The The Angels Angels

My favorite scientist, astrophysicist and Director of the Haden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson noted on his twitter this past week that The Los Angeles Angels translates as The The Angels Angels. That just in from the Department of Redundancy Department. Well, maybe they deserve to be named twice because after the first month of the season, they were 9-15 and in last place in the AL West and now at the start of action after the All Star break, they were 10 games over .500 and only 4 games behind Texas. It just seems that Mike Scioscia gets the most out of the ball players he has. Of course it helps that he has Albert Pujols.

Pujols may be the Webster’s Dictionary definition of “over-yeared” ball players. ARod is another prime example, a player whose contract runs way longer than the time they will be a productive hitter. It used to be that baseball owners with money simply over paid their superstars but now that everyone has some money and there is revenue sharing, money is less of an issue and the length of the contracts have continued to grow. Five years became 7 became 10 and now these guys will be in retirement villages and still be getting paid for playing ball for someone.

I have to say I am quite impressed with the two Angel’s outfielders Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo. Both have hit long, long bombs against the Yankees. Trout is playing left but has centerfielder skills and is hitting almost .350. I am pretty sure that my friend JHop has a crush on both of them. That’s good enough for me.

After taking the first two games of the Angels series, they tried everything they could to give away game three. The bullpen, so reliable in the past, collapsed late giving up 8 runs in the final 4 innings. They made a run in the ninth but too little, too late. Oh well…..

PINCH HITS

-while batting under .200, Russell Martin better throw out potential base stealers. In the first game of the series, Martin threw out 3 players stealing AND drove in the winning run in the 8^th inning. It would be so nice if he went on a hot streak now.

- On Saturday, after taking 2 in a row from the Angels, as unusual as that is, I am beginning to wonder if this is the hot streak we have been waiting for. Up next is Toronto. Hopefully, the streak continues.

-Do you suppose that Red Sox fan is teetering on the edge of cashing in the season? Friends of mine, who are Sox fans, were wearing Sox caps until the team got out of the basement. The way the Sox are flirting with the AL East basement, the caps have been on and off more times than a light on a Broadway billboard.

 See you in a few days, Toronto waits in the wings…