Lou Spirito

What an absolutely pathetic thread . . .

1. For the T-Shirt giveaway, earlier is always better. I suggest arriving when the gates open (should be 5:30 for a Friday night game) then head for the 3rd or 1st base foul pole during batting practice — several balls are usually hit into the seats. You may get lucky . . .

2. If your seats are in the middle of the section, you'll have a great view of the game. Section 129 is prime foul ball real estate for right-handed hitters, so look sharp!

3. It's a T-Shirt giveaway! Wear your new swag!

4. Your best chance to get an autograph is during batting practice and shortly after. You should be able to move to the Angels' dugout (3rd base side) without any hassle before the game. Again, get there when the gates open to improve your chances.

Most important . . . have fun and enjoy the game!

If you watched last night's game from Cleveland (June 17), you'll understand.

Via the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

http://goo.gl/4qXY3h

Perhaps this an 'Angels Stars of the Game' thing. But I agree, I would give a nod to Hayward for some outstanding defense. Trout could have easily gone 5-5 tonight,

Freese had the same line tonight. 6 K's between the two of them. Interestingly, only two of them came with runners on base (runner on first both times) and three of them lead off an inning (1st, 8th, 9th).

Albert reached base three times (HBP). Josh made an error in the field causing a runner to advance into scoring position – he gets docked a base, therefore only two bases for Josh. So there.

Agree with Mancini and Dochalo. It's a toss-up for me between Pujols (2-4, 1 R) and Hamilton. Both had solid nights reaching base three times and moving the runners.

For the few who actually read them, I'm taking brief break from the gameday scorecards. I'll post the current three game series vs. the A's as one multi-game file, then begin posting daily again with Friday's game.

The management apologizes for any inconvenience.

Pure gold from last night's gameday thread (June 7, 2014):

“Fvck this team. Green down. Cron down when Stewart comes back. I can't stand this organization”

“I'm going to watch hockey and not even check on the score during the game tonight”

“Just saw Sale's career numbers against the Angels.... Not sure this one is even worth following tonight.”

“This game is going to suck.”

“I'll be surprised if Josh makes contact at all tonight vs Sale”

“Game over drive home safely” (3rd Inning)

“turned the game off. can't take this crap..”

“Doesn't really matter who started this game for the Angels. They would have had to pitch a CG shutout just to keep the team in the game.”

“Shutout for sure.”

“…We never had a chance in this game…”

“This one's over. No one on our team looks like they have any chance of hitting Sale.”

“It was game over after they scored the first 2 runs.”

“This team is a train wreck.”

“&*%@. Never mind. we suck. goodnight.”

“Hahaha...rasmus is full of crap” (Rasmus' line: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO)

. . . and then . . .

“!!!!! Holy smokes Mike Trout !!”

“Whoa!! Made many of us AW members sound like fools. Way to go Trout!”

“Wow I turned off this game in the 6th. Holy shit!!”

“Well that was unexpected.”

If you ain't first you're last

So 24 managers that need to be dismissed based upon your logic (assuming managers on teams leading their divisions, regardless of their records, get to keep their jobs).

That's not Gary Busey and that's . . . ah, forget it . . .

That's not Gary Busey and that's not Kansas City. That photo is from Ryan's second no-hitter precisely two months later in Detroit (July 15, 1973) and the catcher is Art Kusnyer. Jeff Torborg caught Ryan's first no-no.

I get the frustration with Frieri. But that pitch that Roberts hit out was actually a pretty well placed fastball. It was down and in and he simply went down and got it. NOW!!! I don't have the scouting report on Roberts, but if that is a strength of Roberts then shame on Frieri. Otherwise, you just have to acknowledge that Roberts had a great at bat and that's it!!

I watched Roberts closely while living in Baltimore for six years. That's a pitch he likes to go after but normally rips it foul by 20-30 feet. 

I don't believe I've ever scored a six walk inning before. Just when you think you've seen it all, baseball happens.

I'm optimistic. Lucky 13-13.

Ok, Frieri with a 3 run lead. I can smell Winning Record!!!!

Remind me never ask you to check if my milk has spoiled.

Rule 8.02:

- The pitcher shall not have expectorate on the ball, either hand or his glove.

- PENALTY:

(a) The pitcher shall be ejected immediately from the game and shall be suspended automatically for 10 games.

Very nice graphic done by my friend and former colleague Doug Stevens:

View the graphic here

Threw this retro desktop wallpaper together last night in honor of the big hit. What the old 'Big-A' might have looked like . . .

It's available in 16 different native screen formats here:

http://louspirito.com/baseball/angels/Albert500/

Enjoy.

Roger is a dick. Why is he employed?

For the same reason T.J. Simers is employed. Sadly, this is not a joke.

Reports on Twitter  . . .

Well there's a trust worthy source. The Angels will take care of this guy for being a class act.

So they've lost 7 in a row  . . . How in the world did we lose so many games to these guys?

All teams, no matter how bad their record or performance numbers, get hot at some point. Sometimes bad teams play great baseball. Sometimes good teams run into them at the wrong time, especially when said good team is playing bad. Make sense?

Thread of the day, right here!

I've been watching Pujols very closely. The key is that he looks very comfortable swinging the bat. His balance and commitment to the ball is night and day from last season. Really shows how badly the injury last season affected his ability. 

"You've got bits of our bullpen in your teeth. Let me get that out for you."