Long Weekend

Lots to cover, so I'll just give it all the short shrift in which I specialize.

The Angels finally reached .500 on the road, recovering from a couple of awful games in Detroit to take three from the Yankees. Kendrick's back, and Kotchman and Napoli are currently raking. Figgins looks pretty much lost on both sides of the ball, alternative good plays with spotty plays at third base, and generally alternating bad at bats with crappy at bats. Hillenbrand is still a total waste of a roster spot.

They came home and harnessed that momentum into a total implosion against the Mariners last night. Poor pitching, poor fielding, and mediocre hitting against a team that has now won four straight and sits only 3.5 games behind the Angels in second place. Santana and Weaver close out the set against the M's, then it's Baltimore for four and the Twins for three. It's a 10 game homestand in which the Angels should really go 7-3, but last night wasn't exactly a confidence builder.

In the college ranks, UC Riverside won it's first ever Big West championship, and will be making it's second appearance in the field of 64. Unfortunately they were screwed by the selection committee and have to travel to Tempe for the regional. Traditionally, the Big West champ hosts a regional. This year, the committee decided to reward second place Long Beach State. That would be the same Long Beach State that UCR bitchslapped three straight times a couple weeks ago. Sort of reminds me of that year in the mid '90s when UCR was the top team in the regional (D2) and was forced to head up north because the NCAA didn't want to make Sac State and Chico State travel south.

As for me, I spent the weekend running around, playing golf, and boozing with friends for the most part. Finally took the new irons (it's a mixed set) out on the course and struck the ball pretty well. CDGA Amateur qualifying is next week.