Chronicles of the Lads

PERCY-IN-CHIEF
Mike DiGiovanna has a nice article in the Times about Troy Percival's return to Los Angeles of Anaheim in an opposing uniform.

You know how we always credit Mike Scioscia and Bud Black for their great work in constructing the Angel bullpen? Maybe some of that credit should go to Percy:

When setup man Brendan Donnelly struggled in his first four games this season, giving up five earned runs and two home runs, Percival called the right-hander with some advice. In his next seven games, Donnelly threw 8 2/3 scoreless innings, lowering his earned-run average from 7.94 to 3.14.

"He saw something I wasn't doing on the mound, and I went back to doing it, and it helped," said Donnelly, who still speaks with Percival several times a week.

...

When Shields gave up a homer in his first game April 5 and blew a save while filling in for closer Francisco Rodriguez against Texas on April 7, Percival passed some advice to Shields through Donnelly.

"He said even though I'm throwing the seventh and eighth innings, and sometimes the ninth, just pitch like you have your whole career, don't change anything," Shields said.

I, of course, have less than no idea of what Troy's plans are for retirement. But it would be great to see him as a pitching coach in the Angels organization, if for no other reason than it's just wrong to see him in another team's clothes.

At the same time, I agree with the decision to let him go and get overpaid by someone else. So there's some cognitive dissonance there. So like his former teammates, I wish Percy the best -- except for when he's playing us.

And let's hope he doesn't have the Angel pitchers (and batter, for that matter) so figured out that he can explain to his current teammates how to beat us.