THREE UP, THREE DOWN
▲▼ WHAT’S TRENDING IN MLB
Three up
Angelic start: Angels GM Billy Eppler said he did not pursue a veteran starting pitcher last winter because the team had a deep enough pool of arms. “Nine felt like a reasonable number,” he said. In their first 15 games, the Angels ran through all nine. The Dodgers, masters of roster manipulation, used 10 starters last season. The Colorado Rockies, in baseball’s most notorious hitters’ park, used eight. No division champion used more than 11. It’s not as concerning as it might be if the rampaging Angels were not leading the majors in runs and home runs — they ranked 22nd and 24th, respectively, last year — but it’s why you’ll hear them linked to the Tampa Bay Rays’ Chris Archer, who has thrown 200 innings three years running. Return of El Titan: Adrian Gonzalez had no interest in returning to the Dodgers as a caddie for Cody Bellinger. He thought he still could play regularly at first base. The New York Mets, coming off a 92-loss season, gave him a shot. Two weeks into this season, the Mets have the best record in the majors. It’s too soon to say that Gonzalez’s troublesome back will hold up, or that the Mets will hold up. Still, for a 35-year-old who spent much of the last regular season on the disabled list and much of the postseason in Italy, this is a nice start: a grand slam last week against the Washington Nationals and eight RBIs in a four-game span. If in first: There are no surprises among last-place teams — Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins and other dead weight sinks quickly — but the Pittsburgh Pirates are the most pleasant surprise among first-place teams. Their fans left them for dead after the trades of outfielder Andrew McCutchen and pitcher Gerrit Cole. Their bullpen is awful. But you can’t help rooting for starters Jameson Taillon (2-0, 1.26 ERA), in his first full season after beating testicular cancer, and Trevor Williams (2-0, 1.59 ERA), who changed his uniform number this year to 34 in honor of former Arizona State teammate Cory Hahn. Williams has remained close with Hahn, the former Mater Dei High star, since the 2011 game in which Hahn was paralyzed when his neck snapped on a head-first slide.
Three down
Red-faced: The Cincinnati Reds were off to a hideous start, one in which the offense-challenged Billy Hamilton had more extra-base hits than Joey Votto, the runner-up to Giancarlo Stanton for NL MVP. Hamilton had one extra-base hit, Votto none. The Reds started the season 2-11, their worst start since 1955. Their pitchers posted a 6.04 ERA, worst in the majors. This season would be their fourth consecutive last-place finish under general manager Dick Williams, son of one of the Reds’ owners. In the meantime, the Reds’ Twitter account cheekily presented this as the highlight after a 13-4 loss Thursday: “RECAP: Pennington records first career strikeout.” That would be infielder Cliff Pennington. Brawl game: The adoption of instant replay has rendered the classic manager tantrum extinct. But the “bench-clearing brawl” is alive and well, with Wednesday featuring the Rockies and San Diego Padres in Round 1 and the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in Round 2. When the Yankees’ Tyler Austin took a few steps toward Boston’s Joe Kelly, New York’s Aaron Judge (6 feet 7, 280 pounds) and Giancarlo Stanton (6-6, 245) rushed out to help. When the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado charged the mound, the vulnerable Padres pitcher Luis Perdomo (6-2, 185) threw his glove at Arenado. Perdomo missed. Flipping out: Pirates manager Clint Hurdle ripped Chicago Cubs infielder Javier Baez for flipping his bat on a pop fly. “Where’s the respect for the game?” Hurdle said. “I would bet that men over there talked to him because I do believe they have a group over there that speaks truth to power.” The Cubs did talk to him, but manager Joe Maddon said that was none of Hurdle’s business. “The mistakes of youth are preferable to the wisdom of old age any day of the week,” Maddon said. With that, we’d like to welcome new Times’ owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who spoke to the newsroom in front of this slogan: “Speaking truth to power since 1881.” Power, that is, not power hitters.