sized (3.1 IP) Rich Thompson. Can Brandon Wood pitch?

Andrew Gallo was charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of Nick Adenhart, Henry Pearson, and Courtney Stewart. He faces a maximum sentence of 54 years.

Brad Wochomurka interviews Brian Biegel (MP3, the title link goes to the BPro article, so $ may be required), author of Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'Round the World. He starts with a ball his dad had acquired for $2 at a Goodwill store that had the signatures of Leo Durocher, Willy Mays, and a host of other Giants, and got to wondering: is this the ball that Bobby Thomson hit in 1951, the Shot Heard 'Round the World? Really good stuff.

Dodger Stadium had never seen a cycle hit in any game featuring the Dodgers -- until today, when Orlando Hudson hit one. Famously, no Dodger had hit one since Wes Parker did it on May 7, 1970, but the only regular season home player to hit a cycle was... Jim Fregosi on July 28, 1964. A great Angel loses a little bit of distinction, but it's pretty funny that it wasn't a Dodger at all for years.

Not really a surprise, but I'm wondering: where to? Oklahoma?

Pretty hilarious if true: 2008-12-10 12:39:10 238. Jim Wilson My wife is in Las Vagas this week for an unrelated convention. This afternoon she claimes to have seen Ned [Colletti] and [Scott Boras] sit down for lunch at the Bellagio Buffet. Prior to Manny claiming his rightful place in the buffet line, Tony Reagins (Angles) [sic] wisked [sic] him away with a bag of In-N-Out Double-doubles!