But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.
"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.
"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly, extended look at some aspect of America's pastime.
As I look ahead to the MLB playoffs, I'm faced with the fact that my beloved Cubbies aren't going to be competing. Being a devout baseball fan, though, there's no way I'm not watching the postseason. Without a horse in the race, I'm forced to focus instead on individuals, and there are always plenty of reasons to watch certain players. Thus, I'm going to list 10 players I'm looking forward to watching and five players I wish I could come October.
Ahhh, the National League -- where pitchers can play out their golden years without a care in the world.
Think of the NL as baseball's rest home.
Just in the past few weeks, Brad Penny and John Smoltz have reached the legendary fountain of youth that Ponce de Sabathia discovered last year in the wilds of Wisconsin.
"In reality, it's a little tougher to pitch in the American League than it is the National League," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who formerly managed in Seattle and Tampa Bay.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Colorado has cycled back to the top of the NL wild-card standings.
Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle Tuesday as the Rockies bashed the Cubs, 11-5. By taking three of four in the series, Colorado moved a game ahead of San Francisco.
According to STATS LLC, Tulowitzki joined John Valentin as the only players ever to hit for the cycle and turn an unassisted triple play.
Tulowitzki ended up 5-for-5 with a career-best seven RBI, and he nearly had a two-homer cycle but replay upheld a foul ball ruling.
When you lose a star like Manny Ramirez in fantasy leagues, there is no "quick fix." You're either going to make a trade to fill the glaring hole, or you play mad scientist with waiver-wire options to tide your team over. I've always been a fan of the latter before resorting to the block. Luckily, there are seven players available who are capable of giving your team the needed power in mixed leagues. Not Manny-type power, obviously, but enough to mitigate the damage for a few months. And if that's not up your alley, we've got some trade targets, too.
The Brewers ace struck out 11, only allowed two hits and provided the deciding solo homer over eight juggernaut innings against the Pirates. That outing brought his ERA for the season down to 2.86 and his record to 3-1. And with 34 K's over 34 2/3 innings, it's safe to say he's in fantasy stud territory. But Gallardo isn't the only pitcher that has transcended draft value so far.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The Washington Nationals will be looking for a new closer as Joel Hanrahan has been fired. He was given the opportunity to close out five games and blew saves in three of those. His ERA is an unhealthy 8.64. The team will look to use a closer by committee approach for a while, waiting to see if injured Joe Beimel can return and flourish.
Tuesday, one day after Hanrahan surrendered a game-losing grand slam, Manager Manny Acta said that his team would now finish games -- or at least try to finish them -- with a committee of relief pitchers that includes Julián Tavárez and Kip Wells, both signed in March to non-guaranteed minor league deals. Once Joe Beimel (left hip flexor) returns from the disabled list in the first week of May, he could either join the mix or claim the job for himself.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Here are three abbreviations you don't want to see near your closer's name in the box score: BS, BB and HBP. Those three -- blown save, walk, and hit by pitch -- were all a part of B.J. Ryan's line Wednesday night against the Rangers. Prepare for the uptick in ownership of Jason Frasor and Scott Downs. Is it time to hit the panic button on Ryan after three blown opportunities?
We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.
It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.
Here's the Extra Base Knox team:
Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.
Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.
Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.
On Sunday the Angels broke some news to Gary Matthews Jr. that most outside observers could see coming. Matthews Jr. was told he's going to be the team's fifth outfielder/DH on the depth chart behind Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero, Bobby Abreu, and Juan Rivera. Matthews looked better this spring, coming off of knee surgery, and was hitting .258 with two homers and nine runs driven in, and more importantly, he looked to be at full speed while running the bases.
So he was hoping that his recovery and decent performance would be enough to get him some playing time this season, but it won't be. After he was told the news, Matthews wasn't exactly happy about it and asked the team if he could leave for 24 hours to cool off.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Every Sunday, 
When you lose a star like 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
On Sunday the Angels broke some news to 
