Angels Stadium sports sparse crowd before first game of series with Rangers

Rangers fans still stung by Josh Hamilton’s off-season jab at Dallas-Fort Worth not being a “baseball town” might have been tickled to see a sparse crowd on hand at the start of the Rangers-Angels game in Anaheim on Monday.

SportsDay’s Evan Grant posted a Vine from the press box showing a sparsely populated Angels Stadium as the home team took the field. The lower bowl seemed about half full, while the upper deck was mostly empty.

Official attendance for the game was announced at 36,192.

Braves’ Heyward has appendectomy in Denver

Which probably explains the vermiformy looking .121/.261/.259.

Braves right fielder Jason Heyward underwent an appendectomy Monday night at a Denver hospital, the team announced just before 1 a.m. Eastern time.

Recovery for appendix surgery is typically 2-3 weeks for baseball players, although Matt Halladay of the Cardinals and Adam Dunn of the White Sox returned from laparascopic emergency appendectomies in about one week in 2011. Neither went on the 15-day disabled list, but it’s more ...

Maury Brown: Padres CEO Tom Garfinkel Goes the Extra Mile After ‘Rain Man’ Comment

Please read…

As an autism awareness advocate and parent of a child on the spectrum, Garfinkel’s comments struck a nerve. Being a caregiver to one with autism is hard enough. Having an exec make the comment, and having the season-ticket holders laugh was rubbing salt in the wound. “Rain Man,” of course, was an autistic savant. April is International Autism Awareness month. And the day before the brawl was Autism Awareness day at PETCO Park. It added up, and the seething turned into a ...

OMNICHATTER for 4-23-2013

The OMNICHATTER, in ALL CAPS.
Anyway, today is filled with questions, but the biggest one is: Will either the Twins or Rockies actually be able to play for a change?

Washington Times: Looking at Jayson Werth’s 3-0 double play from the eyes of those on the field

At the heart of the Washington Nationals’ 2-0 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday was one at-bat that left Jayson Werth sitting in front of his locker staring into the abyss.

With runners on first and second and no outs, and left-hander Scott Rice having thrown six straight balls—and seven balls in his last eight pitches—Werth swung at a 3-0 pitch and ground into a double play. It squashed the Nationals’ best scoring chance, though hardly their only one, and left him dejected. [...]

“I ...

Report: Associate of Robinson Cano linked to Biogenesis

Major League Baseball is investigating whether a spokeswoman for Robinson Cano’s charitable foundation fostered a relationship between the New York Yankees second baseman and a South Florida clinic that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs to baseball players, ESPN reported.

Sonia Cruz, who works for Cano’s RC24 foundation, is listed on documents from the Biogenesis clinic obtained by ESPN. She denied being a client of the clinic, but documents list her as owing money - $300 in ...

Berg: Six guys set to become MLB stars

Ted Berg’s new jernt at USA Today…For The Win.

Zack Wheeler, New York Mets

Wheeler ranked No. 11 in Baseball America‘s annual list of the Top 100 prospects after a strong 2012 campaign across Double- and Triple-A. Wheeler throws a fastball in the mid-90s with good movement and a strong curveball.

In his way: Right now, Wheeler’s control is likely the biggest obstacle preventing him from the Majors. He has allowed 28 free passes in only 51 1/3 Triple-A innings across 2012 and 2013. Mets ...

The Rebel Yell: Neri: Steroid use could benefit baseball

Looking forward to part two in The Bromley Contingent Weekly.

Drug would bring excitement to dying American pastime.

I have been watching baseball for as long as I can remember, and having started in the late 90s, my initial viewing was in the midst of the steroid era. Of course, at the time, no one knew for certain that several players were juicing, but in hindsight, it should have been obvious.

Regardless, no one was complaining when the home runs were being hit. In fact, they were ...

Pitching Our Next Great Baseball Movie - Baseball Nation

The Ted Williams Story is the movie I’d most like to see.

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. questions Delmon Young’s defense

Phillies outfielder Delmon Young opened the year on the DL following offseason ankle surgery, but he moved closer to joining the team on Sunday by playing in his first official minor league rehab game. He went 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and a strikeout for the team’s High Class-A affiliate in Clearwater.

Defensively, the 27-year-old Young had seven balls hit to him in right field and he misplayed two of them, including turning a would-be single into a triple. Following the game, GM Ruben ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-22-2013

Pittsburgh Press, April 22, 1913:

Hal Chase played his last game at second base for the New Yorks on Friday. When Manager Frank Chance put Chase back on first base in Saturday’s game he had reached the conclusion that Hal could not remain at the keystone bag without further clogging the infield’s machinery. While it is true that Chase originated the idea of covering second base for Chance and that he did his level best to fill the bill, even though he is a left-handed thrower, it soon developed ...

Jack O’Connell: Yanks’ tandem an upgrade at catcher

Boutique stats? That’s more O’Banion than O’Connell.

I do not mean to pick on Martin as much as those who kept reporting all winter about how the Yankees blew it by not conceding to the catcher’s contract demands and would regret it. Look at what Stewart and Francisco Cervelli have done so far this year. Does anyone miss Russell Martin all that much?

The Cervelli-Stewart tandem was treated in a few media outlets as some sort of joke during spring training, but the duo have been a major part ...

Morrissey: No defense for White Sox’ shaky defense

Hand not in glove…

Since the first day of spring training, White Sox manager Robin Ventura has stressed the importance of defense. He hasn’t just talked about it; he has evangelized it in a way only a recent convert or a six-time Gold Glove winner can.

Ventura’s flock seems to be experiencing hearing loss. In 18 games, the Sox already have committed 12 errors, tied for the fifth-most in baseball. They lost 2-1 on Saturday to the Twins when shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s throwing error ...

Miklasz: Solitary closer is not always best option

“Right or wrong
Weak or strong” (enough…Neiled out)

Teams did just fine back in the olden days when virtually every member of the bullpen was capable of preserving a ninth-inning lead.

No MLB reliever had a 30-save season until 1965, and there were no 40-save seasons until 1983.

Only 42 relievers had 40-save seasons over a six-year period from 1982 through 1988.

From 1989 through 2012, a span of 24 years, a total of 328 relievers had at least 40 saves in a season.

The designated closer is ...

Omnichatter 4-22-2013

Today, we will discuss games like A’s vs. Red Sox, Cards vs. Nats, Jays vs. O’s, Yankees vs. Rays, D-Backs vs. Giants and, perhaps best of all (going by record), Braves vs. Rockies.

Or we might just discuss Doctor Who, whether feathered dinosaurs look cool or stupid, and whether a Oriole could beat a Blue Jay in a actual fight… because BBTF is WEIRD.

LATimes: NBC in touch with Al Michaels after his DUI arrest

NBC said Sunday it is aware of sportscaster Al Michaels’ arrest for allegedly driving under the influence in Santa Monica but declined to say whether it would affect his work with the network.

Greg Hughes, a spokesman for NBC Sports, told Associated Press that the network had been “in contact with Michaels.” Hughes declined to elaborate.

A longtime announcer on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” Michaels was arrested at about 10 p.m. Friday, booked into jail and released on his own recognizance ...

McCoy: Votto, Choo chew up Les Miserables

VOTTO WAS THE least concerned about his homer drought — he had one until hitting one Saturday and another Sunday. Nor was manager Dusty Baker concerned.

“I can understand the concern about not hitting home runs, but I don’t feel obligated to hit home runs to quell everyone’s concern,” said Votto. “I’m not concerned about the home runs. The Reds pay me to be good. That’s all I try to do and if I go through a little bit of a homer drought I try to fill in with other things.”

...

New York Times: Thrown for a Curve in Rhode Island

You have to imagine what it was like being Don Carcieri in the harsh winter of 2010. As Rhode Island’s governor, a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, he had come into office seven years earlier as a business executive turned politician, vowing to retool the state’s corroded economy.

But that winter, Rhode Island was on the precipice of economic ruin. Its unemployment rate was pushing up against 12 percent — fourth worst in the nation — and three of its cities were ...

OMNICHATTER for 4-21-13

Hope this gets up in time…

NYT: Mike Mills: A Rock Star of Fantasy Sports

I once named one of my jerkball teams “Monty Stratton Got A Raw Deal”. #stand

Mike Mills rose from a chair and strolled out to his car, but not to fetch a musical instrument to perform songs from the catalog of R.E.M., his seminal alternative-rock band. A fantasy draft of Masters golfers, involving Mills and a dozen others at a house not far from Augusta National Golf Club, had just concluded. And with baseball games in the East winding down, Mills was retrieving a laptop to take stock of his ...

Rockies’ Dexter Fowler having a breakout season with stunning power - The Denver Post

A guy who hits 20 home runs in Colorado is not a home run hitter. Fowler shouldn’t get caught up in his recent home run spree.

“He’s absolutely a guy who could hit 20 home runs. I thought that the first time I saw him hit the ball in spring training. Just the distance of his hits in BP,” said Bichette, in his first year as Rockies hitting coach. “He had a good year last year, got that under his belt, and now he’s ready to really take off. He has all the tools to be a tremendous player. He wants ...

Would Cards trade Taveras for Profar? : Sports

Somebody is going to get traded eventually. When you have surplus in one area and a shortage in another, it’s the only sensible thing to do.

“I understand why people connect the shortstop-outfielder and on a low level find a way for that to help both teams,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Friday. “But the reality is we have just gotten to the point we wanted with our farm system — with more elite talent back and set to contribute to the major-league club. I’m not in the ...

Hahn waiting to see bigger sample size | whitesox.com: News

Losing is a disease. Do the White Sox have a head cold or something more serious?

Michael Pineda of New York Yankees, rehabbing shoulder in Tampa, confident of effective return

Shoulder injuries are tough. We’ll see how he holds up when he starts pitching games for real.

“He’s continued to look good,” said Mark Newman, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. “With shoulder surgeries, there are always things that slow you down, but he’s constantly been getting better and healthier. We’re still counting on him.”

Murphy: Tim Lincecum Looks Like Tim Lincecum In Win Over Padres

The pitching motion isn’t what’s going to cause Tim Lincecum to break down as the scouts once feared. It’s age that’s going to cause the pitching motion to break down and that’s going to lead to Terrible Tim Lincecum. In the meantime, maybe in the death throws of his youth, we’ll see glimpses of The Freak we all remember.

Wow, this sounds like a eulogy when it couldn’t be further from the truth. Tim Lincecum remains a good pitcher. He was a great pitcher tonight. The Giants won the game in ...

Murray Chass on Sports: SUDDENLY STRASBURG’S A LOSER

Suddenly 11 baserunners per 9 innings is Porcello-bad.

In a game like baseball, patience pays. It’s not a good idea to jump to a conclusion too quickly or base a decision on too few facts. I offer this bit of advice based on developments in this season’s four-start performance of Stephen Strasburg.

After his first start, in which he pitched seven shutout innings and permitted three hits, USA Today called it “the first step in vindication for general manager Mike Rizzo, who took much of ...

Cafardo: Strikeouts on the rise, and so are the theories

No mention of Bob Heise & Dave Berg’s Uncertainty Principle of Hitting. Odd.

ESPN analyst Curt Schilling said, “There are more power arms than I’ve ever seen before. Ever.”

Padres special assistant Brad Ausmus offers no firm data on the subject, but a theory that “teams seem to be rushing young hitters to the majors in an effort to save payroll.”

Marlins bench coach Rob Leary echoes that sentiment, saying, “There are a lot of hitters in Major League Baseball who are just cutting ...

Rivera pitches in 1,057th game, 1 short of 7th place all time!

Rivera pitched in his 1,057th game, one shy of Mike Timlin for seventh on baseball’s all-time games pitched list. He got his fifth save of the season and the 613th of his career.

Wait, what?

MIKE TIMLIN is 7th on the all-time games pitched list?!?!?!?

Like ... EVER??

Whawhawha???

Flip Flop Fly Ball: MLB uniforms update

Every team’s uniforms, pixel style. Updated. [...] My fourth annual pixel uniform thingy. Features all this of season’s uni changes.

BtBS: Three True Outcomes Throughout History

The Oakland Athletics have seen more than 200 more pitches than any other team in baseball through the first few weeks of the season and have the league’s highest walk rate at 10.8 percent. The Houston Astros have struck out a ridiculous 27 percent of the time, leading the Majors by far and looking good enough to obliterate the MLB record. The Boston Red Sox are second in each of these categories. And the Atlanta Braves are going yard in five percent of all of their plate appearances (not ...