Blogging with Chone
The playoffs are about to begin, and in an effort to make the players seem more accessible to the fans, MLBlogs has given accounts to a few of them, including our own Chone Figgins!
It would have been nice had they given him this blog in April, as following along with Figgins while through his breakthrough season would have been a fascinating read. But I’ll take what I can!
So, be sure to stop by to give him a read and a comment or two! Be sure to notice who made the first comment in his first post!
Less Than 24 Hours
Is it really October already? Has the 2007 regular season come and gone, or was what we witnessed just a dream, an opium hallucination of baseball euphoria? While it may have been a pleasant trip into the ether or a nightmare spawned from the Prince of Darkness himself, depending on which team you root for, the baseball fan in you has to admit that this may have been the greatest regular season ever played.
And tomorrow, we head into the playoffs, where none of what happened between April and September matters. Where anybody can be a hero or a goat, where the work of 162 games pays off or dries up, where you go home happy or you just go home.
With that, it’s time to make some picks, which I’m notoriously bad at.
Chicago and Arizona: Coming from the National League "Comedy Central," the Cubs didn’t have to be great to get here. Sure, their offense has been spectacular these last few months, but it’s going to have to be better to get through Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks. Only thing working against Arizona is the youth; if they fold under the pressure of the playoffs, Chicago will roll over them. Prediction: Arizona in 4
New York and Cleveland: I don’t see why this one is such a toss-up. The Yankees have been the hottest team in baseball since June, and while the Indians are a really good team, they just can’t out-muscle the Yanks. Provided the pitching doesn’t implode or the starting rotation in particular succumb to the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the Yankees should make quick work of the Indians. Prediction: New York in 3 What I’d like to see: The Yankees sweep Cleveland, with A-Rod going 15-for-15 with 15 home runs. Then the Yankees facing the Angels in the ALCS, where they get swept, but A-Rod goes 20-for-20 with 20 home runs. Then he opts out, and gives the finger to those who booed him in the Bronx last year.
Philadelphia and Colorado: Get a coin. Flip it. Heads, the Rockies win in 5. Tails, the Phillies win in 5. That’s the best you can do to predict this one. Both teams are running on adrenaline as well as talent, and both have earned their place in October because of outstanding Septembers. Trying to predict a series that is fueled 90% by emotion is futile. Might as well try to predict the winner of every NCAA football rivalry this year. Yeah, I’d have taken USC over UCLA last year, too. Result of Coin Flip: Phillies in 5
Anaheim and Boston: Yes, I said Anaheim. Get over it. No, I don’t have a problem with "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim." If Arte Moreno wants to call them the "Tokyo Angels of London by way of direct flight from Beijing with a stopover in Moscow" that’s his choice, so long as it helps sell merchandise and brings more money into the club and puts a better team on the field. Yeah, I’m stalling. I really don’t want to make this pick. Boston is the better team, no doubt. But since when does that matter? Boston is also tired, having had to push their way through September, while the Angels have coasted through the last few weeks of the season, resting up. But everybody else sais "Boston in 4," and I want to be one of the cool kids, too! Prediction: Angels in 4. There, I said it. Get over yourself, Red Sox Nation. Your team is not the greatest thing to ever happen to America. In fact, lose that Red Sox Nation ****. You stole it from the Raiders, and their fans will snap your necks and eat your children.
OK, folks, here it is, my pathetic attempt at prognostication of the MLB postseason. Be sure to stop by here next week to laugh at me.
Unbelievable Ending
If any of these half-wit talking heads on ESPN or FSN or wherever you get your sports news ever again imply that games in September are in some way more important than those in other months, feel free to go all Elvis and shoot your television.
Had the Mets or Padres one a single game more than they did, the playoff situation would be very different. One more game, the Padres wouldn’t be heading home dejected right now. One more game, and the Phillies and Mets would have played today instead of fate sealing the Mets’ choke yesterday.
But with that said, with such an exciting season behind us and two teams tied at for the NL Wildcard after playing 162 games, how fitting is it that the one-game playoff between the Padres and Rockies was the most tense, exciting game of the season?
This last week has seemed almost like the playoffs themselves. The National League had seven teams fighting for playoff spots, none of them decided before Friday.
If the regular season ends like this, what will our playoffs be like?
Happy Anniversary To Me!
I planned on writing an entry last night, but that post would have been an "End of the Season" post, and since the Padres and Rockies are all tied up after 162 games and have to play a 163rd tonight, I have to wait. After all, doesn’t the season have to be over in order to do a review of it?
Instead, this post is the internet equivalent of putting a single candle into a Hostess Twinkie, lighting it, and singing "Happy Birthday" to yourself alone in a darkened room, as one year ago today I started this blog. The complete text follows:
Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End
Posted 10/01/06 at 10:25 PM
As the day comes to a close, so closes another season of Major
League Baseball. Tuesday will start another round of playoffs,
culminating in a World Series that will guarantee the 6th different
World Series Champion this millennium, as none of the teams in this
year’s playoffs has won a title since 2000.
In other words, my
team and the reason for writing this blog, the Los Angeles Angels of
Anaheim, will not be playing anymore baseball this season.
The
lights at Angel Stadium have dimmed, and while baseball continues in
other parks around the country, we will see no more MLB in Orange
County this year. We finished in 2nd place in the American League West,
giving us our third straight winning season (a franchise record.) While
some fans may be disappointed, considering that I never expected to see
a World Championship come to Anaheim, I’m happy we hung in there as
long as we did. For most of the time I’ve been an Angels fan, the team
has been a second rate club, one with no expectations of victory from
its small legion of fans. With the 2002 season still fresh in my
memory, I still have a feeling of victory and vindication of my
devotion to my team I never expected to have.
Yankees fans
consider it a disappointing season when they don’t at least make it to
the Fall Classic. I consider it a gift when we make it to the playoffs.
With that, the 2006 Angels season was a success, and I can’t be disappointed in them for coming in second to the Oakland A’s.
So,
we Angels fans will have to watch the playoffs for the first time in
three years without our team. We’ll be OK. We’ll find other teams to
cheer for, and more to root against. We have owner Arte Moreno’s
promise that money will be spent on free agents in the off season to
strengthen our team. Soriano, Tejada, Manny Ramirez, Barry Zito, many
big names are floating out there as wanting to be a part of the Halos
next season. And we’ll have to wait a few months to find out which of
these (if any) will be wearing our red cap while playing in the Big A
next season.
-Mission Statement-
With that, there are a few things I want to make clear about this blog.
I’ve spent the last month or so checking out other baseball blogs, particularly those at mlblogs.com
This will
be a fan’s blog of the 2007 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim season, from
today (the end of the Angels 2006 season) until October (or early
November if we make a World Series run!), the end of next season. And
by "fan’s blog," I mean one that encompasses MY feelings and
experiences through the season.
There are plenty of blogs out
there that deal with the author’s favorite team, and some that follow
news and rumors about those teams with the quality of a local sports
page. But I don’t want to just repost news and events that you can find
in a million links through Google or Yahoo. I want this to be about me,
as selfish and narcissistic as that sounds. As you read this (and I’m
sure not many will, at least until the 2007 season officially starts),
I want you to learn about me as a person and fan with my Angels as a
backdrop.
I don’t want the reader to feel the sterile aura of
the press box as they read this. I want you to feel as though you’re
sitting next to me in the cheap seats, or in front of my TV, or in the
passenger seat of my car listening to the game on the radio with me. Or
missing the game entirely as something else happens in my life.
It’s
an experiment, and I hope it turns out well. And I hope you enjoy
reading it, as that will make it enjoyable for me to write.
So
comment as much as you wish, leave feedback, agree with me or disagree
as you will. And get ready, as we have playoffs starting in less than
36 hours and Spring Training is less than 5 months away!
in anticipation of starting this. There are some great baseball blogs
out there (none really for the Angels, though), but every one I’ve seen
has missed the point I’m trying to make with this one.
Best. Final Weekend. EVER.
While the Angels are heading to Oakland more concerned about resting players and deciding on the playoff roster than obtaining the best record in the American League, and the Red Sox and Yankees are putting the finishing touches on the American League Eastern Division, few will be paying attention to the Junior Circuit this weekend as the National League provides us with the most exciting final three days of the season EVER.
Wrap your noodle around this one for a second. While the American League is all decided except for the icing on the cake, with a mere three days left to go in the 2007 regular season, not a single National League playoff spot is decided. In fact, as of today, there are still seven teams in the playoff hunt in the National League.
Seven.
With only three games left to play.
It’s almost like playoff series before the playoffs.
And that’s not including what will happen in the event of a tie, any tie, which looks increasingly likely. In fact, I’d be surprised if there isn’t at least one tiebreaker played on Monday. And, from the looks of that article, it could get a lot more complicated than that.
In fact, there could be tiebreakers played all the way through next Thursday.
With the Mets on the cusp of an historic collapse, the Phillies surging, three teams fighting for the NL West and the Wild Card anybody’s guess, I’d say it’s a great weekend to try that free trial of MLB.TV, wouldn’t you?
Enjoy this weekend. You’re likely to never see another like it.
Dark Clouds on the Horizon?
Uggh.
I hate this feeling I’m developing in my stomach.
The euphoria of Sunday’s wrap-up of the American League West title has faded like the hangover the club had after the clubhouse celebration, and has turned into worry as the Angels got swept in Texas, putting for almost no effort in the three-game series. In retrospect, it looked like the hangover from Sunday night’s celebration lasted through Wednesday, when the Angels suffered their worst defeat of the year, losing 16-2.
Ouch.
I have to recognize that, when Scioscia decides to rest his players instead of fighting for home field advantage, he knows what he’s doing. I can’t let the specter of past defeats haunt the feelings I have going into the playoffs.
But the Angels fan in me simply can’t do that.
It’d be easier to explain my worry had the Angels not won the World Series in 2002. Before that, this team had been Red Sox or Cubs Lite, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at every turn. In 2002, it seemed safe to say that all that was in the past; that the Pearly Gates had finally opened to allow the Angels into the fraternity of clubs with a good future.
Because of that victory, it’s easy to ignore what’s happened since. But right now, I have trouble forgetting it.
-In 2004, the Angels got swept in the ALDS by the soon-to-be champs, the Boston Red Sox. Despite having home field advantage (hmm… maybe it isn’t THAT big a deal…), they lost all three, including Game 3 by a walk-off home run to David Ortiz. In case you don’t remember, the Halos didn’t have a single left-handed reliever in 2004, so they brought in Jarrod Washburn to pitch to Big Papi in the 10th. He threw exactly 1 pitch, then Game Over.
-In 2005, the Angels beat the Yankees in the ALDS, then faced the White Sox in the ALCS. All seemed fine and dandy until an umpire made a stupid call, and Scott Podsednik ran to first on a strikeout. The Angels left the field, as the umpire had screwed up and made a signal that sure as **** looked like an "OUT!" call, but he claimed was a "Strike" call. The inning wasn’t over, the White Sox went on to win the game and later the ALCS, and then (at our expense once again) became World Series Champs.
So I can’t get this feeling out of my head that the 2002 World Series may have just been a hiccup. Perhaps the Gods of Baseball Curses just took a few years off, as between 2002 and 2005 exactly 213 years of baseball curses were lifted.
It worries me because it looks like we’ll be facing Boston in the ALDS, one way or another. And the Angels under Mike Scioscia are 16-22 at Fenway Park. They’ll play two games in Fenway, two in Anaheim, then back to Fenway for a single game, should the series go that long. So, by resting players and ironing out the staff, it seems that Scioscia is gambling on coming back from Boston with at least one victory.
I’m not sure I’d roll the dice on that one. But then again, the Angels coaching staff has forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever know, so who am I to worry?
Well, combine that with the second-half implosion of the bullpen (particularly Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez), I think I have plenty to worry about.
****, I already made a prediction about K-Rod that I pray doesn’t come true.
I was hoping that my tickets would be for Game 1, not the First Home Game.
Now, I suppose, I have a chance to see a series clincher.
I only pray that it goes to my team.
Luck Be A Lady
It’s been all over the Angels home page for over a month: Register for the post season ticket lottery! The only way to get tickets for the post season! Separate drawings for the ALDS, ALCS, and World Series! So, naturally, I entered.
And my number was called.
I couldn’t believe it, but you’re actually looking at a JPEG of my ticket for the first Angels home game of the ALDS (left). Naturally, I used a bit of Photoshop to delete the more important parts of the ticket, mainly the bar code and ticket number, as I know some ******* out there will copy it, print it out, and be sitting in my seat.
I’ve never been to an MLB post season game before. OK, let’s face it, until recently the Angels really haven’t BEEN to the post season, so in my youth and young adulthood there weren’t many chances. Sure, I could have gone to one or two NLDS games at Dodger Stadium, but I’ve never really been a huge Dodgers fan, at least not enough to pony up the dough for playoff tickets.
And, truth be told, I didn’t expect to be going this year. I have little faith in "ticket lotteries" and such. And besides, the first person I’d want to go to these games with is my dad, and it ain’t easy getting wheelchair seats.
You have no idea what a pain in the butt it is, as a matter of fact.
If you’ve ever bought tickets over the internet (which is the only way you can purchase these, by the way), you know what a pain it is. Compound that with the fact that, to get wheelchair seats, you have to fill out a form, submit it, hope and pray someone gets back to you, then hope and pray that they’re the seats you want, otherwise you have to do the process all over again.
It took me six hours to get these tickets yesterday.
If my dad wouldn’t have wanted to go, it would have taken about two minutes on the ticketmaster site. Of course, I would be sitting in the 500 section past either foul pole instead of great seats in left field…
Here’s hoping my luck (and the Angels luck as well) holds. One of my dreams has always been to see a World Series game with my dad.
If the Angels get there, you better believe I’m going to work my tail off to get us a ticket.
OK, on to actual Angels news.
Well, there isn’t any. To tell you the truth, the last two days since the clinch have been very anticlimactic. In a way, it’s been like watching Spring Training. Mike Scioscia has been resting his stars, getting a few at-bats and more playing time to those who need it, stretching his pitching rotation (there will be six different starters in the last six games) and basically using this time to rest. I can’t say I blame him. Is it worth having the best record in baseball if, when you get to the playoffs, you’re too exhausted to take advantage? Boston is going to find out, as they’re in a tight race for the American League East (and have looked exhausted for the last month).
Ervin Santana pitched himself right out of the playoff roster last night. I didn’t watch much of the game, as Ken Burns’ "The War" is on PBS and that has been eating most of my evenings this week. But I did see Santana give up four runs early, the Angels come back with a 5-run 5th, then Santana give the lead right back to Texas in the bottom of the inning. So, by all appearances, I’ll have better seats for Game 1 than he will.
And tonight was proof that Scioscia is just giving the youngsters some work. Dustin Moseley started, and was pulled before the 5th inning for Darren Oliver… even though he hadn’t given up a single run. That’s good, though. These guys will be the long relief in October; you gotta get ‘em some innings.
It’s kind of hard to believe that there are only four games left in the season. It hit me tonight, when Hudler and Physioc were talking about the Texas starting pitcher, a kid named A.J. Murray, who was making his first Major League start tonight.
Hudler: I want to wish Murray a lot of luck tonight
Physioc: Why would you want to do that, Rex? He’s pitching for the other team! (Because wishing player NOT on the Angels well goes against every broadcasting "principle" these two useless laugh-tracks know.)
Hudler: Because he’s gonna get shelled out there tonight against these Halos!
Murray went 5 innings, gave up 5 hits, 4 K’s, 1 walk, and a single earned run, earning the victory.
As Hudler and Physioc were blathering on about that, making a team that may well be the best in the Majors this year look bush league simply through their idiocy and one-sided "announcing," I didn’t get mad tonight. I thought Well, they only have four more games until the playoffs, then I don’t have to hear them anymore.
I startled myself. Only four more games until the playoffs! ONLY FOUR MORE GAMES OF HUDLER AND PHYSIOC!
You know it’s bad when you can’t wait for the networks to start broadcasting your games, and you look forward to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver…
My, oh my, has this season gone by QUICKLY…
The Perfect Day
My God, I’m a Prophet.
Either that, or a string of not-so-improbable coincidences came together to allow today to happen as I forecast (or, rather, kinda-sorta hoped for) in my Friday night post. Yes, I was at the game today. And yes, the Angels clinched the 2007 Western Division Championship! So now, it’s on to the ALDS against either Boston, New York, or (snicker) Detroit.
It’s the first time I’ve ever been at the stadium for something this special. I went to a Stanley Cup Finals game in 1993 as the Kings lost to Montreal. I was at the L.A. Coliseum for an amazing come-from-behind victory by my alma mater UCLA over USC in (I think) 1998. This was neither a championship game nor was it a special, season-making victory over a rival. But this was the most special of the bunch.
First off, no Angels fan has seen their team clinch the Western Division in that stadium since 1986. The last two have been on the road. That’s why, after the losses of the last two days, I had a feeling of destiny as I walked underneath the gigantic caps at the entrance of the stadium today. This has probably been the greatest regular season this franchise has ever had (it is in my estimation, at least), and I knew they’d want the culmination of their efforts to pay off in their home stadium (where they hold the best home record in baseball.) From the first pitch, you could feel that John Lackey was going to make this his day, and Jeff Weaver didn’t stand a chance.
And that’s the way it turned out.
Weaver ended up hitting three batters (including Howie Kendrick twice), and left in the 5th with a "torn thumbnail" (ie: "Can’t find the plate with both hands and a flashlight.")
I think my favorite moment of the game was the top of the 9th. I was dreading seeing Frankie Rodriguez on the mound, but he came in, threw about 6 fastballs, and ended the game with a pop-up to Garret Anderson. If K-Rod can throw like that in the playoffs, we have nothing to fear.
But honestly, none of that was what made this game so special to me. Sure it was great to see the Halos clinch the West. Sure, it was a sight to behold as Garret Anderson caught the fly and the Angels came storming out of the dugout, a mass huddle of celebration right on the infield. It actually brought tears to my eyes as the announcer referred to them as "The 2007 American League Western Division Champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim!"
But none of it was as important as the fact that I got to see this with my best friend of the last 33 years of my life.
My dad.
Thanks, Pop. Thanks for going to the game with me. Thanks for teaching me to love this sport.
Thank you for everything.
Live Blogging (sort of) – 9/21 vs. Seattle
7:32 PM: Bottom of the 2nd, 2 out, 0-0: Whew! What a day! I planned on giving tonight’s entry a full live blog, but dinner tonight (a nice steak at Outback) has proven my grandfather’s theory that the stomach is directly connected to the eyelids, and that extra weight in there from food can make it impossible to keep the eyes open!
I can’t believe I forgot to mention this last night, but the Angels are in SOLE possession of the best record in Major League Baseball! Well, at least they were until Cleveland won today and tied it up. Two days ago, it was a three-way tie between the Angels, Boston, and Cleveland. Tonight, if the Angels win, they’ll be in sole possession of it once again…
7:41 PM: Bottom of the 3rd, no outs, 0-0: I’m trying to pull up MSN Messenger right now (yes, Chris, that’s for you), but now it appears they’ve made a new version and I have to install that. Of course, with Microsoft, it’s never just one thing. Upon installing, I had to make sure to disable about fifty things. Otherwise, I’d have had a new home page in my Internet Explorer (which I never use anyway, as I abhor things like endless pop-up ads, slow web browsing, and easily hacked programs), an account with Rhapsody (thanks, Microsoft, but I already have Limewire), and the legal rights to 3 of my first 5 children.
7:49 PM: Top of the 4th, 1 out, 0-0: Maybe I should actually talk about the game. Not that there’s a lot to talk about. A pitcher’s duel so far. There used to be something romantic about the pitcher’s duel. Whenever I read stories of Sandy Koufax hurling 13 innings of shutout ball, it makes me sigh enviously, wishing against common sense that one day I’ll be at a park to see that.
I say "against common sense" because you and I both know that sitting in a ballpark watching two pitchers throw shutouts into extra innings would be excruciatingly boring. First off, in the day of pitch counts and "Joba Rules," you’re NEVER going to see a pitcher go that long with a mere shutout. In fact, I’d be willing to lay good money that if some pitcher threw PERFECT ball, he wouldn’t be allowed to go that long by many managers. Which is a **** shame.
But again, it’s not all about relief pitchers and the game treating starters like they’re made of porcelain. It’s the game itself. Go back and look up old box scores from when Koufax or Feller or any of those guys were hurling. Most of the time, you’d be hard pressed to find a 9-inning game that took longer than 2 hours. Today, you have to tack an hour onto that, if not more. Last weekend, the Yankees and Red Sox played a nine inning game that lasted 4 hours, 45 minutes.
Why the difference? I’m sure there are a lot of them, but the most likely culprit is television. With all that advertising time to sell, the networks don’t want a game with little downtime. They want longer periods between innings, more pitching changes, more time to be able to go to commercial.
I’d be perfectly alright by me to sit there for two hours and watch a pitcher’s duel. But when they run a minimum of three hours, they tend to get tedious.
Well, it seems I don’t have to worry, as Seattle scored (unnoticed by me) as I was writing that.
1-0 Mariners
8:36 PM: Top of the 6th, 1 out, 4-0 Seattle: ****. Literally, I suppose. See, I had to answer nature’s call (taking the book I’m reading with me, of course), and I come back to find the Halos down 4-0. Jarrod Washburn is throwing a **** of a game. He just isn’t throwing it for the Angels.
First thing, the game ain’t over yet. As my liveblog from the last series against Seattle shows, it truly ain’t over until it’s over.
Now it’s 5-0. No worries.
****, you can’t win them all, can you?
I actually won’t be too upset if they lose tonight. Sure, it’d be nice to clinch the division (and the first playoff spot in baseball) tonight, but it’s not like that ain’t gonna happen. If not tonight, then tomorrow or the next.
See, that’s the key right there: The next. That would be Sunday afternoon, 9/23. The last home game of the year. Fan appreciation.
And my dad and I just happen to have tickets for that game.
So, were the Angels to lose tonight, it won’t be that big a deal. They’ll only be a half game behind the Indians for the best record in baseball. And, if they lose tomorrow, it’s no skin off their backs. The magic number is, after all, a measly one game. They will clinch eventually. Of course, if they lose tonight AND tomorrow, I’d hope that the Indians and Red Sox lose as well, but there’s still seven games or so to fight for the best record in baseball. I wouldn’t like to see a loss or two in a row, but if it happens, it happens.
Because, if they fail tonight and tomorrow and win on Sunday, I’ll be there to see them clinch.
Also, it’s Fan Appreciation Day! I get a 2007 Team Photo when I walk in the gate! I get to delude myself into thinking that I might win 2008 season tickets or other fabulous prizes!
Most important is simply that I get to see the Angels one more time this season in person.
9:27 PM: Top of the 9th, no outs, 6-0 Mariners: Well, if anything is gonna happen, this is the inning. As I’m sure you can tell from my writing tonight, I haven’t exactly been glued to the TV set for this game. My interest just isn’t piqued tonight.
Wow, Ichiro just hit into a double play… That’s something you don’t see every day.
Anyway, as I was saying earlier, if the Angels lose tonight and tomorrow, then come back to win on Sunday, I’ll be there when they clinch. And after what I just read, that scenario looks very possible. It’s not like it’s a great surprise that something is wrong with Kelvim Escobar. Anybody who has watched his last four starts or so knows that he hasn’t had the same stuff he had through August. The surprise here is who is pitching in his place tomorrow.
Yes, that’s right, "El Gordo" is back! Just last week, SI.com printed the rumor that Bartolo Colon had made his last start for the Angels (at home at least), but now it looks as though that ain’t true.
If I’m a Seattle fan, I’m happy about that news.
****, so long as he doesn’t pitch on Sunday, I’m OK with it.
Wow, now we’re at the bottom of the 9th, two outs… Make that three. 6-0 Seattle. No more best record in baseball, but no worries.
It’ll happen.
What A Time To Come Back!
Tonight is one of those games I wish I’d have live blogged, but alas, neither my mental state nor home life have been conducive to keeping up with a silly little baseball blog, and jumping right back into the fire wasn’t something I was aching to do.
But tonight’s Angels vs. Mariners game has shown that this series is looking to be one **** of a cap on this season, and possibly the beginning of a great rivalry next year. Tonight this might as well have been the Red Sox and Yankees playing.
Despite the Mariners basically tailgating the Angels most of this year, there was never a sense of animosity between the two teams. When they’d play each other you’d get good baseball, but nothing like the bloodthirst you can see in both dugouts when the Yanks are in Fenway.
That is, until tonight.
I have to admit I didn’t see all the game tonight. My dad and I have watched the show "Survivor" together since I got home from Army training in 2001, and tonight was the season premier. (I’m a firm believer that "Survivor" has ****** since about the third season, but it’s not the show that’s important; it’s the tradition.) So I caught the first hour of the game, then went in to watch CBS with him. During commercials, we’d flip to the Angels game, but we stuck with the show for the entire hour.
During a commercial at about 8:30 PM, we switched the channel to FSN West. As soon as the channel changed, we saw a pitch delivered to Vladimir Guerrero which he redirected over the center field wall. Being an Angels fan, seeing Vladdy plant one into the bleachers is nothing unusual, but my father and I both furrowed our brow in puzzlement as Vlad did something neither of us have ever seen him do: After he hit it, he stood there and watched the ball until it cleared the fence, then tossed his bat aside as casually as a Wrigley’s Spearmint wrapper and WALKED to first base. He didn’t jog, he didn’t trot; he WALKED. Guerrero is usually a pretty humble guy; neither my dad nor I had ever seen him show up the pitcher like that. In fact, the only Angel who does that sort of thing is Francisco Rodriguez, and that seems to be more of a celebration that he was finally able to get three people out in an inning (something rare this second half) than shoving anything in the face of the opposition.
It wasn’t until "Survivor" was over and I was back in my room watching the game in HD that I learned the story.
Apparently, what we’d missed by not switching to FSN a few seconds earlier was the Seattle pitcher, Jorge Campillo, nailing Angels catcher Jeff Mathis in the back the very pitch before Guerrero smacked one. Jarrod Weaver hit Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima on a pitch earlier in the game, and Campillo retaliated by hitting our catcher. It just so happened that Vladimir Guerrero got the ultimate revenge by turning a Rawlings Official MLB baseball into two runs and a souvenir. And to make sure Campillo knew the price, he showed him up.
Apparently a rookie pitcher with a couple weeks in the majors thinks he has something to prove and that drawing an ejection (and probable suspension) by throwing at the head of Vlad is just the thing to prove it.
There were three absolutely hilarious moments resulting from this.
First was the reaction of Jorge Campillo after the attempted beheading. As Vladimir Guerrero, rightfully angry, started moving toward the mound and shouting a string of words that made me wish I could read lips in Spanish. An interesting thing about baseball fights is that, should a player charge the mound, it’s a guarantee that both benches will clear. But, should the batter truly wish to charge the pitcher, there is no way those benches can clear in time to prevent them from meeting up and exchanging blows. Obviously, Guerrero didn’t wish to do any physical harm to the guy, or he’d have ran out there and Campillo would be tasting Anaheim mound dirt for the next three weeks.
But, as Campillo saw that Guerrero was moving toward him and realized that there was no way the benches could clear in time to truly protect him, he did an extremely bold and brave thing. He started backpedaling AWAY from Vladdy.
So good job, o brave Jorge Campillo. Next time, you might want to throw at Reggie Willits. He’s more your size.
The second funny moment involved the bench clearing that resulted. As Vladdy was walking to the mound, the camera was in perfect position as the benches emptied onto the field. On the right side, about five steps behind the rest of the Angels, came John Lackey, charging hard. This is the only one of these I actually laughed out loud at.
First, how stupid are you if you’re a pitcher and you get into a fight? Your livelihood rests literally in your hands, and the damage done by throwing a punch could conceivably end your career. So my first thought upon seeing "Big John" were wow, the really DO grow them big and stupid in Texas.
But then, on the replay, I got a better picture of it. Sure, Lackey came charging out of the mound, looking like he was going to open a can on some poor Mariner. But the key lay in the fact that he was a few steps behind the majority of the Angels. Upon further review, it looked painfully obvious that he was running out there to put on a show, basically shouting "Hold me back, guys! Hold me back!" and not intending to actually get into a fight.
So basically, he looked like even more the idiot.
And third was Rex Hudler’s commentary. I may have to complain to the FCC about this, as anything I can do to hasten the Angels to fire Rex Hudler is, in my opinion, a mitzvah (that one’s for you, Scott). While this whole brouhaha is happening, it was obviously beyond our two esteemed commentators to shut up and let the **** thing play out. No, Rex had to throw his idiotic opinions into the ring.
He did this by lambasting Jorge Campillo, saying how wrong it is to throw at a guy’s head. Well, obviously, nobody is going to argue with that. But right there, on live TV, old "Wonderdog" (as in, "I wonder how he keeps his job with no obvious talent?" or "I wonder why, if he’s such a baseball genius, no clubs have come knocking on his door about coaching or management opportunities?") said, basically, "It’s OK to throw at a guy, just not at his head." He went on about this for a few minutes (Rex Hudler droning? NO!) and even said "You’ve got a whole lot of body you can throw at instead of the head."
My response to this is "Well, DUH." Everybody who knows anything about baseball knows that the bean ball is part of the game. It’s like fighting in hockey. But, since the NHL has tried to clean up its act in the last 15 years or so, have you heard a hockey color commentator worth a **** encourage fighting? No, because the image you project is important, even if it isn’t accurate. So, while the bean ball may be an important strategic tool, the last thing you want to say on the airwaves in front of hundreds of thousands of families and children is that it’s OK to throw a hard ball 100mph at somebody, so long as the intent is only to injure, not kill.
Yes, I’m nitpicking here. If Vin Scully said the same thing, I’d agree with him 100% and never call him on it.
But I’m also quite sure that Vin Scully would show the same disdain to whoever threw at an opponent’s head, regardless of the uniform he happened to be wearing.
If Jered Weaver had thrown at Ichiro’s head, I’d lay good odds on Hudler going on the airwaves and saying "Well, you gotta protect your batters" or some other such apologist, hypocritical drivel because Rex just can’t stop being ever the Homer.
As I said before, I really wish I had live blogged this game tonight. There was excitement. Scioscia got his 700th win as Angels manager. And the Angels locked up at least a tie in the American League West. The "Magic Number" is now at one.
It’s a great year to be an Angels fan.
sidmchenry
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