Los Angeles Angels Blog Of Anaheim

So it happened, we lost. The mental temptation to follow the history pattern with Boston will be strong. Yes, Boston has owned us recently and this decade they’ve been a clutch playoff team, but that was then and this is NOW. We can’t let the mentality of “here we go again” kick in.  Mike needs to stand up and rally the team, he needs to tell them “we can let Boston run us out of the playoffs again or we can ask ourselves, what would Ricky do?” Ricky would resist the urge to succumb to his past. He would stare done that temptatious blunt, understand it’s now or never and just say no. History doesn’t control the Angels, it’s up to them to change the pattern.

Lackey did well until the bottom of the sixth, giving up a walloping home run to Jason Bay (Manny who?) after allowing Pedroia to walk . . . and then the Angels bullpen imploded faster than Wall Street with Bush in office for a 3rd term.

Lester was insane. . . Beckett is our ace and I think he might be the best post season pitcher out there right now, but Lester was the best I’ve ever seen him, and an ace all on his own.

But the Big Rotten Banana Award goes to Big Daddy Vladdy, With 1 out, Vlad tried to make it to 3rd on a double, while clearly being signaled to stay at 2nd. I haven’t seen someone lose their cool like this since Suppan forgot which way to home plate in the 2004 World Series. Vlad, you are not Jacoby Ellsbury.  Youkilis made a great throw to 3rd, and Lowell made the out. . . and from there, the television viewing audience got repeated scenes of a scowling Scoscia and an angry Big Daddy hitting things with his helmet.  I also have to commend the Fox camera men for repeated cuts to the deflated Angels fans in the audience.

Clearly, the Monkey was most displeased and was seen trying on a pair of red socks in the locker room. There would be no rally. Masterson and Pap closed it all down in the 8th and 9th. . . 4-1 Sox. One down, two to go.

Runner up for the Rotten Banana goes to Home Plate Umpire Tim Welke. . . some one please explain to Mr. Welke the strike zone does not change from team to team, and that in order to call a swinging strike, the player actually has to take a swing at the ball. Holy cow.

Finally, I have to side with the Monkey. Anaheim fans aren’t like any other baseball fans anywhere. . . Somebody please teach Bobby Gritch how to spell “Angels”.

I’m sick of hearing about the Red Sox and “Red Sox Nation”, how great their fans are and how they have finally beat the Curse of the Bambino. I mean I get it, they’re a great team with a great story, but enough already. The team and the fans definitely have a vibe of “My Shit Don’t Stink”, and all other teams are sub par at best. Let’s not forget how long that curse stood, and how many World Series chances they let slip by before they finally broke it. Let me take you back in time:

1946 Red Sox vs Cardinals : Game 7, 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 8th, Johhny Pesky hesitates throwing home and the Red Sox CHOKE!

1967 Red Sox vs Cardinals : AGAIN game 7 and with the their ace Jim Lonborg on the mound the Red Sox CHOKE in an embarrassing 7-2 loss.

Are you starting to see a pattern?

1975 Red Sox vs Mets : Red Sox force game seven with a dramatic walk off home run only to CHOKE and give up a 3-0 lead they held until the 9th inning.

1986 Red Sox vs Mets : Game 6, Red Sox with a 5-3 lead in the 10th one out from winning the World Series CHOKE and the mets force game seven. Game seven Red Sox CHOKE again and give up an early 3-0 lead.

2008 Red Sox vs Angels ALDS Prediction : With a sputtering Red Sox line up including Mike Lowell with a torn labrum in his hip, and J.D Drew’s sore back (”Yes suck it up, how much are they paying you!”) this should be a quick series. I predict the Red Sox will yet again CHOKE and the Angels will win the ALDS series in four games, yeah heck I’ll give them one win because I know Pedroia will pull out at least one big game for his boys.

If you think I’m going hard on them, let me remind you the Boston Red Sox have two World Series Championships in four years, so I believe they deserve to be taken out in round one of these playoffs and our Angels are just the team to serve it up.

This ALDS series is almost the exact opposite of 2007. Last year, the Angels definitely made me nervous going against my Sox. . . but only in the same way you get nervous about emptying the lint filter out of the dryer, or nervous about whether or not your filthy little monkey might have fleas.

This year, the matchup is flipped on its head: Vlad/Texeira is like Ortiz/Ramirez, only without the injuries or attitude. The starting pitchers are solid on both sides. . . Lester has become an ace all on his own, and Dice has finally settled down and if he’d quit dancing around the outside of the strike zone and get aggressive, he’d be lethal; but Beckett is out and don’t be surprised if he doesn’t pitch in Game 3. Matt Leach at MLB.com says the game might come down to middle relief, and if that’s the case, I’ll be screaming at Francona when he puts Manny Delcarmen in. And the only thing more terrifying than K-Rod’s heat is the victory dance he puts on after a win.

Two things keep me smiling going into this series with the Angels:

1) History. . . The Red Sox have DOMINATED the Angels in post season play. This year, the Sox got owned in regular season play. But we all know, everything resets in October. . . and the team that showed up last time in Anaheim has made huge changes to their roster since, but that being said, the big reason I smile is:

2) Dustin Pedroia. . . they chant “MVP” when he comes to bat in Fenway; he finished the season at .326, with 17 home runs, 83 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases; he’s a massive smack talker on the bench; Ozzie Guillen lives in mortal fear of him; and he wants serious revenge against the Monkey. Be afraid, Anaheim.

That is right the Angels have finished the season in style reaching one hundred wins for the first time in franchise history with a great 7-0 win against the Rangers.  Amazingly though, from what I can tell no one is talking about it.  It’s almost like it was a given considering they clinched their division so early and have been playing so amazing all season.

Let’s face it, they absolutely embarrassed all the other teams in the AL West.  Texas was the closest to the .500 hundred mark with a mere .488.  The worst was the Seattle Mariners with a .388 winning percentage finishing the season with 101 losses.  Would these teams even be competitive in the minors? I seriously doubt it. So my immediate thought is do the Angels really have the fire power to beat other tough teams in the AL and make it to the World Series?  Or have they just looked so good because they fail into one of the easier divisions in the AL this season?

If you take a look at the Rays this season they came very close to the 100 mark, ending the season with 97 wins against three other above .500 hundred teams in their division (Red Sox 95 wins .586, Yankees 89 wins .549, Blue Jays 86 wins .531).  Even the Rally Monkey knows the Rays had a tougher road to the post season this season then the Angels had.

So with a first round match up against the wild card winning Red Sox, who were definitely just as competitive this season, can the Angels do it?  The good news is, the Angels definitely have handled them well this season winning eight out of the nine games played against them.  Also with home field advantage the edge definitely goes to the Angels.

I’m already on record stating the Dodgers will get crushed against the team they open with, but with that said anything is possible. The current line on the Angels going to the World Series is 13/10 and for the Dodgers it’s 3/1.

Once the post season starts, we all go back to 0 win & loses and it’s a race to win 11 games. The Angels need to stay focused and get the Boston monkey off their back. The Dodgers with Torre at the helm need luck, health, the planets to align, and the “curse” to live on or better yet: Bartman to come out of hiding.

If it happens, it would be sweet and with all the storylines e.g. Ex-Yankee skipper guides boys in blue, Mike Scioscia against former team, Hollywood vs. the OC, the networks would eat it up. So keep an eye on that unbiased strike zone, because there is a lot of money public interest and network rating.

Photo By: Mark Sobba

Two weeks back I posted an article on Bleacher Report asking a simple question to fans, is Vladimir Guerrero slowing down. At the time Vladdy’s numbers were (AVG .298, SLG .511, OBP .360), dangerously close to his worst ever career season totals recorded during his rookie year.

Well maybe Vladdy read the article and decided to step it up, or perhaps he just realized that he has never been below .300 in his career and didn’t want this to be the first time. Whatever the reason, since September 9th Vladdy is batting .382 with three home runs and eight RBI’s. In fact two of those home runs came last night against the Seattle Mariners.

With a late season offensive explosion and a little help from the “Rally Monkey”, Vladdy has now lifted his batting average for the season back above the .300 mark to .304 and his slugging percentage is .523.  With the regular season winding down, only three games left, all I can say is that I’m glad Vladdy was able to wake up his bat.  The post season is not going to be a walk in the ball park for the Angels by any strecth.  The American League has continued its tradition of consistently great pitching and power hitting.  If they want to have a shot at those World Series rings they will have to continue to play hard throughout the post season.

Photo By: Matt Watts

If you haven’t seen SI’s article yet on the nine year old dominating his little league and causing so much controversy with his wicked fastball check it out here.

The Angels clearly have a great pitching staff, in fact many would argue that is the main thing that got them where they are today (97 - 60 - .618%).  In my opinion for the Angels to maintain their pitching dominance Arte Moreno needs to put the pressure on his staff to sign this kid now before a team that completely needs pitching like the Yankees do.

The kid clearly knows how to pitch and being so young he’s got plenty left in the arm for a long career.  As cited in SI’s article one person remarks, “Facing that kind of speed” is frightening.

I want to see it. I want to see for a variety of reasons.

Cub fan making the trip to the meca of Anahiem to play for it all. Listening to Cub fan say I’ve been a fan since… Finding out that all my neighbors are Cub fans.

I want Steve Bartman to think he has a small chance to leave his pad again without the feeling that the whole great Chicago area won’t take him out. I want Steve’s “Bill Buckneridis” to go into temporary remission.

But when it’s all done…

How many Angel jacks will Cub fan throw back onto the field? Will the monkey even be needed? I think not. When it’s all done Cub fan will still be suffering and thinking about next season, the cold air off the Great Lakes will feel extra frigid this year, and Santa and the reindeer will skip Chicago all together this year.

Back home in sunny SoCal it will be a celebration of Utopia. Orange county whites and Los Angeles blacks will throw a block/hood party and share martinis and Colt 45’s, respectively. The Angels will let SoCal know who owns Los Angeles. The Goat Curse will live on and in the immortal words of Mr. Billy Sianis uttered, “the Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.”