Tuesday, August 24, 2004
HEART OF GLAUS
The Halosphere is abuzz about the importance of Troy Glaus going nuclear on batting-practice fastballs. Hey, it's better than nothing, and it's great progress from where he's been. With crossed fingers knocking on wood, we can hope that he powers his way back into the DH mix and adds needed punch to our slap-happy attack.
Of course, bringing in Glaus would suck playing time away from Clutch DaVanon and Old Man Salmon. I was incommunicado when Salmon's injury was revealed; add my voice to the chorus that thinks Salmon will retire at the end of this season, especially if Glaus can come back impressively in the next month. This will create a logjam not only this year but next, with Dallas McPherson knocking on heaven's door. (And this doesn't even account for Casey "Swing At Everything" Kotchman's 372/417/567 whack job on PCL pitchers; will he have too much more to prove when the season is over?) As for this year, a healthy Glaus would give Mike Scioscia tons of options for the nightly lineup -- as would a sudden appearance by El Gato Grande.
In other news, the Angels clinched the season series against Kansas City last night! The Big Mango pitched well before hitting a bit of a wall, a wall brought closer by our large lead; Colon had no need to mess around and was just throwing fastballs for strikes, and a few of them were too much strikes. No big deal.
Hey, remember back when I used to make fun of Colon and our first-sackers?
BARTOLO COLON'S RUNS PER INNING VS. OUR FIRST BASEMAN'S OPS AND WALLY JOYNER'S SLUGGING PERCENTAGE
I'm not a big believer in momentum, but to what degree it exists the Angels seem to have it now, and they'll need it to face off against the Twins and BoSox in the coming week.
The Halosphere is abuzz about the importance of Troy Glaus going nuclear on batting-practice fastballs. Hey, it's better than nothing, and it's great progress from where he's been. With crossed fingers knocking on wood, we can hope that he powers his way back into the DH mix and adds needed punch to our slap-happy attack.
Of course, bringing in Glaus would suck playing time away from Clutch DaVanon and Old Man Salmon. I was incommunicado when Salmon's injury was revealed; add my voice to the chorus that thinks Salmon will retire at the end of this season, especially if Glaus can come back impressively in the next month. This will create a logjam not only this year but next, with Dallas McPherson knocking on heaven's door. (And this doesn't even account for Casey "Swing At Everything" Kotchman's 372/417/567 whack job on PCL pitchers; will he have too much more to prove when the season is over?) As for this year, a healthy Glaus would give Mike Scioscia tons of options for the nightly lineup -- as would a sudden appearance by El Gato Grande.
In other news, the Angels clinched the season series against Kansas City last night! The Big Mango pitched well before hitting a bit of a wall, a wall brought closer by our large lead; Colon had no need to mess around and was just throwing fastballs for strikes, and a few of them were too much strikes. No big deal.
Hey, remember back when I used to make fun of Colon and our first-sackers?
BARTOLO COLON'S RUNS PER INNING VS. OUR FIRST BASEMAN'S OPS AND WALLY JOYNER'S SLUGGING PERCENTAGE
Player R/IP, OPS, or SLGOf course, El Gordo has still allowed an 823 OPS this year, but it's moving in the right direction.
The Punter (aka "4-3") .795
The Big Mango .621
Wally World .440
I'm not a big believer in momentum, but to what degree it exists the Angels seem to have it now, and they'll need it to face off against the Twins and BoSox in the coming week.
Comments:
I meant to post this on this entry:
How does Chris Bootcheck give up, like, a million runs in virtually every start, then come out and throw a complete game five-hit shutout?
-Shred
How does Chris Bootcheck give up, like, a million runs in virtually every start, then come out and throw a complete game five-hit shutout?
-Shred
How do you figure DaVanon will suffer if Glaus returns? Jeffy is a fourth OF, Glaus is a DH. Jeffy spells Anderson, Guillen, or Vlad in late innings or on day-off days. Salmon is the guy who has to worry.
He spells those guys, but not to give them a day out of the lineup. He plays mostly to give those guys a day off their feet in the outfield. They still DH usually when DaVanon plays, which is the way it should be.
If Glaus comes back, he becomes pretty much the full time DH, which means that playing DaVanon for one of the outfielders equals one of those guys on the bench for the whole game, completely out of the lineup. That figures to happen a lot less with Glaus in the lineup.
If Glaus comes back, he becomes pretty much the full time DH, which means that playing DaVanon for one of the outfielders equals one of those guys on the bench for the whole game, completely out of the lineup. That figures to happen a lot less with Glaus in the lineup.
What Shredder said. Though, yes, Salmon has more to worry about than DaVanon. Tim's comments in the Times today regarding Glaus' impending return and his own resultant loss of playing time demonstrated that he knows what's up with his career, further indicating to me that he wants to hang on this season for one more shot at a title, and then he'll walk away.
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