(Image via Keith Allison.)

Things you need to know about this game:

1.  Josh Hamilton can’t play baseball with sinus issues and is really good at snot rockets.

2.  The 4th inning was the worst.  The Angels scored 6 runs.  We saw 3 Rangers pitchers and 12 Angels batters.  We also saw Tanner Scheppers throw a wild pitch and while covering home was hit by Chris Iannetta as he crossed home plate.  Then, Mike Trout nearly cleated Scheppers head when sliding into home on the wild pitch while Scheppers was down in the home plate area.  Evidently Scheppers has a bruised knee and had to leave the game.

3.  I thought that after a while, I’d get used to the weird glove crap thing that Ryan Dempster does before each pitch. I haven’t.

4.  West Coast games still suck.  Seriously, anyone who stayed up after that horrendous 4th inning deserves an award.  Or at least a free cup of coffee.

5.  Mike Napoli still loves Angels pitching.  A home run, a single, …

6.  The A’s lost earlier in the day, so the Rangers magic number goes to 13.

7. Jered Weaver is now 9-0 against the Rangers when pitching at home.

8.  Vernon Wells fell over the left field wall while trying to catch an Ian Kinsler home run. And it was hilarious.

9.  I’m blaming Hamilton for the awful 4th. Surely if he and his sinuses had sucked it up, none of that awfulness would have occurred.

10.  Eff the Angels.

11.  Despite being only 3 games back in the Wild Card game AND playing their division rival, Angels fans still couldn’t attend the game.

FINAL: Rangers 3, Angels 11

(Photo by Sean Winters)

It’s been another mesmerizing baseball season so far with no-hitters, perfect games and Aaron Hill hitting for the cycle twice within a few days of each other.

And the Rangers still having the best run differential in all of baseball despite losing by scores of 21-8 and 19-2 over the 1st half.

It’s time for my Midseason Awards…

NL MVP OF THE HALF-YEAR

» Continue reading “Futility Exercise: Mid Season Awards”

I hate effing up a good Colby Lewis start.

CONFESSION: I fell asleep.  I know, I’m terrible.  That’s just how this week has been.  Seems I may have made the right decision as I’m sure I would have broken my laptop throwing it at my TV in the bottom of the 7th, you know if it had even survived the 6th inning.

Colby Lewis took the hill for the Rangers in Friday’s game against the Angels’ Jerome Williams.  Honestly, Colby was pretty good, only giving up 4 hits, walking  1, striking out 5 and NO HOME RUNS.  Oh, and he lasted 6 and 2/3 innings.  So what went wrong?

Well, the Rangers had a 2-0 lead going into the 6th and Colby had only given up 1 hit.  Well, a double, triple and a sac fly later, the game was tied.  Then with 2 outs in the 7th, Colby gives up a single.  Then, a Kinsler error (shocking, I know) would let the next runner get on AND would fail to end the inning.  The next batter, Mike Trout, would then single, scoring both runnings.  The Rangers wouldn’t really do anything the next few innings giving viewers even the slightest hope of a comeback.

FINAL: Rangers 2, Angels 4

With the win, the Angels are now within 4.5 games of the Rangers.  Hopefully, our boys can bounce back today with Darvish taking on Wilson at 9:05pm CT.

(Photo courtesy of flickr.com user Kwong Yee Cheng.)

As every team has now played about a quarter of their schedule, things are starting to take shape.  Here’s a glance of what’s been happening with the Los Angeles Angels this season and their key players:

• Current record: 20-25, going 5-5 in their last 10 games
• Released Bobby Abreu
• Fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher
• Torii Hunter is on the restricted list
• Pitcher Latroy Hawkins, catcher Chris Iannetta, OF Vernon Wells and Ryan Langerhans all on DL
• Called up top prospect Mike Trout
• Albert Pujols has started to heat up, hitting .275 over his last 10 games and knocking in 3 home runs. Still not at his normal Pujols-level, but worth noting.

Yeah, It’s been a rough 2ish months for the Angels.

A quick look at the team stats:

» Continue reading “Catching Up With The AL West: Los Angeles Angels”