MVN - Most Valuable Network

Angels execute, play the waiting game and come from behind to beat the A’s

Holy Moreno, the Angels scored five runs!

Stuck in a funk that the club has not seen since the 1960s, the Angels exploded offensively on Tuesday night and came from behind to beat the A’s, 5-3, with some late-inning heroics from Garret Anderson.

And while the GA home run was the significant moment of the game, let me guide you to a few other notable achievements:

- The Angels won on Tuesday not because of the long ball but because they did all of the other little things right.

In the third inning, the Angels scored two runs with only one hit. After Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch and Howie Kendrick doubled, Jeff Mathis knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly that enabled Matthews to score and Kendrick to get to third. Casey Kotchman then grounded out to second, scoring Kendrick.

In the bottom of the eighth, Maicier Izturis bunted pinch runner Reggie Willits to third base. Willits then scored on a Vlad Guerrero single which set the stage for GA’s home run.

All of these events contributed to the Angels win and represents what this team has struggled to do this year. I accept that sometimes this Angels team will struggle to score runs but when this Angels team cannot do the simple things - bunting, making contact, putting balls in play - that is what frustrates me as a fan. This is a team that needs to execute and do the small things to win; look at the Minnesota Twins, they are doing these things and having success.

The Angels have to play small ball when they need to and coming off a string of games where they scored one run or less for four consecutive games, every player needs to execute.

- The Angels were patient.

The Angels knocked the fragile Rich Harden out of Tuesday’s game not by scoring but by being patient - an unheard concept in Mickey Hatcher’s dugout for sure.

Harden - having an outstanding and healthy year - only went into the fifth inning and lasted 91 pitches, allowing the Angels to come back on the A’s middle relievers.

Part of the reason for the Angels patience? Angels Manager Mike Scioscia shuffled the lineup!!

Sometimes Scioscia is stubborn and refuses to change his lineup significantly but he - to some degree - blew up the lineup on Tuesday night. Chone Figgins still led off but Casey Kotchman was hitting second and light-hitting Maicier Izturis was hitting third. Guerrero, Hunter and Anderson then followed.

Obviously Scioscia wanted to shake things up for a moribund offense but I think he also wanted to put more table setters at the plate who are willing to take and foul off some pitches.

With Figgins, Kotchman and Izturis hitting 1-2-3, Scioscia stayed away from some of his first pitch swingers in the lineup - which the Angels have been doing far too much of lately, resulting in the opposing pitcher sometimes only needing to throw six pitches an inning.

Here’s a good example from Monday night’s loss to the A’s: In the first and sixth innings, Erick Aybar had reached base with Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter coming up after him - the big sluggers coming up with a chance to drive in the speedy Aybar especially if he can steal a base.

But in BOTH INNINGS both Guerrero and Hunter swung at the first pitch and both flied out - ending the threat. So that’s four pitches, four outs.

Don’t get me wrong - sometimes the Angels are best served by Vlad swinging at the first pitch he sees. At the same time, when your offense is struggling it might behoove a few of the Angels hitters to take a few pitches.

- Mike Scioscia is reading this blog!

OK, I have no real proof of this but I posted on Sunday night that Mike Scioscia should consider moving Casey Kotchman into the No. 3 hole in the lineup or even to the No. 2 position. Lo and behold, two games later, Kotchman was batting second.

Maybe I should write in this space that Mike Scioscia should give me a thousand dollars and see if that will happen. Or maybe he can give me a Howard’s big screen - the local television store that Mike Scioscia shills does ads for.

Anyway, good win for the Halos on Tuesday night, giving them a chance to take the series today.

Hopefully, the offensive output from Tuesday continues and Scioscia continues reading this blog!

Angels offense hits embarrassing new low in Freeway Series, plus Readers React!

You know if the Angels could score any amount of runs or muster any kind of offense this team could be quite dangerous in the postseason.

But with the way this Angels offense performed against the Dodgers this weekend I would be hard-pressed to find a Little League team the Halos could beat.

Harsh words, you say?!

This was the weekend that the Angels became the fifth team in major league history to lose a game where the other team did not get a hit!! The Angels somehow managed to lose a no-hitter!!

(And spare me your technicalities about how a no-hitter requires nine-innings - the Angels pitchers put together a no hitter on Saturday and lost. Bottom line. Somewhere Harvey Haddix’s spirit is smiling.)

And overall offensively for the entire series the Angels managed to score one run. One run!! And yet somehow managed to win one game and leave the Freeway Series with the same division lead over the A’s as the team had to start the weekend.

Fortunately, the Angels and their Murderer’s Little Girl’s Row get to face those same A’s Monday through Wednesday in Anaheim. Perhaps the Angels will continue to create new offensive lows against the A’s; perhaps one of the Angels pitchers - not Jon Garland - will throw a perfect game against the A’s and somehow, someway the Angels will find a way to lose that game!

Ugh. Normally, I don’t call for firings or dismissals but at some point doesn’t the Angels brass have to start looking at the job that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher is doing for the club.

Whatever he is saying to these guys is simply not working.

Does Mickey Hatcher deserve to be fired? I am not sure. But at some point soon the Angels have to figure out some way to generate runs out of this club because whatever they are doing right now ain’t working.

General manager Tony Reagins, manager Mike Scioscia and even Arte Moreno need to have a summit/meeting with Hatcher and figure out some way to generate more runs from this club.

And - because I wouldn’t be an opinionated blogger if I didn’t offer some solution - here is what I would do:

I would move Casey Kotchman into the No. 3 position in the batting order for a few games - just a few - to see what he can do.

I know that the No. 3 position in the batting order is ostensibly reserved for your best hitter which for the Angels is Vladimir Guerrero. And Guerrero has been scorching the ball lately.

But Kotchman has been the Angels’ best hitter all year and shows the best plate discipline of all of the Angels hitters other than maybe Chone Figgins.

Insert Kotchman into that No. 3 position for a few games, bump Vlad down to No. 4 and then have Garret Anderson and Torii Hunter alternate between No. 5 and 6 depending on the matchup.

You could even place Kotchman into the No. 2 spot in the lineup and that could spur some offensive momentum. This is just a modest proposal but it could generate wonders - or at least two or three runs for the Angels.

Anyway, the Angels have reached a little bit past the midway point of the season with a 49-33 record, 16 games above .500 and a 4.5 game lead over the A’s. However, it has been a division lead created on the backs of the best starting rotation in baseball and one that cannot continue to be leaned on.

The Angels need to figure out how to score runs and fast - the second half of the season awaits.

READERS REACT: I received an e-mail from longtime Big A Baseball reader Angelmike who asked that we print a complaint of his about the Angels broadcast team of Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc who called the Freeway Series games for the Angels this weekend. I am printing Angelmike’s e-mail below in italics and will follow it with one comment of mine:

Arte:How does it feel to be swept by your cross-town rivals? You know that other team who claims “Los Angeles”? Oh, you say, you were not swept, we scored one run and pulled one out, yea I know, we no-hit them the day before and lost, but that was a fluke too!

Sorry, you miss the point Arte. You lost the entire series a few minutes before the first pitch was thrown on Friday night. You see Vinny was broadcasting the Dodgers and you put on Rex and Steve Show. There are not enough letters, nor space on the Internet, to really explain how Rex and Steve are deficient. Lets leave it with mindless banter, incessant repetition, more technique critique than the any stomach can handle, and, of course, the often INACCURATE nature of their high pitched words…Rex does hold a ball when he is speaking…right?

Arte, you made your billion in advertising, branding products to sell to suckers and now you are selling the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to people who may just live closer to Chavez Ravine than to Anaheim Stadium. Go figure.

Ok…so you will tell me there is only one Vin Scully. NOBODY could compete. You might be right, because listening to Vin for the first ten minutes of Friday’s broadcast I learned things about Howie [Howard] Kendrick and Garret Anderson that I never heard before. How is it that Vin can do that to me as I have listened to Rex and Steve for years now? Do you think it might have something to do with professional preparation, some kind of reverence for the game and how it connects us to “the memories so thick we have to brush them away from our faces?”

Your rotating announcers are like the ducks that lie down and stand up in the Frontierland shooting gallery. Arte, thank you…you did allow me a quality choice. Radio. Rory and Terry are class acts that if on TV I might have considered, oh just for a few minutes, switching over now and then. But your inane replacement schedule is too much for me to handle, it’s like having John Lackey and Jered Weaver alternate at DH….come to think of it…

Now just to be very clear…the concept is not lost on you, is it Arte? I am not watching “your” broadcast so I am not experiencing the delight of your sponsors’ commercials! But then you add insult to injury, something you need to talk to your players about…constant injury…the Dodger broadcast was in HD. My Direct TV could not find the Angel broadcast in HD…on Channel 13…? Maybe it was just my TV but then again, even HD can’t help Rex and Steve …right?

One run in three games….oh well, when Oakland comes to town I will be in my seat…at least at ANAHEIM Stadium I can watch the game without the R and E distraction….but those millions at home in front of their TV….too bad…suckers!

Angelmike

I agree with most of the comments Angelmike makes but I wonder if maybe the Angels management decided that since people are more likely to tune into the Vin Scully broadcast that maybe it was better to put in the bad announcing team for TV and put the good announcing team (Rory Markus and Terry Smith) on the radio where Scully only does the simulcast for a few innings.

But yeah, Angelmike makes a good point - hearing Vin Scully call a baseball game and then hearing Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc call the same game is like comparing Raiders of the Lost Ark to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

With Vin Scully and Raiders, you know you are getting a classic, something you can watch and listen to over and over again.

With Rex and Steve and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you are getting something that seems like the original (announcers calling a baseball game, an Indiana Jones movie) but in no way shape or form resembles the original and is more like something your dog ate and then threw up.

What is that strange number of runs the Angels scored in Tuesday night’s win?

The Angels did something unusual on Tuesday night. They scored eight runs.

For more than a month, Angel fans have sat through 3-2, 2-1 and other assorted 1-run and 2-run games so Tuesday night’s five-run blowout was a refreshing change of pace. It allowed Angels fans to sit back and watch a game and actually relax a little - even with Jon “Was I really worth Orlando Cabrera” Garland pitching.

It has been so long since the Angels scored eight runs that even the Angels announcers were getting confused. For at least one-half inning, Angels radio announcer Steve Physioc was announcing that the Angels had scored only seven runs; he somehow thought that catcher Mike Napoli had only hit a solo home run when Napoli had actually hit a two-run home run to make it 8-0.

(This is one of the problems with the Angels radio broadcasting team of Rex Hudler, Steve Physioc and Terry Smith. Terry Smith and Steve Physioc share the play-by-play duties along with Rex Hudler doing the analysis.

However, when one play-by-play guy is announcing the other is not there - but shouldn’t that other broadcaster be PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GAME????!!!! How hard is it to pay attention to the score and notice EIGHT runs on the scoreboard, instead of seven?

I assume Steve Physioc got distracted by something sparkly in the new Nationals stadium and spent 10 to 15 minutes trying to figure out what it was and missed the Napoli home run.)

Anyway, rant over. The good news is the Angels won their fifth straight road game and although the last two wins have come across the bumbling Keystone Kops Democratic National Party Washington Nationals a road win is a road win and the Angels are doing that better than anyone in baseball.

The other good news is with the eight runs scored the Angels finally overcame that magical barrier of not scoring eight runs or more since May 18 and are actually showing some signs of offensive life - fueled in part, I believe, by the return of Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick to the lineup. Also some guy named Vladimir Guerrero is beginning to hit. He is contributing a little.

The team now stands at 48-30 and has a 26-12 road record and went 21-10 in that stretch where the team scored eight runs or less since May 18.

So a lot of positives going into today’s series finale with the Nationals including the fact that the Angels are playing the Nationals who have committed six errors in the first two games to help the Halos win.

If the Angels can keep this road momentum up this weekend against the Dodgers in Los Angeles (the real Los Angeles) the team will have some pretty good momentum heading into next week’s series against the still-lurking A’s.

Hopefully, this offensive uptick will continue for that series.

All you need to know about the Angels and manager Mike Scioscia

Tim Brown just wrote an article for Yahoo sports that tells you all you need to know about Angels manager Mike Scioscia and why he has earned the respect of both his players and his former players. Here is the link.

Near the end of the Tim Brown article, he writes about something that Scioscia’s former coach installed in him - the ability to focus on the next play and forget about the last mistake.

And that focus was clearly on display in the Angels’ 3-2 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday night. This is something that is not easily found in the boxscore but is important to know about how the Angels play.

Garret Anderson drove in the winning run with a base hit in the eighth inning for the Angels in Monday’s game but if you had seen Anderson’s three previous at bats you would have been no doubt surprised that he turned out to be the hero.

Anderson struck out in his first two at bats and then hit into a routine double play in his third at bat in the sixth inning. However with a chance to put the Angels ahead - and no thought or worries about the previous three at bats - Anderson knocked in the go-ahead run on Monday night.

Now this is not to say that Garret Anderson would not have had the game-winning hit if someone else were his manager. And he could just have easily lined out or struck out in that key eighth inning.

And this post is to not give all of the credit for the Angels’ success the past few years to Mike Scioscia. The Angels have succeeded in part to a talented farm system, an excellent coaching staff and, yes, the backing of a billionaire owner.

At the same time, other teams have been given as much financial backing (i.e. the Mariners and Mets) and last week both of those organizations saw their managers fired.

So while some teams flail and flounder with the weight of an enormous payroll, the Angels continue to sail along in first place. Mike Scioscia has as much to do with that as some of the players - including Vladimir Guerrero.

Take a look at that Tim Brown article again. All you need to know is there.