Easy, easssssssy. I’m still a little blurry. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Hamilton’s Allergies not Linked to Drug Use, Doctors Say

Well, that’s nice. Now, about this whole “not hitting like he’s supposed to thing. What say you, good Doctor?

Money Quote:

“You have a hallway up the middle of your nose and sinus cavities on each side,” said Hamilton, whose addiction to drugs and alcohol led to a ban from baseball from 2003-2005. “When you breathe air, it goes up and down the hallway.

I’ve got to find a way to work this into a conversation with my kids. I just have too.

How Much Should the Angels be Encouraged by Josh Hamilton’s Turnaround?

This turnaround that you’re talking about, I haven’t seen it. He’s become a “meh” hitter, instead of being a terrible hitter, but he’s being paid to be a force in the heart of the order. This isn’t a turnaround, this is a blip.

Money Quote:

Elsewhere, the decrease in Hamilton’s swinging-strike percentage has helped him cut down on his strikeouts. There actually haven’t been many of those lately, as he’s struck out in about 19 percent of his plate appearances since May 5, as opposed to 28 percent of his plate appearances before May 5.

OK. There is that. But an out is an out is an out. He needs to make less of them.

MLB Sees More Contract Extensions, Less Free Agency

The Player that was quoted early in this article, is exactly what is wrong with free agency, and it paints players as greedy, money-grubbing human beings. I understand getting paid, but if you get offered $75MM over five years, how much more do you really need?

Money Quote:

“The biggest problem the union faces is that there should be more criteria and practical experience before agents can be qualified to represent players with the decisions at hand,” Boras said. “A large number of players believe that a social relationship is the primary foundation — in other words, ‘I like the guy,’ rather than qualifications.

Yup. Heaven forbid a player approach baseball like it’s a game when he’s being offered tens of millions of dollars.

The Worst of the Best: The Week’s Wildest Pitches

An Angels pitcher made the cut. But, which one?

The Halos Demons (The Angels Season From Hell)

I still like “Season of Doom.” But, “Season from Hell” has a nice ring to it as well.

Money Quote:

I just wish the Angels would toughen up and say “it’s on like donkey kong” because for now, it looks like it’s on like Amanda Bynes at a rave.

Ohhhhhhhhhh. Burrrrrrrrrrrn.

How do These Starting Pitchers Still Have a Job?

Betcha can’t guess who made this list.

Weaver Pitches “Free and Easy” During Simulated Game

Free and easy? Great. Any word on the three-or-so MPH he lost on his fastball yet?

That’s right, I got this. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

The top 3 performers in the young season have been Dane de la Rosa, Ernesto Frieri, and Scott Downs.

Breaking Down The Top Three:

Dane de la Rosa’s success largely comes off his terrific 57.1% groundball rate, being combined with a low linedrive rate and above average strikeout and walk rates. Will his success continue though? That I am not so sure about, though I thoroughly liked the acquisition of de la Rosa when it was made prior to the season.

Ernesto Frieri continues his success from last season in a very similar manor. Lots of strikeouts and few line drives. Many flyballs, over 50% of balls in play, though in Angel Stadium, with that outfield defense isn’t much of an issue.

Good old reliable Scott Downs has the 3^rd best bbFIP on the Angels. An incredible 49.1% of his plate appearances end in a groundball. A fair number of linedrives, bring down his bbFIP that would otherwise would be terrific. An interesting fact, Scott Downs hasn’t induced a popup since June 29^th, 2011.

On the flip side, Mark Lowe , Jered Weaver and Joe Blanton have clearly been the worst. Lowe due to walking the ballpark, Weaver due to increased walk and decreased strikeout rate and Blanton is giving up linedrives at an increased rate, combined with a drastically reduced strikeout rate.

All statistics are through Sunday, May 12, 2013. All data is from fangraphs.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

It’s bad enough that this season is being called the season of doom. What’s that you say? No one is calling it that? Well, they should be. I’m not a child of the 70′s, so I missed out on the Arson Squad. But this season’s impersonation incarnation of the Angels pitching staff has to at least be in the conversation. It could even be worse. At least in the 70′s, other teams were saying the: “Tananna and Ryan and two days of cryin’” line. Whereas now, the line is: “We’re playing the Angels? GREAT! I’ve been needing to break out of this slump.”

But just how bad has the pitching been? The eye test says that it’s been bad. Really bad. Like, hide-the-women-and-children, bad. Like “Hey, is that a black hole opening up in the middle of that fie….” *Gets swallowed by a black hole opening up in the middle of a field*, bad. Like….well,you get the point. But sometimes, numbers can give us hope. They make us feel better when we’re feeling blue. But in this case, well, lets just say that the preseason numbers that gave us hope, have Buttercup’d us.

Team Pitching Stats With MLB Ranking

Wins – 15 (27th)

K/9 – 7.19 (20th)

BB/9 – 3.68 (26th)

HR/9 – 1.07 (18th)

HR/FB – 11.1% (15th)

ERA – 4.77 (29th)

FIP – 4.28 (25th)

xFIP – 4.29 (25th)

So, the only two categories where the Angels rank in the middle of the pack, would be the two categories that are directly affected by the stadium they play in. Thank you marine layer. Other than that, this pitching staff is, at best, just inside the bottom third. On average, they are in the 80th percentile of suck. An area on the leaderboards that is reserved teams like the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. That’s the pack of teams that the Angels are currently running with. Kind of makes you want to down a bottle of Everclear, doesn’t it?

A lot of this attributed to marching pitchers AAA-AAAA pitchers like Barry Enright, and beer league softball pitchers like Joe Blanton. Of course, having Sean Burnett, Kevin Jepsen and Jered Weaver out also hurts. And we still don’t know how this bullpen will line up once the unicorn Ryan Madson is able to suit up. But even then, he is not going to be who he once was right away, and it’s possible that he could spend more than a few weeks on rehab assignment. So don’t put all of your hopes about this season into that basket.

Now, I’m not saying that this team’s pitching staff is going to sink this team, but……OK, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The pitching is sinking this ship fast, and White Star Lines didn’t put enough life boats on the deck. Grab your life preservers while you can, it’s your only hope of not drowning with them.