On this Friday night, we were treated to two pitching duels with both the Angels and the Dodgers defeat the Yankees and Giants respectively 2-1. It seemed like a karmic gift for suffering through this little heat wave in Southern California this week. more ›

It would have been nice to be able to discuss what a great pitching duel it was with Tigers’ starter Justin Verlander four outs away from a no-hitter. Unfortunately the actions of a few detracted from it all. more ›

Yesterday was one of the toughest days in Los Angeles sports: - USC loses to Stanford 24-23. Yes, Stanford. The school with a tree mascot. The same school who went 1-11 last year, and lost their starting quarterback earlier in the week. Their coach, Jim Harbaugh, proclaimed that USC was the best team in college football history, getting some snickers from Pete Carroll throughout the week. The question before the game was whether Carroll... more ›

Ducks 4, Kings 1 - After Los Angeles shocked Anaheim 4-1 in Saturday's season opener in London (yes, London), the defending champs showed who really is king. Despite 10 goals in two days, British fans were reportedly most excited about a good ol' fashioned hockey fight. Welcome back, NHL. Welcome back. A's 3, Angels 2 - The AL West champion Halos hit a skid when they clinched the pennant, but they saved face in their... more ›

Giants 4, Dodgers 2 - Jeff Kent's two solo shots gave the Dodgers a lead, but it fell apart on a three run pinch-hit blast by San Francisco's Ray Durham in the eighth. Los Angeles went 7-2 against the Giants this year, both losses coming in this weekend's series. With just 18 games to go this season -- all against division rivals -- the Blue Crew sits 5.5 games behind NL West leader Arizona and... more ›

Dodgers 9, Cubs 8 - With a five run lead heading into the sixth, things looked pretty good for Los Angeles. Two innings later they were staring up at an 8-5 deficit. No sweat, they just poured on four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to go ahead for good. Of all the lines to come out of the game, this one from the AP may be the most promising news for the... more ›

Padres 3, Dodgers 2 - Jeff Kent drove home a run in the first and the third, helping Los Angeles jump out to a 2-0 lead against San Diego's Greg Maddux. Then Maddux started to pitch more like, well, Maddux. He retired the final 14 batters he faced and went home with the W against his old team (you may remember he wore blue, albeit briefly). Angels 3, White Sox 0 - Gary Matthews Jr.'s... more ›

Clippers 103, Suns 99 - The sun hasn't set on the Clipper's playoff hopes yet. Los Angeles surprised Phoenix, who played their regular starters despite a lock on the #2 seed in the West. The Clippers need to beat New Orleans (a/k/a Oklahoma City) on Wednesday and root for Portland to beat Golden State. That scenario would tie them with the Warriors at .500. The teams split their season series, but the Clippers would advance... more ›

Last night I made my way down to Anaheim for my first game at the Big A this season. The first thing I noticed was that it only cost me $8 to park, and I was able to easily get in and out of the stadium. In contrast, it'll cost you $15 to park at Dodger Stadium, and getting a spot and leaving the stadium will give you more headaches than that Paris Hilton... more ›

Because of the unseasonably beautiful weather here in LA, when the Angels broke camp they sent their injured Cy Young award-winner Bartolo Colon to single-A Rancho Cucamonga of the California League. more ›

Who needs football when all three area pro baseball teams are so much fun? Long Beach Armada Steroid-slinging slugger Jose Canseco, oh yeah former steroid-slinging slugger... took to the mound for the first time as a starting pitcher Wednesday in Long Beach. Canseco fluttered a knuckleball for 4 1/3 innings, giving up five walks and hitting four batters while striking out only one as the LB Armada lost 8-2 against the Reno Silver Sox.... more ›

On Friday, the Angels designated Jeff Weaver for assignment and gave his rotation spot to little brother Jered. Jered had been lights out in his previous stint with the club, going 4-0 in his first four starts; the only other Angel ever to do so was Cy Young winner Dean Chance. Jeff, by contrast, had given the Angels only three wins over sixteen starts, although in some fairness, some of that can be laid at the feet of the Angels' offense.

By giving Weaver The Younger a permanent shot at a rotation slot, it does two things: first, it shows the team has faith in Jered. That's completely understandable, as he's mostly dominated his major league opponents to date. Second, and more importantly, it shows that the team has faith in the next guy waiting in the wings at AAA Salt Lake, the unheralded southpaw Joe Saunders.
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When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail, and
going into this weekend's series against the Diamondbacks, the Angels' offense looked like a whole row of
ten-pennies waiting to get pounded in. Recently, Mike Scioscia href="http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2006/06/petulantly-waiting-to-fire-mickey.html">confessed that while the team is awfully fond of on-base percentage
(OBP) as an important statistic to measure for the team's offense, it
really has a big crush on hitting with runners in scoring position,
and especially, hitting with runners in scoring position with two
outs.
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Two years ago, baseball took its scheduling out of the hands of the mom-and-pop operation that had done the job for 24 years, trusting a computer program to do a better job. That software would seem to still have a human hand guiding it, as evidenced by the careful attention to such details as ensuring rematches of World Series past: this year, we had Cubs vs. Tigers (1935 WS), White Sox vs. Reds (1919 WS), Dodgers vs. A's (1974 and 1988 WS) — and a rematch of the 2002 Series, in Angels vs. Giants. A lot's changed since 2002: both teams have had their offensive cores age, hitting the Angels hardest, with Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, and Tim Salmon all suffering steep declines. Teams pitch to Barry Bonds now. Similarly, both teams have absorbed young talent, to mixed success: the Angels successes include catcher Mike Napoli, starting pitcher Jered Weaver (unfortunately sent back down upon the return of Bartolo Colón), and to some degree, the return of Dallas McPherson, in his third major league season, but yet without a full year of playing time under his belt. In this series, the Giants featured youth in the guises of 25-year-old lefthander Noah Lowry and 21-year-old righty Matt Cain. Inbetween, Team Halloween started Matt Morris, the veteran right-hander. But regardless of who was on the mound for the opposition, the story was sadly the same as it's been throughout most of this year: all told, the Angels hit an anemic .224 against Giants pitching in the series. Way more after the jump... more ›

John Klima of The Daily Breeze today said it all:

They sent Jered Weaver, the rookie right-hander who won all four of his decisions and posted a 1.37 ERA, helping to stabilize the pitching staff of the last-place team in the AL West, to triple-A Salt Lake.

Things havent gone well for Angels starting pitcher Kelvim Escobar. more ›

Not only did they get Jered Weaver signed, but they got him and agent Scott Boras to acquiesce to their lower $4 million minor league offer. more ›

This represents a colossal failure by the Angels, Weaver, and Weaver's agent Scott Boras. The idea that a pitcher coming out of college is worth $6 million before he's ever played a minor league game is absurd. Highly touted pitching prospects have a lousy record of success, even those who went to college. Sometimes you strike gold with a Mark Prior, but more often than not, you're lucky if the guy ever makes your rotation. Boras' outrageous contract demands are only doing further damage to young Weaver. He's only now getting an opportunity to play on the nondescript Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League. more ›