Los Angeles Angels
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Teixeira for Kotchman? I Just Don’t Know.July 31st, 2008
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19th in runs scored. 19th in hits. 22nd in home runs. 19th in RBIs. 24th in total bases. 22nd in on base percentage. And 22nd in slugging.
On paper, this doesn’t really sound like a division contending team, let alone the best team in baseball by a fair margin. But when you factor in 8th in ERA, 7th in shutouts, 1st in saves (by ten saves, between first and second), 25th in earned runs against (yes, that’s a good thing), a winning starting rotation, a solid bullpen, a slid defense, a consistent running game, and you get the Angels.
Up until last night at about 5-something eastern time, the Angels were not the media’s favorite team to look at. In fact, the Angels crept slowly into first place without so much as a sneeze. It wasn’t until about three weeks after the Angels took first place that ESPN even took notice on their power rankings. The Angels were clearly the underdogs of 2008, who’s game was so much more old-school than any other teams, besides maybe the Minnesota Twins and a more distant example in the Baltimore Orioles.
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End of the Road for Boston Woes OR Just the Beginning of Boston’s Road WoesJuly 20th, 2008
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A few short months ago a la October, the Angels were basically running away from Fenway’s bombers with their proverbial tails between their legs. After losing two series ending in sweeps to the Red Sox on two separate post-season occasions since the turn of the millennium, the Angels seemed to have their work cut out for them again in 08 if they wanted any chance at another World Series run.
The Angels have been, in their career, weak against the formidable Boston lineup. It is because of this that so many sports writers have criticized the Angels’ management for not acquiring a more fear-inducing bat for the middle of the lineup to back Big Daddy Vladdy. In fact, despite a successful first half, power rankings on ESPN still give little credence to the team and still stress this same overly-repetitive theme: “The Angels are the clear favorites in the AL West despite an offense that ranks 23rd in the majors in OPS and runs scored. Will they make a run at Mark Teixeira or Matt Holliday, or cling to the hope that starting pitching, a great closer and a flair for one-run victories can propel them deep into October?” (Crasnik’s “Starting 9” on ESPN.com). Though that last little statement, ending in a rhetorical question, seems to be rather connotative of a negative sentiment, I beg to differ, and offer up a definite YES. Great pitching > great hitting. Almost always. Read more
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Angels Pitching Gets Some CreditJuly 7th, 2008
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Aside from the fact that seven Red Sox will be driving across a couple states for their popular-vote trip to the All-Star game, three Angels pitchers got the vote of confidence to join in the midsummer classic at Yankee Stadium, cross-country.
Though not a single position player has made the popularity contest, which is both understandable, and not at the same time. The Angels lead the West by a good six games, and are the second best team record-wise under an extremely surprising Tampa Bay surge. If you base this contest on ability and talent, players like Casey Kotchman should have had no problem making the All-Star roster. However, I will concede to understanding the absence of Vlad Guerrero who, though a historically amazing player, has had a rough start. But I have to argue, Alex Rodriguez is in no way the best third basemen in the league, despite his incredible hitting. Nor is Derek Jeter anywhere near the best short stop, either. But I’ll refrain from speaking my mind on this issue any further than this.
It is very nice to see the Angels getting recognized as having obviously the best pitching staff in baseball. Two starters have made the roster, including Joe Saunders who has the best win record at 12 in the AL (tied for first with NL’s Brandon Webb at 12-4 as well) as well as a healthy 3.04 ERA, and Ervin Santana who has been an incredibly welcomed surprise to Angels fans who remember his 2007 woes, who has a record of 9-3 with an ERA of 3.28 and 106 strikeouts. The Angels closer, Frankie Rodriguez has also made the roster again, after saving the game last year after Mariano Rivera nearly lost it for the AL (maybe this time they’ll actually start him as the closer). We won’t know until later who will actually get the nod as starting pitcher. I’d put my money on Saunders, but the Angels are so poorly recognized as a credible force that I doubt it really will. I’m sure it’ll be Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee.
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What a Deal!June 21st, 2008
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There are a lot of good deals going around baseball right now; in fact, MLB.com has been writing articles about them all week.
But I have to, of course, highlight my team’s stadium. The deals for players – i.e. Jon Garland which I still don’t completely trust, and the deal over Torii Hunter which I now fully support – are not the only good deals going on at Angels Stadium.
Ha! I bet you totally thought I was going to talk about players’ deals.
I was sitting in class (teaching) about a week ago, and the kids were all watching a movie (I hate block schedule). Being the resourceful woman that I am, I brought my laptop with me. Perusing about the sports websites bookmarked on my internet browser, I came across an article on the Angels’ team site talking about “bargains.” On the article was a link to their special ticketing information, and the first one on there was something about the series against the Mets. By typing in the password “mets,” you could get selected seating for $3 for upper view, $5 for lower view, and $20 for some of the good ground level seats. So I said “why the hell not?” whipped out my credit card and bought a pair on the spot. Oh the benefits of wi-fi!
Wednesday night’s game was the game of choice, and I’d bought two tickets in section 425, row F. FIVE BUCKS! That’s it! On our way to the park we hit up the ever-so-close Del Taco and got ourselves a couple Del’s Deals, paid our $8 for parking, walked ourselves up to our seats, and parked ourselves for the rest of the game.
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Bringing Back the Time-out ChairJune 7th, 2008
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For the past six or so years, my mom has babysat kids in the age range of eight months, to about five years. She normally has about three to five kids at a time, on the average. It’s hectic. And all of them, sans one or two over the time span, have been boys. You can imagine how crazy it is at our house. Luckily for me, I’m usually either at school or work during the times they are taking over the house, but I’ve observed some important things about life on days that I am there.
Everyone can reach back deep into their childhoods and recall the dreaded “time-out.” Typically, parents-slash-guardians-slash-babysitters put a misbehaving child in either a corner or an isolated chair for any given number of minutes in order for the child to “reflect” on their bad behavior without distractions or reward. It’s the classic childhood punishment. We’ve all been in “time-out” in some form or another, whether in this classical situation as children, or in the form of a friend, family member, or loved one giving the “cold shoulder.” As communal beings, we LOATHE being ignored. That’s why this kind of punishment is so effective.
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Luck? No, It’s Physics.June 5th, 2008
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I bet none of those guys - Newton, Einstein, etc - knew they were talkin’ ’bout baseball when they came up with all their theories. But oh! Look how nicely it all fits:
First Law of Motion: Once something is in motion, it usually stays that way until something really messes up its course.
Baseball is a game of patterns, and streaks. Seattle knows all about streaks, since it basically is the streakiest team in baseball. But it’s true, in essence, of every team. It’s also a game of contagion. Errors or mistakes (that may not be counted officially as errors, though you KNOW your players could’ve done better on that ground ball…) often come in pairs or series. The Angels are definitely a team of contagion, where most of their runs come in packages of two or three, and if one strikes out, the next two outs tend to follow shortly.
As far as streaks go, the Angels just finally ended a 13-game streak in which they only earned four or less runs per game. It took beating a division rival team stuck 13.5 games back to snap the streak. Luckily for the Angels, they were also 9-4 in that period, so it very little affected them, thanks to the great pitching as of late. They also had a streak of about a week where nearly every game ended in a walk-off. First, it was Anderson’s walk-off walk. Talk about the most exciting ending to a baseball game… zZzZz… and then it was Rivera’s walk-off single, Junior’s walk-off single, and my personal favorite, Kendrick’s getting beaned and Maicer’s subsequent walk-off single. Really, that’s all Kendrick is good for – getting beaned. Sure, it makes for very exciting baseball – to win by a run, or to win in the bottom of the ninth with two out and the bases loaded. But after a week of the same thing every game, it starts getting to my stress levels. STOP IT ALREADY!
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The Problem with MatthewsMay 26th, 2008
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Because I spend countless hours between driving to work and driving to school and driving to the gym and driving home (and with gas prices over four dollars, God help me), I listen to a fair amount of talk radio. Recently I’ve become an addict of AM 830, which has gotten me involved in discussions of the economy, politics, and of course, baseball. Both the morning broadcasts and the two hours prior to an Angels’ game are devoted to sports and baseball talk, and so I’ve heard a little bit about this topic between listening and reading.
It’s no news that Gary Matthews Jr. has had a slow start. It’s no news that MANY players have had a slow start. Between Vlad Guererro’s .254 batting average after 48 games, the lowest of his career in that amount of time and Torii Hunter’s bit of a recent slump, the Angels have had to rely on different players for productivity, including a very hot Casey Kotchman and Mike Napoli. It also doesn’t help that their consistency man is out day to day, Chone Figgins, and the middle infield is basically in shambles, as Sean Rodriguez has taken to Howie Kendrick’s position, Maicer Izturis back to short while Erick Aybar nurses a dislocated pinky finger.
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California Doesn’t Exist to the MediaMay 15th, 2008
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*soapbox speech begins*
California used to be an important place: home to Hollywood, the place to see all the major stars, the place of movie productions, the place of television stations and filming, the place of music industry and radio… but not only media. It’s also the place of constant summer, the pacific ocean, Disneyland, and skiing only another hour drive away. Not to mention, the third-largest commercial economy in the world.
It used to be that everyone was in love with California, especially the “OC” (though I, being myself from LA, don’t really much understand the hype). But lately, us Angels fans should be feeling a bit dejected.
I often look to sports news and television to keep up with the rest of baseball which regional television prevents me from seeing on a daily basis. However, the more and more I read, the more media bias I see, and the more sickened I become. I understand that everything has an inherent bias. We all have our opinion of things, and we’re all entitled so. But the purpose of media is to present facts and information to all audiences. And without reliability, honesty, and timeliness, news loses credibility. As of late, the media has really been losing it, at least for me.
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Surprising Effectiveness in ‘08May 5th, 2008
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John Lackey. Kelvim Escobar. Howie Kendrick. Maicer Izturis. Dustin Moseley. Chone Figgins.
There are some pretty big names in there. Lackey has been out since the start of the season with a strained right tricep, and has been making decent strides so far in his rehab assignment. Kelvim Escobar, co-ace to Lackey, who both combined for 37 wins in 2007, has also been out since spring with a tear in his labrum which may need surgery, though he’s been attempting to avoid it, learning to live for now with the discomfort in his throwing arm. Howie Kendrick has been an off-and-on DL regular, this time with a strained left hamstring that has limited him to only ten games and 36 total at-bats so far this season. Izturis and Moseley have only recently joined the DL, with a stiff lower back and right forearm stiffness, respectively. Figgins has yet to formally join the list, being instead day-to-day with a slight strain to his hamstring as well from a more than magnificent slide home in yesterday’s victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
For as much as I can remember, this may very well be the third start of the season in a row where the Angels have had significant starters on the disabled list. But this year, the list of injuries should be something fierce – two starters, several from the bullpen have gone off and on, one of baseball’s most sought after second basemen (though I still personally cannot figure out why), and arguably the league’s most effective lead-off hitter/the team’s stolen-base king.
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First Time Since… When???April 26th, 2008
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Boston vs. Angels. Angels AT Boston. Angels at FENWAY. None of that sounds good, at least to anyone who is an Angels fan.
Historically, the Angels have more than SUCKED against Boston’s power-house of offense, the one-two Papi-Manny assault, and even with Drew, Lugo, and YOOOOOOOOOUK… but put it AT Fenway, and it’s twice the horrific scene of brutality.
The best instance? Oh, maybe the playoff sweep in 2007? Oh, maybe the same playoff sweep in 2004? It has been a common plague of the Angels organization for several several years – and the fear for this season was that if something drastic didn’t happen in the off-season, that it would continue… something of a plague maybe?
So it has been the Angels staff’s epic journey to find a way to get passed Boston’s hitter’s game. By acquiring Torii Hunter to fill a bit of the power-bat gap they’ve complained about for the past few years, they looked to match wits, so to speak. I think Garland may have been a bit of a risk, in terms of playing Boston, since Garland’s pitching style lends itself to being hit, which is something Boston does exceedingly well. At least, however, he is a sinkerball pitcher, and can get the balls to stay in the park for the most part. But let’s not forget that Fenway is very much a hitter’s park, with a barely over 300-feet away left field “monster.”
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