Kevin Gregg is doing just fine with the Florida Marlins as another Angels pitcher has turned into an outstanding closer with another team. Put Gregg in the group that includes Bobby Jenks (White Sox) and Derrick Turnbow (Brewers), although Turnbow has now lost his closer job after doing well the past two seasons. Former Angel Troy Percival has nice things to say about Gregg in this notebook from the Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The Angels made an inevitable move Friday, dropping rookie Reggie Willits to the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Willits had been batting leadoff for most of the season and had been a rookie of the year candidate with his performance in the first half. Willits had batted leadoff in 42 of the last 45 games he started. But entering Friday’s game, Willits was in an 8-for-46 slide. He still was ranked second among AL rookies with a .307 batting average, third in hits (78) and first in on-base percentage (.405).
Other lineup changes included the struggling Orlando Cabrera (no hits in his last 17 at-bats) moving from the No. 3 spot to the No. 2 spot where he started the season. Vladimir Guerrero moved up to No. 3 while Garret Anderson returned to the cleanup spot.
Just checked out of the Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg and sadly, the report is that there were no ghost sightings. The historic hotel, where all the teams stay when playing the Devil Rays, has been known for a number of hauntings. The most common, as related by a member of the hotel staff a few years ago, is that a elderly woman appears lost at the end of a hallway in her nightclothes. When hotel guests get into their room they often call the front desk to let them know about this woman. Somebody is sent to do an obligatory check but alas, there never is a woman at the end of the hall.
About four years ago, then Reds pitcher Scott Williamson reportedly claimed that somebody pushed down on him as he was nodding off to sleep in his dark room. When he turned on the lights, nobody was there.
The only frightening scene at the hotel in the past few days was four beat writers attempting a clay court tennis match. No ghosts, though.
UPDATE: After asking around, perhaps the ghosts still are around. Pitching coach Mike Butcher said the light on his nightstand turned on by itself at 4:11 a.m. and he was unable to get back into a deep sleep before his wakeup call came.
“I thought it was kind of odd,” Butcher said. “Usually on a getaway day game I like to sleep with my curtains open and the sun comes up but I was thinking ‘Man it’s kind of early to be getting up right now.’ The Scooby Do Mystery Machine came by and they assured me everything was OK.”
Butcher brushed it off by saying he thinks the light switch just got stuck and then unstuck in the middle of the night. He doesn’t think the hotel is haunted.
In another event, one Angels official on the trip said a closed magazine was open to Page 37 at some point during the night. What was the message on Page 37? Just some restaurant reviews.
Manager Mike Scioscia had no ghost sightings on this trip but he offered a story about spring training in Vero Beach, Fla., when he played with the Dodgers. Scioscia said he saw what he thought was his mother in law enter the room of his infant son in the middle of the night. Soon after, his son stopped crying. Except Scioscia’s mother in law said she never entered the room, she only heard the boy stop crying. And how could she when the door was only open by about a foot? Scioscia swears this event truly happened.
Must be something about Florida that keeps the ghosts active.
Tuesday (July 24) won’t be the proudest moment in Angels history, unless Kelvim Escobar happens to pitch a no-hitter. The Angels will welcome to the ballpark a group of women (referred to in a recent news release as “girls”), who are promoting the Tom Leykis radio show. To say Leykis is demeaning toward women would be going easy on the mouth that roars incessantly. Guess the Angels are desperate to lock up that 15- to 22-year old male demographic. The Angels are promoting the next homestand as “Break Out the Red Week.” Maybe they can rename it “Red With Embarrassment Week.”