What a game! No matter what's going on in the season, the battle between the Angels and the A's is always epic. Even if it's a battle that gets decided by really poor play, it's still an exciting and close finish. This time, the Angels cashed in on a 7th inning Oakland meltdown. Hideki Matsui (pictured above after eating some wasabi) ripped a RBI pinch hit single, Ma$e walked to load the bases, Erick Aybar's jersey got kissed by the ball to force home a run, and Hankie Pankie walked on four pitches as a pinch walker to force home another. Angel fans around Halo Nation woke up busy this morning, writing thank you notes to Justin James for blowing the game for the hated Bay Area Bums. Despite allowing another run, the Angels held on with Fernando Rodney getting a save (wait, really?) and beat the A's 6-5. Not only have we moved one step closer to finishing .500 this year, but we're also just a single game back of the A's in the AL West's 2nd place battle.
The pluses:
+Welcome back Maicer Izturis! Ma$e (or "Mice Tits," if that's what you prefer...I don't) went 2 for 3 with a walk, a RBI, and a run scored in his first game back from injury.
+Every starter except for Bobby Wilson and Erick Aybar got on base, and EA was able to get 2 RBI (fielder's choice and HBP w/ bases loaded) despite not getting a hit.
+We actually had two innings in the same game where we scored 3 runs!
+Mike Kohn was somehow able to get out of his inning without allowing a run.
+Ervin only allowed four earned runs despite allowing the A's to load the bases in pretty much every single inning. He battled through a tough start.
The minuses:
-We left TEN runners on base.
-Fernando Rodney blew the save...oh wait. Sorry, it's a habit.
-Speedy Pete left three runners in scoring position with 2 outs...choke.
-Izturis was the only Halo with more than a hit.
-We still have to go 5-1 to finish .500.
So, we're 76-80 with just 6 games to go in the season. We now trail Oakland by 1 game, and Texas by 11. We have 2 to play with the A's here at home before going to Arlington for a four game finale. It would seem that we still have a pretty great chance to overtake Oakland, and that would give me some added hope for the 2011 season. I know Torii Hunter and Mike Scioscia both went on the record after last night's game stating that playing for second place isn't important, but I disagree. It's not about finishing #2, for me. It's about beating the A's. That's all it's ever been about. It's one of the few reasons this series is still crazy important and exciting to me.
Tonight is the final night game at The Big A for the 2010 season, and a win would really heat things up in the OAK/LAA rivalry (despite the heat being about 10 degrees lower than yesterday). Dan "Chessmaster" Haren (10-12, 3.96) goes up against his former team and their boy Dallas Braden (10-13, 3.49). They clearly are brothers when it comes to their simple statistics. Braden tossed 8 innings of 1 hit/shutout ball against the Rangers his last time out, which stopped a four game personal losing streak. He's 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA in his 7 starts against Los Halos. Meanwhile, Haren has a 1.32 ERA in his last 6 outings, but has only picked up 2 wins. Danny Boy has received less than 3 runs of support in 11 of his 12 outings since being traded to our beloved club. Pathetic. Hopefully the Angels can help Haren to show his former team up, and tie things up at the 2 spot in the West.
As a huge minor league guy, I was shocked to read the news that the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed our Rancho Cucamonga Quakes as their new high-A affiliate. Not only does this shock me to the core, but it leaves the Angels without a high-A team, AND it makes my RC Quakes hat completely worthless! B? J? Which Doyer fan wants it? Rumors are on tap that we're on our way to taking over the Inland Empire 66'ers, the now former Dodger high-A club. Stay tuned.
Well, here we go again! ESPN.com is reporting that the Angels are going to "go all out and spend whatever it takes to get Carl Crawford." Ugh. Now, I'm no dummy, and I know adding Crawford would greatly improve this team. However, if you read this blog, you know how much I hate rumors and grumblings about free agents or trades bringing new players to this team. So many issues come up when we try and objectively explore the need for Crawford. SI.com goes even further today, "predicting that the Angels will sign both Crawford and Adrian Beltre." Am I the only one feeling overwhelmed by all this? What are we to make of it? Let's dip into it.
1. Do the Angels need another outfielder?
Let's see, we've signed Gary Matthews Jr. to big money, Torii Hunter to big money, and now we're going to sign Carl Crawford to even more money? I don't know how likely that sounds. On contract, we have Torii Hunter (through 2012), Bobby Abreu (through 2011 with a 2012 option), Juan Rivera (through 2011), and then the up/down guys like Reggie Willits, Peter Bourjos, and Terry Evans. But, I can be real. Bobby Abreu isn't going to be playing in the field next year (if the Angels acquire some knowledge), and isn't going to have his option picked up. Juan Rivera has had a down year, and fans (outside of me) have never been high on him. Saint Peter is still something of a question mark, despite all of our high hopes. And, Reggie Willits is Reggie Willits. We COULD use an upgrade, but by no means do I think it's needed. I would be very happy with a starting OF of Juan Rivera-Peter Bourjos-Torii Hunter (LF-CF-RF) next season, with Reggie chilling on the bench, and maybe even Evans up and on the bench as well for the corner spots. Regarding JR, the Magic Juan'd is hitting just .255/13/50 in his 121 games this year, but last year he hit .287/25/88, and he is not going to be down in 2011 like he was this year. He has to bounce back. He has a 2.3 WAR over the last 2 years, and is only making $4.25 million this year. He's quality, even if you don't think so. Peter, meanwhile, has an opportunity to be something special, and we all know it. Plus, Bourjos gets paid basically nothing for what he may be able to give us. Of couse, Big Game Hunter is our best player, and we all know that. Torii's WAR has been 3.2 this year, even though he hasn't had an amazing season. In his 3 years with the Halos, if you can believe it, he has an 11 WAR, and even though he's moved over to RF, he's still our main man. So, is it worth it to drop all kinds of cash to bring Crawford over when we may not even need him?
2. Is Carl Crawford the savior?
No, it's Jesus. But in all seriousness, Crawford is a stud, man. First off, his nickname is "The Perfect Storm." Secondly, he's putting up numbers. .307/16/87 with an AL leading 13 triples this year, Crawford is going to be a heavily desired free agent. He made $10 million this season to put up that 4.5 WAR. His RAR (which would more compare to the offense-only stat of VORP) this season is the highest in his career at 44 (which he's done in 2010, 2009, and 2004). He's good, I get it. He's 10th in the AL in Offensive WAR, he's an All Star, and he's been the best LF in terms of outfield assists in 5 of the last 6 years (top 3 since 2003). Okay, I said I get it.
3. Will it happen?
I don't know. A lot of things are going to need to happen for Crawford to become a Halo in 2011. First, we'd need to outbid whoever else wants him. That would be the Yankees or Red Sox in the AL, the Phillies in the NL, and maybe even the Red Wings over in the hockey world. The price is going to get up there, and who knows if we'll actually be able to hang with the big boys. Also, we'll need to figure out what will happen to Juan Rivera. Clearly the Angels have made it plain as day that Bourjos and Hunter will start next year in Centet and Right, right? And, if we make no move, JR will be the left fielder. However, if Crawford did come aboard, he would play left, leaving Juan Rivera out in the cold. Now it wasn't that long ago that Juan Rivera was left on the bench, and he certainly didn't like it. He made it clear, and had no plans of coming back, until the Halos made a promise that he'd start. Unless Rivera is sent off, I don't see Crawford coming. To be clear, I am a Juan Rivera apologist, but I also realize Crawford would be a sweet (although expensive) upgrade.
4. Now we're adding Adrian Beltre?
Come on, SI. Really? I know our third basemen aren't super quality, but we sure have plenty of options. Alberto Callaspo (who we just traded for, SI), Brandon Wood (who is going to hit like .900 in Arizona Fall League), Maicer Izturis (who is seriously underrated, if he can stay healthy), and even Kevin Frandsen (sorry, but my wife is from San Jose, so we love the guy). Sure, .323/28/101 with a league leading 48 doubles is an amazing season, but he's seriously an up and down kind of guy. His WAR by years going backwards from this year are 6.3, 1.1, 3.5, 2.7, 4.6, 1.9, 10.0, 2.8, 1.6, 0.8, etc. So you can see that his value is just all over the place. Sure, he has had some monster seasons (that 2004 Dodger season saw him with a 100 RAR, and he's at 65 this year), but he's had more average-ish seasons, and his defensive WAR is consistently pathetic (10.3 over 13 seasons, which is just 0.79/season). This guy made $9 million this year, and I just don't think he's worth it. I'll pass.
So, who knows what'll happen, but we know for sure that this offseason is going to be fun.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. Tonight, we back up Haren, and draw even with the Bay Area Stompers.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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