May 2008 Archives

It's less than two hours before game time and the grounds crew is working on a leaky water pipe near the third-base coaching box. A strip of sod was pulled back and least five grounds crew members have dug a 2-foot by 2-foot hole in the grass. The hole appears to be about 3-feet deep. It's batting practice now so they are being protected by a temporary net. Buckets of mud and water are being pulled from the hole and somebody looks to have the blueprint of the irrigation design as they frantically try to repair the problem. The clock's ticking boys. Good luck.

UPDATE: The leak is fixed, the hole is filled and the sod has been replaced. If you weren't there to see it you would have never known there was a problem. The grounds crew even went as far as to get a broom and brush the grass against the grain so the sod patch matches the striped mowing pattern.

Here is some information to chew on after the completion of this week's series against the Detroit Tigers. The Angels do not play today but open a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

Joe Saunders lost at home for the first time this season. His five earned runs allowed matched what Angels starters had allowed in the previous four games combined.

The Angels remained two games in front in the AL West despite the defeat Wednesday. It was just their 12 home defeat this season. They didn't lose their 12th game at home last season until June 26. Their 32 victories are tied for the major-league lead with Boston, Tampa Bay and the Chicago Cubs.

The Angels have been held to three runs or fewer in 12 of the last 15 games. They have been held to four runs or less in 20 of 26 games this month and are 10-10 in those 20 games.

By Doug Padilla
Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The strongest link that holds the Angels' chain together might just be one of the quietest players in the clubhouse.
Casey Kotchman might not say a whole lot, preferring to let his game do all the talking. And his game sure has been chatting it up lately.
"Kotch," as he is known, not only has been the steadiest influence on the offense, but his stellar play on defense has helped the Angels through a slew of changes on the infield due to injuries. That defense, in turn, has been one reason the starting pitching has been so steady of late.
Call Kotchman a triple threat. He's one of the few Angels players that can say he has a hand in offense, defense and pitching.
"When you have a guy over there at first base that plays at the level Kotch does, these guys are just going to catch the ball and release knowing that if they can get the ball over there, Kotch is going to make the play; he will dig it out," manager Mike Scioscia said.
Not having to worry about making the perfect throw has been a godsend to youngsters like Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez, who have been called upon because of injuries to Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick.
Kotchman's presence gives Wood and Rodriguez one less thing to worry about as they try to adapt to the major-league level.
"I would like for those guys to be confident when they throw the ball over they that they have a good chance of it being caught," Kotchman said. "When it doesn't happen, I feel like I didn't hold up my end of the bargain. If I don't save them an error, I'm not doing my part."
Wood hasn't been around very long but he has no problem saying that Kotchman is one of the best in the game.
"It's great to have a guy like Kotch over there who can pick it (out of the dirt)," said Wood, who did make an error Wednesday after Kotchman couldn't handle his throw in the dirt. "It gives us a sense confidence over there to get rid of the ball quick and he'll make the play. I think he takes just as much pride in picking it as he does in hitting it."
Without Kotchman, Scioscia doesn't think the Angels would be leading the American League in defense.
"Sometimes you have to get the ball over there in time because the guy has good speed and it could put pressure on you and affect your accuracy," Scioscia said. "We don't skip a beat over there with a guy like Kotch because he's playing great defense and making great plays around the bag."
Great plays mean that the pitchers aren't having to get extra outs. One less batter means one less chance to get burned.
In the month of May, Angels pitchers have held opponents to two runs or less in 12 of the 25 games before Wednesday, including each of the previous eight. The starters had a combined 1.29 ERA over the previous five games, while the team ERA was 2.36 over the previous 14 games.
The Angels' problem of late has been with offensive production, something that Kotchman can't take the blame for. He entered Wednesday with a team-leading .310 batting average and is one of just two Angels regulars, along with Chone Figgins, who is batting over .300.
Kotchman also has six home runs, although he has not gone deep since April 23 at Boston. He still has managed to produce this month, even though not too many of his teammates are getting on base in front or behind him in the lineup.
Kotchman has driven in nine runs this month and scored eight. He is also batting .273 in May, even though the team's combined batting average is under .230.
But Kotchman knows that even the hottest of offensive runs eventually goes cold. He refuses to let his glove take a day off, though.
"I think playing defense is something that can and should be there on a night-to-night basis," he said. "If your bat comes and goes, you need to make some contribution to the other side of the game. You can help pitchers out by picking a ball or turning a double play, keep the game moving along and keep their pitch counts down."

Just a little something to watch for in upcoming games:

Garret Anderson is seven runs scored away from breaking Tim Salmon's club record of 986.

Torii Hunter is two home runs away from 200 for his career.

Jon Garland is three victories away from 100 in his career.

Just as Jon Garland is starting to shine with the Angels, the other half of the trade that brought him here doesn't seem to be going well. Orlando Cabrera had four hits Monday, including the game winner for the White Sox, but the big story in Chicago was that Cabrera's status of a team leader has come into question. It all apparently started with a couple of Cabrera calls to the press box to have scoring calls changed in his favor. Not afraid to speak on any subject, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he wasn't too proud of his shortstop. Now comes news out of Cleveland, where the White Sox are playing Tuesday, that general manager Ken Williams has weighed in on the subject. Not good.

The Angels are not taking batting practice right now as they usually do in advance of tonight's game against the Detroit Tigers. Manager Mike Scioscia not only told his players they did not need to hit today but they were allowed to arrive to the ballpark as late as 5 p.m. for the 7:05 p.m. start. Scioscia said that the team had been working extremely hard on its hitting of late and weren't showing any progress. They won 1-0 in 12 innings Monday, scoring the winning run on a bases-loaded walk. So Scioscia hopes that by taking a step back it might help things. We will find out shortly.

There were plenty of hugs and handshakes between Kelvim Escobar and his teammates Monday after the right-hander rejoined the Angels. Escobar has been on the disabled list all season with a torn right labrum. He has been doing shoulder exercises the past five months and might be closing in on a return after the All-Star break. The only question when he returns will be whether or not he helps out in the starting rotation or in relief.

Manager Mike Scioscia spoke about Escobar at length before Monday's game.

"He's going to throw a flat ground session in the middle of the week, probably Wednesday," Scioscia said. :And then a week after he starts that progression, a week or 10 days later, it could lead to getting back on a mound and throwing off a mound. Once you cross that hurdle and you get out on a mound and get on a slope and are extending and don't have any problems, you just build up stamina, pitch count, execution of pitches. That takes time though.

"It's not you're out on a mound and then, 'OK, how are you?' 'Ready to go out and pitch.' It's going to take time. Now he's into a spring training program routine where he's off a mound throwing and throwing bullpens and progress to batting practice, into a rehab game. And if he's a starter you stretch him out to 90-100 pitches. So there's work ahead for Kelvim but he's feeling real good right now."

So he will be a starter when he returns then?

"We definitely want to get him stretched out and see where his stamina is and how he feels," Scioscia said. "We'll be open to anything as we move forward but with Kelvim it's pretty premature to talk about what role he will come back in. There are some big steps that have to happen that he's going to have to get his game together on the mound and that will take some time."

Looks like that one game Chone Figgins played last week before suffering another hamstring setback is all he will get before going on the DL again. Nothing is official but manager Mike Scioscia sounds like he is ready to put Figgins on the shelf. The update with Figgins' latest injury is that it actually is in a different place than the original hamstring strain. This latest problem is more in the hamstring tendon where the previous injury was more in the muscle.

"We're going to have to make a decision with Figgy in a couple of days," Scioscia said. "He's making progress but I think we're into Day 5 now so we'll have to make some significant progress in the next couple of days to project him getting out there to play. We're going to give it as much time as we can but also make sure that his needs are met to get healthy."

The Angels will make it official Wednesday and announce that the 2010 All-Star Game will be played at Angel Stadium. Commissioner Bud Selig will be on hand for the 12:30 p.m. anouncement, along with owner Arte Moreno and Angels mayor Curt Pringle. It will be the third All-Star Game played in Anaheim and the first since 1989, which was made famous by Bo Jackson's massive home-run blast to center field.

Not only do the Angels play in this weekend's ESPN Sunday Night Game against the Chicago White Sox (at Chicago), they have also been scheduled to play on Sunday night June 15 against the Atlanta Braves. That game is at home, so all of you with tickets to that night's game, consider yourself informed. The June 15 game (as well as this Sunday's game) will start at 5:09 p.m. Pacific time.

The Angels were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in Saturday's defeat to the Dodgers, raising old questions about offensive continuity. With Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick on the disabled list, the Angels haven't been able to find an offensive flow.

"We taolked about it for the last couple of weeks," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Right now we're in a lull. We're not driving the ball like we did earlier in the year. We're not setting the table and when we do set teh table we're not getting the situational hitting. This thing will turn around.

"We're very capable of scoring 10 runs like we did this week against the White Sox. But we need that consistency, getting two runners on every inning, pushing the envelope. We can't do things we like to do in our running game because we haven't set the table like we like to."

Manager Mike Scioscia said he isn't sure if Chone Figgins will go on a rehab assignment, but it seems certain that the Angels' third baseman will return at some point during the upcoming road trip to Toronto and Chicago. Figgins has been out of action since May 4 with a strained right hamstring.

Injuries to Figgins and Howie Kendrick (strained left hamstring) have hurt offensive chemistry. Consistent run scoring has been a problem of late.

"Well, if you look at the numbers with runners in scoring position, early Figgy was a big part of seeting the table," Scioscia said before Saturday's game. "Some of those numbers have maybe become a little stagnant in the last couple of weeks. But it's not just Figgy, it's a lot of the guys.

"You certainly have to be deep enough to absorb 2-3 guys at various times that are going to be out for awhile during the season. I think what we've experienced the last couple weeks is not only having guys out of the lineup, but guys not swinging the bats to their capabilities. So we haven't been setting the table as well as we could.

"Even with these guys out of the lineup, we have a good offensive team. We haven't performed to the level we need to, I'm sure there's some important roles for guys who have been out, but I think the lion's share of it is some of the guys we know are going to swing the bat well haven't hit stride yet and that's impacting our offense."

After starting the season 6-0 through seven starts, Ervin Santana hasn't looked the same over his last two outings. He is currently down 4-1 to the Dodgers in the fourth inning after giving up a two-run home run to rookie Blake DeWitt and RBI singles to Andre Ethier and Russell Martin. In his last start, last weekend at Tampa Bay, Santana gave up a season-high five earned runs in an eve ntual no-decision.

Santana is seeking to become just the third Angels pitcther to start a season with a 7-0 record. Jered Weaver did it in 2006m eventually taking his record to 9-0. Aaron Sele opened 2004 with a 7-0 mark.

The 98-degree day (at first pitch) just might come in handy as the Angels try to solve their power problems. They have hit just one home run in eight games since May 9. On that day, the Angels were tied for second in the AL with 38 home runs. They are now seventh with 39. Dodgers starter Chan Ho Park has given up four home runs already in just 25 innings this season so combine that with the hot weather and perhaps the Angels will carry some drives out of the park.

Maicer Izturis (strained lower back) was reinstated from the disabled list today while reliever Darren O'Day was sent back to Triple-A Salt Lake. But so much for making a triumphant return as Izturis was on the bench to start the game while rookie Sean Rodriguez got another start at second base after collecting two hits Monday.

Manager Mike Scioscia was asked before Tuesday's game if Izturis was having any problems while batting form the right side of the plate, which had previously been bothering him

"He's OK," Scioscia said. "He hit right-handed (Monday) night (in a rehab start at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga) and felt fine. I think we're going to use him (Wednesday) from the left side against (White Sox starter Jose) Contreras. We might use him at some point tonight but I think we'll let Sean start and see how it goes."

There is no word yet on whether or not Robb Quinlan is in the Angels lineup tonight against Chicago White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle (manager Mike Scioscia likes to keep lineup decisions private until the last minute). But it seems safe to assume Quinlan will find his name somewhere in the order tonight.

In his career, Quinlan is batting an easy .409 against Buehrle (9 hits in 22 at-bats) with two doubles, three home runs and five RBI. And that doesn't even include the home run Quinlan hit off Buehrle in Game 2 of the 2005 American League Championship Series. So look for Quinlan at first base or third base tonight. If they could, you'd think the Angels would have him play both positions just to get more at-bats.

The Angels announced their organizational players of the month, which means these are the top minor-league guys, not the guys who distinguished themselves on the major-league level. Those honored for April:

Triple-A Salt Lake INF Matt Brown was named the Player of the Month after batting .426 (43/101) with 25 runs scored, 10 doubles, three triples, six home runs and 22 RBI in 23 games; RHP Mason Tobin, who was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA (15 IP - 0 ER) and one complete game shutout, eight hits, three walks and eight strikeouts in three starts for single-A Cedar Rapids, was named Pitcher of the Month; and triple-A Salt Lake OF Brad Coon was named Defensive Player of the Month, after committing no errors in 57 total chances (55 PO/2 A) in 21 games.

The Angels entered Tuesday's game at K.C. with a 21-13 record, among one of the best starts in franchise history. Here is how they compare to the past.

Best starts in team history after 35 games
2004 23-12
1970 23-12
1995 22-13
1989 22-13
1982 22-13

After 36 games
2004 24-12
1970 24-12
1989 23-13
1982 23-13
1995 22-14

Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana both are 5-0 this season and are abouot to enter into an elite group of starting pitching combos that opened the season undefeated. They still would need three more victories combined, without a defeat, to make the list, which was compiled by STATS LLC:

All STARTING Pitching Duos That Started a Season 6-0 or Better, Since 1920

(record listed is when both were undefeated at the latest date; one might have had a longer streak after the other first lost)

THRU

1920 5/12 Cleveland Indians: Stan Coveleski 7-0 Jim Bagby 6-0

1946 5/26 Boston Red Sox: Boo Ferriss 7-0 Mickey Harris 7-0

1953 6/14 New York Yankees: Whitey Ford 7-0 Ed Lopat 7-0

1981 5/17 Los Angeles Dodgers: Burt Hooton 6-0 Fernando Valenzuela 8-0

1988 5/27 Houston Astros: Bob Knepper 6-0 Mike Scott 6-0

2001 6/08 Seattle Mariners: Freddy Garcia 6-0 Aaron Sele 8-0

2002 6/07 Boston Red Sox: Pedro Martinez 7-0 John Burkett 7-0

Angels manager Mike Scioscia must be one proud papa. His son Matt Scioscia, a freshman at Notre Dame, connected for his first collegiate hit, a home run to cap a Fighting Irish victory. Here is the link to the story in the "South Bend Tribune." Among the descriptions Matt Scioscia used to describe the HR: "Awesome" and "surreal." Matt Scioscia had been 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and two walks before the home run.

This marks the 9th time the Angels have held sole possession of 1st place at the end of April. In 5 of the previous 8 seasons, they went on to win the AL West.

This information comes courtesy the Angels' media relations staff:

further research reveals this is only the second time in MLB history to
pitchers on one team went 5-0 in April


* Joe Saunders lifted his record to 5-0 in the Angels' win over
the Athletics Tuesday, and Ervin Santana did the same Wednesday. The
only other team in major-league history with two pitchers who won five
or more games without a loss during April was the 1998 Rangers: Aaron
Sele and Rick Helling, both went 5-0.