Results tagged “mikescioscia”

Tampa Bay Lightning defeat LA Kings 3-1. The Kings couldn't muster much of anything giving up two quick goals at the end of the first period. Their only comeback was a slapshot goal by Peter Harrold at the end of the second period assisted by Anze Kopitar. It's not looking good for the Kings right now especially with the Detroit Red Wings on their way to town.

Braves 4, Dodgers 0 - Atlanta jumped out to an early lead, which is something you don't want to give John Smoltz. The starter-turned-closer-turned-starter hurled seven shutout innings just ten days ahead of his 40th birthday. The Jones boys (Andruw and Chipper) didn't produce a hit, but combined for three walks and scored three runs. The Dodgers had ten base runners and even juiced the bases in the fourth with nobody out. Smoltz still held...

Suns 113, Lakers 100 - The Laker's season could be down to one game. The Suns outshone Los Angeles and took a 3-1 series lead thanks to huge performances from Steve Nash (23 assists, 17 points) and Amare Stoudemire (27 points, 21 rebounds). Nash's assist total was one shy off the all time playoff record, held by Magic Johnson (who was in the stands) and John Stockton. Not bad company. On the other side of...

A week after LAist judged Angel outfielder Garret Anderson for refusing to wear Jackie Robinson's number on Jackie Robinson Day, it appears that the All-Star is agreeing with us.

Anaheim Angels manager, and former Dodger, Mike Scioscia tried to defend his suddenly-controversial outfielder Garret Anderson, who last week told officials that he would not be wearing Jackie Robinson's number this Sunday to celebrate Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. Anderson originally gave two excuses for dissing the dead Dodger by refusing to wear his number, 1) he said he wasn't going to do it because it was Ken Griffey Jr.'s idea and...

Earlier this week, Angels Third Baseman Chone Figgins suffered a broken finger that looks to keep him out for the first month of the season. The Angels are likely to start utilityman Maicer Izturis at the hot corner while Figgins is out, but this injury has got us thinking. The Halos spent all offseason trying to bring in big bats, but struck out when they went after guys like Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and...

After a perfectly wretched first half, the Angels concluded their run into the All-Star break on a tear, taking three straight from Oakland. They started their second half just as hot, sweeping the mostly hapless Tampa Bay Devil Rays at home, despite some peculiar moves by Mike Scioscia, who apparently likes to announce his intention to use the suicide squeeze so often they're thinking of putting the hotline on speed dial. The Angels then took two of three from a surprisingly wilted Cleveland team:

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.

If you recall, that was the series in which Mike Scioscia refused to go to Troy Percival in the 8th inning of game one, and was bashed by the New York media after the combination of Ben Weber, Scott Schoeneweis, and Brendan Donnelly combined to give up four runs in an 8-5 Yankee win. Scioscia stuck to his guns though in game 2, and used both Weber and Donnelly in the 8th. He then brought Percival in for the final out, but the message was clear. Scioscia was not going to let the Mike Lupicas and other demanding members of the New York media dictate how he would run his ball club. The Angels outslugged the Yankees in Games 2, 3, and 4, by the scores of 8-6, 9-6, and 9-5.

While LAist still thinks the Angels will wind up winning the West, Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia need to be very concerned about the team's hitting. The Halos are 10th in the AL in runs scored, and 13th in both On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage, ahead of only the Seattle Mariners. It's almost embarrassing to play 18 innings against the Blue Jays and score just one run off seven of their pitchers.

But the Los Angeles of Anaheim team made a bold statement this weekend, sweeping the Dodgers, widening their first place lead, and have established themselves as today's Los Angeles bandwagon team.

Let's be honest. Jim Tracy is a "yes man." He's a company man. Kevin Malone hired him because he knew Tracy would go along with whatever he wanted, unlike Davey Johnson. Dan Evans kept him, because, well, Tracy always stayed in line. And now Paul DePodesta is likely keeping Tracy because the GM can suddenly trust his manager to respect the principles of sabermetrics. In a sport where the influence of a manager may only be marginal, it sure helps to be the manager who everyone can work with.