fan_since79

Pro: Half of his hits are for extra bases. Con: 10 SO and 3 BB in 31 plate appearances.

Trout's career WAR is now 21.9 According to Baseball Reference's Hall of Fame Statistics, the average HOF centerfielder has a 70.4 WAR, of which 44.1 came in their 7 prime years. Trout is 22 years old. Do the math. He's on his way already. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml

Alden Gonzalez ‏@Alden_Gonzalez 36m Non-news tweet of the day: De La Rosa & Burnett did throw their sim games in Arizona yesterday, but Scioscia doesn't have an update yet..

Best news I've heard all week!

But we all know that getting bombed again is guaranteed NOT to restore his confidence. That's what I don't understand about all this. This is about winning ballgames with the best personnel for the job. The job of a manager is to win, not to be a glorified babysitter. If Frieri (or any other player) gets his feelings hurt over a manager's deciding what's best for the team, than he has a problem. The manager also has a problem if he's managing according to a player's 'feelings'. If Frieri blows another game, that's one more loss that should have been a win. These kinds of losses come back to haunt teams at the end of the season. We really can't afford to have a losing record in April and May. This is setting up to be the same experience as the past four years. I'm so tired of it.

Bartolo Colon with seven sharp innings today, 1 ER, 8 SO, no walks, and the win. Mets beat St. Louis 4-1.

Emily Litella: I'm here tonight to speak out against burning nets. Those are the nets that firefighters use to catch people falling from burning buildings. It's bad enough the building is on fire, why would anyone want to burn the nets too?! That's a terrible idea!! What's the matter with people these days?! The young people just go around wanting to destroy things. What's wrong with them?! I can't believe… Chevy Chase: (interrupting) Miss Litella? Emily Litella: Yes? Chevy Chase: The update was about Sean Burnett, not burning nets. He's a pitcher who's been very slow to recover from numerous injuries, and has been off the roster for what seems like forever. Emily Litella. Oh, I'm sorry…. Never mind, but in that case tell him to get his butt back on the mound and pronto! It's not right for the Angels bullpen to blow leads night after night like that! And the manager seems like a nice fellow but I just don't understand the things he does during the game... Chevy Chase: Thank you, Miss Emily Litella. (RIP, Gilda Radner)

He will pitch a simulated game in Arizona today. So will DDLR. http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/04/angels-sean-burnett-and-dane-de-la-rosa.html#.U1l_7Mfyxe4

I'm just saying it's easier for them not to feel "hungry" because their bad play might put them out of work with little money on hand. Most of them are signed for multiple years, guaranteed, and for millions of dollars. Even average-and-below players are making over a million each year. Given human nature, it's easier to slack off a bit. Vernon's "too blessed to be stressed" attitude comes to mind.

Chuck, you know what your problem is? You're too rational.

LOL. Not far from true. Not far at all.

When the money (read: millions) is coming in like that, it's easy to not get too upset about your bad play. I was reading recently that most players in the past had to get jobs during the offseason just to support their families. Very few got the big bucks to play baseball.

Hamilton will be on fire again in mid-August when we're eight games back. We'll put on a nice run and finish two games out of the wildcard. Everyone will agree that the season was a great success.

His latest rant was pretty tame, given last night's awful game.

I thought he was the guy who plays a lot of golf and goes to fundraisers. He's the president too?!

I think there's a service time issue with those pitchers down on the farm. Someone brought that up earlier, something about them needing to stay down there a bit longer?

Maybe he'll be traded, like Fuentes.

For the AL, it's .232. I can't see who the hitter is, because you have to subscribe to Baseball Reference to see the name of the first nine players on any search result. That's how I figured it was Vernon with his .248 OBP, which is first on the list for AL outfielders since 1901.

In 2011, Wells posted the lowest OBP in the history of the AL for an outfielder, .248. Minimum 502 plate appearances.

"Ernie grooved a pitch or two there, and he's as disappointed as anyone over that. Butch will work with him in the bullpen and get things figured out. It's early in the season and pitchers are still settling in."

Keeping our old pitching coach might have helped too.

Yahoo didn't even have it at the top of their MLB page that evening.

Jim Thome hit over 600 home runs, and with all due respect to him, one would never say he was a better hitter than Albert. Thome is also not a shoo-in for the HOF, although I personally think he'll make it eventually.

If we fall 7 or 8 games back in this competitive division, we're finished for 2014. And now I hear that Scioscia will stay with Frieri as closer?! Very frustrating for this old-time fan.

The only silver lining is that Oakland also has a bunch of blown saves.