Glad to hear Wood is having a good spring. Scioscia doesnt really like having young guys sit on the bench when they can be getting AB's in the minors, so not sure if he makes the team, but hopefully he isnt too far away... http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels-fyi18-2009mar18,0,2437431.story
Interesting DS, i'm just finishing the book for the first time and I'm an A's fan. It is an intersting book. I haven't found that they dissed the halos at all and i'm in the last chapter. Sure the book is focused around the A's and Beane, but they don't really cut anyone else down, its' pretty clear the other teams mentioned just had a different way of evaluating prospects and players. But considering what beane was up against, its amazing how some of his no name players 'he liked' or Paul Deposta's computer liked showed success. There is no secret how many big league regulars got their first chance in Oakland, or their second chance in oakland where most people wouldn't have thought of them as a major leaguer to start with. Anyways i hear their in the works of making a moneyball movie. That would be awesome. We need a great baseball movie again, its been too long. I hope the halo's lose lackey, i'm sick of him chewing up the a's roster year after year. I doubt they will but FRod left so i guess its remotley possible.
Oh I didnt mean to imply that the book specifically calls out the Angels. But, it bashes managers who use the hit and run, the squeeze play, puts stock in the stolen base etc. It's bashing the way the Angels run their team implicitly, and talking up the things the A's do lol. It's an interesting book, and the A's way is clearly a good one. Just hurt early on when they're bashing on how other teams do things and saying how wrong it is lol. Yeah they are making a movie. And I believe Brad Pitt is going to, or is in talks to, play Billy Beane.
Yeah i think thats the only reason it was written, because it was something different in a old boys club way of doing things (all the other teams). And there is bearing to the blue ribbon report how the A's did find success under Billy's tutelage while almost all other small market teams had trouble doing so. I do agree, there are old school ways of thinking that found great MLB talent, billy was just forced to find talent another way because of the sitation the a's were in and since their evaluation metrics worked and the book emphasizes it, there are parts where it seems the other teams were stupid without actually saying it. But it was more of a that was their disposition more than them being stupid. Beane was interesting for sure, but his predisposition and situation forced him to behave like that and it worked. I kinda want to know how many other teams now look at on base and walks as important hitting stats over say hr's, ave., etc etc. What i did find extremely interesting is how in depth mlb is behind the scenes. I can't wait for opening day. The AL West should be a fun one this year, i think the teams are closer than in most years. I would not be suprised if the Halo's, M's, Texas or A's won the division, and i wouldn't be suprised if any of them finished last. SHould be a great year in the AL West. Now if i lived anywhere near an MLB stadium that would help. My city was mentioned in moneyball (calgary) thats where bradford went to pitch while in the white sox org.
I just read the Bradford chapter, good stuff lol. Stadium sounds brutal, but fun if you like offense. I agree with what you said about the book, and Beane especially. It's definitely made me respect him and the A's more. Which is another negative side effect of reading this book lol.
I thought about that for a second, how would i like the book if it was written about the Halo's or M's. lol It sucks we used to have the calgary canons who were a triple A team for the M's at one point and the white sox at one point. Now we have the calgary vipers who are part of the california golden pro league. So basically guys who never made it. But oh well ball is ball. Its a hockey city more than anything. THe air is about as thin as it is in Colorado. Both cities are very similar in geogrpahy and climate.
Gammons decided to write about the Halos today. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4006847&name=gammons_peter Gammons does commit an error in the srticle though, with the line about Scioscia being the longest tenured manager in baseball. (He is 3rd actually)
I remember talk of his career might being over. Looking forward to seeing him back in action soon. Just keep your fingers crossed that Santana heals up now.
Do it! He's nice depth but we're deep at the position and if someone gets hurt we can always move Figgins to LF (like the team thought about) and bring Wood up for 3B.
Oh Oh another glitch in the rotation http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-angels-lackey&prov=ap&type=lgns
A starting 5 of Saunders/Weaver/Adenhart/Mosely/Loux is pretty intimidating... Wish we didnt open with the A's and the Red Sox (Man I hope Lackey is back for the April 12th game vs the Sox I'm going to. I dont want to see Mosley lol) At least Lackey's elbow isnt serious and Escobar is well ahead of schedule. I'm just worried about Santana lasting all year. I was expecting big things from him this season.
Here is Yahoo's "Big League Stu" AL West preview. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/bi...t=AqHDLyHvITsKokKoS8mLNM8RvLYF?urn=mlb,151569 In it it appears that they like the Halos to have another double digit division win, mainly due to the percieved ineptness of the rest of the division.
Funny they both pick the Angels to win the division but neither have the division MVP/CY Young or ROY on the team.
Looks like we're trying to get Harang from the Reds for GMJ. Harang isnt much, but he can eat inning while our staff heals up.
Love MLB Network. They're showing the Angels run through the 02 playoffs atm. What a way to get me pumped for Monday!
Team looked pretty good last night. Nice to see Saunders and the bp pitch well. We need Joe to pitch well for at least a couple starts. Then he can drop off a bit from last years production (if he has to drop off that is). Kind of looking forward to seeing Adenhart for a couple starts. Probably not completely ready for the majors yet, but it'd be nice to see some of that potential I'd love to see what Kendrick can do with a full season. Side note, how odd is it to see Nomar in green lol?
I'm still having an issue with it. When I play MLB The Show 09, everytime I hear his name announced I go "WTF is Nomahhhhh doing on my team?" You watched the game (tonight) I'm assuming DS. How did the kid Cahill look? I am watching on gameday on MLB.com and it looks like he was a little wild. He threw a TON of pitches to only get through 5 innings. I get tomorrows game on local TV and the entire Mariner's series on the weekend...will be fun. On another side note...I have to go from loving Jason Giambi, to HATING him and now back to loving him...LOL!
Cahill was effecient. Nothing special but not bad either considering how the Halo's can hit. And it's even more weird to see Nomar in Green n Gold AND playing 1st base, he had a sweet scoop in the 8th on a vlad grounder to deep third. Castilla looked real good and Giambi was clutch getting some insurance with 2 outs. I know what you mean with the love, hate, love thing. Glad he's back. Sweeney had a good game too.
I watched most of the game, he look ok. He's lucky Juan Rivera was in the lineup lol. He got himself in trouble with walks, but never let the Angels bust it open. Cant ask for much more than that from kid who never even pitched in AAA.
Yeah tough ending DS. I tuned in in the 7th, maybe i was the reason ? No probably not. But it was exciting for us A's fans, were not used to great rally's like that over 2 innings
Nick Adenhart died in a car accident after the game last night. I have no idea what to say. Probably the best night of his life ends it tragedy. Unbelievably sad news this morning
BREAKING SAD news guys. 22 year old pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in an automobile accident after he pitched last night. No link yet saw it on yahoo sports though.
Wow just got a text from ESPN about it. What awful news, I never saw the kid pitch but my heart dropped. 22 years old. My thoughts go out to his family and the Angels and their fans.
Terrible, terrible news. I watched him pitch a little last night. Crazy to think his life would end a few hours later. My prayers are with his family and the team.
RIP Nick http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9435902/Angels-pitcher-Adenhart,-22,-killed-in-car-crash Local guy. Prayers go out to his family
also RIP to the fan who died opening night. their still trying to find the exact cause of death. Rumors were he got in a fight and fell down the stairs and hit his head. But the Surveillence video doesnt show any punches thrown. Atleast thats what i heard as of yesterday
I heard it on the radio about an hour ago and my heart sank. What a horrible horrible story. Thoughts are with the family, the entire Angels organization and all Angels' fans.
What a terrible tragedy. RIP Nick and thoughts and prayers to his family, and the the Angels organization. I watched a couple of innings last night, and would never have thought this could happen. Just goes to show you how fleeting life can be. Enjoy life and live each moment to its fullest. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090409&content_id=4179446&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb