Fuck this fucking team

Seriously, it's one thing to go into a slump, but they're getting absolutely destroyed by a really crappy team.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'll say it right now. The Angels will not make the playoffs this season.

Your Questions Answered

Anonymous asks:

I need to know exactly what the bean bag tournament is and I was kind of hoping for a recap of how you got to the quarterfinals. Maybe over the all star break since you wont have a game to write about. Oh, and have you listened to British Sea Power at all?

I'm not sure if it's simply a Chicago thing like 16 inch softball and Italian Beef sandwiches, or if it's more of Midwestern thing in general, but I never played bean bag until I got to Chicago. It's basically a variation on horseshoes, or jarts (which was a totally awesome game as long as you didn't get impaled by a jart). You usually play with four people, two teams of two each. Partners stand on opposite ends of the court, or field, or whatever the hell you want to call it. You have four bean bags. You throw them onto an inclined board that's about three feet long and two feet wide with a hole about five inches in diameter near the top/back of the board.

If the bag lands on the board and stays, you get one point. If it goes in the hole, you get three points. There are probably other ways you can score it, but in our tournaments, the teams cancel each other out. In other words, if I get one on and one in, and my opponent gets two in, he/she gets two points (six minus four). You generally play to 11 or 15. At the block party I go to, we try to have guy/girl teams, but there are always more guys than girls, so there ends up being a couple of guy/guy teams. They have to play each other in the early rounds, so you can't get two guy/guy teams in the finals. Last year I was on a guy/guy team, and we had an epic choke in the semi-finals. We were playing to 11, and we had a 10-0 lead. We proceeded to lose 11-10.

This year it was pretty uneventful. A lot of people were out of town, and the weather sucked, so attendance was poorer than usual. My partner and I won our first round game pretty handily. The next round was the quarter-finals, and we got smoked. I think we lost 15-0. We lost to the team that eventually lost the championship to my former law school roommate/current co-employee, and the sister of the guy that invites us (she had home field advantage, as she lives at the house where we were set up for block party). I was disappointed in my performance, but I'm going to blame that on the wet weather. Also, I was drinking more heavily than usual in the early part of the day, so I was buzzing pretty good. And the bags were much heavier than normal. And the boards sucked, too. Given enough time, I can come up with more excuses.

The winners generally are required to spend their winning ($1 per person entry fee) on pitchers at the bar where everyone ends up at the end of the night. I can't comment on this year's winners, as one is underage, and the other bailed before being forced to pony up for beer. I'll try to give him a chance to defend himself.

With regard to BSP, I've listened to the new album maybe once, but it didn't grab me right away. I'll try again. They're a band that I know is in my sort of 'genre' I guess, but for whatever reason, I've just never got around to listening to them. I don't think the first album is available on Rhapsody, so if that's the one I should be listening to, I may be out of luck.

As for the All-Star break, I have something special planned (note to self: plan something special for the all-star break).

Mariners 10; Angels 2

Well, there's not much to say, really. Sometimes you get a game like this. You give up a ton of runs, and you get shut down by what is essentially a pretty crappy team. Baseball's weird that way.

Colon was not good. He got the first two batters of the game, gave up a couple of singles, and then turned back into Nibbler. He was afraid to pitch to Beltre, walked him, and Jeremy Reed made him pay. As it turns out, maybe he was right to be afraid of Beltre, as he would drill a three run double just an inning later, putting the game out of reach for all intents and purposes.

On the bright side, they got a great start on a night where they didn't need it. And Colon didn't waste a great offensive effort. If you're gonna lose, lose big.

Tomorrow night it's a kind of soft throwing lefty against a REALLY soft throwing lefty. Moyer always seems to pitch well against the Angels, but he's been pretty bad this year. If good Washburn shows up, then the Angels should win. Of course, they should have won tonight based on matchups, so who knows. I probably won't have much to say about tomorrow night's game, as it's looking like a date night. Sorry, but you're forewarned. I'll try to make it up to you somehow.

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Angels 7; Twins 6

What a great game. Too bad I was at work for the whole thing, but I snuck peaks here and there.........and there.......and here, and there, and here again. Santana is making me look very foolish for keeping him on the Guzzlers this year, and he's making me look foolish for not accepting the recent trade offer which could have landed me Clement and Carlos Silva. He is making me look smart for not starting him this week, though (we won't get into how Beckett and Dave Williams are making me look stupid this week).

I'll reiterate what I said last night. Kennedy has got to be the gold glove winner at second base. Is anyone else even close? Bengie continues to hit, Vlad continues to be Vlad, and GA.......what can you say about GA? The guy is awesome. For some kid watching the Angels, he's gotta be the Brian Downing of this team. Quiet, goes about his business, and gets the job done. Some great defense in the 9th made what could have been a rough inning a 1-2-3 routine frame.

Lots of things going on today. The Angels were screwed on the play at third where Morneau came off the bag. I missed it and only saw the replay, but Morneau was clearly out, and that cost the Angels two runs. Santana falling apart used to be a rare sight, but as his fantasy owners can tell you, it's becoming more and more common. He refuses to throw his killer change up with men on base. Paul Byrd reverted to his early season form, where he follows up any offense he gets by giving it right back, as he did after the Angels score three runs in the fifth to tie the game. Not to be outdone, Santana responded by giving up singles to Figgins and Vlad before Anderson smoked one to right field, almost the same place where Kennedy hit his home run off of Santana in the 2002 ALCS. Rivera followed with a solo shot of Jesse Crain that supplied the winning margin.

As if that wasn't enough, Anderson made a very good throw, and was helped by a nice play by Jose Molina, to cut down the tying run at the plate in the top of the 8th on the rare 7-2 double play. Turnabout is fair play. The Angels lost game one of this series when Kennedy was thrown out from center trying to score from second on an Erstad frozen rope of a single.

This is a nice win for the Angels. You can't really ever 'expect' to beat Santana, even in a rough stretch like he's currently going through. They start the trip with a series win and have a struggling Seattle coming in for four straight before the break. Win three of those, and the Angels could find themselves with a very healthy lead at the break.

Speaking of healthy, is anybody else dreading the return of Finley and Cabrera? Someone should tell them that the stadium moved, or give them a "revised" schedule with all games starting at 10:00. Let's roll with Maicer at short and Figgins in center. Who's with me?

Angels 2; Twins 1

This is the second time that Santana has struggled early, escaped, and gone on to pitch a pretty decent game. Maybe he's taking instructions from Washburn. One thing it tells me is that the kid has pretty good poise. That's a hell of a lot more than you could ever say for Ramon Ortiz. You have to admire the way he battled.

If Kennedy isn't the favorite to win the gold glove, especially with bat flip among the ranks of the released, there's something wrong. He's even got the offense to go with it this season, or at least a gaudy batting average. Boy, what a play he made in what I think was the fourth. Can't remember. But it was a great play.

It's easy to laugh about these things now, but Bengie Molina, despite the home run, and Maicer Izturis have a lot of explaining to do. Maicer I'll let slide this time, since he's been playing excellent defense, but geez, what an awful drop in the ninth. Bengie, on the other hand, just really sucks behind the plate. I've touched on this before, but he's just gotten lazy. I realize that he took a few foul balls tonight, so I'm not going to harp on it, but seriously. Block the ball, Bengie. You don't need to pick every ball cleanly.

More great work from Shields, although I was sure that Gregg was going to blow it. Nice to see him recover and pitch well. I think Lecroy should have been booted after striking out and arguing vociferously on what was admittedly a pretty bad call. The fact that it was a crappy call didn't keep Kennedy from getting run last night. Of course, running Lecroy would have been just as meaningless as ejecting Kennedy was last night.

Back up by 7.5 after Texas' loss tonight. I would be very comfortable with this lead at the all-star break. I'd be more comfortable if it was bigger. I don't think I'll ever be completely comfortable until all is decided, though.

Twins 7; Angels 5

Missed the first three innings while attending a block party in Oak Park. Lost in the quarter-finals of the bean bag tournament, and lost the egg toss when my partner screwed up on a pretty nice toss, but whaddya gonna do. If the egg doesn't break on me, I consider myself a winner.

Chipping away at your opponent's lead doesn't really work if you constantly let them repair the chips. Tonight, the Angel offense played well enough to win (although they could have been better), but the pitching was not up to par. Lackey turned into bad Lackey in the fourth inning, giving up three runs and blowing a 2-0 lead. Then, after almost getting himself out of a jam in the sixth, he gave up a two run single to lowly Juan Castro, hitting a paltry .241. The Angels were never able to get closer than one run again.

Dallas crushed a ball in the 5th that would have been a home run in most parks, but it hit off the top of the wall and he had to settle for a double. He would later score on an infield single by Kennedy. Adam was later erased trying to score on a single by Erstad. I don't blame Roenicke in this situation. There were two outs, and Kennedy runs well. The problem was that Erstad hammered the pitch. It really got into center in a hurry, and Hunter was able to pick it up while moving toward the plate in a pretty good position to throw. Tough break.

Kennedy was kicked out arguing balls and strikes after striking out for the second out in the bottom of the ninth. He had a case. Hallion had called a high fastball a ball, and on the next pitch, called a fastball just as high and slightly more outside a strike, clearly irking Kennedy. When Kennedy swung and missed the next pitch, he turned and let Hallion know that he (Hallion) sucks. Hallion disagreed and ran Kennedy. Players understand that umpires all have different strike zones, but what really pisses them off is inconsistency. Hallion had two different strike zones on two consecutive pitches at a crucial moment in the game. I don't think for a second, however, that Kennedy would have argued in, say, the third inning, or sixth, or any inning but the ninth, and in anything other than a game that they were losing. For what it's worth, Hallion tightened his strike zone and Figgins walked in the next at bat.

Tune in tomorrow to find out which Santana shows up. Hopefully it's not the same as the Lackey that showed up tonight.

Angels 5; Royals 0

Shortened by rain. They picked a great game to not put on TV. It gave me a chance to watch the Western Open, which I had recorded.

Tiger, although he didn't win, is incredible. You can't believe some of the shots he hits until you play the same course. Or rather, a course at the same location, because he and I aren't playing the same course. The tenth hole is maybe a driver/wedge for me. For Tiger, he just drives it to within 10 yards. 11, on a good day, is driver/five iron/wedge. For Tiger, it's driver/nine iron. That's freaking amazing.

38 out - 36 in = 74

Played Prairie Landing today in West Chicago. 6,950 yards, with a rating of 73.2 from the tips and a slope of 136. Good test of golf, although not as tough as Cog #4 or Pine Meadow from the back tees. Tough greens, no trees (which means tons of wind), and wide fairways, but a lot of junk if you miss the fairway.

Hit all but one fairway, and hit 11 greens. Putted a little better, but still not great. Missed good birdie opportunities on 1, 7, 8, 12, and 15, but carded birdies on 3, 4, 10, and 11. The key, again, was no big numbers. No double bogeys.

I'm guessing as of the next revision, my handicap is going to be somewhere around 5, which is OK for now. I'd like to get it a little lower, but no complaints. That's two great rounds in my last three, and even the one that wasn't great was pretty good.

Angels 5; Royals 3

Nice job by Colon until the 8th. Still, that's a fair amount of rest for the pen after the last two games before this series, which they needed.

Honestly, I missed this one. The girl wanted to go to Taste of Chicago to see Carlos Santana and some band called Los Lonely Boys. Or rather, wanted to hear them, as we really couldn't see them. Nice day, though. Great weather, and fun was had by all.

Angels 5; Royals 0

What a great effort from Paul Byrd. After the leadoff single that wasn't, he really settled down, and gave the bullpen a much needed rest after the last few games. Another complete game, his second in his last three starts, on 105 pitches. I'll be honest, the power guys are fun to watch, but I love pitchers that don't walk anyone. I gotta think the fielders love it too. You know that almost every batter is going to put it in play, and you know that you aren't going to have to sit there as he walks the bases loaded. I once played on a softball team where our pitcher walked 6 straight batters on 18 straight balls (you start with a 1-1 count). It just deflated everyone. Man, that sucked.

More two out magic, as the first three runs all scored with two outs. The first run (which, quite frankly, I missed) came home on a Bengie single after some nice baserunning by D-Mac. It hasn't gotten a lot of pub, but he can run a little bit. That's three steals this season, and he had surprising stolen base numbers for a power guy in the minors. That might be something that the Angels find very valuable this season.

Nice way to start this series after the last two games. The Royals really suck, and the Angels just beat their best pitcher, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Angels sweep this series.

Snuck in 18 at Pine Meadow today, my choice for the best publicly accessible course in the Chicagoland area. The course, as usual, was in great shape, but there some dry spots, probably due to the recent drought.* That, and I'm guessing the Jemseks, who also manage Cog Hill, have used all of their water budget on Dubs, home of this week's Cialis Western Open. The result is that the fairways play a little dryer, and the rough becomes thinner and much more playable. On the other hand, it was windier than it's ever been when I've played there, so that was a factor as well.

I was knocking it all over the yard on the front nine. Only hit two greens (2 and 7) but escaped with a 41. Started to put it together on the back, hitting seven greens (10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18). Still couldn't get any putts to drop though, and three putts on 10 and 17 sunk me. I also blew some good birdie opportunities on 11, 13, 16, and 18. Came in with a 39 for a finishing 80 (from the gold tees - roughly 6,900 yards with a course rating of 73.4). And I did par what is, for my money, one of the toughest holes in the city, number 3.



I still think I'm not that far away. A little more consistency, and some better putting, and I can drop two or three strokes per round. Next year is the year I start playing in some events (Illinois amateur, USGA Publinx, etc.)

*For my West Coast readership, when we go about two weeks without rain in the summer, it's a drought. I know, it's crazy. I come from a place where we start thinking about droughts when we hit roughly the tenth year of no rain, but hey, it is what it is.

The Plan

Looks like all we need is a cardboard box.

Rangers a lot; Angels not so much

Ouch.

I really don't think there's much else to say except, thank God I was at work and didn't have to witness too much of it.

And Maicer got robbed.

I blame myself

They were doing fine until I left to go drinking with some law school friends. Next time I looked, the Angels were down 6-3. When I left the bar and checked the score again, they were tied in the bottom of the 11th. I just had to question it, though. I had to call my dad to figure out what was going on. And while on that call (I had since been passed to my mom), the Rangers won on a crappy little hit. So really, now that I think about it, I blame my mom.

Lackey apparently went back to his "be crappy for one inning" mode.

Other than that, I'll wait for some other recaps. Or feel free to provide your own in the comments.

Angels 5; Rangers 1

Pick your poison. Pitch to Vlad, who will most certainly drive in at least one run, or pitch to GA, who is gonna rip a grand slam.

Quite honestly, this one wasn't on extra innings tonight, and I was following it on MLBTV while also watching two Illini go in the first round (congrats to Deron and Luther). Since nothing really happened after the first inning, aside from some nice defensive plays by Kennedy and Figgins, I really don't have much to say about the middle innings. But after a huge double by Erstad, the Rangers didn't have much of a choice other than to pitch around Vlad. You had to assume Anderson would drive in a run somehow, but the grand slam was a little unexpected.

Scioscia tempted fate in the bottom of the 11th by bringing Frankie in with a 4 run lead in the bottom of the 11th. I still think that more often than not closers struggle in that situation, but after giving up a hit to Blalock, Frankie settled down and retired the side.

8.5 games up. Guarunteed a split in the series with Big Tex on the mound tomorrow night. Oakland is leading again tonight, so it's nice to see the Angels playing well while Oakland is hot. At least Seattle is getting buried over this stretch.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Earlier today, one of my favorite posters, Anonymous, asked for some comments on Jeremy Roenick's remarks about hockey fans, or really more accurately "to" hockey fans. Now, at first I had no idea what anonymous was talking about, so I had to look it up. Here's what he said:

""I will say personally, personally, to everybody who calls us spoiled - you guys are just jealous... We're trying to get this thing back on the ice and make it better for the fans. If you don't realize that, then don't come. We don't want you in the rink, we don't want you in the stadium, we don't want you to watch hockey."

He also said this:

"If we would have signed that deal in February, in terms of what we're getting now, we would have looked like heroes. Right now we look like a bunch of idiots. The deal in February beats the (expletive) out of the deal we're gonna sign in July. It's unfortunate we had to go through a whole year to realize the (expletive) that was going on. We've hurt our league, we've hurt the reputation of our league and the integrity of our league by sticking up for something that might not have been the right thing to do."

As to the first set of comments, which I think were actually second chronologically, but they're the first comments I ran across, I think he went a little overboard rhetorically. Obviously it's not very good business strategy to tell all of your customers to piss off. But quite honestly, the one hockey discussion site that I used to visit until I couldn't take the stupidity any longer were all VERY anti-player. It was all the fault of the greedy players, and sure the owners signed offered the deals, but it's the greedy players who accepted them. And as long as there are rogue teams like the Rangers and Capitals and St. Louis Blues (mid-90s version) signing players to huge contracts, how can teams like Calgary and Tampa Bay compete (pay no attention to the most recent Stanley Cup Final). And the owners are sure to lower ticket prices as soon as salaries go down, because they're all such benevolent human beings. Gag me. And let's face it, fans are jealous. Hell, I'm jealous. But I don't begrudge those guys what they make. It's how the market works. Everyone likes to trot out the "but teachers and firemen only make....." B.S., but (and I say this as someone with a family full of teachers) until 16,000 people per night pay $30 to watch my brother teach, he shouldn't be making as much as a pro-athlete. They have skills that society values for entertainment, and they're paid accordingly.

Essentially what we had last year was a group of owners saying "oops, we broke the system, and the only way to fix it is to have you guys bend over and let us shove a new labor agreement up your asses." The difference between this and the baseball strike, however, was that the owners had leverage. They actually had screwed up the system so bad that some of them actually were probably telling the truth about their losses. But this was never about getting a fair deal. This, and every other labor negotiation in professional sports (except for maybe basketball) has been about one thing and one thing only - busting the union.

But I digress. I think the second group of quotes is a pretty accurate statement. Much as I hate pretty much all of them, the owners hung together, passed up some very good deals that would have salvaged the season, got the players to capitulate on a number of issues, and now stand poised to sign a deal that really makes the union their collective bitch, assuming of course that hockey survives.

The irony in the stance taken by the pro-owner fans is that the deal really solves nothing. Ticket prices may come down initially, but that's not due to lower labor costs. It's due to lower demand, the result of practically destroying the league. And the lament that the low revenue teams couldn't compete because perennial cup hoisters like the Rangers were going to steal all of their players will just be sung to a different tune. As a Kings fan, this really pisses me off, because they've got a bevy of young, talented players in the pipeline. If those guys pan out, they'll be gone because of the cap. What's the point in building for the future if it means you're forced to let some of your best players go due to the salary cap? It's gonna hurt when it happens, but there will be some serious schadenfreude when guys like Visnsovsky, Gleason, and Brown are shipped out because of cap restraints. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm of two minds about the (hopefully) upcoming hockey season. On the one hand, I love hockey, and I love the Kings, so I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation. On the other hand, hockey still has huge problems, including owners who are far too short-sided to make real improvements to the game, like increasing the size of the ice. No long term vision for the sport. And with the new labor deal, I'll have a hard time finding any part of the last shred of respect I had for management.

Angels +7.5; Rangers -7.5

I'll be honest. Games like this scare the crap out of me. They swung the bats great, scored a ton of runs, and they'll probably score two more runs over the course of the series. I should point out, though, they not only knocked the Gambler out of the last game early, they knocked him out of tomorrow's game early. Rogers broke a bone in his right hand punching the water jug after the Angels rocked him last week. So I'm of two minds. On the one hand, it's the type of game where Rogers would toss a one hitter. On the other hand, they'll start some kid that should get shelled, and he'll toss a one hitter. I hope I'm wrong. I am the eternal pessimist.

Bart was throwing a lot of strikes again, and didn't seem to be working too hard. Lots of fly balls, though, except of course for the one that bounced off his shin. Vlad and AK went deep to just about the same part of the ballpark. Tough start stonight for CJ Wilson, a kid who grew up in Fountain Valley watching the Angels. I think that would be tough. You root for a team your whole life, then you have to go out and pitch against them. I'm guessing the loyalty dissipates pretty quickly after you sign that contract, though. The first four Angels reached base, and they plated three in the first. The Angels were relentless, scoring in 7 of 9 innings.

Hank Blalock had the magic stick for Texas, belting two homers and driving in all three runs. He's a cornerstone the Crown City Guzzlers, the only fantasy team I care about, so this is just the type of game where I like to see him blow up. Between he and Grady Sizemore, I picked up some serious points tonight, which is great for a night without many games, and for a week in which I'm only getting five starts.

Worst case scenario, the Angels will leave Arlington up by 4.5 games. If they win one more, that goes up to 6.5. They could conceivably leave Texas up by 10.5 games, at which point Oakland becomes a bigger concern. Without a doubt, the credit goes to the pitching staff. With Vlad back in the lineup and killing the ball, we can see just how important the staff was in keeping the team above water during his absense. Hat tip to those guys.

Man, I've alluded to it before, but Jeff Davanon really runs a lot of bad routes in the outfield. It's like he's been taking lessons from Bernie "L Route" Williams. Call me crazy, but I still have more faith in him out there than Finley. And Maicer Izturis continues to make Bill Stoneman look like a genius and a moron at the same time.

Good game, guys. Let's get one more tomorrow.

Angels 5; Dogers 3 & Cubs 2; Sox 0

Didn't see much of the Angels game, but I got back in time to see Vlad single up the middle, and Garret pick up his 999th and 1000th RBIs, pushing the Angels to a two run lead that they wouldn't relinquish. Congratulations, Garret.

Frankie has been very shaky of late, and he didn't get any help from Davanon on the Olmedo Saenz popup that El Jeffe lost in the sun. After putting the tying run on base, Frankie recovered with a ground out to complete the sweep. This puts the Angels 6.5 clear of Texas, who lost to Houston, and gives them double digit leads over Seattle and Oakland. The worst case scenario has the Angels up two and half after their trip to Arlington, and if they stay hot, and Texas stays cold, they could lead by as many as 10.5. That's a nice position to be in.

Another fine day on the mound, with a quality start from Byrd, and solid relief from Donnelly. The pitching staff continues to surprise and impress.

A packed house at Comiskey saw the Cubs beat the White Sox 2-0, a solo home run from Corey Patterson (redundant, I know) providing the Cubs with all they'd need. Garland and Prior were both outstanding, and the infield defenses were excellent, turning numerous double plays.

It was hot. Damn, was it hot. And humid. Seriously, as a west coaster, I just never understood how uncomfortable 88 degrees can be. But the train was nice and air conditioned on the ride home. This was the first Cubs-Sox game I've been to in three years, the last one being on my birthday at Wrigley in 2002. Coincidentally, Garland also started that game, but that was when he sucked. Honestly, I don't remember much of anything from that game, except that the start was delayed by a little rain. We met up at Goose Island for a couple of beers beforehand. Then we never actually took our seats. We stood in the SRO section next to the beer cart and got pretty tanked. That was followed by a trip to Sluggers for a few more beers. Next we headed to my friend's then girlfriend's (now fiancee, and in four weeks, wife) apartment, where I consumed a couple of glasses of wine. After that, we picked up some tapas at Emilio's, where I also downed about a pitcher of Sangria. We figured we hadn't quite had enough, so we headed across the street to one of the bars on Clark Street for another beer. So you can see why the details escape me a bit. None of that today, though. Just a Polish Tailgate* before the game, at which I arrived late, no drinking during the game, and well, that takes us to right about now. Gotta stay sober for that softball game tonight.

**UPDATE**

Not my best game, but we won by the slaughter rule in about a half hour. 0-1 with sac fly, a line out, a walk, and a run scored. I know, I hate guys who walk in softball, but if I don't get anything to hit, I'm not going to swing at bad pitches. I also made one play in left, and, I'll admit, should have made the play on a ball that hit the top of the fence and came back into play. I didn't play the guy deep enough, but the air was heavy and ball wasn't carrying very well. It ended up being a long single, because the runner on first had to hold in case I caught it. I'm guessing he was on the bag thinking of tagging up (which would have been a good decision). Oh well, at least I didn't hold onto the ball looking for somewhere to throw it, before finally chucking it in after giving everyone an extra base or two, then blaming my weak arm on being "flat footed".

*Instead of driving, you take the train with a case of beer in tow, stake out a spot, preferably in the shade, and suck it down before heading in to the park.

Angels 3; Dodgers 1

It's a crazy game, ain't it? The Angels got four hits and three runs in the second inning and it was all they needed. Good thing, because it was all they got. Three runs on four measly hits. Ervin Santana, on the other hand, gave up a bomb to Jason Werth, and two more shots that would have been home runs if hit anywhere other than dead center, scattered 7 hits over 6 and 2/3, escaped from a bases loaded one out situation in the third, and cruised to his third victory. He did look sharp over his last 3+ innings, finishing with seven strike outs, including one which featured a very serious Jeff Kent twirling like a fool.

The Angels not only got timely hitting, but they got timely pitching as well. Santana induced a double play grounder after giving up a leadoff single in the seventh, and Shields started a 1-6-3 double play to end a threat in the eighth, retiring Jayson 'foul-o-matic' Werth in the process.

Another nice night of listening to Vin Scully. Really cool that he works without a color guy, although I thought he and Joe Garagiola made a good team on the national games fifteen or twenty years ago.

Angels still lead Texas by 5.5, and they're guaranteed to come out of their four game set in Arlington with a lead, no matter how bad it gets.

Probably very little in the way of a recap tomorrow, as I'll be at the Cell for the Cubs-Sox tilt. Although I guess I could recap my softball game tomorrow night. I know that would be almost as exciting for most of you as my golf post was today.

39 out; 35 in - 74

I don't often toot my own horn on this blog, unless I'm being facetious, but allow me to say "toot-toot". Cog Hill #2 is certainly no Cog Hill #4. It's about 700 yards shorter, and if you look at the course rating, it's about 5 shots easier. However, that doesn't diminish the fact that I shot two over on the front, and even on the back for a two over 74. Probably one of my best rounds in a while (the 81 I shot from the tips at Purdue's Kampen Course is still one of the best ball striking rounds I've ever had, and the 76 at Foxford Hills was mighty fine).

Snaked in a 15 footer for birdie on 2, fell apart on 3 for bogey, three putted 5 for par and 6 for bogey to go one over. Got it together on 7 and 8 for par, and blew a golden oppotunity on 9 after a great drive, and made bogey to go two over.

Drove the tenth green and missed a 12 foot eagle putt to settle for birdie. Bogeyed 12 to drop back to two over, and parred in, with a good birdie opp on 13, routine pars on 14 and 15, hit a tremendous 4-iron punch under the trees onto the green to par 16, got up and down on 17 for par, and snaked in a 8-10 footer on 18 to save a two putt par for the even 35 and 74 overall. 13 greens in regulation, which has got to be somewhere near a career high.

The rough was very playable, which was fortunate, because I didn't exactly light up the fairways (8 of 14). Greens rolled well, and weren't brutally fast. The course played pretty easy, but still, seeing 74 on the card is nice confidence builder. And while the putting wasn't great, it was light years better than it's been. The Scotty Cameron Caliente will be staying in the bag for a while.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that my buddy shot 75, his failure to get up and down on 17 being the difference between our two scores. He shot an 81 or 82 last week on Dubsdread, so he still has bragging rights on the big course. The fact that we really pushed each other to play better made for a great round.

No rounds booked for now, but I imagine I'll try to walk on somewhere next weekend, especially if there's an opportunity to play well again.