Angels bomb Indies in day game.

If only I could have called out sick and gone to this game! The Angels came out in the final game of a 3 games series with Cleveland, with one comeback win and one emotional loss behind them, and put together a game where they wouldn't even need the surprisingly weak Brian Fuentes with a giant 9-3 win. 

Is Gigantic John Lackey just completely proving that he is the #1 we always knew he could be? John improved to 5-1 this July after 7 innings of fantastic work, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts. He walked four, but put things together nicely for the big win. A J-Honny Peralta sac fly was the only run allowed by our tall and mighty starter. Lack Daddy is now 7-4 on the year, with his recent resurgence, and has dropped his ERA to 4.00. The Angels have won 6 out of Lackey's last 7 starts, and he has only allowed 5 runs in his last 30.67 innings of work. Are you kidding me? He's stoked, stating, "I feel like my strength, stamina, and command are all coming together." I would tend to agree. On the day when the Indians made a trade involving Cliff Lee and the Phillies, the Angels saw their bullpen perform good enough too. Darren Oliver went 1 innning of perfect work with 2 punch outs, Robert "I Go By Bobby Now" Mosebach went just 0.3 innings of 2 run ball (but he's young, give him a chance), and Shane "Lou Dog" Loux mopped things up with 0.67 innings of perfect work on just 8 pitches. Overall, Lackey was the hero earlier today, and that allowed the Angels offense to command things. 

Our mighty Halos put up 9 runs on 10 hits in the game, and got helped out by 2 Indian errors as well. My boys jumped on things in the first inning thanks to Kendry and Howie RBIs, then got another frenzy inning thanks to a 5 run fifth, and capped off the beat down with a Howie Kendrick two run bomb with JR on base. It was good stuff. The VIP club featured Bobby Abreu (2 for 4 with 2 runs and 1 RBI), Kendry "The Streak Is Back" Morales (2 for 4 with 2 RBI), and my main man Howie "The Pinball Wizard" Kendrick (3 for 4 with an amazing 5 RBI). Notable no no's were Least Valuable Junior (0 for 3, BB), Mathis (0 for 3, BB), and Willits (0 for 4, .214). After a thrilling game like that, how can I not put the spotlight on Tommy's favorite Howie Kendrick? HK came through with 5 RBI in the game, and that is no surprise, since he has been straight fabulous since getting called back up. In his last 11 games, Howie is hitting .421 (16 for 38). In the last 7 days, he's up to .450 with a .650 slugging mark. Since the call up back from AAA SLC, Howie is smashing a .351 average with 9 RBI and 5 extra base hits out of his 20 total. Keep your cool, Howie, and keep it up. 

The Angels are a full 20 games over .500! At 60-40, my boys are rolling along in the AL West. Texas is still holding tight at 3 back, but Seattle and Oakland are continuing to fall back (7.5 and 17.5 respectively). We be rollin'...they hating... The Angels now have an impressive +58 run differential, and their record is #2 in the AL (Damn Yankees) and #3 in the MLB (Damn Dodgers). If we keep this up, I'm sure we can best those two New York idiot squads and capture the President's Trophy. After a much deserved day off, my boys are going to be taking on the Twinkies in Minnie over the weekend. After winning 3 out of 4 last weekend against the Hankie Crew, you all have to be pretty confident about our chances this upcoming weekend. Let's spank these AL Central losers. Wait, slam on the breaks, we've got Ervin Santana (3-6, 7.29) going in the series opener against Nick Blackburn (8-5, 3.75). Blackie dropped his last outing against the Angels by giving up 6 runs in just 3.67 innings, sot hat's nice, but Minnie is 2-2 over his last 4. He does have the ability to do well, but he just hasn't shown it lately (17 runs in the last 15.67 innings). Someone who could be good but isn't reminds me of someone...oh yeah, our boy Ervin. Big Daddy has been inconsistent lately. In his last outing, Erv went just 3.67 innings of 6 run ball (Blackburn wannabe?), earning the Angels the only loss in the series. The Halos are 2-4 in El Rosario's last 6 starts, including giving up 5+ runs 5 of those times. He did have a nice start three games ago against Oakland, and that got everyone pumped up, but it turns out it was just the A's and it didn't mean squat. Can Black Magic give us something? I'm still always going to be his fan, but he is going to need to find himself soon so that Angels Nation doesn't turn their back on him. Again. 

Sean O'Sullivan. Are you freaking kidding me!??!?!? We have this guy as our #5 starter for one game after the All-Star break, and he bumped up his numbers to 3-0 with a 3.72 ERA. The Angels went 5-0 in his 5 starts in the bigs, and then they sent him down to AAA after his third win (a 5.3 inning/2 run affair with KC) and put Matt Palmer in his place. I'll admit that I always thought Palm Tree should have held the 5 spot, despite Sully's start, but then I see what he did at AAA and I wonder. SOS was nearly perfect. Dedicating his Bees' start to his recently passed grandmother, O'Sullivan pitched the first no hitter in SLC history and was one walk away from perfection. Sully retired the first 18 batters he faced, gave up a walk, and then promptly set down the last 9. It was amazing. I think he's proven himself worthy to get called back up. Big up yourself Sully, we love you around Angels Nation. 

In case you're wondering, I don't care about trade rumors. I like the team the way it is. You want bullpen help? Arredondo will be getting called back up soon. You want a big bat? Torii Hunter will be coming off the DL any day now. F trades. For real.  

Weekly football post #46.

On the day that Mexico came out and beat the US 5-0 in the Gold Cup, we welcome you LSF fans to a brand new Weekly Football Post that promises to be the start of the WFP's extended editions. Hope you have fun hearing about my favorite football teams, you idiots. 

Starting with what Americans call football, we'll touch on the Ramies. Everyone's favorite NFC West cellar team made a trade splash prior to the start of the preseason, grabbing a much needed wide receiver. St. Louis (soon to be Costa Mesa, if you agree with my self-created rumor, now that the fairgrounds are up for sale) traded defensive end Orien "'s Belt" Harris to the Detroit Lions for veteran wide receiver and Hampton, VA native Ronald Curry. Curry is rumored to want the big #0 with the Rams, and all of Rams Nation is hoping that the UNC graduate will bring some much needed help after losing Tory Holt. In 2008, Curry had 19 grabs for 181 yards and 2 TDs for Detroit, averaging 9.5 yards per catch. His biggest day was a 6 catch/73 yard affair against Miami (which ended up being a loss for the Lions, 15-17), but hopefully having Bulger will help him up his numbers. Curry will fall into that much loved "slot receiver" position for St. Louis, and hopefully he is one of the pieces that will get us back to glory. I'm still really pulling for Boller to earn the starting QB job, so we'll see. 2003 was the last year that the Rams earned more wins than losses, but hopes are high for this guy as the preseason starts August 14 against the NY Jets.

The college football season kicks off on September 9, and I wanted to give you my top 3 most anticipate Notre Dame games in the '09 season. #3) Boston College @ Notre Dame: This is what I consider to be one of the more underrated rivalries in the NCAA. The battle between the two Catholic schools is always a fun one, and Notre Dame will definitely be looking for revenge after the 0-17 drubbing of 2008, the 14-27 loss of 2007, the 23-24 loss of 2004, the 25-27 loss of 2003, and the 7-14 loss of 2002. BC has been living high on the horse lately, but it has to end this year. #2) Michigan @ Notre Dame: I always love this game. This will be the second week of the season this time around, the first big challenge to ND's most likely undefeated record at that point. Last year the Irish pulled off the 35-17 win at home with Jimmy Clausen hitting 2 TD passes and Robert Hughes running for 2 TDs as well. That was revenge enough for the 0-38 loss the year before and the 21-47 loss in 2006. With it coming so early here in '09, this is going to be a huge game for Clausen and the boys. #1) USC @ Notre Dame: Is there any other game to pick? Every year we think, "Is this the year?" We've suffered through 2008 (3-38), 2007 (0-38), 2006 (24-44), the 2005 shocker (31-34), 2004 (10-41), 2003 (14-45), and 2005 (13-44) recently, and we've had enough. Jimmy Clausen has some talent behind him, and if he wants to solidify himself in Leprechaun lore, this is the game for him to do it. Week 6 in 2009 is game time. 

Up in the CFL, my mighty BC Lions dropped their game to Calgary 10-48. BC allowed Stamp's RB Joffrey Reynolds to run wild for 130 yards and 2 TDs, and the Lions allowed 5 sacks and 2 INTs in the game. My boys were winning 7-4 before getting F'd the heck up the rest of the way (including 34 unanswered points). It was the Grey Cup defending champions' fifth straight win against the Orange & Black, including the CFL West final. Notre Dame standout, and my main man, Jarious Jackson scored the lone BC touchdown on a one yard run in the first quarter, and rookie kicker (in for our injured kicking stud and former XFL standout Paul McCallum) Sean Whyte adding the only other marker on a 45 yard 3 pointer in the fourth. It was not a good night for by Vancouver boys, with boy Jarious Jackson and beloved starter Buck Pierce getting boos rained down on them. Most of the 27.191 in attendance actually headed for the exists before the third quarter was over. Most were thinking, "When do the Canucks start playing?" JJ fumbled a snap that led to a Calgary touchdown, and later threw an interception leading to the same. BC finished the game with just 103 yards in the air and 115 yards in the ground, with Arkansas-Pine Bluff graduate Martell Mallet getting the player of the game nod in the loss (77 yards on the ground and 40 yards through the air). The Lions have now dropped to 1-3 on the year. In the good news category, the last time BC started the season 1-3, the went to the Grey Cup in 2004. The may have lost the Grey Cup, but it was a hell of a year. At least Saskatchewan lost to Edmonton! 

Now we're on to what the rest of the world calls football. My Mighty Celts found some glory in the Wembley Cup with an impressive 2-0 against Spurs to capture the inaugural of that championship. It may have been a slapped together Hoops team, missing some solid players, but they looked great and showcased their young talent. The two goals were scored by Chris Killen and Gorgeous Geogrios Samaras, and the Celts earned the Wembley Cup to add to the preseason hardware, after capturing the Translink Cup earlier in the preseason. After crushing the best Egypt had to offer (a 5-0 win against Al Ahly earlier in the week), the Celts got their shot against Totts for the preseason title, and they made things happen fast with a goal after just nine minutes of play. It was nice to see the best Greek player in the SPL get on the board and lead us onward to victory, and it was also really cool to get our newest signing, Danny Fox from Coventry, out on the field as a sub to get his feet wet. The next match for the Bhoys is a UEFA Champions League Qualifier on Wednesday against Dinamo Moscow before we tackle Sunderland on August 1, and it is all leading up to the SPL opener against Aberdeen on August 15. In case you are curious, my Celtic man of the season for 2009, with my main man Shunsuke Nakamura being off to Spain, is Aussie native Scott McDonald. You've got to love Croc Dundee. 

My boys from Newcastle had been putting together some special in their preseason warmup so far, but it all came crashing down quickly. The Magpies won their first three matches, included a huge victory over Darlington 7-2 earlier in the month, and then got laid out by Leyton Orient this weekend. Rocking their scrambled egg jerseys, 'Castle got completely destroyed in an embarrassing 1-6 offering at Brisbane Road. Is the loss to a League 1 team a tale of things to come once the Championship season starts? God, I hope not. After falling down quickly 0-2, Newcastle's Joey Barton tallied a goal that split the lead in half in the 30th minute on a spot kick, but goals at 53 and 55 starting to help the Orient pull away. The Barton goal came on a penalty kick after Oba Martins got pulled down in side the area with a huge chance to strike, but it wasn't nearly enough, as the Bar Codes got straight blown out. Tim Krul may not be the answer that we need in goal, eh mates? Also, having Oba as the lone striker may be something that we should adjust prior to the Championship season. If only we had a coach. In case you are curious, my Newcastle man of the season for 2009, with my main man N'Zogbia being off to Wigan, is Nigerian super striker Shola Ameobi. You've got to love the Amoeba.  

Following their 7/19 loss to New England, my MLS love affair got the weekend off thanks to the All-Star break. Chivas USA are waiting for 8/8 to take on Colorado, as they continue to hope for better results. At 8-6-3 heading into the break (-5 of first place Houston), Chivas are really in need of some solid outings to make things like they were earlier in the season. Somebody is going to need to step up and help Lillingston and Nagamura, and with Atiba Harris heading off in the recent trade, I'm guessing that man will be Cuban native Maykel Galindo. It doesn't hurt that he's my favorite player. 

Somehow, Chivas de Guadalajara started their 2009 Torneo Apertura today with a 3-4 loss to Toluca. What a start to the FMF season, a blasted huge scoring loss! It was a 95th minute goal by Toluca's Israel Lopez that gave Mexico's Red Devils their season opening victory, sending my Goats to defeat. Chivas saw Javier Hernandez Balcazar open the scoring in the 6th minute, only to see Toluca march back with three of their own (19, 36, and 72). In the 77th, however, Toluca star Francisco Gomez got a red card, and Chivas were ready to rock and roll. Still a newcomer, Aaron Gallindo (who is my main man for this season), immediately scored to cut the Toluca lead to one, and was helped out by the classic captain Ramon "Ramoncito" Morales in the 81st to tie the game at 3. When Zinha was ushered off in the 87th, Chivas felt like they had a real chance to squeak out a victory with a two man advantage, but Hector Reynoso saw red in the 90th, and things swung back in favor of the home team in stoppage time. The referees practically put their whistles away and decided to let the two teams finished, with resulted in the Toluca game winning goal 5 minutes into the injury period by Israel Lopez to end the game in defeat for my might Red & White. All 9 of Toluca's shots were on goal, as opposed to just 6 Chivas shots getting through. Our keeper Luis Michel just couldn't hang strong enough to start our season off right, and Chivas are into the summer tournament with a 0-1-0 start. Next up is a battle against UANL, who drew with Puebla in the opening game yesterday. I'm watching Chelsea play Club America right now, and I've never cheered for Chelsea until this moment. Go Blues!

I've finally started following the League of Ireland, with my Sligo Rovers (currently at the bottom of the table) being my love affair. The "Bit O' Red", as they are known, shocked all of Ireland with a win against St. Patrick's today 2-0. It was the Rovers first win in their last seven league games, with thrilling goals from Eoin Doyle and Matthew Blinkhorn that saw them defeat St. Pat's. Big Doyle (who is now officially my favorite Sligo player) fired home the game opening goal just 18 minutes into the game, and striker Blinkhorn doubled the lead at the 60 minute mark. Doyle was handed the start, his first, and immediately made the Sligo faithful around the world proud by racing onto a curling pass and banging it into the net. It is always nice to turn out a win against a Dublin side. The win has actually pulled my Rovers to 5-10-6 on the Irish season, getting them to third from the bottom. In the Ireland league, the bottom team (#10 Bray Wanderers) are immediately relegated, while the #8 (Sligo) and #9 (Drogeda United) teams have a playoff to stay up in the Premier League. Next up for Sligo will be a game against Galway United (7-10-4) next weekend. Another win could be pretty damned huge for the Bit O' Red. 

After a disappointing 15-18-5 season in Serie A, my main Italian side Lazio is now trying to prime themselves for the 09/10 run. Lazio, the main A squad supported by soccer fans in Vatican City, is hoping for a better result. That result depends a great deal on the goal scoring ability of Mauro Zarate. The Buenos Aires native had 13 goals in the previous season for the SS, and fans of the light blue are hoping for much more from #10 this year. Lazio has a new head coach, and gets things underway August 23. 

I'm not quite sure if I need to focus at all on USA's 0-5 loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup finals today. I know that you can say that this isn't the American's top squad, but who cares? Mexico is coming into this game knowing that they needed a win to get their side pumped up for the upcoming August World Cup Qualifier against our boys in Mexico City, and we needed to crush them! Instead, Mexico put up 5 unanswered goals to end an 11 game winless streak on US soil with a convincing victory in New Jersey. For the US, seven players out of the eleven got their first starts, showing that former Chivas USA coach Bob Bradley didn't take this game seriously enough. I don't care that the Gold Cup isn't the most important piece of hardware around, you have to try and pull out all the stops to beat Mexico. The MLS was on break, and Donovan, Klejstan, and Bornstein are sitting at home? What the hell? Mexico opened it up on a questionable penalty kick awarded in the 57th minute. It looked like Torrado actually leaned into the US defender when he fell to the ground and got the call, but either way it opened the flood gates. Just like that, goals came in at 64, 70, 79, and 90, and the US was decisively defeated. I think Bradley needs to be blamed for this one. Troy Perkins in goal? Never trust a Norwegian Premier League player between the posts. Never. As a soccer fan, I can barely show my face in my mainly Mexican neighborhood after this one. Damn. 

I told you it would be expanded. 

Angels play long ball against Twinkies.

Joe Mauer may have been solid, but it was the Angels once against pulling out all the stops against the Twins, beating them up 6-3 this time around, for their seventh straight win. The Angels played long ball to get their runs (including one from each of our catchers), and John Lackey continued his recent dominance in the Friday night victory. 

Let's talk about why John Lackey won this game: 1) He held lefties to a .143 batting average in the match. 2) Lack retired the leadoff batter of every single inning he pitched. 3) He had a 93% success rate throwing one of his first two pitches for strikes. 4) He got the Twins to swing and miss six times thanks to his curveball. He may not have been able to stop Joe Mauer, but he did enough to win the game in style. Gigantic John finished the game with 7.67 innings of 2 run ball, punching out just three, but only allowing six to reach base (4 hits and 2 walks). He gave up two bombs (both Joe Mauer solo shots), and was on lock down outside of that. Kevin Jepsen, who was crowned the new eighth inning man in the "Angels Live" pre game show, pitched 1.3 innings of 1 run ball in relief with 3 Ks to bring the Angels home. Lackey was glad to put together another solid run, bringing his #1 type starts to his last three outings. In the last three games, John has now pitched 23.67 innings of 4 run ball with 15 punch outs. The Halos have now won in five of his last six starts, and his 6-4 record and 4.22 ERA is starting to look more like the $10 million hurler we've come to expect. After the game, Lackey tried to solidify his desire to be "the pitcher" for the squad, "We need a starter to step up and pitch well for this team, more than anything. We need somebody to take the reins and get it moving here." The way he's going lately, I feel like that "somebody" may be him. 

The Angels offense was clearly not scared off by former solid starter Francisco Liriano (now 4-10 with a 5.56 ERA). The Angels tagged 6 runs on 9 hits, thanks to three gigantic jacks. It was a Robb Quinlan's two run job in the second, Jeff Mathis' solo job in fifth, and Mike Napoli's three run massacre in the sixth that did the Twins in. Despite all of that, the VIP club was small last night, with Bobby Abreu (2 for 4 with 1 run), and my main man Howie "The Pinball Wizard" Kendrick continuing his mighty run (3 for 4 with 1 run). Howie is now hitting a respectable .262 on the year, and I think he deserves getting into the spotlight. HK-47 has clearly been improving since getting called back up from his trip down to SLC, and recently he has been stellar. July 16 was the last game where he went hitless (and even then, he scored a run), and he has put together 5 multi-hit games in his last 9. He has hit 3/2/2/2/1/1 over his last 6, and has boosted his batting average to .556 over the last 7 days. Howie is hitting .383 in July, which is miles above his next best month this year (.269 in June), and he has really turned it up since the All-Star break (.458). His best kept secret may be that he is an amazing #5 hitter for the Red Hats (.667/.667/1.111), and with runners in scoring position his average is +.023 compared to when nobody is on. The rest down at AAA may actually have done him well. Noticeable 0'fers in last nights game go out to Figgy (0 for 4, .310), GMJ (0 for 4, .231), and Brandon Wood (0 for 2, .160, but zero Ks!). 

The game 2 win pushes the Angels to 57-38 on the season (just 1 win away from 20 over .500!). Texas is still 3.5 back, with Seattle trailing by 6.5, and Oakland hanging back by a really big 17. Next up for the Angels is the penultimate game of this series against the Twins, and it is an interesting one in terms of starting pitching. After declaring Sean O'Sullivan as the fifth start (and he boosted his record to 3-0 in his last start), the Angels demoted Sully to AAA and are calling on Matt Palmer (7-1, 4.75) to come in and get the job done. Why would they pick SOS to fill in, and then only give him one start? Here is the rundown on the transaction wire: 7/20/09: Angels option C Bobby Wilson back to AAA and call up Sully to start, 7/22/09: They send Sully back to AAA, and call up Terry "Super Stud" Evans to fill in as backup OF with Vlad, Torii, and Juan all hurt, and 7/24/09: They send Evans back to the SLC and call up bullpen help in the form of Robert "Moose" Mosebach, and decide to start Palmer in Sully's place. It's all very interesting, because you would guess that you would want to have somebody get used to their role either starting or in the 'pen, rather than moving them into different roles over and over again. I wonder what they're thinking. Or, more accurately, I wonder what they aren't telling us. Either way, it is nice to have the oft talking about (on this blog) Moose up here for relief, and I'm glad that Palmer gets another chance to shine. He'll be opposing Twins starter and Ada, OK native Nick Blackburn (8-4, 3.44). Black has had a really nice season, but lately he has hit a small rough patch. The Twins are 3-5 in his last 8 starts, and he gave up 7 runs in 5 innings to Oakland in his last outing. Last time out, against the Angels, he went 6.3 innings of 4 run ball, allowing a BAA of .308, and he is 3-4 with a 4.06 ERA in away games overall this year. However, he is amazing during the day here in '09 (4-1, 2.03), and that sunshine up in Anaheim could play a factor. 

Well, today's game starts in 2 minutes, so let's flip on the Big Fox and enjoy. 

Angels in the outfield?

It was the kind of comeback win that made you think back to the movie, "Angels in the Outfield." The ball was finding the perfect holes, and the Angels did just enough to come away with a thrilling 6-5 10 inning win against the Twins for their 31st comeback win of the year (out of 56 total wins). Here is the text message run down between Anthony and I as it all went down: Me- "So, can we get another comeback in this one?" Anthony- "Negative. Looking really bad." Anthony- "R u kidding me!!" Me- "Un-fucking-believable." It was that good.

A lot of people are saying that Jered Weaver had a poor outing, but I'm totally in disagreement. The Caveman went 7 innings of 4 run ball, giving up 3 in the first, and then shutting the Twinkies down until allowing one more run in the sixth. From the 2nd-the 5th, he was completely awesome. Why would you hate on a start like that? He finished with 5 Ks, 2 walks, and 6 hits allowed in the no decision. Weaver kept us in the game after getting roughed up by Kubel and company in the opening frame. Even though I think Weaver did an alright job, it is pretty clear that the bullpen was really where it was at last night. Darren Oliver, Jason Bulger, and Brian Fuentes went 3 innings of 1 run ball (Bulger in the ninth), allowing just one hit (of course, Bulger in the ninth). Despite JB allowing the Twins to grab the two run lead in the top of the ninth, the Angels offense went nuts with a little luck, allowing them to get back in it, and allowing Brian "My BFF" Fuentes to earn the win just prior to the thrilling walk off. Despite the Angels winning the last 4 starts from Big Baby, he has been less than awesome, giving up 4/5/4/4 in order. 

The comeback really started for the Angels in the fifth, as Kendry hit a sac fly with the bases loaded and Aybar singled in a two out run to temporarily pull us within one. After the Twins got back the two run lead back, the Angels answered with a Figgins single to score Mathis with two outs. The Angels then promptly decided to try and make it one of those games where you need a comeback, keep loading the bases, and keep coming up empty. The finished with 15 left on base, which totally would have been the blaring reason they would have lost this game. However, with a two run deficit in the ninth, a little bit of magic was in the cards. You wouldn't think we had a chance with Nathan coming in, but he unusually gave us a chance. The inning rundown: Abreu walks after falling in the count 0-2. Kendry comes up and pops out to center, followed by Napoli getting hit in the lower back by a Nathan change up. With two on and one out, our hottest hitter (Aybar) came to the plate and flied out. That left Gary Matthews Jr. to be the hero. Surprisingly, he kept it going. GMJ singled to center, which allowed Abreu to score and Nap to get to third (both runners were going because it was a full count). With runners on the corners and two outs, down by one, my man HK-47 picked up his stick with a chance to be a hero. He took a Nathan fastie and drilled it up the middle. Nathan got a glove on it, but it went past him and straight to second base. Napoli was sprinting home, but GMJ was heading right into the tag at second. Amazingly, the ball bounced off the base and went up into the air, allowing GMJ to slide in safe, the Napoli run to count, the Angels to tie the game, and Howie to become a hero. Willits grounded out with a chance to win the game, but we got two off of Nathan, and earned a trip to extras. Is HK ready for his new nickname? Howie "The Pinball Wizard" Kendrick? Love it. In the tenth, the Twins brought in Crain, and everyone kind of knew that the Angels were going to take it. Figgy started things with a seeing eye grounder to left for a single. Brandon Wood laid down a bunt to move Figgy over (which I would have been complaining about, if it didn't work!). The Twinkies intentionally walked Abreu. Morales came up with a chance to extend his winning streak to 21 with a walk off hit, which would have been story book, but got punched out to end the streak. Then, with two outs, two on, and a chance to win the game, Mike Napoli somehow lifted a pitch into the right center gap, and the Angels won the game. Incredible. The Halos ran onto the field and crushed Napoli, with Quinlan taking his usual walk off position just outside the dog pile (Karen and I always love Robb for this). The fans went nuts, both at the stadium and at home, and the Angels earned one of the most exciting moments of the season (and I, of course, say that because it just happened). What a way to win, keeping in mind that 15 were left on base! The VIP club was attended by Chone "If you get enough ABs, you get enough hits" Figgins (3 for 6 with 2 runs and 1 RBI), Mighty Maicer (2 for 5), Erick "EA Sports" Aybar (2 for 4 with a walk/RBI), Least Valuable Junior (2 for 5 with a huge RBI), and even pinch hitting/late inning replacement Howie "Pinball Wizard" Kendrick (2 for 2 with a really huge RBI). What a freaking fun game. 

The final text message in our exchange was me, "This team really reminds me of 2002." I know I've been saying that a lot lately, but it's true. We seem unstoppable, and I haven't felt that way since '02. At 56-38, the Angels are now 3.5 games up on Texas, 5.5 up on Seattle, and 16 up on Oakland. Is this where we completely start to pull away? It could get even better tomorrow as Gigantic John Lackey (5-4, 4.39) goes toe to toe with Francisco Liriano (4-9, 5.33). Liriano has been having an especially odd season, with odd meaning bad. The Twins have dropped his last two starts after they won 3 straight. He's been mad streaky. Last two times out, he got tagged for 9 runs in 11.3 innings, and he has been a victim of not having great run support. On the road this year, he's holding a 5.55 ERA, and hopefully the Angels can take advantage. Meanwhile, everyone is saying that Lackey has finally found his grove. Last time out, he tossed a complete game shutout three hitter in a game the Angels won 1-0 on a sweet Abreu homer against the A's. Prior to that, he went 7 innings of 2 run ball in a win against the Yanks. The Halos have won 4 out of Lack's last 5 starts, and hopefully he can keep his quest to regain the #1 slot going tonight against our 2002 AL Championship foes. Never forget! In the month of July, our buddy Jon is 3-1 with a 3.14 ERA, so the Twins are definitely shaking in their boots about hitting him at the wrong time. Let's do it. 

Just the headline of this Sports Pickle story made me laugh out loud. 

Royals as advertised, Angels win two.

It's a nice day for baseball, let's win two. The Angels got the chance to play two games against the Kansas City Royals today, thanks to getting rained out last night, and they made the most of the opportunity, taking both games of the big double header. We'll start with the nice little comeback win in game 1, as the Halos trekked back from a 4-5 deficit to finish triumphant 8-5. 

Ervin Santana stepped on the mound, and had everyone around Angels Nation wondering what kind of game he would produce. In the end, it does look too pretty, but it was good enough to get the job done. El Rosario finished his day against the Royals with 6 innings of 5 run ball, allowing 9 to reach base (8 hits and 1 walk) and nailing down 7 Ks. It may not have been the prettiest line, but he certainly out-pitched Fat Sidney Ponson (5 innings of 6 run ball) and that was good enough to keep the Angels in the game. The bullpen was really where it was at as far as pitching was concerned for the Halos, though. The combination of Darren Oliver (doing it in front of his home crowd), Kevin Jepsen, and Brian Fuentes (earning his major league leading 29th save of the year) went 3 innings of 1 hit shutout ball against Kansas City, which really allowed the offense to fight its way back into things. For Erv, he climbs to 3-5 with a 6.79 ERA, as he continues to try his best to regain his pitching prowess. 

With 8 runs on 12 hits in the first of two today, the Angels bats were hot and rolling. It all really comes back to the guy I've been pumping up for some time around here, Erick Aybar. EA Sports went 3 for 4 in the game with 1 RBI, 3 runs, and a walk. His timely hitting continued to help the Angels get into profitable opportunities , with a couple of unlikely heroes banging him home. With only one long ball in the game, the Angels were relying on that frenzy kind of hitting, with singles, doubles, and sac flies getting the job done. Aybar was joined in the VIP club by Kendry "56" Morales (2 for 5 with 1 run), Mike Napoli (2 for 4 with 2 runs and 1 RBI), and Gary Matthews Jr. (2 for 4 with 2 RBI and a run). Honorable mention also has to be handed out to Ma$e, who went 1 for 4 with a walk and a run. Figgy went a noticeable 0 for 5 as the leadoff hitter, but his teammates picked him up. This game's spotlight has to be placed on Kendry Morales (as we'll leave Aybar for game #2), as he increased his hitting streak to 19 games, which is just about the time when ESPN starts paying attention. Out of his last ten games, he's had 4 multi-hit games (2 each time), and in his last 7 days he's hitting .500/.615/1.100 with 2 jacks and 3 RBI. Kendry has been filling in so well at first base this season, that most haven't even thought about what's his name from last season, right? How long can the Fomento, Cuba native keep this streak alive? I say he breaks the record and gets 57. Why not? 

The win in game 1 of the double header put the Halos at 53-38, pushing the Red Hats temporarily 3 games up on the Rangers. The Rangers would eventually win their game against the Red Sox in impressive fashion, and by the time the second game of the double header got under way, the lead was back to 2.5. Seattle, meanwhile, sits 5 back, with Oakland trailing by 14. In game 2, Sean O'Sullivan would be seeking to get the Angels to 5-0 in games where he ha started. Would Bruce Chen be the stopper that the Royals have been praying for? 

No. Game two would be even harder for Royals fans, as the started walking out in the top of the seventh when the Angels busted out to their 10-2 win. Sean O'Sullivan came out with his perfect rookie record on the line, and was able to wiggle out of jams like nobody's business. Sully finished his fifth MLB start with 5.3 innings of 2 run ball, punching out just 2. The interesting thing about SOS is that with nobody on his BAA is .328, and with runners on his BAA is .219. With runners in scoring position with two outs, Sully hold the BAA of .000. Isn't that a little bizarre? I guess that kind of points to the idea that Sully would be better as a reliever, coming in with difficult situations. I mean, when you keep having to pitch your way out of jams and you raise you pitch count up, you can't go very deep into games. Keeping in mind that pitch counts mean nothing, right? Interestingly enough, Scioscia took O'Sullivan out of the game in the sixth, when he got himself into another little jam, and brought in Justin "The Win Killer" Speier. I know you aren't going to believe this, but with two on and one out, Speier came into the game and punched out two straight Royals to get through the sixth unscathed. That was not a joke, it actually happened. With that, JS lowered his relief ERA to 5.29... impressive. Hey, at least he put up when it mattered in this game. Finally getting off the bench to help after The Win Killer was Shane "Loux Dog In The Van" Loux (and yes, I'm still keeping that nickname, despite being well aware that his name is pronounced "Loooooks"). Loux pitched a perfect seventh, a shutout eighth, and graciously allowed the Palm Tree to finishing things off with a jolly ol' ninth. 

The offense was so freaking on in this one, folks. Coming up with ten runs isn't easy, even when you're going against Kansas City. Robb Quinlan opened the scoring with a big solo bomb in the seventh, followed by an Abreu RBI double. But it was the seventh inning, where the Angels put a seven spot on the board, that really sealed the fate of the Royals in the second game of the day. Erick Aybar continued to play out of his mind, going 4 for 5 in this game with 3 RBI. His 3 RBI came on a bases loaded triple that really opened things up for the Red Hats. Bobby Abreu liked what Aybar was doing so much, that he decided to have a similar kind of evening. El Comedulce went 3 for 4 with a walk and 3 RBI in the game. His 3 RBI came on 3 doubles with a runner on. They were well placed, beautiful, shots too. These two studs were joined in the VIP club by Howie Kendrick (2 for 4 with 2 RBI), Robb Quinlan (2 for 4 with 2 runs), and Reggie Wililts (2 for 4 with 2 runs). These guys were just simply slugging the snot out of Bruce Chen and company. The best part was how the Angels lit up Royal reliever Robinson Tejada one inning after Physioc and Huddler gave him all kinds of head for striking out the side. Wait for the outing to be over before anointing an opposing player on the Angels trade radar, you idiots. Would anyone object to putting the spotlight on Erick Aybar once again? Didn't think so. Air-Sick Aybar is just completely playing over his head lately. He's nuts. I almost don't believe it when I see it. EA is hitting .315 on the season, at this point, easily leading the team (as long as you don't count Sean O'Sullivan's .333 average), and he has been really dominating everyone recently. He has gone hitless in just 1 of the last ten games (the 1-0 win against the A's), including 8 multi-hit games (4 with 3+ hits). Aybar is hitting .432/.444/.591 here in July, and is starting to put together the type of finish that could make this a career year for the young middle infielder. Is he finally going to put that missed bunt opportunity from the 2008 playoffs behind him? I'll never forget it, but he's doing his damnedest to make me overlook it. 

I'll quickly point out two things to keep in mind after this game: 1) Kendry didn't play, so his hitting streak remains at 19 and 2) Brandon Wood went 0 for 5 to drop his average to .174 on the season. Wood is so interesting to me, because I want him to do well, but because everyone is so in love with him, I just have a really hard time liking him. Is there anyone out there who understands where I'm coming from? 

Winning both games of a double header is so much fun. The Angels are now cruising along at 54-38, a full 3 games up on the Texas Rangers. The M's are now 5.5 back, with Oakland trailing by 14.5 (still finishing their game with the Twinkies). The run differential for my boys is now an impressive +49, as they try and get closer and closer to the Dodgers +101. I would like to point out that I think it's dumb that the Dodgers are the darlings of the MLB with their 59-34 record, while the Angels barely get mentioned at 54-38. It's now just a 4.5 game difference. Hopefully once the Angels eclipse the record of the Dodgers within the next couple of weeks, we can start avoiding the inevitable "Manny" prop pick on Streak for the Ca$h. What do you think? Well, a sweep against the lowly Royals would help move us in that direction. Tomorrow afternoon, it's Joe "Struggles" Saunders (8-6, 4.72) getting his southpaw on against Brian "BB Gun" Bannister (6-7, 3.66). Bannister, a USC grad, has seen the Royals win just once in his last 6 starts, and only twice in his last 10. With an offense like KC's, it doesn't even really matter if he pitches a great game. Two starts ago, he went 7.67 innings of 1 run ball against the Red Sox, only to lose 0-1. Poor guy. In the month of July, for example, he's holding down a very respectable 2.41 ERA to go along with his 1-1 record. The Angels may be hitting this guy at the wrong time. If the wrong Joe Saunders shows up, then it won't matter, but if the right Joe shows up, there is nothing the Royals could do. BJS ("Big Joe Saundo" as Huddler calls him) has been interesting over his last 10 outings. Last game, he went 6 innings of 5 run ball against the A's, in the only game we lost to those suckers. In the two games before that, the Angels won despite Saunders going a combined 10.3 innings of 11 run ball. He's been off. You can see it in his BB/K numbers. In the last three games it has been: 6/2, 2/3, and 3/2. Not too solid on the command. Will he be able to look back, learn a lesson, and come into the finale against the Royals will a fresh attitude and a fresh arm? 

One can only hope. 

Weekly football post #45.

An enjoyable weekend has come to a close, and you all know that means that it is time for the weekly football post. 

I'd like to quickly point out that the Rams signed Oshiomogho Atogwe to a one year deal. Last year he had a career high 109 tackles with five interceptions and eight forced fumbles (three recovered), and it is a very solid pickup to keep the defense on the up and up. In other news, Notre Dame has signed on to play Army at the New Yankee stadium. Not that big of a deal, but it should be a fun Irish win. 

Meanwhile, the BC Lions finally figured things out at the QB position, and it worked for a 40-22 Lions win over the Eskimos this weekend. This time around, Jarious Jackson of Notre Dame fame got to start the game, and he was on fire. JJ passed for four touchdowns, including two to Geroy Simon, and he finished with 362 yards in place of the injured Buck Pierce. The fan poll asks the question: If Buck Pierce is healthy, should he start for the Lions next week? "No, go with Jarious Jackson" has 70.6% of the vote, including me. Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson were the two crazy receivers, with the former getting 122 and 2 TDs and the later getting 126 and 1 TD. The first win of the season brings the record to 1-2, with Saskatchewan (BOO!) leading the West at 2-1. Next week our boys try to get to .500 against hated Calgary in a Friday night clash at home. 

A couple of news stories coming out of Newcastle. First off is that Joe Kinnear will not be coming back to be the manager. I think last post I talked about the rumor that Joe would get another chance, but now that rumor has been squashed. Meanwhile, Michael Owen is firing back at Newcastle critics for talking so much crap on him while he was at St. James' Park. Hey Owen, you sucked, get over it. I hope you continue your overrated run with Manchester United, so the fans can realize how it isn't as darling of a signing as they are all pretending it will be. We may not have a coach, my August 8 against West Brom, the start of the Championship Division season, continues to loom. 

Another week goes by, another player from the French club Nancy has been signed by Celtic. This time around it is 23 year old Landry N'Guemo. If N'Guemo has a solid season, Celtic can make the Cameroon native a permanent fixture around Glasgow. He should be happy to be back with Marc-Antoine Fortune, who came to the Hoops last week. New boss Tony Mowbray may be pulling  a lot of his known players, but I'm having a pretty good feeling about this upcoming season, especially because ESPN is reporting that players from Rangers are starting to shake in their boots. 

Hey, Chivas USA continued to suck! At least they've been consistent lately. This time is was a 0-2 loss to the New England Revolution, on a game that I finally got to watch on TV. Bummer. On the day that I learned our boys traded my guy Atiba Harris for Marcelo Saragosa, I had to watch them drop their seventh in their last eight MLS games. Damn. The Revs got goals from Kheli Dube and Steven Ralston in the match to send our boys down, which keeps us from getting any points since a June 6 win against Seattle (the game we went to?). Chivas did control a great deal of the first half, earning a 0-0 tie at the 45 minute break point, but New England seemed to dominate the entire final 45, and it paid off with two goals to break up the fun. Zach Thorton made a couple of nice saves in the second half, but it just wasn't enough. Even a 65th minute substitution of Sacha Kljestan wasn't enough. It was an offensive attacking effort this time around too, which I guess goes to show that pushing hard doesn't necessarily work either. The Goats had Galindo, Lillingston, Nagamura, and Chukwudi Chijindu playing almost as 4 forwards for much of the match, with Jonathan Bornstein pushing up as an attacking midfielder as well. The defense just couldn't hold off New England. At 8-6-3 (27 points), the slump from Chivas has sent us free falling in the Western Conference table. Chivas now sits in fourth place, trailing Houston (32), Seattle (28), and even the Galaxy (27 points). Fifth place Colorado is only 3 back at this point. Thanks to the All-Star break, Chivas has to wait until August 8 against Colorado to turn things around. Will they even right the ship, or are we headed to a tough finish after the most amazing start in club history? Don't forget that the 2009 All-Star Game (in Sandy, Utah- the home of the HBO series "Big Love") features the MLS All-Stars going toe to toe with Everton FC (bring it Jon). There isn't a single Chivas starter on the All-Star team, but it looks like Jonathan Bornstein and Paulo Nagamura are set to be backups against Everton. Who knew that Becks would actually play for the Galaxy against AC Milan? Maybe he isn't the biggest douche in the world. No, wait, he is.

We are now just 6 days away from Chivas de Guadalajara's season opener against Toluca. 

Lackey and Abreu are heroic in win.

What a freaking game. What a freaking series. There is nothing like the Angels taking 3 out of 4 from the A's (literally...even a sweep wouldn't have been as cool). And today's game, was just my kind of game: a pitching duel. Most probably wouldn't have thought that John Lackey and Brett Anderson would go toe to toe, but it happened. Anderson took a perfect game into the seventh inning, but it didn't stand, as the Angels beat the A's 1-0 in ten innings, and just 2 hours and 17 minutes. 

Brett Anderson had a really amazing game, especially for a 21 year old Oakland rookie. He finished with 8 innings of 2 hit shutout ball, and he deserves a lot of praise. However, John Lackey was better, in my opinion, and he deserves some love. Gigantic John went 9 full innings of shutout ball, allowing just 3 hits, and nailing down 6 impressive strikeouts. Lackey was dominant, with 64 strikes in his 102 pitches. He has finally pulled his record over .500, to 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA, but he was worried that it wouldn't happen despite his complete game shutout due to Anderson shutting us down on the other side. Luckily, Bobby Abreu was there to save the day. Brian "My BFF" Fuentes came out and was strong with his 1 hit inning to earn his MLB leading 28th save. He's way better than well all expected, right? Nice work, Lackey.

The Angels didn't have much offense, but they did get 1 more run than the A's. 1 run on 3 hits was enough to earn the win. Bobby Abreu had the memorable day, breaking up Anderson's perfect game in the seventh with a single, and then hitting the would be game winning jack in the top of the tenth off of superstar Andrew Bailey. El Comedulce was the lone VIP club stud with his 2 for 4 afternoon, and his jack was just simply fantastic. As soon as he hit it, I put my arms in the air and yelled, "No no no no no!!!!!!!!" Right field bleachers. Booyah. Howie Kendrick checked in as the only other Angel with a hit in the game, and was in fact the only other Angel to reach base besides BA. It may not have been the best offensive game we've seen this year, but it was enough for the win, and it was damned fun. Let's put the spotlight on Bobby Abreu, since he was the main man in the red hat today. Abreu is hitting .306/7/60 this season, and has been a steal for the $5 million the Angels are paying him this year. I'm pretty sure he's making quite a case for the Angels to grab him for like 2 more years. Right? In the last 7 days, he hasn't really been stroking (just hitting .222), but he is going to have to continue to step it up like he did today with Torii and VAG on the DL. Keep in mind that Abreu has only had one game in his last 10 where he went hitless (the 3-7 loss to Oakland). How often do you get a guy who ranks 8th in RBI and 6th in SB in the same season. As predicted, I like him, especially because he's doing all of this while making the least he's made in a season since 2001. 

Defensively, I'd also like to give props to Erick Aybar for making a really fun basket catch as he was falling down in shallow center field. Very nice. According to Hudler, Lackey bought him dinner tonight for that catch. 

The win has the Angels looking good at 52-38, with a 3 games lead over the Texas Rangers in the battle for the AL West title. Seattle sits just 4 games back and Oakland is now a very enjoyable to see 14 back (at 38-52, they are officially the bizarro Angels). There is no rest for the weary, as the Angel hopped on a plane and went straight to Kansas City for their series against the Royals. We'll get to see if Mike "Lorri" Scioscia's decision on the second half's #5 starter will work out. Sean "SOS" O'Sullivan (2-0, 3.80) will take the hill against Fat Sidney Ponson (1-5, 7.27). Sidney is from Noord, Aruba, and needless to say he has not been making them proud. The Royals are 1-9 in Sidney's last 10 appearances, as he has been mixed in relieving and starting. Ponson has been in 11 games, starting only 6, and that will probably play into the Angels hands as they look to start the series with a win. Meanwhile, SOS has really been the second rookie starter who has been nails (included with Matt Palmer, who has been relegated to the pen for the time being). Sully has started 4 games for the Halos this year, and the Halos have won every time. He has shown himself to be a 6ish inning kind of guy (around 95 pitches), and has picked up both of his decisions on the road. He should be pretty happy to get the #5 call, especially taking Palmer's season into consideration, and hopefully he can keep up his hot start. The Royals, by the way, have lost 6 in a row. 

Enjoy these Sports Pickle quotes, especially the last one by Marian Hossa. 

Angels kind of, sort of, blow out A's.

At first you thought it was going to be a blowout. Then you were worried that the A's would pull off an amazing comeback. Then, it quickly became another blowout. Who knows what the heck happened in the Angels/A's game 3 clash this afternoon, but it ended in nice 11-6 victory. Oakland had 4 errors to help us along, and we needed it after Jered Weaver went out for his worst start of 2009. 

Big Baby has a good first inning and a good second inning. Then the wheels came off. Weaver finished just 3.67 innings of 5 run ball, allowing 11 to reach (8 hits and 3 walks), and only punching out 3. He threw 92 pitches in that short amount of time, if you can believe it, and he relied on A) solid bullpen help after getting yanked and 2) great offensive punch against the AL West's worst. "A" was covered by KC native Darren Oliver (1.67 innings of no-hit ball), Jason "Bulger In My Pants" Bulger (1.67 innings of shutout ball), Kevin "Look Ma', I Finally Did It" Jepsen (1 perfect inning), and Palm Tree (1 inning of 1 run ball in a meaningless ninth. In the end, the staff allowed 6 runs on 4 hits, but it was somehow better than the A's Mazzaro and company. The real story in this one, though, was the offense. 

11 runs on 14 hits was the power punch that the Halos needed to get game 3, including a powerful 6 run third inning and a clutch 3 run seventh that sealed the deal. Chone Figgins led the game off with a home rune, and finished the Oakland afternoon with a 2 for 3 game with 2 walks and 3 runs. That is a pretty quality game. He was joined in the VIP club by Kendry Morales (2 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 runs), Gary Matthews Jr. (of all people, going 3 for 5 with 1 RBI), and Erick Aybar (2 for 5 with 4 gigantic RBI). It was shocking enough to see the Angels Least Valuable Junior getting three hits, but today's spotlight needs to be squarely focused on our short stop. EA Sports was back in today's game after having to leave due to getting kicked in the face last night. Aybar went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI today, and all 4 of his RBI came with two outs. That is how we need it. EA is stroking it at .304/3/32 this season (he's only owned by 3.3% of ESPN Fantasy teams!), and is hitting (I hope you're sitting down for this) .636/.636/.909 over the last seven days. .636?!?! The last game he played in where he went hitless was the July 3 loss to the Orioles (0 for 3). Since then, he has had multi-hit games in 7 of his last 8 outings. Are you kidding me? Two of those have been three hit affairs. He also has grabbed 11 RBI in those 8 games. He is working it out, and there isn't a soul (outside of me) around Angels Nation who is pointing out the importance of his contribution lately. Big up yourself #2. 

We also have to recognize my main man Kendry Morales for his 18 game hitting streak. 39 more games to go. 

At 51-38, the Angels have widened the gap between first and second in the AL West. The Rangers lost their second straight to the Twinkies (which, by the way, ended my 7 pick streak in Streak For The Ca$h) , and now trail the Angels by a full 3 games. Seattle trails by 4, and Oakland is now back by 13 again. Is this where we see Texas fade and Seattle take over the #2 spot? Tomorrow is the final game of this four game series, and it features John Lackey (4-4, 4.93) and Brett Anderson (5-7, 4.64). This will be a big match for the second biggest state in the union. Lack Daddy will be representing Abilene, TX on the bump, and Anderson will be pitching his heart out for Midland, TX. I can't see any better way for the final game of this series to set up. Anderson may rank 8th in the AL in losses, but he hasn't been doing any of that lately. The A's are 4-0 in Anderson's last 4 starts , and have won 7 of his last 10 outings. In his last two times out, he's not allowed a single run (despite his last outing being just 4 innings), and he has allowed just 1 run in his last 18.3 innings. We are either hitting him at a dangerous time, or just the right time, as he may be ready to crash back down to earth. Meanwhile, Gigantic John has still been trying to find his groove. The $10 million man has seen his Red Hats go 3-1 over his last 4 starts, but they are an even 5-5 over his last ten. Last time out, he pitched the Yankees into submission with 7 innings of 2 run ball, and he has yet to start against the A's in 2009. Keep an eye on him around innings 4 or 5, though, as his batting average against is .338 during pitches 46-60, far higher than at any other point in the game. The good news would be that Adam Kennedy has been the only (at times) lefty in the A's lineup during this series, and Lackey is way better against righties this season (.230 BAA) than lefties (.345 BAA). Should be a fun, Texas sized, battle. 

Let's take a fast jog through the MiLB, for my sake. SLC blanked Portland the last time out 2-0, holding Port to just 4 hits. Pensacola, FL native Brad "The Fish" Salmon was awesome, going 7 innings of shutout ball (4 hits), and got backed up by Robert "Moose" Mosebach (2 innings of perfect ball for the save). The player of the game nod goes to 2B Sean "HR-Rod" Rodriguez (1 for 4 with a jack), and honorable mention goes to Terry Evans, who did the exact same thing. The Bees are now 48-45, trailing first place by just 3.5 games. How about Double-A Arkansas? Well, they still stink, for some reason. A 0-9 beat down at the hands of Tulsa wasn't too fun. C Hank Conger, however, earns player of the game mention with a 2 for 4 game (including one double), as he had half of the Travs hits. He's now hitting .301/7/44 on the year. Rancho Cucamonga did their best Travs impression again, dropping a 4-6 game to the Inland Empire. Jeremy Thorne didn't pitch awful, getting out of a ton of jams, and finished 5 innings of 3 run ball (despite allowing 10 hits), but the Mighty Quakes offense couldn't pull through. It was SLC native and 3B Jay Brossman getting player of the game mention in the loss, finishing off a 3 for 4 game with 3 big RBI. He's hitting .291/1/12 since getting called up from low-A. Speaking of low-A, the Cedar Rapids Kernels won their game against Lansing in 13 innings, 5-2. 

On my way out, I'd like to point out a current poll going on at HalosHeaven.com. The poll question is "Is Brandon Wood the next Troy Glaus?" Here are the results: 1) Yes (29%, 99 votes), 2) No, he's better (38%, 129 votes), and 3) No, he's worse (31%, 106 votes). I guess you know I'm 1 of the 106.  

Angels/A's live game blog.

Welcome to not only the 500th post in LSF history, but also the third live game blog in LSF history, the first being an epic Notre Dame/Providence battle on Thursday January 31, 2008, the second being the Notre Dame/UNC game on Saturday October 11, 2008, and now the third being this Angels/A's clash on July 17, 2009. They are always special, and occur for one reason or another. This time around, I just got back from drinking beers with Andrew at Red Robin (a Firestone, in memory of Brandon), Karen is ready for an evening nap at the baby's request, and I'm ready to watch baseball for the next three hours. Enjoy. 

7:00 pm: Tonight's matchup is Joe Saunders (8-5, 4.58) against Trevor Cahill (5-8, 4.62). Nothing is really notable in the Angels lineup other than Ma$e playing for Howie, and something noticeable for the A's lineup is that they have two former Angels leading things off in AK and OC. 

7:05 pm: As we get under way, I'm thinking, how can the Angels lose this game? I don't think they can.

7:38 pm: Kendry Morales goes opposite field for the jack. The ball bounced off of a camera in the outfield, and it took a while to rule it a homer, but it clearly was. I'm not sure why they had to "go to the war room in New York." The Angels lead 1-0 on K Mo's 17th of the year. Stellar. 

7:42 pm: My most hated A, Kurt "Clutch" Suzuki grounded out to Saunders. Sucka'.

7:48 pm: Figgins and Aybar get doubled up? I thought they were the fastest human beings on the planet. I guess it doesn't help with Aybar getting kicked in the face by OC. Some kind of revenge for taking over his spot on the team? Stand tall EA.

7:52 pm: You would have thought after all these years that Adam Kennedy would have corrected that ridiculous upper cut swing. Grounds out to second. Here comes Cabrera; will Saunders have the guts to bean him in the face for the kick on Aybar? 

7:53 pm: By the way, when did they change the name back to the Oakland Alameda County Stadium from the Net Ass Colosseum? 

7: 54 pm: OC walks on five pitches. So much for Colonel Saunder's guts. 

7:55 pm: This just in, Torii Hunter wears sky blue socks with pink toes. Classic. 

7:56 pm: Back to back walks, totaling four in the game warrants a visit from Mike Butcher to the mound. Can we get Holliday to GIDP?

7:59 pm: No, but two big pop outs gets us to 5 stranded by the A's in the first three innings, and we're 1-0 headed to the 4th. 

8:01 pm: Trivia question of the night: "Who has the longest hitting streak in Angels history?" K Mo has a 17 game streak going right now, but I think any educated Angels fan has to guess Rod Carew. P.S. I didn't Google that, but I'll let you know if I end up being wrong/right. 

8:04 pm: My most hated A throws out the stealing Maicer. OC lays down the nice tag, and I'm just glad he didn't kick Ma$e in the face. 

8:09 pm: Now the Angels get back to back walks, and I'm thinking they are going to want to make good on this one. 

8:10 pm: The Italian Stallion he isn't. Mike Napoli ground out to end the inning, and we head to the bottom of the fourth up 1-0. Ah, what an enjoyable Aflac commercial. 

8:12 pm: And the answer to the trivia question is: Garret Anderson (28 games in 1998) just eclipsing Rod Carew's previous club record. Nuts! My former favorite Angel! Also, just in, Erick Aybar has left the game due to the after effects of the OC collision. I'll point out that I'm glad, because it gets HK-47 in the game. The just did a split screen to show HK and Maicer, and Izzy was standing out of the shot the whole time, so it just didn't make sense. 1 out double by Rajai Davis, and I'm a tad worried. 

8:15 pm: I just took the "Which member of the Sandlot gang are you?" facebook quiz and got Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez. Wow, I wish! 

8:19 pm: Bobby "Major Slump" Crosby just hit a three run jack off of Saunders. Suddenly we're down 1-3. And 11,021 Oakland fans let out a small cheer. Remember, six of the Angels last eight wins are comebacks. Remember, Saunders just gave up another hit up the gut...and he's falling apart. 

8:22 pm: Classic Hudler moment. "...and that is the Land Rover extra-ordinary moment for Adam Kennedy, an extra-ordinary player. Or, however you say that. Is it extraordinary or extra-ordinary? Who cares?!" Spray some ice on it, buddy.  

8:28 pm: Mathis checks in a single, as the Angels announce that they will be unvailing the 2010 All-Star logo at a game a week from Thursday. I can't believe that it will be as much of an exciting even as they are promoting it to be. I'm guessing it will say "All-Star Game" with the "A" being an Angels logo. That would be crazy! Mathis takes second on a passed ball. 

8:31 pm: Good thing Aybar got hurt. Howie singles to right center to drive in Mathis and make it a 2-3 ball game. Is this the start to a frenzy hitting type of inning? 

8:34 pm: I should probably admit that while I'm watching the Angels/A's game, I have one eye on the WNBA's matchup between the Seattle Storm and the Sacramento Monarchs. The game is tied at 44 in the third, and a win for Seattle would increase my Streak For the Ca$h to a gigantic 7. I know, it's pathetic, but I still think I have a chance to win that $10,000. 

8:38 pm: Bobby Abreu has driven in more runs than anyone in the AL since June 1. He walked here to load the bases with two outs for Juan Rivera. Can Good Ol' JR connect and give us the lead? Full count... Juan Rivera is walked with the bases loaded to tie the game at 3! Way to go Cahill, you just got the hook. 

8:52 pm: Phew! That idiot Suzuki sends one all the way to the centerfield wall, but Gary "LVJ" Matthews (thanks Andrew) snags the catch to send us the sixth, tied at 3. Please note that the Seattle Storm lead the Monarchs by 13 with just over 2 minutes in the fourth. My Streak is looking safe. 

8:54 pm: I guess it's dog day at the A's game, and they just showed a clip montage of the different dogs parading on the field prior to the game. Hudler's quote? "Yeah! Those guys are bitches!" I almost fell out of my chair. He followed that Wonder Quote up with, "You know, people come up to me and tell me that they name their dogs after me? I take it as a complete honor." Physioc decided to follow that by asking, "If you could be any kind of dog, what kind of dog would you be?" Meanwhile, it is a 0-2 count on Matthews in the baseball game, you idiots. Maybe I'm all wrong about not liking Vin Scully. I could dig some old baseball stories over this right now. 

8:57 pm: I'll quickly point out that they are still talking about dogs. 

9:01 pm: Seattle beat Sacramento to officially push my streak to 7, which ties the longest streak in our group with my cousin Daniel! Take it! I also just noticed that this game is going incredibly slowly. 

9:05 pm: Figgins at bat with two in scoring position and two outs, and Hudler actually makes a quote that I like, "Figgy has been doing it all but selling popcorn in the stands, and I'm pretty sure he would do a good job of that if they'd let him." Bases loaded for Izzy after the Figgins walk. Will Ma$e be the one to get the Angels their first grand slam of the year? Nope. The Angels leave the bases loaded for the second straight inning, and we're headed to the bottom of the sixth tied at 3 a piece. 

9:13 pm: Wow. Saunders tries to pick off Rajai Davis and threw the ball into the bullpen. Davis ran from first, all the way around to home on the crazy play to give the A's the 4-3 lead. If we lose this game based on that play, I'll be pretty miffed. Meanwhile, I'm reading that the Angels are not going to resign any of their free agents until after the season ends. The players are Lackey (coming back), Figgins (on his way out), Abreu (coming back), Vlad (on his way out), Robb Quinlan (I hope coming back, but I doubt it after the lack of playing time this year), Escobar (definitely not coming back), and Darren Oliver (sign him for at least two more years!). I'm also reading a crazy story about a commissioner's office conspiracy theory that kept Fuentes out of the All-Star game. Check it out here.

9:27 pm: Napoli leaves Kendry stranded, and we're headed to the seventh inning stretch still down 3-4. Just two chances for a comeback remain. At this point I'll give you Saunders line so far: 6 innings of 4 run ball with 5 hits and 6 walks allowed, only striking out 2. If the Angels somehow comeback to win this game, it will be the fourth straight Saunders start where he pitched horribly and the team got the win. Go figure. He's coming out to face the 2/3/4 hitters in the seventh, and I'd like to have you write it down that, even though we're down by one, this isn't going to be a smart decision. Orlando Cabrera singles to start the inning, almost already proving my point. Oh wait, Scioscia has decided that he's seen enough after that hit. Nice timing Mike. Best of luck Bulger. It's time for me to plug in the laptop. 

9:44 pm: Jason Bulger doesn't do a great job, allowing OC to come home on a Suzuki sac fly. We enter the eighth inning with the Angels down 3-5. Something will need to change with the LOB in the final innings for the comeback to come through. Thus far, the Red Hats have left 9 sitting on base when the inning ends. According to ESPN, Oakland currently has an 88% chance of winning the game. So you're telling me there's a chance!

9:48 pm: Hm. They are saying that this Michael Wuertz is possibly on the trade block? He has 3 Ks in 4 batters faced as Mathis steps up to the plate, and I start to think about how the man with the 1.02 WHIP could really help out our bullpen. Not now, though. Now, I want him to get lit up like Afro Man. Make it 4 Ks in 5 batters faced. 

9:52 pm: As we head to the bottom of the eighth, the Angels have just one chance left to get back into this game. The A's now have a 94% chance to win this game. Well, at least the Rangers lost. No, nuts to that! I still have faith in a ninth inning comeback. If the bullpen can keep the game within two, with Figgy/Izzy/Abreu due up in the ninth, I have faith. Justin Speier steps onto the mound, and my faith drops to well below that 6%. 

9:59 pm: As predicted, Justin Speier isn't able to do enough. Former Angel Orlando Cabrera strikes with a two run double to make it 3-7 here in the bottom of the eighth with one out. I'm pretty much sick of Speier, as I have been since shortly after he joined the team. His season ERA in now 5.40, and with the Angels his ERA is as follows: 5.40 (currently), 5.03 (in 2008), 2.88 (in his first year with the team). What happened? Speier is out and Matt Palmer is coming in, furthering the rumors that Sean O'Sullivan will be the #5 starter come this week against the Royals. Look back at my comment at 7:05 pm. I guess I was wrong.

10:04 pm: Palm Tree immediately gets the A's to ground into a double play to end the inning because he's a stud, and the Angels are ready to take their 1% chance of winning this game into the final inning. Let's go boys!

10:08 pm: Figgins goes down swinging, but Izturis singles to try and make things interesting. 

10:11 pm: Abreu goes down swinging as Ma$e steals second base. Our final hope to keep things alive is Juan Rivera. Pop out. Game over. 

The Angels drop to 50-38 after the loss, but hold onto their 2 game lead against the Rangers. The lead over the M's is now 4, and the lead over the A's is just 12. Tomorrow it's Jered "So Easy A Caveman Can Do It" Weaver (10-3, 3.22) taking on Vin Mazzaro (2-5, 3.59). Mazzaro looks worse than he is due to a lack of run support (in his last six games, which were all A's losses, he got run support of 0, 2, 1, 1, 2, and 0), and the Halos are going to need to focus on making good on their opportunities to earn the win. My boys left 10 runner on base in the game to the A's, and when you do that, you just aren't going to win. 

Have a great weekend, pals, and congrats on the big LSF 500. 

Ervin, Angels cruise against the A's.

I don't know what it is about this return from the All-Star break, but it felt as fun and exciting as the first day of the season. I was gasping, however, with Ervin Santana headed to the mound destined to destroy yet another win opportunity. Contrary to what everyone thought would happen, Erv was large on the mound, the offense pounded out a grip against the hated ones, and we put more distance between us and the Walker Texas Rangers. 

El Rosario didn't have a very good first half of the season, I'm pretty sure we can all attest to that. With the start he put fourth tonight, are we destined for an amazing jog to the finish line? The Magic One was insane against the last place Oakland A's (and I say that, because I don't want people to get too excited), with 8 innings of 1 run ball, punching out 4, and allowing just 5 to reach (3 hits and 2 walks). The long start with barely any allowed across the plate drops his ERA to a tiny little 6.70! How exciting. Don't forget, though, this was against the A's. Just because they are our rivals, don't pretend that they're good. The A's are 12th out of 14 teams in team batting average (.246). Despite that, it was fun to see Erv going good. The bullpen was ying and yang. Justin Speier came in for the ninth, being that the lead was up to 5, and promptly gave up three singles to load the bases. Brian "Tito" Fuentes came in for the save situation, going 1 inning of perfect ball with one strikeout (perfect, only because the sac fly for the first out got charged to the mighty Speier). BFF now leads the MLB with 27 saves. Priceless. 

Luckily, Dallas Brade (7-8, 3.45) was not on point. The Angels scored 6 runs on 13 hits in the game, with a home run from Kendry Morales (his first from the right side!), and some frenzied hitting in the fourth. The Angels VIP Club featured Chone Figgins (2 for 5 with 2 RBI), Erick Aybar (3 for 5 with 1 RBI), and Mike Napoli (3 for 4 with 1 run). Figgins continued to show why he should have played in St. Louis. Tonight's spotlight should probably be transfixed on Erick Aybar, of all people. After a 3 for 5 game, he is kind of rolling, even if he's getting on base with bunts and speed. EA is helping to solidify his starting spot over Ma$e with a .299/3/28 line, and believe it or not, he has been hitting .556/.556/1.222 over the last 7 days. Are you kidding me? This Dominican is coming on hard. The last time Aybar was held hitless was July 3 against the O's. Since then he has gone 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, and 3. Who is this guy? Hopefully he keeps it up, because we need someone in our middle infield to produce (hint, hint, Howie). 

The win moves the red hot Angels up to 50-37, pushing us 2 games clear of the idle Rangers. Seattle is 5 back of the Red Hats, with Oakland now trailing by 13. Texas will be starting a three gamer against the Twins tomorrow, and we have to hope that the Homer Hankies can pull off a big series. By the way, we're now sitting on a +36 run differential. Watch out Dodgers (+105)! Tomorrow night, our four game series continues against the Choke-land A's, as Joe Saunders (8-5, 4.65) goes toe to toe with Trevor Cahill (5-8, 4.67). Bizarre. Cahill, an Oceanside native, ranks 4th in the AL in losses and 10th in the AL in walks. The A's have gone 0-3 over his last three starts, as he has allowed 16 runs in just 12.67 innings. That's bad for them, but good for us. Big Joe Saundo, meanwhile, has bounced back with the Angels going 5-1 over his last 6 starts. He hasn't necessarily been awesome during that span, but the Angels have really stepped it up to support him. Keep in mind that despite all his troubles this year, Joey still ranks 10th in the AL in wins, and hopefully he can add to that total on Friday night. 

Rumor on the street is that Sean O'Sullivan is going to get the call as the fifth starter here in the second half. I would prefer Palmer, but maybe the Palm Tree can help out in the bullpen, and that'll be alright. 

Just so you all know, one of our favorite websites (Sports Pickle) has been completely redesigned and is updated daily. 

The day has finally come. I have a CFL team. Go Roughriders!

My case for 10 Angel All-Stars.

Welcome to post 496, as we continue to celebrate LSF's march toward 500 posts. I hope you like the lame logo I made. So, you all know I'm a diehard Angels fan, but did you think I was dumb enough to think that 10 Angels should be on today's All-Star roster? Follow me on a very partial journey, and make sure to stay with me throughout all the rambling. 

The Angels had 3 All-Star sent to St. Louis this year. However, Hunter was injured before the game came along, Fuentes was left on the bench in favor of Rivera in the ninth, and Chone Figgins was evidently not at the game on time to get on the field at any point. Despite not actually getting to play, the three actual Angel All-Stars will start my list, and need no explanation: 

1. Torii "Big Game" Hunter: as selected by Joe Maddon.

2. Brian "My BFF" Fuentes: as selected by Joe Maddon.

3. Chone "Have You Seen My Baseball?" Figgins: brought to the team after Evan Longoria contracted swine flu.  

4. Jered "Cave Man" Weaver: This is where the fun actually begins. The Weav is clearly having the best season of his career as we get started here in 2009. He made it to the break with a 10-3 record and a 3.22 ERA, including nailing down 104 punch outs and a 1.12 WHIP. In terms of category leading, Big Baby is ranked 3rd in the AL in wins, 8th in ERA, 4th in Win %, 7th in Ks, 5th in WHIP, and 2nd in complete games. His record is equal to AL All-Star starter Roy Halladay, while he trails Doc in Ks by 2, and trails in WHIP by just 0.02. He's far better than All-Star Mark Buehrle in all of those categories, better in WHIP and record than All-Star Zack Greinke, a better record/WHIP than All-Star Felix Hernandez, and a better record/Ks/WHIP than All-Star Edwin Jackson. Face it, Weaver was snubbed. 

5. Darren "Dr. KC" Oliver: The pride of Missouri, Darren Oliver is continuing to be an amazing elderly force since last year's All-Star break. This season, his relieving has been the high point of a mostly sorry bullpen. DO is currently sitting on a 3.00 ERA with 10 holds, 28 Ks, and a 1.26 WHIP in 32 games this year. His record in relief is 3-0 and has only allowed a run in one of his last 10 appearances for the Halos. I now I'm stretching here, but Oliver has a better record and WHIP than Jonathan Papelbon, and I think he's cooler than Wakefield, Verlander, or Andrew Bailey. He would have been one of the few true middle reliever kind of guys to make the team, and he's getting older, so I say he deserved a trip. 

6. Matt "Palm Tree" Palmer: Sometimes the good story deserves a trip to the Mid Summer Classic, and Matt Palmer is that good story. Palm Tree got his record to 7-1 with a 4.80 ERA at the break, holding down a 1.41 WHIP in 75 innings pitched. He threw one, really fun, complete game, and completely saved the Angels through injury problems throughout the first half. Like I said, his 7-1 record may not be amazing stuff, but it definitely puts him in the runner over pitchers who had higher expectations, worse records, and still made the squad. 

7. Bobby "El Comedulce" Abreu: BA has been the stunning acquisition that all of us at the LSF knew he would be. At the break, Bobby owns .311/6/58 kind of numbers, and that easily should have put him on the All-Star team here in 2009. He ranks 4th in the AL in OBP, 5th in stolen bases, 7th in walks (which is fun to watch), 9th in batting average, and 10th in RBI. His numbers, in my biased opinion, are clearly better than All-Stars Curtis Granderson (.254/18/43), Ben Zorbist (.297/17/52), Adam Jones (.303/12/47), and Nelson Cruz (.263/22/53). Am I right? 

8. "Magic" Juan Rivera: Good ol' JR has been straight repping here in '09, with little love outside of Angels Nation. JR is hitting .312/16/52, holding down a .527 slugging percentage. JR ranks 6th in the AL in batting average, and you can refer to the BA explanation to see that he is also ripping the ball harder and playing better than All-Stars Granderson, Zorbist, Jones, and Cruz. Plus, in the last seven days, JR is hitting .412/2/4. How could you ask for more? This biggest deal in the trade for Jose Guillen clearly deserved to be in St. Louis. 

9. Nick "Still Too Early For The Nickname I Really Wanted To Use" Adenhart: The sentimental pick. Has the MLB already forgotten? After Nick's passing, you couldn't watch a game that didn't make some mention of the impact that Adenhart had on baseball. In his one game this year, he went 6 innings of shutout ball against the hated A's to finish the season 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 5 Ks, and 1.67 WHIP. What a gesture it would have been for Major League Baseball to reach out to Nick and his family by selecting him to the team. 

10. Brandon "I've Got Some Serious" Wood: Ha. This is actually a joke, but I was thinking that if you only listened to what most Angel fans say about this guy, then you would be sure that he would be on the All-Star team. Hitting .267 with 1 home run and 3 RBI?!?!? Owned by 1.9% of ESPN Fantasy players!??!?! B. Wood was seriously overlooked. Angels Nation, rise up!

There you have it, folks, by proof that 10 Angels should have been elected to this year's AL All-Star squad. I'm sure you agree with me, so don't go trying to point out how I'm wrong. The best part about electing 10 Angels to the All-Star game is that we wouldn't have to suffer through seeing players from the A's, Mariners, or Royals elected. And that's an opinion I'm sure everyone can agree with. 

Enjoy the celebration as we approach the LSF 500. 

Most Valuable?

Contrary to popular belief, Gary Matthews, Jr. is NOT the most valuable junior on the Angels.

Evidence here.

Weekly football post #44.

Creeping ever close to the LSF's 500th all time post, we enter the 44th weekly football post, and it's not a very exciting one.

Something is wrong with the BC Lions. Two games in, and we're 0-2, and losing to the Tiger-Cats makes it even worse. Hamilton came away with a 31-28 win over the Orange & Black again keyed by huge BC turnovers. The T-Cats had Boston College grad Quinton Porter going totally nuts at QB to make up for getting sacked 10 times in a 30 point BC win last time around, finishing with 222 yards in the air and 55 yards on the ground. He didn't throw a single interception, and hooked up with rookie receiver and former Atlanta Falcon Deandra Cobb for 75 big ones. Meanwhile, Buck Pierce went 36 for 40 with 333 yards in the air. He did much better, right? Well, add in two interceptions, and you'll see that he didn't. Both Maryland's all time receiver Geroy Simon and Pine Bluff, AK native Martell Mallett got over 80 yards in the air, and Mallett added an impressive 82 on the ground in 16 runs. Jarious Jackson also ran for a TD when the Lions finally put him at center, not throwing a single pass this time, but even a late TD to Emmanuel Arceneaux (42 yard TD pass with 2:05 left) wasn't enough to overcome the T-Cats impressiveness. At 0-2, I'm wondering if my boys will finally let JJ play at QB next weekend against Edmonton. I hate those bastard Eskimos! 

Meanwhile, the round ball football is moving along. Celtic has landed Marc-Antoine Fortune from Nancy on a three year deal. The 28 year old Guiana native striker is on board with the Hoops for 3.8 million pounds. It had been rumored that Fortune was headed to Celtic after Mowbray became the boss. Fortune is stoked to be with the club after scoring 5 goals on loan to West Brom in 17 games last year. With the offense that we lost with Ninja Warrior leaving to Espanyol and the rumor that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is gone to free agency, we really need everything Fortune can give us. But really, are we going to let Jan walk away? We beat the Brisbane Roar in the first tune up game thanks to 2 goals from Kiwi striker Chris Killen, and now get really for Cardiff City in 9 days. 

Things are not looking up for my Newcastle squad as they prepare for their Championship League run. Even ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair is talking crap, and he's a Magpie fan! Blair labelled the ongoing crisis at Newcastle as "a tragedy for the club's fans." The Bar Codes are still sitting around waiting for someone to buy the team, with no manager, and a squad that isn't even going to be able to get quality wins in the secondary league. Newcastle begins their run to get promoted back to the EPL, back with the team in limbo, so many questions remain. Even goalie Steven Harper is saying that "The Toon are dying a slow and painful death." Something has to happen so players can start to rally around a manager, whoever it is, and we need to get ready for our 09/10 season. 

Speaking of dying a slow and painful death, Chivas USA marched into the Super Clasico over the weekend needing a big win, and just played a lame game to a 0-1 finish. A 30th minute header from Edson Buddle was all the Galaxy needed to beat my Mighty Goats in the battle for LA. It was LA's third straight win, sending Chivas to their fourth loss in five MLS matches. The floor is falling out from underneath my boys. The cross that was headed in by Buddle bounced off the post and in and Zach Thorton dove to try and keep the ball out. No dice. Chivas began to press in the second half, including almost knotting a goal in the 48th minutes, but the Galaxy were able to keep it out and earn the win at the HDC. With the kind of attack the Red & White put together late, how the hell did they not get the ball in the net? It was tough to take. Chivas have now dropped all the way to #3 in the West with their 8-5-3 record (27 points), trailing Houston by 4 points, and trailing Seattle by 1. Is anyone impressed with how Seattle has held around the top in their first seaosn? Chivas will head across the country to match up with New England (4-5-5, 17 points) next weekend, and if we don't get a win here, I don't know where the hell we're headed. How can the return of Sacha and Jonathan Bortnstein from the US team not help push us forward? Maybe keeping Galindo and Chijndu should stay up front together, with Harris falling back to an aggressive midfielder role, would create more finishes? Whatever happens, we needs to put the ball in the twine. 

T-minus 13 days until Chivas Guadalajara opens their season against Toluca. 

New York? Get a broom.

Did anyone catch my Pace reference? What would you say if I told you these OC Register headlines from the weekend series between the Angels and the Yankees: "Angels Pound Out Win Over Yankees" and the even more original "Angels Pound Out Another Victory"? Sounds to me like the OC Register needs to do a little more investigating before hiring its writers. I can't wait to read tomorrow's headline after the Angels squeaked out the game 3 win and series sweep against the Bronx Bombers with a 5-4 victory this afternoon. How about, "Angels Barely Pound Out Series Sweeping Victory"? Wouldn't that be catchy?

Despite the idiots down at the local paper, Angels Nation was completely on point this weekend against the Beast From The East, earning a fairly amazing series sweep against the pinstriped bastards. John Lackey was really, really good in his Sunday afternoon outing. Lack Daddy finished 7 innings of 2 run ball, getting 6 punch outs while allowing 6 hits. Only a Jeter fielder's choice and a Posada RBI single got past Lackey in the dead hot Anaheim weather, as the Yankees often looked paralyzed against our wannabe #1. You know who sucks? Justin Speier. The "Not Of This World" hat wearing hurler got knocked around in the eighth, needing Darren Oliver to save his ass. Justin finished with 0 innings of 2 run ball, and as you can guess, that just doesn't help the ol' ERA. Just when he was getting good. Ollie bailed him out pretty well, to keep the Halos in the game, going 1 innings of perfect ball on just 8 pitches. Nice work from DO. Fuentes decided to finish things off, earning the easy save against the Jeter/Teixeira/Rodriguez part of the line up (which is like, totally the best, right?). BFF made it look so easy, getting Jeter to ground out, Teix to fly out, and punching A-Rod right in the face (I always want to call him A-Fraud, but I'm afraid you'll think I'm gay). The game sees Lackey's record improve to 4-4 (with a rough 4.93 ERA), and even more impressively sees All-Star Brian Fuentes get his MLB leading 26th save before the break. Enjoy your trip to St. Louis, pal. 

5 runs on 9 hits was the lousiest offensive game of the series, but it sure as hell worked. It was the third comeback in the three wins of the series, although this one only came from a 0-1, instead of 0-4 like the last two games. Abreu, HK-47, B. Wood, and Robbbbbb made a hit parade in the fourth inning to get the Angels' first four runs, and that was followed by a Ma$e texas leaguer to drive in Figgins right after a heart pounding triple in the seventh. That is "Angels Baseball." The offense is doing that "frenzy thing" that we all love, lately. Today's VIP club was a fun place to party, with Figgy (2 for 4 with a run), Izzy (2 for 3 with 1 RBI), and El Comedulce (2 for 4 with 1 RBI, as well). Howie Kendrick definitely has to get honorable mention after this one, going 1 for 2 with 2 walks and a RBI, completely continuing his comeback from the AAA depths. In fact, let's put our postly spotlight right on the Jacksonville, FL native. Howie was called back up on the 4th of July, after being down in SLC since the middle of June. Since then, he has only gone hitless in one game that he has started. In the last 7 days, my man is hitting .294/.294/.294 (isn't that weird?) with 2 RBI and just a single strikeout in 17 at bats. He went 3 for 5 in the Saturday night affair with the Yanks, getting 2 RBI, and it was his first three hit game since April 26. Is this the comeback we were waiting for? Let's keep our tracking eyes on Brandon Wood, as well, as every idiot Angel fan is expecting him to lead us to the title. The Austin native started at first base in this afternoon's game, and went 0 for 3 with a RBI groundout. In the two games he's played since getting called up to replace either Vlad or Torii, he is 1 for 6 with 3 RBI (his only hit was a two run bomb on Saturday). 2 strikeouts in 6 ABs isn't too bad, but I'm still not going to make a decision on this guy until he starts an entire year (most likely next year, after Figgins leaves; and don't get me started about people around Angels Nation wanting to keep Figgy around. I love the guy, but his time has come when this season ends). 

Welcome to the All-Star break. The Angels finished the unofficial first half of the year with a 49-37 record and a 1 game AL West lead. Pretty nice. Thanks, New York. The Halos lead Seattle by 4.5 games and Oakland by 12. By the way, if you have been following the run differential lately, you'll be excited to know that the Angels have increased theirs to +32. Brian Fuentes is the sole Angel heading to the All-Star game, with Torii getting hurt and Figgins and Weaver getting snubbed, but it should still be a fun exhibition game to watch. The season gets back underway on Thursday, as the Angels open a four game series against the hated ones up in the Bay Area. Oakland is dead last in the division, with a 37-49 record (complete opposite of the Halos...bizarre), and hopefully will roll over so we can have a fun start to the second half. There is no current probables on the mound slated to go, but it will be interesting to see how the Angels shake their rotation out to start the second half. Predictions? I'll go with Weaver, Saunders, Lackey, Ervin, and Palm Tree in that order. We'll see. 

Stay tuned for a very disappointing Super Clasico post. 

Angels huge late, beat Yanks.

Vlad and Torii are on the DL. So what? The Angels opened up a can on the Beast from the East despite not having one of its All-Stars in the lineup, and came away with an impressive 10-6 win against the hated Yankees. 

The win will not be attributed to the solid pitching of Joe Saunders. Joey continued his trek into Ervin's territory with a pretty bad 5 innings 5 run start. Saunders allowed 11 runners to reach base (9 hits and 2 walks) and only punched out 3 in the game. He lucked into walking away with the no decision after the game, leaving with a 1-5 deficit. Luckily, the bullpen came up huge, as it has lately. The combination of Jason Bulger, Kevin Jepsen, Darren Oliver, Justin Speier, and Brian Fuentes went the remaining 4 innings, allowing just 1 run (Jepsen), and shutting down Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, and the Spanks. Nice to see the strong bullpen effort, helping the Angels to finish with 7 Ks and just 4 walks, and keep the game close enough for an angelic comeback. Brian Fuentes earned his MLB leading 25th save in the effort, upping Mariano Rivera by 2. Keep in mind that without a great start, Big Joe Saundo outpitched the much loved Joba "DUI" Chamberlain (4.3 innings of 5 run ball), and that is what allowed the Angels to get the win. 

The Angels were finally getting healthy, and now the injury bug has struck our most offensive player. Fan favorite, Torii "Big Game" Hunter was ushered off to the DL, being denied his All-Star bid. The offense should have been dead on arrival of the news, as Torii leads the A ngels in home runs (17), RBI (65), and slugging (.558). Add to that the fact that Vlad is also placed on the DL before the game, after just now getting hot (.375/2/7 over the last 7 days), and we are not staring a pretty picture in the face. To make up for the losses, the Angels called up C Bobby Wilson and 3B Brandon Wood (and all Angel fans besides me sigh, "Finally!"). Neither played in the Friday night clash. Despite all of this, the Angels finished a game against the Yankees with 10 runs on 13 hits, and help from 2 Yank errors. The big splashes came from Kendry Morales (a fifth inning three run jack) and Erick "Can You Believe It?" Aybar (a seven inning three run jack). It's nice to see Kendry ripping it up to prove all the haters wrong, and it's always fun to see EA put one in the seats. The Angels VIP club features Morales (2 for 4 with 3 RBI), Aybar (2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs), Chone "No All-Star Love" Figgins (2 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs), Bobby "Take That, Yankees" Abreu (2 for 5 with 2 RBI), and Mike "Orzo" Napoli (2 for 3 with a walk). Special mention has to be given to Chone for his sixth triple of the season, but the spotlight has to be fixed squarely on Kendry Morales. Cuba's 18 year old cleanup man is now the Angels 26 year old first base slugger, and he is really showing those idiots who didn't believe in him what he is made of. As of right now, K-Mo is hitting .285/15/48 on the season with a .866 OPS. In the last 7 days, he's smashing at a .348 mark with 5 RBI in 6 games, as he just keeps getting better. Kendry is #2 on the team in slugging, #3 in home runs, #4 in RBI, and #1 in doubles. I get that he isn't performing that the level of Teixiera, but he is only earning $1.1 million to Tex's $20.625 million this season, and I would have to suggest that the drop off in production is not that significant. 

The win for the Angels brings the record back to 10 over .500 at 47-37, and pulls the Halos within 0.5 games of the first place Rangers. Meanwhile, Seattle trails Texas by 4.5 and Oakland trails by 12.5. If only we could figure out a way to beat the Rangers when we play them! Today's game features Andy "Roid Rage" Pettitte (8-4, 4.40) and Jared "Big Baby" Weaver (9-3.3.30). The game is already underway as I write this, and the Angels trail 0-3, but watching the game gives me an odd sense of a comeback. Weav has gone 3.67 innings of 3 run ball so far, but he has punched out 5. Home runs by A-Rod and Hinske have been the mistake pitches that have shaped the scoreboard, and despite Pettitte going 3 innings of no-hit ball, I have a good feeling about the Red Hats chances. Well, the Yanks just went up 0-4, but I still feel confident. Brandon Wood is getting his shot at third base today (with Figgy in the DH) role, and is currently 0 for 0 with a walk, which is pretty damn nice for him. Stay tuned. 

By the way, Jorge Posada is a bitch.