Duren, Duren

So Rendon lasted 1/8th of the season without an injury. Let's see how this one plays out. Weird start. Looks like a high scoring affair in the making.

Frustrating game again. No clutch hitting when the game was close. Bullpen ruins a solid start. And the few solidly hit balls were mostly right at defenders. Ward might have eventually scored if he didn't think his double was a homer and hustled more on the bases. Instead we saw what happened. Neto doesn't look like a major leaguer right now. Even when he makes his best contact (which is rare) it's warning track power. And he is lost at the plate, fooled constantly by pitches. Velasquez at least had a glove. In hindsight looks like Neto was rushed or maybe just can't adjust to the majors. Shortstop continues to be a problem. Anyways, now two games below .500 and not trending in the right direction.

Cultural change (to use a neutral term) activists use any and every such public controversy to further their agenda. Generating immediate media attention. Which often obfuscates a fair, neutral assessment of the details without emotional bias. Not judging this specific case because each side is adamant with their narrative. In hockey junior player Logan Mailloux amongst others admitted having sexual relations with a teenage girl in Sweden a few years ago. He too was a teen. He was immediately punished when the story came out. It was his draft eligible year. Surprising everyone the Montreal Canadiens took him in the first round. And generated hysterical condemnation. But Mailloux went through rehabilitation, accepted his punishment. Now he is an elite prospect who just played his first game in the NHL. And most fans and media are now sympathetic and forgiving. The fact that he was a teen at the time is one factor the acceptance of his subsequent rehabilitation.

Perry needs to get pro active and make some roster moves. The season could slip away quickly if some changes aren't made. The farm is still not that promising at the high level with hitters but lower down some guys are starting to grow.. https://halohangout.com/posts/these-fast-rising-angels-prospects-deserve-attention-after-hot-start-01hvkq2pxh9f

Ball almost snuck through but a fitting end to a frustrating game.

Hicks embarrassing himself

A rare poor game from Ward. A shame if the work of Canning and Garcia is wasted. But there are so many weak spots in the lineup.

Possibly the worst at bat of Hicks yet. Futile K on three straight pitches.

Not a bad outing by Canning. After the first. Some bad luck on infield grounders. But the hitters haven't picked him up. And now the bullpen fun begins.

Sano battled hard. Trout circled the bases just using his eyes and legs.

Pepiot dominating Angel hitters.

Way to waste a leadoff walk. Hardly any pitches needed to make three outs. Moniak not helping his cause.

They're making Canning work. 58 pitches through three innings not terrible but not sustainable at this pace. He's hanging in there but the offense needs to wake up.

If Rengifo tightens up his defense he's making a strong case to start.

Bad luck, not scoring from third on a wild pitch. Bad rebound, like the boards in hockey. Some good wood on the ball but no clutch hits.

Something needs to be done about these horrible early innings from multiple starters. Pitching coach has to focus on this problem. Or are most of these starters just not very good at executing their strategy and controlling their pitches?

The smartest relief pitcher ever was Mike Marshall. He became a professor of kinesiology at Michigan I believe when he retired. He threw the screwball, which was the most damaging on the arm. He micromanaged and perfected his pitching technique and won a Cy Young while pitching big innings. Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver also had great technique and relied on powerful lower bodies to anchor their deliveries. And were easy HOF pitchers who were workhorses who threw tons of innings. Without serious arm injuries. My point is that technique is critical. The motion, drive, delivery, finish have to be perfected and in sync. Of course no matter what there still is strain, wear and tear and injury risk. Especially with some of the more demanding pitches. Stuff pitching coaches and trainers need to work on individually with each pitcher. There are important dynamics beside velocity and shaping pitches.

A real savvy baseball mind. Led some Cardinal teams further than many expected. Also one of the first baseball cards I found in a Topps pack when I was a kid. I recall he had a crewcut and a big wad of chewing tobacco bulging from his cheek. I actually have his autograph on a piece of paper, also signed by Roger Maris, who was a close lifelong friend. I think they both played for the old Kansas City A's early in their careers. The Maris auto is part of a display I have along with the entire 1961 Yankees team. My favorite team as a small kid, but who I despised since Steinbrenner.

.500 slowly slipping away. It'll be hard making progress when they can't win games like this that were very winnable.

Ugly, depressing way to lose. Glad I didn't watch the whole game.

Two easy outs and then totally lost.

Fullmer looked good until he didn't.

I had no idea the game was still on or what happened. I was going to my PVR listings to start watching and caught a glimpse of live action on that channel. I've just tuned it in. So they have the lead and need to protect it.

Adell obviously was/is incredibly raw all around. His fielding was a disaster. His at bats were mostly futile. Now his base running is being exposed. But at least he's on base more than in the past. Give him credit for working on his fielding and at bats. Still a work in progress after multiple years of apprenticeship. Hopefully the new coaching staff helps him with his base running. But a lot of that is instant recognition/reaction. Anyways, I have to make a choice in my TV viewing. The Angel game, the final game of the season for my (still rebuilding) Montreal Canadiens, and the last ever game for the Arizona Coyotes all are on within the same general time frame. So I will watch hockey live, flipping/pausing/recording between games when on simultaneously. Different time zones means only a partial overlap. And I'll record the Angel game and watch it as my nightcap. Once the NHL playoffs start I may have to do similar juggling though not having a favorite team in it makes it less of a priority. As long as Toronto doesn't win the Cup I'm fine with any other result.

I've been in eBay for 24 years. Bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of stuff. But it has become a nightmare now in some ways. Especially for Canadians. A five dollar postage item now costs around twenty five bucks to be mailed from the U.S. to Canada. Instead of just going from one address to another it's sent to a sorting center in Illinois. And takes triple the time to arrive. As well I've had two purchases lost there, even with tracking, in the last month. And I'm dealing with a deadbeat buyer who makes excuses over and over for the last two months for not returning an item I refunded him. Which I didn't have to because he misread the ad. But now it's almost impossible to dig through the automatic 'help' templates they use instead of talking to real people. I finally waded my way through and did speak to someone who was clueless and just told me to keep contacting this guy. Just on principal I'm going to continue digging through this. The item isn't very valuable, but I will not let this situation fade away without a fight. So once I saw that Ippei was involved with eBay I knew something shady was going on.