Capital_Dave

National League wins the All Star Game, 7-2. A typical low-scoring affair until the 4th inning, when Christian Yelich starts the ball rolling with a two-run shot. Five homers altogether in this one, with Turner, Yelich, Freeman, Carpenter, and Contreras all going yard. On the Angel front, Trout goes 1-for-4 and Rendon rides the pine, as AL Manager Drew Carey fails in the basic All Star Managerial role of getting all of the position players some P.T. They didn't name an official MVP, but it's probably Freddie Freeman, who goes 2-for-2 with a two-run homer.

Answering my own question. After a little more research, I figured out it was the White Sox. And it wasn't a faux-collar... it was a real collared shirt. And this was the same era where they briefly experimented with wearing shorts for MLB games! Oh Internet how I love you. https://news.sportslogos.net/2016/08/08/a-short-experiment-the-story-of-the-chicago-white-sox-shorts/

Man, the TWIB reference took me back to my childhood. And sent me down a rabbit hole of binging old TWIB episodes on YouTube. But I need your help with something: what in the world is the team uniform at 3:36 in the video below? Untucked, with a faux-collar, high white stirrups. Never seen that uniform in my life.

Thanks. As @Angelsjunky notes, a man has needs... I figure some baseball content is better than none, even if it is pretend. I'll cut back to once a week updates once the real season starts... and then I'll resume daily updates once the real season is cancelled.

In their last game of the first half of the season, the Angels drop their second straight to the Dodgers, by the same score, 4-1. Most of the Dodgers offense comes from young catcher Will Smith, who goes 2-for-3 with 2 homers. Not much going for the Angels on this one. Griffin Canning threw a quality start. That's about the nicest thing I can say about this one. Angels head into the All Star Break as a thoroughly mediocre .500 team, 3.5 games back of the Wild Card leading Twins.

The Angels kick off a Freeway Series with a loss to the cross-town Dodgers, 4-1. Clayton Kershaw ran his record up to 14-2 (!!) by throwing 6 innings of 3 hit, 1 run ball. Jo Adell is too young to be intimidated by Kershaw. Instead he smacked his 8th homer of the year, going 2-for-4, but otherwise the Angels bats were largely silent for this one. Albert Pujols set a new major league baseball record for most GIDP for a career... a record he extends with some regularity.

A bit of a heartbreaking loss for the Angels. Tied 2-2 in the 9th, Jonathan Schoop gets a pivotal two-out homer in the top of the ninth off Hansel Robles to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. The Angels look like they're going to tie it in the bottom of the ninth, with Trout and Rendon hitting back to back single to lead off the inning. Upton and Adell strike out, and Andrelton Simmons hits a single, but Mike Trout gets tagged out at home trying to score, with Austin Romine successfully blocking the plate. Trouty goes 4-for-4 (all singles) in this one, to bring his batting average up to .320.

Stratomatic named the All Star Squads for the AL and NL today, including a "Final Four" vote where you can participate by clicking here. The game will be played live online on July 14th, with Drew Carey managing the AL All Stars. Given that there's a passing resemblance to Joe Maddon, I'll allow it. Mike Trout gets the start in CF. Anthony Rendon is a reserve at 3B. Here is the AL Squad. Have at it, libs...

Angels complete the sweep vs. the Tigers, riding a very strong pitching performance by Shohei Ohtani (6.2 IP, 1ER, 11Ks) en route to a 3-1 victory. Ohtani, batting cleanup with the Angels again foregoing the DH, tacks on a base hit, a stolen base, and a run scored for good measure. Upton's on a 7-game hitting streak, belting his 14th homer in this one.

So much to like about this game for the Halos. Offense: check. 17 hits altogether including a monster 4-for-5 game for J-Up. He gets a double and a homer, scoring three runs and plating three as well. Defense: check. Not just one, but two web gems, with Anthony Rendon and Noe Ramirez both flashing the leather. Angels play error-free baseball. Pitching: check. Starting pitching still a bit iffy, but as has been a theme lately, the bullpen was rock-solid, in this one combining for 4.2 innings of shutout ball.

Rengifo gets the callup, bats leadoff and goes 2-for-3 with two doubles. Angels win their first game back at home, 4-1. Great game for Angels pitching. Andriese gets the win and the bullpen throws 4.2 hitless, scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner.

Angels defense fell apart in this one, with the Bad News Angels committing 4 errors on the game. Nothing wrong with the offense, which got 12 hits on the game, including multiple hits by Trout, Rendon, Upton, and Simmons. David Fletcher suffers a significant injury in the first inning that will send him to the IL for a 3 weeks, meaning Tommy LaStella will likely be a staple at 2B for the foreseeable future (unless Rengifo gets a look?)

A disappointing loss for Angels fans, as Ryan Buchter suffers the unusual misstep in the midst of a pretty stellar season for the Angels, loading the bases in the 8th. Bedrosian comes in and walks home the go-ahead run and the Angels lose 4-3. Spoils a good start by Andrew Heaney (6IP, 2ER). Trout, Rendon, and Simmons continue hitting well, all remain above .310 on the season.

Angels score three runs three batters into the game, and cruise from there, ending up with a 7-4 victory. Julio Teheran gets a nice ovation from the Braves fans in his first start back in Atlanta. He scores the win with a wobbly (5.1IP, 4ER) start and many Braves fans say, "yeah, that kind of start looks awfully familiar." Big line from Rendon, who went 3-for-4 with 5 RBIs.

Incidentally, congrats to Pretend Mike Trout, who was named yesterday as the American League Player of the Month for June for the simulated season. Trout hit .327 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs for the month, with an 1.136 OPS.

Angels overcome a pretty noteworthy start by two-way player Brandon McKay (4.2 IP, 1ER, 10 Ks, a 2.18 ERA altogether) and beat up on the Rays' bullpen en route to a 5-2 victory to earn a 2-2 split of the series. Dylan Bundy gets the win after a pretty mediocre start, while Robles reappears after a mysterious absence to earn the save, his 20th. The bottom of the lineup respond nicely after being called out by @Angel Oracle yesterday. Bottom four in the order go a combined 9-for-13, with even Albert Pujols pulling up out of his doldrums to bring his batting average back up to a robust .205.

Great pitching matchup today. The Angels forego the DH again, sending Shohei Ohtani to the bump and batting him cleanup. The Rays counter with their ace, Blake Snell. Angels come out on top in this one, with Anthony Rendon smashing two homers and Ohtani going 6 strong, striking out 8, for the win. Ty Buttrey gets the save (what's up with that @Jeff Fletcher?) and the Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch™ has bad news, with our languid first baseman going 0-for-4, as Pujols sinks below the Mendoza Line, now batting .198. Glub glub glub.

Tyler Glasnow has his way with the Angels, who dip back below .500 with an 8-2 loss at the Trop. Matt Andriese has a poor outing but Felix Pena makes a case for a return to the rotation, pitching 3 innings of solid relief, perfect only except for a Kevin Kiermaier solo homer. Anthony Rendon goes 3-for-3 and Trouty hits his 25th home run. Who knew? Those guys are good at baseball. I must say, these Strat simulations seem very realistic, but I have to take one big issue with today's box score. The announced attendance for today's game: 46,681. At Tropicana Field. Please reply with your guess as to what the promotion had to be to draw all these incredibly unlikely imaginary Rays fans.

I'm sure SOM will continue the daily updates once the season is underway, but I'll probably cut back the Angelswin updates to once a week or so once the MLB season is underway... ...then I'll resume the daily updates once the MLB season falls apart.

Griffin Canning gets out-dueled by Charlie Morton, as the Rays win Game 1 of the series, 3-0. Shaky defensive game for Canning, as two of the Rays' three run were unearned runs off Canning's own two errors. Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch™: 0-for-2, now batting .201

We got him!

Andrew Heaney did his job (6.1IP, 3ERs, 5Ks) and came out of the game with a 6-1 lead. But the bullpen imploded, giving up 9 runs in the 7th and 8th innings, and the Blue Jays win 10-6. Embarrassing stuff: the Angels walked a run home with the bases loaded three separate times this game. Just no control for Buttrey or Middleton. Trout goes 3-for-4 with two extra base hits. Off to Tampa for a four-game set starting tomorrow.

Another one of those "everyone contributes" wins -- I think this is the fourth time in the last month or so that every member of the starting lineup has contributed at least one hit. In this one, in their first game of the second half of the season, the Angels ride 16 hits and 3 homers en route to a 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays. Jo Adell goes a triple short of the cycle. Quality start and a win by Julio Teheran. Robles gets his 19th save.

I don't know if any of you guys listen to "Effectively Wild," the Fangraphs podcast, but they had a particularly good episode last week where they discussed a.) ethically/morally, whether baseball should happen, and the conflicted feelings we're all having, given everything else going on in society right now... and b.) whether baseball, practically, can happen, given just how contagious COVID is. They had an interview with an epidemiologist that was the best discussion of the agreed-upon health and safety protocols I've heard. It made me, at least, very pessimistic about whether they'll be able to pull this off. Interview starts at 45:20. Recommended listening: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wild-episode-1555-baseball-ambivalence/

The Angels' ninth inning rally falls just short, and Ken Giles locks down his 21st save as the Blue Jays win a squeaker over the Angels, 3-2. Angels go just 1-for-7 with RISP and just can't convert their chances. New Feature: Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch. Albert went 0-for-4 and is now batting .202 on the season. Eesh. This is getting hard to watch.