It's official

Well, yes, it's official that Dan Cloutier sucks, but that's not what this post is about. After four plus years, I have officially ended my employment with the Big 4 accounting firm that absorbed Andersen's tax practice in Chicago. Gave notice Monday, and they kicked me out today. But they're paying me for the next week and a half, plus about five weeks of vacation that I'd accrued, so that should be a nice little chunk of change. In about 10 hours, I'll be on a plane to LA, where I'll spend the next two weeks out of the increasingly cold temperatures of the Midwest. The new job doesn't start until November 13th, so that's a nice little break. Of course, that doesn't mean I can take a break from you, my loyal reader(s). I'll return to my frustratingly inconsistent posting even while on vacation.

An Unfortunate Possibility

From Jon Heyman at SI.com:

Edmonds back to Angels?

Some folks believe former Angel Jim Edmonds, a Fullerton, Calif., native and free agent, would like to return to Anaheim. When he left, some teammates saw him as something of a hot dog. But he's still a pretty good center fielder.

I hearby unequivocally state that if Jim Edmonds returns to the Angels, I will suspend myself from Angels fandom until such time as he is no longer a member of the team. I will not root for the Angels as long as Jim Edmonds wears an Angels uniform, should that come to pass.

I am not joking.

UCLA 17; Notre Dame 20

I'm not really sure what there is to say that hasn't already been said. There's an old addage (and if there's not, then I'm going to make one up) that says when you play not to lose, you usually end up losing. Well guess what? After a fourth down stop with just over two minutes to go, the Bruins decided the best course of action was to put money on the Irish not having enough time to drive the length of the field. Bad decision.

As with any typical UCLA loss, mistakes played a major role, and this game was no different. Lost in the hoopla of the impending victory and sudden defeat was the fact that the winning margin was a field goal made, then missed by Justin Medlock in the first quarter, the successful attempt called back on a false start. But otherwise, the game was suprisingly mistake, well, not quite free, but let's just say there weren't too many mistakes. Only two turnovers on offense, and very few penalties in a tough building in which to play. The defense generally picked up the slack after turnovers.

But in the last few minutes, Karl Dorrell and DeWayne Walker (who really looked like a genius all day), decided to tense up, play conservative, and hope ND wouldn't wake up. Dorrell's three straight "just don't fumble" running plays, and Walker's prevent defense awoke the sleeping giant, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A couple other stats really stand out. Neither team ran the ball all that well, but UCLA completely shut down Darius Walker, and sacked Quinn five times. Their defensive line was very impressive. But the stat that I have yet to hear anyone mention is 4-5. That was Notre Dame on FOURTH down conversions. When you stop an offensive as strong as ND's on three plays, you HAVE to get the ball back, and UCLA continually allowed ND to extend drives that they should have ended.

In the end, two coaches called plays like they were concerned about what they'd read in the paper the next day. Go conservative. Play not to lose. It's what any coach would do, right?

There's no points for trying hard.

Something for the Weekend

Some early music from the finest band currently in existence. I'm serious. The Super Furry Animals are about a million times better than anything you're currently listening to. And if you don't agree, you suck.

Really weird feeling

I've just quit my job. Only, no one here knows that I've quit my job. I've accpted an offer from another consulting firm. Just sent the email a couple hours ago. More money, overtime pay, identical to slightly better benefits. A little more uncertainty than you experience at a huge firm, but a good opportunity to grow with a new practice.

But it is really weird walking around here, looking at everyone, and not being able to tell them that I'm leaving this job. Starting up a new project? Sure, I'd be happy to help! That staff meeting in December? Hit accept on the old Outlook and add it to my schedule!

It's really quite surreal.

Everyone will be clued in on Monday. The ruse will be over. But for now, it just feels really strange.

The Blueprint

The Kings aren't going to play Phoenix every night, and they definitely aren't going to play Phoenix with a backup goalie every night. Let's face it, they did a lot of things right tonight that no reasonable person can expect them to do night in and night out. But that, quite frankly, is the blueprint for a successful Kings game.

• Success on both the power play and the penalty kill;
• The discipline to avoid taking too many stupid penalties (which doesn't mean they didn't take any stupid penalties);
  
• Better than average goaltending; and
  
• Production from Brown, Frolov, Kopitar, and Cammalleri.

It's that simple. The only thing they were missing was a goal from a defenseman, which is something I identified early in the season as a key to maintaining last year's pace.

Seriously, how good is Anze Kopitar? His first period power play goal displayed a poise that simply can't be taught. He avoided swinging at the puck with a high stick, choked up, waited for the puck to drop below the cross bar, and literally bunted it in. It's hockey IQ, and it can be learned, but it can't be taught. Some players just have the ability to pick it up.

Kudos also go out to Sean Avery tonight, who aside from the stupid dive, kept his emotions in check until Shane Doan basically took both of them off the ice. He was instrumental in creating the Dustin Brown goal. Brent Sopel gets a major thumbs up for his absolute destruction of Dave Scatchard. It was a monster hit, and a joy to watch. Obviously Garon deserved to be singled out for the Kings first shutout of the season. And Cammalleri, wow! What a rocket shot. Thing of beauty.

Nice effort tonight in the second of back to back games. It would have been easy to take a step backward after last night's excellent performance but poor result. That's all we ask for. Effort, and some promis of what's to come.

Free stuff....For me, I mean

So today I get an email from Sprint saying that someone there had read my blog (yeah, this one), and since I'm such a cool guy, they want to send me a free cell phone with six months of free service just so that I can check it out tell them what I think, or not. I'm talking free everything. Unlimited minutes, web, whatever video crap you can download, music downloads, the works. For nothing. Seriously, check it out:

As a qualified participant, we will send you one Sprint Power Vision (mobile broadband) phone and provide you with 6 months of all-access service (at no charge). In addition to NFL Mobile, you?ll have access to the Sprint Music Store, live TV broadcasts, gaming, and more. Yes, you will also have unlimited free calling and data service. It?s a pretty good deal and all we ask for in return is your candid feedback (you decide how much and how often).

Pretty bitchin, huh? And I don't even write about the NFL. Unfortunately, I just bought a new phone and re-upped my Sprint contract about two months ago, and even then I never go over my minutes. But hey, if it's free, it's for me.

Seriously, this blog has now gotten me a free book, a free cell phone and six months of free service. Note to potential advertisers/product development types - you are hereby authorized to send me more free stuff. Have at it.

Kings lose again

Actually, the title isn't completely fair, as they at least managed a point, but man, they played easily their best game of the season tonight, completely outplaying the undefeated Minnesota Wild, but it still wasn't enough, as former King Pavol Demitra got a gift bounce against a goaltender who refuses to poke check and banked it in for the game winner in OT.

Despite the final result, there were a lot of positives. As I said, they played their best game of the season. They had a ton of pressure, a ton of shots, and simply couldn't find the net. They lack a lot of things right now, but chief among them seems to be an ability to finish. Among the "goal scorers", for lack of a better word, the only guy I can really pin blame on right now is Frolov. He's been an offensive black hole for more than half a season now, and he's the one that they really need to find the net. Kopitar, O'Sullivan, and even Cammy and Avery, their goals are going to come (that's right, I said Avery). But Frolov has had a number of years to develop, and it seems like he just stopped about two months into last season and, if anything, has regressed.

Congratulations to O'Sullivan, who picked up his first goal tonight. Although it sure looked to me like it was kicked by Willsie and probably shouldn't have counted. But who among us hasn't collected his fair share of garbage goals. Hell, I practically made a living out of it.

I can't really single anyone out as having a bad game tonight. Even Cloutier played well, although both goals can be attributed to his own misplays. On Rolston's goal, he should have gloved a shot he saw clearly all the way in. The subsequent rebound led to a scramble that ended with the puck on Rolston's stick with a wide open net. The OT goal by Demitra could have been avoided with a simple poke check.

But we'll take out positives where we can get them, and the Kings did everything right except for putting the puck in the net. Baby steps. I actually see them as being a team that will struggle for four months, then hit their stride sometime in February. It will be too late to make the playoffs, but they'll be a fashionable pick for the playoffs next year, and in 2008-2009, they'll be legitimate contenders.

Two wins, two losses

So after four games, the Kings find themselves at 2-2, able to beat the bad teams ( Blues and Islanders), and not able to beat the good teams (Ducks and Stars). It's tough to judge too much after these four games. They looked good against the Ducks, had a ton of shots, but came up short. They looked poor against the Blues, and so so against the Islanders, but picked up the points. Against Dallas last night, they played their worst game of the season. Very little flow, got behind early, very poor defensive coverage, and a predictable result.

Obviously the story of the early season has been Anze Kopitar, the greatest Slovenian player in the history of the game. His first goal (see post below), was real highlight material, and he did it against a future hall of famer. He added three assists in game two, and a fourth in game three. He has the game breaking skills that the Kings have never really developed from within (although they were close with Robert Lang before Barry Melrose destroyed him). He is the future, and no matter how bad it gets this season, he's going to be fun to watch.

O'Sullivan has yet to find the net, but he's an exciting skater, and he's got a sniper's shot. The kid is going to be good, but it might take half a season for him to hit his stride. He's like a better version of Michael Cammalleri. Mind you, Cammy is better right now, but when O'Sullivan reaches Cammy's experience level, I think he'll be a much better player.

I said last week that the defense had to add significantly more offense. Well, they have four goals so far, two from Visnovsky and two from Sopel. It's a good start, and it includes no goals from Blake or Teverdovsky (who in all fairness has only played two games, although he's looked smooth with the puck in those games). But the defense can't afford to let down on the other end, and they did that against Dallas, particularly Kevin Dallman who may find himself back in the press box tomorrow night.

Cloutier has not impressed me yet, but he's shown flashes of regaining his form. The problem is that he's already established himself as the pariah of LGK, a stigma that is almost impossible to get rid of. Just ask Joe Corvo and Roman Cechmanek. It's a group that practically prides itself on letting preconceived notions dictate their opions. But it's a long season, and if the worst case scenario is that his play inspires Mathieu Garon to play his way back into the number one role, then so be it.

Lots of hockey left, but it's a young team, and a difficult division and conference. There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered.

Eric Gordon, Jackass

Eric Gordon made it as official as it can get until November when his family went public with his intention to accept a basketball scholarship at the University of Indiana beginning in 2007. Roughly a year ago, Eric Gordon held a press conference at his high school during which he anounced his intention to accept a basketball scholarship to the University of Illinois. He renegged on that agreement. And he did it in dramatic fashion, choosing a bitter rival, and doing it near the end of the recruiting process.

A verbal commitment is just that. Nothing is official until the player signs his letter of intent. But there is an unspoken rule against recruiting a kid who has already verbally committed to another program. Fortunately for the Hoosiers, rules have never mattered much to Kelvim Sampson, be they unspoken, unwritten, or even written. He always been slimeball. So he continued to recruit Gordon, who, along with his family, made a series of public reassurances to Coach Weber and the Illini faithful that he was still a solid Illinois recruit. Other prospects at the shooting guard position cooled to the Illini. I mean, who wants to play behind the top shooting guard in the country?

That brings us to today, when the selfish Gordon finally alerted the press that he would no longer be enrolling at Illinois, and would instead attend Indiana, conveniently coinciding with the kickoff of Indiana's pre-season practices, a televised event at which he'll be the star attraction.

The situation was handled incredibly poorly, and it does not speak well to the ethics of Sampson or the Gordons. It may also not speak well to Coach Weber's ability to recruit, but that's another issue. Players commit early and later change their mind all the time. It's not uncommon. But usually, those kids have the decency to decommit, to re-open the recruiting process, which gives their original choice time to line up a plan B. Gordon did no such thing. He fueled the rumors, strung Coach Weber along, and left the Illinois program high and dry. His parents, especially his father Eric Sr., were complicit in the deception. They must really enjoy getting their name in the paper. As for Sampson, well, we already knew he was an unethical sack of crap, so this whole episode didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

As for Weber, everyone wants to get the blue chip prospects. For those of us who love college basketball, recruiting is the only story from April through October. But Kelvin Sampson, much like the coach who preceded Weber at Illinois, can't coach. Recruits are great, but you still need a good coach to win games. Good coaches take good talent and beat teams like Bucknell and Bradley in the first round. Bad coaches don't. Sampson's teams consistently underachieved, save for one final four appearance in 2002. And underachieving in the Big 12, a supposed "power" conference that has produced only two national champions in the last 55 years (both Kansas), and none in the last 18, is tough to do. I've lived through the Steve Lavin years at UCLA. I've seen what a great recruiter can do a program when he doesn't know how to coach. I'm completely satisfied with Weber.

But ultimately this falls at the feet of Eric and his family. This situation could have been handled much better, and they failed to do that at every opportunity. Few kids are ever the most hated player by a rival school a year before they set foot on a court, but Eric Gordon just became public enemy #2 today for the Illini faithful. I just pray that the Big Ten schedules a game between U of I and IU in Champaign during the 2007-2008 season. And if Gordon drives the lane and ends up getting pile driven into the floor, I think the pile driver will get quite an ovation from the home that night.

Another exellent take on this right here.

Anze Freaking Kopitar

Turns out this guy is pretty good.



The kids call that "sick".

Your 2006-2007 Los Angeles Kings

Not having access to any pre-season information that isn't provided to me free via the internets (in other words, having not seen any pre-season games), here's my attempt at a season preview.

Goaltender:

Mathieu Garon will back up newly acquired (and re-upped) Dan Cloutier who travels south to L.A. with new coach Marc Crawford. Injuries limited him to 13 mediocre games last season, and he played briefly in Austria during the lock-out, but the scuttlebutt is that his knee is healthy once again. Hopefully he can return to the form he displayed between 2001 and 2004, when he won over 30 games three times and never had a GAA worse than 2.43. If he can, the Kings will have their first reliable goaltender since Felix Potvin's good days in LA. One of the knocks on Cloutier is that he's soft in the playoffs. Considering that the Kings have been absent from the playoffs the last few years, I wouldn't mind getting a chance to see for myself.

Defense:

The Kings have some depth here, with eight defensemen who are at least fairly capable. The top four are pretty well set, with Rob Blake returning to L.A., joining Matty Nortstrom, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Aaron Miller. The final two spots are most likely to go to Brent Sopel and one of Kevin Dallman, Oleg Teverdovsky, and Mike Weaver. That depth is going to be important, primarily because Miller is perennially injured, and, well, this is the Kings, so it kind of goes without saying that guys are going to get hurt. The hope here is that the competition for playing time lights a fire under Teverdovsky, who is still a pretty skilled player. Be prepared to see a lot of offense from the blue line, and a lot of odd man rushes the other way. Blake especially has never been one to shy away from big hit regardless of what it costs in terms of defensive positioning. But hey, they'll be fun to watch.

Honestly, this is the strength of the team, and if they can set the tone, the Kings could be better than anyone expects. Last year they got about 40 goals from the defensive corps. 14 of those are in Ottawa this season. They're going to need about 55 this season to be competitive, maybe 60. Let's face it, the offense isn't loaded with proven goal scorers, so they're going to need all the help they can get from the blue line. I think they can do it.

Offense:

Right now, I'm not exactly sure what the line combinations are going to be, so I can't comment on each one. The offense on the whole is going to be a little shaky. They're going to be tremendously entertaining at times, and tremendously unreliable at times. That's the way young players tend to be, and it doesn't help that some of their older guys, like Frolov, already tend to play that way. The Kings are going to need a big effort from Alex this year, who has the talent to put together a 35-40 goal season. He's going to have to be the focus on offense this season, so hopefully he'll rise to the occasion. Michael Cammalleri lead all returning Kings with 26 goals last season. He's going to have to add 5-10 for the Kings to contend for a playoff spot.

The influx of youth up front is what will make this team fun to watch this season. Anze Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan make their NHL debuts, and both have shown a lot of offensive promise. O'Sullivan led the AHL in goals last season, and Kopitar has, by some reports, been the Kings best player throughout the pre-season. Dustin Brown chipped in 14 goals last season, and although he may continue to bring fans to their feet with his big hits on even bigger targets, he needs to increase that offensive production by about 10 goals this year. Old reliables Craig Conroy and Derek Armstrong will more than likely be solid up the middle, so the kids are going have to be the ones that take the big steps forward.

Of course, the wild card (in more ways than one) is Sean Avery. Can they keep him under control and out of the penalty box? Can he harness that speed and talent and turn in a 20-25 goal season? If he can, and if things break right for the Kings, they can be a playoff team. They could end up being they type of team that has no one score more than 35 goals, but has 10 guys that score more than 15. Balanced offensively, experienced defensively, and maybe the goaltenders are good enough to steel a few.

Special Teams:

The bane of the 2005-2006 season, the Kings absolutely must improve on the power play and the penalty kill, or they're going to live down to the low expectations that the media has set for them. In the new NHL, where there is a lot of time spent with fewer than 10 skaters on the ice, a team simply cannot be successful if they aren't solid on special teams.

On the power play, it starts on the blue line, and Rob Blake should provide some improvement over Joe Corvo, who actually wasn't too bad last year. The addition of Teverdovsky should give them a decent PP quarterback on the second unit. Logic would say that he'd be paired with Brent Sopel, but last season Norstrom got a lot of time with the extra man, and at times his no nonsense style led to getting the puck to the front of the net with some success. I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there again on the power play.

Eric Belanger, who was always a decent penalty killer, is gone to Carolina, but Alyn McCauley and Scott Thornton have arrived to shore up this unit. Look for Aaron Miller and Norstrom to log a lot of time on this unit. Hopefully Marc Crawford brought a magic formula with him. Vancouver was fairly middle of the road in both the PP and the PK, but even that would be a huge improvement over last season.

Outlook:

The Kings look to have a ceiling of about 6th in the conference, and a floor of about 14th. They'll probably end up right down the middle in about 10th place, probably contending for a playoff spot up until the last week or two of the season. If they stay healthy, they just may surprise a lot of teams and end up in the post-season, but I think the realistic expectation is that they'll miss this year, improve a little next year, and be set to really start flying in a couple of years as O'Sullivan, Kopitar, Tukonen, and Jack Johnson are hitting their stride. The future looks pretty bright, but it's still a ways off in the distance at this point. Here's hoping we get a little taste this season.

Here are my "totally pulled out of my ass" projections.

Projected record: 37-41-4
Projected finish: 4th in the Pacific, 11th in the Western Conference

Projected Stats (G-A-Pts)
Frolov: 32-40-72
Cammalleri: 33-34-67
O'Sullivan: 26-30-56
Kopitar: 16-27-43
Brown: 24-31-55
Avery: 23-29-52 (223 PIM - Four games lost to suspension)
Visnovsky: 19-41-60
Blake: 17-35-52

Cloutier: 26 wins, GAA - 2.93

Something to think about

The Angels are the only team that has ever employed the good Weaver.

Of all the teams that have ever employed the bad Weaver, the Angels are the only one not currently in the playoffs. I don't know what this means, but it pisses me off.

UCLA and Stanford

First things first, the Bruins won, and won convincingly. The defense continued to play well, and they look like they've taken a complete 180 under Coach Walker. That's the good news.

The bad news is that there are still a ton of questions:

• They really haven't played a great offense yet. And the one mediocre offense that they've played kind of tore them up in the second half, or at least, got the big plays when they needed to. That said, to the naked eye, the defense does look lightyears better than they have in the past.
• The offense has not been very pretty to watch. Inconsistent. Poor execution. Very unreliable. I do not think this team can mount a drive to win a game late in the fourth quarter, let alone three, like last year's team routinely could.
• The play calling has been pretty atrocious. I'm not sure if the personnel look bad because of the play calling, or if the play calling is conservative because they don't trust the personnel. Either way, it's bad. Although the play action they ran on 4th and goal did fool the camera man. Too bad it didn't fool Stanford.

Ultimately, from what I've seen so far, I can't see this team doing better than 6-6. If they can't beat Washington, they're probably going down to Cal, ASU, Oregon, Notre Dame, and U$C. Arizona and Washington State aren't going to be picnics either, so 6-6 may be a little optimistic. I can't see Dorrell surviving that, but stranger things have happened.

89-73

For the first time in franchise history, the Angels finished on the good side of .500 for three consecutive years. Unfortunately, for the first time in three years, the Angels won't be playing in the post-season. In a fitting end to a lost season, the Angels lost in extra innings due to an unearned run. They led the American League in unearned runs this season, and ultimately, that was their undoing. Their offense, while not good, was roughly as good as it was expected to be. Their pitching was better than average. But they were let down continuously by their defense, and that will stand as the reason the A's are preparing to meet the Twins, while the Angels are clearing out their lockers.

Tim Salmon finished his career in the on deck circle, the Angels unable to get one man on base in the bottom of the 10th to bring the Kingfish to the plate. C'est la vie. This game was kind of a microcosm of the season. Down early, then on top, then hanging around for a while, then kind of blowing it, then a furious rush to get back in it, before coming up short at the end due to their aforementioned defensive woes. Weird.

So where do they go from here? More on that later this week, but off the top of my head, I see a bit of a logjam at catcher, holes at third base and center field, with possible answers inside the organization depending on the winter. The pitching appears to be a strength, and the bullpen looks sound. They can contend again without a lot of movement, but I'd suggest not getting attached to anyone, because I've gotta think that a catcher, a pitcher, and one or more (probably more) of Kotchman, McPherson, Morales, Aybar, Izturis, Murphy, Willits, and Quinlan won't be here next year. This is going to be a tough off-season to handicap.

Catching up

Man, I've really been lazy lately. Lots of stuff going on, and not much of a desire to write about any of it. Anyway, this seems like a good time to start catching up:

• The Angels have finally, for the first time in three years, been mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt. Expect a longer post-mortem here sometime shortly after the end of the season. I'd imagine that like last year, I'll do my position by position breakdown, outlook, and what I jokingly like to refer to as analysis. Short preview: It's the defense that did them in. No matter how much they needed a big bat, or another bullpen arm, ultimately they were sunk by allowing over 140 errors and 80 unearned runs. It's tough to win on pitching and defense when you can't play defense. It didn't help that this team seemed to lack the magic. Time for a new monkey.

• The Bruins looked downright pathetic against Washington on Saturday. They came out blazing in the first quarter, and they were so domininant that it looked like their inability to put the ball in the endzone wasn't going to be a problem. But Washington made adjustments, the Bruin braintrust didn't, and the result was predictable. The talent is there, but they need a better gameplan. Still, fundamentally they appear to be better defensively than they have been in years. But honestly, if they can't beat Washington, they aren't going to beat U$C, ASU, Oregon, Cal, or Notre Dame. That means they have to beat Arizona, OSU, Stanford, and WSU to get to six wins. I don't like those odds. It's going to be a long season, and I'd put the odds on Dorrell getting canned at better than 50/50. I'm not a knee jerk Dorrell hater, but that effort by the coaching staff on Saturday was unacceptable.

• In my last round of the year (and possibly ever?), I fired a 79 at Dubs on Saturday. This one was planned in May, and I wasn't going to stick the guy who has the permanent tee time with my $135 green fee. Kind of a weird 79, with a bad hole followed by two good holes, and so on, until bogeying the last two holes. Played the whole round with one ball, though. A real accomplishment.

Here's a cool Teenage Fanclub video.

• Hockey season gets underway soon, and I'm actually really looking forward to seeing the Kings play this year, especially O'Sullivan and Kopitar. I think their defense stacks up to be really solid, and if they can get some improvement from the likes of Cammy, Brown, and Frolov, they could surprise some people. Lord, just please get into the playoffs this season. That's all I ask. And beat the fucking Ducks.

• I'm gonna be home at the beginning of November for a couple of days attending a wedding in Palm Springs, but I'll probably take a day on either side of the weekend. Might be a good time for a small halosphere get-together since it will be the only time I'm ever home when Welch isn't in France.

Anyway, that's all for now. But keep watching this space!

Still breathing

With the Angels win over Kansas City, they've moved to six games out. Oakland currently trails Cleveland 2-1 in the fifth leads Cleveland 5-2 in the sixth. The Angels could conceivably be will be 5.5 6.5 games out after tonight, and possibly be as close as four five games out going into their first series with Oakland (seven games remain between the two). It's still a mathematical possibility.

Joe Saunders was excellent tonight, and the Angels provided more than the scraps of offense they've dished out lately, helping Saunders improve to 6-3. But he's pitched more this year than he ever has, and it shows. He needs extra rest, or he gets shelled. What do I mean? Look at his ten starts since being recalled in August:

Date	Innnings	Pitches	Earned Runs
8/1	7.0	104	2
8/6	7.0	104	0
8/11	6	100	2
8/16	2.2	70	7
8/22*	5.2	98	0
8/27	2.1	75	8
9/2*	7.1	97	1
9/8*	7.2	97	1
9/13	3.1	73	7
9/19*	7	115	1

*Extra day of rest between starts.

So that breaks down as follows:
1) In his four starts with extra rest, he's had three quality starts and was an out short of a fourth, with an ERA of 0.98.
2) In his six starts on normal rest, he's had three quality starts, with an ERA of 8.26.
3) In his last three starts on normal rest, as he pushes into his largest ever workload, he's had no quality starts, and allowed 22 runs in 8.1 innings for an ERA of 23.76.

In other words, thank God there's an off day before he makes his next start. But at this rate, he's scheduled to pitch on the next to last day of the season, with no extra day of rest. Should it matter, that's a scary thought for Angels fans and a comforting thought for A's fans. Still, I'm not sure what other options they'd have. He faces Texas next, and Volquez gets that start for the Rangers. He's been solid lately, though he got kind of hammered tonight. The Angels only hope would be to blow Volquez out early, and get Saunders a big lead after five innings so the Angels can sit him down after about 75 pitches. Problem is the Angels offense has shown a proclivity for scoring a lot of runs lately, and on normal rest, Saunders has provided PLENTY of opportunities in his first 75 pitches for opponents to basically rip the crap out of him. And quite frankly, if Saunders IS going good through five, I don't trust Scioscia and Black to do the analysis above and yank him after 75 pitches anyway.

Oh well, probably won't matter, and if does, it looks pretty bad for the Angels in that penultimate game. But damn, I'd sure like to find out.

Inconsistency

If it wasn't already in the dictionary, John Lackey would be defining it. I'm done with him. Deal him in a package for a big bat, and sign an arm via free agency.

Combined with the complete lack of pride shown by the Cock Sox this weekend, the season is coming to an end.

4.5

Angels: Winners

Bobby Jenks: Loser

Oakland's Noose: Tightening. Early stages of A'sphyxiation.

Shhh....I think I hear something....

Do ya hear it....?

Can't quite make it out.........

Getting a little louder.........

Uh-oh..........

I hear footsteps....And I think they hear them in Oakland too.


Psst, Adam. Whenever they tell you bunt, foul one off, then swing away. Trust me.