April 8: Lunch With A Legend Jim Abbott

On April 8, we welcome the next legend -- Jim Abbott of the Angels -- to Morton's The Steakhouse in Anaheim.

Morton's Anaheim has partnered with ESPN to offer a "Lunch With a Legend" event on April 8, featuring former Angel Jim Abbott. ESPN's Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley will host the event, which includes a three-course lunch and exciting Q+A with this sports icon. Jim Abbott was a long-time pitcher for "California Angels." During his career, he was also the pitcher for the Gold Medal Olympic Team in 1988. All in all, he played for 10 seasons on 4 different teams but spent the majority of his career with the Angels. Today, Jim is often a guest pitching instructor during Spring Training for the Los Angeles Angels.

Morton’s the Steakhouse, 1895 South Harbor Blvd. Anaheim, CA 92802

Friday, April 8. Doors open at 11:30am

$50 per person, inclusive of tax and gratuity. Cash bar.

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Los Angeles Angels Weekly Recap (Week 1)

(AP - Photo -The Royals Tim Collins shut down the Halos in Sunday's extra innings loss)

Angels Weekly Recap - By Kurt Swanson, AngelsWin.com Contributor

End of week one: Angels 1-3 .250, 4th American League West 2 1/2 games behind first place Texas

• 3-31: Angels- 4 Royals- 2; W: J. Weaver (1-0), L: L. Hochevar (0-1), S: F. Rodney (1)

In baseballs short first week the Angels opened a four game series against the Royals in Kansas City. Torii Hunter started the scoring, hitting a solo home run to lead off the fourth and then back-to-back doubles by Vernon Wells and Erick Aybar would give the Angels a 2-0 lead. Jeff Mathis would also homer in the sixth and the Angels would give starter Jered Weaver a 4-0 lead. Weaver pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out 6 and only allowed two singles to Melky Cabrera. The Angels bullpen gave up solo home runs to Jeff Francoeur and Mike Aviles before the Angels took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Fernando Rodney would put runners on the corners with two outs in the inning before striking out Alex Gordon to end the game.

Game notes: First time the Angels opened a season series in Kansas City. Torii Hunters home run was his 27th off Royals, his most against any team. Jeff Mathis would become only the 3rd player to hit an opening day home run on their birthday.

• 4-1: Royals- 2 Angels- 1; W: J. Soria (1-0), L: M. Kohn (0-1)

Howie Kendrick would get the Angels scoring off to a fast start with a solo home run in the top of the first inning, but that would be the only run the Angels would plate in the game. Angels starter Dan Haren pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and striking out 6 to match the 7 innings of one run ball pitched by Royals starter Jeff Francis. Jordan Walden would fan two and allow a walk in the 8th and the game was tied 1-1 after 8. Leading off the 9th inning Kila Ka'aihue would hit the second pitch from Michael Kohn into the seats and the Royals would win 2-1 on the walk-off homer.

Game notes: Joakim Soria only needed eight pitches to retire the Angels in order in the 9th. Ka'aihue's first walk-off home run in majors.

• 4-2: Royals- 5 Angels- 4; W: A. Crow (1-0), L: K. Jepsen (0-1), S: J. Soria (1)

Torii Hunter got the Angels scoring off with a home run in the 4th inning, his second of the series and the Angels would add three more runs in the 6th and lead 4-3 heading into the top of the 7th. The Angels loaded the bases in the 7th before rookie Aaron Crow came on to strike out Torii Hunter and get Vernon Wells to ground out. Angels starter Ervin Santana pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and striking out 6. Kevin Jepsen gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in the bottom of the 8th to give the Royals a 5-4 lead and Joakim Soria pitched the 9th for his first save after picking up the victory the day before when the Angels bullpen faltered.

Game notes: Aaron Crow picked up his first major league victory. Angels bullpen either loses game or puts winning run at plate third game in a row.

• 4-3: Royals - 12 Angels- 9, 13 innings; W: T. Collins (1-0), L: M. Bulger (0-1)

The previous four Angel starters, Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana had pitched well only giving up 4 runs in 20 innings but things did not go so well for Angels starter Scott Kazmir in the final game of this series as he only lasted 1 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. The Angel hitters kept battling back when Maicer Izturis and Howie Kendrick hit back-to-back home runs in the 3rd and Mark Trumbo doubled in a run and scored in the 4th and the Royals now led 5-4. After a Kendrick home run in the 5th, his second of the day and third on the season, another home run by Bobby Abreu in the 7th and a homer by Alberto Callaspo in the 9th, the Angels were now ahead 9-7 going into the bottom of the inning. Fernando Rodney then came into the game and walked the bases loaded and after a double by Wilson Betemit the Angels bullpen had lost another lead in the series and the game was tied at 9-9. The Angels did not score in the four extra frames and with two outs in the bottom of the 13th, Matt Treanor hit a three run home run off Jason Bulger to win the game.

Game notes: Angels hit five home runs, two by Kendrick. Bobby Abreu goes 5-5 in the game with two walks and last Angel player to go 5-5 or better in April since Brian Downing in 1979. Angels need eight pitchers before end of game.

Series notes: Angels hit 9 home runs in series. Royals win in last at bat three games in a row. Angels bullpen (5.1 ERA and would be higher as three runs in 13th of final game were not earned after Jason Bulger error). Royals bullpen gives up no runs in first 10 innings before ex-Angel Sean O'Sullivan is scored on (royals bullpen 2.1 ERA in series).

Next up: Angels get a day off on Monday 4/4 to send the bullpen to trade school and work on their mechanics before heading to Tampa for two games against the Rays where they will start Jered Weaver and Dan Haren. After a travel day on Thursday the Angels will start the first game of the year at home against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ervin Santana will pitch the opener, followed by Scott Kazmir and then on Sunday 4/10 send Jered Weaver to the mound for his second start of the week.

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Good Money After Bad

By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer

The first tip my dad taught me about gambling is to always cut the cards. At 5 years old, I don’t know if the lesson sunk in right away, but eventually I got it.

When I was old enough to go to Las Vegas, my dad pulled me aside and said “don’t go spending good money after bad.” He explained that the best way to deal with the city of lost wages was to predetermine an amount to lose in the casino, and once I had lost it, to stop gambling. While it would be hard to resist the urge to pull out more money to “try and win it back”, that strategy never worked out. I’d just lose more good money—resulting in bigger losses that I probably couldn’t afford—in a foolish effort to try and win back what I had lost.

The same principle applies to business: never let a sunk cost result in more losses for the business. It doesn’t matter how much money was sunk on the investment, if it’s a non-productive asset, you have to let it go. Rarely do bad investments come back to become winners. But, invariably, bad investments end up costing businesses lots in terms of time, money, effort, and opportunities lost. In a tough economy, businesses cannot afford to waste more resources trying to get some value out of something that isn’t productive—no matter how much they spent on it.

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Thumbs UP & Thumbs DOWN (April 2)

By Jeff Flinn - AngelsWin.com Contributor

Thumbs Up

• Santana, while not dominant like Weaver and Haren, was solid. I'm glad that Weaver, Haren, and Santana give the Halos a rock solid 1-2-3 in the rotation.

• Hunter unloaded another massive blast.

• Every Halos batter reached base today.

• Aybar had a pair of doubles, and appears to be poised to have the season that he had in 2009.

• Kendrick and Callaspo each had 2 hits.

• Takahashi got an important K in the 7th, and hopefully begins to settle in now.

Thumbs Down

• The Halos left 9 more runners on base, and were just 3-14 with RISP, albeit that was an improvement over the past 2 games.

• Abreu still looks fooled up there, although he had a hit today.

• What was Ebel thinking in sending Callaspo home after he inexplicably went back to 2B on a drive that Cabrera just wasn't going to catch?

• And what were you thinking Callaspo, by going back to 2B on a ball that had little chance of being caught?

• Is Mike Scioscia trying to get Jepsen's confidence back? I understandable that he wants that confidence to shine through, but he ignores a pitcher who had a 0.81 WHIP, 1.37 ERA and 15/4 Ks/BBs ratio up here in 2010. Why do you not ever use Rich Thompson????

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Thumbs UP & Thumbs DOWN (April 1)

By Jeff Flinn - AngelsWin.com Contributor

Thumbs UP

• Haren was his usual dominant self. I'm glad that Weaver and Haren give the Halos a comparable 1-2 to pretty much anyone in MLB.

• Kendrick hit his first HR, and will always attack lefty pitchers.

• Aybar had a pair of hits and a SB (against a lefty pitcher) as he looks to rebound from a sub-par 2010, now that he's healthy.

• Bourjos had another hit, and is doing a better job of seeing more pitches in each at bat.

• Walden had a great 8th inning, save for the walk and SB allowed.

• Mathis does work well with Weaver and Haren.

Thumbs DOWN

• The Halos make yet anther soft tossing lefty look like an All-Star. Why is it that the Halos struggle so much against soft tossing lefties, compared to many other teams?

• The hitters just couldn't attack Francis after Kendrick's HR in the 1st inning.

• Mark Trumbo has solid potential, but he has to do better than 2 GIDPs against a lefty.

• Abreu just looks so bad sometimes against lefties. Makes one wish the Halos had a righty to take the DH starts against lefties.

• Mathis continues to struggle at throwing to 2B. Why is it that he can throw it to 1B behind the runners just fine, but not throw it just fine to 2B?

• Kohn, as mentioned here before, will be good eventually because he has the moxie for a setup man. He left one over the plate and it was hammered to win the game for KC. Be that as it may, why is someone like Thompson, who reinvented himself in 2010 (adding the cutter) and had in 19 innings up here a 0.81 WHIP, 1.37 ERA and 15/4 Ks/BBs ratio, not even used in the first 2 games?

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Opening Day Angels Thumbs UP & Thumbs DOWN

By Jeff Flinn - AngelsWin.com Contributor

Thumbs UP

• Weaver was his usual dominant self. I'm glad the Halos got just enough runs for him to win the game.

• Hunter and Mathis had huge home runs, and Torii's is still orbiting.

• Mathis started off 2010 like this, but then after 2 weeks it totally unraveled starting with the wrist injury.

• Bourjos continues to show great range, and legged a bunt single into an unofficial triple courtesy of 2 hurried KC throws.

• Torii had a great sliding catch, and might just have a big season now that he's only covering only 1 position instead of 3 positions simultaneously.

• Izturis had 2 hits including a clutch single, now can he stay healthy for a whole season to utilize the clutch hitting?

• Michael Kohn has some moxie on the mound, as he showed in September. He hung a pitch but got away with it.

• Walden only made 5 pitches, but continues to show why he maybe should assume the closer role at some point in 2011.

Thumbs DOWN

• The Halos left the bases loaded in the first, although not loaded until 2 outs, and left too may on base throughout the game.

• Hisanori Takahashi pitched like Arnold Takahashi of Happy Days. It was just his first game as a Halos pitcher, but hopefully he doesn't repeat today too often.

• Rodney was..Rodney, made everyone sweat even though he threw 17 strikes and just 9 balls.

• The rest is just for you Jepsen. I haven't seen a Halos pitcher so unwilling to pitch tight since Ken Tatum after beaning Paul Blair in 1970.

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66ers’ Meet the Team BBQ Set for April 5th

Fans First Opportunity to See the 2011 Inland Empire 66ers at Arrowhead Credit Union Park

San Bernardino, CA – Baseball’s best fans are invited back to Arrowhead Credit Union Park to welcome the 2011 Inland Empire 66ers at a Meet the Team BBQ on Tuesday, April 5th, beginning at 5:30pm. Admission is $15 and includes a menu of chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, sides and sodas which will be provided until 7pm. A percentage of all proceeds will be donated to relief efforts for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan.

“This is a great opportunity for our community to come out and meet the new members of our team, but also to do something great for a community that is really suffering right now on the other side of the world,” said 66ers Assistant General Manager Ryan English.

In addition to the food, and first look at the players, the 66ers will be holding a raffle, opening the fun zone for free to all children 12 and under, and opening the field for all fans in attendance to come play catch.

The Inland Empire 66ers are expecting a much better season in 2011, with both the Angels High-A and Low-A affiliates from 2010 having made the playoffs. Mini-plans and full season ticket options are still available as well as group hosting and suite nights for the upcoming season.

Tickets for the Meet the Team BBQ are available at the 66ers Box Office, or by phone at 909-888-9922.

Inland Empire 66ers tickets are on sale now both at the 66ers box office and online at www.66ers.com. The 66ers will host rival Rancho Cucamonga Thursday April 7th to open the season. For more information on the Inland Empire 66ers please contact Sam Farber, Director of Broadcasting, at 909-495-7632.

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