Anaheim Angels

Where: Kauffman Stadium TV: Fox Sports West Did you know: Mike Trout became the first player in the majors to reach double figures in homers and stolen bases when he got his 10th of each Thursday night. Numbers game: 10 – Starting pitchers the...

Mike Trout scored multiple runs and had multiple hits for the fourth game in a row - tying a franchise record he already shared with Fred Lynn and Paul Schaal (trivia fact confirmed by Angels media relations intern and top twitterer Jacob Jaffee @Jacob_Jaffe), leading the way to a 5-2 Angels victory over the Royals in Kansas City. And they did despite Howie Kendrick stranding six men on base, Mark Trumbo stranding four and Erick Aybar leaving three out there. Trumbo made up for it with an RBI hit in the seventh and Howie had a run-scoring sac fly that plated a run later that inning. It was the sixth win in a row for the Halos, desperately in need of momentum in light of a double-digit deficit in the American League West. Jason Vargas was masterful for most of his 7+ innings, allowing only one hit through the first four innings - a solo HR to Miguel Tejada - and getting out of a few jams when they presented themselves. He was relieved with one out in the eighth inning by Garrett Richards. In the ninth, Richards allowed a leadoff double before miracle man Mike Trout caught a sinking flyball off the bat of Salvador Perez on the run. Trout had scored the first run of the game by sliding into home on a wild pitch by Luis Mendoza. Perez threw the ball to the pitcher covering home perfectly but Trout slid into home before the tag could be applied. In the seventh inning, Trout stole 2B despite a perfect throw by Perez - replays show 2B Marty Foster blew the call. That break opened the gates as the Angels scored three runs to break the 2-2 tie. The Angels trailed 2-1 at one time but Chris Iannetta hit his second home run in as many games. The solo shot evened things out in the sixth. Richards recorded a five out save, the second of his career and Vargas got his fourth straight win. Poll PANTHER OF THE GAME VARGAS TROUT 80 votes | Results

It’s been a perfect week for the Angels. Seven days after their last loss, the Angels put together another solid game to win their sixth in a row, 5-2 over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night. Left-hander Jason Vargas gave up...

By Joe Haakenson, AngelsWin.com Contributor - MAY 24, 2002 GAME 45 - TWINS AT ANGELS ANAHEIM -- Location, location, location. Angels pitcher Ramon Ortiz can be as dominating as any pitcher in the majors when he is on his game. That means mixing his fastball with his slider and changeup and putting it in the right spot. Ortiz, though, had trouble hitting those spots on Friday, and the result was three more home runs allowed and a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins before 27,494 at Edison Field. It snapped the Angels four-game winning streak and marked only their fourth loss since April 23, a stretch of 25 games. It also ended the Angels' eight-game home winning streak. Ortiz was on the mound for the Angels' last loss, a 10-4 setback to the Chicago White Sox last Saturday. He gave up four homers in that one, meaning he's allowed seven in his past two games for a major league-high 16 homers allowed this season. Like he did last Saturday, Ortiz got the ball up to the wrong hitters at the wrong time, and it cost him. Even though he allowed only seven hits in 7 1/3 innings Friday, the home runs did enough damage to send the Angels to just their second loss in 14 games. ``He made too many mistakes early in the game,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``He did adjust, and that was a good sign. Every pitcher has periods when his command is not as locked in. Right now he's in a stretch where he's not able to get the ball in good locations early in the game and get his feet on the ground. He's paid the price for it.'' On Ortiz's first pitch of the game, the Twins' Jacque Jones ripped a 90-mph fastball into the right field seats for a 1-0 lead. ``I was trying to throw the ball down and away, but it went over the middle,'' said Ortiz (4-5). ``I didn't think he'd be swinging at the first pitch.'' In the third inning, Jones led off with a single and went to second on a single by Cristian Guzman. Ortiz looked like he might get out of it by getting the next two hitters on flyouts. But on his first pitch to the next batter, Torii Hunter crushed an 84-mph slider to center field for a three-run homer and a 4-0 Twins lead. ``A solo shot, it's OK,'' Ortiz said. ``With people on base, that's no good.'' In the fourth inning, it was A.J. Pierzynski's turn, homering to right field for a 5-0 lead. It was Pierzynski's first homer of the season. ``I'm human,'' Ortiz said. ``Everybody's human. Everybody makes mistakes.'' Ortiz, though, would have had to have been nearly perfect for the Angels to win this one, the way Twins starter Rick Reed pitched. Reed (5-2) baffled the Angels hitters all night, allowing only three hits on his way to a complete game. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. Like Ortiz, Reed has had trouble keeping the ball in the park at times. Reed went into the game having allowed 12 homers this season, which ranked behind only Ortiz and Kansas City's Jeff Suppan in the American League. But Reed kept the Angels hitters off balance all night. Darin Erstad singled in the first inning, but the Angels didn't get another hit until the fifth. That's when Brad Fullmer led off with a home run, his fourth of the season. The Angels didn't get their third hit until Bengie Molina singled with two out in the eighth. ``He had great control, great command, nothing overpowering,'' Erstad said. ``He just picks you apart.'' Dealing with a loss is not something the Angels have had to do much lately, so Erstad said it will easy to forget about Friday. ``You expect to win every night, regardless of who you're playing,'' Erstad said. ``When we leave here, it's over. Tomorrow's a new day and you turn the page.'' NOTEBOOK ANAHEIM -- Shortstop Alfredo Amezaga was playing for Salt Lake, the Angels' Triple-A team, in Nashville Thursday night, and in the 10th inning, he got hit by a pitch and we

Well looky there Lou Brown, the Angels have themselves an honest to goodness winning streak going on! And while, yes, it has happened before in 2013 – twice before to be precise, not that we fans have been counting or obsessing or agonizing over it or anything *nods* — at a five games and counting it is, in fact, the longest winning streak the Angels have managed this season, but two whole games no less. Now, a five game winning streak may indeed be a little short for a Storm Trooper, so to speak, and normal-season-Angels-Fan-Kristen is absolutely rolling her eyes at this 2013 season version of me but, to be honest, I am just way too giddy happy to care. Watching the Angels play Tuesday and Wednesday against the Mariners in particular was downright exhilarating. The offense was absolutely raking, starters Jerome Williams and C.J. Wilson were dealing, the fielding was spectacular and the bullpen was everything you could possibly want them to be. Things were a little uglier yesterday, especially in terms of bullpen performance, but the team kept it together with strengths picking up the slack for weaknesses. In short, this was the Angels baseball we fans have been aching to see, the kind of Angels baseball that we just knew was lurking out there…somewhere…despite the numerous failed search party attempts and the increasingly hopeless expressions on the faces of the park rangers coordinating their efforts. So, does this mean hope is restored and all is suddenly right with our Halo’d little world? Hardly. Only five games and all that. But it is a start and I sure do hope the guys can keep playing like this because, well, this late into May it may or may be enough to lead to anything meaningful in terms of standings, but it sure would be a lot of fun to watch. And baseball that’s this fun to watch is no small thing. So, in the middle of this Angels streak business, the team managed to remind MLB fans everywhere of another important fact: this Mike Trout kid? He’s pretty darned good at baseball. In the midst of an alleged sophomore slump, the prodigy is hitting just over .300 with 10 homeruns, a third of the way towards equaling last season’s total. Yes, he got off to a bit of a slow start, but this is only the kid’s first full season in the majors. We really have no pattern of behavior to compare this season’s progression to. Oh, and then there was the little matter of that hitting for the cycle thing on Tuesday. You may have heard or read about somewhere. I think a few of the local publications might have picked it up. And here I had been thinking that all of this season’s Mike Trout hype was a little embarrassingly over the top, possibly to the point of being detrimental. You know, the bobble head give away. The pint glass give away. The front office created daily Trout Farm cheering section out in left field, complete with themed shirt giveaways. The Subway commercial. All of the appearances in MLB commercials. Taken on their own, each of these things made me smile broadly…well, except for the Trout Farm. I have a pet peeve against such things being created by the Marketing Department. Naturally occurring and fan driven is infinitely cooler. But that can be the subject of another blog post…and I digress. Anyway, individually these promotions and hype are neat, fun for the fans and certainly well deserved by Trout. But, the sum total of the hype on the shoulders of a 21 year old kid this early in his career? In the beginning I just felt queasy about the potential for pressure and harm, especially when Trout was warming up into the season slowly. But watching him play as amazingly as…well…as Mike Trout? I still think it all may be a little too much, but not out of worry for Trout mid you. I just think that the Angels driven components make us look a little overeager and unused to having such young talent on the team. However, in the grand scheme of things, although I may shake my head and role my eyes over it a littl

The Angels have their most consistent pitcher of late, Jason Vargas, taking the hill Friday at 5 p.m. as they take on the Kansas City Royals and try to stretch their winning streak to six games. The Royals counter with Luis Mendoza. Meanwhile, the...

At the risk of being a jinx, the Angels appear to have turned the corner. Their recent winning streak and the historic highlight of Mike Trout hitting for the cycle seem to have sparked something in the team. However, the train is only leaving the station. There’s no telling what twists and turns await ahead and if last season’s late runs for Texas and Oakland have taught us anything, it’s that nothing is over until the 162nd game has been played. Thus, the Angels fan mantra at this juncture should be that of cautious optimism. Be excited, but be tempered. There is still a long road ahead. Wait a minute... Who speaks like that? Ever? In today’s age of the uncensored internet, intimate scenes on cable television and the millions upon millions of podcasts, why do we resort to cliches? John Keating (later quoted by Robin Williams in “Dead Poet’s Society”) once said “Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do.” We’re clearly not trying to impress the ladies in this instance, but cliches are just that: Lazy. They’re safe. They’re in the comfort zone. Regardless of what’s ahead. The cliches have got to go. “One game at a time” they say. One game at a time? Well, obviously! How else are you going to do it? Go to a football/baseball stadium conversion and set up two diamonds at the same time? Have Peter Bourjos play right field in one game while having him simultaneously play left in the other? Split an already anemic bullpen in half? If you’re playing frequent doubleheaders, let alone two concurrent games, you’re clearly doing something wrong. “Plenty of baseball left” some utter. Yeah, there’s always plenty of games left until you’re eliminated because you couldn’t take 2 of 3 from the Astros. There are always plenty of games until it’s over. Jered Weaver thought he had plenty of games to hit his stride, and then he landed on injured reserve. The teams currently in the NHL and NBA playoffs have plenty of games to win their respective series. The Lakers and Clippers don’t have plenty of games left, because their season is over. Funny how everyone that doesn’t play in October suddenly finds themselves out of baseball when there was plenty just a few short months prior. “We’re going to try some different things.” No, we’re not. The team is going to play the game of baseball with the established strategies developed over the years with a few tricks thrown in. Moving Chris Iannetta from the number 8 slot to number 7 does not count as “different things”. If you want to try “different things”, you can make rookies play in uniforms made of beef jerky. You can superglue princess tiaras to all of the batting helmets. You can replace Mark Trumbo’s bat with a foam pool noodle. If you’re going to try different things, make sure they’re REALLY different. Cliches are as much a part of baseball as Blackburne’s rubbing mud, peanuts, and the 7th inning stretch. They’re the catch all. Coaches and players don’t want to talk to reporters after a game, they want to take a shower, go home and go to sleep. Cliches are the perfect pre-packaged answers to any question a reporter may ask. For better or for worse, cliches are here to stay. At least until the end of the season when the fat lady sings, the last train leaves the station, and the last one out turns out the lights. [follow]

Mike Scioscia trots out a familiar lineup for tonight's game in Kansas City... Erick Aybar at SS Mike Trout in CF Albert Pujols still DHing Mark Trumbo at 1B Josh Hamilton in RF Howie Kendrick at 2B Alberto Callaspo playing 3B Chris Iannetta Catching and J.B. Shuck in LF There is Jason Vargas on the mound for the Angels. So there you have it, another day digging themselves out of the April hole they dug.

Last night's Angels-Royals game was an eventful one between tape measure home runs, copious pitching changes and a narrowly avoided blown save. Still, the Angels managed to win their fifth game in a row, yet that is not the highlight of the game. That distinction goes to the insane and/or brave Royals fan who sprinted on the field and avoided security long enough that he not only got on camera but actually stole the rosin bag right off the mound and hoisted it like a trophy for all to see: [youtube]R5etSO3Hhhs[/youtube] Not to glorify his juvenile and illegal behavior, but this might be the greatest idiot running field on the moment I've ever seen. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to enjoying it more than I probably should've. But you know who didn't enjoy it, the reliever on the mound at the time, Michael Kohn. In fact, Kohn took to social media to voice his displeasure. Dear Mr. Fan who ran on the field tonight. Congrats on making it all the way to the mound. But don't ever touch my rosin bag. #gotheem — Michael Kohn (@MichaelKohn58) May 24, 2013 The moment may have been fun, but Kohn is right. You never, EVER touch another man's rosin bag. [follow]

AP Photo/Alex GallardoMike Trout has been on a tear since the calendar turned to May The Los Angeles Angels are playing their best baseball of the season – winning five straight. The last four wins have featured solid pitching as the Angels have surrendered a total of seven runs in that span. It also doesn’t hurt that Mike Trout is once again looking like Mike Trout. No sophomore slump Mike TroutThis Season After an MVP-caliber rookie season, many projected Trout’s numbers to regress nearly across the board.