mpcincal

Remember our friend who likes to write the occasional anti-Angels rant? Well, he seems to be in a little trouble: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/889mzp/la-times-places-columnist-arash-markazi-on-leave-amid-plagiarism-investigation

Current MLB ballparks: Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Petco Park, T-Mobile Field in Seattle, Kauffman Stadium. Former MLB stadiums: Jack Murphy/Qualcomm, Veterans Stadium (during 1996 All-Star weekend). My family and I took a tour of the Kingdome in 1981, while the players were on strike. Spring Training: My Dad and I have gone to Arizona to see some games in six of the last eight years and have been to all 10 around Phoenix. I've also been to the Padres old ST complex in Yuma, and the Angels' in Palm Springs. Minor Leagues (current and former): Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino (new and old), Riverside, Lake Elsinore, High Desert, Bakersfield, Visalia, Modesto, Reno and Springfield, Mo.

Oh boy, I thought this guy was just a regular idiot Twitter user, but it turns out he's a little more famous than that, or at least he's famous for being this guy's father: https://www.thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-wanted-on-felony-arrest-warrant

And then here's this genius replying to Rosenthal's original tweet and solidifying the Trumpster stereotype. The Twitter universe is sufficiently taking him out behind the woodshed (BTW, Moreno's birthplace: Tucson, Arizona) :

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/the-story-of-the-los-angeles-browns-changed-baseball-forever Great story on the near-move of the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) to L.A. after the 1941 season. The move was pretty much a done deal and the AL owners would have rubber-stamped it in a meeting scheduled for Dec. 8, 1941. Well, something happened on Dec. 7, 1941, the meeting was canceled, the country had to deal with that pesky little thing called World War II, and the Browns stayed in St. Louis for 12 more years. The writer speculates how team relocations and expansion would have happened with a team already in L.A. through the 1940s and '50s. Among the more interesting results include teams like the Dallas Dodgers, San Francisco Athletics and Minnesota Giants. I heard about this almost-move a few years ago and always speculated about what would have happened later. For one thing, the author has the 1942 L.A. team retaining the Browns name, but I personally think they would changed it to one of the PCL nicknames, Angels or Stars, and the NL expansion team that came later in the story would have taken the other one. Still, it's fun to think of the possibility of a Southern California landscape where the Angels possibly have an 80-year history and no Dodgers team.

Yep, the words "Tommy John" sure had a different meaning to us Angels fans in the mid-'80s than it does now. It's been kind of cool to see certain players again in an Angels uniforms. "Oh, yeah, Dante Bichette and Devon White started out with the Halos." "Ah, now I remember when Claudell Washington and Johnny Ray played for us." I noticed in tonight's game (Langston/Witt no-hitter), when Edgar Martinez made the error on the grounder that would have loaded the bases with no out, except Bichette overran third and the shortstop backing up tagged him out. You could see Moose Stubing barking at him as Dante was on his way back to the dugout. I think that was one of many brain farts committed by a young Bichette that made the Angels cut bait on him after the season ended.

I was watching the game tonight and I noticed that too. I also spotted a couple of typos in other crawl entries. Watching the video feed was also interesting. I remember the game wasn't televised because I had to get it on radio, so I guess it must have been some kind of stadium feed or from one of the local news stations for that night's highlight package. I loved how the cameraman on the first-base side was always getting shots of good-looking females in their '80s-style looks. A lot of big, teased hair out there in the stands; a couple of them looked like they just came in from filming a music video.

For the Angels, probably Tanana or Richards as stated before. If Tanana hadn't had his arm problems, he might have mitigated the idiotic decision to let Nolan Ryan walk after 1979. With Richards, I wonder if that freak knee injury in 2014 was a factor in his arm problems later (sometimes you might change mechanics to offset effects of another injury and it affect your arm later); without that he might still be our ace or close to it. One non-Angel who hasn't been mentioned is J.R. Richard. He was very dominant with the Astros in the late 1970s and then suffered a stroke in 1980 that effectively ended his career. If he had his health, he could have been like the right-handed Randy Johnson (or Johnson would have been known as the left-handed J.R. Richard when he hit his prime) and could have been a Hall-of-Famer.

I don't know how many of you caught it, but while Darin Erstad was manning center field (and catching the final out) in the Game 7 replay on FSW, he was also punting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the NBC Sports Network replay of the 1995 Orange Bowl. Huskers beat Miami 24-17 in that one to win the first of back-to-back national titles.

Watching the ALCS clincher now. It's been very enjoyable, but one thing I've realized is that watching these games against the Twins reminds me how annoying it is listening to Steve Lyons give his game commentary.

Yep, that was the turning point. Ironically, that day, a couple hours before the game started, I watched the KNBC newscast and Fred Roggin led off his sports report that sources told him Scioscia's job was definitely in jeopardy. We didn't hear any of those reports for the rest of the season.

I was really high on Kirk McCaskill when he came up in the mid-80s. He and Witt made a good 1-2 punch in the division-winning year of '86, and I thought he would emerge as an ace type. Not quite, unfortunately.

I remember the 1986 opener in Seattle when Bobby Grich homered on the very first pitch of the season. The Angels ended up losing that game in extras, but the early homer was a good omen for the '86 season (until Dave Henderson, of course).

One year after, early 1978, I was in attendance when Ryan one-hit the Indians. I believe he gave up the lone hit in the fifth inning in that game also. I like to tell people I would have seen Ryan's fifth no-hitter live if it wasn't for that damn Duane Kuiper.

I'm enjoying these watch-alongs with Ardaya. The latest is when Ryan almost no-hit the Yankees on national TV on July 13, 1979. Reggie Jackson broke it up with a single in the ninth, although there was a very questionable official scorer's ruling earlier that kept the no-hitter alive. It was also the opener to a very memorable (for us "old-timers") three-game sweep. https://theathletic.com/1692179/2020/03/23/how-close-did-nolan-ryan-get-to-his-record-setting-fifth-no-hitter/ Some observations: Keith Jackson on play-by-play. Though known for college football, I thought he was very good on baseball. Unfortunately, he always had Cosell constantly talking over him on the broadcast. Oh, and Bob Uecker was in the booth also. With most knowing him for his self-deprecating humor and role as Harry Doyle in "Major League," most baseball fans today who don't get the Brewers broadcast don't realize that he has been a really good announcer. That official scorer's ruling (in the eighth inning, I believe): Yankees' Jim Spencer hits a liner to center that CF Rick Miller can't get to. It went off his glove, but would have been a very difficult play to make. I was an 11-year-old biased Angel fan who really wanted to see the no-hitter, but even I was like "how could he call that an error?" The night after this game, the Angels came back from a 6-0 deficit, with Don Baylor hitting a three-run homer in the ninth to force extras, and won 8-7 in the 10th. The Sunday game, which I actually attended, saw Bobby Grich drive in all five runs, including a walk-off two-run homer, in a 5-4 Angels win. Thanks to Fabian for these articles. Some great strolls down memory lane.

The Yankees retired No. 8 for both Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey, so it has been done before.

David Fletcher at home hearing that: "Aw, man, I have to change my number again?"

I saw that on Twitter, but then I looked up the guy's account and there was no media affiliation listed and the photo was of a teen or twentysomething with his girlfriend, so I'm a little skeptical of that source.

I can see it now: Angels get Gonsolin, he struggles in the rotation early and they tell him he's going to Triple-A. Gonsolin replies "No, no, not the Bees! Not the Bees!"

Yeah, me too. I was starting to get worried as I kept reading the article. I'm glad my concern was unwarranted. Thanks for keeping this site going Chuck. I don't actually post on here as much as I'd like to, but this is a regular stop on my daily online browsing. And I hope we have a whole lot of positive things to discuss over the coming year and years after.

That game where Kendrys suffered the walk-off broken leg was the first thing that came to mind. That was in 2010, and a think it really set the tone for what would be a disappointing decade. The only game I attended in 2004 was a weekday day game against the Indians (I live in Santa Barbara County and don't get to a lot of games because of distance and work schedule). I was really excited to go see a game, and what I ended up seeing was Jarrod Washburn throwing batting practice during the game. Travis Hafner had three homers, and even Coco Crisp, among others, went deep. Angels lost 14-5 (though they would go on to win the division). I remember looking up the game story online after we got back home and there was a photo of Washburn laughing on the mound after throwing one of his gopher balls. I got to see a ballgame instead of working, but that was deflating.

So the story leaks that the Yankees offer seven years, $245M for Cole, and the next day Strasburg signs for the same amount with the Nationals. Boras seems to be masterfully manipulating things.

I think for teams like the Angels who aren't making any changes, uniform "reveals" would be pretty pointless. As for any changes, for the most part, it isn't broke; no need to fix. The one small change I would endorse would be changing the halo from silver to gold/yellow. I have a 2011 5950 cap among my Angels collection and it really does look nice.

Speaking of Schwarber, this guy from Bleacher Report seems to think the Angels will trade for him, with the rationale being that the Angels "may see him as the perfect guy to slide into Kole Calhoun's vacated spot in their outfield." Yeah, never mind that the Angels already have a couple guys (Goodwin and eventually Adell) to "slide" into that spot. Geez, can these guys do just a little bit of research on the team before making these trade proposals/predictions/whatever? https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2862609-predicting-the-2019-20-mlb-offseasons-biggest-blockbuster-trades#slide3

As an Angels fan, happy for Howie, and as a San Diego State alum, happy for Strasburg.