Results tagged ‘ Angels ’
Mike Trout hits for the cycle. Well, duh. …
Mike Trout had a 2-0 count against Mariners lefty Lucas Luetge, with one out in the eighth, an 11-0 lead in the scoreboard, and a triple, double and single in his back pocket. At that point, you figured he’d go deep. It made so much sense — too much sense — for one of the most dynamic, exhilarating, talented players in the game to hit for the cycle.
When he did, Trout (21 years, nine months and 14 days old) became the youngest player in American League history to accomplish the feat (surpassing Alex Rodriguez in 1997), the first Angels player to do it since Chone Figgins on Sept. 16, 2006, and the sixth-youngest ever.
“I didn’t really think of it ’til about the 8th inning,” Trout told FOX Sports West postgame. “I was like, ‘Man, I have a triple, double and a single.’ I got the 2-0 there and I said, ‘Hey, if I’m going to hit one, it’s going to be this pitch.’”
You have to figure Trout has at least one more of these in him.
Question is: Can he hit for the cycle more times than anybody ever?
The record is a mere three, accomplished by three players (Bob Meusel, Babe Herman and John Reilly) in Major League history. Now, Major League Baseball history is long. And there have been a lot of five-tool players to come through. The fact that nobody did it more than three times shows you the luck that’s needed to accomplish a milestone that’s somewhat, well, quirky. But is there anyone in baseball more qualified to hit for the cycle than Trout, with an unrivaled combination of speed and power?
“If I were a betting man,” Mike Scioscia told reporters postgame, “I’ve got to believe there’s another cycle in his career somewhere.”
Some additional tidbits from Trout’s cycle …
- Trout is the third-youngest player to hit for the cycle since 1930. The two younger guys were Arky Vaughan (21 years and three months in 1933) and Cesar Cedeno (21 years and five months in 1972).
- This is the seventh cycle in Angels history. Ex-shortstop Jim Fregosi had two. Two of the Angels’ seven cycles have come against the Mariners.
- First cycle in the Majors since Adrian Beltre – who also had two — on Aug. 24, 2012.
- The last Angels player to hit for the cycle at Angel Stadium was Jeff DaVanon in 2004.
- Since the RBI became an official stat in 1920, only two other players have hit for the cycle in a game where they also drove in five or more runs and stole at least one base (Tony Lazzeri in 1932; Herman in 1931).
- Trout is the first player born in the 1990s to hit for the cycle in the Majors.
- There have been 238 other cycles in baseball history. Twenty-nine players did it more than once, including George Brett, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and, yes, Brad Wilkerson.
– Alden
Game 40: Royals-Angels …
Royals (19-17)
Jarrod Dyson, CF
Alcides Escobar, SS
Alex Gordon, LF
Billy Butler, DH
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Lorenzo Cain, RF
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Salvador Perez, C
Elliot Johnson, 2B
SP: RH Wade Davis (2-3, 5.86 ERA)
Angels (15-24)
Erick Aybar, SS
Mike Trout, CF
Albert Pujols, DH
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Josh Hamilton, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Chris Iannetta, C
J.B. Shuck, LF
SP: RH Barry Enright (0-1, 11.37)
- There was thought Ryan Madson could join the Angels before the end of the week, after making his second and final rehab appearance for Class A Inland Empire on Wednesday or Thursday. That is no longer the case. The Angels prefer to slow down his rehab and have him pitch at Triple-A Salt Lake before being activated. This isn’t really a setback, though. Madson continues to feel good, having just the normal soreness pitchers go through, but he’d been going very aggressive in hopes of coming back as soon as possible — throwing off a mound with intensity every other day — and the Angels feel it’d be best if they slowed him down and ease him into the Majors. “I respect that,” Madson said. I’d expect Madson to start pitching in Triple-A by the end of the week. How long will he be there? Mike Scioscia said: “If everything goes the way we anticipate, not very long at all.” Madson threw out “a couple weeks.” Scioscia, when told that, said: “I don’t know if it’s going to take a couple weeks. It might or it might not. We want to make sure that he’s ready to go and his rehab sticks when it goes.”
- Earlier today, Angels owner Arte Moreno publicly backed Scioscia, saying there’s “zero” chance he’ll be dismissed. Sciosica’s reaction: “Arte has always been very supportive. Arte knows how hard I take the non-performance of this team and how we need to get there. It hits me as hard as it hits Arte and it hits Jerry [Dipoto], and I know Arte realizes that. We’re going to take this challenge and hopefully start moving forward and getting the wins that we need to get ourselves in the position we want to. That’s the bottom line is winning, and we’re going to work towards that.”
- Some other injury notes: Jered Weaver (broken left elbow) came out of his Tuesday bullpen session feeling fine and is still scheduled to throw an 80-pitch, up-and-down ‘pen (meaning 20 pitches, sit down, 20 pitches, sit down, and so on) on Friday. The next step after that would be a rehab assignment. … Sean Burnett (left forearm tightness) is expected to throw his first bullpen session on Thursday. … Peter Bourjos (left hamstring strain) has been riding the elliptical, playing catch, doing some aquatic exercises and getting in some lunges, but there’s still no date for when he can run on the field. … Kevin Jepsen (strained lat) was scheduled to throw his third bullpen session today. … Still no timetable for when Tommy Hanson (restricted list) will be back, but he has been throwing.
– Alden
Moreno on Scioscia: ‘Mike has zero problems’
Well, there you have it.
FOXSports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi caught Arte Moreno at the Owners Meetings in New York and asked him about Mike Scioscia‘s oft-speculated-upon status as manager of the Angels. Moreno’s response: “Mike has zero problems, OK? This is his 14th year. Mike goes beyond what he does on the field. He’s a good person. He’s a good person in the community, a very good baseball guy. You don’t have to ask me. You just ask other managers, other baseball people.”
As for the job status of general manager Jerry Dipoto, Moreno told FOXSports.com: “We have had zero discussions on anything other than who is going to be healthy enough to play. Jerry’s been here a year and a half. There are a lot of underlying things we need to fix and adjust in the organization.”
What does all this mean?
Well, not much, really. Scioscia is under contract through 2018, as Morosi pointed out, and there’s no way his boss would ever go on record to say his job status is in jeopardy in the first place. If nothing else, though, it at least quells the outside speculation of whether or not he’ll be retained. And that can only help a manager do his job.
The big question is still what Moreno does, if anything, if the Angels fall short of the playoffs for a fourth straight season.
Right now, regardless of the Angels’ 15-24 record, it’s mid-May, there’s a whole lot of season left and it doesn’t seem very prudent to make a big staff change. As Albert Pujols pointed out, it’s on the players to perform up to their reputations.
“Right now,” Moreno told the site, “in Mike’s job, I have no questions about Mike.”
Jason Vargas, true to form …
Joe Blanton perpetually gets hit around and Tommy Hanson continues to be away from the team because of a family issue, but the other rotation newcomer, Jason Vargas, has pretty much provided what the Angels would’ve expected lately.
On Tuesday night, he bounced back from a dud against the Astros, limiting a pretty dangerous Royals lineup to five hits and one walk while striking out seven batters in seven-plus innings of two-run ball. Vargas, acquired in exchange for Kendrys Morales in December, hasn’t allowed a first-inning run in either of his first eight starts, is 2-1 with a 3.14 ERA at home and, most importantly, has pitched seven or more innings in four of his last five outings.
“I try to go out there every time and keep the team in the ballgame, be consistent out there and try to execute,” Vargas said.
His ERA, at 6.75 after his April 16 start, is now at 4.03. He’s responsible for both of the Angels’ complete games (though one was eight innings of a loss on the road). And though he began the season in the fourth spot of the rotation, he’s clearly the Angels’ third-best starter (perhaps even second, depending on how you feel about C.J. Wilson).
“If you look at Jason, you look at his track record, this guy pitches deep into games,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Vargas, who posted a 3.96 ERA and compiled 611 innings his previous three years in Seattle. “It’s one thing saying ‘gives innings,’ but this guy gives you good innings and that’s what’s important to us is these guys getting into the seventh, possibly the eighth, giving those good innings and giving our offense a chance to do what it did tonight.”
– Alden
Josh Hamilton still ‘off upstairs’ …
The best way Josh Hamilton can describe whatever it is he’s going through right now is to simply say he’s “off upstairs.”
On Monday night, the Angels’ high-priced right fielder was pulled after six innings because of what manager Mike Scioscia originally deemed light-headedness. In a sense, that’s true. But Hamilton will simply tell you that he’s sick; dealing with some sort of congestion that makes him prone to dizziness and sensitive to the bright lights of a Major League stadium.
“I’m just off,” he said. “However you want to write it, however you want to describe it – I’m just off.”
Hamilton has been dealing with this issue throughout his career, and his most recent bout began on May 5, a couple days before the Angels left on their six-game road trip through Houston and Chicago. His body continues to “feel great,” but the condition remains.
Hamilton was nonetheless in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Royals, batting fifth but confined to designated hitter because the illness is manageable in the batter’s box; not so much when constantly running around the outfield.
He’s vehement in saying this won’t keep him out of the lineup, and he’s quick to dismiss it as an excuse for his struggles.
“I’ve felt bad plenty of times and played and done well,” said Hamilton, who has a .212/.261/.344 slash line despite getting two hits in Monday’s loss. “This has nothing to do with that. It’s more of, I’d say probably being out on the field type of thing – run the bases, then go out on the field, combined with lights and all that stuff. It’s not the best thing at this moment.”
Hamilton received a shot before leaving to Houston and felt better. But the cold of Chicago made it worse and, most frightening of all, the issue appears to be sensitive to Southern California’s climate. While with the Rangers last September, Hamilton missed the last two games of a three-game series against the Angels, then another three because of a vision condition called “ocular keratitis,” which impacts the cornea.
But the 31-year-old said that was directly linked to consuming too much caffeine. This, he added, “is an actual sickness.”
Now that Hamilton will be in Southern California long-term, via the five-year, $125 million contract he signed in December, he’ll seek a permanent solution by seeing an allergist soon. For now, he’s between antibiotics, trying to figure out something that will at least temporarily get rid of the problem – or, as he describes it, “put a Band-Aid on it.”
Asked if getting rid of the problem entirely would force him to go on the disabled list, Hamilton said: “No, absolutely not. Because if that’s the case, we’ll just put Band-Aids on it until the offseason comes.”
Here are today’s lineups …
Royals (19-16)
Lorenzo Cain, CF
Alcides Escobar, SS
Alex Gordon, LF
Billy Butler, DH
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Salvador Perez, C
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Miguel Tejada, 2B
SP: RH Jeremy Guthrie (5-0, 2.28 ERA)
Angels (14-24)
Erick Aybar, SS
Mike Trout, CF
Albert Pujols, 1B
Mark Trumbo, RF
Hamilton, DH
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Chris iannetta, C
J.B. Shuck, LF
SP: LH Jason Vargas (1-3, 4.26 ERA)
– Alden
Game 34: Astros-Angels …
The Angels can’t get swept by the Astros, can they? We shall see …
Angels (11-22)
Erick Aybar, SS
Mike Trout, CF
Albert Pujols, DH
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Josh Hamilton, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Chris Iannetta, C
J.B. Shuck, LF
SP: LH Jason Vargas (1-3, 3.72 ERA)
Astros (10-24)
Robbie Grossman, LF
Jimmy Paredes, RF
Jose Altuve, 2B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Jason Castro, C
Chris Carter, 1B
Ronny Cedeno, SS
Matt Dominguez, 3B
Brandon Barnes, CF
SP: RH Lucas Harrell (3-3, 5.03 ERA)
- Jered Weaver threw his first bullpen today (28 pitches) and felt really good. Mike Scioscia said he’ll need about four more, thrown with one day in between if Weaver continues to feel good, before venturing out on a rehab assignment.
- Ryan Madson threw 20 pitches in an intrasquad game in Arizona today and, as planned, will pitch there again on Saturday.
- If the Angels make the playoffs this year, they’ll become only the fourth team in history to do it despite starting off the season 11-22. Per Elias, the only other teams to start a season 11-22 or worse and play in the postseason were the 1914 Braves, the 1974 Pirates and the 1981 Royals. To be fair, though, there was no second wild card — or even first wild card — back then.
- The last time the Angels were 11 games below .500: May 22, 2006. They haven’t been 9 1/2 games back this early in a season since 2002 — when they were 9 1/2 games back on April 22, 10 1/2 games back on April 23 and (lo and behold!) World Series champs on Oct. 27.
- Eleven of the Angels’ 22 losses have come by two runs or less.
– Alden
Question of the Day, 5/8 …
At what point do you expect the Angels to turn their season around? — @keaton_choi
If I knew that, I’d move to Vegas. Who knows. For some reason, nothing seems to be clicking right now. When they hit, like Tuesday, they don’t pitch. When they pitch, like Wednesday, they don’t hit. This is the time to turn it around. Right now. The Angels are two games into a 29-game stretch that will see them play only seven games against a team that’s currently above .500. And that team is the Royals. It’s no excuse — at all — but 22 of the Angels’ first 31 games came against teams that made the playoffs last year. That’s a tough stretch. If they go 19-10 in this 29-game stretch, they’re at .500 with guys like Jered Weaver, Ryan Madson, Sean Burnett and perhaps even Peter Bourjos back — and maybe Josh Hamilton finally swinging the bat. But losing back-to-back games to a bad Astros team is a tough way to start.
– Alden
Game 33: Angels-Astros …
Angels (11-21)
Erick Aybar, SS
Mike Trout, CF
Albert Pujols, DH
Mark Trumbo, 1B
Josh Hamilton, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Chris Iannetta, C
J.B. Shuck, LF
SP: RH Joe Blanton (0-5, 5.97 ERA)
Astros (9-24)
Robbie Grossman, CF
Jimmy Paredes, RF
Jose Altuve, 2B
Jason Castro, C
J.D. Martinez, DH
Carlos Pena, 1B
Chris Carter, LF
Matt Dominguez, 3B
Marwin Gonzalez, SS
SP: RH Bud Norris (3-3, 3.89 ERA)
- Pujols is back at DH today because his surgically repaired right knee is bothering him. Nine of his last 11 games (not including the Sunday game he was out of the lineup for) had come at first base. Since his four-hit, two-homer game in Oakland on April 29, he’s 2-for-23, with a homer, a walk and six strikeouts.
- Ryan Madson packed up his bags and left for Arizona on Wednesday, where he’ll pitch in at least two simulated games, then probably venture out on a rehab assignment, likely with the Cal League. On Tuesday, Madson talked about needing only two Minor League rehab outings, allowing him to return by the end of next week. That may be pushing it a little, but Scioscia didn’t rule it out pregame. “The process is not complete with Ryan,” Mike Scioscia said. “You have to see how he bounces back, see how his stuff plays.”
- The Angels are now 4-5 when scoring six-plus runs this season. Last year, they were 93-13 in those instances.
- A feature on Jerome Williams and the relationship with his late mother will run Sunday, at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. This week, Williams has been posting photos of him and his mom on his Twitter account. Here’s a story I wrote on this subject for Mother’s Day last year.
– Alden
Game 32: Angels-Astros …
These are the Angels’ next 10 series (making up a stretch of 29 games): at Astros, at White Sox, vs. Royals, vs. White Sox, vs. Mariners, at Royals, at Dodgers, vs. Dodgers, vs. Astros, vs. Cubs. Only one of those teams is currently above .500 — and it’s the Royals. This would be the time to make up some serious ground on the hole they’ve dug themselves to start the season. Go 19-10 in that stretch, which they should, and suddenly they’re at .500. Continue to lose in that stretch, and things can start getting ugly.
Angels (11-20)
Erick Aybar, SS
Mike Trout, CF
Albert Pujols, 1B
Mark Trumbo, DH
Josh Hamilton, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Alberto Callaspo, 3B
Hank Conger, C
J.B. Shuck, LF
SP: LH C.J. Wilson (3-0, 4.04 ERA)
Astros (8-24)
Robbie Grossman, LF
Jimmy Paredes, RF
Jose Altuve, 2B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Carlos Corporan, C
Chris Carter, 1B
Ronny Cedeno, SS
Matt Dominguez, 3B
Brandon Barnes, CF
SP: RH Jordan Lyles (0-0, 3.60 ERA)
- Jered Weaver (broken left elb0w) is scheduled to throw his first bullpen session on Thursday, which is when he can really start getting a gauge for how far along he is. Sunday marked four weeks since he landed on the DL with an injury that carried an estimated four-to-six-week recovery, but the Angels’ ace isn’t two weeks away from getting back, Angels manager Mike Scioscia confirmed. Weaver will need to ramp up some innings in extended spring in Arizona before getting back out there.
- Sean Burnett‘s visit with Dr. James Andrews revealed forearm inflammation. He took an anti-inflammatory shot that will keep him away from throwing for another week.
- Ryan Madson, however, perceivably took a step forward on Monday. He threw a bullpen, felt good, and wants to face hitters in extended spring training in Arizona as soon as Thursday. At that point, he hopes to face hitters every other day. His goal — though that can change, as it has before — is to be back with the Angels towards the end of next week.
- Conger is behind the plate for a fifth consecutive Wilson start, but Scioscia said it has more to do with Chris Iannetta struggling with some things defensively — not necessarily him wanting to pair Conger exclusively with Wilson. Here’s what the Angels’ skipper said: “First and foremost, we want him to get a little more of a comfort level behind the plate. He’s doing a good job, but it just doesn’t look like he’s as comfortable as he needs to be back there. On the offensive side, he hasn’t gotten a lot of hits to fall in, but that’s secondary to what our starting pitchers need especially.”
- Peter Bourjos isn’t with the team. He stayed back to rehab his strained left hamstring.
- Kevin Jepsen (strained lat) is playing catch, but has yet to get off a mound.
- In case you missed it, Mark Lowe was activated on Monday.
– Alden
Alden Gonzalez
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