Angels Go From Small Ball to Paul’s Goof Ball

He’s got the perfect first name, “Josh,” because he’s always goofing around, and that’s Josh Paul’s role with the Angels -- keeping the guys loose while making fun of the media under his breath.

Take, for example, the end of the eighth inning Wednesday against the Sox. Ah, what a clown. He catches the third strike thrown to Paul Konerko and jogs off the field with ball in hand and tosses it to Angel owner Arte Moreno, who is sitting behind the dugout.

What a hoot -- he knows who signs his checks.

The only thing that would’ve made it funnier would’ve been had he waited an inning, running off the field with the ball in his hand on the third strike to A.J. Pierzynski, tossing it to Moreno and then watching him scream at Moreno to give it back.

The lesson here, of course, is simple: Never play the court jester in such a serious game unless you don’t mind the last laugh being on you.

If the clown is all business, doing what every catcher has been taught from the time batters are allowed to run to first base on what they think might be a dropped third strike, he tags Pierzynski, who was just standing there.

“Isn’t that standard procedure for a catcher after catching a low pitch in the dirt?” I asked Manager Mike Scioscia, a former catcher.

Scioscia agreed, but tried to protect the team’s resident jokester, who has played in only 69 games in the last three seasons, by saying the umpire made a “definitive swing call,” and then a “definitive out call,” and “Josh saw that.”

Well, no he didn’t. Paul told reporters all that took place behind his back. He said he never heard the umpire say anything, or for that matter do anything. He said it’s customary for an umpire to yell “no catch, no catch” if he doesn’t think the ball has been caught, and since he didn’t hear that, he started running off the field.

Doug Eddings, the not-ready-for-prime-time plate umpire, said nothing, explaining later, “I had a question” whether Paul caught the ball, and with a clown like Paul -- you can’t really blame Eddings. I know I was waiting to see whom he was going to throw the ball to this time. I was betting on Jackie Autry.

The umpire went on to explain that he waved his arm as he always does on a swinging third strike, raising the question that wasn’t asked -- What gesture does he make when he thinks the ball has been trapped on a swinging third strike?

“I think [Eddings] ruled that the ball was trapped,” said umpire supervisor Rich Rieker, which makes him a pretty good mind reader as far as I can tell.

It’s all good fodder for another round of off-day stories, of course, but the Angels lost. And as Scioscia pointed out, “The only opinion that matters is the umpire making the call,” and that’s that. The good news, of course, is that the umpires rotate and Eddings won’t be behind the plate the rest of the series.

I’ve got a hunch Paul won’t be there either, that instead he’ll be back on the bench clowning it up for the guys, and doing what he does best.

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BY THE way, after the jokester threw the ball to Moreno, Moreno walked up and down the aisle behind the Angel dugout until he found a little girl, and then gave her the ball.

“It’d be her only chance to get one,” he said, although she learned on this night that anything is possible in a game caught by Josh Paul.

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WHEN THE umpires left the field, the players in the Angel dugout were screaming and waving their arms at them. It appeared Scot Shields even threw his cap at them, but he later explained with a grin that he had slammed his hand down while holding it and it just kind of flew toward the field.

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A FEW weeks back, Tom Lasorda was on the father/daughter radio gabfest and admitted for the first time he had been hurt by the Dodgers when Bob Daly took over the team and ignored him.

He said Daly sought his advice regularly before taking command, but “then never once” asked him again for help.

The Boston Parking Lot Attendant embraced Lasorda when he arrived, proving he’s capable of doing something right on occasion, but now it remains to be seen if Lasorda will be consulted when it comes to hiring a new manager.

“I haven’t been asked for my opinion yet,” Lasorda said. “I’m sure when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, Frank [McCourt] and Paul [DePodesta] will ask for my input.”

And if not, he said, “Yeah, I’d be disappointed.”

Lasorda said he sat in for about 30 minutes during the interview with Jerry Royster on Monday but did not participate in the Alan Trammell interview Tuesday.

I would think it’d be a nice balance to have the old Dodger manager sitting in for every interview next to the young computer guy, and if Lasorda nodded off, you know he would never miss his next meal, so he wouldn’t be out long.

There is a perception in baseball that Lasorda is pushing his old pal, Bobby Valentine, to manage the Dodgers, and while Lasorda said he would recommend Valentine if asked, he’s also supporting another candidate who is already on the Dodgers’ list.

“I’m a booster of Terry Collins,” Lasorda said, which would give Dodger fans an ex-Angel manager -- but not the one they’d really like to have in the dugout.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from T. Green:

“Hey, leave the athletes alone. You bring nothing to this community. Nobody respects you or wants to have their name in your column.”

Thank you, T. Green.

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.