Three Times in Four Years

The Angels won three division titles in the first 30 years of my life. They've now won three in the last four. I know when it comes to blogging the Angels, I've kind of been a bit negligent this season, and I have no real explanation for that, other than apathy. But rest assured, I've followed this team as closely as all the others, and though the clinch was a bit anti-climactic (yet what we'd all hope for - a week without pressure before the playoffs), it feels good to be an Angels fan tonight, much as it has for the last five years.

We're all extraordinarily fortunate to be Angels fans at this point in the team's history. We're witnessing the era of an owner who, if not perfect, is certainly as close as a baseball owner can be to perfect. We have a GM and Manager, both with their flaws, but both incredibly well suited to running this club at this time. I grew up when Tommy Lasorda was managing the Dodgers, and it seemed like he was there forever. Before him, it was Walter Alston. All the while, the Angels were cycling through managers like there was no tomorrow. Gene Autry, God bless him, ran the team like there was no tomorrow as well, constantly mortgaging the future for the present. And while they almost succeeded, the success was always fleeting, ultimately leading to the dark ages between 1987 and 2001.

But fate has finally smiled on us, and today we get to root for an organization not only dedicated to winning today, but tomorrow as well. We have an owner dedicated to providing not only a quality team, but a quality entertainment experience. We have players we don't have to be ashamed of rooting for. At least 15 spots on the post-season roster will go to players who have never worn a different major league uniform. And the best part? No matter what happens over the next month, the team should be just as good next year.

So enjoy this one today. Relax for a week. Maybe pop open a bottle of this stuff like I just did, and gear up for October. Congratulations, Angels.

New Big Thing

This guy is freaking incredible. I am in love with the music of Simple Kid. Vids below. New Song of the Day post over here. Get in on the ground floor.

Embarrassing

Karl Dorrell should be fired before the team gets on the plane home. This football program is an embarrassment. I've been easier on him than a lot of people, but this is pretty much the last straw.

If this is the best they can do with 20 returning starters, he has to go. And he should go now.

Coming Attractions

September 17th - BRMC @ the Metro


September 25th - Metric @ the Metro


September 27th - Gruff Rhys @ Schuba's


October 3rd - Earlimart @ Schuba's


More to come. six or seven more in fact.

So....

...Is Stanford that bad or UCLA that good? I'm guessing a little bit of both. The offense looked very good. Indeed, Ben Olson threw for five touchdowns, and if his 289 yards sounds less than impressive, it probably because as a team, the Bruins ran for 338 yards, 195 of which were accumulated by Khalil Bell. They were extremely efficient, averaging about eight yards per play. Olson found nine different receivers, none of whom were Osaar Rashaan.

On the other side of the ball, for the first few drives that I saw, I was left unimpressed. Of course, I happened to miss a good first quarter, and tuned in during the lackluster second quarter - or rather, Comcast pre-empted the beginning of the game to bring us Cubs post-game. The line wasn't getting a ton of pressure, and Trey Brown made some nice break-ups that were borderline interference, which isn't to say he was lucky they weren't called. Rather, the point is that college officials, especially Pac Ten officials, suck, and they'll often call interference on those plays.

But in the second half, the defense really picked up. Stanford never got anything going on the ground, finishing with only 52 yards for the game. T.J. Ostrander had Bruins in his face for much of the game, and his 330 yards passing were more a function of one big play, and a UCLA offense that put enough points on the board to force Stanford into a game of catch-up.

Ultimately, it's an excellent start. It's hard to judge just how good a team is before they play a few games, at which point we can evaluate their opponents as well. And with Michigan's huge blunder, and Notre Dame's embarrassment, the Bruins aren't likely to make a splash in the media. But they'll move up in the polls, and they've done nothing to show that they are somewhere other than where they belong. The defense faces a sterner test next week against BYU at the Rose Bowl.

Petty Theft

The Angels should not have won tonight. They should not have been able to spot Seattle five runs in the first inning and still win going away. But somehow you just had the feeling that if Moseley could come in and get hold Seattle down, they might just get a few runs off of Jeff Weaver. And if they could keep it close in the late innings, well, you never know.

And I don't want this to read like an I told you so. If the Angels had traded for Mark Teixeira, I certainly would have welcomed him with open arms. But when you look at how the Angels won this game, you have to ask yourself if maybe Bill Stoneman knows what he's doing. Over the last few years, the Angels have had a very good farm system, and there have been calls at one point or another to trade any and all of their prospects, some of whom have seen the bloom come off the rose.

Two of the players that whose names have been bandied about are Jeff Mathis and Kendry Morales. Forced into action because of injuries, they combined for five hits, three for extra bases, and four runs tonight. Dustin Mosely, who likely would not have pitched tonight if Joe Saunders had been dealt, threw 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing the Angels to creep back into the game before breaking it open in the 8th. Sometimes, a team goes a whole season without losing a starter *cough*Mariners*cough* and organizational depth is worthless. But that's rare, and the teams that win have guys that can step in and produce when a starter goes down. The Angels would not be where they are right now without the contributions of Willits, Aybar, Morales, Saunders, Moseley, Mathis, and Bootcheck, none of whom were expected to provide much support.

The Angels have now won the two games they needed to win. The Mariners have the pitching matchup in their favor tomorrow, but little Weav may have what it takes to leave Seattle with a sweep.

By the way, the big bat that people wanted so badly? I'm not saying it wouldn't have helped, but let's not forget, the Angels are still fourth in the AL in runs scored. Last time I checked, that's pretty good.

A Response

To this post at Rob's site, which is really kind of pathetic. But since the chances are pretty good that he'll delete the response I left in his comments, so here it is:

Wow, I'm flattered to know I've warranted a special post. I'll break character and actually post this response on my blog, since you'll probably delete it. Not exactly why you can't let what I wrote speak for itself, but so be it.

It's funny that I'm accused of personal attacks when it was you that called me an asshole for simply agreeing with another poster that the constant negativity coming from you was getting tired. And this is coming from someone who has been pretty negative in the past. Just ask Matt. But even I couldn't keep up with you on that front.

And accusing me of reading things into your posts, well, it's pretty pathetic. Sorry, but when you say "I won't say [Weaver] failed to do his job" common sentence construction suggests that the writer is implying that there's a case to be made for exactly that.

I'm not allowed, apparently, to suggest the Angels are anything less than a playoff team.

I'd be careful around matches, because you're likely to set fire to all of these strawmen that you've taken such care in building. Has anyone made such a suggestion? Hell, I'm not sure if the Angels are a playoff team. Hell, I've got tickets for five or six concerts in October, and it would make my life a lot easier if the Angels were left out. But I'm not sure how whining about it and worrying about it post, after post, after post adds anything constructive to the discourse. Most Angels fans can read the standings. Most people on Halos Heaven watch every game, and they can tell when the Angels are playing well and when they aren't. And it's not particularly fun to beaten over the head with posts about their poor performances, let alone be reminded of those poor performances EVER AFTER GOOD PERFORMANCES! Christ, I get the impression that when you buy a bottle of water, you immediately dump most of it out just so you can claim it's half empty.

I don't know what it is about this season, but it's certainly been worse than the last few. It's just been near constant negativity about every aspect of the team, all the way down the minors. And I still like some of the things you do here. Certainly the minor league updates (aside from the commentary) is more informative than BA's prospect report when it comes to Angels prospects. But your unique ability to not only see the negative in virtually everything, but find it inspiring enough to write about is particularly grating. And believe me, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

But it's your site. You can wallow in your own misery to your heart's (dis)content. Lord knows I tried to point out how it was bringing everyone down earlier in the season. When Matt did the same for me, I laughed it off and had fun with it. But you seem get more and more defensive. Just don't let all of that misery eat you up inside, because being right isn't worth being miserable, and being wrong makes winning a lot less fun.

Small Town Gets Media Coverage

According to this AP story, the oil boom in an Eastern Montana town has been such a boon to employment that the owner of a local McDonalds in the 5,000 person town of Sidney, Montana has outsourced the drive through window to a Texas telemarketing firm.

Why do I care? My dad grew up in Sidney. It's about five miles from North Dakota and about ninety miles from Canada. My uncle owned an insurance agency that has since been passed to my aunt and cousins. Prior to that, my grandfather owned a clothing shop in town. My aunt and uncle had five kids, and they've added another seven grandchildren, so the Seitz name is fairly prominent in Sidney. It's kind of cool to see the town in the news. I was just back there last summer.

Angels 1; Jays 4

This, in my opinion, was a game the Angels could afford to lose. They were throwing their #6 starter against a former Cy Young award winner, and one of the five best starters in the AL. Throw in the house of horrors that Skydome has been, and the odds were not in their favor.

Halladay overcame a first inning run to basically dominate the Angels over the final eight innings, throwing an extremely efficient 99 pitches, 71 of which were strikes.

On the other side of the diamond, the Jays picked up four runs of their own in the first, three of which were earned, and only two of which, maybe even only one of which ever should have crossed the plate. While Saunders got knocked around by the first couple of hitters, the defense really did him in. Erick Aybar booted a double play ball which saddled Saunders (who had already given up a run) with a bases loaded - none out situation as opposed to a runner on third with two out. A sac fly made it 2-1 Jays. A double made the score 3-1 and put runners on first and third when Greg Zaun hit a grounder to Figgins. Figgins came home to nail Vernon Wells, but Jeff Mathis dropped the ball, loading the bases once again. After a second sac fly made the score 4-1, Joe Saunders settled in and didn't allow a run over the next six innings.

Saunders gave the Angels exactly what they need out of the fourth spot in the rotation, and tonight the bats and the gloves let him down. Erick Aybar in particular struggled tonight, and I can only assume Scioscia wanted to give Cabrera two consecutive days off to let him recharge going into this stretch of 17 games in 16 days. Plus, he's a switch hitter against a tough right hander. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have OC in there, but I can't fault Scioscia.

So they put this one behind them, and hope to come out and do a little better tomorrow. An Eastern trip at this point of the season has notoriously been a killer for the Angels, but they can regain some momentum with a win tomorrow night

From the Department of Underrated

Sometimes a band's back catalog is so good that the later stuff gets overlooked, especially after their flame has flickered. But this is probably one of the best Mary Chain songs that hardly anyone has ever heard.



Still, I always kind of preferred Jim Reid songs to William Reid songs. To wit:

What the....?

This was not what I expected hear playing on the store P.A. when I walked into Kohl's today to buy some socks:


It's not even from the forthcoming record. It's a from an 11 year old album that about 13 or 14 people in this country have ever heard. Still, it was pretty freaking awesome, and it really put me in the mood to buy socks. Well done, Kohl's.

Is this thing still on?

Motivation is lacking. I can't quite explain why. It's just really, really easy to stop blogging.

Anyway, in the midst of what seemed like a really rough stretch, the Angels have made it to the first week in August with a four game lead, picking up another half game by defeating the vaunted Red Sox, a team whom others expected to sweep the Angels, primarily because the Angels, the fifth best run scoring team in the American League, have no offense.

Quite honestly, these are good examples of why my motivation to provide what can loosely be described as original content has waned considerably. Long time readers will acknowledge that I can be a tad bit negative when the Angels aren't playing well. But I look like a goddamn Pollyana compared to some of the more popular members of the halosphere, and it's bringing me down.

So while I've still been watching every game, at least when not playing golf, my desire to jot down my thoughts has more or less disappeared for now. Partly because there are other people who have that covered, and I'm not really sure how much more I add to the discussion.

Anyway, if this passess, it will be back to normal around here. For now, blogging will remain intermittent.

Enjoy:




And a little flashback:

Angels Make Big Deadline Deals

The Angels surprised everyone today by trading Gary Matthews Jr., Maicer Izturis, and Orlando Cabrera for guys who can hit home runs. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to get the uniforms stitched, because the new guys were still wearing the old uniforms, but they were clearly different players, as they helped the Angels hit as many homers in this game as they had hit in practically the entire month of July leading up to it.

Man, it's been a while

Big three game sweep over the Tigers this weekend. Tack those onto the win over Oakland last week and the Angels find themselves on a short four game winning streak. It may not be much, but it's the first sign of things turning around that the Angels have had in a while. They even hit two whole home runs in one game the other day!

The bats really came alive, and whether that's more the fault of the Tigers' pitching staff, it really doesn't matter. Sometimes you need some layups to build confidence, and that's what the Angels got over the weekend. Now it's on to Seattle where they can either create some breathing room, or let the Mariners climb right back into the race. It's a cliche, but it's definitely gut check time.

Another one gone

Nothing you can do now but hope they pull out of it. If the Angels fall behind Seattle and end up failing to make the playoffs, they'll have no one but themselves to blame. Dumb baserunning, poor fielding, and a gawd-awful back of the rotation.

They're not out of it, but they certainly aren't playing like they want to finish in first place. They're on the verge of being swept by Tampa Bay, and I'm not gonna look this up, but there can't be many teams who have been swept by both the Royals and Devil Rays. That alone ought to disqualify a team from the playoffs.

Oh well. Rob won't have Santana to kick around anymore.

Decision Time

I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I think it's time to either move Ervin to the pen, or to send him back to Salt Lake. I think he's still got the stuff, and I think the Angels won't make the playoffs without some contribution from him down the stretch. Whether that means he gets thing worked out and rejoins the rotation for the last five weeks or so, or he pitches out of the pen (though I'm not sure in what role), I'm not sure. But I still think he's somewhat integral to their chances to make the post-season.

He doesn't look hurt. He hasn't lost any velocity. He's simply getting hit, and getting hit very hard. The thing is, he's nowhere near a lost cause. He's like an extra strength version of a young Lackey. He'll throw a couple of solid innings, but then he'll hit some adversity, and fall apart. He's falling victim to Lackey innings on a huge scale. But that also means that there's hope. He just needs to figure out how to avoid the big innings. I just don't think the Angels can afford to let him figure it out in the starting rotation. And unfortunately, there's still an 800 pound Bartolo in the room.

Not that it mattered, but the Angels have turned into a very poor baserunning team recently, and tonight was no different with Jose Molina making the first out of the inning at third base on a failed bid for a triple/three base error after he ripped one to the center field wall that BJ Upton couldn't catch. It was still a game at that point, and it was stupid. It seems to be happening with greater frequency lately.

With each loss, the next game becomes more crucial. We'll see if they bring it tomorrow night.

Catching up

Coming to you tonight from my work laptop on a stolen wireless connection (yay for apartment living) mostly because I'm too lazy to plug my router in. When I got home tonight, my old Gateway desktop, just shy of its sixth birthday, appears to have passed away. It was a fine soldier, surviving one apartment move, and a great deal of neglect where maintenance is concerned. Such is life, I guess.

Anyway, over the last few weeks, the Angels have seen a comfortable 7-8 game lead or so dwindle to three, two in the loss column. Their poor play has coincided with a bit of a hot streak from the Mariners to close the gap. It's also coincided with injuries to Casey Kotchman, Howie Kendrick, and Mike Napoli. It hasn't helped that Chone Figgins and Reggie Willits cooled off at the same time. And while Lackey, Weaver, and Escobar have been as advertised (save for a rough one here or there), Santana and Colon have struggled mightily.

So where's the good news? The Angels are still in first place. Willits and Figgins appear to be rising back to an acceptable level. Also promising has been Garret Anderson, who is hitting 382/417/471 in the month of July, and has gone for two hits in six of his last seven games. Even Kotchman has had hits in four of his last five. Sure, it's only been a hit at a time, but he appears to be emerging from the horrendous slump that followed his concussion. And as a 24 year old, Kotchman is streaky. We've learned that this season. He's had his recent bad streak, and he's due for a hot streak. Couple those with the return of Juan Rivera, hopefully next month, and the return of Justin Speier to the bullpen, and the Angels are primed for a run that takes them into September with a solid lead.

Also key will be late July and August series at Seattle, especially the July series. I can't see a change of more than a game or two in the current standing before then, and if they Angels go in up three and leave up one, it gives Seattle hope, and the Mariners' belief in themselves might be the Angels biggest enemy right now. They have 10 games left with the Mariners, and only four of them are in Anaheim (fortunately all in late September). Those 10 games will decide the division.

So that's where we're at. Napoli and Kendrick will be back soon. Rivera shortly thereafter. They're poised to make a run, and they have a nice mix in their starting lineup of guys who've been there before and guys who should be hungry to get there. Santana and Colon can't possibly be any worse, so that's a plus as well. It's the second half. It's time for scoreboard watching. And it's time for the Angels to get moving.

Flight of the Conchords

Holy Crap. This is by far the funniest show currently on television, at least while the office is on hiatus. Seriously, if you have HBO and you're not watching this show, you are....well...I'm sorry, I can't stand to look at you. You really need to watch this show.

The Perfect Storm

The combination of lots of travel (CA last week, GA today, TX tomorrow), poor play by the Angels (4-8 over their last 12), and a general lack of motivation have combined to turn this place into a ghost town. Sorry about that. Wish I could say it was going to change sometime soon, but that third factor has some powerful inertia.

Remote Blogging

Coming to you from DFW, where my connecting flight was cancelled and I'm waiting on another one.

• Kings sign Stuart, Handzus, Preissing, Calder, and Nagy: Pretty savvy operating by Dean Lombardi in my opinion. Anze Kopitar, Mike Cammalleri, and Jack Johnson are going to be the guys who lead the Kings into the future, and Dean didn't sign interlopers. And on top of that, he left them with terrific cap flexibility going forward so that they can keep those guys. I'm not sold on the need for another goaltender, not because I believe their goaltending is good enough, but because I believe it won't matter next year. And I believe that by the time it does matter, Jonathan Bernier will be ready.
• UCLA gets commitment from Jrue Holliday: Really an amazing pickup, especially considering that Lorenzo Romar can recruit with the best of them, and Holliday's brother is at Washington. But this gives UCLA four players in the top thirty in next year's class, joining Love and Stanback from this year's class. They have the bodies and talent to replace Darren Collison. They are going to be very deep and talented in the backcourt. Look for the 2009 class to feature big men.
• Angels take two of three from Baltimore, but are losing right now: Such is baseball. Ervin was striking guys out like crazy, but get banged up on two homers, and his bullpen and defense blew up in his absences, tossing the Rangers a couple more runs. But it won't matter tonight, because they can't solve Kevin Millwood, a guy with an ERA over 7.00. Carrasco is gone, which is a plus, but Napoli is a victim of Sunday's game ending play at the plate, and hits the 15 day DL. That's gonna hurt. Two of three from Baltimore was a nice pick-me-up, but they'll need to rebound in the last couple of games against Texas. And Brad Wilkerson just hit three homers. I don't think it was Santana so much as just a guy who was on fire.

In an hour, hopefully I'll be on a plane getting some sleep.