disarcina

meanwhile back in Anaheim at the Honda Center or whatever it's being called these days.......... LA KINGS 2, ANAHEIM DUCKS 2 end of second period.

Lakers tanking on national TV -- Clippers look just as dominant in this game as they did in the first match-up of the season - where they whipped the Lakers. This loss may put the Lakers behind Utah for the final playoff spot. 101-88 Clippers with 3 minutes to go --- it's over.

If I am not mistaken -- isn't the Texas Spring Game a University of Texas intramural scrimmage? yeah -- it packs the Stadium every year -- and will likely out draw in personal attendance and TV ratings tonight's Angels/ Rangers game in Texas and the DFW area.

OKAY. Let's see if Hamilton's comment about Texas being a 'football' state and DFW being a 'football' town is correct. A little test run TONIGHT and TOMORROW. There's a great pitching match-up on the Sunday night ESPN game -- Halos ace Weaver vs. Texas near perfect game last time out, Darvish -- as good of a pitching match up of aces between division rivals as you're going to see. Monday night ESPNU features another highly anticipated and watched event -- Texas Spring Game -- College Football. I predict -- attendance at the Spring Game will be greater than that at Arlington tonight (well, the football stadium capacity is twice as much so that's easy. I think tonight's baseball game will be sold out -- although it may take late walk up sales to get there -- I am almost certain the Spring Football Game has been sold out for months and will be standing room only. I also predict -- in the State of Texas as well as in the greater DFW market area -- the Monday night Spring Football game will have higher viewership than the Sunday night match-up between Weaver and Darvish....... let's check the stats Tuesday / Wednesday and see if Hamilton is right. I think he is.

geez, the reaction and the whole video looked a lot worse than a bicep strain. and the part of him throwing and then the arm sort of going limp isn't something that's easily 'orchestrated' the injury looked real. well, good for Lackey it's not that serious. now we can all root for him to go 5-20 with a 5.78 ERA this season.

Please stop this already. Except for Downs, the bullpen has pitched well. We need Pujols and Hamilton to heat up. Blanton? Well, didn't we expect HR balls out of him? As a consolation, look how well Haren did in his most recent start for the Nationals.

Josh Hamilton is helping stoke this fire.......all in good fun. Texas fans legitimately upset that Hamilton apparently did not give Texas a chance to match the Angels offer.......Halos fans would be upset if the tables were turned (and have been with other players) Hamilton seems to be taking it all in stride. If he starts really raking, he will really shut them up. Oh, another point, Hamilton is RIGHT. Texas is a football state. The Rangers have drawn 3 million fans in a season ONCE.

that was awful. looks like he re-tore whatever was 'fixed' not a Lackey fan by any means -- but I don't like to see this happen to anyone. looks like he may be done for the season, at a minimum. as for the nasty remarks towards Lackey related to his domestic situation - while it looks just terrible on the surface, there could be other reasons for this -- possibly cancer treatments not being covered by insurance......older folks facing end of life care of astronomical costs sometimes divorce in order to maintain assets for the surviving spouse. Not a Lackey fan at all, but willing to give him the possibility of something other than just being callous on this -- and now his own playing career appears to be in jeopardy. Sad all around.

jshep -- others -- yeah -- no way Weav bats -- we just have lack of depth on bench, apparently -- nice catch by Hamilton or was it a poor read? well, nice catch -- better than the one Pujols didn't make last inning. Cueto is out, Broxton is in. I guess he's not the closer here -- in ESPN FLB, Broxton leads the pack (today) as the most DROPPED guy -- 71% I guess folks thought he'd be closing for Cincy.

Not Bourjos' spot. Don't know much about Schuck but he must have some potential power - didn't see i there.

OUCH --leaves 'em loaded...........Garrett Richards coming on in the 7th inning here. Must have reached his pitch count -- how many here would have let Weaver start the 7th and then pull him at the first sign of trouble?? (walk, basehit etc.).

Good for the new owners of the team........FINALLY..........someone listens when told that the 'Jewel' Dodger Stadium is now one of the oldest parks in MLB and has NONE of the charm of the oldest parks -- Fenway, Wrigley Field etc. but all of the negative stuff -- lack of space all around, small seats, tight concourses, lousy concession stand wait times and lines, etc. so the over-haul long over-due. Wonder if it was done for the Dodgers or to meet NFL standards????

Geez. Didn't realize that expressing my thoughts about the roster spots would get so exciting (and heated). My position on Jerome Williams dates back to last year, I don't think he pitched very well for the Halos as a spot starter and did not seem to be able to achieve the prior success he had when he came out of nowhere as a reclamation project (had pitched previously in the bigs with SF Giants, but in MLB terms that's almost another career ago) for the Halos and back filled a rotation sport racked by injuries............since then -- and really, since he had to come out of that one game with a health issue prompted by the the high temperature (can't remember where the game was? New York?), he really has not been the same pitcher. No one can claim his 2013 ST was anything close to good -- I suggest he had more than just two bad outings..........seemed to do ok in the Freeway series game he pitched in. All I am saying, based on the competition and who the front office has to decide upon in the next few weeks, perhaps it is Williams who gets DFA'd -- but he does have an MLB contract as is pointed out and it would not make sense to let some team pick him up as a 5th starter and only have to pay the MLB minimum of his contract for the rest of 2013. So there's that. Performance wise, he would have been off my list of 25 to start the season.......but, hey. we can have different takes on this stuff.

Six - plus......gets taken out at first sign of trouble in the 6th inning.

It's only Game One -- but as we always laugh about this time of season (and regret in September) -- a win on March 31/ month of April counts as much as a win in September. And, the key to winning the AL West will be which AL West contender can rack up the wins against the Astros. The team that goes 14-4 vs. Houston will likely be the team in contention for the AL West Title as the season winds down. Texas is now 0-1 in that bid for 14 wins vs. Houston. Houston will lose 108 games this year. But not this one.

Nice way for Conger to celebrate his selection to the team -- a walk off HR in the freeway series, But Conger needs to get his defense skills behind the plate up to par or he won't be long for Anaheim UNLESS the Angels decide to carry three catchers -- which I do not think they will do. Shuck gets added most likely because the Halos front office wisely determined that Calhoun is better off playing every day at SLC rather than sitting the bench as a role player with few ABs in Anaheim. Counter-intuitive, perhaps, but the Shuck over Calhoun decision reflects the determination the Halos have made that Calhoun fits the team's plans long term while Shuck is more of a role player and headed for 4-A status. Mark Lowe? Some depth in the pen. Throws hard. Situational guy, I guess -- although that didn't used to be Scioscia's style -- sort of a tough gig for a guy like Stetter who pitched well most of ST (unlike Jerome Williams) and doesn't make the cut and then sees a guy acquired at the end of ST get a roster spot -- that's MLB. Jerome Williams, IMO, clearly pitched himself off the roster this ST -- the key to his securing a roster spot may have more to do with the Halos' insecurity about Hanson and Vargas in the rotation (and we all thought Blanton would be the issue -- as it turns out, Blanton may well be the innings eater with a lot of fly balls and less than impressive outings but 175-200 IP nonetheless). Harris got the spot that Bill Hall was closing in on before Hall got hurt in ST. Harris fills the Izturis roster spot/ role and provides some back up for Callaspo at 3B as well. Am glad Romine made the team -- to me,he now fills the role that was going to belong to Peter Bourjos if the OF picture (CF) hadn't fallen into place for PJB....now Bourjos plays every day and really doesn't have anyone chasing him on the bench (Shuck not a real threat) except for maybe Calhoun who will be playing every day and hopefully putting up good numbers at SLC. But now, Romine can play in almost every game -- late inning PR, late inning PH when the situation calls for a sac bunt -- and then he can play the field either at 2B or SS as a late inning defensive guy.......perhaps Aybar or Kendrick can move over to 3B (Has Howie ever played third? Arm may be suspect there). I like the look of the final 25. QUESTION: When is Madsen's ETA (return date off DL) and who gets sent out when that happens? -- Lowe had best peform well early and does Jerome Williams have any options left? May have to accept a AAA assignment......I don't think we keep 12 pitchers all season long.......

great. it's still the Mets, though. the fact he made the roster tells us much about the 2013 Mets. but great for this guy -- hope he sticks around long enough to qualify for an MLB pension -- takes about 4 years time of being on an MLB (active) roster.

thought it was a good deal for us at the time and even now after he's gone. Haren pitched well for us -- and I also think we parted company with him at probably the right time. wish him well, he pitched fairly well for us -- nothing spectacular.

FSN has the game on Tape Delay?? What's with that?

The announcement should be Sunday some time. I think Richards stays and Williams' Halos' career ends. Calhoun makes the team, Romine makes the team -- I agree that Jimenez makes the team. I think Conger (who still has at least one more option left) is really on the bubble and push comes to shove, his defense this Spring lands him back at SLC and Snyder makes the team. Mark Lowe or one of the other two new guys De la Rosa (?) and the other guy who's name I forget get the final pen spot despite Stetter probably earning a spot. But as another poster points out, another lefty pen guy is redundant and Stetter really needs the innings he'll get at SLC and won't get in Anaheim. I thought Bill Hall and/or Brendan Harris had a chance to make the team --- but with Romine securing a spot and with home grown Jimenez having a good ST and being quite versatile, I think he ends up with that roster spot.

Scioscia has a long term contract.....Halos would really have to tank (and YES only 70 wins would be a real TANKING) for him to get fired. I see the Halos winning 92 games this year......... the key to the AL West this year will be which team wins more games against Houston. The team that can go 14-4 or better vs. Houston, wins the AL West. Look out for the A's -- they can probably achieve that.

Trout HR over the short gate/fence in LF nice but the story of this game is how awful the pitching has been. Jason Vargas' performance certainly causes some concern this close to opening day.......... well, they said he was a flyball pitcher with a tendency to give up the long fly..........

Sort of like the DVD bargain bin........ A guy like Lowe has to, at least, help with attendance figures at SLC or even AA Arkansas.

WOW. Rivera went from the odds-on starter because of injuries to Granderson to off the roster in a matter of three weeks. And, yes, he has lost his job TWICE now to Vernon Wells.......what a nightmare for all concerned -- Rivera for falling this fast, this quick, for losing his job a second time to WELLS! and to the Yankees for even being in this predicament......what a total disaster. That being said, Rivera had some clutch hits and even some clutch HRs for the Halos during his time in Anaheim -- but after having decent stats in Montreal (geez, that's like recalling a dead language or something) I never realized until Rivera got to the Halos how SLOW he was a-foot and as an OF'er.........He's not that heavy but he runs like a power hitter LF who can't really play the field -- he's that LF'er with the same level (that is lack of) of speed and so-so power -- 20 HRs per season if he plays full time. He will catch on somewhere -- but he's really an AL DH type now. I wouldn't have him playing D in my outfield and he's MR. GIDP so I wouldn't bat him anywhere close to the top of the line-up. Maybe 6th or 7th.

I think Richards makes the 25 man roster -- which probably means Jerome Williams isn't a Halo when the season kicks off Monday.