What a difference a day makes

The weather was perfect (game time temperature was 62 degrees); the seats were awesome (six rows from the field, just beyond third base) and yet somehow it all went so wrong as the Angels fell to the Kansas City Royals 2-1.

Losing is bad enough, watching your team lose in walk-off fashion in an opponent’s stadium is not the best experience you can have for sure.

It’s kind of hard to explain and something Cheryl and I never experienced before. There’s something about being far from home while watching your team go down the way the Angels did that’s just surreal.

Again, it’s hard to explain. In case you don’t know the details – Kila Ka’aihue hit a homerun in the bottom of the 9th off Michael Kohn to give his team the walk-off win.

In many ways, game two was quite contrary to the opener. First of all there were only 13,302 fans in attendance (as opposed to 40,055 on Thursday) and it was a fast game; lasting just two hours and twenty-three minutes (as opposed to three hours and fifteen minutes the day prior). It was seventeen degrees warmer and the thing that was most different… the Angels lost.

I guess going 162-0 wasn’t realistic.

Highlights of the game included Mark Trumbo getting his first hit of the 2011 season; Howie Kendrick going yard in the first inning; Dan Haren pitching seven solid innings and Jordan Walden coming through in a clutch situation with two strikes outs in the 8th. It was also nice to see Erick Aybar get a couple of hits.

Low lights?

Let’s just say that Jeff Mathis looked a little more like the Jeff Mathis we saw last year; going 0 for 3 and air mailing a throw into centerfield while trying to throw out a runner stealing second; and of course the walk-off homerun given up by Michael Kohn. The Angels went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and just couldn’t get things going.


Sadly, we won’t be at the game on Saturday as the Angels portion of our road trip ends.

We started the day with a trip to the Negro League Baseball Museum (unfortunately, you can' take photos inside the museum) and the Harry S. Truman Library.

Along the way we ran into several Angels fans; some from California, some from Oklahoma, Kansas and other places around the country. We even ran into Hank Conger’s dad, who was with Chris Pettit’s dad at the Negro League Baseball Museum. Also at the museum, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles, Lyle Spencer of MLB.com and Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier in the day while having breakfast, we saw Mickey Hatcher walking down a street in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City.

More details will come later. Right now, I need to get some sleep before yet another early flight….

One down, 161 to go

Opening day in Kansas City is a big deal; as it should be! When we awoke this morning, we turned on the local news and we watched station after station conduct live remotes from the stadium in anticipation of the opener. By the way, we turned on the TV at 6:00 a.m. As I said, Opening day is a big deal.

The parking lot opened at 8:00 a.m.; seven hours before the first pitch. And yes, hundreds and hundreds of cars were in the lot and tailgating when we arrived at the stadium a little before noon today.

Kauffman Stadium is absolutely beautiful. The huge screen in centerfield is incredible; the players appear larger than life and it’s something you really have to see in person to believe.

Cheryl, Larry, Cathy and myself soaked it all in. We walked around the stadium, taking pictures and making notes of all the food choices in the stadium. It was cold (45 degrees at game time), but baseball was definitely in the air.

The pre-game activities were simply awesome. The Royals went out of their way to honor their alumni including George Brett, Frank White, Bo Jackson and John Mayberry. The first pitch was thrown out by long time Royal Mike Sweeney, who recently signed a one-day contract so that he could retire as a Royal.

We had a fly over by a B-2 Bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base.

And then there was the game…

The Angels had their “hitting shoes” on big time; pounding out 12 hits. Torii Hunter would be the first Angel of 2011 to go yard. Jeff Mathis would be the second. Every starter had at least one hit, except for Mark Trumbo. Weaver picked up where he left off in 2010 with a stellar 6 1/3 innings of two-hit baseball. He also struck out six.



Three Royals would make their major league debuts (out of the bull pen); Aaron Crow, Nate Adcock, and Tim Collins. The Royals made it interesting with Jeff Francoeur and Mike Aviles each hitting a solo homerun.

The Angels bull pen wasn’t sharp, but they got the job done as Jordan Walden, Kevin Jepsen, and Michael Kohn each got credit for a hold and Fernando Rodney recorded his first save of the season.

It was cold out at the park, but watching the Angels win made it worth every bone chilling moment.

After the game we decided to sample some more KC barbecue and headed to Jack Stack’s. As we were leaving the restaurant we ran into Peter Bourjos who was celebrating his birthday with Hank Conger, Rich Thompson, Chris Pettit and others.

When I saw Bourjos I let him know that I was the person who put the video of him learning how to "strut" with Torii Hunter on the web. I knew he had seen it because I learned last Sunday at the Angels/Padres exhibition game that he talked about it (and even demonstrated the strut) while being interviewed at Fan Fest. Bourjos smiled and said, "that was you?" Pettit quickly chimed in with "we've had a lot of fun with that video."

"P-Bo"(Bourjos) was gracious enough to pose for a picture with Cheryl and me; the perfect ending to a perfect day.

And with that I’ll close. Cheryl is fast asleep as I blog and I can barely keep my eyes open myself.

More to come…

Let the good times roll

Justin Masterson and Scott Kazmir are just a little more than a year apart; Masterson turns 26 years of age March 22 and Kazmir just turned 27 in January. It’s hard to believe that Kazmir is only 27; after all, he’s started 178 games in his career. At this point in time, you’d think he’d be a veteran just getting ready for the season and yet, he’s a man still searching for the stuff that once made him among the best left-handers in the game. Masterson has only started 54 games in his career and is still trying to establish himself.

I suppose it was somewhat appropriate that the two squared off today in day two of Cheryl and my brief trip to spring training. Neither pitcher impressed today nor did either one seem close to establishing themselves as solid starters for the coming season. There was a scout in our section today and I got a glimpse of the radar gun he was holding. Kazmir was only hitting 87 to 89 miles an hour in the first inning. The scout then moved and I didn’t see any more results.

The Indians won 10-7.

Highlights of the game included Brandon Wood going two for two with a walk, and two runs scored. Wood didn’t start the game and came in for Maicer Izturis. I’m not sure why Izturis came out of the game, but one always has to wonder if he’s hurt whenever he’s not on the field. Wood is now hitting .255 and I’m hoping he came continue to make progress and contribute this year.

I have to tell you that both Cheryl and I really want to see Wood succeed. He’s easily one of the nicest players in the game. He always makes time for the fans and maintains such a great attitude. You’d never know that he’s had struggles on the field. I admire him for the way he handles himself and hope somehow, some way that he finds a way to be the player we all hoped he would be.

In other highlights – Howie Kendrick had a couple hits to go with two RBI’s. He’s hitting a solid .372 this spring.

Prior to the game, we spent some time interacting with fans and taking pictures of the players.

We also spent a little more time with Joe who had another story or two to share. He told us about an umpire (the name escapes me) who shared a joke with him.

As Joe recalled, the umpire had been married for 17 years and was trying to decide what to get his wife for her birthday. He asked his wife, “What would you like for your birthday?” She said, “I want a divorce.” The umpire said, “I wasn’t planning on spending that much money.”

You never know what you’re going to learn when you come to spring training. Every day is different and the memories are always unique. Today a little boy yelled out to Brandon Wood “hit another homerun like you did yesterday!” Wood smiled and said, “We’ll do.” Spring training is packed full of little stories like this and it just never get’s old.

It was a good day. We got to interact with Rich Thompson, Francisco Rodriguez, Hank Conger, Brandon Wood, Trevor Bell, Chris Pettit, Mark Trumbo, and Matt Palmer among others. We didn't see any of the regulars out on the practice fields, except for Kendrys Morales who is still trying to get ready.



Morales did stop to sign a few autographs, but not for long; much to the dismay of a lot of fans.

It was another fun day and we topped it off in grand style with dinner at Don & Charlie's in Scottsdale with fellow 514 Fanatics Bob and Stephen.

While we are dining Ned Colletti, the general manager of the Dodgers came in with some folks and sat at the table next to us.

Again, this is the kind of unexpected stuff that happens at spring training all the time.

Good times.

Hello old friend

Today reminded me of an old Eric Clapton song… “Hello old friend, it’s really good to see you once again.”

That “old friend” is spring training and Cheryl and I made our way to Tempe, Arizona today to see the Angels take on the Padres and some other “old friends” in former Angels’ pitching coach and now Padre Manager - Bud Black, ex-Angels - Dustin Moseley (who started the game) and Kevin Frandsen (who managed to homer today).



Prior to the game, it was nice to have a chance to welcome back old friend Chris Pettit who is finally healthy. It was actually just great to see all the familiar faces before the game.

During the game, there were a lot of familiar things that we saw and I’m not just talking about the guys now wearing Padre uniforms who once wore red.

There were some all-too-familiar mental mistakes as Bobby Abreu and Jeff Mathis each managed to get picked off first base. Stuff like this makes me crazy – even if it is only spring training. Speaking of which, I noticed Erick Aybar has one stolen base in three tries. Oh boy… that’s an all-too-familiar stat for sure.

On the bright side – Peter Bourjos showed off his speed with his fourth stolen base of the spring and Maicer Izturis also swiped a bag today (his second of the spring).

Brandon Wood said hello to his homerun swing, blasting his third of the pre-season and Bobby Abreu hit a pair of dingers (his first two of the year). The Angels came away with a 7-6 victory, reminding us all of the best old friend of all… winning.

It was especially nice to see Wood having a good day (he also doubled) and made some solid defensive plays. It’s clear there are fans out there who are really tired of seeing him, but a fair number of us also still support him as much as we can. I just can’t help but wonder if he’ll still be an Angel come opening day.

Last, but certainly not least – we also got to see our old friend “Joe” who works at the stadium. Turns out Joe got a little promotion and now works down on the field during games (as opposed to out in the outfield grass). Joe even took one for the team recently; he took a batted ball hit off his back side from none other than Adam Dunn. Ouch. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt and he told Cheryl and me he was disappointed it didn’t even bruise him; otherwise, he might have asked Dunn to autograph his… well, you know.


Today we also had to bid an offical farewell to an old friend in Scot Shields, who announced his retirement today. I'm going to miss Scot, as yet another link to 2002 hangs up his cleats.

And on that note, we’ll call it a day; after all, it’s been a long one that started with us leaving home around 5:00 a.m. I’m tired, but as is always the case with spring training; it’s a good-kind-of tired. More to come…

Enough is enough...

I don’t know about you, but there are a few things I’m really tired of this off season. First and foremost, I’ve had enough of Johnny Damon watch 2010. Where will Damon go? Will he go back to the Yankees? Will he grow his beard out? Will he eat a ham sandwich today? Good grief. Damon is like an aging rock star that’s forced to tour on the County Fair circuit as far as I’m concerned. Then again, I’ve just added to all the Damon talk with this post. Forgive me.

I’m also very tired of reading how one by one; the pundits and so-called baseball experts are picking the Seattle Mariners to win the American League West. Really? It’s not even February and some of you can’t even wait until Spring Training? What’s the hurry? It’s like they’re falling over one another to make sure they can pick Seattle before someone else does.

Rob Neyer of ESPN has the Angels winning just 81 games, six less than the Mariners. (CORRECTION - Neyer is commenting on CAIRO projections here - and not making them himself at this point).

Neyer give us some brilliant analysis. He did some in-depth research to tell us that “Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu are a year older.” Apparently, the rest of the league didn’t age. Go figure. Thanks Rob. By the way, you’re a year older too and your game seems to be slipping some as well. I’m just saying.

He also went on to say “Kendry Morales was probably over his head some last year.” When projections you don’t pan out (and Morales blew away all his projections last year), you get statements like that one. After all, something must be wrong if the projections are off, right? Year after year the Angels win more games than they’re projected to. It’s enough to make some people throw a hissy fit. I’m sure some will always under-project the Angels record because sooner or later they’re bound to be right – even if it’s just once.

To Neyer’s credit he does say that there isn’t much difference between the A’s projected 87 wins and the Angels’ projected 81 wins. He says “there are at least six games in play.” Whatever.

Dayn Perry of Fox Sports has also picked the Mariners to win the west. I really don’t know why I bother reading Perry or even following him on Twitter; because he seems to know as much about baseball as my cat does. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read something and thought to myself, does Perry do any kind of research what-so-ever?

I guess the Mariners are the new favorite flavor so far. So be it. I really shouldn’t get so worked up about projections. I mean we’re talking about projections. Projections? Where’s Allen Iverson when you need him. He’d be the perfect guy to tell us how ridiculous this all is. I mean we’re talking projections.

I’m also done with reading all the Mark McGwire bashing. I don’t think he should get into the Hall of Fame, but I can’t believe some people want to deprive him of continuing on with a life in baseball. Some of the demands being thrown out by people in glass houses are really nauseating.

Critiquing apologies has become a new art form. It’s as of he just finished an ice skating routine (imagine that) and some writer turned judge wants to knock him down a peg or two because of the way he blinks his eyes. The comments are almost as crazy as picturing McGwire on ice.

By the way, it’s almost time for another Johnny Damon update. What do you have for me? I’m just kidding. Well, sort of any way.

One thing I’m not tired of, but I’m still wondering about is whether or not anyone has noticed that the “Billy Beane is a genius” talk doesn’t seem to be as prevalent these days. Whatever happened to that movie with Brad Pitt playing the role of Beane? I’m betting it was beat out by the sequel to Snakes on a Plane or something like that.

I have to ask is anyone else waiting with baited breath for the updated PECOTA projections? Earlier in the week they had projected the Angels to finish last and the A’s to finish first. Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking? This must have been some sort of ploy to get the movie “Money Ball” back on the front burner.

Anyway, Baseball Prospectus (BP) is still working on getting a clue. Oops, did I just write that? I meant to say, BP is ironing out some problems they had with their initial projections. I guess the laughter kind of got to them or something. I guess you can gather that I’m waiting for the PECOTA projections for the comic relief it can provide.

Breaking news… you’re probably not going to believe me, but Allen Iverson just called me to say he couldn’t believe I was still talking about practice… I mean projections…

One last thing about PECOTA. Word on the street was that Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes were going to investigate the projections and ask the folks at Baseball Prospectus if they actually charged people for the work they do? Then again, can there be any penalties for catering to the fantasy baseball world? I mean think about – they call it FANTASY baseball for a reason, right?

Enough about what I’m sick and tired of.

A couple things I’m looking forward to include hearing Rich Thompson say “cheers” as he signs autographs for fans at Spring Training. Something about Australian accents and baseball players is kind of cool.

I’m also looking forward to Reggie Willits, Terry Evans, Chris Pettit and Peter Bourjos getting after it as they compete to make the 25 man roster. Something about healthy competition gets me going.

I can’t wait to see Torii Hunter interacting with fans. No one is better at engaging fans than Hunter in my opinion. ESPN the Magazine voted Joe Mauer as the fan friendliest player in baseball. That’s high praise, but I can only stand by what I’ve seen first hand and Hunter loves baseball fans.

Tomorrow is February 1 and that means spring training is just around the corner. How sweet it is that pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks!

Different Stokes

I don’t know what kind of Christmas Brian Stokes had, but his new year is off to a great start. Stokes leaves an organization (the Mets) that appears to have no plan and no clue for how to make their team better and ends up at one of the best run baseball teams in the major leagues.

To top it off, Stokes is from Southern California (he attended Jurupa Valley High School in Mira Loma) and will have an opportunity to play in front of friends and family on a regular basis.

In case you didn’t know - earlier today it was announced that Gary Matthews, Jr. (GMJ) was traded to the New York Mets for a relief pitcher named Brian Stokes. As part of the deal, the Angels will pay GMJ all but $2 million of the remaining $23.5 million (GMJ gets a $500K signing bonus as part of the trade) on his contract.

Ouch. That’s a lot of cash for what ends up being a really bad investment.

Never-the-less, it was deal that had to be done and the fact that the Angels got anything at all in return is somewhat of a miracle.

So what does this trade mean for someone like Matt Palmer? Given the addition of Joel Pineiro and now Stokes, Bill Plunkett of the O.C.Register speculates that it could be a bad week to be Palmer. Palmer could potentially find himself back in Salt Lake City pitching for the Angels AAA affiliate Bee’s.

If Palmer ends up back in Salt Lake City, it will be a shame. I’m not saying that’s not where he belongs. As a fan, I just have empathy for his situation.

If you listened to Jeff Biggs’ interview last night on AM 830’s The Drive, you got a look into the personality and character of Palmer. Palmer nearly walked away from the game prior to last season, but instead became one of the feel-good stories of 2009.

Palmer joined the rotation under the toughest of circumstances; having to replace Nick Adenhart, who died tragically. He handled himself incredibly well, all things considered.

Palmer is the kind of guy you want to root for as a fan. Judging from the interview last night, he sounds like a devoted husband and loving father of three. He’s also a humble man and someone who loves to share his faith with others. He pithced beyond anyone's expectations in 2009 and quite frankly hasn’t done anything to warrant a trip back to the minors; however, his future suddenly looks very different.

What ends up being good news for Stokes could end up being bad news for Palmer. Such is life.

One has to wonder if Palmer will hang in there if he has to head back to the minor leagues. Palmer will be 31 next month and time is running out for him to have a meaningful career.

Personally, I hope he sticks it out. It’s unlikely that the Angel starters will make all of their scheduled starts and Palmer provides depth. He’ll just have to wait for his opportunity yet again. When you think about it, it would probably best for the Angels to have Palmer in the minor leagues as a starting pitcher. It would be easier for him to be called on to step into the rotation, rather than having to do a spot start as a reliever.

That being said, I’m not so sure Stokes should be the clear cut guy to get that spot in the bull pen.

When you take a look at their numbers, I’d say Palmer had the better year. Palmer had a lower ERA (3.93 to 3.97). Even though those ERA’s aren’t all that different, Palmer has to get higher marks for pitching in the American League. Palmer also had a lower WHIP (1.319 to 1.564), and one could argue that Palmer is much more versatile. Palmer can start, pitch in long relief and even has experience as a closer (at lower levels).

On the other hand, those who use sabermetrics would probably make the case for Stokes over Palmer. Stokes had a lower FIP than Palmer (4.63 to 4.70), but the numbers are close. Stokes also projects better than Palmer (according to Bill James, CHONE, and Marcel - which you can look up on FanGraphs).

Side note: If you’re wondering what in the heck FIP is, I would encourage you to read The Daily Something's explanation of FIP. As a sabermetric novice (at best) myself, I found the post from one of my favorite blogs to be most helpful.

I have to believe both players will have an opportunity to compete for a spot in the bull pen in the spring. There's also a chance Scioscia will have a twelve man pitching staff, which would give both players a chance (but that's unlikely).

As a fan, I have the luxury of showing bias here and I will personally be rooting for Matt Palmer. He's won me over.

By the way, let me be the first to call the new Angel reliever, Brian "Different" Stokes and let's imagine him looking at Reggie and saying, "what you talkin' bout Willits?"

Forgive me, I couldn't resist.

Today's trade also has an impact on the outfield situation. The battle for the fourth outfielder position will be waged between Reggie Willits, Terry Evans and possibly Chris Pettit or Peter Bourjous.

I know Willits is a fan favorite, but I'd really like to see Evans get a shot. He seems to have more upside than Willits. There's also a possibility that both could make the team or the Angels could look to the free agent market to find that piece.

Much of this depends on how many pitchers Scioscia decides to have on his roster.