6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Chad Billingsley allowed a couple runs in this game, which led to a rather amusing string of faux invective aimed, not at Bills, but at the critics who imagine he has to be perfect to have any value at all. My contribution to the #ChadBillingsleyFacts hashtag may or may not win any prizes (or indictments) for attempted humor, but the point is well-made that if your starter leaves the bump with better than a quality start, you shouldn't be complaining too much.

That goes double for an offensively able team like the Brewers. Right now, they're about mid-pack in the NL at 4.30 runs/game, but the Dodgers' appearance on that list ahead of them is a small sample size aberration. The Dodgers got a couple runs each off Yovani Gallardo and K-Rod, who seems less likely to whiff batters he faces and more to give up home runs — as he did to Andre Ethier.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as Javy Guerra came in to give up the losing runs to pinch-hitter George Kottaras on a walkoff double for the Brew Crew. Should Mattingly have left in Kenley Jansen for the ninth? I have no idea but would likely vote against. It's a long season, and overusing one guy is a recipe for catastrophe in August.

Get 'em tomorrow, paraphrasing @skinnyswag9, AKA Dee Gordon.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Labels: brewers, dodgers, recaps

It's long been theorized that the ability to use and detect irony is a sign of intelligence; may we infer the reverse? I certainly imagine that isn't an unreasonable outcome, and so I pass on this Hardball Talk report from spring training, in which Giants fans swing and miss at the obvious guffaw-inducing irony of calling out Ryan Braun for using steroids.

Labels: brewers, funny, giants, spring training, stupid ideas

All over the Interwebz, so I'll use this Craig Calcaterra piece at NBC Sports' Hardball Talk as my jumping off point about Ryan Braun being cleared of doping charges; he will not serve any suspension time. MLB "vehemently disagrees" with the decision made by a three-man panel that chain of custody issues (which MLB itself set up!) tainted the test outcome. More from Calcaterra:

Ryan Braun got off on a technicality? Bull. Major League Baseball half-assed it and failed to adhere to the standards it set up for itself. In that case I have no problem considering Braun to be the less culpable party. Anyone who says otherwise is more interested in assumptions and the casting of aspersions than they are in a rigorous and legitimate drug testing regime.

Agreed 100%.

Labels: brewers, drugs

• Per the Times, the Angels signed Kendrys Morales to a $3M/1 year deal.
• The Brewers have signed former Cub Aramis Ramirez worth $36M over three years with a fourth year mutual option.
• The Cards re-signed Rafael Furcal to a one year deal worth $14M.
• The Dodgers non-tendered Hong-Chih Kuo, though the team is interested in re-signing him. The Dodgers did tender contracts to Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Clayton Kershaw.

Labels: brewers, cardinals, dodgers, ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions

Multiple tweets about the Brewers acquiring K-Rod for cash and two PTBNLs; I'll just use this Andy McCullough tweet as representative.

Matthew Pouliot at Hardball Talk notes that because Rodriguez has a $17.5M 2012 option that vests if he gets 55 games finished this year, it is likely he will be an eighth inning man for the Brewers.

Labels: brewers, ex-angels, mets, trades, transactions

Scott Kazmir is owed $12M over the course of the remaining year of his contract, plus a $2.5M buyout for his 2012 season the Angels would be fools not to exercise. Fools, that is, unless Kazmir can turn himself around in a big hurry. As it was, Carlos Gomez crushed the first offering from Kazmir in the game for a double, a troubling sign of things to come for the erstwhile Rays ace. Giving up ten of the eleven runs scored, the bulk of the damage came in the first two frames, where he surrendered four runs in each, letting the Brewers bat around in the second. The Angels traded for him, taking a big-market risk on a pitcher who's had multiple injuries in the past; now, it appears all those cumulative ailments are badly sapping his effectiveness. Whatever the Angels may need in the rotation, an automatic gascan is not one of those things, and an attempt to salvage some utility from him in the bullpen now seems inevitable.

This really is too bad, because the Angels offense put up some nice numbers after getting befuddled by Randy Wolf early. Brandon Wood even drove in four, two of them on a long home run to left. Wood's .268/.317/.589 (presumably, prior to today's game) this spring is a bit ominous on the OBP side, but today's performance was much needed by a player who is frankly on the hairy edge of ejection from the majors.

So much the good news; the rest of the offense was fairly tepid, with only Maicer Izturis picking up hits in crooked numbers. The Angels also managed three walks off Milwaukee pitching — Alberto Callaspo, unexpectedly, Peter Bourjos, and Jeff Mathis each greeted first base in this way, and Bourjos further reached on a hit-by-pitch in the sixth. Bourjos may or may not be a major leaguer; it's something only time can tell, but this spring, he's doing an awful good impression of one.

Angels recap

Labels: angels, brewers, recaps

Per Craig Calcaterra; the former Padre worked for the Brewers for the last couple years prior to hanging 'em up. He'll take a front-office job with San Diego. Even though he was an arguable Hall of Famer, I'll remember him most vividly for the 4+1 game in 2007, in which he gave up back-to-back homers to Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson, two men who are no longer Dodgers.

Labels: brewers, padres, retirements

Per Tony Jackson at ESPN; Lorenzo Bundy, who preceded him in that role in Albuquerque, is likely to take the reins once more for the Dodgers' AAA franchise. Via MSTI.

Labels: brewers, coaches, dodgers, managers

Chad Billingsley fell apart in the first and looked like he might need a (figurative) litter to take him off the field; but he settled down thereafter and pitched well. The Dodgers' offense waited until the sixth to get the game within a single run; but at least they were getting guys on, stranding twelve on the night.

Things really came crashing down in the eighth, when neither of Ronald Belisario nor Ramon Troncoso could get the job done, and George Sherrill compounded things by blowing up in the ninth. Given the run donation he's engaged in lately, it's hard to remember that Sherrill had a stretch of six games where he didn't give up any, though it should be noted that four of those appearances were for a single batter, i.e. he was being used as a LOOGY. Perhaps it's time Joe Torre started seeing him exclusively in that light, because so far, righties are hitting a Nintendo-like .462/.583/.846 against him. As if by plan — huh, maybe the plan of the opposing manager! — Alcides Escobar, pinch-hitter Corey Hart, and Rickey Weeks — righties all — hammered him for two runs.

During this run, it seems even the manager is asleep, and I say that as someone who isn't really paying that close attention to the team's foibles this year.

Won't somebody please start winning?

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Labels: brewers, dodgers, recaps

The score and the players on both sides here were of interest, featuring ex-Dodgers Randy Wolf (pitching) starting for the Brewers, and former Angels Brendan Donnelly (in relief) and Jim Edmonds (center field) for the Pirates. (Craig Counsell, also a former Dodger, entered the game late as a pinch hitter. The stupid ESPN game log doesn't tell you anymore, but Yahoo gets it right.) The Brewers hit four home runs in this one, including a pair of three-run jacks, one by Ryan Braun in the second and another by Jim Edmonds in the third. Donnelly was one of only two Pittsburgh pitchers who went unscored upon in this game, the other being Javier Lopez. Needless to say, the pitching lines look as if they had sent up a AA squad to pitch. Which, come to think of it, isn't that far from the truth: McCutchen doesn't even have 50 innings pitched in the Show so far, so a blowout was sort of not expected.

The Brewers tied a franchise record with the win for most runs scored and highest margin of victory (save some of those runs for tomorrow, boys!), while the Pirates set a franchise record for worst margin of defeat. Un. Believable.

Oh, and this was on the heels of an 8-0 smashing yesterday. Two shutouts in a row, kids.

ESPN Box

Labels: brewers, ex-angels, ex-dodgers, ouch, pirates, recaps

So, the last game of the spring training stint, this time at Maryvale. Once again, we got there late for various reasons, and so decided to park on surface streets away from the main lot; this proved a good idea as well again, because we didn't have to fuss with all the lousy traffic after the game. (Of course, the neighborhood near the Maryvale park is one of Phoenix's shabbier neighborhoods, as evidenced by the number of homes with bars over their windows, and graffiti on the open walls.)

The Angels' opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, finally had a lone good season in 2008 that got them into the postseason for the first time since 1982; in those days, they were an AL team, and thumped the Angels in three straight following two losses that should have sealed an Angels series win and their first World Series appearance ever. Instead, and as the 1986 Red Sox found out, beating the Angels in the league postseason games is no guarantee of advancement. A long stretch of misery ensued; the Brewers' first winning season since 1992 wasn't until three years ago, opening a stretch of three straight winning seasons.

But 2008 was paid for on the installment plan, as Bernie Brewer found himself overdrawn to bring in C.C. Sabathia as a short-timer, moving the blocked Matt LaPorta to the American League Cleveland franchise in exchange, where his cement hands and wickedly hot bat could have some value. After an unimpressive first-round exit, 2009 proved the hangover from that all-too-brief party. That squad wasn't horrible, but the rotation couldn't handle the twin blows of losing Sabathia and never-quite-healthy ace-in-training Ben Sheets; and the offense became a less-impressive echo of the early oughts Giants, with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun distantly recalling Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent, and everybody else (save 3B Casey McGehee, whose career year must have shocked his former Cubs overlords) doing their best Seven Dwarfs imitations.

So what the Angels caught today was pretty much an A-list Brewers squad. Featuring Fielder, Braun, and McGehee, manager Bob Melvin filled out his starting lineup card with players whose numbers were generally below 40, save for shortstop Luis Cruz, whose 75 should be ignored because he's actually on the 25-man.

The Angels battered Jeff Suppan as though he were testing pitches, hammering him for five runs in the first, which was really the game. Three balls left the yard off Angels bats, one by Bobby Abreu in the first, another by Kendry Morales in the fifth, and the last by Peter Bourjos in the sixth. It was a genuinely long day for everyone at the park, but most especially Brewers pitching.

Angels starter Joel Pineiro got through four innings in fairly good shape, surrendering a couple runs, one each in the third and fourth. One of them should have been unearned, as I reckoned McGehee's "single" in the fourth should have been scored E5, but wasn't; and then Corey Hart made what then would have been the last out of the inning, without damage.

Unlike the usual catastrophes, the Angels' AAA squad managed to best Milwaukee's minor leaguers in late innings. This included the never-before-seen-by-me Gabe DeHoyos, who donned Piniero's 35 in the eighth in order to maximally confuse matters. A hanger-on in two prior clubs' minor league organizations (Kansas City and San Diego), he gave up two of the Brewers' runs, both on a homer to catcher George Kotteras. Kotteras, had an amazing, clean swing that just stung the ball; it seemed like every foul he hit had home run distance. Probably most famous as the PTBNL that fetched David Wells from Boston, he's 29 now and pretty long in the tooth to have a career as even a major league reserve catcher.

Jim Edmonds was there, too, for the Brew Crew, performing the role of "NRI who isn't Mike Cameron and really shouldn't be on a major league field anymore". He got a few innings in the outfield, some at first, and completed the game, providing its last out as well. He walked and struck out, but looked for the world like a veteran pretending to be a major leaguer.

So I'm ready for the Show now.

MLB.com box

Labels: angels, brewers, recaps, spring training

Now ex-Dodger LHP Randy Wolf has signed with the Brewers for 3 years and $27-30M, according to an AP report. Thanks to the Dodgers' failure to offer arbitration, the team does not get a compensation sandwich pick.

Labels: brewers, dodgers, ex-dodgers, transactions

The Rockies clinch a postseason spot at home by clobbering Manny Parra and the Brewers, chasing the Milwaukee starter after only 2.2 innings. Parra walked in two runs in the third, including Colorado pitcher Aaron Cook — impressively, his second walk of the day. He ended up walking three times and collecting a pair of RBIs.

With a stiff wind coming into the park from the outfield, a lot of long balls stopped short of the fence, with only Ryan Braun's solo shot providing the lone Milwaukee run for most of the game. Cook came close to a complete game, getting through eight innings with only 85 pitches on his arm, but Jim Tracy called on Franklin Morales to complete the ninth. He almost got out of it scorelessly, but then with two out and Prince Fielder on first, he surrendered a double to Mike Cameron. That was all the Brewers got, and the Rockies get on the plane to Los Angeles to chants of "Beat LA". Congratulations to the Rockies, who make their second postseason appearance in three years, and tied a franchise record 90 wins.

Update: Purple Row reminds us of an odd factoid: every October 1 game the Rockies have won, has been won by a winning team (four in all, and three by teams headed to the postseason). Every one lost was lost by a losing team.

ESPN Box • Rockies recap

Labels: brewers, postseason, recaps, rockies

Something I heard about but forgot to mention yesterday: the fall-over-backwards reception Prince Fielder got on his walkoff home run. Some of the Giants objected.

Labels: brewers, giants, woo hoo

Via David Pinto, Milwaukee has fired pitching coach Bill Castro and replaced him with the pitching coach from AAA Nashville, Chris Bosio. This comes on the heels of a 13-6 blowout at the hands of the Padres, the second-worst offensive club in the National League (measured by runs scored). I find myself agreeing with David in that it's hard to see how good any pitching coach could be who loses both Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia in one offseason.

The team also demoted shortstop J.J. Hardy (hitting only .229 after having a career mark of .262 as a 26-year-old) to AAA, called up Alcides Escobar. Finally, the Brewers released Bill Hall (B-Ref page), who has worked as a sort of poor man's version of Chone Figgins for the Brewers, except without the offensive skills. He's hitting .201/.265/.341, and appears as though he hasn't become the player anyone had hoped for; he's getting a ton of salary for that meager production, $15.2M this year and next, with a $500k buyout.

Labels: brewers, transactions

Blowed Up Real Good: White Sox 6, Angels 2

Lather, rinse, repeat ... the Angels grounded into three double plays, one each by Kendry Morales, Vlad, and Erick Aybar. Sean O'Sullivan got tagged with the loss, and only went five innings. Jim Thome and Paul Konerko both homered, Konerko off lefty Brian Fuentes who is still in unsettlingly bad land.

Day game today, which, yuck.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

You Can Keep Your Boos: Brewers 4, Dodgers 1

They booed Prince Fielder lustily after yesterday's reports about him trying to chase down to the home clubhouse. Fielder's move was understandable, if ill-advised, considering the point Vinny made during last night's telecast: before Mota plunked Fielder, Joe Torre had another pitcher (Ramon Troncoso) warming up in the bullpen. Unintentional? Huh.

The Dodgers' offense couldn't get anything going against junkballer Braden Looper, save for Rafael Furcal's solo homer in the first. (Oddly, the Yahoo box gets it wrong and says Prince Fielder hit that homer; WTF, Yahoo?) Jason Schmidt didn't have it, and only lasted 3.2 innings.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

The Best Rotation In The Division: The Rockies?

That's what Erik Manning at Fangraphs has to say:

The Rockies’ starting five has been the best in the National League by a good margin – their 125.6 runs above replacement is 11.6 runs better than San Francisco’s. The Rockies seem to have torn a page or three out of Cardinal pitching coach Dave Duncan’s book “Keys to Winning with an Iffy Staff”. We know Ubaldo Jimenez is great and Aaron Cook is usually solid, but the Rockies are getting good production out of three retreads – Jason Marquis, Jason Hammel and Jorge de la Rosa. What pitching coach Bob Apodaca (fun name to say) has been able to do is coax his pitchers to throw strikes and induce ground-balls.

Labels: analysis, angels, brewers, dodgers, recaps, rockies, white sox

You Know You're Gonna Lose When ...: White Sox 5, Angels 4

• ... you can't get an early lead against a pitcher who throws five walks...
• ... which are part of seven in the game ...
• ... and your starter keeps leaking baserunners and runs despite seven strikeouts.

A totally frustrating outing for the Angels, whose bullpen couldn't get the job done, and neither could the offense, which made the Twins sweep possible. Sorry, you're not going to score double digits every game.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Laugher: Dodgers 17, Brewers 4

The last time the Dodgers scored 17 runs at home it was May 25, 1979, and the Dodgers were pounding the holy hell out of the Reds, and ... Tom Seaver? Funny things happen.

The Dodgers scored in crooked numbers in three different frames in this one, including a seven-run sixth that had a Manny Ramirez "double" that broke his RBI-less streak (the ball actually hit the glove of Brewers third baseman Craig Counsell but bounced against the left field wall). Like a lot of high-scoring games, it was actually pretty tedious in the main.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Brandon Webb To Have Season-Ending Surgery

Jon raised the prospect that Brandon Webb might be rehabbing in a Dodgers uniform this coming 2010 season; I don't rightly know for sure, but it seems that Webb is a reasonable gamble, because even if he comes back at half what he was before, he might still be useful.

Labels: angels, brewers, diamondbacks, dodgers, injuries, recaps, white sox

The Dodgers picked up an early 1-0 lead on a Rafael Furcal RBI single, but Clayton Kershaw's clay feet quickly came into play in the next frame, as he walked four straight and drove in two that way. Kershaw ran aground again in the fifth, with Jeff Weaver allowing one of his inherited, bases-loaded, no-out baserunners to score on a double play ball, the bigger damage came in the next frame when Weaver gave up a first-pitch three-run jack to Ryan Braun. The Dodgers edged closer in the seventh on the O-Dog's scoring groundout, but really got going in the ninth with a big rally that took them three runs closer to the promised land, and ultimately loaded the bases with old foe Trevor Hoffman on the bump against Manny Ramirez. Manny obliged the Brewers in their quest for .500 by anticlimactically flying out to right, and hence the ballgame. Will he ever have another RBI?

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: brewers, dodgers, recaps

The Dodgers traded reliever Claudio Vargas to the Brewers for minor league catcher Vinny Rottino. This looks like an unsuccessful attempt to sell high on Vargas, whose ERA is insanely better than anything he's ever accomplished previously (his 255 ERA+ is more than double his previous best at 104), and didn't appear to be part of any of the Dodgers' plans going forward anyway. Rotoworld thinks the Brewers will try and convert him to starting thanks to injuries to Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan.

Rottino profiles as a reserve catcher, if that; he's had an undistinguished career in the majors so far, and the Brewers consistently opted for other backup backstops. Meh.

Update: Jon mentions that Rottino is a three-time PCL All-Star (what does that say about his ability to stick in the Show?), and will start at AA Chattanooga.

Labels: brewers, dodgers, trades, transactions

Angels Sweep Yankees To Finish First Half: Angels 5, Yankees 4

The Angels whomped C.C. Sabathia for four runs in the fourth and picked up a crucial insurance run in the seventh on Maicer Izturis' RBI single to sweep the Yanks leading up to the All-Star break. John Lackey got out of a tight bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the seventh (with over 100 pitches on the odometer) by getting Mark Teixeira to strike out and A-Rod to ground into a double play, complete with some nifty fielding by Chone Figgins. Brian Fuentes got his 26th save of the year by making outs against Derek Jeter (groundout to first), Mark Teixeira (fly out to center) and A-Rod (strikeout).

A good game for Lackey, who held up pretty well against a good-hitting offense, and for the Angels bullpen as well, at least for the non-Jason-Bulger parts of it.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

No, I'm Not Purposefully Ignoring The Dodgers: Dodgers 7, Milwaukee 4

... it just seems that way. The Dodgers took the road series in the rubber game, getting off to a 2-0 start in the first on James Loney's RBI single, and never looked back. Clayton Kershaw allowed two hits and five walks through six, and Orlando Hudson homered twice to help him out of a late hitting slump.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Manny Acta Fired In Washington

David Pinto relays news that Manny Acta was fired after the team finished the first half 26-61. Former Dodgers bench coach (and Mariners, Cubs, and Padres manager) Jim Riggleman is expected to take over.

Administrivia: A Word On Commenting

Blogspot commenting seems to have been broken for some time now, on and off. The issue seems to be the CAPTCHA image becoming invisible because of formatting issues (it is under the visible part of the display); I'm not sure what browsers have this problem, but Firefox and Safari for sure. A quick look on the most recent Blogger known issues page doesn't show anything about this, but usually the discussion forums have something. So far, nada, but I haven't looked closely. Stay tuned, or if you have something urgent, just drop me an e-mail by my address on the top right of the sidebar.

Labels: administrivia, angels, brewers, dodgers, firings, managers, recaps, yankees