SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Halos Heaven

Final 2009 Spring Game Thread

Random Song Lyrics:

It's against the law / To be a tonic man,
But the widow knows / She's got the upper hand.

0 recs  |  240 comments

Comments

FIRST!!

woohooo such dedication!

Jeez...Mathis almost threw a PITCH-OUT into CF.

Got the out though.

HEY REV

could you please post the links to your random lyrics? I always like checking out the source….pretty please?

I'm pretty sure it's a Bob Dylan song
I was going to say the lyrics were from YMCA by the Village People

But if it’s Dylan, I’ll say its Yazoo Street Scandal.

YOUNG MAN!

you called it the 2nd time…

I don't know what's scarier

that Fan knew it was the Village People or that Rev has the Village People on his iPod

I don't what's scarier

that he mentioned two musical acts and i confirmed the 2nd one he mentioned and that you didn’t get it or that people will think i have the VP on my ipod whether I quote them or not…

I think that I didn't get it!

I’m slinking off back the game. Reading is all about comprehension, isn’t it?

so is writing

if my sentence is jumbled it is on me…

I'll take this one.
o'sullivan not bad

although i get the feeling they might punish him the second time through

if the padres are capable of punishing anyone
Generally no, but he K'd their best hitter for the 3rd out.
howie apparently still doesnt understand he cannot hit offspeed away
...that triggered bad memories of last year's playoffs...
O'Sullivan looks like Broxton with more facial hair.
I keep expecting to see GA pulling down the fly ball in left field....
Seeing Eckstein at 2B in a Padre uniform is a little wierd too...
VERY weird

I miss little Davie. Wonder if he had his chicken teriyaki tonite?

Maybe I'm too nostalgic for 2002.

When a replay the “tape” from that season, we had a random collection of guys excelling in the intangibles…Eckstein, Erstad, Salmon, even GA, Fullmer, Spezio and Glaus. I guess I am referring to the “mystery” of team chemistry. Not sure it exists.
If it does, it seems an elusive quality over the last 4-5 seasons.

The stats support the 2002 team.

While some call the 2008 team lucky, the same can’t be said for the 2002 team. In fact, the 2002 teams (via Pythag) should have won 101 games.

Indeed. According to Pythag

the Angels were the best team in baseball that year.

That was outside according to gameday.
That called strike to Rivera was also outside.

Heads up guys, it’s a big corner he’s giving.

Nuts.
Yup. BIG strike zone.
I wonder how Abreu will do in LF

Yankee Stadium right field (314 down the line, 353 straight away to right) is relatively much less ground to cover than Angel Stadium’s left field (330 down the line but the wall quickly curves out. 387 to straight away left).

Outfield defense will likely be a slight downgraded from last year...
I wonder if we wouldn't be better served having Abreu DH and Rivera in the field.
Rivera isn't too good in the field either. No significant advantage/disadventage either way.
Abreu does'nt seem to be in any extra hurry to chase a ball in the field.
I think he's still better than Abreu.

Depending on what system you believe, Abreu is somewhere between pretty bad and god-awful as a fielder.

Rivera has a better arm. I believe they are equals otherwise.
And before Juan broke his leg, UZR/150 has him as an above average outfielder.
Admittedly though, he DID break his leg.

We don’t really have a very good sample size for him since then.

My concern is that perhaps his D never returns

and he continues to be a clunky outfielder.

On the plus side, he did demonstrate that his power stroke is back by slugging .505 from July 1 to the end of the season.

I don't even know that we can say

that he’s clunky at this point. He really wasn’t in the field long enough last year to tell.

D'oh

That curveball got away from O’ Sullivan.

Not bad Nacho.

Into trouble and back out again. Only one run given up.

nice little jog for Vladi
Is O'Sullivan going to be in the starting rotation, 5th starter?
Not this year most likely.
Doubtful. It looks loke Moseley, Adenhart, and Loux (with Saunders & Weaver).
He looks good so far, and hefty young white-guy pitchers are so en vogue.
Not sure his skin color matters...

…pro sports is about as close you come to a true meritocracy.

Way to watch Jeff.
Ugh.

Bad baserunning. Jeff, you gotta do better than that.

Be smart Aybar.

Stay in your zone.

Man.

The fact that this Correa guy is making us look like Chumps is pretty annoying.

I hope the exposure to the artificial environment of Arizona (gusting winds, thin air)

doesn’t screw up the hitters now that they are back to confront the marine layer and won’t benefit from a wind blown homers.

Working too far up in the zone Sean.
Eddie McKiernan in with 2 on and no one out.
O' Sullivan and McKiernan

My PEOPLE ! Viva LA Raza Verde!!!!!!!

Todd Hundley?
Maybe Kendrick should just stick to swinging at the first pitch.

It seems to work better than being patient.

Nice Steal HK.
Abreu manages to advance Howie at least.
Vlad finally beats out an Eckstein throw.
wow....Vladi beat it out!
Howie scores!
Funny

Eckstein is barely taller than Vladdy’s ass.

that IS a funny visual
Nice to see you have "thawed out" from winter hybernation.
BARBIE WET

Ken DRY!

Acuda

with an RBI double.

Great hit by Kendry
Morales is breaking out.
I think that if there is anything certain we've learned this spring

this has to be it.

I've got a fever...

And the only cure…

MORE COWBELL!
NICE hit, Kendry.
It's good to see Vlad run

Without making that face during and afterwards

Ugh.

That was a really good pitch that he struck out on.

terrible swing juan

looks like gmj is movin up the depth chart

Except that yesterday they were both in the game.

And Juan was so much better it was sad.

i like gmj is doing this spring

you just give him no credit, which i rarely do myself.

No, I give him credit. If you haven't noticed though, that awesome average he was sporting

early on has dropped a LOT. He’s hitting .240-ish on the spring now.

Incidentally, is Naps hurt or still trying to get his catching stuff down in

minors games?

word

why isnt nap getting playing time?

I mean, don't get me wrong, Jeff's had a great spring, but I'm pretty sure

he had a great spring in ’07 and ’08 too.

Nah.

He blew chunks. His ’06 was pretty badass.

probably taking it easy on his shoulder
I don't mind him not playing the ST games and sticking in the minors

as long as he gets the starts when the bell rings.

word is he may miss Opening Day and some of the starting games

I haven’t read any updates yet

NAPOLI

is in Arizona working on throwing – he caught Weaver today – both should be here on Opening Night.

good to hear
It's satisfying somehow that Eckstein is like the best hitter on that team.
Eck's another guy that always seems to rule ST.
Nice pick off, good D!
Nice inning Darren.

Here’s hoping Oliver doesn’t take in April this season. We really can’t afford it this time.

He did okay last April.
Thought he started with a 5 ERA and was lights out from there...
4.09 in March/April 2008.

2007 he came out of April well over 6 IIRC.

Matthews in for Vlad, now.
Nice single, Jeff.

Good leadoff AB.

I really wonder if Jeff has turned it around sometimes.

It’s not really impossible, though it’s hard to forget how bad he was last year.

On the other hand, he’ll always have that two-homer game vs the Red Sox in July.

There are times he seems to have turned a corner...

…it doesn’t last long though!

Well, it's lasted the whole spring this time around.

Who knows maybe it’ll stick. I’m still all for letting Naps be the starter though.

Mathis - hitting-wise through spring yes. Defense...

…did you see his pitch-out throw to 2B in the 1st inning? Almost into CF…just like last year.

Still got the guy though.
Yes...but on a pitch-out, it wasalmost like las year.

Not sure why he is having trouble throwing high to 2B.

I wonder how much longer he will be #2 with the development of...

Budde, Wilson, and Conger.

If he still can't hit, not much longer

though Conger is a big question mark as to whether he can stay healthy at catcher. Budde isn’t ever going to be more than a backup. Wilson might be better, but we’d have to be willing to take a chance on him over an extended period, and Mike hasn’t been willing to do that.

Only cause the guy stopped halfway
that said,

he might have thrown the ball high because he saw the guy stopped. I couldn’t tell which came first.

Base-runners weren't stopping halfway last year...

…when he seemed to be playing catch with the CF.

Listening to our radio guys, it sounds like the biggest favor you can do

yourself as a young player is to follow Ervin Santana’s advice: “Don’t give credit to nobody.”

Nice hustle to avoid the DP, Erick.
Aybar got lucky there

still a terrible baserunner…

Good timing...
Got lucky, Erick.

Can’t be doing that.

Ugh. Bad baserunning.
Jeez. He gets that lucky and STILL gets picked off the next time out?

Someone needs to slap him upside the helmet in the clubhouse and tell him to get his head in the game on the basepaths.

Not picked, caught stealing. Same basic problem, though.
Yeah.

Why would you try and steal third there? Honestly.

2 out single.

Stay cool Jepsen.

Gonna have to sign off. Here’s hoping we light up the final ST game! Go Halos!

Have a good evening.
Jepson gives up the lead.
McKiernan looks like a bat boy.
lol

yes he does

He still has braces!!!
It's past his curfew
Plus he'd have to pass the height check at Disneyland for Thunder Mountain.
I just gotta.....exactly which height and which Thunder Mountain requirement???
I'm gonna do an MC Hammer...

“Can’t Touch This”.

...and "That" too.
Speaking of "Thunder Mountain"...

you weren’t by chance a “Strike Force” gal?

nope. My IQ is higher than the required minimum
cold

just cold

(insert big innocent grin)
Howz your Momz doin

She’s a Riot

She's good.....I think she's going to be here on Opening Day
There's a minimum?

I can’t imagine how to set that threshold.

Sample Question:

What’s less than Zero.

Answer: “Um…I don’t get it”. (snaps gum)

I may be dumb

but I’m not stupid

You passed the test!
WooHoo!!! Q hits the foul pole!
What is that, #5 on the spring!?

Jeez Q.

Tina Fey goes yard...

Very Nice.

“I like to hunt, and that’s about it.”

Damn, Mathis is precious.

signed just to celebrate superman's homer
woo!
"...come on without, come on within...

…you’ve not seen nothing like the mighty Q".

Dangit Wood.

K’s on a fastball down the heart of the plate. >_<

Where did THAT miss?
Babyface

So the pitcher who stands to get a ‘W’ here has freaking braces?

...part of what makes ST special...
ET looking good.
S-Rod just missed...
GMJ...nice catch!!!
This ump's zone is stupid and it's making me sad.
...consistency not his specialty...
Nice inning Scot.
At least 3 Wood has been working counts better this spring
As he strikes out again
Wood's strikeouts are distressing. -_-;
Fuentes...fails.
He has been quite dissapointing this far
blech

Bad Fuentes

Fuentes, it's not the regular season yet, but this isn't a good time to crap the bed.
I wish I cound hear Sosh's advice.
Kotch would of had that!
Fuentes not helping himself here.
Someone reassure me on Fuentes

Say something to make me think he’s going to do alright here. Cause I’ve wanted to believe. But lately…

Forget it

I’m just going to have another scotch

um...it's spring training?
just barely
yeah

Way to close to regular season for those kinda mistakes to be blamed on “off season rust”

Sorry. I saw him too much last year

And he’s one of those guys who sucks despite his ERA.

I take it you were in favor of resigning Franky then?

Or just giving the spot to ET?

Not necessarily

but Fuentes is gonna be a hard ride.

Just so we're clear

I’d have preferred either option.

A carnival of Fuentes
Carnival.

Now THERE’s a nickname.

...cardiac to carnival...I don't know which is worse.
The best way I can describe it is like this.

We’ve basically exchanged Franky for a left-handed version of Shields. He can be pretty unhittable when he’s on, but when he struggles, he gets lit up. Franky could be wild but his stuff was generally so flat out nasty that he could pitch out of it.

Charm. Pure charm.
Fastball is 88.1 right now.

Yuck.

KJZZ?
KKJZ

Oh yeah. The home of men whose voices have seen more cigarettes than the films of the 1940’s.

K-STK for Brown
kinda makes u wish for k-rods 91 mph fastball
After April last year it was 93.
Cotton Candy Fuentes
No

cotton candy is GOOD

not if you have kids
Luckily

My kids are too young for cotton candy

Dear Soth

Please bring Ashley Rich in for Fuentes. I ran out of Rally Diapers when KRod was traded.

Thank you

"Meat" Fuentes
We are the suck

We are the children…

Fuentes

looks like he is playing Frisbee golf

Frisbee

I have a feeling I’m going to lobby for that as his nickname this season

Whelp, we're in the hole.

How about a come from behind walkoff Angels?

2 strong 's...AFTER surrenduring the lead.
...that was 2 strong K's...
No Massacre......
FYI

the Padres DFA’d GMJr a long time ago.

Juice

Willits
S-Rod

Let’s do it boys.

Nice BS bunt Willits
0-2 Willits

hopefully you can start working the count

Reggie! Reggie!
REGGGEEEE REGGGEEEEE
Nice patience S-Rod!
way to work it s-rod
Aight Juan.

Back me up here.

How lucky can you get!!??
MIGHTY MOUSE!!
HAHA!!

AWRIGHT REGGIE!

Reggie=the new Rally Monkey
REG-GIE REG-GIE
The Boy King always delivers
Wilson delivers!!!
Easy game fellas...
Bobby Wilson, Hero!

Now back to AAA with you.

BOBBY WILSON WALKS OFF

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well, you can tell who was watching on game day and saw "runs scored."

:-P

Nice job Reggie.

in play run(s)

was all I needed to see

BOBBY!

W00T!

26 wins ties the 97 Marlins for the record.

To first place in the AL West, and another ring!

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Halos Heaven to post a comment.