Taking suggestions for a new weekend hobby

As of last Sunday, I quit the game of golf. I started playing golf probably around age 9, going to three par courses with my dad. I played all through high school, earning my varsity letter in my freshman year, which had more to do with living in a primarily blue collar town than being really good, though I wasn't bad.

I played on the club team in college, with little commitment the first three years, mainly because I didn't have a car. I played a lot my senior year, though, and by that time, I was working part time at a golf course in during the summer, winter, and spring vacations, as well as a few weekends a month while I was in school.

After graduation, I worked there for a few more years, and even registered for and took a P.A.T., or playing ability test twice with the intent of becoming a teaching professional. However, in the time between deciding to take the tests and actually taking them, I decided to continue my education in law school, and didn't put forth the effort to practice for either test.

In law school, the combination of being time and cash poor led to limited activity on the golf course, though my last year I played a fair amount, and picked up the game again full steam in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, the combination of work and various other factors kept me off the course more than I would have liked, but last year I finally joined the Chicago District Golf Association, registered for a handicap, and played at least once pretty much every weekend.

This year I went at it full bore. Started hitting the heated driving range when the weather was still cold, and in about mid-April, I basically started playing roughly twice per week, mostly on Saturday and Sunday with the occasional weekday round tossed in. In my first full round of the year, I fired a 74, marred by a double bogey on the last hole. In one three hole stretch, I sandwiched an eagle around two birdies, getting back four strokes to par in three holes. I felt way ahead of scheduled, and thought that this was a year in which I could make some pretty big strides. Later, I qualified to play in the Illinois State Mid-Amateur championship, and registered for two other individual events, and one pairs event (the pairs event and one of the individual events was rained out). I was in a bad stretch for the Mid-Am, and played horribly in the actual event, but got things somewhat back on track, the highlights being a 73 at Arcadia Bluffs up in Michigan, and a 75 (actually below the course rating), including five birdies, at Blackthorn in South Bend.

But ultimately, the season has been pretty awful. I've been wildly inconsistent, unable to put two good rounds together. I've had the shaft in my driver break three times, once through my own idiocy. I've spent God only knows how much on clubs (including a new three wood, hybrid 2-iron, two driver shafts, two new wedges, and a new putter), balls, gloves, and especially green fees.

Last Sunday, I played Pine Meadow, as close to a home course as I have, with a friend and his brother. After a solid start, I proceeded to three putt six greens, and just generally play rotten golf from the third hole on. That followed a round at Cog Hill where, after being even through three holes and in the middle of the fairway on the 4th, I proceeded to play the last 15.5 holes in 17 over par.

Golf is no longer fun. My handicap currently sits at 3.7, and there are a lot of people who would be thrilled with that. But the fact is that it's almost two strokes higher than it was two months ago, and if I were to continue to play and post my average scores for the rest of the year, my handicap would probaly end somewhere right around 6 or worse. That's not acceptable.

The fact is, at my age, and with the amount of time I've put into the game this year, if I can't consistently shoot in the 77-79 range and better, it's just not worth the time and effort, not to mention the money. Compounding that is the fact that if you're going to put up those numbers, you either need to play a consistently solid round start to finish, or you need to make a lot of birdies. I don't do the latter, and if you aren't going to make a lot of birdies, you can't fall apart early. Invariably after four or five holes, I'm three or four over par, which means I have to be lights out the rest of the way, and if you can't get on track early, it's not going to happen. The result that I spend the last 3 and a half hours miserable, making the experience less enjoyable for myself, and more importantly, my playing partners. It's not fair to them, and it's not worth it for me. I simply refuse to play a game that I am unable to play at the level to which I feel I should be playing.

So after roughly 24 years, my days playing golf are over. There will still be rounds that I'll need to play, either as a work function, or a family function, etc. I'll still play with my dad when I see him, because I'm not sure how much time we may have to do such things. But the weekend trips to the course, the mid-week trips to the driving range, the time spent reading Golfweek, they're all over. The clubs are put away, and pretty much everything that would indicate I play golf (other than my checkbook, I guess) is out of sight.

So while this blog post is essentially meaningless, it's served as an opportunity to put my frustrations into writing. It's been fun, or at least, it's been fun on occasion. Now I need to find something to occupy my weekends in the summer.

If that's how they want to play it...

Next series with the Rangers, first opportunity, DeRosa's got to go down. They've got a lot of prime targets in that lineup, but DeRosa's a cheap-shotting little bitch. We'll see if he has the balls to charge someone who's actually waiting for him instead of going after someone who's already engaged in a fight with another player.

Hats off to Kevin Gregg and Brendan Donnelly. Texas is managed by the whiniest little punk bitch in the league, and the real tragedy tonight was that no one took the liberty to beat the shit out of Showalter when he was on the field.

Special pussy award to Bitch Feldman, who conveniently avoided throwing at the larger Juan Rivera and Howie Kendrick, preferring to throw at the smaller Adam Kennedy. You're a real man, Feldman.

I hope this isn't over. By the next time these two teams meet, the rosters will be expanded, and both team will be out of the race (considering the A's will win all of their remaining games against the pathetic Mariners). Some Rangers need to go down, and they need to go down hard.

And John Lackey, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get that angry on the mound in your next start. PLEASE get mad and challenge hitters. PLEASE pitch like you're angry. It's when you're at your best.

Dear John,

I am officially done with John Lackey. No killer instinct. No belief in his stuff. No will to win. Once again, he's undone by two strike hits. He gets ahead in the count, and then he's got to nibble, nibble, nibble with his curveball, hoping someone swings at a pitch in the dirt, hoping they don't rip his curveball for a base hit. Well, tonight they ripped it for hits, including the single that put the game winning run on base. He allowed more than two runners per inning tonight, and it wasn't because they were teeing off on him. It's because he refuses to go after hitters. He pitches scared. He's done it his whole career. Worst part is that I think it's rubbing off on Santana.

This team is maddeningly frustrating to watch. They squander their talent trying to be perfect. I simply can't watch a game with confidence that they'll win, mostly because the Angels have no confidence in themselves.

They fought back valiantly from a slow start this season, and they got themselves in position to challenge for the division, based half on their decent play, and half on the poor play of the rest of the division. But they've squandered that opportunity, playing even or worse with dominant teams like Kansas City and Cleveland. They now trail the A's by six games in the loss column, and despite what history tells us, they simply don't have the talent or make-up to gain back that much ground.

Because the mood struck me...

Here's a couple vids from 2003's best album (yeah, that's right, you're choice for best album of 2003 sucks), The Wrens Meadowlands. Enjoy.

Faster Gun


Everyone Chooses Sides

Pitchfork Music Festival - July 29th and 30th - Union Park - Chicago

On July 29th and 30th at Union Park in Chicago, Pitchfork put together what is essentially their second annual music festival (last year it was the Intonation Festival curated by Pitchfork, while this year, there were two separate music festivals, of which Pitchfork had a better lineup), bringing 30 some bands to the Windy, and extremely hot, City. Needless to say, there were a bunch of bands that I didn't see, but pretty much everyone that I wanted to see, I saw.

First up for me was Destroyer, which is essentially Dan Bejar and some other dudes. Bejar, you may recall, is a contributing member of New Pornographers, and Destroyer played with New Pornographers when they hit Chicago about a year ago. It was a solid set, although he didn't play anything from Streethawk: A Seduction, which is my favorite Destroyer album. But this set did help me adjust to the heat. One thing about being in 95 degree heat with 95% humidity, once you're in it for about a half hour, you pretty much get used to it. You're sweaty and grosser, and it ain't getting any better, so you better just learn to live with it. Anyway, here's some Bejar:


Next up was Art Brut, but we didn't really pay much attention to that set. Altough as we were walking over to see Ted Leo, they played Good Weekend, which was actually pretty entertaining. Check it out:


Kind of weird, but despite the similarity, those first two videos were taken from completely different stages. It's actually a really cool set up for an outdoor festival. There are three stages, two main and one side stage which is basically in a tent. The two main stages sit at a right angle, and there are never two bands playing on those stages at the same time. As soon as a set finishes on stage 1, a new set starts on stage 2 within five minutes. There's always someone to listen to, but you never really have to make a decision to miss a band that you want to see in favor of another band you want to see (unless they're on the third stage, which is mostly DJs and local acts).

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists hit the stage next, and they were nothing but a revelation. For some reason I never got around to listening to these guys. Maybe I confused them with Kings of Leon, who I also haven't listened to, but regardless, I've been remiss. They kicked some serious ass, mixing in stuff from their new album "Shake the Sheets" along with stuff from their first album "Hearts of Oak". Hilights included "Where Have All the Rude Boy Gone", "Ballad of the Sin Eaters", "Me and Mia", and "Walking to Do". The coolest part was during the final song when he busted his head open on the microphone. Seriously. If you haven't listened to Ted yet, here's the video for Rude Boys. You'll like it:


After that, we wandered over to catch the Walkmen. I won't bore you with more videos, because I posted some just a few posts ago, and you can scroll down to find them. But they basically played everything I wanted them to play, which included "Wake Up", "We've Been Had", "The Rat", "Little House of Savages", and "Thinking of a Dream I Had".

To close out the night (for me anyway), we switched stages to catch the Futureheads, who were really good, and to whom I need to listen to more often. But geez, gimme time. I'm still finally getting into the Ted Leo stuff.

Day two began long before I arrived, but the acts on the bill that we wanted to catch inlcuded Mission of Burma, Yo La Tengo, and Spoon. Okay, I was the only one who wanted to see Spoon, but I digress. How were they? Mission of Burma was pretty good. Early '80s post punk band that recently reformed, and they mixed in some of the classics with the new stuff. A friend of mine had missed them during their first go round, and was pretty pumped to see them this time. They were good. Check it:


We paid little attention to Devendra Banhart while we waited for Yo La Tengo, who were pretty good, but again, for some reason they're one of those bands who are up my alley that I've never gotten around to listening to. From what I understand, most of the set was stuff from an upcoming album, including one song that lasted about 20 minutes, which was literally half the set.

Spoon closed things out with a set that included two songs with which I was unfamiliar, a bunch of stuff from their new album (Beast and Dragon, Two Sides, Camera, Mathematical Mind, Summon You, Never Got You) and Kill the Moonlight (Paper Tiger, Johnathan Fisk, and a few others not icluding Small Stakes or Way We Get By). Solid set, but I'm at the point where I really want to hear more stuff off of Telephono or Series of Sneaks. Perhaps those ships have sailed.

So anyway, that was Pitchfork. More bands that I wanted to see than last year, but none that I wasnted to see as much as Broken Social Scene, AC Newman, and the Wrens, who were the highlights of last year's show. But all in all, I can't complain.

What goes down...

Just when you think it's safe to start counting the Angels out again, they pound the Texas starters like Irish Car Bombs, then rake "All-Star" Mark Buehrle for six runs and three solo shots, and just like that, the Angels have followed a three game losing streak with a three game winning streak. I hate to sound like someone who roots for misfortune, but the Angels got good news when they learned that Bartolo was done for the year. A healthy Joe Saunders is much better than an injured Bartolo, and quite frankly, right now he's pitching better than a healthy Bartolo. The Angels AAA starters have combined to go 11-0 this season, with only one less than average start factoring in. They've given the team a tremendous lift. Matt Welch made the point the other day, and it bears repeating, that for all of the handwringing over Scioscia's supposed preference for veterans, the Angels have broken in four rookies into starting roles this season between Napoli, Kendrick, Weaver, and Saunders. How many other contending teams do you think have done that?

I've thought all along that this was essentially a rebuilding year for the Angels. They've got some veterans on the downside of their careers, ready to be replaced by kids who appeared to be just short of completely ready. But Juan Rivera, Maicer Izturis, and Robb Quinlan have filled some gaps rather nicely, while the aforementioned rookies have made huge contributions. The Angels are ahead of schedule, and though I don't think they're legit World Series contenders this year, they're poised to dominate the AL West for the rest of the decade.

On to Cleveland, New York and Texas for the next ten games before heading home to face Seattle, Boston and New York. A realistic expectation for this trip is 6-5. 7-4 would be fairly productive, and 8-3 would be tremendous. But with Oakland hitting a soft spot in their schedule, anything worse than 5-6 could really mean disaster.

FYI - I just finished reading Robert Goldman's excellent book Once They Were Angels, and I'll be reviewing a little later this week. Aside from some tiny factual errors which I was only able to pick out due to my freakish memory (trust me, they're incredibly inconsequential), the book was a great read, and I dare any long time fan to read it without tearing up once or twice.

How cool is YouTube?

Man, this is one of the funniest sketches I've ever seen, but Exit 57 is never on TV anymore. Thank God for YouTube.

What goes up.....

The Angels offense returned to earth, then kept going, against the A's the past couple of days, dropping two of three in an important, yet not particularly critical home series. Next up is four straight against the Rangers. This is no time for a letdown, and the Angels probably need to step up and take three out of four in this series, or at least split 2-2. This thing isn't going to be decided until the final two weeks of the season, but it's important that they don't spend a lot of time playing catch-up heading into those final two weeks.

As the Angels offense has morphed from that was good to one that is bad, it's no surprise that the monkey days of old are more or less out the window, which of course puts more pressure on the bullpen. If someone like Shields comes in and can't get the job done, there's really no chance that the offense is going to come through and pick him up. The Angels are now something like 1-44 when trailing after eight innings. I think we need a new monkey.

Finally, I held the belief for a while that all the errors were pretty much just small sample size. I mean, the defense isn't all that different from last year, and any team can go through a tough few months. But the fact of the matter is, they aren't getting better. They continue to make errors, and that extends innings, and that means more pitches, and that means we get to the bullpen quicker. That's not a good thing with a bullpen as shaky as the Angels' bullpen has been. I don't know what the fix is, and I don't know if they can overcome it, but for the most part, the team is roughly in line with what we expected them to do aside from the defensive miscues. And after watching them put the contact play on with the A's infield in, I still maintain that the Angels are the dumbest team in baseball. They may be able to overcome that, but it sure makes the road tougher.

More to come later in the week...

I'll be posting about the A's series, of course, in addition to the Pitchfork Music Festival that I attended last weekend in the sweltering Midwestern heat, and the Grant Lee Phillips shows that I'll be attending tonight and tomorrow night. But until I have a few minutes to get those thoughts down, I'll leave you with a couple of vids from Pitchfork performers The Walkmen, who played a pretty sweet set on Saturday. The second tune, "Little House of Savages", was personally my favorite song of 2004. But first up, to whet your appetite, is "The Rat", their first single off of their 2004 LP "Bows and Arrows". Enjoy.

Angels outslug their own stupidity

Trust me, I know it's out of character for me, but I really believe this team can win the AL West. I even think they can do it without making a deal at the deadline. But they simply cannot win the West if they continue to be the stupidest team in baseball. How stupid are they? Let me count the ways:

1. Howie Kendrick throws a ball into left field trying to turn a double play they had little chance of turning, putting runners on first and second with none out in the first (I'm willing to let this one slide based on Kendrick's limited experience at first base).
2. John Lackey, after getting drilled on the thigh by Manny Ramirez, inexplicably tries to throw the runner out at the plate, a play which he had no chance of making, instead of taking the sure out at first.
3. Chone Figgins tries to turn a double into a triple, then tries to turn it back into a double, which he was successful doing, because you still get credit for double when you reach second base safely before idiotically overrunning it and getting thrown out on your way back.
4. The top of the sixth inning. Like, the whole thing, even though they scored four times, no thanks to smart baseball. First, Jamie Van Buren walks Mike Napoli on four pitches to load the bases. Got that? Four pitches! So what does Kennedy do? Goes after the first pitch, a 58 footer. He wasn't close. Then after taking three ball, he fouls off ball five, then lines out to center on ball six. Nice at bat, AK. But that wasn't as bad as....
5. Juan Rivera, who inexplicably (I hate to use that word twice, but there was a lot of inexplicability out there tonight) remained on third base after Coco Crisp made a diving catch of Kennedy's line drive. How galactically stupid was this? First, Crisp has about as strong an arm as my dead grandmother. Second, he was lying on his stomach after making the catch. He would have had to get up and thrown to a cutoff man (since he probably couldn't have gotten it all the way to the plate) to get Rivera had he tagged. But to make it even worse, Crisp got up and fired to first in an attempt to throw out Napoli who has broken for second. Rivera was STILL AT THIRD!!! What the hell was he waiting for?
   

Now, the Angels got clutch hits out of Figgins and Izturis, and a sac fly out of Cabrera, and finished their half of the sixth with a six run lead. But they nearly blew a chance at a big inning, and almost left without scoring a run at all.

This is a stupid baseball team, folks. They've shown it all season in the field and on the basepaths. I actually think they have the talent and ability to reach the post-season. But I'm not convinced they have the brains to do so.

Howie Kendrick

I mean, GOOD GOD, MAN!! So that dude can hit a little bit from what I hear.

Nice effort all around tonight, except for maybe the bullpen, though it really didn't matter. This is a series that could have easily gone south quick. None of the pitching matchups really favor anyone, and considering the Sox' stronger offense, the Angels were more likely to get swept than the other way around, and they haven't exactly been swinging a weighted bat against KC and Tampa. With that in mind, it was nice to see them go out and grab the first one of this set. It's a little early for the classic late summer East Coast swoon, but the Angels typically don't fare well in that part of the country during this part of the year, so even coming out of Boston with 1 out of 3 would be acceptable. Let's just cross our fingers and hope Kelvim isn't as sore tomorrow as he was after his last start.

Lots or rumors floating around, the latest being that the Angels have offered Ervin and Aybar for Tejada. I don't like it, and I'll like it even less if they sweeten it by exchanging Aybar for Wood or Kendrick, who is already one of the top 3 or 4 hitting second basemen in the majors. Quite frankly, as I've said elsewhere,
All this does is take the Angels from a team that MAY win the West and WON'T win the WS to a team that WILL win the West and WON'T win the WS. Paying the price for a team good enough to win the WS this year will take more than Tejada, and for it will cost the Angels in cheap talent over the next five or six, it isn't worth it.

Carlos Lee comes to the AL West - Who cares?

First reaction? Big deal. He really doesn't make the Rangers much better, if at all, and the negligible difference between Lee and a Mensch/Cordero combination is even lessened by the fact that there's only about 60 games left. The best possible result for the Rangers would be to force the Angels to do something stupid and give up the farm for Soriano/Tejada/etc.

Stand firm, Bill Stoneman. Don't make a trade just to make a trade. Don't deal any of the top prospects for a rental. If you get an offer you simply can't refuse, I'll understand, but in the absence of something overwhelming, I want to see Wood, Kendrick, Weaver, Aybar, and Adenhart at Spring Training next year.

Let's face it, despite this move, and any moves the A's may make, the Angels still may be good enough to win the division, as none of their opponents are very good. And nothing they do is going to make them good enough to win the WS this year, so any big deal is done essentially to win the West and taste post-season defeat again. Don't be fooled, Bill. The future is very bright. Don't dim those lights.

Floyd Landis

Something is not kosher in this whole situation. For those of you who haven't been following it, and are getting you information here, first, what the hell is wrong with you? Seriously. But anyway, Landis was among the top riders in the tour, then in stage 16, he bonked and lost about 8 minutes. In stage 17, in one of the most amazing rides in the history of the Tour, he rode away from the field on the first climb, gained about seven and a half minutes back. He then took the lead for good in the penultimate stage, a time trial. Fast forward to yesterday, when it was anounced that his urine sample tested positive for a higher than acceptable ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. In other words, he failed his drug test, or at least, that's what you'll hear in news reports.

My problem with all of this coverage is that there are still serious questions which no one appears to be asking. They are as follows:

1. Did he fail the ratio test because of high testosterone (T), or low epi-testosterone (epi-T)? According to ESPN's cycling analyst, it's the latter. This creates further questions.
2. If we know that it was lower than normal epi-T that caused the problem, well, is that really a problem? Does having low epi-T aid an athlete's performance? I'm completely talking out of my ass here, but bear with me. The fact that a test exists which can measure T levels, combined with the fact that the test in question is a ratio test leads me to the conclusion that we all have different levels of naturally occuring T, to the extent that we can't just say "Rider X has a T level of Y, and that's higher than acceptable, so he's out." But, the ratio of T to epi-T must be fairly consistent for all us, or else using that particular test would be of no real value. If Rider X's testosterone is naturally high, then the fact that it's higher than some arbitrary level really tells us nothing without a comparison of what is normal for Rider X. So we use the ratio test to see if his level, in comparison to his epi-T level.
3. So now that we know his ratio is out of whack, and we know that it's because the epi-T levels were lower than normal, we need to know a) if that's an advantage, and b) was it a natural or otherwise acceptable occurrence (perhaps owing to his use of cortisone, or his thyroid medication, both allowed by the Tour). If it's not an advantage, and if he T level is normal, and if the drop in his epi-T level is caused by either a natural or otherwise acceptable occurrence, than what's the problem? It sounds like there's no reason to disqualify him if that's the case.
4. According to the LA Times, there is, believe it or not, another test which can tell us if his testosterone was completely produced naturally. My question is, why the hell don't they do that test first?

The B-Sample thing, that's a red herring. It's going to come back with the same result, and they're going to use that result to hang him. But the coverage of this episode has been awful. He hasn't tested positive for a banned substance. He hasn't even tested positive for having to much of a natural substance. He has tested positive for having a ratio of natural substances which are out of whack. That raises suspicion, no doubt, and requires further investigation. But no one seems to want to mention that. I guess we'll wait and see how it all plays out, but when the B-sample result comes back, be ready for the guillotine blades to be sharpened and raise, despite the fact that nothing of substance will have been proved.

First Place

Sure, I'm a little late, and hey, it's only been a week since I've updated this thing, but trust me, I've been busy. Between multiple projects at work that are forcing me to actually do work (the nerve...), and spending pretty much my entire weekend playing golf, I've been tied up. Speaking of golf, I set a personal record on Sunday at Blackthorn in South Bend with five birdies, and those don't include a a 255 yard three wood I hit to about 10 inches to save par on a hole on which I'd hit my drive out of bounds. Finished with a 75. Two double bogeys are tough to overcome, but I'd gotten back to even through 12, and was one over going to 17 before making really bad bogeys on the last two holes. But they were the 35th and 36th holes of the day, so I was starting to wear down a bit.

But enough about me. The resurgent Angels have worked their way back into a tie at the top of the AL West, tied with Oakland, 1.5 games clear of Texas and three up on Seattle. Quite frankly, I never would have believed it possible after the first three months of the season, and I'm still not quite sure how they're doing it. They still aren't playing good defense, their pitching has still been hot and cold, the front end of the bullpen has been atrocious, and their offense has been spotty. But Juan Rivera has been a freaking stud. Orlando Cabrera is still turning in a solid offensive performance, and management has finally seen fit to put Howie Kendrick in the lineup. All he's done since is hit .458 with five doubles and a homer. Robb Quinlan and Maicer Izturis are providing consistent production at the corners, which have covered for Mike Napoli's predicatble but not discouraging regression. Vlad isn't exactly displaying his raw power, but he's hitting .400 in July, and driving in runs.

The question, of course is whether they can keep it up. Quinlan, Izturis, and Kendrick can't be expected to maintain their level of production, and Rivera is bound to cool off. On the mound, they can expect better performances than what they've received from Ervin Santana lately (who really was pretty unlucky on Tuesday aside from the Wigginton home run). Lackey will be Lackey, but Jered Weaver has got to cool off at some point. Kelvim is sore after every start, and an injury to Bart could be a blessing in disguise if it brings Joe Saunders back to the rotation. Remember, he won't be replacing Bart of 2005, he'll be replacing the shell that has worn Bart's XXXXL jersey in 2006, so that's an upgrade, most likely.

When you look at it, there's not a lot to be excited about. But darn it if I don't feel pretty positive about the Angels right now. They're fun to watch again. They're back in the race, and they've got fresh faces in the lineup that make them an interesting three hours of entertainment. Four if Colon, Escobar, or Santana are pitching. The biggest thing they've got going in their favor is that the rest of the division sucks as well. I've said it before, but the reason I can see the Angels winning the West this year isn't because I think they're good, but rather, I don't think any of the other teams are deserving. In the last two years, the A's really scared me. This year, they don't. Same goes for the Rangers and Mariners (of course, those teams are all saying the same things about the Angels, but...).

Regardless, the team is fun to watch again, though maddeningly frustrating when they play like they did on Tuesday, but hey, that's baseball.

Checking in....

Geez, it's been a while. Anyway, here's the story. 73 at Arcadia Bluffs. 85 in the State Am qualifier on Monday, so I picked the wrong day to play well. Also, in the qualifier, it was about a million degrees outside, and round about the 13th hole, I'm pretty sure I started hallucinating.

Anway, Nice post AS-break start for the Angels, sweeping Tampa, then taking two from Cleveland before dropping their last two. They're only a half game out, but the last two games have not been pretty, featuring lots of walks and errors. The schedule gets real tough, real quick, so they really need to make some hay over their next six games (3 in KC and 3 in Tampa) before heading to Boston. The two more crucial sets against Oakland and Texas.

The offense has looiked fairly shap lately, and Howie Kendrick is building a fan base. Vlad is swinging the bat pretty well, with the average up to about .320, but he's still not providing the power that a lot of us expected. And just when you though it was safe to watch them play defense, they look like Little Leaguers in Kansas City.

Honestly, I have no idea what the last two and a half months are going to bring. I can't discern any noticeable trend. They played terrific for a few weeks, then looked pathetic in their last two. Right now I'm just happy that I still care about the season at this point.

Anyway, Dubs tomorrow, followed by 36 in South Bend on Sunday, so it's another busy weekend.

Struck me funny

I'm not a reporter, and I'm sure this is something they do on all similar blurbs, but this quote from today's Times made me laugh:

Bane flew to South Korea to join Jung and his family at a news conference, which he said attracted 150 media members, including 15 photographers.

"They just snapped away as if it was Halle Berry or something," Bane said. "I don't think we had that big a press conference when we signed Vlad," referring to All-Star Vladimir Guerrero.

Oh, that Vlad. Thanks for clearing that up.

The Second Half

Wow, get a front page link from the Rev and everyone stops by. Anyway, with the second half getting underway tonight, I figured I'd reprint an email that I sent to Keith Law (formerly of Prospectus and the Blue Jays, currently of ESPN), with whom I've had an informal correspondence over the years (long story), in response to the excepts I read from his ESPN write up on the Angels the other day. It's behind the wall, and I'm cheap, so I haven't read the whole thing. It should still serve as a quick assessment of how I see the Angels doing in the second half.

• The Angels rotation will be better in the second half simply because of the return of Colon, and the absence of Jeff Weaver in favor Jered. Obviously, that's health permitting, but even if Colon goes back to the DL, they'll be better off with Saunders getting those starts than they would be with either Jeff Weaver or Carrasco/Gregg. If they lose Lackey or Santana to injury, though, they're in trouble. But geez, Kelvim Escobar is their fifth starter!
  
• I really don't think their defense can be any worse than it was in the first half. And it wasn't simply a case of making a lot of errors. They were very unlucky, too (this is eyewitness testimony as opposed to statistical analysis). They gave up more than their fair share of unearned runs, mostly because it seemed like just about every single guy who reached base on an error ended up scoring. I checked about 60 games into the season, and they were so far out in front on unearned runs that it was ridiculous. Their DER is still pretty decent, and I really don't expect them to keep making the errors that they've made to this point. I would expect their overall run prevention to get better.
  
• I can't see the offense really being any better or worse. It's tough to tell, though, because if Anderson gets hurt, the offense will probably improve. And if they can deal Kennedy and get Kendrick in there everyday, it should be better. Conversely, if they insist on playing Erstad if/when he returns, it will be worse. And I really have no idea if they're going to deal for a bat (I sort of hope they don't). I don't necessarily buy the argument that says Vlad is in a slump, and he'll be better in the second half. My gut tells me he's just having a bad year or he's hiding an injury, but either way, I suspect that what we've seen is what we're going to get.
  
• I can't see the offense really being any better or worse. It's tough to tell, though, because if Anderson gets hurt, the offense will probably improve. And if they can deal Kennedy and get Kendrick in there everyday, it should be better. Conversely, if they insist on playing Erstad if/when he returns, it will be worse. And I really have no idea if they're going to deal for a bat (I sort of hope they don't). I don't necessarily buy the argument that says Vlad is in a slump, and he'll be better in the second half. My gut tells me he's just having a bad year or he's hiding an injury, but either way, I suspect that what we've seen is what we're going to get.

Ultimately, I don't think any of the AL West teams are all that good. They've all got good elements, but none are really good teams, which is why I think the Angels have just as good a chance at winning the division than any of them. In the past when I've picked against the Angels, it's because I thought the other teams were too good for the Angels to beat out (and I was wrong, of course). This year, I just don't think any of them are very good. And I don't really buy the injury excuses for Oakland. It's not like we're talking about injuries to Lou Gherig and Cal Ripken. Usually I'm enough of a pessimist that no matter how weak the Angels opponents are, they still scare me. This year, none of them scare me.

As the second half begins, I'll actually be heading out of town for the weekend, so I won't be seeing any of this weekend's series. I'll be leaving tonight to head up to Michigan to play the 10th best public course in the country (per Golf Digest), Arcadia Bluffs. Seriously, click the link. This place is freaking amazing. Coming back on Sunday, so I may see some of that game, but I'll also be heading out the driving range one last time to prepare for Monday's qualifier for the Illinois State Amateur championship. I haven't really played very well since I qualified for the Mid-Am (then played just awful in the actual event itself), but I've been encouraged by my work on the range this week, so we'll see.


And for the hell of it, here's an old Catherine Wheel video:

Quite A Week

The only thing standing between the Angels and a perfect week was a sac fly by Juan Rivera or Mike Napoli, and/or a scoreless ninth inning by Scot Shields on Thursday night. But the Angels were not disheartened by Big Hurt's walk off in the first game of this series. They shook it off and won the next three behind a brilliant performance by John Lackey, backed up by excellent starts by Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana. As a result, the Angels find themselves just two games out of first (and two games under .500).

While the offense has been picking it up a bit, evidence by the slugging in the A's series, the pitching has been dominant. The last turn through the rotation before the All-Star break, the starters went 38 innings and allowed 4 earned runs for an ERA under 1.00. That's awesome. They'll be in the thick of this race from here on out if they can do two things: 1) Continue to get excellent performances from the starters, and 2) play the type of defense that they're capable of. I should mention, they allowed three unearned runs over those 38 innings, and unearned runs have been the difference between being two game out and two games up to this point. The defense has to improve, or they'll continue to let opportunities slip away.

The AL West is set up for a tremendously exciting second half. Four teams are separated by 2.5 games, and thanks to Ozzie Guillen's myopia, only a handful of AL Westians will be worn out by the All-Star game.

John Lackey. Stud.

Slow talkin', slow windin', hard throwin' stud.

Three and a half years ago, he started the final march to the promised land, and for the next two years, we wondering what happened to that promise. Last year, he broke out, and this year, he's turning into the force that many of us believed he could be. Tonight was the second finest evening of his career. A virtuoso performance that few Angels hurlers have provided in the history of this franchise. Nolan had his no-nos. I'm sure some other dudes had some great perfomances before my time. Mike Witt had his Eric Miltonesque perfecto on the last day of the season. But this performance is the finest single game I've witnessed on television, even better than a few others that I've seen in person. Here's my list of the top four pitching perfomances that I can remember after about six beers in a couple hours (note, I'm not adjusting for game context, so Washburn's excellent effort in game 3 against the Twins in 2002 isn't on the list, for example):

• John Lackey retires 27 straight A's after allowing a leadoff hit - July 7, 2006. Tonight's game was a tremendous performance. The Angels really needed a win to remain the race, and on the night that "all-star" Mark Beuhrle looked like crap against the Red Sox (I know, I was there), John Lackey showed Ozzie Guillen who really should have been on the team. In fact, it's making me want to get an all-star warm up jersey with Lackey's name and number just for the hell of it. He walked no one, he went to only two three ball counts all night long. He challenged hitters, and he flat out dominated. Absolutely brilliant.
• Jason Dickson five hits the Boston Red Sox - April 3, 1997. I was at this game, seated three rows behind home plate in seats provided to us by a guy from Adhor Farms that did business with my dad. Dickson was awesome. He allowed no one past second base. He was a prospect at the time, and he wowed the home crowd in this one. No doubt I remember this because I was there, but every time a young Angel pitcher dominates with a shutout, I remember this game.
• Ramon Ortiz outduels Pedro Martinez and wins 2-1 - August 8, 2000. I went to this game a night or two before leaving SoCal to head back to Champaign to begin my third year of law school. I remember the plethora of Red Sox fans in attendance. Think about it, if you're a Sox fan, and can only make it to one game, this was the game to go to. Pedro was on the mound. There was no way they could lose. But Tim Salmon drilled a solo shot over the left center field wall to lead off the second, and Garret Anderson provided a two out RBI single in the fourth, giving the Angels a 2-0 lead. Troy O'Leary was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the fifth, but a blind umpire called him safe, and he later scored on two straight ground outs. It was one of only two hits he'd allow. I have a distinct memory of Carl Everett stepping to the plate before making the final out, grooming the dirt, stepping in, stepping out, taking his sweet time in an obvious attempt to ice the rookie. I remember thinking that if I were Ortiz, I would have drilled Everett in the back with my first pitch. But Ortiz settled for inducing the final out with a foul pop up. And thousands of pissed off Red Sox fans left the building.
• Ervin Santana shuts out the White Sox in his second major league start - May 23, 2005. Only a kid with Ervin's poise could give up the cycle to the first four batter he faced in his major league career, then come back and flat out dominate the eventual world champs in his next start. He limited the Sox to five hits, only one for extra bases, and erased two of those hits on subsequent double plays. He seemed to always make the right pitch at the right time, and flashed the brilliance that we still see on occasion, and look forward to seeing in the future.

Tonight, John Lackey fulfilled the promise he showed in 2002. He followed a hugely disappointing loss with an incredibly important win. He showed that he's an ace.

Walks and homers

The Angels give up too many. Scot Shields is no longer elite.

Juan Rivera is not clutch.