Official 2021 Major League Baseball (News, Notes & Scores around the League)

[Lhalo]

Glad it's finally getting an update.

 

[Lhalo]

[Taylor]

Thank God. Tempe Diablo is a dump.

[Tank]

i'd like to see an improved walking path from the hotel (the buttes) to the stadium. it's unplanned, uncared for, and filled with debris.

[T.G.]

More shade structures!  Yes, please!

[Chuck]

Go Padres! I'm hoping the Padres and Giants finish 1st and 2nd in the NL West and the Dodgers miss the playoffs. 

 

[Chuck]

Funny, when you invest in starting pitching and a bullpen, you get results in the standings. Who would have thought?

 

[Chuck]

Wow, I've never seen this before. Epic! 

 

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Go Padres! I'm hoping the Padres and Giants finish 1st and 2nd in the NL West and the Dodgers miss the playoffs. 

 

And they're doing it with Grisham on the IL.

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Wow, I've never seen this before. Epic! 

 

was the part of Terry Collins being played by Joe Pesci?  

[Taylor]

 

[Chuck]

25 minutes ago, Taylor said:

And they're doing it with Grisham on the IL.

And Tatis Jr. has missed a ton of games as well. 

[mmc]

Lots of people say we need to be poaching executives from the Rays and Dodgers, but the real time we need to be poaching from is the Giants, seeing as Arte doesn’t like spending on pitching.  Over the last 2 seasons, they have pieced together a well above average rotation by dumpster diving for the likes of Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Drew Smyly, Tyler Anderson, Aaron Sanchez, and Scott Kazmir, all of whom were essentially written off by many before being acquired by them.  Not sure if they’re just correctly identifying players who will succeed with a change of scenery or they know how to change their mixups to get better results but whatever it is that they’re doing it’s clearly working for them.

 

If whoever is making these decisions were in our front office, safe to say the last 2-3 seasons would have gone quite a bit differently...

[rafibomb]

6 minutes ago, mmc said:

Lots of people say we need to be poaching executives from the Rays and Dodgers, but the real time we need to be poaching from is the Giants, seeing as Arte doesn’t like spending on pitching.  Over the last 2 seasons, they have pieced together a well above average rotation by dumpster diving for the likes of Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Drew Smyly, Tyler Anderson, Aaron Sanchez, and Scott Kazmir, all of whom were essentially written off by many before being acquired by them.  Not sure if they’re just correctly identifying players who will succeed with a change of scenery or they know how to change their mixups to get better results but whatever it is that they’re doing it’s clearly working for them.

 

If whoever is making these decisions were in our front office, safe to say the last 2-3 seasons would have gone quite a bit differently...

 

Man Scott Kazmir was my favorite player growing up when he was with the Rays and I was so pumped when the Angels got him. I'll never forget his debut when he loaded the bases to start the game and then struck out the side to get out of the inning.

[Chuck]

32 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

 

Man Scott Kazmir was my favorite player growing up when he was with the Rays and I was so pumped when the Angels got him. I'll never forget his debut when he loaded the bases to start the game and then struck out the side to get out of the inning.

Yep, in Seattle right?

[Stradling]

Didn’t we essentially poach from the Dodgers when we got Tamin and from the Rays when we signed Maddon?  

[failos]

5 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Wow, I've never seen this before. Epic! 

 

This is like a scene from Sopranos

[rafibomb]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yep, in Seattle right?

Correct! Were you at that game, Chuck?

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, rafibomb said:

Correct! Were you at that game, Chuck?

Yep. I was in the press box at Safeco Field covering the Angels for that contest. I had press credentials for AngelsWin.com up from 2009-2011, until some Mariners blogger blew it for all of us up here. 

Here's what I put together that day for our website. 

 

By Chuck Richter - Angelswin.com Executive Editor 

 

The Angels acquired Scott Kazmir before the month of September hoping he'd solidify the rotation in the final month of the season, a month that is crucial for the Angels to play well and fend off the charging Texas Rangers, who are just 3.5 games back in the AL West standings.

 

Kazmir brings a career 3.47 career ERA in the month of September — best of any month in his career.

 

He is happy to be back on track after a dismal first half, posting a 7.11 ERA in 12 starts, with opposing teams hitting .302 off of him. Kazmir said on Tuesday the remedy to his troubles was mostly physical.

 

"I didn't have too much rhythm and just before the All-Star break, during the All-Star break, I just tried to get that muscle memory back, doing drills, just to get a good rhythm." he said. "I felt like I had a good rhythm, good timing toward the plate, just going straight to the plate instead of falling off and short-arming it. I felt like once I had that I was getting a lot of extension, so I had just a little bit more life on my fastball and I was able to locate."

 

Life and location, indeed. Kazmir's Angels' debut was the type of start the Angels were looking for from the Tampa Bay Rays former ace. Kazmir shut out the Mariners through six innings, fanning 8 batters, while giving up just two hits before Bill Hall hit a double to the left-center field gap to drive in Mike Sweeney, sending Kazmir to the showers after going 6.1 innings and giving up just one earned run. Unfortunately, the Angels were facing the Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, so Kazmir left without a run on the board, losing his first contest as an Angel.

 

Kazmir's velocity is back, too, reaching 94-95 mph several times on the radar gun. It didn't start off so peachy for the lefty, as he loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs, but was able to strike out Sweeney, Adrian Beltre and Hall to get out of the inning unscathed.

 

Since the All-Star break (Including Wednesday's debut gem), Kazmir is 4-3 with a 4.07 ERA and six of his last seven starts have been quality starts. Kazmir's previous start, against Toronto, may have been his best of the season, going six innings while giving up just one run and striking out 10 Blue Jays. That makes 18 strikeouts in Kazmir's last 12.1 innings. The strikeouts are a good indication Kaz is back on track. In 2007, he led the American League in strikeouts with 239, a year after he worked with now Angels' pitching coach Mike Butcher.

 

"We had fun in 2006 working together," he said. "I learned a lot from Butch, did a lot of bullpen sessions and that carried over to 2007. I just think he and I, our personality type, worked well together. That just translated well into my routine and game."

 

The Angels feel confident with Kazmir on the mound versus some of the toughest opponents with high-octane offenses.

 

Against the Texas Rangers, Kazmir is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA in 2009.

Against the New York Yankees, Kazmir is 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA in 2009.

Against the Boston Red Sox, Kazmir is 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in 2009.

 

Kazmir has stymied the Angels' postseason nemesis, the Red Sox, often over the years. In fact, his best career start to date was when he defeated Josh Beckett and Boston, 3-0, July 3, 2006, at Tropicana Field; his first career complete game shutout. Kazmir allowed just two hits and struck out 10. He retired 15 of 17 batters at one point, throwing a 120 total pitches, 84 for strikes.

 

While Kazmir didn't get the win in his Los Angeles Angels debut, Halo fans have to like the Angels chances down the stretch and in postseason play whenever Kazmir takes the hill, no matter who the opponent is.

 

Below is the entire interview Chuck Richter conducted with Scott Kazmir on September 1, 2009.

 

 

[Angel Oracle]

17 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Wow, I've never seen this before. Epic! 

 

Now, that ump knows how to handle a situation without going all Angel Hernandez. 

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[mmc]

 

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, mmc said:

 

How soon will the Yankees trade for him?   

What a giant POS.

[Stradling]

If that’s true we are about to see MLB make him ineligible for a few years, if not I sure hope Atlanta can void his contract.  The morality clause needs to be an actual clause that can be used. If the players union doesn’t like it they can choose to pay the contract from the union dues paid in by all of the other players.  It won’t take long for the players union to stop fighting for pieces of shit.