Results tagged ‘ A.J. Pierzynski ’

Minutiae from a wild, 19-inning night …

APTOPIX Angels Athletics BaseballSome additional tidbits from Monday night’s 19-inning, 10-8 loss to the A’s, courtesy of the Angels’ PR department …

  • At six hours and 32 minutes, it was the longest game in Angels history, surpassing the six-hour, six-minute game played on April 13, 1982 against the Mariners (20 innings).
  • Innings-wise, it was the third-longest in Angels history. The Angels have played 20 innings twice, on the above-mentioned game against Seattle and July 9, 1971, against the A’s. That means two of the three 19-inning games in Angels history have been walk-off losses to the A’s.
  • It was the longest MLB game since the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 6-3, in 19 innings on Aug. 19, 2012, in St. Louis; it was the longest AL game since the White Sox beat the Red Sox, 6-5, in 19 innings on July 9, 2006, in Chicago.
  • The 18 runs scored were the fourth-most in 19-inning, Major League history.
  • The two clubs used a combined 16 pitches (eight each) and threw a combined 597 pitches. The 297 pitches the Angels threw were the most since at least 1988.
  • Howie Kendrick and Brendan Harris each went 2-for-9, becoming the second and third Angels players to log nine at-bats in a game. The first was Don Baylor, who went 5-for-9 on 4/13/82. It was the first game since 1993 to have three players (also Jed Lowrie) log nine at-bats in a game.
  • Six different Angels pitchers allowed a run for the fifth time in team history, and first time since Sept. 30, 2000.
  • Four players (Peter Bourjos, Luis Jimenez, Coco Crisp, Chris Young) exited early with injuries.
  • Seven of the Angels’ nine position players went the full 19 innings, including catcher Chris Iannetta, who worked 18 2/3 innings behind the plate. The last American League catchers to be behind the plate for more than 18 innings in a game were A.J. Pierzynski and Jason Varitek in 2006, in a game between the White Sox and Red Sox that ended with one out in the bottom of the 19th.

– Alden

Game 19: Rangers-Angels …

Rangers (13-6)

TEX2Ian Kinsler, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Lance Berkman, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Nelson Cruz, RF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Jeff Baker, LF
Craig Gentry, CF
Mitch Moreland, 1B

SP: RH Alexi Ogando (2-1, 3.32 ERA)

Angels (7-11)

LAA DISNEYPeter Bourjos, CF
Mike Trout, LF
Albert Pujols, DH
Josh Hamilton, RF
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Brendan Harris, SS
Chris Iannetta, C
Luis Jimenez, 3B

SP: LH Jason Vargas (0-2, 6.75 ERA)

  • Yet another new face has graced the Angels’ bullpen. On Tuesday, lefty Nick Maronde was called up from Double-A Arkansas, with shortstop Tommy Field getting optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and the Angels going with a three-man bench. The reason? Lefty Sean Burnett is currently sidelined with some tightness in his forearm, which he chalks up as part of the recovery from the removal of bone spurs in his elbow. It’s a day-to-day situation, but the Angels need as many healthy arms as possible in the ‘pen. That’s five new faces in two weeks (Maronde, Michael Roth, Dane De La Rosa, Michael Kohn and David Carpenter). The Angels now have four lefty relievers. There were times when Mike Scioscia didn’t have any.
  • Erick Aybar will go with the team to Seattle, but won’t be activated off the disabled list on Thursday, as he said he was shooting for on Monday. Mike Scioscia wants Aybar to get a couple days in extended Spring Training in order to work on his prep step, since the left heel could be sensitive to playing shortstop.
  • Jerome Williams still looks likely to make the start on Wednesday against the Rangers, but it isn’t official. Scioscia is waiting until postgame, just in case he has to use them. Lifetime against Texas, Williams has a 7.34 ERA. “I’m not worried about their lineup,” he said. “I’m worried about what I’m doing out there.”
  • Alberto Callaspo (right calf strain) is “still not quite where you’d want him to be,” Scioscia said, but added that “there’s a probability he’ll be ready over the weekend.” Callaspo is eligible to come off the DL on Saturday.

– Alden

Game 18: Rangers-Angels …

Series No. 2 between the bitter AL West rivals, with both teams coming off weekend sweeps (the Angels over the Tigers, and the Rangers over the Mariners) …

Rangers (7-10)

TEXIan Kinsler, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Lance Berkman, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Nelson Cruz, RF
David Murphy, LF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Leonys Martin, CF

SP: LH Derek Holland (1-1, 1.64 ERA)

Angels (7-10)

laaPeter Bourjos, CF
Mike Trout, LF
Albert Pujols, DH
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Josh Hamilton, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Brendan Harris, SS
Chris Iannetta, C
Luis Jimenez, 3B

SP: RH Joe Blanton (0-3, 8.59 ERA)

  • It sounds like Mike Scioscia putting Hamilton in the No. 5 spot may be a platoon situation, at least for now, with Hamilton batting fifth against lefties and fourth against righties. The Rangers have back-to-back righties in this series (Alexi Ogando and Yu Darvish). “I think against a lefty, you get Trumb in there behind Albert right now until Josh finds his stride,” Scioscia said. “Against righties, we’ll put Josh back in there to see if he can stay in the middle and help Albert to take advantage of what Albert can do.”
  • Hamilton (.176/.247/.324) has no issue with the move: “If I was hitting ninth, I’d be OK with it. I’d be happy not getting a hit ever again as long as we’re winning. I’m that guy.”
  • Erick Aybar (left heel) ran today for the first time and is eying a return to the lineup by Thursday’s series opener against the Mariners, the first day he’s eligible to come off the DL.  … Ryan Madson was scheduled to throw off flat ground on Monday and Scioscia said he’s slated to throw in another sim game before the end of this homestand. … Alberto Callaspo (right calf) continues to hit and take grounders, but still isn’t running. He’s thinking he can be back by the end of the week.

– Alden

How Angels’ ‘Big 3′ stacks up in 2013 …

Josh Hamilton

I wrote recently about the Angels’ own prestigious “Big Three” of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton — how they could potentially hold up historically and in this era.

But how do they hold up in 2013? There’s little debate that the Angels now have the most talented and celebrated lineup trio in baseball, giving them arguably the game’s most potent offense. But I was a little stunned that their 2012 stats didn’t show it.

In fact, when combining each of their OPS from 2012, the Angels’ trio ranked third, behind those of the Tigers and Reds. Below is the top 15, based on combined OPS of the top three current players in each lineup (minimum is 400 plate appearances) …

  • Tigers (Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Austin Jackson): 2.795
  • Reds (Joey Votto, Ryan Ludwick, Jay Bruce): 2.759
  • Angels (Trout, Pujols, Hamilton): 2.752
  • Brewers (Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez, Corey Hart): 2.729
  • Red Sox (David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli*): 2.635
  • Blue Jays (Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera): 2.627
  • Cardinals (Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, Yadier Molina): 2.627
  • Rangers (Adrian Beltre, David Murphy, A.J. Pierzynski): 2.607
  • Rockies (Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Tyler Colvin): 2.602
  • Pirates (Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvarez): 2.569
  • D-backs (Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt, Jason Kubel): 2.565
  • Yankees (Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira): 2.547
  • Twins (Josh Willingham, Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit): 2.532
  • Giants (Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt): 2.527
  • Dodgers (Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez): 2.524

* Napoli’s deal still hasn’t been finalized. 

** A special thanks to all of you for making this blog the 10th-most popular among MLB.com beat writers in 2012. You’re the whipped cream on my sundae. 

– Alden 

Game 39: White Sox-Angels …

White Sox (17-21)

Alejandro De Aza, CF
Gordon Beckham, 2B
Adam Dunn, 1B
Paul Konerko, DH
Alex Rios, RF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Dayan Viciedo, LF
Brent Morel, 3B

Pitching: RH Chris Sale (3-2, 3.08 ERA)

Angels (17-21)

Mike Trout, RF
Maicer Izturis, SS
Albert Pujols, 1B
Mark Trumbo, DH
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Vernon Wells, LF
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Peter Bourjos, CF
John Hester, C

Pitching: LH C.J. Wilson (4-3, 3.42 ERA)

Some pregame notes …

  • Pujols has driven in 12 runs in his last 10 games, after driving in just five runs in his previous 27.
  • Last night was the first time manager Mike Scioscia trotted out the same lineup on consecutive days all season.
  • Callaspo has six multi-hit games in his last 10. Scioscia, on the platoon (of sorts) between Callaspo and Izturis, which has been working for him a lot better: “It’s primarily on-base percentage what we’re looking for. In that 2-hole, when you look statistically, Howie’s been really comfortable hitting in an RBI situation, whether it’s fifth or sixth, and in the 2-hole, he’s maybe not as comfortable, statistically. … I think the options we have for on-base percentage, with Mike Trout leading off, for the 2-hole, the best options we have is Izturis and Callaspo. … It hasn’t shown up yet, but I think if you look at what the top of the lineups have done, we are creating more situations.”
  • The Angels are 16-4 when scoring four runs or more and 1-17 when scoring three or fewer.
  • The Angels have gone five straight games (51 straight innings) without an error.

Some Angels links from Wednesday …

Some AL West links …

And the Heat’s supporting cast will have to step up today.

– Alden

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