Series Thread (Games 21-23): Aug 14-16 @ Angels

Congrats on your latest Silver Slugger, Mookie! (Better make a macro for that line.)

Fri, 6:30p: Clayton Kershaw vs Patrick Sandoval
Sat, 6:30p: Walker Buehler vs Andrew Heaney
Sun, 1p: Dustin May vs Julio Teheran

So, Mike Trout. Best player in baseball. Hands down. I'm a certified Mookiehead and in awe of Aaron Judge, but Trout's dominance is indisputable.

The rest of the Angels? Well, put it this way: Arte Moreno didn't think adding Ross Stripling to his team "would make much of a difference." The Angels' pitching staff has a 4.54 ERA, 22nd in MLB.

But! Do the Dodgers play the Angels well? They do not. I'm not going to look up stats to back up my totally irrational hunch; just trust me on this one. But we have our top three pitchers going and Mookie and A.J. Pollack (!) carrying the offense. But, Mike Trout HEAD EXPLODES

Dogs, Cats Cohabitating; Dodgers, Angels Unveil Joint Billboard

From a Dodgers press release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim jointly unveiled a billboard today celebrating the 2014 Most Valuable Player Awards of Dodger left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Angels center fielder Mike Trout. Located on the corner of Highland and Wilshire in Los Angeles, the billboard features the faces of Kershaw and Trout with the script “Is Your MVP Red Or Blue.”

2014 represented just the 11th occurrence in the 83-year history of the BBWAA MVP awards in which players from the same market captured their league’s respective honors (see chart below). Kershaw and Trout are the first duo to accomplish the feat since the 2002 season when Oakland’s Miguel Tejada and San Francisco’s Barry Bonds were tabbed as MVPs, and it is just the third such occurrence in the last 55 years.

Beginning today, the Angels and Dodgers are inviting fans to celebrate the Los Angeles clubs sweeping the MVP awards via social media. Fans can show their support by utilizing the hashtags #MVPKersh and #MVPTrout during a six-week period leading up to the annual “Freeway Series,” which takes place at Angel Stadium April 2-3 and Dodger Stadium April 4.