Despite being three and a half games ahead of the competition in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a big problem - their players keep getting hurt, and nobody knows why. Vlad Guerrero and Scot Shields are getting check out for health issues and Chone Figgins has a hamstring made out of velcro. In unrelated stories, Kendry Morales was gored to death in a bullfight and Jose Arredondo had a bomb stuffed in his mouth, was blown up from the inside, and tumbled into a pit of lava where he was then burned to death.
So.
Today's Dugout examines the problems in Los Angeles (or Anaheim?) and using the in-depth baseball analysis Fanhouse has become famous for, blames the problem on the 1990s remake of a 1950s movie. Here's to hoping they come out with another Pirates of the Caribbean movie so we can get Pittsburgh in a few of these.
The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Chicago Cubs (3-6) vs. Cincinnati Reds (6-4)-1:05PM Est.
He's only nine games into his tenure as manager of the Chicago Cubs and Lou Piniella is already tired of his team. After the way Big Z and the pen blew yesterday's 5-0 lead it's pretty obvious that no matter how much money they spend, or who they bring in to manage, they're still the Chicago Cubs. I can't wait until Rich Hill gets into trouble and Piniella comes to the mound. "What's wrong, Skip?" Piniella then rips Hill's heart out and bites into it. "Nothing."
Pittsburgh Pirates (4-6) vs. San Francisco Giants (3-7)-7:05PM Est.
Barry sure did have a happy homecoming to Pittsburgh on Friday didn't he? Two home runs, four RBI, and a Giants romp. If Barry played the Pirates everyday he'd catch Hank Aaron by Thursday. This game will also be Barry Zito's third attempt to get his first win as a Giant. So far he's making $15.59 million for every point on his 8.08 ERA. Also, as far as the Pirates are concerned, remember when they were 3-0 and in control of the NL Central? Boy, those were the days.
Boston Red Sox (5-4) vs. Los Angeles Angels (6-5)-FOX 3:55PM Est.
Something tells me that sitting around all week hearing nothing but talk of Daisuke Matsuzaka will arouse the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of his soul. So I'd expect a very philosphical performance from the pitcher turned blogger this afternoon. Hector Carrasco will make the start for the Angels in place of Kelvim Escobar as the Angels continue to rack up injured starters like Britney does new wigs.
The Indians home opener in Milwaukee went well as they beat the Angels 7-6 on Tuesday night. C.C. Sabathia picked up right where left off going seven strong innings, while striking out seven.
A new question has arisen from this situation though. What if the weather in Cleveland still sucks? The Indians are supposed to start a three game series at home on Friday against the White Sox. I did some ultra-scientific research and I found that Cleveland isn't out of the woods yet. On Friday there isn't supposed to be any bad weather in Cleveland, but it will still be cold. However, on Saturday and Sunday in Cleveland, it's looking like it's going to snow again.
Looking at the Brewers schedule, they'll be spending their weekend in St. Louis. So now baseball has started to plan for a situation in which the Indians will have to remain in Milwaukee for their series against the White Sox.
Eric Wedge doesn't want to hear any of it, but he may have no choice.
"We're going back to Cleveland."
Yes, Eric, you are going back to Cleveland but it doesn't look like it's going to be this weekend.
This is bad news for Indians fans especially, because it looks like they're going to have to wait to get that free money of theirs.
Not surprisingly, interest from Brewer fans has been pretty high. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel set up a forum to talk about interest in the games, and there's already a couple hundred responses, mostly resembling this:
I will head out to the games. It is a nice novelty to have the game here while the Brewers are away. I don't think $10 is a bad price to pay. It should be a great time. Something to do in April for a change!
- Tackle, Milwaukee
And there's also this final aspect: the best baseball movie of all eternity, Major League (at least according to one blogger's humble opinion), was about the Indians and was shot at County Stadium in Milwaukee. And the special edition DVD is being released... today. Perhaps the lingering presence of Jobu will help wake up Andy Marte's bat.
The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Boston Red Sox (3-3) vs. Seattle Mariners (2-1)-2:05PM Est.
It's Opening Day at Fenway Park as Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox take on the Seattle Mariners. For Seattle, Jeff Weaver makes his debut in a Mariners jersey. Of course, I don't think Mariners fans care who starts for their team. They're just happy they're finally going to see their team play a game after losing an entire weekend in Cleveland. The only question is whether or not Mike Hargrove will be able to convince the umpires to call the game should Seattle be losing in the fifth inning.
Cleveland Indians (2-1) vs. Los Angeles Angels (5-2)-7:05PM Est.
For the first time in nearly ten years there will be an American League game played in Milwaukee. Much like the Mariners, Cleveland has been sitting around on their butts while eleventy thousand feet of snow fell all around them. Will Grady Sizemore be able to keep the torrid pace he started the season at after taking nearly a week off? Against Ervin Santana it won't be easy, as Santana and C.C. Sabathia make up one of the day's most interesting pitching matchups.
Atlanta Braves (5-1) vs. Washington Nationals (1-6)-7:35PM Est.
The Braves received some bad news on Monday when they learned they were going to have to live without Mike Hampton this season. The good news is, things seem to be working just fine without him anyway. As if taking two of three from the Mets to gain an early lead in the NL East wasn't enough, now they get to feast on the Nationals! Sometimes life just isn't fair.
Seeing as how Mother Nature really hates the Cleveland Indians, Major League Baseball has taken steps to protect the franchise from her harsh outbursts of force. The Indians will be moving indoors, to the vast expanse of Milwaukee this week.
Major League Baseball decided to move the Indians-Angels series - scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday at Jacobs Field - to Milwaukee because in Cleveland, temperatures in the high 40s are forecast, along with rain Thursday. Unofficially, the games in Milwaukee will be at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 1:05 p.m. on Thursday.
The entire series Cleveland was supposed to play against the Mariners this past weekend was postponed due to snow, and despite the odd circumstances, most Indians players are happy just to be able to play.
"This is bizarre, absolutely bizarre," Tribe outfielder David Dellucci said. "But I think we're prepared to do whatever we need to do to play a ballgame. We just want to play. Even in Little League, you have fans in the stands, mothers and fathers and some friends. We might not have many people in the stands, other than workers. You might hear the crickets in the rafters. But at least we're going to be playing baseball."
The move to Milwaukee also makes a little more sense than the possibility of moving the series to Anaheim as was discussed also. This way the Indians don't have to fly all the way across country, instead just a short jaunt to Wisconsin.
Of course, none of this would have happened if the schedule makers had any sense to begin with. As for when the Tribe's series with Seattle will be made up, there are a couple of likely dates. Both teams have July 11th off, and the Mariners will be flying from New York to Detroit then, so a possible stop in Cleveland for a doubleheader is not out of the question. Then, the final game could be made up on October 1st the day after the season ends. Unless of course, neither team is in playoff contention.
The Indians haven't played since Wednesday after having three games this weekend and a doubleheader today wiped out due to snow. Trying to re-schedule the games will be a headache -- the Mariners weren't originally schedule to return to Cleveland this year.
The Angels are expected to come to town for a three-game series on Tuesday, but Major League Baseball may decide to take drastic measures to avoid losing another series due to inclement weather (the forecast now calls for rain through Thursday), such as playing the entire series in Anaheim. From MLB.com:
"It's very unlikely, but we are looking at all possibilities," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro confirmed to MLB.com on Sunday afternoon.
"We've been in touch with Major League Baseball," said Angels spokesman Tim Mead, "but no decision will be made until the morning. They will continue to monitor the situation."
Of course, doing so would literally cost the Indians a few home games. The Angels and Indians will play two more series after this one, but those are already in Anaheim and -- between tickets already sold and cross-country travel -- it's not logistically possible to just flip-flop them.
But if this series is lost, as well, the Indians will almost certainly be forced to make up the games with a series of doubleheaders late in the year. What's more of a competitive disadvantage? Not playing a series at home or, say, squeezing 10 games into a week late in the year when everyone is already tired?
Maybe now baseball will finally seriously consider putting teams in cold-weather cities with open-air stadiums on the road for the first 7-10 days of the season when it comes time to make the schedule next year.
The Athletics shortstop that missed the end of last season with a lower back injury, hurt his back in Anaheim on Friday night. Crosby dove for a ball up the middle and landed hard before he flipped the ball to second base. He didn't come out of the game immediately, but after fouling out in his next at bat he was replaced at short.
After the game, Oakland manager Bob Geren downplayed Crosby's early departure, saying, "He felt tightness in his upper back but it was nowhere near (last year's) injury. It was one of those precautionary things."
Geren was unsure if the double-play ball contributed, but he saw Crosby look uncomfortable during his final at-bat and he asked him if he was OK when he came back to the dugout.
"I saw a look on his face like it was bothering him, and it was," Geren said.
Injuries are nothing new for Crosby. Ever since he won the Rookie of the Year in 2004, it seems he's spent more time on the disabled list than on the field. I already mentioned last season's back troubles, but he's also missed time the last few seasons due to a broken ankle and cracked ribs. The injuries have caused Crosby to miss 144 games since 2004.
The Athletics would go on to lose their game 5-2 as Vladimir Guerrero continued to kill any pitch he sees with another three-run blast. The loss dropped the Athletics to 2-3 on the season.
You've heard how baseball is honoring Jackie Robinson by un-retiring the number 42 for a day to allow players across the league (and in the Dodgers case, the entire team) to wear it? Well, that's all well and good, but don't expect Garret Anderson to join the celebration. From the LA Times:
Outfielder Garret Anderson said that although he has a great appreciation for Robinson, he won't do it because Ken Griffey Jr., among others, thought of it first.
"It wasn't my idea, and I'm not the type of person to jump on the bandwagon because someone else is doing something," Anderson said. "If I did it just because someone else was doing it, it would seem kind of empty to me."
If Anderson played on some teams around the league, this might be an awkward predicament -- can you imagine if Preston Wilson, the only African-American on the Cardinals, decided to take this stand? But the Angels actually have four African-American players on their 25-man roster: Anderson, Gary Matthews, Howie Kendrick and Darren Oliver -- not to mention the injured Chone Figgins. After Anderson passed, the Angels asked Matthews, though given his current status as Mr. HGH, it seems the team is running that by the league office before making it official.
Now, it's easy to write off Anderson's decision as simply being alittle prick-ish, and in his case he didn't do himself any favors by refusing to elaborate on his reasons beyond, "I didn't think of it." To give him the benefit of the doubt, though, maybe he's just an American League guy through and through, and would prefer that Larry Doby, who broke the color barrier in the Junior Circuit with the Indians, get a little more recognition. No matter what his true motivations are, though, it's easy to see the Red Ribbon Brigade ganging up and villanizing Anderson before he has a chance to explain. And even if it seems trite not to follow Griffey's lead, whether he wears the number or not really has little bearing on if he's truly honoring Robinson's legacy.
Yesterday I posed the question "Does Francisco Rodriguez Doctor the Baseball?" after an analysis surfaced suggesting that he was using a substance. In the same story I was skeptical about the rumor because there was a lack of variation in the velocity of Franky's pitches. If K-Rod were using the white substance under the brim of his hat to doctor the ball, you would have expected to see a drop in pitch velocity the times he reached for his cap, since he would have been throwing off-speed pitches in those instances. Well thanks to Matt Hurst's Riverside Press-Enterprise Baseball Blog, we have an answer from Francisco himself, which is in accordance with what commenter George B Vieto suggested:
I talked to Francisco Rodriguez about this white substance on the underside of his bill and he grabbed the hat from his locker, flipped it over and said "This?" On the black underside of his cap was a sizable white smudge. "It's rosin," Rodriguez said. There is a rosin bag on the back of every mound in professional baseball filled with the white, chalky substance that pitcher's can use on their hands to eliminate sweat so they can better grip the ball. John Lackey, for instance, puts it on his left wrist, just above his glove, so he can wipe his right hand on the wrist instead of constantly going to the rosin bag. So, why does Rodriguez continually tug on his cap, bringing suspicion about? Because he stopped wearing his trademark goggles, he fidgets with his hat instead of his glasses.
Well that answers the question from Franky's end. Hurst still notes that Major League Baseball is looking into the matter.
On a related note, I watched K-Rod throw the ninth inning of last night's loss to the A's in which Rodriguez gave up the game-winning home run to Mike Piazza, and I witnessed the exact same behavior; Franky repeatedly wiped his hand on his pants, and thumbed the bill of his cap, and in most instances wound up throwing a fastball. I also noticed the white smudge on his cap, but it seemed to be just a rosin stain that is starting to wear in more on the hat. Since the photos above were taken on Opening Day, it's possible that Franky hadn't worked the rosin into his hat just yet (most players usually start the season with fresh gear), just like a batter who wears pine tar on his helmet. At the beginning of the season the helmet is shiny, by mid-season it's dull and worn out. That's probably what the case was here.
The man who first noticed the substance under Franky's brim, Derek Zumsteg, has since responded on his blog by citing MLB rules against players using any foreign substance. While the legitimacy of those rules cannot be denied, the enforcement of them would change the game of baseball, considering a rosin bag sits at the back of every mound, and rags of pine tar sit in every dugout (and both foreign substances are used by most players).
Despite being three and a half games ahead of the competition in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a big problem - their players keep getting hurt, and nobody knows why. Vlad Guerrero and Scot Shields are getting check out for health issues and Chone Figgins has a hamstring made out of velcro. In unrelated stories, Kendry Morales was gored to death in a bullfight and Jose Arredondo had a bomb stuffed in his mouth, was blown up from the inside, and tumbled into a pit of lava where he was then burned to death.
The Indians home opener in Milwaukee went well as they 
Bobby Crosby 
You've heard how baseball is honoring Jackie Robinson by un-retiring the number 42 for a day to 
