My Mighty Angels matched up with former Halo Joe Maddon and his championship caliber Tampa Bay Rays this weekend, and somehow, we won the series! The series brought us a Brandon Wood game winning jack, a Brandon Wood game losing error, and a Brandon Wood 0'fer morning where he just kind of stayed out of the way. In the end, we stormed into the Trop and left with 2 wins, accidentally helping those Damned Yankees out in the process. Even if it didn't mean anything for us, it was still pretty fun overall.
Friday: A 426 foot homerun to left center in the top of the 9th inning by Brandon Wood not only broke open the 3-3 deadlock in the series opener with Tampa, it also led to him getting beat up. Once he got back into the dugout, Wood got slapped around in the head by his teammates, most notably Mike Napoli, who followed him down the entire dugout, and probably slapped him 15-20 times. I'd like to think that the beat down was less a celebration of Wood's eventual game winning homerun, and more a punishment for 3 for 43 slide prior to the yard shot. Despite Wood being the hero in the end, it was Abreu and Kendrick leading the way offensively. El Comedulce went 3 for 5, and Howie 2 for 4 (with a triple), each with a RBI. The downside was Hank Conger following up his semi-hot streak with an 0 for 4 game with 3 Ks. It's okay...it's just one bad game here. Would you believe that Mike Napoli stole a base? It was his fourth of the campaign! The starting pitching looked good, with Danny Boy going 7 strong innings of 3 run work, punking the Rays 10 times to give him yet another 200+ strikeout year (sorry Joe, but this was a good deal for us, and it'll show better next year). The bullpen didn't look too great, with The Wrath Of Kohn and Fraud-nando going 2 innings of 2 hit, 4 walk ball, but they somehow got the shutout, as well as the win, and the save.
Saturday: The second game of the series was another 4-3 outcome that ended on a Brandon Wood play. This time, however, it was Woody making the extra inning throwing error leading to the Tampa victory. It was J Balls Piñata's first start since his perceived season ending injury back in the day, and he went 6 innings of 2 run ball, impressively walking zero. It was a nice welcome back for Mr. Cutter. He got backed up in the top of the seventh with a Juwanna Man Rivera 7th inning three run bomb, but the bullpen would surely let him down. Despite Walden and Jepsen getting 2 no-hit innings, it was Sweat-nando Rodney blowing the save (same story, different day), and poor Bobby Cassevah getting stuck with the loss thanks to the B. Wood error. Ah well. The hard thing is trying to remember that Fernando isn't a horrible closer, it just seems that way thanks to all these blown saves recently. I think. Of course, it wasn't just the bullpen that hurt Piñero's return, but also Reggie Willits, Alberto Callaspo, Kevin Frandsen, Torii Hunter, Jeff Mathis, and Peter Bourjos; all who went without a hit. After the game, the MRI results came in. Erick Aybar has suffered a sports hernia, which is the same injury that messed up Donovan McNabb and Chivas player Maykel Galindo back in the day. Not good. Meanwhile, Scot Shields has some inflamation, and I doubt we'll ever see him as a Halo (or any other team?) again.
Sunday: The deal breaker was game three, and the Angels were surprisingly strong, taking a big 6-3 victory. Scottie 2 Hottie Kazmir came back the The Trop, and did his usual 5 innings of work. This time, though, he only allowed a single run. And this time, the bullpen stayed strong (maybe because Waldo, not Fernando, came in as closer). Bobby Abreu and Peter Bourjos were the heroes in the game, with El Comedulce getting first inning and seventh inning solo homeruns, and Speedy Pete a 384 foot 3 run bomb to left plating both HK and King Conger. Big timing it. HK-47 was one of three hitters to get two knocks (Bobby and Big Game), and even stole his 13th base of the year. After getting over-involved in the last two games, Brandon Wood decided to sit back and just go quietly at 0 for 3. Probably for the better, really. Alberto Callaspo continues to die a slow painful death as our "leadoff hitter," going 0 for 5 with 2 Ks. Mattie Palmer, Mikey Kohn, and Jordy Walden held it down good enough, with Waldo making us yearn for him to possibly be the 2011 closer? Sorry 'Nando, but this kid has a gun (P.S. it was just a one out save, but I can get overly excited, right?). Wait, we won the series?
At 73-76, we only have 13 games to try and get to at least .500 (we'll need to go at least 8-5 to get it, which may be a stretch), and likewise only have 13 games to try and make up our 1.5 game deficit on the second place A's. Will we be able to do it? Man, I hope so. If we were doing well, or even mildly decent, this upcoming series against the Rangers starting today would have been SO huge. Instead, it's kind of just busy work to finish up the season so we can get to hockey. While we are mathematically still in this thing, it would nearly take a 13-0 run while the Rangers went 0-13 (I said, nearly) to realize our AL West title dreams. And while that would be flat out amazing, it surely isn't going to happen. But, we probably have a leg up to get that first of thirteen tonight at home, as Jered "So Easy A Caveman Can Do it" Weaver (12-11, 2.96) tries to continue his Cy-Young-If-Our-Offense-Was-Any-Good season against some bum named Derek "Amstel Light" Holland (3-3, 4.12). Homeboy is 2-9 over the last two seasons away from home, and that doesn't bode well against a stud muffin like Weaver. Weav is 5-0 with a 2.40 ERA in nine career home starts against Texas, and as they slip here at the end of the year, that should give you an idea of tonight's outcome. At least, I hope so.
Guess what? The OC Register is up to it's bag of tricks again. Our season isn't even over, but Tony Reagins threw the media a bone over the weeknd, and they're running with it. Reagins said that there may be some "tweaks" made to the Angels roster prior to the start of next season. When the media hears that, they sure get excited. I present you, the list of the 12 free agents who could potentially come to Anaheim per the Register (and keep in mind, that article author Dan Woike is dreaming of us getting 2...seems like a little more than the suggested tweak, eh?):
Carl Crawford
Jayson Werth
David DeJesus
Will Ohman
Arthur Rhodes
Jake Westbrook
Lance Berkman
Magglio Ordóñez
Adrian Beltre
Miguel Tejada
Jon Rauch
J.J. Putz
If you read the blog, you know that I'm not a giant fan of dreaming up trades and big free agent signings, partially because I usually stand by the guys we have (in theory) and because I love the minor leagues and a big trade/signing usually negates the chance for a sweet new prospect. Like, if we signed Crawford, would we miss out on Bourjos or Terry Evans? So, in response to my Register counterparts, I present you with a poem explaining away all these free agent dreams. It'll suck, but it'll be fun.
Carl Crawford is just a dream,
Who won't ever play for this team.
Werth just hired Boras as his man,
So you should just forget that plan.
DeJesus has the name of our Lord,
But his 37 RBI have me bored.
Just ask Beasy about Will Ohman,
A 5.84 Doyer ERA, he pitched like Satan's spawn.
Mr. Rhodes our former Seattle foe,
Pitches so poorly, it makes you say, "Whoa!"
Westbrook is below .500 here in '10,
Why bring him to the AL again?
Lance Berkman is an aging puma,
So old he gains a belly like Buddah.
Magglio, Magglio wants tons of cash,
That Hugo Chavez supporter and Anaheim would clash.
Jon Rauch got replaced by Tito our man,
Why would we want backup to that Gas Can?
J.J. Putz another ol' Mariner bitch,
If he came aboard, I'll dig the ditch.
Suck it, Register. And suck it, Rangers.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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