April 25: Angels Win Features Mike Trout Triple and Near Impaling, The Rangers Word For Today Is "Frustrated"


The Angels have been the drama team so far in the AL West, with late inning comebacks, plenty of close games and whatever Mike Trout does pretty much every night. Even by their standards, last night was a good one. It even featured Blue Jays third basemen Chris Coghlan avoiding a flying shard off the bat of Albert Pujols. In the only other AL West game last night, the Rangers saw their four-game winning streak (all against the Royals) come to an end at home against the Twins. More below, as well as links.

Astros (13-6)

Dallas Keuchel takes the mound as the Astros begin a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians in a battle of first place teams. What more do you want, man?

MLB offers a long look at the Astros-Indians matchup,.


Athletics (10-9)

An off day, but with lots of good news for the A's. Sonny Gray could be back up by early May. Kendall Graveman could be back this week. The way the young pitchers have started the season, a rotation of Gray, Graveman, Jharel Cotton, Andrew Triggs and Sean Manaea looks like the best top-to-bottom rotation in the AL West.

Rangers (9-11)

The Rangers got a solid start from Martin Perez - until the fifth inning, when he walked the bases loaded and then gave up a bases-clearing double to Brian Dozier. Frustrating? Yes. and so is having your manager thrown out for, apparently, clapping. The Rangers continue to have problems with the Twins, who they are 5-9 against since 2015.

Everyone is frustrated. (Includes links to other frustrated writers).

Angels (9-12)

The Angels continue to lead the league on Return On Investment for fans. Those who got out to The Big A on Monday night got their money's worth. Jesse Chavez pitched another solid game, Trout tripled, Cameron Maybin had a great slide to score the go-ahead run, Bud Norris got another double play to earn his second save, there was a controversial batter interference call and Toronto manager John Gibbons got tossed from the game. Plus if you watched the game on TV there was little kid behind home plate playing with a stuffed Rally Monkey through the last few innings.

The big picture? The Angels earned a split in the Blue Jays series.


Mariners (8-12)

The Mariners have struggled mightily the first month. Now they get to go on the road vs. the Tigers and, later this week, the Indians. Optimist's take: Many teams turn it around when the odds seem against them. Just look at the Rangers last week against the Royals.

Here's a long look at the Mariners' decision to designate Leonys Martin for assignment.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American League West Teams Ranked By Payroll 2017

If money changes everything, then how much does it affect your position where it counts - in the standings? The 2017 team payroll numbers are now available. Several sources exist, I went with the numbers from Spotrac. But before getting into what each American League West club is spending, let's look at the money vs. results for the past few years. Return On Investment In the AL West Here's what the American League West clubs spent by team last season. These numbers include the active 25-man roster, plus money wrapped up in players on the DL and money paid to players no longer on the team. The money spent on active players is in parentheses. Los Angeles Angels - $180.7 million ($89.8 million) Texas Rangers - $168.5 million ($134.7 million) Seattle Mariners - $154.7 million ($131.8 million) Houston Astros - $114.7 million ($75.4 million) Oakland Athletics - $99.9 million ($27.8 million) And the final 2016 standings: Texas Rangers: 95-67 Seattle Mariners : 86...
Read more

Weekend Long Reads: Mike Trout Is Exactly As Amazing As You Think He Is. Actually, More.

Political junkies and stat fanatics have long read the 538 site, where the famed statistician Nate Silver serves as editor-in-chief. The site has been a Mike Trout fan, but this month they laid down some startling statistics. Basically, he's the next best thing to Babe Ruth. Literally. Based on Trout's Wins Above Replacement, he's second all-time only to Ruth. They also take a look at how Trout adjusts when pitchers develop new approaches to getting him out. The short version: The new approach doesn't work very long. You can read the whole thing here . Despite rumors of its demise, baseball, as it turns out, is doing just fine, thank you. For the start of the new season, Forbes ran down the estimated value of all 30 Major League Baseball teams,.The average value of all the teams is $1.54 billion. That's almost 20 percent more than 2016. Four of The American League West teams are in the Top 14. You can probably guess the fifth. But, hey, the value of the A's in...
Read more

Thursday April 20: Astros Widen Gap, Who Will Emerge To Challenge Them? Anyone? Anyone? Hello?

The Astros continue to distance themselves from the pack. After beating the Angels on Wednesday night behind another precision performance from Dallas Keuchel, the Astros are three games ahead of the A's and already five games ahead of their bitter rival, the Rangers. They have the most wins in the American League and a fired up fan base. Which team in the sub-.500 group can emerge to challenge them? A look at each club and links below. 1. Astros (10-5) The starting rotation is really the only major concern for the Astros at the moment. Keuchel looks like Diego Velaquez out there, a controlled master painting the corners, changing speeds, keeping everyone off balance,. Lance McCuller and Charlie Morton have looked good so far, but the four and five slots are troubling. That said, they are a 10-5 ball club with this lineup. In the short term, they have earned at least a split in the four-game series with the Angels and go for the series win today with McCullers on the mound. ...
Read more