July 2008 Archives

Another nugget to chew on from Elias:

* Joe Saunders improved to 14-5 in the Angels' 9-2 win at Fenway
Park on Wednesday, tying for the major league lead in wins. No Angels pitcher had
won 14 games by the end of July since Chuck Finley and Mark Langston
both won 14 in 1991.

These are from the sports info-gathering outfit Elias:

LACKEY LOSES NO-HITTER IN NINTH INNING
* John Lackey lost his no-hit bid with one out in the ninth inning
on Tuesday night when Dustin Pedroia singled. It's been 50 years since
a visiting pitcher threw a no-hitter against the Red Sox at Fenway Park;
the Tigers' Jim Bunning did that on July 20, 1958. In the half-century
since Bunning's no-no, only two visiting pitchers have taken a no-hitter
into the ninth inning at Fenway Park: Lackey and Mike Mussina.
Mussina's bid, on September 2, 2001, was a perfect game broken up with
two outs in the ninth inning by a Carl Everett single.

Lackey came close to becoming only the second pitcher since 1975 to
throw a no-hitter against the defending World Series champions. The two
most recent pitchers to do that were Nolan Ryan in 1990 (against
Oakland) and Dick Bosman in 1974 (also against Oakland).

The Angels just announced that their flagship station KLAA 830-AM will be the Southern California affiliate for all Notre Dame football games this fall. Notre Dame's football season starts Sept. 6 against San Diego State. Here is the 2008 Notre Dame football schedule:

09/06/08 vs. San Diego State Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET
09/13/08 vs. Michigan Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET
09/20/08 at Michigan State East Lansing, Mich. 3:30 p.m. ET
09/27/08 vs. Purdue Notre Dame, Ind. 3:30 p.m. ET
10/04/08 vs. Stanford Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET
10/11/08 at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. TBA
10/25/08 at Washington Seattle, Wash. 5:00 p.m. PT
11/01/08 vs. Pittsburgh Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET
11/08/08 at Boston College Chestnut Hill, Mass. TBA
11/15/08 vs. Navy Baltimore, Md. 12:00 p.m. ET
11/22/08 vs. Syracuse Notre Dame, Ind. 2:30 p.m. ET
11/29/08 at USC Los Angeles, Calif. 5:00 p.m. PT

Asked about recording the 1,000th strikeout of his career Friday, John Lackey said he didn't even realize he had reached the milestone. His victim on No. 1,000, Kevin Youkilis, was arguing with the umpire and Lackey thought his cheers were actually jeers for Youkilis.

Now that he realizes it was No. 1,000, what does he think?.

"It means I'm a long way away from Nolan (Ryan)," he said referring to Ryan's record of 5,714 strikeouts.

Angels minor league players Kevin Jepsen and Matt Brown have been selected to the US Olympic team...They will leave their respective clubs July 27 and return Aug. 25.

What does Vladimir Guerrero have in common with Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez? Well, nothing anymore. Guerrero moved past both sluggers on the all-time home run list with his 380th long ball. Guerrero now is in 57th place on the all-time home run list.

According to the Rocky Mountain News and foxsports.com, the Angels are interested in Rockies slugger Matt Holliday. So far the Angels are quiet on the subject, as is to be expected. Holliday would certainly deliver an offensive upgrade. Gary Matthews Jr. could be sent to Colorado in the deal, along with prospects, and the Angels will likely be on the hook for much of Matthews' salary. The trade deadline ends at the end of the month so we will see how this rumor moves along.

After a what started out as a bad day, Kelvim Escobar got some decent news Tuesday. Escobar was dominating in a rehab assignment at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Monday night but went to bed with some soreness that remained Tuesday morning. Escobar has been on the DL since the start of the season because a tear in his right labrum.

He was examined by team doctor Lewis Yocum and it was determined that Escobar had more irritation, but for now, nothing more. Rest was ordered and he will be re-examined soon.