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August 1, 2015 of 34

Clips

(August 1, 2015)


Today’s Clips Contents

FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (Page 3)

Bill Stoneman doesn't do anything 'crazy'

Dodgers push Clayton Kershaw back; Zack Greinke pulls them through vs. Angels

Zack Greinke still in top form, leads Dodgers to 5-3 win over Angels

A bloop, not a blast, frustrates Angels' Hector Santiago in loss to Dodgers FROM THE OC REGISTER (Page 8)

No more moves for the Angels as baseball's trade deadline passes

Miller: With trade deadline passed, it's time to be positive, even for struggling Angels

Moura: Moves at the trade deadline can reveal a lot about teams

C.J. Wilson joins Jered Weaver on DL for Angels

Angels pulled off no blockbuster trades, but GM Stoneman satisfied with team's moves

Scratched Friday, Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw says he'll pitch Saturday vs. the Angels

Even Mike Trout at his best can't knock out Zack Greinke as Angels fall to Dodgers

On deck: Angels at Dodgers, Saturday, 1 p.m. FROM ANGELS.COM (Page 20)

Angels stand pat in final days of Deadline

Wilson lands on DL; Rucinski called up

Top prospect Newcomb promoted to Double-A

Angels fall despite Trout's big night at plate

Santiago off his game for second straight start

Kershaw faces Halos with scoreless streak on the line FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (Page 26)

Angels send C.J. Wilson (elbow) to DL, recall righty Drew Rucinski

Greinke, Dodgers beat Angels 5-3 with Guerrero's go-ahead HR

Angels-Dodgers Preview FROM ESPN (Page 30)

Zack Greinke deals strikes, then deals a compliment to Mike Trout

Jered Weaver says Special Olympics athletes show true sportsmanship


FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Bill Stoneman doesn't do anything 'crazy' BY MIKE DIGIOVANNA There were no buzzer-beaters in the Angels front office on Friday. Interim General Manager Bill Stoneman didn't pull a Yoenis Cespedes out of his hat like the New York Mets did minutes before the nonwaiver trade deadline. Several relievers changed teams, but none landed in an Angels bullpen that could use a proven seventh-inning arm to build a better bridge between the starter and the setup-closing tandem of Joe Smith and Huston Street. See the most-read stories in Sports this hour >> The extent of the Angels' moves came earlier in the week when three veteran outfielders — David Murphy, Shane Victorino and David DeJesus — were acquired to give them a modest upgrade over struggling left fielder Matt Joyce and a platoon option with C.J. Cron at designated hitter. Angels fans were hoping for more, especially after first-place Houston acquired pitcher Scott Kazmir from Oakland and center fielder Carlos Gomez from Milwaukee, and Texas acquired ace Cole Hamels from Philadelphia. Sorry, folks, but you will get no apology from Stoneman. "I know the media and the fans are really looking at the trade deadline with excitement, but that doesn't mean you do something crazy just to make a headline," Stoneman said. "That's not what it's about. It's about putting yourself in position to win as many games as you can." Had Stoneman been willing to part with top pitching prospect Sean Newcomb, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound left-hander who has been compared to Jon Lester and was promoted to double-A Arkansas on Friday, he might have been able to put together a package for an impact bat or front-line pitcher. But the Angels were extremely reluctant to part with Newcomb, who went 6-1 with a 2.47 earned-run average, 129 strikeouts and 52 walks in 100 innings for Class-A Burlington (Iowa) and Inland Empire. And though the Angels have improved a woefully thin farm system, especially on the pitching side, they didn't have the quality or depth of second-tier prospects to make a play on the best available players like Houston, Texas and Toronto did. The fact there is not one outfielder in the system that the Angels deemed a better everyday option than the .178-hitting Joyce speaks volumes to their lack of position-playing prospects. "There is no such thing as an untouchable player, but you have to look at everything," Stoneman said. "There are players that would require a lot more coming back than other players in order for you do a deal.


"To get what the media deems 'impact' guys, the costs are higher, and if the costs are so high that it sets you back, it's not something you do." Elbowed out The Angels placed left-hander C.J. Wilson on the 15-day disabled list because of elbow inflammation Friday, but Wilson won't be immediately replaced in the rotation by Jered Weaver. Manager Mike Scioscia said Weaver, out since June 21 because of left hip inflammation, will make a second rehabilitation start for Inland Empire on Tuesday, meaning he won't be ready to return until Aug. 9 at the earliest. Drew Rucinski was recalled from triple A and will be a candidate, along with Cory Rasmus, to start Sunday against the Dodgers. Wilson, who is 8-8 with a 3.89 ERA in 21 starts and has battled elbow problems periodically over the last few years, had one of his worst starts of the season Tuesday, giving up six runs and six hits, including two homers, in a 10-5 loss at Houston. Wilson reported elbow discomfort Thursday and was placed on the DL and sent for medical tests Friday. "Every pitcher in the major leagues is nicked up to some degree, but it got to the point with C.J.'s elbow that it was tough for him to make the pitches he needed to," Scioscia said. "We're going to shut him down, get him evaluated and wait for the medical department to give him some insights."

Dodgers push Clayton Kershaw back; Zack Greinke pulls them through vs. Angels BY DYLAN HERNANDEZ Several hours before he was scheduled to start Friday night against the Angels, Clayton Kershaw was throwing in the outfield at Dodger Stadium. There was a reason for that: He was about to be scratched. Again. Kershaw, who was also scratched from the Dodgers' previous game because of a sore right hip, is now scheduled to pitch Saturday. Get news and notes on all the Dodgers matchups >> With Zack Greinke starting in place of Kershaw in the series opener against the Angels, the Dodgers cruised to a 5-3 victory that extended their lead to 11/2 games over the second-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West.


Even though Mike Trout belted his major league-leading 32nd home run and drove in three runs, the Angels lost their fourth in a row and for the seventh time in eight games. They remained two games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West. The Dodgers continued to downplay the severity of Kershaw's condition, with Manager Don Mattingly describing the decision to delay the three-time Cy Young Award winner's start as a precaution. Kershaw, who has a 29-inning scoreless streak, also threw Thursday before his charity ping-pong event at Dodger Stadium. Mattingly said the Dodgers wanted to give him an extra day to recover. Kershaw declined to speak with reporters, other than to say, "I'm pitching tomorrow. I'm good." Kershaw had problems with the same hip late in the 2012 season, when he missed a start and looked into whether the injury would require an operation. Mattingly was evasive when asked about Kershaw's long-term prognosis. "It feels good," Mattingly said. "He's not feeling anything. He's going tomorrow." See the most-read stories in Sports this hour >> On this night, the Dodgers had a more than capable replacement for Kershaw. Greinke won his fifth consecutive decision, limiting the Angels to two runs and five hits over eight innings. Trout and Kole Calhoun were the only sources of trouble for Greinke, who is building his own potential Cy Young resume with a 10-2 record and a 1.41 earned-run average that leads the major leagues. Trout and Calhoun were a combined five for seven against him. The other Angels were 0 for 21. Trout drove in Calhoun twice, on a fourth-inning triple to right-center and a sixth-inning single to center. Calhoun was three for four. "I usually try to get ahead of him, but I got behind every time, which isn't a good game plan," Greinke said of Trout, who led off the All-Star game last month with a homer against the Dodgers right-hander. "I thought I had a good idea to face him today, but I didn't execute my pitches to him at all. I couldn't even figure out if my game plan was good or not." Trout also caused problems for Kenley Jansen, as he launched a leadoff home run off the Dodgers closer in the ninth inning. The Dodgers jumped ahead in the first inning, when second baseman Howie Kendrick homered to left-center field in his first official at-bat against his former team. Kendrick, who played his previous nine seasons with the Angels, was acquired by the Dodgers in exchange for Andrew Heaney over the winter. Heaney will start Saturday for the Angels. The Angels tied it in the fourth on Trout's triple, but the Dodgers reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run by Alex Guerrero, who replaced the sidelined Justin Turner and homered for the first time since June 2. Run-scoring singles by Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal made it 5-1 in the fifth.


Up next Kershaw (8-6, 2.51 ERA) is scheduled to face the Angels' Heaney (5-0, 1.79) on Saturday at 1 p.m. TV: SportsNet LA. Radio: 570, 1020.

Zack Greinke still in top form, leads Dodgers to 5-3 win over Angels BY STEVE DILBECK So that fill-in guy, he’s OK. Deciding that Clayton Kershaw’s sore something – hip? glute? groin? – could benefit from an additional day of rest, the Dodgers pushed him back to Saturday and called on Zack Greinke to step in. Which he did, in what is becoming his typically dominant fashion. Greinke threw eight innings, holding the Angels to five hits in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory on a muggy Friday night before a sellout crowd of 53,380 at Dodger Stadium. Get news and notes on all the Dodgers matchups >> Greinke was backed up by a two-run homer from Alex Guerrero – his first home run since June 2 (64 at-bats) – the Dodgers’ offense doing enough damage to chase left-hander Hector Santiago after five-plus innings. Greinke (10-2), of course, has been on some kind of roll for a while now. His scoreless streak may have ended at 45 2/3 innings in his last start, but he remains remarkably sharp. In his last eight starts, Greinke is 5-0 with an 0.31 ERA, with 53 strikeouts and eight walks in 58 2/3 innings. The Dodgers gave him a quick 1-0 lead in the first when ex-Angel Howie Kendrick hit a solo home run nearly halfway up the left-field pavilion. It remained a 1-0 game until the fourth when Kole Calhoun singled and scored on a Mike Trout triple. Calhoun and Trout each had three hits, accounting for all of the Angels' hits in the game. Guerrero’s blast in the bottom of the inning followed an infield single by Yasmani Grandal and put the Dodgers back up front for good. See the most-read stories in Sports this hour >> The Dodgers added two more off Santiago (7-5) in the fifth. Scott Van Slyke blooped a double and scored on a single by Yasiel Puig, who took second on the throw home. Grandal followed with an RBI single, and the Dodgers were up, 5-1. The Angels got one back in the sixth when Calhoun singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a Trout base hit. Trout drove in all three of the Angels’ runs.


Greinke left after the eighth, having struck out eight and walked one. Kenley Jansen gave up a solo home run to Trout in the ninth, but held on to earn a rocky 18th save. Jansen has given up home runs in three of his last five appearances. He had given up only two in his first 22 games. The victory pushed the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West to 1½ games over the Giants, while the Angels remained two back of the Astros in the American League West.

A bloop, not a blast, frustrates Angels' Hector Santiago in loss to Dodgers BY MIKE DIGIOVANNA It wasn't the two-run home run off the bat of Dodgers third baseman Alex Guerrero in the fourth inning that did in Angels left-hander Hector Santiago in Friday night's 5-3 loss in Dodger Stadium. It was a fifth-inning flare that traveled about 130 feet off the bat of Scott Van Slyke that did it. See the most-read stories in Sports this hour >> The Angels trailed, 3-1, when Santiago retired the first two hitters of the fifth inning — Howie Kendrick and Adrian Gonzalez — on five pitches. Van Slyke, the cleanup batter, followed with a bloop double that fell into shallow right field, just inside the line and just out of the reach of second baseman Johnny Giavotella. Yasiel Puig followed with a run-scoring single to left and took second on the throw home, and Yasmani Grandal added an RBI single to left for a 5-1 lead. Those two runs were the difference in the loss, the seventh in eight games for the Angels. "That definitely changed that whole inning," Santiago said of Van Slyke’s hit. "I made a good pitch, and he put it right where we’re not. His whole approach is left-center field, to the gap, and he hit the ball exactly where we thought he wouldn’t hit it. [If] we get out of that inning, we’re down, 3-1, and still in the game." Santiago entered with a 7-4 record and 2.43 earned-run average and had yielded one or fewer earned runs in 12 of his last 18 starts, but he was tagged for five runs and nine hits in five innings Friday night. Of his 84 pitches, 61 were strikes, but Manager Mike Scioscia thought Santiago struggled to mix his pitches. "I thought Hector was a little indecisive," Scioscia said. "It looked like he was searching, not only trying to find his release point, to execute his pitches and repeat his delivery, which he’s been doing really well this year, but to get back into his game plan. He had a little trouble putting pitches together, he was behind in a lot of counts, and he just wasn’t as crisp as we’ve seen him." Mike Trout was extremely crisp, a very encouraging sign for the Angels. The center fielder missed two of three games in Houston this past week because of a sore left wrist, and he was hitless in three at-bats in his return Thursday night.


But Trout hit a run-scoring triple in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the sixth off Dodgers starter Zack Greinke and his major league-leading 32nd homer, a solo shot to left-center in the ninth, off closer Kenley Jansen. "Mike Trout is fine," Scioscia said. "He feels good." Kole Calhoun also singled three times Friday night, but while he and Trout combined to go six for eight, the rest of the Angels combined to go 0 for 24, another in a growing string of uneven performances for the Angels. "We've had a tough week," Scioscia said. "We haven’t put together a lot of parts of the game. When we’ve scored some runs, we haven’t pitched, and when we’ve pitched, we haven’t scored runs. "It's just a tough streak right now. It will settle, and we'll do what we need to do to win games, but we certainly didn’t get it done tonight."

FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

No more moves for the Angels as baseball's trade deadline passes BY PEDRO MOURA The Angels made all of their moves early. Friday's 1 p.m. deadline to submit trades to MLB's league office came and went without another Angels' acquisition, after the team acquired outfielders Shane Victorini, David DeJesus and David Murphy earlier in the week. They could still make further trades and have new acquisitions be eligible for their potential playoff roster. That deadline is Aug. 31. But any 40-man roster players traded until then must first clear waivers, adding complications. With last-minute deals still filtering in from across the league, something in the range of 80 players were dealt in the week leading up to this year's deadline, significantly besting last year's mark. One move the Angels did make Friday: They promoted top left-handed pitching prospect Sean Newcomb from High-A Inland Empire to Double-A Arkansas, according to assistant general manager Scott Servais. Newcomb pitched in this month's All-Star Futures Game and then returned to Inland Empire and allowed two runs in 16 2/3 innings, striking out 23 batters and earning the promotion. Servais said Newcomb's first start with Arkansas will be Sunday.


Miller: With trade deadline passed, it's time to be positive, even for struggling Angels BY JEFF MILLER LOS ANGELES – Wow, just as anticipated, that was quite a non-waiver trade deadline! Judging by the comments from the decision-makers, managers and players throughout baseball Friday, every team succeeded in doing exactly what it set out to do. Amazing! I mean, what are the odds? Sorry, but it’s just too easy to mock the spin-doctoring that annually marks this day each summer, arriving with the predictability that August does. (Check your calendar, please.) Baseball, a sport with strict guidelines concerning the use of on-field performance enhancers, places no restrictions on the blatant enhancement of off-field performances. So, no matter how drug-induced the comments might sound, everything’s OK. I understand the importance of staying positive, of painting a picture as optimistic as a rising sun. But, just once, I’d love to hear someone be cruelly honest about how their team just put the dead in deadline. Good gravy! We’re last in the league in pitching and we traded for a guy coming off Tommy John surgery? Why didn’t we just trade for Tommy John himself? The Angels showed up at Dodger Stadium for the start of a three-game series with a roster that has been tweaked and a disposition that had been twisted. Among the things they lost this week in Houston – and, remember, they lost everything there – was first place in the American League West. In being swept, the Angels fell two games behind the Astros at the same time Houston was winning the trade deadline, too. The Astros did more than just tweak, acquiring a solid starting pitcher and a proven hitter, and now everyone’s pretty certain they’ll win the AL West, even though they already blew a seven-game lead once this season. I don’t want to suggest Angels fans are stressed out given these recent developments, but one email I received actually left a ring of panicked sweat in my inbox. The Astros won the finale of the three-game series Thursday in dramatic walk-off style. To hear the public reaction that followed, Houston’s first step in walking off landed on the Angels’ collective Adam’s apple.


No doubt, Houston might be markedly improved moving forward. But I’m guessing there’s just as good a chance the still-surprising Astros could stall all the good they had going on by messing with their chemistry. A lot of people will disagree with that assessment or not even acknowledge the concept since there’s no tidy advanced metric to express something as nebulous as chemistry. Hopefully, though, we can all agree that adding Scott Kazmir and Carlos Gomez guaranteed Houston nothing, at least nothing more than a level of expectation that, before this week, that particular collection of Astros players never had felt. The Angels, meanwhile, had more pressing issues to concern themselves with here, the losers of six of their past seven overall forced to try to get well against Zack Greinke on Friday and then Clayton Kershaw on Saturday. There isn’t a tougher assignment in baseball, frankly, the Dodgers literally throwing the most lethal of right-left combinations, this time at an opponent with its chin fat and exposed. Watching Greinke work expertly in the opener, I couldn’t help but wonder what he might look like in an Angels uniform. Hey, you can dream, right? So I Googled the 2012 season and there he was, going 6-2 in 13 second-half starts for an Angels team that – despite winning the deadline that year (they got Greinke from Milwaukee for Jean Segura, Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg) – failed to make the postseason. It would have been great had the Angels been able to re-sign Greinke that winter. But, of course, we were all told they didn’t have the money to make such an enormous commitment, right before owner Arte Moreno gave Josh Hamilton $125 million. On Friday, Greinke wasn’t completely dominant, just dominant enough for eight innings, holding the Angels to five hits – all of them by either Mike Trout or Kole Calhoun – and two runs in a 5-3 Dodgers victory. Now, it’s seven losses in eight games for the Angels, immediately after they had gone on a 17-3 run and conveniently after I wrote a column jokingly suggesting they might not lose again this season. But, remember, this is the time for everyone to be positive, for the doctors to be spinning things absolutely forward. That’s what the post-deadline is all about, even for a bunch of Angels who are struggling. For that reason, I won’t mention that Kershaw is still scheduled to start Saturday, after being pushed back twice because of hip soreness. I also won’t report that, after taking the lead in the first inning Friday, the Dodgers never trailed. Or that their initial run came on a homer by a guy named Howie Kendrick.


Moura: Moves at the trade deadline can reveal a lot about teams BY PEDRO MOURA LOS ANGELES – In the week leading up to last year’s trade deadline, there were 51 players traded across Major League Baseball. This year, there were 101. The week was eventful, impactful, and most other words to which you can affix -ful. The most interesting part of the deadline is always what it reveals about teams’ perspectives. It offers the frankest self-assessments of the season. We learn who sees themselves contending; we learn who does not. And we learn what, specifically, teams see as their weaknesses, or the areas they determine are easiest to improve, at least. In some cases, it’s obvious. The Angels’ left fielders hit far worse than any other team’s left fielders, so they acquired three new potential left fielders. To learn that about the Dodgers requires some sifting and a non-zero amount of imagination. Put simply, their moves are more complicated than most everybody’s else’s. Compare the 13-player Dodgers-Braves-Marlins deal to what to San Francisco did this deadline. The Giants made one solid and entirely traditional trade, acquiring a free-agent-to-be starter for two prospects. Put one way, the Dodgers acquired two starters, two relievers and a top prospect for a ton of money. In most cases, it’s ludicrously early to make judgments on winners and losers. The biggest determiner of that will be the prospects traded. But we can appropriately assess who received the most value for what they gave up, and the Tigers, Royals, Phillies and Dodgers did that. The whole league knew what they wanted to do, and they did it anyway. Detroit determined mid-week it would sell, and so it sold David Price, Yoenis Cespedes and Joakim Soria, three players for whom it had traded in the last year. Somehow, they turned the trio into assets worth about as much as their initial acquisition costs. In the case of Cespedes, it was particularly impressive, because his contract made him ineligible to receive a qualifying offer. When dangling elite pending free agents, teams often use their ability to extend such an offer as leverage. The Tigers had no such leverage. Every executive across the sport knew they had to trade him, and, yet, they still earned themselves an elite pitching prospect from the Mets. No team’s window to win will shrink next season as much as the Royals’, and so they set out to open it as wide as possible this year, at a relatively small future expense. Who knows if, had they waited a few days, they would have been able to acquire David Price with the same prospect package they used to get Johnny Cueto? Price is probably better, sure, but Cueto’s great, too. The Dodgers and Phillies sort of did the same thing, and they both did it well.


Although they occupied opposite sides of the win curve, they both flexed their financial muscle to buy future talent. The White Sox and Padres, the teams who stood pat despite below-.500 records and expiring assets, were the losers. In opting against trading Justin Upton and the likes of Ian Kennedy and even Will Venable, San Diego general manager A.J. Preller essentially bet that the Padres will be the best team in baseball over the final two months. Even with three consecutive wins, San Diego’s record is 50-53 this season. There’s no way they’re making the playoffs without winning at least 35 games from here on out, and probably 40. So they have to go, oh, 40-19, with the same roster they’ve had all year long. The White Sox were said to be seeking a bat. They should have been seeking to sell off right-hander Jeff Samardzija all along, but either course of action would have been preferred to doing nothing at all. At 49-52, they’re now left to do the same thing as San Diego: They must hope they can be way better than they’ve been. What else did we learn? We learned the Dodgers determined their lack of baserunning ability is something they need to fix for next season, with their acquisition of Braves infield prospect Jose Peraza, whose strength is his speed. (Another hint to that end: They’ve converted Double-A outfielder Robbie Garvey into a full-time pinch-runner, a la Terrance Gore during Kansas City’s playoff run a year ago.) We learned the Angels are confident they can extract enough relief value from their seventh-inning crew of Fernando Salas, Trevor Gott, and, maybe, Mike Morin. We learned there will be clear favorites in the season’s final months.

C.J. Wilson joins Jered Weaver on DL for Angels BY JEFF FLETCHER LOS ANGELES – While Jered Weaver may or may not be getting closer to a return to the rotation, C.J. Wilson is now out. Wilson reported some elbow discomfort to the Angels on Thursday and they placed him on the disabled list and sent him for tests on Friday to determine what’s wrong. Weaver, meanwhile, won’t be ready to step into the spot vacated by Wilson. Weaver, who pitched for Class-A Inland Empire on Thursday, won’t have enough rest to take Wilson’s turn on Sunday. He will instead pitch again in the minors on Tuesday and be re-evaluated. The Angels are essentially in a holding pattern with both pitchers.


Manager Mike Scioscia said he didn’t suspect injury from watching Wilson’s outing Tuesday – he gave up six runs in four innings – but Wilson came to them Thursday with the problem. “Every pitcher out there pitching in the major leagues is nicked up to some point,” Scioscia said. “It got to the point with C.J.’s elbow it was tough for him to make the pitches he needed to.” Pending the outcome of the tests, the Angels are calling Wilson’s injury “left elbow inflammation.” He had a start pushed back a couple days in April with an elbow problem. “It’s definitely been on and off for a while,” Scioscia said. “Elbow is something he’s had to manage for most of his career. It’s always been something he’s been able to go out there and pitch with. It just crossed that line and we’ll see where it leads.” The Angels haven’t said who will take Wilson’s spot in the rotation. Drew Rucinski, who came up Friday to take his roster spot, would be a candidate if he’s not needed in relief before then. The Angels also could have a bullpen game with Cory Rasmus starting, as they did last year when Garrett Richards was hurt. Nick Tropeano, who has had two good outings in spot starts, isn’t a candidate because he pitched Wednesday. Weaver’s next turn will be a return to Class-A Inland Empire. After throwing 63 pitches on Thursday, Weaver will try to get to 75 or 80 this time, Scioscia said. “We’ll evaluate him further and see where he is,” Scioscia said. Weaver, who went on the disabled list six weeks ago with left hip inflammation, said that he feels like he is ready to return to the rotation now, having improved his delivery in his last few workouts. “I’m not that far off, that’s for sure,” Weaver said Friday. “The more I kept throwing, the timing was better and better. I was able to get out over my front side and get more extension, since the hip wasn’t barking.” ALSO Without a designated hitter in the National League park Friday, Scioscia chose to play David Murphy in left instead of David DeJesus. Scioscia said Murphy is the better offensive player. On most nights against right-handers, both will be in the lineup, with Murphy at DH and DeJesus in left. ... Collin Cowgill said he was going to take batting practice for the third time in four days, the most extensive workout he’s had since attempting to come back from a sprained right wrist. Cowgill has been out for more than two months. ... Efren Navarro was officially optioned to Triple-A. Navarro had been in a two-day roster limbo because of a rule technicality. The Angels were never at risk of losing him, though.


Angels pulled off no blockbuster trades, but GM Stoneman satisfied with team's moves BY JEFF FLETCHER LOS ANGELES – Bill Stoneman has clearly been here before. As the Angels interim GM addressed the media Friday following the passing of a trade deadline that was decidedly unsatisfying to action-hungry Angels fans, Stoneman was prepared with answers for what they did – and didn’t do. “I know the media and therefore the fans are really looking with excitement at the trade deadline and stuff like that but it doesn’t mean you do something crazy just to make a headline,” Stoneman said. “That’s not what it’s about. It’s about putting yourself in position to win as many games as you possibly can.” Stoneman, as Angels fans surely remember, was known for inactivity at the trade deadline during his previous eight-year tenure running the team. This time around, it seemed logical to think it could be different because Stoneman had been on the job for only a month after Jerry Dipoto’s resignation July 1. Stoneman insisted he would be relying on the input of the rest of the baseball operations department, which could have led to a direction similar to where Dipoto had led the team. And the Angels did make four trades for four established major leaguers. Left field and designated hitter had been the Angels’ two biggest voids all season, and Stoneman picked up three experienced players to improve those spots, without giving up any top prospects. Shane Victorino and David DeJesus will now platoon in left field, and David Murphy will join C.J. Cron in a platoon at DH. “First of all, we’re deeper now than we were last week,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Hopefully the offensive chemistry will appear as these guys get in and get into their roles and get settled.” Stoneman also acquired third baseman Conor Gillaspie, who had been designated for assignment by the White Sox. He was basically picked up for nothing to fill the void while David Freese is on the disabled list. While there is no doubt those players should make the Angels better, none of the acquisitions is the type of power-hitting marquee name Angels fans had wanted. No Jay Bruce or Justin Upton, who weren’t traded at all. No Yoenis Cespedes, who was dealt to the New York Mets. Not even Gerardo Parra, who was sent to the Baltimore Orioles.


Stoneman insisted the Angels tried all the way up until minutes from the 1 p.m. deadline, but the costs for the premium players turned out to be higher than the Angels were willing to pay. “Usually, if you get guys who are viewed by (the media) and the fans as being more impact, the cost is going to be higher,” Stoneman said. “And if the cost is going to be so high that it sets you back, it’s not something that you do.” The Angels’ problem was likely the depth of their farm system. As much as it has improved over the past couple of years, the Angels still have one of the thinnest systems in baseball. They just didn’t have much in terms of surplus talent to move. The top of the Angels’ wish list was clearly to get some offensive help, but they also looked into adding depth to their bullpen. It is possible they still could do that in August. They still could do that. Trades can be made in August, but players must first clear waivers to be dealt. While the Angels were making relatively modest improvements, they watched the Houston Astros pick up All-Star outfielder Carlos Gomez and frontline starter Scott Kazmir, and the Texas Rangers got acquire Cole Hamels. “What your competitors do really shouldn’t impact what you’re trying to do because you’re always trying to improve,” Stoneman said. “No matter what somebody else does, it doesn’t really stop you or accelerate you, because you’re always trying to move forward.”

Scratched Friday, Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw says he'll pitch Saturday vs. the Angels BY BILL PLUNKETT LOS ANGELES – Whatever issues Clayton Kershaw is having with his right hip, they didn’t slow him down enough for reporters to catch up with him before Friday’s game. “I’m pitching tomorrow,” Kershaw said, offering no more as he left the Dodgers clubhouse. Kershaw was supposed to pitch Wednesday but had that start pushed back to Friday due to soreness in his hip. But Kershaw didn’t start Friday either. He was scratched and is now scheduled to start Saturday against the Angels. “We wanted to give him a chance to throw, make sure he felt good,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. Kershaw did that Thursday, throwing a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium before hosting (but not competing in) his charity event, Ping Pong 4 Purpose. The Dodgers wanted to give him a day off after that workout before starting him again.


Coupled with the Dodgers’ two off days earlier this week, Kershaw will have had eight days off between starts. In September 2012, Kershaw went 11 days between starts while also dealing with a hip issue. He went to a hip specialist after that season. Neither Kershaw nor Mattingly would comment on how this year’s hip problem compares to that. “He’s good to go,” Mattingly said. “He feels good. He’s not feeling anything. He’s going tomorrow.” Beyond that, Mattingly said the plan is to start newly acquired Mat Latos on Sunday, Alex Wood on Tuesday in Philadelphia and Brett Anderson on Wednesday. ROSTER MOVES The non-waiver trade deadline passed Friday afternoon with the Dodgers still cleaning up after their three-team, 13-player trade with the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins. Mike Morse (acquired from the Marlins as part of that trade) was designated for assignment Thursday and traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday in exchange for outfielder Jose Tabata, who was assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers will still pay most of Morse’s salary. Tabata, 26, was a .275 hitter in parts of six seasons with the Pirates. He was outrighted by the Pirates earlier this season and was hitting .291 in 44 games at Triple-A. Meanwhile, the Dodgers cleared roster spots for new acquisitions Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson and Wood by sending right-handers Mike Bolsinger and Zach Lee to Triple-A Oklahoma City and placing third baseman Justin Turner on the DL. Latos had some travel issues getting to Los Angeles and has not been added to the active roster yet. Turner has not played since Sunday while dealing with an infection on his right leg. Turner was briefly hospitalized this week in order to receive antibiotics for the infection and is continuing that treatment. Mattingly said Turner was not going to be available for possibly another week while getting the infection treated so the decision was made to put him on the DL. SPIN CYCLE Wood said he learned about his trade to the Dodgers when Braves teammate Shelby Miller told him in the dugout Wednesday night that he’d better check his phone. Avilan said he was the last to know about the trade because “I don’t have Twitter anymore.” Wood does and his name kept coming up as potentially going to another team – the Tigers, the Cubs and Indians were all possibilities. But GM Farhan Zaidi said it was never the Dodgers’ aim to collect assets (like Wood) in order to spin them into another trade, perhaps for a bigger name like David Price or Cole Hamels. “I think in this particular case when you trade for players that other teams covet but may not have the assets to acquire or didn’t think were available, that spurs a lot of phone calls saying ‘Hey, you just traded for this guy, would you consider him in another deal with us?’” Zaidi said. “I think sometimes that


gets mistaken for the acquiring team, which in this case is us, actually shopping those players, which wasn’t the case. “Whenever you make a trade it seems like it spurs that type of activity where teams may think you’re interested in spinning. But for us, the goal was always to add starting pitching and help out the bullpen if we can.” PROTECTED STATUS The Dodgers were able to address those needs without surrendering any of their top prospects. That even went beyond Corey Seager and Julio Urias, two young players that Zaidi acknowledged were as close to untouchable as prospects get. “(Leading up to the trade deadline) I couldn’t see any scenario where we move any of those players,” Zaidi said. “That definitely bore itself out this trade deadline. “Those two guys I think people recognize are two of the top 10 prospects in the game. We have some other guys that we value very highly. There were certainly conversations that we had with teams where all of our players were at least asked for. Like I said, you never say that any player is untouchable. But I think particularly for those top two guys I never thought that the market would bear how highly we valued them.”

Even Mike Trout at his best can't knock out Zack Greinke as Angels fall to Dodgers BY BILL PLUNKETT LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers have been accused of playing with Monopoly money. But they haven’t bought up all the properties. Mike Trout – injured wrist and all – was 3 for 4 with a single, triple and home run, driving in all three Angels runs in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers on Friday night in the first game of their annual interleague meeting at Dodger Stadium. Trout got some help from Kole Calhoun, who had three hits batting right in front of Trout. Those two were 5 for 7 against Dodgers starter Zack Greinke. The rest of the Angels’ lineup was 0 for 21 with eight strikeouts in eight innings against the Dodgers’ right-hander. “It’s tough,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, adding Albert Pujols (0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts Friday) into the dangerous “three-guy set.” “Every time you go through there it’s like Boardwalk and Park Place when they’ve got hotels on them.” Mattingly has had to move his hotels around the board this week with ace Clayton Kershaw twice pushed back from scheduled starts. Greinke welcomed the opportunity to pitch on normal rest (four


days) for the first time in awhile, admitting that he told Mattingly and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt after his start Sunday that he would like to come back on normal rest. “After my last start in New York, I felt like I had pitched once a week for awhile with the All-Star break and everything,” Greinke said. Calhoun singled in the first inning but was erased when Greinke got Trout to bounce into a double play in their first encounter since Trout homered off Greinke in the All-Star Game. In the fourth inning, Calhoun singled again and scored this time when Trout got the better of Greinke, lining a triple into the right-center field gap. Two innings later, they were at it again. Calhoun singled for the third time in the game, moved to second on a wild pitch then scored on an RBI single by Trout. “I thought I had a good idea facing him today,” Greinke said. “But I didn’t make my pitches so I didn’t really find out if I had a good game plan because I didn’t execute.” Trout has a way of upsetting game plans. He ended a nine-pitch at-bat against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning by hitting a laser into the left-field pavilion for his major-league leading 32nd home run of the year. Trout’s latest best efforts weren’t enough to stop the Angels from losing for the seventh time in eight games “It’s been a tough week,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “We talked about it yesterday. We haven’t put together a lot of parts of the game. When we’ve scored some runs, we haven’t pitched. When we’ve pitched, we haven’t scored runs. It’s just a tough streak right now. “We certainly didn’t get it done tonight.” Angels starter Hector Santiago kept finding a pothole of his own in the Dodgers’ lineup. After Howie Kendrick hit a solo home run in his first at-bat against his former team, a trio of hitters in the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup did all the damage. The Cuban trio of Yasiel Puig, Yasmani Grandal and Alex Guerrero combined to score three of the Dodgers’ runs and drive in four. With Justin Turner on the DL with a skin infection in his right leg, Mattingly said Guerrero will get most of the playing time at third base. The Cuban infielder had a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Grandal had three hits, including an RBI single in the fifth inning. And Puig had his own RBI single in the fifth, driving in Scott Van Slyke after Van Slyke had doubled.


On deck: Angels at Dodgers, Saturday, 1 p.m. BY OSCAR TERRONES Where: Dodger Stadium TV: SportsNetLA, Fox Sports 1, 1 p.m. Did you know: Andrew Heaney gave up six home runs in 291/3 innings last year with Miami. He has given up just three in 401/3 innings this year. THE PITCHERS LHP CLAYTON KERSHAW (8-6, 2.51) Kershaw’s start was pushed back for a second time this week due to a sore right hip. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he wanted to give Kershaw’s hip another day to progress, but that the reigning MVP is good to go. Kershaw has a 29-inning scoreless streak over his last four starts. Vs. Angels: 2-2, 3.76 At Dodger Stadium: 57-27, 2.11 Loves to face: Erick Aybar (3 for 15, .200) Hates to face: Albert Pujols (9 for 20, .450) LHP ANDREW HEANEY (5-0, 1.79) Heaney has been the Angels’ best starter since being inserted into the rotation June 24. He has yet to give up more than two earned runs in his six starts, and his strikeout-to-walk rate is better than 6-to-1. He threw a season-high 97 pitches Sunday in his most recent outing when he tossed six innings in a 5-0 win over the Rangers. Vs. Dodgers: First game


FROM ANGELS.COM

Angels stand pat in final days of Deadline BY ALDEN GONZALEZ / MLB.COM LOS ANGELES -- The Angels fielded calls right up until the 1 p.m. PT Trade Deadline on Friday, open to the possibility of adding another bat and looking mostly for an experienced, controllable bullpen arm. They were hopeful that the asking prices would fall on the final day and were surprised by the fact that they actually rose, so they stood back, satisfied with the platoon outfielders they already acquired and unwilling to part with the few premium prospects they still have. It was very Bill Stoneman-like. "I know the media and, therefore the fans, are really looking with excitement at the Trade Deadline and stuff like that, but it doesn't mean you do something crazy just to make a headline," Stoneman, the Angels' interim general manager, said on a conference call. "That's not what it's about. It's about putting yourself in position to win as many games as you possibly can." The Angels ultimately added a stopgap third baseman until David Freese returns around the middle of August (Conor Gillaspie), a left-handed-hitting left fielder (David DeJesus), a right-handed-hitting left fielder (Shane Victorino) and a left-handed-hitting designated hitter (David Murphy) to pair with the young, right-handed-hitting C.J. Cron. They only gave up three middle-tier prospects -- shortstops Eric Stamets and Josh Rutledge, rookie-level starter Eduar Lopez -- and they didn't take on much salary. But they also took a backseat. The first-place Astros added Scott Kazmir and Carlos Gomez, the division-rival Rangers traded for Cole Hamels, the Blue Jays added Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, and the Royals picked up Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. The Angels never felt motivated to keep up. "What your competitors do really shouldn't impact what you're trying to do because you're always trying to improve," Stoneman said. "No matter what somebody else does, it doesn't really stop you or accelerate you, because you're always trying to move forward." The Angels could still use a seventh-inning reliever; a consistent, veteran arm who can form a bridge to setup man Joe Smith and closer Huston Street. They can acquire one in August, when players must be offered through waivers before being dealt, but they seemingly don't feel the urgency to do so. Still, the Angels have plenty of payroll flexibility remaining. "We're going to keep looking," Stoneman said. "You're always looking." Stoneman was thrown into the fire earlier this month. He's 71 years old, eight years removed from stepping down as the Angels' GM and essentially out of the loop in an advisory role ever since. But Angels owner Arte Moreno and president John Carpino asked Stoneman to take over through the end of


the season when Jerry Dipoto abruptly resigned on July 1, because he's always had a good relationship with Mike Scioscia and because he has the mild-mannered disposition that could help keep operations running smoothly. Stoneman relied heavily on assistant GMs Matt Klentak and Scott Servais. But it's worth wondering if the Angels were hurt by the absence of Dipoto, who had a better rapport with the 29 other GMs. "I don't know," Stoneman said. "We conducted calls with everybody. I gotta tell you, at least half the guys I know very well. Making contact with the guys I knew very well was very easy. In some cases it was like picking up where you left off. Everyone here in the office had contact with the guys on the other clubs."

Wilson lands on DL; Rucinski called up BY DAVID ADLER / MLB.COM LOS ANGELES -- The Angels placed left-hander C.J. Wilson on the 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation on Friday. Wilson pitched Tuesday and was knocked around by the Astros, allowing six runs in four innings -- but manager Mike Scioscia said Friday, before the Angels' series opener against the Dodgers, that there weren't any obvious injury indications. On Thursday, though, Wilson approached Scioscia about going on the disabled list because of the elbow issue. Scioscia said it was Wilson's decision. "C.J.'s elbow got to a point where it really was tough for him to make the pitches he needed to. We're gonna shut him down, get it evaluated and see where we are," Scioscia said. "When it's not manageable for a player and he can't execute his pitches, you obviously you have to take a step back. That's where we are with Jered Weaver and now we're there with C.J. Wilson." Wilson was getting tests done on his elbow Friday. After a 5-3 loss later that night, the Angels said Wilson would announce the MRI results himself Saturday morning. "Really, we're just kind of waiting," pitching coach Mike Butcher said prior to Friday's game. "It's early for me to comment on it. We're going to hear from our medical staff, see what kind of direction we want to go. He's been able to manage his last few starts. I think it's gotten to the point where he wanted to find out in his mind where he's at, really." Scioscia said Wilson's elbow has been "up and down for a while," and has also been something Wilson has had to manage over the course of his career. Wilson has been able to make his starts this season -- Tuesday's was his 21st of 2015 -- but the inflammation has now apparently become something he can't pitch through. "Right now, it comes at a time where I would say you don't quite expect it," Butcher said. "He knows what's going on inside his body. It's something internal that obviously you can't see with your eyes."


In a corresponding move Friday, the Angels called up right-hander Drew Rucinski from Triple-A Salt Lake. The Halos' starting pitcher for Sunday, Wilson's scheduled spot, has yet to be determined. Rucinski, the club's No. 27 prospect per MLB Pipeline, was 5-5 with a 5.03 ERA in 17 starts at Triple-A. He would be an option, as would Adam Wilk -- who would have to be added to the 40-man roster -- or a staff/bullpen day headed by Cory Rasmus. Weaver, who made a rehab start for Class A Advanced Inland Empire on Thursday, will make a second rehab start on Tuesday, Scioscia said. Scioscia said Weaver will hopefully throw around 75-80 pitches in the second rehab start. Weaver said he felt good after Thursday's start as far as his physical health and stamina, and that his mechanics have improved. "I'm not far off, that's for sure," he said. "The more I kept throwing, the timing was getting better and better. I was able to get out over my front side and get more extension, the hip wasn't barking." Weaver also said Wilson being placed on the DL would not affect his own return timetable. Worth noting • Efren Navarro was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday. Navarro had been designated off the active roster on Wednesday until the Angels were allowed to obtain optionable waivers to send him to Triple-A. • Former pitcher Mark Langston has been away from the Angels radio booth the last three games while dealing with a family matter. Langston could return to his role as a color commentator alongside Terry Smith at some point next week. Jose Mota has filled in in the meantime.

Top prospect Newcomb promoted to Double-A BY ALDEN GONZALEZ / MLB.COM LOS ANGELES -- The Angels have promoted top pitching prospect Sean Newcomb to Double-A, making that the third level the 22-year-old left-hander will pitch at in his first full season in professional baseball. Newcomb, drafted 15th overall last summer, has posted a 2.25 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in 100 innings at both of the Angels' Class A levels, striking out 11.6 batters and walking 4.7 per nine innings. Newcomb has risen fast -- but not fast enough to compete for a spot in the Major League rotation at the start of next season. "I don't see that happening," said assistant general manager Scott Servais, in charge of scouting and player development. "Things can happen, but he's a young player, and I think we have to be cautious. Even though his numbers are really good, he's had a hard time getting deep into games. The pitch count does run up on him, so there's plenty for him to work on."


Newcomb, ranked first in the Angels' system and 24th overall by MLB.com, began the year with a 1.83 ERA in seven starts for Class A Burlington. That earned him a promotion to Class A Advanced Inland Empire, where he went 6-1 with a 2.47 ERA in 13 starts at the hitter-friendly California League. Newcomb, who posted a 1.10 ERA in his last six outings, is built like an NFL tight end, at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds. He has a smooth, low-maintenance delivery that allows him to reach the mid-90s with relative ease. But his biggest improvements have come with his changeup. "You're starting to see it become a pitch he can throw at any count, with good hand speed, not slowing down his arm or tipping it to the hitter or anything like that," Servais said of Newcomb, who will make his debut for Double-A Arkansas on Sunday. "The curveball has always been good with Sean, just kind of inconsistent with throwing it for a strike. I think that'll be the next challenge for him."

Angels fall despite Trout's big night at plate BY ALDEN GONZALEZ AND STEVE BOURBON / MLB.COM LOS ANGELES -- Howie Kendrick launched a solo home run in the first inning and Zack Greinke was strong for eight innings as the Dodgers beat the Angels, 5-3, at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. Greinke (10-2) was consistent as ever, firing eight innings and allowing only two runs while striking out eight; this is his fifth win in his last six outings. It was the bottom of the order that provided the offensive punch for the Dodgers. Alex Guerrero hit a two-run homer and Kiké Hernandez reached base three times, as the Nos. seven and eight hitters, respectively. Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout provided the only offense for the Angels. Calhoun was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Trout was 3-for-4, a double short of the cycle and all three RBI. Starter Hector Santiago was ineffective, lasting five innings and allowing nine hits and five runs. The Angels have dropped seven of their last eight games. "The biggest key is trying to keep guys off base in front of those guys. Keep the leadoff guy off, keep the back end of the lineup off. It's tough," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "They have some good hitters over there. When you have those kind of pitches, though, Zack is capable." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Old friends: After spending nine years with the Angels, Kendrick greeted his old mates with a solo homer in his first at-bat against his former team. Santiago hung an 0-1 curveball over the heart of the plate and Kendrick clubbed the pitch to left-center for his eighth homer of the year to get the scoring started for the Dodgers. Kendrick finished 1-for-4 on the night. No escape: Hector Santiago had a chance to keep the game manageable in the fifth, with none on, two outs and the Dodgers only leading 3-1. But the Angels' left-hander struggled against a trio of right-handed hitters, giving up a double to Scott Van Slyke and back-to-back RBI singles to Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal, a switch-hitter batting from the right side of the plate. Santiago finished giving up a season-high-tying five earned runs


"If we can make that play, it changes the whole inning, it changes the whole game," Santiago said of Van Slyke's double, on a high fly ball that fell between Calhoun and second baseman Johnny Giavotella. "It keeps us in the game right there. And they score those runs, that's a big part of the game, big inning right there, where it changes everything." Just keep running: Though the Dodgers aren't known for their speed as a team on the basepaths, the club took extra bases in a two-run fifth inning. After a double from Van Slyke, Puig ripped a single into left field that Van Slyke was able to score on because of a weak throw from David Murphy, which also allowed Puig to advance to second. The next hitter, Grandal, pulled a single again to Murphy and Puig scored from second without a throw to put the Dodgers up, 5-1. Wrist? What wrist?: Trout missed two games with soreness in his left wrist, then returned to the lineup Thursday, went 0-for-3 and said he still felt some pain on some swings. Trout looked just fine on Friday, though, lining an RBI triple in the fourth, coming back with an RBI single in the sixth and launching his 32nd home run off Kenley Jansen in the ninth, a solo shot to left-center field. Trout and Calhoun went a combined 5-for-7 against Greinke, but the rest of the Angels' lineup went 0-for-21. "He's just fine," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said regarding Trout's wrist. "We had some good looks at Greinke, couldn't get that key hit here or there to really get to where we needed to be. And when [Greinke] did get in a little bit of trouble, he made some really good pitches on Albert and to get out of some jams." QUOTABLE "We've had a tough week. We haven't put together a lot of parts of the game -- when we've scored some runs we haven't pitched, and when we've pitched we haven't scored runs. It's just a tough streak right now and i think it'll settle and we'll start to do the things we need to do to win games." -- Scioscia, on the Angels' current rut "I don't usually tell them much but it seemed like since my last start in New York, it seemed like I hadn't pitched once a week the past couple weeks, so I told them I wanted to come back as soon as possible." -- Greinke on having his start moved up by a day WHAT'S NEXT Angels: Rookie left-hander Andrew Heaney takes the ball for the second of a three-game Freeway Series at 1:05 p.m. PT on Saturday. Heaney has dazzled since coming up from Triple-A, going 5-0 with a 1.79 ERA. The 24-year-old has given up two runs or fewer while going at least six innings in all six starts. Dodgers: After being scratched from back-to-back starts on Wednesday and Friday, Clayton Kershaw is scheduled once again to pitch for the Dodgers. The 2014 MVP is dealing with a sore right hip and said he expects to be good to go for the start. If Kershaw is unable to go, newly acquired Alex Wood would be on regular rest.


Santiago off his game for second straight start BY DAVID ADLER / MLB.COM LOS ANGELES -- This is two starts in a row that the Angels' All-Star pitcher hasn't exactly pitched like one. Hector Santiago gave up five runs on nine hits -- both tying season highs -- in five-plus innings Friday night as the Angels lost, 5-3, to the Dodgers in the Freeway Series opener at Dodger Stadium. It was the Angels' sixth loss in seven games following a 17-3 run. Santiago was coming off a four-run outing in his previous start, which prompted manager Mike Scioscia to give the left-hander an extra day of rest -- pushing him back from Thursday to Friday to give him a breather. But Friday's start turned out to be perhaps Santiago's worst of the year. "I thought Hector was really indecisive," Scioscia said. "It looked like he was not only trying to find his release point to execute pitches and repeat his delivery -- which he's been doing really well this year -- but just searching to get back into his game plan. He had trouble putting pitches together; [he was] behind in a lot of counts. Just wasn't as crisp as we've seen him, and he paid a price for it." In his last two games, Santiago's ERA has increased from 2.30 -- which was third-best in the American League -- to 2.70. The nine total runs he's given up in just 10-plus combined innings have followed a three-game stretch coming out of the All-Star break in which Santiago allowed just two runs in 19 innings. On Friday, the price Santiago paid came in several forms. It started with former Angel Howie Kendrick's long home run in the first inning, which came on a 73-mph curveball Santiago hung right over the heart of the plate. Santiago later gave up a second long ball, a two-run shot to Alex Guerrero in the fourth that gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead after the Angels had tied the game. But it was a bloop, not a blast, that Santiago said really hurt him. In the fifth, Santiago had two outs and nobody on when Scott Van Slyke skied a ball to shallow-right field that somehow fell for a double, just inside the foul line, between multiple converging Angels. The Dodgers went on to score two runs in the inning, pushing their lead to 5-1. "His whole approach is kind of left-center, in the gap, and he put the ball exactly where we thought he wasn't gonna be," Santiago said of Van Slyke. "That ball kind of falls in -- if we can make that play, it changes the whole inning, it changes the whole game. We're still 3-1 -- down 3-1 with a chance -- it keeps us in the game right there. And they score those runs, that's a big part of the game, big inning right there, where it changes everything." Down the season's stretch run -- and especially now, with veteran Angels starters Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson on the disabled list -- the Angels need the pitcher who's been their best all season to get back to the form that got him to the Midsummer Classic.


Kershaw faces Halos with scoreless streak on the line BY STEVE BOURBON / MLB.COM After being scratched from back-to-back starts, Clayton Kershaw will try to add to his streak of 29 scoreless frames in the middle game of a three-game set between the Dodgers and Angels on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. Both Kershaw and manager Don Mattingly reiterated that the ace will be good to go, but their mantra was similar heading into Friday's scheduled start. Kershaw is dealing with a sore right hip, and he threw and stretched the past two days. Mattingly insisted the scratches were just precautionary. What a difference a year makes for Andrew Heaney. The left-hander was brought to the Dodgers in the deal that sent Dee Gordon to the Marlins and he was immediately flipped to the Angels for Howie Kendrick in December. Heaney is 5-0 with a 1.79 ERA in six starts this season. During his first season in the Majors with Miami in 2014, he was 0-3 with a 5.83 ERA in five starts. Things to know about this game: • Heaney has been consistent this season for the Angels; he's lasted at least six innings and allowed two runs or fewer in all of his starts. He's earned a win in five straight starts and the Angels are a perfect 6-0 when he takes the hill. • Albert Pujols has owned Kershaw in his career. The slugging first baseman has hit .455 lifetime against Kershaw and has a .586 on-base percentage in 29 plate appearances. • Even with Kershaw starting on Saturday, Angels manager Mike Scioscia ruled out the possibility of Pujols starting at third base -- which would allow the right-handed-hitting C.J. Cron to play first base. The Angels will instead start either Conor Gillaspie, a left-handed hitter, or Taylor Featherston, who's batting .139.

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Angels send C.J. Wilson (elbow) to DL, recall righty Drew Rucinski LOS ANGELES -- Bill Stoneman decided the Los Angeles Angels shouldn't give up too much of their future to improve this season's title chances down the playoff stretch. After acquiring three veteran outfielders in the previous week, the Angels' interim general manager decided not to make a costly move to land a big hitter or a key reliever at the trade deadline Friday. Stoneman wasn't swayed even when Los Angeles (55-46) was swept in a three-game series Thursday by the Houston Astros, who nudged past the Angels into the AL West lead.


"We had discussions going right up until a couple of minutes before the deadline," Stoneman said. "There were some opportunities, but nothing that really would have helped us. Our judgment was we were giving up more than we were getting back." The Angels acquired Shane Victorino, David Murphy and David DeJesus in three separate trades for minor leaguers in recent days. All three will get a chance to fill the void in left field for the Angels, who have received miserable production at the position since trading Josh Hamilton in April. While the Angels are wrapping up a standout July performance, their recent losses suggest they're hardly a powerhouse. Yet Stoneman has only been back on the job for a month after Jerry Dipoto's abrupt resignation, and the veteran front-office mind didn't like the look of the available deals for a bat or relief help. "The things that we decided not to do, we think (those trades) would have left us worse off, and we had the discipline not to do it," Stoneman said. "I know the media, and therefore the fans, are really looking with excitement about the trade deadline, but it doesn't mean you do something crazy just to make a headline. That's not what it's about." The Angels put left-hander C.J. Wilson on the 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation before the opener of their Freeway Series with the Dodgers. The Angels also recalled right-hander Drew Rucinski from Triple-A Salt Lake and optioned Efren Navarro to the minors. Wilson is 8-8 with a 3.89 ERA this season for the Angels. He yielded six runs and six hits in four innings in a loss Tuesday in Houston. Wilson's absence could open a rotation spot next week for right-hander Jered Weaver, who has been out for a month with hip inflammation. Rucinski or Triple-A starter Nick Tropeano could take Wilson's scheduled turn in the rotation Sunday when the Angels finish a three-game Freeway Series with the Dodgers.

Greinke, Dodgers beat Angels 5-3 with Guerrero's go-ahead HR LOS ANGELES -- Even with pitchers like Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly understands pitching to an Angels lineup that includes Mike Trout and Albert Pujols is a daunting task. "Every time you go through there, it's kind of like going through Boardwalk and Park Place when they've got hotels on them," Mattingly said after the Dodgers won Friday night's Freeway Series opener 5-3. Greinke won his fifth straight decision after Kershaw was pushed back a day in the Dodgers' rotation. Howie Kendrick homered in his first game against his former team. Rookie Alex Guerrero hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fourth in support of Greinke (10-2), who allowed two runs and five hits in eight innings. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, who leads the


majors with a 1.41 ERA, had his consecutive scoreless inning streak snapped at a career-best 45 2/3 innings last Sunday in a no-decision against at the New York Mets. Greinke, who spent the final two months of the 2012 season down the freeway in Anaheim before joining the Dodgers as a free agent, improved his home record with them to 23-5. Kershaw is slated to start Saturday's matinee after missing Wednesday's scheduled start against Oakland because of a sore left hip. "We had some good looks at Greinke, but we couldn't really get that key hit to get us where we needed to be," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "When we did get him in a little bit of trouble, he made some really good pitches to get out of some jams." Kenley Jansen, fighting a virus for the past three days, got his 18th save in 19 chances despite giving up Trout's major league-leading 32nd homer leading off the ninth. Trout also had an RBI triple and run-scoring single against Greinke "I gave up just one hit on a slider and Trout got it, so that was impressive. But the triple came on a bad pitch," Greinke said. "I thought I had a good idea about how to face him today, but I didn't execute my pitches to him at all. So it didn't even matter whether the game plan was good or not. I usually try to get ahead of him, but I got behind on him every time -- which isn't a good game plan against him." The Angels have lost seven of eight following a seven-game winning streak and trail the AL West-leading Astros by two games. Hector Santiago (7-5) gave up five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings after going 3-0 with a 1.70 ERA over his previous six starts. Guerrero gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead with his 11th homer, driving a 1-1 pitch into the lower seats in the left-field corner after an infield hit by Yasmani Grandal. Yasiel Puig and Grandal extended the margin to 5-1 with RBI singles in the fifth. Kendrick, the Dodgers' No. 2 hitter, drove Santiago's sixth pitch of the game into the pavilion seats in left-center for his eighth homer. TRAINER'S ROOM Angels: LHP C.J. Wilson was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of inflammation in his elbow. The move is retroactive to July 29, the day after he surrendered six runs and two homers over four innings in a 10-5 loss at Houston. Dodgers: 3B Justin Turner went on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 27, because of a right thigh infection.


UP NEXT Angels: Andrew Heaney (5-0) has thrown at least six innings -- and allowed two runs or fewer -- in each of his first six starts with the club. The only pitcher in Angels history to do that in each of his first seven starts with them was Jered Weaver in 2006. Heaney has 31 strikeouts and just five walks in 40 1/3 innings, and comes in with a 1.79 ERA. Dodgers: Kershaw (8-6) has a streak of 29 consecutive scoreless innings -- not counting his two-run fifth in the All-Star Game. The reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner has 38 strikeouts and no walks over his last three outings, making him the first pitcher in history with three straight scoreless starts with at least 10 Ks and no bases on balls. Kershaw will pitch on eight days' rest, after taking a perfect game into the seventh inning of his 3-0 win over the Mets on July 23 and finishing with a three-hitter.

Angels-Dodgers Preview A few days later than expected, Clayton Kershaw finally appears ready to continue his recent

dominance.

Riding the majors' longest active scoreless streak, the left-hander will get the ball in the Freeway Series

on Saturday at Dodger Stadium opposite unbeaten Andrew Heaney and the Los Angeles Angels.

Though Kershaw (8-6, 2.51 ERA) saw his bid for a perfect game end in the seventh inning last Thursday

against the New York Mets, he hasn't allowed a run in 29 innings after tossing a three-hitter with 11

strikeouts during that 3-0 win.

"That's what aces do. When he's like that, they've got no chance," teammate Jimmy Rollins told MLB's

official website.

Kershaw last yielded a run in the fourth inning of a 2-1 loss to the Mets on July 3. In three starts since,

he's recorded two complete games and struck out 38 without a walk over 26 innings to become the first

pitcher in history with three straight scoreless starts that included no walks and at least 10 strikeouts.

Kershaw, 3-1 with an 0.97 ERA in his last five home starts, had this start originally pushed back from

Wednesday to Friday due to hip soreness. He then got pushed back one more day, with Zack Greinke

pitching Friday's three-game series opener and getting the win in a 5-3 victory.

"As much as anything, we're just making sure that everything's good," manager Don Mattingly said. "He

threw yesterday before his (charity bowling) event, and we knew he was feeling good. But we wanted to

give him the extra day and keep Zack on (his regular rest)."

Kershaw, who insisted to reporters he will pitch Saturday, is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in three home starts

against the Angels.


Albert Pujols is 9 for 20 with four doubles against him while Mike Trout is 2 for 3 with a double. Both

faced Kershaw this year in the All-Star game, with Pujols walking and Trout grounding out against the

NL's losing pitcher.

Heaney (5-0, 1.79) will make his seventh start after winning his last five. He is trying to become the first

Angels rookie to win six straight starts since Jered Weaver in 2006. In that year, Weaver also became the

only pitcher in club history to throw at least six innings and allow two runs or fewer in his first seven

starts.

"I'm trying to take the same stuff out there; the only thing that changes is the hitters," he told MLB's

official website.

The Angels (55-47) have provided a healthy amount of support with 35 runs for him in his last four

outings. That includes Sunday's 13-7 victory over Texas in which the left-hander gave up two runs in six

innings.

Greinke struck out eight in eight innings for the Dodgers (58-45). Howie Kendrick homered in his first

game against his former team and rookie Alex Guerrero hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fourth

inning.

Trout finished a double shy of the cycle and drilled his major league-leading 32nd homer in the ninth off

closer Kenley Jansen. He finished with three RBI and half of the Angels' hits, with Kole Calhoun getting

the other three.

Pujols was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and will seek to avoid going hitless in three straight games for

the first time since Aug. 31-Sept. 2.

The Dodgers have won six of their last eight at home while the Angels have lost seven of eight overall.

FROM ESPN

Zack Greinke deals strikes, then deals a compliment to Mike Trout BY MARK SAXON LOS ANGELES -- You’re not going to win them all.

Zack Greinke didn’t throw many bad pitches against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night, but he

admitted the ones he threw to Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout in the first four innings were mistakes.

Right away, Calhoun had two hits, and Trout smacked a ringing triple into the right-center-field gap to

drive him in.


By the sixth inning, Greinke had tightened things up, though. Calhoun was lucky to bloop a single to left

field -- Scott Van Slyke’s first two steps were back or he might have caught it -- and then to advance to

second on a wild pitch. But what happened next was all about the freakish ability of baseball’s best

player.

Greinke threw a tight 2-and-2 slider to Trout that broke sharply just as it crossed the plate and dove

away from Trout, who somehow hit it off his shoe tops for a line drive into left-center field.

“So, that was pretty impressive,” Greinke said later.

Greinke’s got that going for him, too, over some of the other elite players in the game. He gives credit

where it’s due. Two starts earlier, Greinke had absolutely dominated the Washington Nationals on a

muggy day in D.C., and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, who was effusive in his praise of Clayton

Kershaw the day before, told the Washington Post he didn’t think Greinke was “very tough,” blaming

Greinke’s three-hit, 11-strikeout complete game on a generous strike zone by the plate umpire.

“He has his changeup and his sinker, he elevates and he’s a good pitcher,” Harper told the newspaper.

Faint praise indeed. There’s something about the way Greinke operates that makes people reserve their

best praise for more physically imposing pitchers such as Kershaw. Maybe it’s his calm, almost scientific

demeanor on the mound. Maybe it’s the fact he rarely completes his games as the aces of old used to

do routinely.

But as the calendar flips to August, Greinke is having a season every bit as dominant as Kershaw’s was

last year. Kershaw won both the Cy Young and the MVP award, you might recall. Nobody has mentioned

Greinke in connection to either of those two trophies yet, but you never know. This does seem to be an

era of the pitcher.

After Greinke threw an eight-inning no-hitter to every Angel not named Calhoun or Trout in the

Dodgers’ 5-3 win Friday night, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was asked if Greinke’s season has felt as

dominant as Kershaw’s did last year.

“It feels pretty dominant,” he said. “Obviously, he had the big streak of [45] scoreless innings. You can

kind of count on him, obviously, getting through a big chunk of the game.”

Through 21 starts, Greinke has a 1.41 ERA and has walked 25 batters while striking out 128 of them in

146 1/3 innings. Opponents have a .488 OPS against him, and he has one complete game.

Through 21 starts last year, Kershaw had a 1.82 ERA and had walked 21 batters and struck out 184 of

them in 153 1/3 innings. Opponents had a .519 OPS against him, and he had six complete games.

You can decide which season is more dominant based on which numbers you value, but both sets of

numbers are so absurd, it’s as if the Dodgers’ two best pitchers have taken the game in a time machine

to 1968, before they lowered the mound.


One of Greinke’s other admirable traits is he finds it virtually impossible to lie. The Dodgers had listed

Kershaw as their starting pitcher Friday night even though they had told Greinke two days earlier that he

would be pitching. It’s hard to know why the Dodgers foisted the white lie on the rest of us. Maybe they

thought it would gain them an advantage over the Angels, who weren’t sure who to prepare for?

Mattingly admitted after the game that Greinke knew several days earlier he would be pitching Friday.

Greinke, in fact, had asked pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and Mattingly to leave him on regular rest this

time, since the All-Star break and the birth of his first child had thrown off his routine for the previous

two starts.

Asked after the game when he knew he would be starting, Greinke said, “I don’t want to answer that, I

guess, in case someone else is telling you other things.”

Jered Weaver says Special Olympics athletes show true sportsmanship BY STEPHANIA BELL Baseball fans know Jered Weaver on the playing field, but many might not know the impact the Los

Angeles Angels pitcher has as a Sports Ambassador for Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC).

Weaver and his wife, Kristin, have been active in the SOSC community for the past six years and became

involved in the organization as a result of their own participation in sports. Both were standout athletes

at California State University, Long Beach (Jered in baseball, Kristin in soccer), where Bill Shumard was

the athletic director. When Shumard later became president and CEO of SOSC, he reached out to two of

his former star student-athletes to see if they would be willing to help the organization.

The Weavers didn't hesitate.

"As soon as he came to us, we were more than willing to help out and be a part of such a great

organization," Weaver recently told ESPN.com.

Prior to moving to Southern California, Kristin worked one-on-one with children with intellectual

disabilities. Weaver says his wife was "more than excited" to be a part of an organization like Special

Olympics, and the couple have remained jointly committed to the group ever since.

In his particular role as Sports Ambassador, Weaver spends most of his volunteer time at events, lending

a hand wherever needed, whether it be handing out awards or simply cheering on the athletes and

meeting them and their families.

"I'll show up, wear my Angels jersey, sign some autographs, pass out medals to some of the athletes

after they get done with their events, walk around and talk with everybody, kind of show my face,"

Weaver said. "I just try to put a smile on their faces a little bit."


Shumard said Weaver's presence has an awe-inspiring effect on the athletes.

Olivia Quigley was training for the Special Olympics World Games when she was diagnosed with Stage 4

breast cancer. Like previous battles she has won, the runner just won't quit.

Competing at the World Games will the be highlight of many athletes' lives; it is also the result of many

sacrifices made by parents, sacrifices most of us could never fully understand.

After seeing the Haitian Special Olympics soccer team show up to UCLA without proper equipment,

some fans made sure the team had fresh new kits.

"They worship him," said Shumard. "They know if you're being sincere. They know if you're being true.

There's a genuine affection [for Weaver] because they know he respects and admires them."

Weaver especially appreciates the competitive spirit the athletes bring to the Special Olympics.

"Although they have some disabilities, they're just like everybody else," he said. "They're competitive.

They put the practice in just like everybody else does, and they expect to achieve things just like

everybody else does. They want to go out there and win."

But there is more to Weaver's contributions than smiling and signing autographs. He and Kristin raise

money for SOSC through their annual Gold Ball Mystery Grab Bag event. Held during one home game

each year and hosted by Angels' Wives, the event gives fans the opportunity to buy "mystery" gift bags

with baseballs signed by players and coaches. If a bag happens to contain a golden ball, the lucky

recipient wins a chance to meet the player whose name is on the ball during batting practice before a

home game.

The event is so popular that fans line up at the stadium early to make their purchases before the bags

sell out. Weaver estimates the event has raised approximately $80,000 for Special Olympics since its

inception just a few years ago.

But the real benefit is far greater: While fans wait in line to buy their gift bags from the players' wives

volunteering for the event, they are greeted by Special Olympics athletes. The athletes get the chance to

shake hands and personally thank people for the donations that will support their endeavors, and the

fans get to meet a group they might not know much about.

"It's exposure you just can't buy," says Shumard.

When describing the most significant personal moments of his involvement with Special Olympics,

Weaver recounts the story of several athletes approaching him after winning medals, eagerly offering

them up to him as mementos, beaming with pride in their accomplishments.

"I told them, 'You've got to sign it for me,' so they feel like they're somebody when they're signing their

autograph on a medal." He paused for a moment, adding, "I've got a couple of them hanging up in my

office at home with signatures on them, which is pretty cool."


Weaver doesn't seem like one to boast. His frequent refrain -- "I just try to help out whenever I can" --

reflects his belief that his contributions are small drops in the bucket compared to the greater goodness

from numerous other generous individuals. Shumard attributes this quality of Weaver's to his team-first

attitude, something Shumard said was on display during Weaver's Long Beach State days.

"While he was the All-American and the guy at the forefront, Jered was a teammate," Shumard said.

"Jered was an ideal teammate. He was not greater than the team. The team depended on him, and he

just knew that was his role."

Perhaps that is why Weaver recognizes another quality in Special Olympics athletes that hits home for

him: sportsmanship. While the athletes compete against one another and have a desire to win, they also

cheer for each other, smile and offer high-fives all around. They are genuinely happy to share in the

successes of their fellow athletes, even if they don't place or earn a medal that day.

"If you need a class in sportsmanship, just go to one of the events and see how these kids go about it,"

Weaver said.

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