Jacob de Golish - Getty Images
"Hey, how'd I do that? Don't think, it'll only hurt the club."
Saunders struggles again in Angels' loss - The Orange County Register
But there was no hiding the fact that it was Saunders' second consecutive poor start – and really his fourth in five starts this season. Saunders has allowed four runs or more and lasted six innings or less four times. Over his past two starts, he has allowed eight runs in 7 2/3 innings, missing the strike zone frequently (six walks and 75 balls in 163 pitches) and getting hit hard when he finds it (15 hits, eight for extra bases).
Remember a couple of seasons ago when it seemed that whenever the Angels faced a rookie pitcher, regardless of who he was or how highly rated, the Angels would lose? And what's up with Joe Saunders? Both he and Mike Scioscia claim there is nothing physically wrong with the pitcher, but this is starting to look awfully familiar to his mid-season slump from last season. And that was blamed on a knot in his shoulder. (By the way, good analysis from OCR's Bill Plunkett in the linked article).
Hey, look who's getting hot. Or at least warm. Brandon Wood has had back-to-back three-hit games! Last night featured his first home run of the 2010 season (here's video - Wood ropes his first home run of the season - in case you changed channels to watch "American Idol"). Wood is now batting a buck ninety-seven, which is 14 points HIGHER than Seattle's Chone Figgins. Two other quick stats; It seems like Wood has struck out in each of his at-bats (okay, maybe not that bad), but Figgins has struck out 5 more times so far this season. On the other side of that stat, Figgins has drawn a walk 16 times compared to Wood's two. Yes, two.
Indians-Angels Preview - FOX Sports on MSN
Jake Westbrook (0-2, 5.82 ERA) will make his first start at Angel Stadium since throwing a seven-hitter in a 4-3 win April 8, 2008. That victory also still stands as the right-hander's last in the majors. Elbow surgery sidelined him for most of 2008 and all of 2009, and he's 0-3 with a 4.73 ERA in seven starts since beating the Angels. The Angels will give the ball to Ervin Santana (1-2, 4.73), who is 0-6 with a 6.03 ERA in seven career starts against the Indians but hasn't faced them since a loss at home July 21, 2008. The right-hander has struggled in his last 16 starts at Angel Stadium, going 2-8 with a 6.26 ERA. He's 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts there this year.
Looks like a battle of crappy pitchers today. And now that I've said that, prepare for a 1-0 duel.
A COUPLE MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...
Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker to undergo heart surgery - SI.com
The 75-year-old Uecker will have his aortic valve replaced Friday morning, and will be away from the team for up to three months while recovering.
Hope everything goes well for one of baseball's coolest people.
April 28 - BR Bullpen
1966: The Cleveland Indians tie a modern day major league record by winning their 10th consecutive game since Opening Day. Sonny Siebert, a 16-game winner in 1965, defeats the California Angels, 2 - 1.
Happy b-day:
1966 - Tammy Gardner, wife
R.I.P.
1995 - Gus Polidor, infielder (b. 1961) Gus Polidor died? How did I not know that??
2006 - Steve Howe, pitcher; All-Star (b. 1958)
Angel pitchers give up 18 hits:
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| Game Information |
| Attendance - 39619 |
| Game Time - 3:20 |
| Temperature - 61 |
| Umpires - Home - Rob Drake, First Base - Joe West, Second Base - Angel Hernandez, Third Base - Paul Schrieber |
0 recs | 59 comments
3 Wood for 3 Hole
Get on my bandwagon, you know you want to.
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
I cant wait to see a full season from wood. Finally he is showing some of what we've been expecting.
I wonder why so many angels were slumping to start the season. Napoli, wood, abreu morales, itzturis, rivera, even aybar. Its good to see some of these guys start to break out of it.
I’m hoping this lineup gets some sort of cohesiveness going though. There has been zero clutch hitting. The bases have been loaded so many times with nothing to show for it it’s frustrating. We need some of that frenzy hitting that hudler used to drone on and on about.
Balls and Strikes - April 28, 2010
Prepare to be usurped!
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
Reply fail, that was to you, halofan4life
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
I'm sure there's room in the front.
halofan4life - April 29, 2010
Napoli's slump is bad luck, hes been hitting the ball hard right at people
Sinatrasratpack - April 28, 2010
Yeah, right at the catcher.
So hard in fact, that the bat goes THROUGH the ball.
don’t sleep on naps power.
clover_black - April 28, 2010
Naps will go back to his solo HR hitting ways soon...
His nickname should be Solo
K3YEROUT - April 28, 2010
with a bat made of carbonite?
eyespy - April 28, 2010
I've got a bad feeling about that....
red floyd - April 28, 2010
Howiestheman and myself having been pulling this wagon since last spring.
halofan4life - April 28, 2010
indeed, sir.
indeed. =D
howiestheman - April 28, 2010
Didn't see the game, but 3 runs in 5 innings doesn't look that bad.
Saunders is never going to really dominate, so we should probably stop putting that expectation on him. I’ll say the same thing about him now as I did in the off-season,he’s a good back of the rotation starter. Don’t let the W/L record fool you into expecting him to be an ace.
snowhor - April 28, 2010 via mobile
He was bad
If it wasn’t for D and the fact that it was the Indians, he would have been obliterated.
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
Yeah, he was horrible.
Angels turned a bunch of DPs to get him out of innings. He wasn’t fooling anybody with his stuff, and was continually behind batters.
clover_black - April 28, 2010
He was throwing batting practice to the Indians.
Kearns was teeing off. Who the heck is that guy anyway? I had never heard of him before Monday night’s tater.
Downing Rules - April 28, 2010
I'm not sure...
… I can’t get past his ears. Whenever I see him and think ‘I should find out more about this guy’ I take a look at his ears and go ‘holy crap’ and stare mezmerized…
Jietoh - April 28, 2010
Who the hell plays LF that shallow anyway?
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
He has been in the league for quite a while
He was awful the last few years for the Nats then out of nowhere he is exploding right now
ryanfea - April 28, 2010
Not on the Nats anymore
nuff said
eyespy - April 28, 2010
Didn't he play for the Reds for a while?
The_Legend_Of_Wilfong - April 28, 2010
I need to pay a bit more attention to the NL...
yes, he was on the Reds for more years than the Nats, actually (according to baseball-reference.com).
Downing Rules - April 28, 2010
well, he played for WAS before CLE
and just getting outta there is a breath of fresh air to any career. But true, CLE is only a(one) step up.
eyespy - April 28, 2010
They turned 3 DPs with RISP
Including a 1-2-3, to kill a runner.
red floyd - April 28, 2010
I liked how Wood adjusted for the pitcher he was facing.
Opening up his stance a little bit for a sidearm pitcher, made me smile.
halofan4life - April 28, 2010
The whole "search for strike one" thing didn't apply.
Hokie Joe was getting a ton of 0-1 counts, but then throwing them away.
red floyd - April 28, 2010
Uecker is just about as quoteable as Yogi.
red floyd - April 28, 2010
A buddy told me he got seats in 501 for a game
I said, “Oh. The Bob Uecker seats!”
red floyd - April 28, 2010
Odd that we're having trouble hitting with RISP...
…and the guy with one of the best avgs with risp in baseball over the last 3-4 years continues to sit on the bench.
Last 5 games:
Izzy plays, 6 runs, W
Izzy sits, 1 run, L
Izzy plays, 8 runs, W
Izzy sits, 5 runs, W
Izzy sits, 2 runs, L
Free Maicer Izturis already!!!!!!!
Fred Fredrix - April 28, 2010
i sense a pattern there
eyespy - April 28, 2010
In other news
My inbox tells me this mornind that my Panther tee is on the way.
Zoe Necrosis - April 28, 2010
Well,
Atleast Saunders didn’t pitch as bad at Edwin Jackson did last night.
Arizona IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Jackson, E(L, 1-2) 2.1 11 10 10 2 2 0 6.67
Angelfan1983 - April 28, 2010
And guess who started him on his fantasy team last night?!
Good thing the other guy had Hoffman
PhiSlamma - April 28, 2010
traded Jackson for Tommy Hanson
then again, I downgraded from Rollins to Maice.
Still awesome so far though.
TheKingfish - April 28, 2010
about:Wood
Is it me, or is Brandon’s swing starting to open up again. The past couple of games it looks like he might be ditching the Hatcher approach and going with a more modified version of his old cut. On that tatter he hit. He was extending his elbows past his waist, and it didn’t look anything like the swinging bunt they had him doing at the beginning of the season. Same goes for most of the six hits.
eyespy - April 28, 2010
We were there last night and I gotta say…the best thing about the whole night was NOT Brandon Wood’s HR. Nope. It was the hot dogs from the new hot dog stand! I had a Halo dog and my wife had the KC BBQ dog. The KC dog was covered in chunks of smoked brisket and the Halo Dog was smothered with Charro beans, sweet chiles and jack cheese. These are fork-eatin’ dogs, but they were down right tasty!.
firebird81 - April 28, 2010
fail...
I will take a Wood homerun over a temporary culinary orgasm anyday.
jmho. ;)
Downing Rules - April 28, 2010
My new favorite is
the Funnel Fries from the Rudy’s stand behind the rocks in CF. Not too expensive, and SO good!
b0rd3rline - April 28, 2010
funnel cakes mad out of mashed potato'es?
at least that’s what I’m guessing. Clue me in please.
eyespy - April 28, 2010
Normal funnel cakes, just served small strips that resemble french fries. Often coated in powedered sugar.
AlanFalcon - April 28, 2010
Chicago Dog
My first game this season. I was pleased to see that specialty hot dog concession. The Chicago dog was pretty authentic, what with the electric green relish and sport peppers. If only it were served on a better bun (poppy seed roll, to be truly authentic), and made with a natural casing sausage. Still…I was pleased.
I also tried the Clyde Wright BBQ brisket sandwich. I expected more flavor. I think I liked Beach Pit BBQ better, but oh well.
jjackflash - April 28, 2010
I was at the 4/24 game with a buddy. He had both the KC Dog and the Clyde Wright Pulled Pork sandwich and liked both
red floyd - April 28, 2010
"with my buddy. He had both"
“and I liked both”
Economical, and nourished.
eyespy - April 28, 2010
I didn't have either.
red floyd - April 28, 2010
I saw a Yardhouse sign over in LF on Sunday but didn't venture over
Can anyone confirm? Is there really one of these blessed establishments at our stadium now?
Commander_Nate - April 28, 2010
been there to get some dogs before a couple of game
they’re all really good.
howiestheman - April 28, 2010
this is good news...
as i will be at today’s game actively seeking out this new hot dog stand.
daze - April 28, 2010
There's one behind 423
red floyd - April 28, 2010
I was a big Mr. Belvedere fan
Good luck, Mr. Owens
Higz - April 28, 2010
Go Woodie!
We are all pulling for you!
xavier c - April 28, 2010
I got a big boner for WOOD
HE has arrived
DAD OF VLAD - April 28, 2010
Ouch for Santana against the Indians in his career:
The Angels will give the ball to Ervin Santana (1-2, 4.73), who is 0-6 with a 6.03 ERA in seven career starts against the Indians but hasn’t faced them since a loss at home July 21, 2008.
The right-hander has struggled in his last 16 starts at Angel Stadium, going 2-8 with a 6.26 ERA. He’s 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts there this year.
Downing Rules - April 28, 2010
Time for the handlebars...
The_Legend_Of_Wilfong - April 28, 2010
It's all part of Santana's master plan. He sucks against the team for a while, gets them overconfident and then BAM NO HITTER
~MMP~ - April 28, 2010
did you post this while
pointing to left field?
eyespy - April 28, 2010
3 things...
Colonel, bottom line… 5 IP 3 ER. Not pretty (downright ugly) but effective. Results are what counts. His offense let him down here. Pitching more like a #5 right now.
3Wood…so happy to see him pulling the ball and finding holes and a break or two. Love the HR! I don’t care if they had free New York Cheesecake last night, I will take the Wood HR over the chow anytime! Off the interstate tonight Brandon…and over that Mendoza line.
Naps is finally making solid contact, just into bad luck…I expect to see him back to his solo HR hitting ways anytime now.
K3YEROUT - April 28, 2010
Oh, and the Dodgers are now 8-13
:D bwahahahahahahha
K3YEROUT - April 28, 2010
My day just got a little brighter
The_Legend_Of_Wilfong - April 28, 2010
Yep, Saundo's line looked great and would have been 1 run less if Bobby hit the cutoff man...
Choo singled to right and advanced to second on Bobby’s overthrow of Morales. He was clearly caught in-between first and second if K-Mo could have caught the ball.
Kearns cashes in Choo with a double on the next play. If Choo had been caught, the bases would have been empty for Kearns’ double. Saunders could very well have ended up with a 5IP 2ER line.
In summary, Saunders was struggling. But he made the right pitches for the three DP’s that eventually salvaged his outing. Abreu didn’t help Saundo’s final line.
Downing Rules - April 28, 2010
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