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Angels blog ~ The latest on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, by the Orange County Register Sports staff

Archive for the 'Jose Arredondo' Tag

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Angels set playoff roster — Jepsen in, Speier out

September 28th, 2008, 6:08 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

Angels manager Mike Scioscia confirmed the obvious after Sunday’s game – that John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders (in that order) will start in the first round against the Boston Red Sox.

He also revealed the Angels’ roster for the first-round series. They will go with a 10-man pitching staff including both displaced starters (Jon Garland and Jered Weaver) and rookie reliever Kevin Jepsen (who did not make his big-league debut until Sept. 8).

Left out is veteran reliever Justin Speier.

The 15 position players include both Reggie Willits and Gary Matthews Jr. as well as Kendry Morales and Brandon Wood but not Sean Rodriguez.

Here’s the list:

PITCHERS (10)

RHPs John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Jon Garland, Jered Weaver, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Jose Arredondo and Kevin Jepsen

LHPs Joe Saunders and Darren Oliver

CATCHERS (2)

Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli

INFIELDERS (7)

Mark Teixeira, Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins, Erick Aybar, Brandon Wood, Kendry Morales and Robb Quinlan

OUTFIELDERS (6)

Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Gary Matthews Jr., Juan Rivera, Garret Anderson and Reggie Willits

Posted in: Angels • Francisco Rodriguez • Mike Scioscia • Vladimir Guerrero • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Angels reach the century mark

September 28th, 2008, 3:09 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

The Angels completed the most successful regular season in franchise history with a 7-0 victory over the Texas Rangers Sunday afternoon.

The victory was the Angels’ 100th of the season. Before this season, they had never won 100 games in a season or finished with the best record in baseball. They did both in 2008.

The 29th sellout crowd of the season was on its feet for the final out as Scot Shields struck out the side in the ninth inning.  The winningest team in Angels history then left the field to a standing ovation.

The Angels are the first major-league team to win 100 games in a season since the 2005 Cardinals and the first American League team to do it since the 2004 Yankees.

(On a down note — neither the 2005 Cardinals nor the 2004 Yankees reached the World Series. They both lost in the championship-series round.)

After watching their first two playoff starters (John Lackey and Ervin Santana) get roughed up by the Rangers in their final regular-season starts, the Angels got a shutout performance by Joe Saunders in his first start in 10 days (due to a troublesome kidney stone).

Saunders allowed just two hits in six shutout innings and finishes the season with a string of 15 consecutive scoreless innings. Relievers Jose Arredondo, Darren Oliver and Shields each took an inning of work to sharpen up for the playoffs and completed the shutout, retiring nine of the final 10 batters (five on strikeouts).

Mike Napoli led the offense with two doubles and a home run, driving in four runs.

Posted in: Angels • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Homoeroticism in Angels clubhouse, or just too much analyzing?

September 22nd, 2008, 10:10 am by Al Balderas, staff writer

When colleague Bill Plunkett recently wrote about the Angels’ annual hazing tradition, in which the Angels’ rookies were subjected to wearing women’s clothing on their flight from Oakland to Texas, Des Martini, of examiner.com might have responded with a little too much over-analysis.

Yes, Darren O’Day had to wear a purple mini-dress. Sean Rodriguez and Freddy Sandoval were Hooters Girls for a day. Others were also left to wear an array of skirts and dresses.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Angels • • | 14 Comments »

Angels’ rookies get hazed

September 18th, 2008, 7:19 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

It’s one of the ugliest traditions in baseball.

Each year, usually on the last road trip of the season, the rookies on almost every team find their street clothes missing from their locker, replaced by some embarrassing costumes — frequently, women’s clothing — that they have to wear until they get to their hotel rooms in the next city.

(I will never be able to purge the awful memory of an Asian trainer whose height and circumference were roughly equal squeezed into a Hooter’s girl outfit when the Dodgers did the hazing a few years ago.)

It was the Angels’ turn after the series finale in Oakland Thursday. Seven first-timers were the victims — Bobby Wilson, Jose Arredondo, Darren O’Day, Sean Rodriguez, Freddy Sandoval, Matt Brown and Kevin Jepsen.

“Hey, Bobby — looking good,” one veteran hollered at Wilson as he paraded by in a ‘Sporty Spice’ ensemble complete with short skirt. “Is that from your closet at home?”

“Look good, feel good,” Wilson said.

Rodriguez and Sandoval were given Hooter’s outfits, Jepsen a snappy blouse-and-skirt combo and Brown a sparkly purple dress suitable for prom night. O’Day struggled to stretch a purple mini-dress over enough of his 6-foot-4 frame to avoid legal trouble. Arredondo was given a yellow dress that one teammate suggested made him look like Serena Williams.

Posted in: Angels • | 5 Comments »

Angels 6, A’s 4 (final)

September 18th, 2008, 3:33 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

The Angels’ offense came back to life after two games in which they managed a total of three runs on 10 hits and didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position.

The back-to-back-to-back home runs by Kendry Morales, Mike Napoli and Brandon Wood made the most noise Thursday but Gary Matthews Jr. quietly had another good game with three hits including a double.

Matthews is making a move recently to salvage his lost season. With Thursday’s three-hit game, he has hit safely in nine of his past 12 games, batting .339 (20 for 59) in that stretch.

Joe Saunders threw seven shutout innings, allowing six hits. Justin Speier pitched a scoreless eighth but Jason Bulger continued to hurt his chances of making the post-season roster by hitting the first batter he faced in the ninth then walking the next.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia replaced him with Jose Arredondo at that point. Bulger has failed to retire any of the seven batters he has faced in his past two outings, walking four, hitting two and giving up a single.

Arredondo walked a batter to load the bases then gave up a run-scoring infield single off the glove of first baseman Kendry Morales to lose the shutout bid. He struck out Travis Buck then gave way to Francisco Rodriguez..

With the bases loaded and the tying run on deck, it was probably the least pressure-packed of Rodriguez’s 66 save opportunities this season (the most in major-league history).

So he supplied his own. Rodriguez walked pinch-hitter Jack Cust to force in a run before getting a forceout that brought another run in. Kurt Suzuki singled in another run to make it a two-run lead before Ryan Sweeney grounded out to end the game. 

The Tampa Bay Rays play later tonight (the Boston Red Sox are off). But the Angels’ win Thursday afternoon trimmed their magic number to clinch the best record in the American League to 10 (seven to eliminate the Red Sox from consideration).

Posted in: Angels • Francisco Rodriguez • • • • • • • • • | Post a Comment »

Jepsen, Bulger, Speier — who do you want?

September 16th, 2008, 7:09 am by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

Some day, Kevin Jepsen is going to have a lot of stories to tell his kids about the year 2008.

The trip to China for the Olympics. Making his major-league debut. Blowing a 95-mph fastball past the great Alex Rodriguez for his first major-league strikeout.

Making his playoff debut?

“No, I’m not thinking about that,” the Angels’ rookie right-hander said of speculation that he could make the Angels’ post-season roster. “I’m just trying to, when I get the chance to get in there, get the job done — whatever the situation, I’ll take it.

“I’m not really worried about anything else.”

Four spots in the Angels’ post-season bullpen are spoken for — closer Francisco Rodriguez, setup men Scot Shields and Jose Arredondo and left-hander Darren Oliver. Another will likely be taken up by the starting pitcher bounced out of the rotation (Jered Weaver?).

That probably leaves just one more spot for a reliever.

Which pitcher should make the playoff roster?
View Results

Posted in: Angels • Francisco Rodriguez • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Tigers 9, Angels 6 (final)

September 3rd, 2008, 8:16 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

The Angels’ bullpen is showing some cracks — some new ones (Jose Arredondo) and some old ones (Justin Speier).

Mark Teixeira’s third RBI of the night gave the Angels a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Angels starter Jon Garland had pitched through some early problems with his right hand (apparently a blister on his thumb) but manager Mike Scioscia took him out after six innings and 103 pitches.

Arredondo came in and promptly gave up the lead on three consecutive hits — an infield single by Brandon Inge, a triple off the center-field wall by Curtis Granderson and a single by Placido Polanco.

The blown save was the 19th of the season for the Angels’ bullpen and the sixth time since the end of July Arredondo has been unable to hold a lead he was handed.

Speier only made it worse when his problems continued in the eighth inning. He gave up a two-run home run to Mike Hessman. It was the 12th home run Speier has given up in 58 innings this season.

Posted in: Angels • Mike Scioscia • • • • | Post a Comment »

Outside the boxscore: breaking down the streak

September 3rd, 2008, 3:00 am by Ellen Bell, Afternoon Angel

  The Angels’ bullpen had a streak of 29 consecutive scoreless innings broken on Tuesday when Scott Shields gave up a solo home run to Miguel Cabrera.

  They were one out shy of the club record of 29 1/3 innings set in 1978.

  Here is a breakdown:

  Darren Oliver: 6 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, three strikeouts.

  Scott Shields: 2 innings, 2 walks, one strikeout.

  Francisco Rodriguez: 5 innings, two hits, 9 strikeouts.

  Jose Arredondo: 5 2/3 innings, three hits, one walk, 8 strikeouts.

  Justin Speier: 4 innings, two hits, two walks, five strikeouts.

  Justin Bulger: 1 inning.

  Shane Loux: 5 innings, four hits, one walk, one strikeout.

Posted in: Angels • Francisco Rodriguez • • • • • | Post a Comment »

Bullpen’s scoreless string snapped — game tied

September 2nd, 2008, 6:52 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

When Jose Arredondo relieved Joe Saunders in the seventh inning tonight, he took over with the tying run on second base and one out.

Arredondo struck out Tigers pinch-hitter Matt Joyce with 96-mph high heat then got Curtis Granderson to ground out to second base.

That kept the Angels’ one-run lead intact and also extended a scoreless innings streak by Angels’ relievers to 29. They hadn’t given up a run since Shane Loux against the Minnesota Twins on August 22.

But Scot Shields gave up a solo home run to Miguel Cabrera with two outs in the eighth. That snapped the scoreless streak just short of the Angels’ franchise record (29 1/3 in 1978) and tied the game at 4-4.

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No Mandatory English in baseball clubhouses

August 26th, 2008, 1:52 pm by BILL PLUNKETT, OCREGISTER.COM

Ten days ago, Angels  shortstop Erick Aybar made a spectacular catch at Progressive Field in Cleveland, robbing Ryan Garko of a game-changing bloop hit with the bases loaded.

When reporters asked to talk with Aybar about the play after the game, he turned to teammate and fellow Dominican Ervin Santana to act as translator.

Like most of the Spanish-speaking players on the Angels — Aybar, Vladimir Guerrero, Juan Rivera, Maicer Izturis — Aybar speaks and understands some English. But he doesn’t feel comfortable enough in his second language to conduct an interview. Santana, Francisco Rodriguez, Jose Arredondo and Kelvim Escobar do.

None of us are really sure what language Justin Speier speaks so an interpreter hasn’t been found.

This report indicates the LPGA is planning to suspend players who cannot pass an English skills evaluation test.

The LPGA’s issue seems to center on the growing number of Asian golfers.

Baseball is guilty of a double standard in this regard. Nearly all of the Japanese players that have broken into the big leagues in recent seasons have had a translator provided for them who travels with the team — even after that player has picked up our language.

I remember many times while covering the Dodgers when Hideo Nomo or Kaz Ishii would begin to answer the question even before the interpreter had translated it into Japanese.

The translator relationship (Japanese or Spanish) is often used by players to keep the media at arm’s length.

The Angels do not provide a translator for their Spanish-speaking players who instead turn to broadcaster Jose Mota, coach Alfredo Griffin or video coordinator Diego Lopez to translate in interview situations. Many teams provide English lessons for minor-league players from Latin America though most learn what English they know either from teammates or by watching TV.

Posted in: Angels • Francisco Rodriguez • Vladimir Guerrero • • • • • • • • • | Post a Comment »

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