Halos Heaven

Angels pitchers can't stay in the zone in 8-1 loss to Seattle - latimes.com
Half the Mariners who scored reached on walks. And the final run came home on a bases-loaded walk, the 16th walk the Angels issued in the last two games and the 52nd they yielded on the trip, giving them a major league-worst 141 for the season.

Today's highlights feature two defensive plays since the Angels were doing their Mariner impressions at the plate. Rivera throws out Gutierrez at home and Willits throws home for the out  

Rays-Angels Preview -  FOX Sports on MSN
With Garza (5-1, 2.09 ERA) on the mound, the Rays hope to avoid their third straight loss as they open this three-game series. The right-hander has won each of his three road starts, posting a 1.13 ERA. He pitched at Seattle on Wednesday night, giving up two runs in eight innings as Tampa Bay won 8-3. Garza, though, is 0-1 with a 6.46 ERA in three starts versus the Angels (14-19). He lasted 3 1-3 innings in his only road start against Los Angeles, giving up six runs and walking four in an 8-7 loss Aug. 10. Joel Pineiro (2-4, 5.30), set to take the mound for the Angels, hasn't fared too well against the Rays, going 2-4 with a 5.57 ERA in nine starts. Pineiro has lost his last three outings overall, but was sharp in his last start. He allowed two runs in six innings of a 3-1 loss to Boston on Wednesday night. The veteran right-hander surrendered 16 runs over his previous two starts.

Here's a coin flip.  Garza's done well, but not in Anaheim.  The Rays have done well, just not recently.  Pineiro did okay in his last start, but hasn't done well against the Rays.  Well done!  (As you've probably noticed, this edition of Halolinks is kind of goofy.  I think it's the leftover effect of a my Saturday night Ambien adventure.)

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

Hunter held out with bruise above knee - angelsbaseball.com
Hunter was icing his leg in the clubhouse before the game after a foul tip hit above his right knee during Saturday's 4-3 win against Seattle. He grounded out after the foul. "Running down the line, I was trying my best to run hard without a limp, but it was pretty tough. I couldn't really put any weight on it when I was hitting, I was just battling."

Mariners salute departing coach, end skid  - The News Tribune
The Seattle Mariners were reminded that baseball is still a business that demands success, and any extended lack of production will be tolerated for only so long. They arrived at Safeco Field on a bright, sunny Sunday to find that their hitting coach Alan Cockrell – "Ace" to everyone on the team – had been fired for the team’s anemic offensive output.

"We suck, you're fired."

Milledge knocks home two more with a double - Video | pirates.com: 5/6/10: Lastings Milledge knocks home two more runs for the Pirates, stretching their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

What makes this funny is the hit also fooled the announcer, "This ball is back, it is gone...off the top of the wall.  (Cap tip to Yahoo!)

MLB.tv and PS3 - FanGraphs Baseball
I can’t believe this is the same product I’ve been using forever. I’ve begrudgingly handed MLB $100 a year for a product that was just good enough, but by making one simple investment, I’ve increased the quality of that product a hundred fold. I almost can’t bear the thought of pulling up a game on my laptop again. Thanks to the MLB.tv plugin for the PlayStation3, I get baseball on my TV again. I may never play a video game on the thing, but it’s already been worth $300 to me.

I hope they release an X-box version of this soon.  I watch 90% of the Angel games on my computer with MLB.tv, and until recently had to watch the games on my laptop (this made participating in the HH game threads a little difficult).  I say recently because I upgraded an old computer's video card and plugged it into our HD TV.  The picture is bigger, but it's a little pixely and jerky. 

And Now, The Most Important Image From Baseball This Weekend - Walkoff Walk

They spelled "Victorino" wrong.

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Oakland Athletics - Recap - May 9, 2010
Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history on Sunday, shutting down the majors' hottest team and leading the Oakland Athletics to a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays . " Pretty cool,'' Braden said. " I don't know what to think about it just yet. There's definitely a select group. I'd like to have a career more than today."

Oh yeah, some guy pitched a perfect game.

Perfect game takes Athletics GM by surprise -  FOX Sports on MSN
Beane, the A’s general manager, always works out at McAfee Coliseum during home games. He watches the game on the in-house television feed but does not listen to the announcers, distracting himself with soccer podcasts on his headphones instead. "When I divert my attention, it takes the edge off me," Beane says. "I do it to govern my emotions during games." Beane diverted himself but good on Sunday. Until the ninth inning, he had no idea that left-hander Dallas Braden was pitching a perfect game.

May 10 - BR Bullpen
1991 - Oakland OF Jose Canseco is photographed leaving the West Side apartment of singer Madonna. He then goes 0-for-3 in Oakland's 5 - 3 loss to the Yankees.  So much for the "Slump Buster"
2002 - Angels score eight runs in the 3rd inning on their way to a 19 - 0 rout of the White Sox. The Haloes join the 1923 Indians, 1939 Yankees and 1950 Red Sox as the only teams to beat two opponents by 19 or more runs in the same season. Earlier this year, the Angels beat the Indians, 21 - 2. The Anaheim destruction of Chicago is just the 11th since 1901 in which a team scored 19 or more runs while shutting out its opponent, and the first such shutout in the A.L. since 1955 when Cleveland beat Boston, 19 - 0.
Happy b-day to today's groovy name of the day...
1863 - Chippy McGarr, infielder (d. 1904)

Seven walks?: