MLB Anaheim

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I don't know what's more amazing: a) that this fan was in the right spot at the right time to catch a Torii Hunter batting practice home run; b) that his non-glove hand was steady enough to catch the whole thing on film; c) that he maintained the presence of mind to call "head's up!" and save that impressed Angels player from getting conked on the head ... or d) that this is the same fan who made a nearly identical video catching an Andre Ethier double back in May?

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

L.A. Angels of Anaheim (48-33) at L.A. Dodgers of L.A. (38-42) - 4:10 PM ET

The final day of interleague play, or as ESPN has needlessly re-branded it: "AL/NL SHOWDOWN!" (like it's a western gunfight or something) will feature a good pitching matchup between John Lackey (5-1, 1.65) and Derek Lowe (5-7, 4.05). Of course, it can't be better than the one between Chad Billingsley and Jered Weaver last night, where Weaver combined with Jose Arredondo for eight innings of no-hit baseball, but lost. After coming back from an early season injury, Lackey really hasn't had a bad outing all season. So if anyone can continue the no-hit parade for the Dodgers, it's Lackey.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (38-24) at Oakland Athletics (33-28) - 9:05 PM ET

Not that your L.A. Angels of A. were in any real trouble anyway with Vladimir Guerrero and Scot Shields suffering nagging injuries. But even through that, the Angels have won their last six games, and did so with Guerrero back in the lineup last night (Shields seems to be on his way back soon) in their 3-1 win over Oakland, who's now four and a half games back of the Halos in the A.L. West.

Oakland's been just as hot, following up a four game losing streak by winning four in a row before last night's loss. But the way the Angels have been going, the swingin' A's had better do some swinging before the Angels make a mockery of this division.

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.

Angels inside of the Outfield, after the jump.

The Angels are three and 1/2 games ahead of their closest competition in the A.L. West and have the best record in the American League. It there was anytime to have an injury setback that would probably be it. But who am I kidding? There's no good time to have injuries ... especially when two of the most important players on the team are the ones who are nicked up:

Vladimir Guerrero and Scot Shields left the team in Seattle and flew back to Southern California this morning to be examined by team orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum.

Guerrero has not played since suffering a hyperflexion of his right knee Sunday, jamming it into third base on a hard slide. Shields felt tightness in his left side while warming up Saturday. He pitched a scoreless inning that night but has not pitched since. (...)

"They're making progress but before we ramp them up to playing in games again ... you want to make sure there's nothing in there that will set them back," Scioscia said. "With the off day tomorrow, Ned (Bergert, Angels' head trainer) thought it'd be a good idea to send them back and get things checked out."

Especially when Guerrero is your meal ticket, Shields is one of your more dependable relievers, and Chone Figgins is already in a never-ending battle with his hamstring. Yeah, caution is always a good idea.

It was back on April 11th when Chone Figgins strained his right hamstring, but it wasn't until now that the Angels finally placed Figgins on the disabled list. He's been listed as day-to-day since, which is rather annoying when you have him on your fantasy team, and the Angels had been hoping that Chone would be able to play through it.

Well, he did for a while, playing in the next 21 games before finally tweaking the hamstring sliding into home against Baltimore last weekend. Now the Angels realize he's not going to get better without rest.

"He's making progress, just not enough to be ready for next week," manager Mike Scioscia said. The skipper said the move would help take the pressure off Figgins to continually test his strained right hamstring, allowing it to heal at its own pace.

"We want to establish depth, but you can't rush this thing," Scioscia added.

Figgins is a big loss for an Angels lineup that's been struggling, as he is hitting .306/.421/.355. After initially hurting the hammy, Chone kept chugging along for a little bit, but is hitting only .200/.298/.250 the last three weeks.

Kendry Morales has been called up from Salt Lake to take Figgins' place on the roster, and will be used as an extra bat off the bench.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Cincinnati Reds (14-21) at New York Mets (17-15) - 1:10 PM ET and 7:30 PM ET

Yesterday, we brought you the news that the Mets might be re-evaluating Willie Randolph's job status very closely over the next month. Well let the re-evaluating start today, with a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets just came from a road trip against N.L. West powerhouses Arizona and Los Angeles and broke even on the six game trip. That's impressive. But the Mets under Randolph have historically been the type of team that could break even or better against the good teams on the road, then turn around to a seemingly easier homestand and do no better than break even there too. The Mets now have seven at home against the Reds and Nationals starting today, and anything less than five wins will more than likely turn the heat up on Randolph ... especially going into the series against the Yankees immediately following, where everything is magnified to the hilt anyway. So let the Willie Watch begin.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Florida Marlins (14-9) at Milwaukee Brewers (13-10) - 7:05 PM ET

There are three matchups today that feature two teams with records over .500. Yes, the Florida Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers are one of those matchups. Milwaukee isn't so much of a surprise. Florida? Yeah, a little bit. The biggest surprise may be Mark Hendrickson, who was bombed his first start of the season but he's come back strong to post a 4-1 record. Random fun fact: Did you know that Hendrickson started six games and averaged 5.5 points a game for the New Jersey Nets for the 1998-99 season? Yeah, I think he picked the right sport too.

For the Brewers, they've been winning games with two of their big hitters in funks. Will Bill Hall continue leading the team in HR's and RBI's even though he's hitting .198? Will Rickie Weeks pull up his .195 average? Conversely, will Jason Kendall cool off? Will Eric Gagne implode again? Will Prince Fielder have Thousand Island or Russian dressing with his salad before the game since cheeseburgers are kinda no longer an option?

Much as it pains me to say it, the Red Sox have been looking gooood lately. Before today they'd won eight of their last ten games, many of them in heroic late inning come from behind fashion. Their bats have been hot, their pitching has been right on the money, and almost every team they've faced (including the Yanks... sigh...) has wound up frustrated.

Not so today, though. The Sox pulled a pulled a Not So Fast, Angels, We Will Come Back at the End of the Game and Beat You back on Tuesday, but they weren't able to hold them off this time. After jumping out to an early lead, the Angels answered back with a big seventh inning, a couple insurance runs in the eighth and ninth, and got some good innings out of their relievers to prevent another one of those obnoxious come -from-behind-ers. The Sox actually ALMOST pulled it off, with Papi hitting a 2-out, 2-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but K-Rod came out to save the game/day, getting his ninth save of the year . The final score was 7-5 Angels, with Saunders getting the win and Delcarmen credited with the loss.

Star o' the Game: Gary Matthews Jr: 3-5, 3 RBI, and no one left on base
Goat boy: Julio Lugo: 0-4, 4 left on base.

Not that the standings really mean all that much right now (sorry, Orioles ... you'll be back at the bottom of the barrel with the Rays soon enough), but a Yankees win tonight would put them just a game and a half behind the Sox.

Yeah, it doesn't mean much right now ... but try telling that to a Sox or Yanks fan!

Reds announcer Marty Brennaman caused a stir when he called fans of the Cubs the most obnoxious in baseball for throwing balls on the field during a game at Wrigley Field last week. It's not the first time someone has complained about the behavior of fans in the ballpark and was followed by the latest fracas between Red Sox and Yankee fans and a brawl-filled weekend series between rooters of the Phillies and Mets.

All of that kind of pales in comparison to abject racism spouted from the stands at the players on the field, though. Torii Hunter spoke to the Riverside Press-Enterprise before the start of a series at Fenway Park this week and related how he'd treated during earlier trips to Boston.

"My first five or six (years), I was 'That N-word.' Some people would chant that out, some people would throw beer or whatever . . . batteries."

The Boston Herald picked up on the story today and spoke with David Ortiz, Hunter's former teammate with the Twins.

"He told me those complaints before, but what can I do about it?" said Ortiz. "You know how it is. When you play for the other team, you're going to hear some (stuff) like that - wherever you're at. He's aware of that.

"(But) he heard some stuff that I'm surprised at. One of the security guys told me it was true. They were screaming that kind of stuff at him. That's not right."