Sully Baseball celebrates Mike Scioscia’s WTF expression

I see a lot of Angels games because I live in Los Angeles county (unlike the Los Angeles Angels.) And I see a lot of cut aways to the Angels dugout when something goes slightly wrong with the Halos.His expression tends to be truly awesome… a combination of confusion and disgust.Scioscia is the best manager in the game, so when he is giving the WTF, it is with good reason.

Hisanori Takahashi better be buying drinks after this game

Seriously, Hisanori Takahashi was a whole lot of suck for the Angels in the first two games of their series with the Red Sox.Aces Jeff Weaver and Dan Haren got the losses, but they actually pitched well.Jeff Weaver went 6 innings with 3 earned runs on MondayDan Haren was throwing a shutout today into the 6th and finished with 7+ innings, 4 runs, 8 strikeouts and no walks. But Takahashi gave up 2

Heavenly

The Angels were my pre season pick to win the AL Pennant.They seem like a damn good team.And yet they are 0-5 against the Red Sox this year.In Non Red Sox games they are 16-8.Go figure. This one turned into a laugher and I can't put it into the Dodged Bullet category... even with Weaver pitching a Buchholz looking shaky at times.The nice fat 6 run 7th took any doubt out of this one.Next is Lester

What if Dice-K is good again?

Seriously, was ANY Red Sox fan counting on Dice K for squat this year?Wasn't the consensus that the Daisuke Matsuzaka era in Boston was grinding down to a whimper?And yeah he had a great game on Monday. But that was a Patriots Day game and most visiting batters' timing tends to be off with the early Patriots Day start.So I guess it was easy to dismiss 7 innings of 1 hit ball.But is it so easy to

Thank heaven, the Sox are 7-11

It isn't often that I can mix two terrible jokes into one title.But you have the Heaven part, which can be tied to the Angels.And you have the 7-11 joke, which is the Sox record.And the ONLY POSSIBLE way that 7-11 can be looked on positively is the fact that the Sox were once 2-10. So winning 5 of 6 is always welcomed.Do you what is ALSO welcomed? Another kick ass Josh Beckett performance. The

Who picked Dan Haren to win the Cy Young?

In my official picks for 2011, I had Dan Haren taking home the Cy Young.My predictions are so often so terrible that one starts to look good, I need to gloat.4 games in, a 3-0 record with a 0.73 ERA.Tonight he threw a 1 hitter tonight. No doubt some number cruncher will tell me why he actually sucked in this game, but I'll give him credit.And while he got a tough no decision in his first start of

The reawakening of Vernon Wells - My latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest for The Hardball Times, I speculate about Vernon Wells and the potentially joyful season he might be having for the Angels. My reasons are not based on stats but rather emotions, which means the commenters will probably hate my guts.Ahh well.You can read the whole article here.

Sully Baseball's Official 2011 Picks... bet on these at your own risk!

In my entire life, I have predicted the World Series champion accurately a grand total of once in my life.I picked the 1999 New York Yankees to win it all.Not exactly a brave pick on my part.Since then...I picked the Braves to win the 2000 World Series.I picked the Yankees to win the 2001 World Series.I picked the A's to win the 2002 World Series.I picked the Cardinals to win the 2003 World

An untradeable player has been traded

In each of the last two seasons I have included Vernon Wells in one of my How can they trade that untradeable contract? posts.One for the blog after the 2009 season... one for The Hardball Times after the 2010 season.Well, it took Adrian Beltre, Carl Crawford and just about every other player in creation to turn down the Angels to do it... but the Blue Jays found a suitor.Vernon is heading to Los

Hey Arte! You can still make this biggest splash this off season!

Arte Moreno, I understand you aren't happy that the Angels stayed home this October. Since you took over the Angels in 2003 (when they were still the defending champs), the Angels have made the playoffs in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009... yet have yet to make it past the ALCS under your guidance.I know that this year with the injuries and Kendry Morales breaking his own damn leg must have

Hey! The Angels game is over!

Bobby Abreu finally had enough and hit one out.I have a question for you Angels fans who were actually still there in the 14th.Did you get any reward by the Angels for sticking around?A pin. A ticket. A stuffed monkey.If you were there to the end, then you don't need to prove your loyalty to the Angels in any other way.

Oh just stop playing, Angels and Mariners!

The Angels and Mariners are in the 13th inning in the town of Los Angeles of Anaheim.2 dead from the neck up and going nowhere in a hurry playing out the string in mid September are 13 innings into this game.There must be a rule to just end this game.I mean if Bud Selig can end an All Star Game as a tie, can't they step in and say "Folks... this won't affect the standings or the history of either

A. L. West... you blew it

Back in late June, I pointed out that the history of the Texas Rangers contain one gigantic summer swoon after another as the team melts in the heat.I said that I wasn't buying them until they make it through the summer.And guess what?They had a bad August.With today's loss (and Cliff Lee's latest meltdown... he had better turn it on in October or else he is costing himself millions of dollars!)

I wasn't wrong about the Rangers

Back on June 21, I wrote that I wasn't buying the Rangers.I had seen this story before... the Rangers get off to an amazing start, everyone starts thinking they are for real. Then the summer kicks in and they wilt away.In late June as the Rangers finished an 11 game winning streak (and won 14 out of 15) they opened up a 4 1/2 game lead over the Angels and looked for real.Since then they've had a

2 out of 3 isn't good enough

For my friends who think I am being cynical about the Red Sox 2010 chances and that I am already looking towards 2011, let me present today's game.Beckett was great for 5 then got hammered and the Red Sox not only lost but it wasn't even a teeth grinder.They took 2 of 3 from the Angels... and it wasn't good enough.They needed to SWEEP in order to even keep pace with the Yankees.In trying to make