We Thought Garret Anderson Retired Already

After 17 seasons in the game, Garret Anderson is hanging up his glove. Funny, we totally thought he retired already.

The 38-year-old left fielder broke into the majors back in 1994 and ended up compiling more than 2,500 hits, 287 home runs, and a career batting average of .293. He also enjoyed a World Series title with the Los Angeles Angels in 2002 and three All-Star selections.

Anderson spent his first 15 big league seasons with the Halos before joining the Atlanta Braves in 2009 and the cross-town Dodgers last season, in which he batted .181 with two homers and 12 RBI in 80 games.

Yep... it was time to call it quits. The old schooler had this to say Tuesday in a team press release:

"It is with mixed emotions that I have decided to retire from baseball. It was truly a privilege to play this wonderful game and for that I want to thank several individuals."

Happy trails, Gary.

[Big League Stew]

The Mike Napoli Show

There's Garret Anderson, Torii, Vlad, and... Mike Napoli!

The Los Angeles Angels catcher is leading the club with 10 homers after nailing two on Sunday to drive in a career-high five runs in the Halos’ 10-2 victory over the cross-town Dodgers.

His 10 bombs equal the number between Anderson and Hunter and are six more than the slumping Guerrero. Why are his 23 RBIs so impressive? Napoli has only played in 27 of the team's 46 games, since he's sharing backstop duties with Jeff Mathis.

[LA Times]

Angels Outfield Could Be Back to Normal

Los Angeles Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero could return to right field (for the first time in a month) for game 2 against the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

Halos manager Mike Scioscia also revealed that Garret Anderson could play left despite the conjunctivitis that swelled his right eye so badly, it looked as if he took a Carlos Zambrano-sized left hook to the face.

Guerrero has been the Angels' acting DH since the beginning of September, when he irritated his right triceps muscle.

The Red Sox lead the series 1-0 after Josh Beckett dazzled Fenway with a 4-0 complete game shutout on Wednesday, striking out eight over nine impressive innings.

Kelvim Escobar (18-7, 3.40 ERA) will take the hill on Friday vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-12, 4.40 ERA) before the series heads to Los Angeles for game 3.

[Boston Herald] | [Bare Baseball] | [From the Dugout]

Tuesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Someone call 911! Garret Anderson is on fire.

Anderson drove in a club-record 10 runs, including a grand slam and a three-run shot in the Los Angeles Angels' 18-9 ass-whopping of the New York Yankees Tuesday night.

The Halos left fielder also hit a two-run double and an RBI double, becoming the 12th player in big league history to drive in 10 runs in a single game.

Anderson could have completely broken the record with runners at the corners and two outs, had a chance to break the major league mark when he came up in the eighth inning, but he grounded out to shortstop.

The 74-51 first-place Angels remain two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

Garrett Anderson Could Sit for a Month

Garrett Anderson was placed on the 15-day DL by the Los Angeles Angels Friday with a tear in his right hip flexor tendon, retroactive to April 28th.

Anderson hurt himself running out a grounder against the Chicago White Sox the day before, and after an MRI exam Friday, the news wasn't pretty: he could miss up to a month. Anderson was hitting .263 with one homer and 10 RBIs in 23 games this season.

To replace him on their roster, the Angels recalled outfielder Tommy Murphy from the AAA Salt Lake Bees for his second stint with the club. Murphy played in eight games down there, hitting .345 with eight RBIs and four stolen bases.

[Sports Illustrated] | [6-4-2]