Angels' Taylor Ward riding wave of current hot hitting streak

Notes on a baseball scorecard:

Baseball is a game of streaks, especially so for hitters.  Case in point is the Angels’ Taylor Ward, a Shadow Hills High School graduate.  On April 11, he was hitting .311. By the end of the month, he was down over 100 points to .206.  Then the calendar turned and he’s hit .407 in May.  Go figure…

The Dodgers’ poster boy for swing or miss is Chris Taylor, who strikes out 41% of the time, walks just 7% of the time and has seven home runs among 18 total hits…

When Henry Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th career home run, his manager with the Braves was long-time teammate Eddie Mathews…

The last batter to face the legendary Bob Gibson was Pete LaCock, son of Palm Desert resident and long-time entertainer Peter Marshall, now 97.  LaCock, who played nine years in the majors, hit a grand slam off of Gibson…

Rickey Henderson was named after teen singing sensation Ricky Nelson…

I was always told that Mickey Mantle was named after his father’s favorite player, Mickey Cochrane of the old Philadelphia A’s.  Turns out Cochrane’s real first name was Gordon Stanley. (Mantle died young at 63, Cochrane even younger at 59)…

Dugout home run celebrations are out of control…

Vida Blue died Sunday at 73.  He had one of the greatest seasons in history in 1971.  Pitching for Charlie Finley’s crazy Oakland A’s, he was 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA, 24 complete games and eight shutouts.  He not only won the Cy Young Award, but also the league MVP.  He was the last switch-hitter to win the MVP in the American League…

Speaking of switch hitters, did you know Chipper Jones is the only switch-hitter to have a career batting average over .300, batting right-handed and left-handed?...

The USS Cooperstown was christened over the weekend.  The ship is named for the 70 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame whose career was interrupted to serve in the military.  Johnny Bench and Joe Torre represented the Hall of Famers…

Mark Kotsay deserves better.  He’s the manager of the worst team in the majors, the sorrowful Oakland A’s.  They have the worst record in the game (8-28 through Monday), the lowest attendance in the game and they’ve already announced they are leaving Oakland and moving to Las Vegas…

Kotsay was one of the best and most decorated college players in history.  In his three years at Cal State Fullerton, the Titans went 149-41, Kotsay hit .404 and won the Golden Spikes Award as the best player in the country.  Nice memories…

The Yankees are in last place and looking very much like a last-place team…

Willie Mays turned 92 over the weekend, Say Hey Kid!

Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Los Angeles Angels' Taylor Ward proves baseball is game of streaks