Well, in the spirit of Molina's thread on his Rangers...



I will copycat and do the Angels thread, keeping updates as often as I can (hopefully daily)....until season ends (or until I get bored, lolol)

Here goes -----

So far, so good. Except for opening night jitters, Angels took 2 out of 3 from Rangers....scoring 10 runs each in games #2 and #3, and giving fans free chicken wings for scoring 10 or more runs in a game ---- wooohooooo!!

And now, even though it's very early in the season, we have a very important series at Oakland, starting tonight.

Yikes!!!!

:hop:

BOOOOOO!!!!!
HISSSSSSSSS!!!!
ANGELS DIE!!!!!!!

Well, Appier didn't have a very good outing Friday as the A's torched him for a number of runs.

A's look really good!

Angels got beaten again this afternoon, 4-2.

Record now 2-3.

Boy, do the A's have good pitching, great defense, and timely hitting!!

a TREMENDOUS series that the A's had this weekend in their sweep of the Angels.

They're showing why they won over 100 games in each of the last 2 seasons.

A's Demonstrated great pitching, excellent defense, and timely hitting.


Angels now 2-4.

For a while, I thought I was gonna see the Lakers, Angels, and Dodgers all win in same day. Not often that this trifecta occurs.

Here's hoping the Angels do not start off the season like they did last year.

Garrett Anderson starting off really hot. But pitching so far is suspect. Let's hope we get it together soon.

to be continued.......

Nothing to report for today, as most teams were on an off-day.

As a matter of fact, the two games scheduled for AL were post-poned due to snow.

Guess most of the players were watching Syracuse beat Kansas, lol.

On a side note: my Dodgers lost to AZ today 6-4. So far, early into this season, both my favorite teams have losing records. Nothing to panic just yet...but not fun!

4/8/03: Angels vs. Mariners at Safeco

Angels 0; Mariners 5

Moyer pitched a whale of a ballgame in the Mariners opener; Ortiz fared pretty poorly.

Angels hitters, with exception of Garrett Anderson, are in a big funk!! And their pitching isn't all that hot, either.

It may be early, but with the A's winning a bunch, this is gonna be tough.

I hate the A's they beat my twins and that adam kennedy should be shot with a silver bullet.

4/9/03 update on the Angels

Angels 5 , mariners 1

Flew out to an early lead with several runs in first couple of innings, then hung on.

Fine pitching by both pitchers.

Oakland won yet again; Yankees are red hot; as are the undefeated Royals?!?!?

So, at the very very early outset...looks like Angels need to hunt down wild card spot.

still wayyyyyy too early.

Angels vs. Mariners again tomorrow.

And Dodgers also won, beating the D-backs yet again. Boy, talk about struggling teams.

Randy Johnson Curt schilling and Gregg Maddux all having horrific starts. yikes?!?!?

update 4/10/03: Angels 3, Mariners 0

A great pitching performance by J. Washburn. Good pitching by the Angels these past 2 games vs Seattle (couple with not so good hitting, I suppose).

I am worried about Eckstein, as he's not been doing too well offensively. Gotta get on base more.

Boy, Yankees and Royals just running with with the best records.

4/11 update: Angels 9, A's 5.

Pitching wasn't too good for either side as both Lackey and Hudson struggled.

It was basically the Angels offense, esp. Tim Salmon with 2 2-run homers, that overwhelmed Oakland. The little guys, Figgins and Eckstein each had 3 hits.

Here's hoping that gets Eck out of his mini-slump. Garrett Anderson continuing his hot hitting streak, with 19 hits total

K-Rod struggled yet again, giving up 2-run homer to Long. He's not locating the pitches well; but you have to credit the A's hitters. They tattooed him last Sunday as well, for 3 runs to come from behing to win.

Angels now 5-5. Would like to see a sweep.

On a side note: Dodgers lost again, as Bonds hit his 4th homer of season. McGriff looks old and slow.

Palmeiro of the Rangers hit #494. Only 6 more1!!!!!

4/12/03 update: Angels 9, A's 5

Angels offense clicking now, as they've won 4 in a row, and with a win tomorrow, will tie Oakland for the AL West.

Clutch bases-loaded single by Eric Owens was the eventual winner.

Angels did a good job in rallying after the A's came back from 3-0 with 4 runs.

Tomorrow's gonna be tough vs. Barry Zito, AL Cy Young last year.

Boy, it's tough to watch Troy Glaus, with the injured hamstring, run. Makes me wince every time.

Garrett Anderson had another great ballgame, with a 3-run blast.

Let's see if the Angels can return the favor that Oakland did for them with a sweep.

On a side note: Dodgers vs. Giants was a rain-out, to be made up in late September. Anaheim Mighty Ducks went to Detroit and two the first 2 games!! of course, last year, Detroit also lost the first 2 home games, and ended up winning the Stanley Cup

4/13/03 update: Angels 8, A's 2

Very nice job by the Angels this weekend, returning the favor to being swept by the A's last weekend, by sweeping them this weekend.

Beat up on A's pitching, averaging almost 9 runs in the 3 games, capped off by 8-2 beating of last year's Cy Young winner Barry Zito.

Salmon usually is a slow starter, but hit 3 homers this weekend - one in each game - and had at least 9 RBIs. Good pitching, good defense, and good hitting.

Now tied with A's for the AL West lead.

And headed to play Texas next week.

The way the Angels are scoring and pitching, doesn't look like Percival's going to get many save opportunities

4/14/03 update: Rangers 4, Angels 0

a dominating performance by Ismael Valdes, whose 2 victories this season comes courtesy of the Angels (he also beat them on Opening Day in Anaheim).

Angels bats just disappeared; Carl Everett had a great game.

A. Rod and Palmeiro didn't do much.

On the bright side, A's lost again, this time to Seattle.

Looks like a dogfight in AL West.

On a side note: Dodgers didn't lose today. lol. of course, they didn't play, either. And the Mighty Ducks are leading 2-0 with 7 minutes left in 3rd period. Wow, a possible 3-0 game lead!!!!

4/15/03 update: Rangers 5, Angels 4.

Angels got out to a quick 2-0 lead; but that was soon wiped out.

Not much to say here. Just better offense by the Red hot Rangers.

Angels not playing well away from home; but today, it was the pitching that let them down.

Angels try to avoid the sweep tomorrow. They did a good job holding down A. Rod and Palmeiro and Gonzalez.

At least the A's also lost, getting beat by the Mariners. A's have lost 5 in a row.

I consider A's to be more of a challenge to the Angels than the Mariners for the AL West title, simply b/c of that tremendous pitching of Zito, Hudson, and the other dude.

On a sidenote: Dodgers lost yet again to the Padres. Boy, over these past 3 years, Padres have just beaten up on the Dodgers, regardless of their records during the year.

So far, I haven't had the pleasure to see Angels, Dodgers, Lakers all win on same day they all play.

4/16/03: Angels 9, Rangers 8

wow, talk about a strange inning; Angels scored 7 runs in the 8th inning, helped in part by an umpire's call that ruled Salmon was safe on an attempted double play by the Rangers.

Rangers hit 4 homer, 30 for the season, including 2 by A. Rod.

Once again, pitching did in the Rangers.

On a side note: Angels won, Lakers won, Dodgers won, Clippers won, Kings won and Mighty Ducks won ---- talk about a winning night for California, eh??!?!?!?!? Of course, the Warriors lost, but they played us.

4/17/03 update: Rangers 9, Angels 7.

Well, Rangers returned the favor to the Angels today, rallying from behind to win.

Angels came out with 4 runs in 1st inning, but Angels pitchers couldn't hold down the Rangers hitters.

Carl Everett is absolutely hot!!

Angels now return home to play 1st place Seattle.

4/18/03: Mariners 8, Angels 2.

Jamie Moyer had Angels hitter baffled through 6+ innings, scattering hits here and there, but no threats to score.

Brett Boone launched a 3-run homer, and that was basically the game.

Angels had a chance with bases loaded, but Salmon struck out vs. Moyer.

Angels finally scored 2 runs, only to have Mariners come back with 3 more.

Angels now 2 games behind Mariners, and 1 game behind A's

When pitching is good; hitting is not. When hitting is good, pitching is not. But at least they're not 6-14, like last year's start.

To be continued tomorrow, where it's Troy Glaus rally monkey night.

On a side note: Dodgers lost again to the Giants. Looks like Giants will have division wrapped up soon. Dodgers only chance is wild card. McGriff struggling mightily!!

4/19/03: Angels 7, Mariners 6

wow, what a comeback!?!?!?!

On a night where all fans got a Troy Glaus rally monkey gift for attending the ballgame, the Angels rallied after being down 6-1.

It started like the past few games, with the opposition scoring early and often; and Angels unable to hit with men in scoring position.

But then, Angels started crawling back, getting a couple in the late innings, and topped it off with a rally in the 9th inning.

Figgins singled, stole 2nd, scored on Eckstein's single. Owens perfectly executed the hit and run with a smash b/t 1st-2nd.
Eckstein then scored as Salmon hit a blooper over the drawn-in infield. Had the infield played at regular depth, it would've been caught by Olerud.

Then Salmon and Owens executed a double steal; Glaus hit a hot shot to 3rd base, bobbled by McLemore (who earlier hit a 2-run homer), and Owens scored the winning run!!!

Let's hope this starts a nice winning streak. Looks like A's and Mariners are tied for 1st in AL West; and Angels 1 game behind.

to be continued..............

4/20/03: Mariners 7, Angels 6.

After clawing their way back to tie the score at 5, Percival came in the 9th, and the Angels bumbled their way to allow 2 runs to score.

Very disappointing. Julio Ramirez, just up from the minors, had a horrible game for the Angels -- base running mistakes, throwing mistakes.

Tomorrow's a day off.

On a side note: Dodgers fell behind 4-0, and I thought they were going to get swept again by the Giants, but Dodgers responded with 16 (that's right, SIXTEEN) unanswered runs.
wowow!!

Well, tonight is the start of a 3-game series vs. those RED HOT Yankees, coming in fresh off of a blow-out sweep of the Twins.

Boy, the Yankees beat the hell out of those Twins.

We'd better get our act together, or you're gonna see the Yanks pull off another sweep.

Tonight action will be recounted second-hand (i.e. from what I read from ESPN.)

Will be glued to TV set watching Lakers vs. Wolves. If we can take this 2nd game and go up 2-0, the game is over.

4/22/03 update: Yanks 8 Angels 3

Not much to say....still bummed out from the Lakers' losses.

As for the Yanks, superior pitching / offense / defense.... man, a 17-3 start. Who's going to stop them from winning the title?

4/23/02 update: Yanks 9, Angels 2.

Clemens won his 297 game, and beat Angels for the 28th time in his career, most of any team he's pitched again.

I do not know how Yankees can lose. It's frightening to see a team with hitting, pitching, and defense all clicking at the same time.

But there is one bright spot: it can't get any better than this for the Yanks. And the time to be hot and gain momentum is heading INTO the playoffs. Time will tell if they will reach 100+ games won, which seems to be a given.

but then again...both Mariners and Indians won 100+ games, and still didn't even reach the World Series

4/24/03: Angels 6, Yanks 2

Angels averted a 3-game sweep by winning the rubber match.

Ortiz pitched a whale of a ball game, albeit only 5+ innings. Then the bullpen kept the lead.

Salmon hit his 6th homer of the season, with 16 RBIs and .325 BA.

Looks to be headed to his 1st ever All Star game, esp. given that he's usually a slow starter in April.


Eckstein clawing his way back to .250 after being under Mendoza line.

On to the Red Sox this weekend, who got rocked by the Rangers today 16-5.

4/25/03: Angels 2, Red Sox 5...

slowly slipping away from the division title, as Mariners and A's keep winning while Angels keep losing.

They got bit by homers again.

Tried to rally in 8th and 9th inning, but came up short.

Eckstein slowly crawling up the batting average.

4/26/03 update: Angels 3, Red Sox 1

Finally, some pitching!! Eckstein steam rolling now, with another 2 hits as he tries to go from .187 to .300

Fortunately, the Mariners lost 2 games out of the 3 vs the Tigers (wow1!!), with another game Sunday. A's won.

We're slowly crawling up the division. Gotta beat up on teams outside of the AL West.

Tomorrow is a tough one, with Pedro on the mound, who's 7-1 against us career-wise, and an incredible 30-3 against AL West teams.

Then it's on to SARS-plagued Toronto.

Not sure if I'll be watching tomorrow game on ESPN vs. Red Sox ...Lakers play, and if they lose, I'll be drowning out my sorrows in Heinekens.

4/27/03 update: Angels 4, Red Sox 6

Angels lost on back to back homers in 14th inning.

They did a good job against Pedro..but couldn't pull out the victory.

With all these losses, they slowly slip slide from the division leaders Mariners and A's.

Can't expect to have a winning streak like they had last year.

4/28/03: no games scheduled today.

Next up, we visit Cleveland before heading to Toronto, where the Royals grumbled about having to travel to a SARS-plagued place, then played as if they were already sick, losing Sunday after having a 5-run lead in 8th inning.

On a side note, my Dodgers had a 3 game sweep of Pittsburgh over the weekend, then promptly got shut out by Phillies today 3-0.

4/29/03: Angels 10, Cleveland 1.

A huge offensive game for the Angels. Ramon Ortiz is showing his stuff this year after a very slow start. Now 4-2. Nice complete game, which one doesn't see much anymore.

While this may seem like a great win, both Mariners and A's won as well. So no games gained on the leaders.

Angels got some big time catching up to do.

On a side note: Dodgers won 6-1 over the Phillies and the Lakers blew out Wolves.

So, a rare 3 wins by the local home teams tonight!!!

4/30/03: Angels 6, Indians 2.

For the second game in a row, the starting pitchers came through. It was Ortiz pitching a complete game last night, giving up only 1 run; and now Washburn gives up only 2 runs in 8 innings.

two 2-run homers by Molina and Fullmer helped Angels keep up the scoring, and Eckstein is continuing his nice hitting after a horrible slump in April.

Salmon currently hitting over 0.300 and looks headed for his first All-star game.

Mariners lost to Yanks; but Oakland won.

5/1/03 update: Rain out b/t Indians and Angels, a good thing for the Indians in 2 respects.

1. Doubleheaders usually result in each team winning one.

2. Angels were just pounding the stuffing out of Cleveland pitching, so they get a reprieve.

On a good note: both Mariners and A's lost to Yankees and White Sox respectively

5/2/03 update: Angels 1, Blue Jays 3

Lackey pitched a pretty good game, but gave up a 3-run homer in the 1st and that did him in.

Salmon hit a homer for the Angels lone run

So far this year, Angels have given up some pretty damaging 3-run home runs. Solo shots are much preferred.

Lackey hasn't yet regained the form that made him 9-4 last season, not to mention winning game 7 World Series

We gotta start beating up on these lesser opponents. Tough enough to beat the A's and Mariners.

5/3/03 update: Angels 1, Blue Jays 7

Another damaging home run given up by Angels pitching, but instead of it being a 3-run homer, it was a grand slam this time.

Angels stopped hitting the minute they entered Canadian border.

Eckstein did hit his 2nd homer of the season.

Oakland and Seattle both won....and Angels slowing slipping down the standing.

On a side note: Dodgers winning 4-1 in bottom of 8th inning. Shawn Green hit a 2-run homer to break game wide open. Gagne looks to pitch to 9th for another save.

5/4/03: Blue Jays 8 Angels 2

Got swept by the Blue Jays in this 3-game series. Wasn't even close. Ortiz pitched a bad game, and Angels offense was stymied the entire series.

Now in last place, as Mariners and A's continue their winning ways.

Not good!

5/503 update: an off-day for both Angels and Dodgers.

On a side note: Lakers lost but the Mighty Ducks won!!

5/6/03 update: Angels 6, Indians 1.

Well, the Angels returned from a disastrous trip to Canada, where they were swept in 3 games, and dominated both offenisvely, and pitching-wise.

Returning home, Angels saw their ace Washburn pitch a rare complete game to even his record to 3-3.

Molina broke open a fairly close ball game with a 3-run homer.

Angels have been beating up on Cleveland so far, winning 2 games at Jacobs Field (game 3 was rained out)..and then winning the 1st game here. Game 2 tomorrow.

On a side note: Dodgers lost 3-2 to the Mets. Piazza had a mole removed, and since he didn't play, there was nothing eventful happening.

Dodgers are getting to the point where they have to play for the wildcard position. Giants are just absolutely on fire!! Bonds hit another homer today, I think it's his 11th.

5/7/03 update: Angels 6, Indians 5

A tremendous rally by the Angels, after being down 4-1 and then 5-2, to come back and win the game.

I think they just play much much better at home.

Lackey wasn't very sharp again today...what did he do this off-season, just sit on the couch and rest on his game 7 victory in World Series.

But the relievers did their job in holding down the Indians until Angels made their comeback.

Incredibly, Glaus was a double away from hitting for the cycle.

5 straight games Angels have now won vs. the Indians.

Next up are the Blue Jays. We need to return them the favor for sweeping us out of Canada last weekend.

5/8/03: Angels 7, Indians 1. A belated update b/c I was not able to get online late last night until tonight.

Angels have won 6 out of 6 games vs Indians, and basically dominated them.

Garret Anderson broke the game wide open with a grand slam.

Just a fabulous picthing performance by Appier, who really hasn't done too well.

Angels start their slow climb out of the cellar....still quite a ways from A's/Mariners.

Toronto comes in to town for the weekend series; Angels hope to return the favor by sweeping them this weekend.

Right now, it's the top of 2nd inning, no score..

5/9/03: Angels 6, Blue Jays 1.

Nice game of pitching by Aaron Sele as he attempts to make a comeback from injuries suffered last year.

The pitching and hitting are clicking..and Angels slowly begin their climb back over 0.500 ball. Currently sitting at 17-17

The Angels have won 4 in a row, ever since a closed door meeting by Manager Mike Scioscia.

5/10/03 update: Blue Jays 7 Angels 4

another game where Blue Jays offense just dominated the Angels pitching, as Blue Jays scored 5 times in 6th inning to break open a 2-2 tie.

Blue Jays, for whatever reason, have the Angels number.

Angels tried to rally in 7-8th innings, but failed to score with runners in scoring position.

Tomorrow's rubber match has ace Washburn pitching for Angels.

On the bright side, Mariners and A's also lost, so no ground gained nor lost.

5/11/03 update: Blue Jays took 2 out of 3 at Anaheim, combined with the sweep of 3 games last weekend.

Blue Jays have the Angels number. A's won, Mariners won.

boy, it's a good thing this is a 162-game season, b/c Angels just don't have it so far this year.

5/12/03: Angels are off today, as is the majority of AL teams except for MN vs KC.

Angels travel to New York to play the vaunted Yankees.

Although they will not face Clemens in his quest for 300 wins, they start the 1st two games vs Wells and Mussina.

uh oh!!!

5/13/03 update: Angels 10, Yanks 3

how about them Angels? After struggling with Toronto, losing 5 out of 6 to them,

Angels came into Yankees Stadium, faced the red-hot Mussina, and promptly spanked him for a 10-3 victory.

Anderson hit a 2-run homer; Spiezo, struggling mightily and in a 1 for 23 slump, hit a solo shot. Eckstein, batting .325 ever since going 3-for-31, went 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored.

Lackey pitched a wonderful game.

Now, the Angels face Wells, another red-hot pitcher.

5/14/03 update: Angels 5 Yanks 3

Angels beat both redhot Mussina yesterday and then Wells today, coming from behind after falling behind by 2 runs.

Angels are now 5-2 vs Yanks so far this season, with the rubber match coming tomorrow.

From sportsline.com:

"...Troy Glaus doubled home the go-ahead run off David Wells in a three-run eighth inning and Scott Spiezio was 4-for-4 as the Anaheim Angels kept beating the New York Yankees, rallying for a 5-3 victory Wednesday night..."

And Spiezio went 4-4. In this series, he raised his BA from 0.180 to 0.215.

And get this!!! --- Detroit beat Mariners; and Cleveland beat A's.

Can't do better than that!!!!!

Angels now back to 0.500, now 4 1/2 games behind both teams.

Boy, wouldn't that be something if Angels sweep the Yanks AT their stadium, huh?

5/14/03 update: Yankees 10 Angels 3

Yanks get away with one victory as Weaver pitched a good game.

Yanks jumped on Aaron Sele early and didn't let up, as he gave up 5+ runs

I thought Scioscia should've pulled him out in the 2nd after he gave up 5 runs, but alas he didn't and Yanks kept scoring.

Soriano started it all with a lead-off homer.

5/15/03: Angels 6 Red Sox 5.

Angels won 2 out of 3 vs the Yanks and their red-hot pitchers Mussina and Wells, both of whom were undefeated.

Now, they face a red-hot team in the Red Sox.

Promptly fell behind 4-0 before rallying to tie the score.

And Jeff DaVanon made a game saving home-run catch that he eventually dropped. It resulted in a Nixon triple, but the next Red Sox batter grounded out.

Percival came in for the 6th save.

Nomar had a hit, in 17th consecutive game.

Tomorrow's game is early 1pm EST, and first one on Fox.

5/17/03 update: Angels 6 Red Sox 2

It was a close, well pitched game through 7 innings, as both Lowe and Washburn were on their game.

Score was 2-1 headed into the 8th, then Glaus hit a 2-run homer in the 8th to give Angels the lead.

In 9th inning, with runners on 1st and 2nd and one out, Eckstein hit a fly ball to Nixon, who caught it, thought it was the third out, tossed the ball to a little boy in the seats, and Molina scored from 2nd base as a result.

Last player to do that was Larry Walker.

Angels got 3 insurance runs in the 8th....and Percival closed the door.

But, Mariners won as well, so no ground gained.

So far, what looked like a tough road trip has been fun! Angels won 2 of 3 from Yankees. Now won the first 2 from Red Sox, both come from behind victories, and look to sweep tomorrow.

Angels now 22-20 after a terrible start that saw them 6 games under 0.500

Still 5 1/2 out from Mariners and 4 from A's.

Just keep chugging along. Still a long ways to go.

5/18/03: Red Sox 5, Angels 3

Lackey and the Angels fell behind for the 3rd straight game as Boston put up 4 runs in 2nd, followed by Manny Ramirez solo shot in 3rd.

That was all Burkett needed, as he pitched a whale of a ball game.

Angels almost mounted a comeback, but with a runner on 3rd in 8th inning and less than 2 outs, they didn't score.

Nice road trip, taking 2 of 3 from Boston and NY

Unfortunately, Seattle kept winning.

Angels now back to 0.500 again.

Day off Monday

5/20/03: Angels 7, Orioles 6.

Just a tremendous rally by the Angels after falling behind 4-0 in the 1st inning. Appier will not last long, as he has been the weak link.

But, Troy Glaus hit 2 homers and a double; Garrett had a 2-run homer.

And in the 9th, down by a run, Glaus doubled, and Fullmer singled him in. Fullmer was out trying to stretch the single to a double. Spiezo hit a triple, and the Orioles decided the walk the next 2 batters to load the bases.

Eckstein hit a line drive to a 5-man infield; shortstop trapped the ball, then threw it to the catcher, who dropped it. Spiezo score the game winner!!!

Too bad the Mariners and A's won as well.

5/21/03: Orioles 7 Angels 6.

Aaron Sele, like Appier yesterday, got the Angels down by a quick 5 runs.

Angels crawled back to 5-4 before Frankie Rodriguez gave up 2 runs in 8th inning.

Glaus is red hot, hitting a solo shot. Angels had a runner on and Salmon at bat with 1 out, down by 2. But Salmon grounded into a double play.

It's a shame appier and Sele are still pitching. Getting paid a ton of money, and can't pitch worth a darn.

But, Mariners and A's both lost.

As for K-rod, his rookie card was one of the hottest in this season, but he's giving up run after run this season.

5/22/03 update: Orioles 7 Angels 4

Very very disappointing game.

Angels had 4-3 lead going into the 9th on superb pitching by Ortiz and Donnelley.

Percival came in, and the first 3 Orioles got on base. Some minor leaguer who just got called up a couple of days ago then hit a grand slam.

And that was that.

Angels now 7 1/2 out of 1st and fading fast!!

5/23/03: Devil Rays 3 Angels 1.

Not a bad pitching performance by Washburn, but the Angels gave no run support.

Last year, Angels were beating up on bad teams while splitting with the great teams.

THis year, not so.

Now 8 1/2 games out of 1st place.

Very disappointing.

And for the Dodgers---- their 8th consecutive victory, as Shawn Green, on the anniversary of hitting 4 homer and going 6-6 with a MLB tying 19 total bases, hit a 3-run homer to lead the Dodgers to the victory.

Combined with Giants loss, Dodgers now only 2 1/2 games out of 1st place and coming on strong for the wildcard.

Giants went 15-2, and now have been playing below average ball.

No saves for Gagne this time, as he was given a rest by Manager Tracy; Mota pitched 3 innings of great relief to get the save.

5/24/03: Angels 7, Tampa 2

An offensive explosion, spear headed by Troy Glaus' 4 hit performance, including a solo shot and a bases-loaded clearing double and a stolen base.

Got good pitching from struggling John Lackey.

Angels now 1 game under 0.500

They need to get tomorrow's rubber match. Already, they've lost 2 of 3 to lowly Baltimore at home; and can't afford to lose this series at home as well.

Now with Mariners continually winning.

Angels came in today in last place, 1/2 game behind Texas

5/25/03: Dodgers 5 Brewers 1

Now that the Dodgers are back into the hunt for the play-offs.. I am gonna start keeping updates on these fellas

Brown continued the Dodgers dazzling pitching performance, as he went 8+ innings to get the win.

Both Brown and Sheets pitched a great game, until Sheets gave up McGriff's 2-run homer , 486 of his career.

Then Lo Duca hit a 3-run bomb...and game was basically over.

Gagne didn't have to pitch any of these games. And with Monday off, he'll be well rested as Dodgers travel to play Colorado

Right now, Rockies leading Giants 3-0 in bottom of 7th, and if Giants lose, Dodgers are a whopping 1/2 games back. wowowowow

10 straight victories, it's been since 1980 when that occurred.

5/25/03 update: angels 6 Devil rays 1

Well, it's about time; angels took a series from devil rays after losing the previous series to the Orioles.

Nice pitching by Appier, who has a 7-0 record vs Tampa.

Mariners lost and A's won, with a 2-run 9th inning homer by Erubiel Durazo to tie the ball game and a run in extra inning to win it ---- nice A's comeback.

Rangers lost, so Angels now 1 1/2 games out of last place, and
6 1/2 games from 1st. 3 1/2 from the A's.

Next up is 2 games at Baltimore and 4 vs. Tampa --- all on the road. Should produce 4-5 wins from this 6 game trip

5/26/03 update:

Both the Dodgers and the Angels are off for today.

But, I'll be watching ESPN all day, as Roger Clemens goes for 300.

Right now, it's raining at Yankees Stadium, so ESPN is showing the Tigers vs. Indians and Detroit is having an offensive explosion!!!!

2-2 score, bottom of 1st, 2 outs, bases loaded for Tigers

5/27/03 update: without even having played a game, the Dodgers come into Tuesday's game vs Colorado tied for 1st, as Giants lost Monday to Colorado and have lost 11 of their last 16, while the Dodgers are 10-0 in the last 10.

Dodgers swept Colorado at home, but now go to CoorsField, where the Rockies play very well, having just beaten the Giants 3 of 4.

Can the pitching staff continue their tremendous pitching, where the ERA has been less than 2 in their last 10 games?

We'll see.

And the Angels play at Baltimore for a 2-game series today.

Updates tonight

EKK Doesn't look to good for the Anges tonight...the O's bats are HOT!

5/27/03: Orioles 12, Angels 4

Not worth talking about, as the bad starting pitching continues

And for the Dodgers

Rockies 7, Dodgers 3

as the Rockies scored 5 runs in the 1st inning and cruised to an easy victory. McGriff lost the ball in the sun, leading to a 2-run error. Dodgers closed to within 5-3, before Mota gave up 2 more runs.

That's the problem with having little offense. Any time the pitching staff gives up 3 runs, game is over.

5/28/03 update: in one sentence: Angels and Dodgers lost.

And now the ugly details

Angels 2, Orioles 6
That minor leaguer just called up did it again, hitting his 2nd grand slam in less than 2 weeks vs the Angels. Ortiz pitched a terrible game; and the offense didn't do anything. Orioles have won 3 of 4 from the Angels, who now travel to play Tampa for a 4-game series. Angels getting further and further away from the Mariners.

Dodgers 0, Rockies 6
The Dodgers have such a weak hitting offense that they actually got shut out at Coors Field; what's more; they didn't come close to threatening for a run, as they only had 3 measly singles.
As with yesterday, Rockies jumped out to an early lead in 1st-2nd innings, and game was basically over. Pretty much the entire Dodgers offense is in a slump. Now 2 games behind the Giants.

5/30/03 update: Rockies 12 Dodgers 5

The Rockies offense just totally overwhelmed the Dodger pitching staff in sweeping the 3-game series.

Prior to this series, Dodgers pitchers were 10-0 in 10 straight games with 1.50 ERA.

Colorado rocked the Dodgers, who now fall 2 1/2 games out.

5 runs by the Dodgers is monstrous performance, and they should've won this game; but alas, it wasn't to be.

5/29/03: Angels 2, Devil Rays 1

both pitchers, Washburn of the Angels and Zambrano of the D-rays, pitched well enough to deserve the victory.

zambrano gave up 2 runs in 1st running, then shut down Angels after that.

but Washburn pitched one of the finer games for the Angels this year -- very good performance, and boy did the Angels need it, what with the Mariners winning yet again.

5/30/03:

Dodgers 3, Brewers 5...Dodgers had a 3-1 lead, until Milwaukee scored 4 runs with 2 outs, led by Sexson 2-run shot.

Once the Brewers scored those 4 runs, you knew the game was over, b/c the Dodgers are just absolutely weak hitters, and McGriff is a very very old 1st basemen, with no mobility to chase down foul balls, and little ability to dig out short hops from the infielders.

Angels lost to the Devil Rays. There is no TV coverage for the Rays series (except yesterday's ESPN2), so I won't experience much angst over them losing.

Lackey was given a 3-0 lead, and just didn't have it. The starting pitching staff has a 6.0 ERA while the relievers have a 2.40 ERA.

Mariners won. Angels now 9 1/2 games out.

Looks like the lights are out. but at least the Angels gave us a tremendous year last year, one to last a lifetime.

((SIGH))

the angels are currently on a skid, they lost 4 out of 5 to my O's

Your Orioles are playing good baseball.

We are playing bad baseball, and given that we're 9 1/2 games out of 1st place, it's do or die time, b/c the Mariners are pulling away really fast with the division title

5/31/03 update: Angels 6 Tampa 1

A well pitched game by Appier, something sorely needed by the Angels, as he came within 1 out of a shut-out.

Angels scored runs in the first 4 innings, and Appier did the rest.

Salmon and Garrett Anderson had hits to keep their 0.300 level

Eckstein is struggling mightily, having not scored a run in his last 11 games.

Mariners won yet again vs the Twins, with clutch hits with 2-outs to score their 1st 2 runs.

Dodger update coming up tonight.

5/31/03 Dodger update

Dodgers 3 Brewers 0

Kevin Brown looks to be back to his old form, as he shut out Brew crew over 8 innings, giving up 6 lousy hits and had 6 K's. Brownie hasn't lost to Brewers since 1995

Boy, did the Dodgers need this win, having lost 4 in a row and 3 1/2 games behind the Giants.

McGriff supplied all the need power with his 487th career home run. He may just get to 500 homers this year!

Great Dodger defense, too, esp. by Beltre, who's not hitting worth sh*t, but still plays the 3rd base position just fine.

Giants also won. But Dodgers are closing in on Expos for wild card position.

6/1/03 update:

Dodgers 3, Brewers 4. Dodgers had a 3-2 lead but blew it. Was a fairly solid pitched game on both sides; and the Brewers basically had a bit more offense. Nothing much else to say about this game.

Giants won again, so now the Dodgers are 4 1/2 games back.

Angels 9, D-rays 4
DaVanon looks like he has at least secured a spot on the bench once Erstad comes back. Today, in the leadoff spot for Eckstein, who has been struggling mightily and was given the day off, DaVanon went 4-5 with 4 runs scored, 3 RBIs, and 2 solo blasts.

Nice bit of pitching by Sele, who has pitched pretty poorly most of this year.

Garrett Anderson went 0-5 and is now under 0.300. He's also in a big time slump

No ground gained as Mariners again won. I believed they swept the 4 game series from the twins.

6/2/03 update:

day off for most teams as inter-league play starts tomorrow. Giants lost to Rockies, Padres beat the D'backs, and Cleveland swept white Sox.

Angels face Expos in Puerto Rico --- no TV for this series

Forgot who the Dodgers will face.

should be fun -- I like inter-league play

6/3/03:

great day today!!

Angels 15 Expos 4, game played at Puerto Rico, where fly balls were flying outta here!!

Homers by DaVanon (2) - 2nd multi-homer home in less than 1 week; Glaus, Salmon, and Molina.

Every starter had at least one hit, except for Spiezo and Pitcher Ortiz.

Great game for the Molina brothers returning home to Puerto Rico in front of friends and family - Benji had a 3-run shot, and 4 of 5 hits. Jose had pinch-hit single.

A's lost, and Angels are now 1 game over 0.500. Mariners won.


Dodgers update:
Dodgers 4, KC 3

very tight ball game 3-3 in bottom of 9th
Dodgers got 4 walks in the inning to get the GW run.
Giants lost, so Dodgers now 2 1/2 games behind, and closing in on Expos for the wild card spot!!

6/4/03:

Angels are loving Hiram ballpark in Puerto Rico. Second game in a row that they scored in double digits as they beat the Expos 11-2.

Garrett Anderson hit 3 homers
Jeff Davanon now has 3 straight games with 2 homers
Glaus and Fullmer also homered.

After hitting six homers yesterday to tie a franchise record, Angels hit 7 today.

Washburn had a quality start, giving up 1 run in 6 innings.

Great offense and good pitching helped Angels to get to 2 games over 0.500.

Mariners keep winning..but Angels 3 games behind Yanks and 3 1/2 games behind A's for wild card spot. Doesn't look like Mariners are going to lose any time soon

Dodgers 1 KC 2.
Not much to say about a game that had great pitching. KC did just enough to get the victory.

With Giants winning in the bottom of the 9th, Dodgers now 4 games out of 1st place, but 1/2 games behind Expos for wildcard

6/4/03 update:

Angels 6, Expos 7

Angels scored 2 runs in top of 14th inning, only to see Callaway give up 3 runs to lose the game.

Callaway should be gone soon, now that Percival will be back, and Sele and Appier appear to be pitching ok.

The division title is pretty much over, as Angels are now 10 1/2 games out.

Dodgers leading KC 3-2 in top of 8th, Brownie pitched a great game, now we'll see if the Dodgers can hold KC scoreless in 8th inning for Eric Gagne in the 9th

6/5/03 update: 1 day delay due to time spent on NBA Finals stats for the trivia

Dodgers 2-1 over White Sox, nice pitching by Kaz Ishii over Buerhle, who pitched a pretty good game himself.

A Jordan homer, and a Loduca RBI single and that was the anemic Dodger offense; fortunately, the pitching was great yet again. And Gagne (who was drafted in 1995 by the White Sox, but didn't sign) once again shut the door. He's got an incredible 58 or so Ks to only 7 walks!?!?!? Gagne now 21-21 in saves this year and about 29-29 going back to last year.

Giants won, so no ground gained, so did the Expos

Angels 1 FL 4
Appier gave up a 3-run homer to Ivan Rodriguez, and that shut the door, as the Angels bats went silent. Mariners won again, and Angels now 10 1/2 games back.

Barring a miracle in which the Angels win 10 and Mariners lose 10, the division title looks to be the Mariners, and now it's on to the wildcard spot

6/6/03 update: Angels got back on track with a 9-2 blasting of FL.

G. Anderson is red hot. Ever since he went 0-5 to drop below 0.300 BA, he's been scorching, having hit 6 homers in last 5 games, including a 3-run shot in this game.

Unfortunately, no TV yet again, so can't say much more about this game. Although I noticed Eckstein was "rested" again in favor of Benji Gil. Eck has been in a horrific slump.

Mariners and A's both rained out, but Boston won. Angels have to start putting together a streak of several wins in a row...the division appears lost; but not the wild card

Dodgers 1, White Sox 4
Bartolo Colon pitched a gem of a game, finally giving up a run in the 9th inning. Once the White Sox got 2 runs in the 3rd, it was lights out for the anemic Dodgers offense.

Colon was hot, retiring 19 (that's right, 19) straight batters.

Giants won again, and now 4 games up on Dodgers.
Expos also beat the Rangers, so now 1 game up in wild card hunt

6/8/03 update:

Angels 8 FL 5

Ortiz didn't pitch a particularly good game, but the offense more than made up for it. he gave up 5 ER in just 6 inning, but great relief work by the Angels, as Percival got his 8th save, having come off the DL several days ago

G. Anderson is red-hot, 2 more hits, with 1 RBI. Glaus hit a homer
These two are most likely to make the All Star game

Mariners kept winning...so all the Angels can do is shoot for the wildcard, as they're just a few games behind Red Sox and A's

Eckstein should get some sort of award. He always hustles and come through in the clutch. Go Eckstein!

I certainly agree! But he has to hustle like he does, b/c he's a very small guy, and not particularly strong arm from the shortstop position.

But, he's certainly adored in Anaheim.

Right now, he's got a badly bruised hand, and he's been in a big time slump.

Erstad comes back tonight vs the Phillies, and it looks like Percival is ok, although he is not throwing the fast ball as hard as he used to

6/9/03:

Only one game in MLB today, and it was Phillies vs Angels, with Erstad coming back.

Padilla pitched a whale of a ballgame, as he and the Philllies shut out the Angels 3-0

Washburn pitched a fairly good game as well; but it was all Padilla today

6/10/03:

Dodgers 3, Tigers 1
In a game of the 2 weakest offenses (emphasis on OFFENSE), it took, naturally, 12 innings for Dodgers to win.

Nomo pitched a great game, 7 innings, 1 ER, 6 K's
The relievers did a great job as well

as well as Nomo pitched, Tigers' Knotts was even better, as he pitched a 1 ER, 8-inning ball game.
The Relievers also did well

But, alas, someone had to win, and that happened in the 12th, as Alex Cora singled in 2.

Gagne got his 22nd save in 22 tries.

Giants got beat by White Sox, who just took 2 of 3 from Dodgers.

Angels 2, Phillies 1
Well pitched ball game by both Lackey and the Philllies pitchers. Angels scored the winning run on a wild pitch.

Oak and Atl are tied 3-3 in 11th; Expos lead Mariners by 1 in 8th inning; Cardinals beat Red Sox; Yanks won.

Angels have to start hoping the teams above are losing and losing soon, b/c while the division title looks to be over; the wildcard is still very much in reach

6/12/update: this is late....but better late than never

Dodgers 3, Tigers 1

Kevin Brown won his 8th in a row, and is the first 9-game winner for the NL; looks to be headed to the All Star game as he lowered his measly 1.50+ ERA even lower.

McGriff went 1-4 with an RBI to tie Joe Dimaggio on the RBI's list; but he's still bating under 0.250
Green went 0-2 with an RBI. Slumping as mightily as Sosa, both with about 6-7 homers.

Not much in the way of offense for these two teams that are #1 and #2 in lowest runs scored per game.

But Dodger pitching is keeping them near the division leaders.
Giants won, 11-4, as Bonds went deep for the 17th time.
Expos also won, beating the Mariners for the 2nd straight time (WOWOWOW)
No ground gained on either leaders


Angels 5, Phillies 3
Nice comeback by the Angels, who trailed 3-1 before exploding to score 4, capped by a clutch single by Molina to tie the ball game and a 2-run shot by Gil, his 1st of the season

Fairly good pitching performance by Appier, who went 5 2/3. Then the majors #1 relieving staff took over, with Weber getting the win and Percival another save.

A's and Mariners lost, so Angels gained ground on both.

6/13/03 update: Dodgers 4 Indians 3

Great pitching by both teams (or was it bad OFFENSE, lol)

Gagne pitched in 3rd game in a row for 3rd save. He's now got 25 saves in 25 chances

Shawn Green and Jolbert Cabrera both went 2-5 with 1 RBI
Lo Duca extended his streak of games hit safely in (I think he's at 18)

Perez went 6 innings, allowing 3 ER


For the Indians, Bradley, Spencer, and Coco Crips (lolol) each had 2 hits.

Anderson pitched a good game with 5 innings, 1 ER, but the bullpen didn't do their job

KC beating the Giants 4-1 in 7th.
Dodgers currently 3 games behind.

6/13/03: Angels lost to the Mets 7-3

It's a shame that Mike Scioscia has such faith in Sele and Appier.

Both have struggled mightily this year.

And rather than pulling them out before the damage is done, he lets them stay in there to continue pitching.

Case in point: Sele was struggling with his control right from the start. In the 3rd, one could see that he just didn't have his stuff.
In the 4th, Mets scored 4 runs, then Sele was pulled.

lolol

Why wait until the horses have left the stable? Why not fix the problem right away?

Even the announcers for the Angels were saying that Sele was having a bad pitching performance, and this was the inning BEFORE he gave up those 4 runs.

lolol

6/14/03 update: Angels 13 Mets 3

No problems with pitching here, Angels started hitting right from 1st inning and never let up

Garret Anderson went 4-5, 2 homers, 3 RBIs, and has 61 total RBIs so far

Jeff Davanon relieved Erstad, and his a homer in the 8th...he's got 7 in June, tied with Garret for majors lead in June homers

The highlight of the game was a grand slam by Fullmer after the Angels and Mets were in a tight 3-2 ballgame. That broke the game open, needless to say

Jason Roach pitched his major league debut for the Mets, but gave up 7 runs.

Burnitz played CF and misplayed 2 balls for doubles by Salmon and Anderson that lead to a couple more runs

A's won, but the Mariners lost.

Angels now looking to win tomorrow to grab the 5th consecutive series they've won in a row

6/14/03: Dodgers 5 Indians 2

Dodgers won 5 straight, but the storyline was the Lo Duca and Milton Bradley trash talking

Bradley hit a homer, and right when he left the batter's box, started taking off his batting gloves.

Lo Duca didn't like it, said a few words, and the trash talking began. And it escalated when Bradley caught a short fly ball to the outfield; Lo Duca ran for 3rd to tag up, and Bradley threw him out, starting another war of words.

Lo Duca did get a double, hitting safely in 22. Brett Butler hit safely in 23 games back in 1990s

Andy Ashby pitched a good game; Wilson Alvarez got the save by pitching the last 4 innings

No work for Gagne, as he worked in saving the last 4 straight games for the Dodgers

David Ross had a fine game, 3 hits, 3 RBIs, a 2-run homer

Dodgers now 1/2 ahead of Expos for wildcard, and only 3 behind Giants.

how is k-rod doing I got graded cards of him?

Francisco started the season as the setup man to Percival; but his control problems led Scioscia to choose Donnelley, with a 0.38 ERA currently!!, to be the setup man.

So K-Rod basically pitches when Angels are up a bunch of runs or down a bunch of runs.

With Percival having injuries with his hip (although he is fine now), K-Rod is being groomed for the next closer of the Angels in 2-3 years. He's only 21 or so, so there are many years left. He's got a tremendous fastball, but needs to figure out better command of his breaking balls.

K-Rod's a good one; even has a family of his own, and stays out of trouble off-the-field.

6/15/03 update: Dodger 4, Indians 3

Dodgers swept 3 at Detroit, then swept 3 from the Indians for a perfect 6-0 Interleague record.

Gagne pitched his 26 save in 26 chances; he's got 34 straight saves dating to last year.

Nomo pitched a great game. 7 innings of 1 ER and 8 K's.

S. Green went 1-4 with 3 RBIs
Lo Duca went 2-4, he now has 23-game hitting streak

all the trashtalking b/t Bradley and Lo Duca stopped today as they made up


KC beat SF despite Bonds homer

Dodgers closing in on Giants, 2 behind them; Giants at Dodgers Stadium this coming Tuesday!!

omg man i thought the angels were good how could they get shutout by the mets??????? 8-0 i hated that i dropped trachsel threw a 1 hitter for brandon webb a promising better den trachsel starter

6/15/03 update: Angels 0, Mets 8

Trachsel was hot today, and Angels helped out by swinging right from the heels.

He had a no-hitter going until Eckstein broke it up with a single, and went to 3rd on 2-base error by the right-fielder in the 7th inning.

Other than that, nothing going for the Angels.

Jose Reyes blasted a grand slam off Washburn -- nice homer by the rookie just called up.

Burnitz also blasted a homer.

Mets took 2 of 3 from the Angels.

Angels now play the Mariners, and need to take the series to get back into the hunt for the division. Now 10 1/2 games out.

It's looking bleak..

dang that sucked i started washburn and i dropped trachsel this week sucked for my fantasy teams lol

Washburn hasn't done as well as I'd hoped; as a matter of fact, none of the Angels have. Consider tonight's game

M's 6, Angels 3

Angels got 3 quick runs off Pineiro in 1st inning, then got shut out the rest of the way.

Glaus is struggling, going 0-his last 21
Anderson did have 2 hits
Eckstein had an 0-fer

But the Mariners are just playing tremendous ball

Cameron hit a solo blast and added a 2-run homer for insurance to make the score 6-3, off K-Rod
Olerud also hit a 2-run homer

Angels now 11 1/2 games out

Dodgers had the day off. Tuesday -- it's the Giants!!!

it was great seein garret anderson get hott like how many homers in a span of games hes on my team as well

Garret currently is #6 in outfield in All Star votes; but there's 2 other ways he could get in:

players and coaches vote soon for the 9 positions available

and Scioscia will take him along as his choices, a privilege that managers who the the pennant get

6/17/03 update

Dodgers 4 Giants 1

great game by the Dodgers, who won for only the 2nd time in 8 meetings vs the Giants this year.

Lo Duca went 4-4, with a homer, and extended his hitting streak to 25 straight games. Brett Butler of the Dodgers last had a 23-game streak in 1990s

Brownie pitched another gem, allowing only 1 run in 7+ innings. This is the 11th STRAIGHT game he has pitched in which he allowed only 2 runs or less. He's now 10-1, with 2.00 ERA, and his only loss was earlier to Giants in the season. A definite Cy Young front-runner.

Bonds had a walk, and went 0-3

Gagne pitched for his 27 consecutive save in 27 tries, 35 if you count back to last year.

game 2 tonight --- Ishii pitches for the Dodgers


Angels lost 8-4. The division crown is over..and it's looking like the Angels will go meekly into the night, as their chances for a wildcard starts to slip away.

Bret Boone did the damage with a grand slam

6/18/03 update:

Angels 0, Mariners 2

Basically, this 3 game series has shown the superiority of the Mariners hitting, pitching, and defense.

Tonight, there wasn't much offense by either team; but the Mariners managed 2 runs; and Angels got shut out.

Now 12 1/2 games out.

Freddy Garcia was awesome in 8 innings, allowing only 5 hits, 2 by Fullmer.

Cameron and Wynn both went 1-4 with 1 RBI.

And that was it.

Mariners are flying away with the division.

Angels now back to 0.500 level and fading fast

6/18/03 update:

Dodgers 8, Giants 2

An offensive EXPLOSION, by Dodgers standards, as they scored 6 runs in the 7th inning. Heck, 6 runs is what they score in 3 full games.

Ishii made that stand up, with 6 innings of 1 ER allowed.

Lo Duca had a double to stretch his streak to 25, driving in a couple of runs.

Kinkade had a couple of hits, and made some nice plays at 1st base, his first start there while subbing for McGriff, out with injured groin.

Grissom hit a 9th inning meaningless homer

Bonds was again held in check for 2nd straight games.

Dodgers and Giants tied for 1st place; rubber match to be played tonight

Brown is scheduled to make his regular pitching duty, as he apparently isn't too hurt from the groin....but to be decided, still

Tonight, Perez pitches for the Dodgers

6/19/03 update:

Angels 2, Mariners 0

It finally took a shutout for the Angels to beat the Mariners, their only win in 4 games.

Owens had a solo blast

Benji Gil had a sac fly

That was the offense, as Ortiz out-dueled Moyer

Angels still way way way out of 1st place.

Next up is the Dodgers, for a 3-game series this weekend

6/20/03: Dodgers 5 Angels 2

a well pitched game by Nomo, who went 7 1/3 with 1 ER, 2 walks, and 6 K's

Dodgers exploded for 4 homers, all solo blasts: Green, Coomer, Davis, and Jordan

Garret Anderson hit one for the Angels.

Gagne pitched for his 28th save in 28 chances -- just remarkable!! He's got 8 walks, and 69 K's

That's an incredible ratio!!!

A's currently lead Giants 5-3 in top of 9th in Oakland
Bonds hit a solot shot for his 20th

a Giants loss will tie them with Dodgers for the lead

6/21/03 update: Dodgers 4, Angels 2

oh wow!! Gagne allowed an ER!!!!

Another great pitching performance by the Dodgers Andy Ashby.

Raul Mondesi put the game away with a 3-run homer early in the game, and that was basically hit.

Garret Anderson managed a double amongst his 2 hits...but Lackey was sluggish from the start, and paid for it in the 1st inning.

Dodgers now await the Giants-As game --- where it's 6-4 Giants in top 8th.

6/22/03 update: Angels 6, Dodgers 3.

Throughout this interleague series, neither team has swept the other.

But after 2 wins and with Brownie going today, it seemed ripe for a Dodgers sweep...which didn't happen, as Angels clawed their way to a 6-3 victory, aided by 3 hits from Garret, including a 2-run homer that added insurance runs in the top of the 9th inning.

Appier pitched well; as did Donnelley in relieving Weber, who gave up 2 runs to get the score to 4-3.

Brownie struggled throughout the game...his first bad start since April, and suffered his 2nd loss of the season.

Lo Duca had 3 hits, including a gift triple when DaVanon misplayed a liner.

Giants lost to the A's

Dodgers-Giants tied for 1st, as the Dodgers travel to N. CA to play them for a 3-game series.

Meanwhile, Angels travel to Seattle for a 3-game series, just a few days removed from losing 3-4 at home.

6/23/03 update

Dodgers 2 Giants 3

Dodgers rallied in the 9th for 2 runs to tie the ball game, with help from a Ray Durham error

then in extra innings, Gagne walked Bonds, who stole 2nd for his 500th stolen base

and promptly was single home for a win.

yick!!

6/24 update:

Dodgers 1, Giants 2
Not much to say. Dodgers leading 1-0, then Perez threw a pickoff attempt that appeared to nail the Giants base runner. Umpire called a balk,

Dodgers went wild, as did Oswaldo. Grissom promptly hit a 2-run homer, and that was all she wrote

Dodgers now 2 games back


Angels lost 6-3 or 6-4 to the Mariners. It doesn't really matter. The time has come for the team to realize its chances for the division are slim and none, with the Mariners winning 4 of the last 5 games these past 2 weeks.

And the chances for a wildcard also slipping away, as they're 7 games back of Oakland

Originally posted by gioperation
I hate the A's they beat my twins and that adam kennedy should be shot with a silver bullet.

I know this is a little off subject...but GI did you say you were good friends with LaTroy? He had one hell of a game tonight!

6/25/03 update

Dodgers 6, Giants 0
One day after which the Dodgers were steamed at a balk call that eventually led to 2 runs in the loss to Giants, 2-1, the Dodgers exploded for 6 runs.

a 3-run HR by Beltre and a solo shot by Kinkade helped the offense. Meanwhile Nomo did a great job shutting out the Giants and Bonds in 7+ innings.

Dodgers now 1 game back, and head to face the Angels at Edison Field starting Friday


Angels 6, Mariners 3

David Eckstein, placed in the #9 position to take pressure off of him (a huge slump that took him from 0.280s to 0.230s), responded with a 4-4 performance including a double and a 2-run HR in 8th inning that broke open a 4-3 game. The HR barely left over the 330 sign.....let's hope he starts hitting now

Ortiz pitched a pretty good game, as the Angels now need to win tomorrow to start a run at the wildcard.

A's lost to Rangers

6/26/03: update Mariners 10, Angels 6

A very bad day for the Angels, as they not only lost the game, but lost their DH, Fullmer, to a ruptured patellar tendon, for the rest of the season.

Ace Jarrod Washburn was given a 4-run lead, and promptly gave up 3 runs in the next inning.

Mariners just spanked the Angels, winning 5 of the 7 games. They don't meet again until September.

Fullmer was running hard towards 1st base on a grounder in the 8th inning, stretched to touch the bag, and his leg buckled -- it was a pretty bad sight on TV.

Angels don't have what it takes, and all they can hope for is the wildcard.

Dodgers come into town Friday with their ace, Kevin Brown

6/27/03 update:

Angels 2, Dodgers 0

Lackey pitched perhaps his best game of the season, besting the Dodgers ace Kevin Brown, for 7+ innings, with great relief by Brendan Donnelley, who has a 0.43 ERA!!!

Brownie pitched good, but was done in by RBI triple by Eckstein and RBI single by DaVanon (who went 3-4)

Giants crush A's 6-0, with Bonds' 21st homer; only 26 homers from tying Willie Mays

6/28/03 update: Angels 3, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers are such a WEAK hitting team that even when they have bases loaded, with one out, they can't even hit a sac fly.

For the last 2 games vs the Angels, Dodgers have had the runner on 3rd with 1 out, and both times, didn't score.

absolute pathetic offense.

But then again, this is exactly like the 1988 World Champions Dodgers, who couldn't hit a lick, but still managed some clutch hits and tremendous pitching.

Can they repeat this in 2003?

Only time will tell.

All I know is, if the Dodgers pitching staff gives up 3 runs...game is over

6/29/03: Angels 3, Dodgers 1

For the first time in interleague history b/t the 2 teams, there was a sweep, as the Angels took all 3 games at Edison Field, and hold an overall 20-18 record.

Benji Gil started the scoring with a triple, and came home on an Alex Cora throwing error. Angels scored 2 more runs, and you knew the weak hitting Dodgers were done for.

Aaron Sele pitched 5 shut out innings and was lifted. Scioscia is making plans to limit Sele to 5 innings, as it's apparent he doesn't have the arm strength for more than this. In his previous starts, the 6th+ inning is where Sele starts giving up runs

Mike Kinkade blasted a solo shot off closer Percival for the Dodgers lone run.

They scored 2 runs in these 3 games.

Ishii pitched well, but lost b/c he gave up a run.

Angels now play the Rangers starting Monday for a 3-game series, then face the A's.

podstock, i humbly bow
you are a true fan
ive been rooting for the angels since i was 6 (my dad grew up in OC) i sat threw all the late-season breakdowns (agh!) year after year...but now we win

and we get the bandwagon fans...they should be shot! well maybe not, but at least have a hampster crap in their breakfast cereal...ive got no idea where that just came from...think i need sleep

oh, we could use all fans in Anaheim, bandwagoners or not.

As for 6/30/03 update:

Rangers 6, Angels 3

Like most games this season, Angels were down early in the game 2-0.

The Rangers pitchers pitched a whale of a ballgame, the only mistake being a solo blast by DaVanon and a 2-run shot by Garret (who had an INCREDIBLE June, with something like 12 homers, and 30 RBIs, with 0.330 BA).

But the pitching staff just could not hold off the Rangers, who were aided by a 2-run insurance blast by A. Rod.

They kept Palmeiro in check, however.

Angels keep toying with 0.500 level, but can't stay firmly above it.
Now 1 game under 0.500

3 more games to go vs the Rangers, with Thursday being a 4th of July fireworks show

7/1/03: Angels 7, Rangers 5

Finally, the pitching staff held the opposition in check long enough for the Angels rather than giving up 5 runs in the 1st inning.

Michael Young gave the Rangers an early 1-0 lead with a solo blast (one of his 2 homers)

But the Angels roared back to tie the game in the bottom of the 1st inning on a DaVanon double, and sac fly by Salmon

Benji Molina blasted a 3-run bomb; Garret had a run-scoring double; and Glaus finally hit a homer.

A. Rod hada 2-run homer, but it was too little too late.

Angels now 1 game over 0.500

Still have a chance for the wildcard

7/2/03 update: Angels 5 Rangers 0

a FANTASTIC pitching performance by John Lackey for his first ever complete game shut out. This comes just 1 game after he beat Kevin Brown of the Dodgers, allowing 1 run in that game

A. Rod struck out THREE times and went 0-4
Palmeiro likewise was shut down

For the Angels, the first run came on an Adam Kennedy sac fly after a double by Molina put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out; Eckstein then doubled in the 2nd run and DaVanon tripled home Eck.

That was basically all Lackey needed, as he was just dominating!!

Salmon did blast a 2-run shot

7/3/03: Rangers 6, Angels 5

Hank Blalock's 2 homers helped do in the Angels, who made a good rally attempt but couldn't get that last run.

didn't see most of the ballgame, so don't have much comments to make, other than to say that Benji Molina is having a career year, more homers and almost as many RBIs as last year.

Angels vs A's tomorrow!!! Gotta start winning against the big boys if they are to make an attempt for the wildcard


Dodgers vs. Padres
Despite Kevin Brown pitching, the Padres scored 7 runs

so, it goes without saying the Dodgers lost once the Padres scored 3 runs.

lolol...incredibly weak offense, and I mean OFFENSE!

7/4/03: what a great pitching performance by both teams, as Angels won 1-0

Eckstein drove in the only run of the ballgame, scored by Benji Gil.

Mulder pitched a complete game, with 5 K's and only 99 pitches thrown.

But the Angels Sele (5 innings), K. Rod (2), Donnelley (1) and Percival (1) were better.

Angels now 5.5 back of A's.


Dodgers now in a tight battle 1-1 in 10th inning. D-backs have men on 1st and 2nd with 0 outs.

7/5/03 Dodgers update:
Dodgers 2, D-backs 0

After losing 10 of 11, and losing 6 straight, it took an Odalis no-hitter into the 6th and a couple of runs scored, for the Dodgers to finally pull out a game.

Gagne finally got save #30. In games he has appeared where the score is tied and he's not in a save opportunity, the team is 2-7. But, in save situations, he's 30 out of 30 and, if you count last year, he's 38 out of 38!!

Dodgers didn't do much on offense, again....but when the pitching gives up zero runs, all you need is one.

Dodgers now 1 game behind D-backs for 2nd place.

7/5/03 update Angels 6, A's 3

Angels roughed up the starting pitcher of the A's in the 1st, with a 3-run blast by Salmon, who later hit a solo shot.

Salmon, after going homer-less in 57 games; has 4 in the last week alone.

Ortiz pitched fairly well; Donnelley was brilliant again, and now has an 0.40 ERA (lowest among all MLB relievers with at least 40+ innings). Donnelley is headed to All Star game, or should be!

Anderson had an RBI single

Jose Molina, giving his brother Benji a day off, had a single and a double.

Angels kept Tejada in check for 2nd straight game; now they have a chance for the sweep tomorrow.

Earlier in April, A's swept 3 from the Angels at the Coliseum; Angels returned the favor with a 3-game sweep at Anaheim.

7/6/03: Dodgers 1, D-backs 2

what a shame.

Dodgers offense this year is even worse than their horrific offense in 1988 (the last time they won a title).

Men on 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs. Darryl Ward strikes out; Ross grounds into a double play.

if you had Dodger pitching and Rangers hitting, you've got the makings of a championship contender.

Dodgers just have no passion when they are playing.

Shawn Green doesn't dive for a bloop single that ended a no-hitter last night in the 8th inning. He says that if he dived and missed, the ball would've gotten away from him and the player might have ended up on 3rd.

What a crock. It was a softly hit blooper. Had he dived and missed, the ball wasn't gonna get away from him, b/ it was a play directly in front of him.

Green was roundly booed last night, and again this afternoon

7/6/03 update: Angels 5, A's 6

After Benji Molina's RBI double gave the Angels a 1-0 lead, Jarrod Washburn promptly walked the first batter he faced in the next inning, and gave up 3 runs, 2 on a bases loaded double by Mark Ellis.

a 4-1 lead looked good for Mark Mulder, but Angels crawled back to tie the game on a 2-run homer by Spiezo in top 9th; only to see the A's score the winning run on a sac fly in bottom of 9th

Angels off tomorrow; play the Royals Tues-Thurs

7/7/03 update:

Angels have the day off before a 3-game series vs Royals starting Tuesday

Dodgers are currently playing the Padres in the 6th inning. They're down 7-0.

For this entire season, they've averaged 3.14 runs a game
Since the past 14 games, they've averaged 2.34 runs a game.

I don't think we need to wait for the game to officially end, do we, before reporting the scores?

The pitching has finally caved in under the pressure. No pitcher can pitch well when he knows that if he gives up 2 runs, game is practically over. And should he allow 3 runs, the game might as well end on that spot

7/7/03 update:

Angels have day off; they play Royals in 3-game series starting tomorrow.

Dodgers down 7-0 in 7th inning. Will they come back against the Padres?

Well, during this season, they've averaged 3.14 runs a game
For the past 14 games, they've averaged 2.34 runs a game (not including the ZERO runs they've scored tonight).

So, game was over when the Padres put up a 5-spot back around 4th inning.

Pitchers can't pitch well when they know that if they give up 2 runs, they probably lose the game.

Man Shawn Green has to come out of his slump sooner or later.Whats wrong with him.

I think it has to do with his mechanics when he's batting. He's no longer hitting balls sharply, and when he does, it's going foul.

When he does hit a fair ball, it's weakly hit to the infielder

Green's now pressing big time, swinging at pitches that are totally out of the strike zone.

And by not diving for the bloop single that broke up Odalis Perez's no-hitter, our crowd is totally booing the hell out of Green.

Much like what they did to Sheffield

7/8/03 update: Dodgers losing to the Padres 6-1 in the 5th

Game over. Not waiting for it to end before giving a summary.

Dodgers now averaging 2.1 runs in their last 15 games; and 3.15 the entire season.

Does any Angels fan here like Eric Owens hitting in the DH spot? I'd say they should give the guy some time, he can be a good, solid hitter.

Tim

Eric Owens doesn't really fit well into the Angels system now that Jeff DaVanon has had a great June (he hit 8-10 homers, with 0.320+ BA).

DaVanon is needed to play right field, b/c Salmon is getting up there in age; and Salmon could DH

I don't know much about Owens, but from what I've seen, he's a pretty wild swinger. Perhaps if he had more at-bats, he could show how well he will do.

--------------------------------------------------
7/8/03 update: Royals 4, Angels 0

Mays totally baffled the Angels hitter the entire game.

Meanwhile, Lackey, who had 19 1/3 scoreless innings, gave up RBI hit to Michael Tucker and a 2-run shot to Guile.

With A's losing and Blue Jays losing, Angels had a chance to creep up towards wildcard

Originally posted by podstock
Eric Owens doesn't really fit well into the Angels system now that Jeff DaVanon has had a great June (he hit 8-10 homers, with 0.320+ BA).

DaVanon is needed to play right field, b/c Salmon is getting up there in age; and Salmon could DH

I don't know much about Owens, but from what I've seen, he's a pretty wild swinger. Perhaps if he had more at-bats, he could show how well he will do.

--------------------------------------------------
7/8/03 update: Royals 4, Angels 0

Mays totally baffled the Angels hitter the entire game.

Meanwhile, Lackey, who had 19 1/3 scoreless innings, gave up RBI hit to Michael Tucker and a 2-run shot to Guile.

With A's losing and Blue Jays losing, Angels had a chance to creep up towards wildcard

Yeah, he's a bench warmer but he had a solid season or two a few years back with the Padres. Like to see guys like that get a chance every once in a while.

Tim

7/9/03 Dodgers update: Dodgers 6 Cards 5

oh my gosh!!! Dodgers scored more than 2 runs!!

David Ross, catching for the Dodgers hit a solo blast, went 2-2 and 2 walks

Paul Shuey struck out Pujols with 2 outs and bases loaded.

And Gagne was sent to pitch in BOTH 8th and 9th inning. Gagne very rarely pitches in the 8th inning; but when you have lost 6 straight and 12 of last 15, you don't give the other team a chance to win the game

Gagne has 31 saves in as many opportunities and 38-38 straight saves going back to last year. Thus, the selection to the All star game.

Well, Tim, you asked for Eric Owens and he showed up big time tonight!!

Angels 5, Royals 3

Three key plays occurred tonight.

1. with 2 outs, men on 1st and 3rd, the Royals tried a double steal. Benji Gil, the SS, caught the throw from Molina and immediately fired it back to the catcher, who stood his ground, got barrelled over by Harvey, Royals 1st basemen

Molina got out of it fine; Harvey was out, and he was gimpy for the rest of the game, with sore knees and shoulder.

(btw, Jermaine Dye tried the same tactic in running over Molina this past week, injured his shoulder as he went out of the baseline to run over Molina and is out for 1 month. Had Dye tried to score with a slide; he most likely would be safe)

2. with runner on 1st in 8th inning; Spiezio made a fantastic diving grab and got the runner out at 1st

3. With 1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd, a fly ball was hit deep to right field. Owens caught the ball and fired a perfect strike to get the runner at 2nd base.

Wooten was the hero, with a 3-run shot to give Angels a 5-3 lead

7/10/03 update: Angels 7, Royals 1

Angels now 7-1 vs the AL Central, their only loss being just 2 days ago to the Royals when they were blanked 4-0 by May

Today, Garret Anderson was RED-HOT, hitting two 2-run homers, going 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Now has 82 RBIs and over 110+ hits in only 1/2 season!!

How good is Garret? Since 1995 (when he became full time starter, the year before he got 5 hits in 13 total at bats), only A. Rod and Jeter have more hits than Garret, and the margin b/t the 3 isn't that big!!


Adam Kennedy, the 2nd baseman with the McGwire-like swing, hit his 4th homer. This guy needs to shorten his swing, b/c he strikes out too often!

Aaron Sele, as has happened the previous 2 times, only pitched 5 innings and again won. Manager Scioscia has put a limit for Sele, telling him to pitch as hard as possible for 5 inning, and that's it.

So far, the experiment is working, although it taxes the bull pen, the 2nd best in the majors.

For the Royals, Guiel had the lone RBI, scored by Berroa.

Angels now go on to face the struggling Twins, who got swept by the Rangers.

7/10/03 Dodgers update: Dodgers 9 Cards 4

Dodgers scored 5 runs in the 1st inning!!!!!!

After scoring 6 runs yesterday, Dodgers unloaded for 9 today, for their best offensive explosion in weeks!!!

Perez was the starter, gave 4 runs in 5 innings, which would normally result in automatic loss when you pitch for the Dodgers this year.

But the Dodgers offense was terrific for the past 2 days.

Shawn Green went 4-5, with 2 doubles, 2 singles, 4 runs scored and 1 RBI

Lo Duca went 3-4 with 2 RBIs, upping his BA to 0.315. Lo Duca was born to hit, much like Piazza, but without the awesome power. How in the world he stayed in the minors for EIGHT years!?!?!?

Beltre had 2 hits and 2 RBIs, but barely is above Mendoza line with 0.215 BA

Pujols, struggling mightily vs NL West pitching, had 2 hits to raise his BA to 0.365

Bo Hart went 3-5 --- this guy is forcing La Russa to keep playing him!!

a 2-game sweep for the Dodgers, who now head to Colorado, where the Rockies are very very tough!!

7/11/03 Rockies 3. Dodgers 1

bottom of the 1st inning

Dodgers go Nomo a run in the top of the 1st.

Nomo proceeded to walk the lead off hitter, loaded the bases and promptly gave up a bases clearing double.

I am not watching the rest of the game.

3 runs is more than enough and the Rockies should win this game.

I cannot stand pitchers who are given a lead, and then promptly walk the first batter in the next inning.

For crying out loud, pitch the ball right down the middle of the plate and make him hit the homer.

7/11/03 Angels update: Angels 5, Twins 0

Great game by 2nd basemen Adam Kennedy, with 4 tremendous defensive playes (no hits in the game), including a play in the 8th in which he dove for a ball in the hole that was a sure base hit, got up and threw the Twin out.

Adam also made a great sprawling play in which a Twins player hit a laser off Ortiz, which bounced slowly towards 2nd base. Adam made a bare-handed play and threw the player out!

In the game, Salmon hit a 2-run homer and Spiezo add another 2-run blast.

Twins struggling, having lost 5 fo 6

Originally posted by podstock
Well, Tim, you asked for Eric Owens and he showed up big time tonight!!

Angels 5, Royals 3

Three key plays occurred tonight.

1. with 2 outs, men on 1st and 3rd, the Royals tried a double steal. Benji Gil, the SS, caught the throw from Molina and immediately fired it back to the catcher, who stood his ground, got barrelled over by Harvey, Royals 1st basemen

Molina got out of it fine; Harvey was out, and he was gimpy for the rest of the game, with sore knees and shoulder.

(btw, Jermaine Dye tried the same tactic in running over Molina this past week, injured his shoulder as he went out of the baseline to run over Molina and is out for 1 month. Had Dye tried to score with a slide; he most likely would be safe)

2. with runner on 1st in 8th inning; Spiezio made a fantastic diving grab and got the runner out at 1st

3. With 1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd, a fly ball was hit deep to right field. Owens caught the ball and fired a perfect strike to get the runner at 2nd base.

Wooten was the hero, with a 3-run shot to give Angels a 5-3 lead

He finally did some good :) Give the man (Owens) a round of a applause! LOL. Can you keep me updated on his progress? Thanks.

Tim

7/12/03 Angels update: Angels 6, Twins 1

Twins continue their slide with 7th consecutive losses; Angels have won 11 of 15 and a chance for a sweep tomorrow

Great pitching performance by Radke and Washburn through 6 innings, with Radke winning 1-0 on a Hocking solo blast.

Then came the 7th inning, and the dam burst open.

DaVanon (with 2 hits and 2 runs scored) and Kennedy started the rally with back to back singles. Erstad blasted a shot off the wall, ruled a single and a 2-base error, driving in 2 runs.

Spezio and Garret Anderson had run-scoring singles in the same inning.

In the 8th, with bases loaded, Spezio almost had a grand slam, coming within about 2-3 feet. But he settled for a sac fly, overall good day with 3 hits and 2 RBI

Angels still 5-6 games out of wildcard and 9 games out of division lead; but they are 5 games over 0.500 for the first time this season

7/13/03 update: Angels 8, Twins 3

Angels sweep the Twins, and head into the all star break winning 12 of last 16 games to get back into the hunt for the wildcard position with the Red Sox and A's

Angels are 8-1 vs AL Central (Mariners have played over 18 games and so have the A's vs the AL Central). In August, Angels will play 20 straight vs the AL Central -- a division they conquered last year. The same should happen this year

Torii Hunter went 2-3 with a 2-run blast

But that was it as John Lackey and the Angels relievers shut down the Twins. Angels starting pitchers have a less than 3.00 ERA these last 16 games and appear to be rounding into shape.

Donnelley pitched a scoreless 8th inning; his ERA is an incredible 0.38 in 41 games with 82 innings pitched!! 10+ years in the minors, a scab player in the 1990s strike, and now, an All STar!!

Garret Anderson wen 2-4 with a solo shot. He's got 22 homers, 78 RBIs and 117 hits. That's a season for most players!!!

Angels broke open a tight 4-3 game in the 8th inning with 4 runs off Latroy Hawkins

7/13/03 Dodgers update: Dodgers 9, Rockie 3

Ever since the 2-game trip to St. Louis this past week (which they swept), Dodgers have been exploding on offense.

Earlier this afternoon, the first 3 batters doubled (Izturis, Cora, Green) and the rally continued with a Cabrera bases clearing double for a 5-run 1st.

Wilson Alvarez made a surprising starting spot, and pitched ok, going 5 innings with 3 runs allowed.

Gagne finished off the 9th (no save, since he came in with Dodgers leading by 6)

Gagne now goes to the All Star game, the Dodgers lone All Star; Kevin Brown is hurt, and will not pitch.

Dodgers are in sole possession of 3rd place, about 3-4 games behind phillies for wild card spot.

D-backs look dangerous as Randy and Curt come back for entire 2nd half

7/14/03 update:

GUESS WHO WON THE HR DERBY?!?!?!

None other than the sweet swinging (this side of Rafael Palmeiro and Will Clark) Garret Anderson

in 1st round:

Sheffield 4
G. Anderson 7
Sexson 1
Boone 0
Pujols 4
Delgado 2
Edmonds 4
Giambi 12 (not sure exact number)


then in 2nd round:

it was Garret vs Edmonds and Pujols vs Giambi

Edmonds hit 4, and Garret responded with 6 to advance to the finals

but the highlight was Pujols slamming 14 homers. One would think that Giambi would've given up; but NO! Giambi caught everyone's attention as he got to 10....but alas, it wasn't enough

Then, to everyone's surprise, Garret his NINE in the final round.

And Pujols hit 8 HRs, with 3 outs remaining....but alas, it wasn't to be, as he couldn't hit that 9th and tying HR.

So, Garret won!!!!!!!

Now, does that mean that Glaus or Donnelley wins the All STar MVP to give the Angels a sweep?!?!?

wowoowowowowowow

7/15/03: and guess who wins the All Star MVP?!?!?!!

that's right GARRET ANDERSON!!

With a single, a 2-run homer to bring the AL to within a run, and a double....only a triple short of a cycle.

And who gets the victory?

Brendan Donnelley, of the Angels!!!

And who was the AL winning manager ---- Scioscia, of the Angels!!!

wowowowowowowow

7/17/03 update: Orioles 2, Angels 1

well pitched ball game by Ortiz.

The play (or non-play of the game occurred in 7th inning: Garret Anderson led off with a double, and with 1 out, Angels had man on 1st and 4rd. Molina hit a fly ball to the outfield, not too shallow, but not deep either.

So, with Struggling David Eckstein due up next, rather than tagging up on this sac fly, Garret decides not to do so.

What happens? Eckstein weakly grounds out to the SS.

Angels lost.....yet another **** loss to the Orioles!

7/13/03 Dodgers update: Dodgers 6, St. Louis 3

Dodgers continue their excellent play vs the Cards and got off to a good 2nd half start.

Rickey Henderson got a single in his first game back in the majors this year

But Nomo was the big story, pitching 6 strong innings, and blasting a 2-run homer and an RBI double.

with a man on in the 9th, and Dodgers up 3, and 2 outs, Jim Tracy removed reliever Paul Shuey for Gagne, who promptly got the last out for one of the easiest saves you can get. He's now 32 out of 32 this year, with 40 straight saves dating to last year.

No ill effects from losing the All star game.

Still 2 games behind D-backs for wildcard spot

7/18/03 Angels update: Angels 5, Orioles 6

The Orioles now have the Angels number. In the last series, O's won 3 of 4, and then 2 of 3. Now, they've won the first 2 games, with 2 more to go.

Washburn was HORRIFIC in the first inning, giving up a grand slam to Bautista, who later hit a solo shot.

Angels, down 5-0, came back to tie at 5-5, behind clutch hits by Garret Anderson, Bengi Molina.

But, Frankie Rodriguez gave up the eventual game winning homer in the 8th inning.

A's / Mariners / Angels have lost the first 2 games post-All Star break

Angels try again tomorrow, vs the O's hottest pitcher, no less. lol

7/18/03 Dodgers update: Dodgers 8, Cards

What is it about the Cards that cause the Dodgers to have offensive explosions??

In 4 games, including today, Dodgers are 4-0, and have scored over 30 runs total. That's about an average of 7.1 runs.

This season, Dodgers are barely averaging 3.4 runs

Burnitz and Rickey Henderson contributed mightily, the former having 2 hits, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored, 1 SB; the latter blasting a solo shot to CF and adding a run and another single.

Rickey is 4-8 with 1 HR and several runs scored in 2 games. Why didn't another team pick him up before the All Star break?

Dodgers fell behind 3-0 on an Edmonds 2-run blast and Pujols solo blast in 1st inning.

Dodgers responded with a Green double and a run in bottom of 1st

Dodgers eventually came back to tie the game on a clutch hit by Izturis, and scored go-ahead run on clutch hit by pinch hitter Ward, both hits occurring with 2 outs.

Gagne then worked the 9th for his 33 straight save, 41 dating to last year. He is tied for 2nd amongst most consecutive saves with Hoffman. Tom Gordon had the record at 51.

Too bad Giants and D-backs also won. Dodgers still 2 1/2 back of D-backs and a whopping 7 1/2 behind Giants.

Kevin Brown pitches tomorrow!!!

7/19/03 update: O's 8, Angels 4.

The Orioles have dominated the Angels this year, and are 7-1 overall, going for the 4-game sweep tomorrow.

Appier has been atrocious, and in this game lasted 1 1/3 innings, giving up 7 earned runs and 7 hits.

He has told the Angels that he would like to sign a contract extension, and at a lower salary than he's currently receiving. Angels refused to extend the contract. This farker will be gone after this year. He was pretty much useless last year, and not much better this year.

Matos and Surhoff both had 2 hits and 3 RBIs
Conine with 2 hits and 3 RBIs

Glaus hit his 16th for the Angels;
Garret also had a single with RBI.

Not much to say about this game; it was over in 2 innings as the O's scored 7.

What's is so sad is that the A's and MAriners have now lost 3 straight, and instead of beating up on bad opponents, the Angels couldn't gain ground these past 3 days.

7/20/03 update: Dodgers lost the rubber game of the 4-game series but still managed to win 3 of 4.

Angels got swept by the O's, who are something like 10-1 vs the Angels this year.

7/21/03: Angels have now lost 5 in a row since All star break, losing 3-2 to the Devil Rays. The road to the wilcard is almost over

7/22/03: Angels 3, Devil Rays 1

And finally, the Angels have won their first game of the second half, having lost 5 in a row, and failing to gain ground as A's and Mariners also went into losing skids.

Ortiz was just awesome today, allowing 1 lousy run in 7 innings before Donnelley and Percival took over in the 8th and 9th innings.

Eckstein had a hit and scored 2 runs
Garret had 2 hits and 1 RBI

Not much else to report on, as this was a 9 am PST game -- hmmm, interesting start time there in FL.

Angels now play the Rangers tomorrow

7/23/03 update: Angels 9, Rangers 12.

I cannot believe this sh*t!!!

Jarrod Washburn has had a terrible year.

The Angels score 4 runs for him in the 1st inning; what does Washburn do?

He promptly gives up A. Rod's 2-run homer in bottom of the 1st

Then, in the 2nd inning, Washburn gives up 5 runs, for a total of 7 innings.

Does Scioscia take him out?

NO.... he waits until Washburn gives up TEN runs, then takes him out in the 3rd inning.

what the fark is the goddam bullpen for if you're not going to use them??

Why do managers allow starting pitchers this much leeway? If you give up 5+ runs in 1+ innings, it's time to go to the showers.

After all, if you don't have a need for the bullpen, then why have the bullpen?

Angels scored 9 runs....and still lost!!

7/24/03 update: Dodgers 1, Colorado 0

In a TREMENDOUS pitching duo b/t Kevin Brown and Shawn Chacon

the Dodgers came out ahead with a run in the 11th inning. Cora had a single, was bunted to 2nd, and then singled home by Green.

But, through the first 9 innings, there was NO score as both Brown (8 innings) and Chacon (7 innings) were fantastic.

Brownie, who had lost 4 straight, lowered his ERA to 2.12, but go a no-decision.

7/24/03 Angels update: Angels 10, Rangers 5

This time, Angels got out to a lead, and the pitching staff held on to it, as Kevin Appier pitched a pretty good game, giving up 2 runs in 6+ innings.

Eckstein had a great game, going 4-5 with 3 runs scored, including a tremendous slide to the outer part of home plate to score a much needed run in the 8th inning. Had he not slid to the outer part, he'd have been out dead to right.

Spiezio had a great game, with a single, double, and triple. Only a HR from the cycle.

Garret missed out on the hitting attack, thus breaking his 15-game hitting streak.

A. Rod hit another homer, his 41st homer vs the Angels in his short career. Blalock blasted one as well.

A rally in the 9th inning was cut short by stopper Percival, who struck out A. Rod with runners on 1st and 3rd on a 98-mph fastball.

Angels now return home for a 3 game series vs. the A's.... we need to sweep!!!!!

7/25/03: Angels 2 , A's 3

Gretat pitching performance by Lackey and the A's pitcher, both of whom had losing records coming into the game.

Angels eventually scored a run; and had Brendan Donnelley pitching the 8th.

Normally, that's lights out.

But, Donnelley gave up a double to the first batter he faced; then a double to Tejada, then another double, and the A's had a 2-1 lead.

Francisco Rodgriguez pitched the top of the 9th and promptly gave up a solo blast to make it 3-1.

Adam Kennedy had a pinch hit homer; but Jeff DaVanon struck out for the final out.

it's looking very dim for the Angels, and the reality is slowly setting in as this looks like the last straw for the Angels.

7/25/03 update: D-backs 2, Dodgers 1 in 15th innings!!!!


That's right...a total of 3 runs scored in 15 innings. Shea Hillenbrand singled in the D-backs player and Quantrill lost it.

Dodgers are so incredibly weak offensively

in 2 games (today and yesterday), they played 26 innings (11 yesterday, 15 today) and scored TWO stinking runs.

in the top of the 15th inning, with Dodgers on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Jeromy Burnitz tried to bunt for a base hit!!

****nnnnnn!!

your power hitter trying to play small ball.

And the Dodgers actually had a streak of 22 straight batters making outs!!

7/26/03: Dodgers and Angels update both in same post b/c I did not get a chance to watch either game, so I can't elaborate on details of the game.

Dodgers 0, Az D-backs 1: for 35 innings, Dodgers have scored a total of 2 runs (1 run in win vs. Rockies in 11 innings; 1 run in loss vs D-backs in 15th innings; and 0 runs today)

Angels 1, A's 8: Sele had a horrible game; Angels just played badly, and have lost the first 2 games to the A's, and now are 9 1/2 games out of wildcard. Game over for the Angels

7/27/03 update: Dodgers 1, AZ 0

In the last 4 games, the Dodgers have scored 3 runs and won 2 games, 1-0!!

How's that for tremendous pitching?!?! And horrific hitting?

Burnitz doubled, and Barnes followed with RBI double off Curt Schilling and that was the entire offense of the game. Nomo won and Gagne saved his 35th game this season and 43rd going back to last year

Angels got their butt whipped by Oakland 10-1
It's over for the Angels...and they're playing like it

7/29/03: Dodgers 0, Phillies 2

Of course, the anemic hitting Dodgers would not score against the wild card leading Phillies, and trail them by 4 games. Absolutely Pathetic

Angels 2, Yankees 6

Appier got rocked, and was gone after 2 outs in the 1st inning, giving up 4 runs. at least Garret Anderson got his 24th homer

well, I do believe that the end is coming for the Angels.

Since the All Star break, they are 10+ games under 0.500, and just lost a double-header yesterday on the road to Cleveland.

Just a sad way to celebrate your World Series title...by playing sub-par ball. Pitching has been horrific, and so has the offense.

When the Angels score 9 runs, the pitching gives up 10 runs (see Rangers game)

When the pitching gives up 2 runs, the offense scores 1 run.

Game over for the Angels.

Speaking of Game Over (the slogan for Eric Gagne)...the Dodgers have gotten themselves right back into the thick of the battle, having won 5 in a row, and going for the sweep over the Cubs this afternoon, with Brown vs Prior.

Gagne now has the record for most consecutive saves in 1 season, with 38, and he has 44 straight going back to the previous season. Twice this year, he has saved 4 consecutive games.

Dodgers only 3 1/2 games out of wild card, and the offense is slightly showing signs of life

die rally monkeys

angels suck

well, it's that time of the season, and baseball is back!!

The Angels had the best off-season of all the teams in MLB, as they

1. needed a right fielder, and stole Vladmir Guerrero, albeit for $70M

2. needed pitching and grabbed Bartolo Colon for $48M and Kelvim Escobar for about $30M

3. grabbed Jose Guillen, making him their left fielder

a TREMENDOUS off season...and that helped them sell tickets for the upcoming year.


and just as importantly, everyone got healthy!

however, Garret did suffer a mild biceps strain of the arm and the Angels have kept him out of spring training games so far to allow him to rest

Donnellley just broke his nose shagging fly balls 2 days ago (what the hell is a reliever doing shagging fly balls???)

but, everyone is expected to be ready for Opening Day

Angels are about 4-1 in pre-season so far........

this looks good; and they should be contenders for the division title!!

While the Angels were actively trying to improve their roster, the Dodgers did the exact opposite.

1. all activities were put on hold as McCourt awaited approval to be the new "owner", even though he doesn't have much liquidity (cash to spend on players).

2. Dodgers got rid of Kevin Brown and his massive contract, in exchange for Jeff Weaver

3. Dodgers finally acquired the likes of Bubba Trammell and a few other folks, irrelevant to helping the Dodgers win the title.

the only thing to root for is Eric Gagne

even though the Dodgers did nothing this off-season, they still sold more season tickets and general public tickets than the Angels so far this year -- go figure!!!

3/12/04 update:

Well, the injury bug is hitting the Angels, but the injuries are somewhat minor

Garret Anderson still hasn't played in spring training, and could possibly miss opening day due to strained biceps muscle.

Reliever Donnelley had minor surgery for a broken nose, after he was shagging fly balls, and missed one, which hit him square in the nose. He is expected to be ready opening day

Troy Glaus got hurt yesterday running the bases, and his sprained ankle keeps him day to day

Vladimir has a bruised forearm after being hit by a ball yesterday

Nothing big....so hopefully, they'll be recovered by Opening Day

So far, the Angels are 6-3 in spring training:

Mar 5 San Diego Won 8-7
Mar 6 @Oakland Lost 3-26
Mar 7 Oakland Won 5-2
Mar 7 @San Diego Won 6-3
Mar 8 @Seattle Won 5-3
Mar 9 @Arizona Won 10-3
Mar 10 Seattle Lost 1-7
Mar 11 Arizona Won 5-0
Mar 12 Kansas City Lost 5-8


fairly good pitching, hitting, and defense.

3/12/04 update:

as for the Dodgers, I have pretty much given up on them -- no major acquisitions to help them score a run when they have bases loaded and no outs. The only good thing about going to Dodgers Stadium is hoping Gagne pitches, and buying Dodger Dogs.

As for their spring training record --- they have been scoring runs. But, it's only spring training


Dodgers are 5-6, having won their first 4, then losing 4....



Mar 3 N.Y. Mets Won 13-4
Mar 4 @Atlanta Won 7-5
Mar 5 Atlanta Won 6-5
Mar 6 @N.Y. Mets Won 6-2
Mar 7 N.Y. Mets Lost 3-8
Mar 8 @Baltimore Lost 5-14
Mar 9 @Montreal Lost 3-7
Mar 10 Detroit Lost 6-7
Mar 10 @Florida Won 4-3
Mar 11 St. Louis Lost 8-13
Mar 12 @Boston Lost 1-5


I don't expect much from the Dodgers, and McCourt is here basically to enhance his wealth by figuring out how to develop real estate in the Chavez Ravine area

are you doing both Angels and Dodgers in the same thread?
That's a cool idea. Saves on space. lol
Nice to see I've had a positive effect in official team threads. :D

Also am I seeing this right? Did the Angels beat Oakland 26-3??!!

Looks like there might be something worth reporting today on the Dodgers. The Mets and Dodgers are tied at 8 in the top 6th.
Talk about some offense.

Originally posted by Molina00
are you doing both Angels and Dodgers in the same thread?
That's a cool idea. Saves on space. lol
Nice to see I've had a positive effect in official team threads. :D

Also am I seeing this right? Did the Angels beat Oakland 26-3??!!

lololol, I haven't seen any spring training games, but yes, somehow, one of the split squads for the Angels did beat Oakland by that score.

I think it's safe to assume we won't see that score in regular season b/t Angels - A's, lolol


and yes, you created a MONSTER, Matthew, when you started the "official" threads - nice going!

3/17/04 update: in the last 6 pre-season games, the Angels are 3-3

meanwhile, Garret Anderson is slowly starting to return to action, and is projected to play sometime this weekend for the first time.

Same for Benji Molina.

Starting pitching hasn't been bad; offense and defense haven't been bad...let's hope all the Angels stay healthy

3/17/04 update Dodgers - meanwhile, the Dodgers, who started off the pre-season 4-0, racking up a ton of runs

have cooled off considerably since then.

As a matter of fact, they are 1-4 in their last 5 games.

Today, they lost game 1 and are currently losing game 2 (split squad games)......

this is what I expect from the Dodgers this year -- lots of losses;

hopefully the pitching will be good enough to keep games close for Gagne to close it out!

4/8/04: the Angels are HOT HOT HOT

as they beat the Mariners #1 and #2 starting pitchers, 10-5 Tuesday and 10-7 Wed.... their first Opening day win in over 4 years

boy, the offense was just spectacular!!!
Eckstein has several hits, 3 runs score and 2 RBIs in 2 games
Garret Anderson has 2 homers and 4+ RBIs
Vlad had 1 homer and 4+ RBIs
Jose Molina, subbing for his injured brother, had a homer, a double, a stolen base, couple of RBIs and threw out one runner

This offense is just INCREDIBLE

but, on the other hand, the pitching is VERY shaky, allowing the 5 and 7 runs. As Texas Rangers fans know, it's not how many runs you can score, it's how well you stop the other team.

Colon pitched well, and got stronger in his 7 innings. Washburn didn't pitch well, and he only won b/c the Angels got him an 8-1 lead, and he lasted long enough to pick up the victory

Hopefully, the pitching will get better as we progress through the season.

Angles are 2-0
Oakland is 2-1
Texas is 1-2
Seattle is 0-2

4/8/04 Update: Angels SWEEP the Mariners AT Safeco Field in Seattle - wowowow!

Freddy Garcia pitched a 1-hit gem and shut down the Angels offense, limiting them to 4-hits. Even when the Angels were able to get men on 2nd and 3rd, Garcia struck out Guillen and induced Salmon into a popup

But then, for some reason (perhaps he was tired), Garcia was relieved in the 8th inning.

Then came the 9th...with the Angels down 1-0,

Garret Anderson singled off left handed reliever Mike Myers
Guillen and Glaus followed with singles to load the bases off Hasegawa

after a strike out by Salmon, 2nd baseman Adam Kennedy came through with a CLUTCH single to score 2 runs.

Hasegawa balked in a 3rd run, and Darin Erstad singled home 2 more

wowowowow, 5 runs in the 9th, and Troy Percival got the save with a scoreless 9th

Angels now 3-0
Oakland 2-1
Mariners 0-3

Angels now play a 4-game series at Texas while Seattle meets Oakland

great pitching today by the Angels Escobar!

4/9/04: Rangers bomb my Angels, 12 or 13 to 4

boy, what an offensive explosion by the Rangers as they rocked Ramon Ortiz, who gave up 7 runs in just 3 innings

Rangers got out to a 1-0 lead.

Then, with the help of Michael Young's 2 errors to put 2 men on base, Adam kennedy blasted a 3-run shot for a temporary lead.

But the next inning saw the Rangers come back with a 5-run inning, and that was basically it.....Aaron Sele came in, and promptly was blasted for 5-run inning too

Rangers definitely have the offense; if their pitching holds up, they have a great chance to be amongst the leaders

I didn't get a chance to see the ballgame, just looked at the box score on sportsline.com

and it just was not pretty if you are an Angels fan

Let's see if John Lackey regains his form of his rookie year campaign. Hopefully, last season was an aberration

4/10/04: Rangers 12-6

well, after Ramon Ortiz got blown up by the Rangers Hank Blalock, et al.....

the Rangers came back the next day to HAMMER John Lackey, who seems destined to be sent to the minors (boy, just 2 years ago, he was the first rookie to win game 7 of the World Series in almost 100 years!)

not much to say

4/11/04: 7-2 Angels

as $48M ace pitcher Bartolo Colon, brought in from White Sox this offseason, helped put a stop to the 2-game losing streak and quieted the Raging Rangers offense.

TREMENDOUS pitching performance, after the Rangers scored double digit runs in the past 2 games.

Vlad had a solo shot
Eckstein continued his hot hiting with another 2 hits
Jose Molina keeps hitting and getting RBIs
even Salmon got a couple of hits, a run, and an RBI

Angels now 4-2.

if they could win Monday, they'd go home for their TUesday opener 5-2, a TREMENDOUS record for having started the first 7 games on the road

4/13/04: a TREMENDOUS opening day for the Angels, the last team in MLB to finally have a home opener for 2004

first, before the game started, it was announced that the Angels extended Garret Anderson's contract through 2008, with an option for 2009.

this means that Garret, who was brought up through the Angels farm club, will most likely play his entire career with the Angels. If he plays through 2009, he will have played 16 years of pro ball, and if he is consistent, should get to 3000 hits b/t 2009-2010.

the price was an absolute bargain, 4 more years at $48M.. Garret, in the last 8 years, has the most hits of anyone in MLB

Second, the Angels promptly fell behind 2-0 as Edgar Martinez jacked a fastball out of the park in the 1st inning.

The Mariners score 2 more runs.....

and then it was all Angels after that.

Vlad hit a 2-run bomb, with the ball just inches off the ground before he blasted it.

Benjie Molina, in his first game back from a strained hamstring, hit a 2-run homer

Jose Guillen hit a 2-run triple

great great game!!

Angels have now beaten Mariners in 4 straight games this year. Seattle is off to a horrible start, with 1 win in 9 games.

well, the Angels got waxed this weekend by the tremendous pitching of the A's, losing 2 of 3

Not much to say, other than the A's ptiching staff shut down the Angels offense, and the Angels pitching wasn't as good.

hopefully, we can rebound vs. the Rangers, who spanked us for 3 out of 4 games the past week

4/21/04: 6-3 Rangers

very sad..Rangers have the Angels number, bombing them in 4 of 5 games.

Not only do the Angels have TERRIBLE pitching..but their hitting is now in a slump. Twice, there was men on 3rd base with 1 out, and both times, the next hitter struck out.

Texas had the infield playing back, conceding the run...and all you needed to do was make contact.

It wasn't like Kenny Rogers is Roger Clemens!

4/22/04: Rangers 4-1 over the Angels

well, it certainly looks like the Rangers have the Angels number, as they are now 5-1 over the Angels

wowow....better pitching, better hitting, better situational hitting.

just amazing.

thank goodness the Mariners have been able to beat up on the A's, otherwise, we'd be way behind them for the division lead.

It's early in the season, but the pitching is terrible, and the hitting is starting to slooooooooooow down

who'd thought the Dodgers, 10-4, would be so much better than the Angels in all facets of the game?!?!

4/22/04: Angels 7-5

Angels now 2-5 vs the Rangers this year.

And it took Bartolo Colon to help "hold" down the Rangers offense to only 5 runs.

Troy Glaus blasted a 3-run homer, and that helped eased the tension and pressure.

Recently, the Angels kept falling behind game after game, which makes it much tougher to play, obviously.

Reserve Jeff DaVavanon, playing for a resting Garret Anderson, hit a homer.

Reserve Chone Figgins went 2-2, with a triple. I think it's time to replace Eckstein at short with Figgins. Eckstein has 1 stinking walk in 15 games. Figgins, in limited time, has 2 walks, and 4-4 stolen bases.

Angels now back to 8-8

and 2 games behind the Oakland A.s, whom they meet for a 3-game series this weekend, starting with Barry Zito vs. Kelvim Escobar

4/23/04: Angels hammer Barry Zito 12-2

that's right.....just one week after Zito frustrated the Angels in a win at Anaheim, he was shelled for 9 runs in 7 innings.

This game was a blowout from the beginning, starting with a 2-run blast by Glaus in the 1st inning, and a 3-run blast by Jose Guillen and RBIs by Vlad, Erstad and the gang.

boy, the game got out of hand, with the Angels up 9-0 after 4 innings, that Zito was left in there to go as long as possible so the bullpen wouldn't get over-worked.

Washburn didn't do all that great, as he lasted only 5 innings, making over 100 pitches. But, more importantly, he only allowed 2 runs.

Kevin Gregg was the star of the game, as he pitched 4 scoreless innings for a save, and also saved the Angels bullpen from being worn out.

boy, the Angels have got to get better pitching from their starting staff...b/c you cannot expect an offense to keep scoring double digit runs, esp. on the other team's ace pitcher.

In the playoffs, runs are at a premium, and pitching is a MUST!!

Angels now 1 game behind A's

4/24/04 update: Angels 5-3 over the A's

woooohooooo! took the first 2 games and going for a sweep tomorrow and sole possession of 1st place

Angels fell behind 3-0 as Kelvim Escobar had one bad inning, giving up a 2-run homer to Hatteberg and a solo blast to Durazio

But, Angels cam back in the next inning to score 2 runs, highlighted by a run-scoring double by Glaus. Vlad was cut down trying to score from 1st base.

Figgins was a great spark plug, including hitting a triple and scoring on an Adam Kennedy single.

Vlad hit a towering blast as well

Glaus missed hitting a 3-run blast by 3-5 feet, hitting one deep to the warning track.


great pitching; great situational hitting (yeseterday, they score 9 runs off Barry Zito after 2 men were out!)

Tomrrow's game is for sole possession of 1st place. It's early...but every game counts, and you don't want to be 6-11 like the Yankees, lololol

Meanwhile, Garret Anderson is day-to-day with a stiff upper back, missing these 2 Oakland games. Wow!! Angels didn't even miss Garret, scoring 12 runs yesterday and 5 today.

Most likely, with Monday being a day off, Mike Scioscia will rest Garret, so that he should have 1 week of rest.

Just a tremendous series so far. Angels came to Oakland down 2 games, and if they got swept, that would've meant 5 games back. Now, at worst, they're 1 game back if they lose tomorrow.

4/25/04 update: 4-3 Angels sweep Oakland at their ballpark, and now tied with Rangers for 1st place (very early in the season.... but better to be tied for first place, than to be like the Yankes and go 4 games under 0.500, lolol)

a much better pitching performance by Ramon Ortiz, who needed a performance like this to keep his spot in the rotation after 2 pathetic outings that resulted in him being 0-2 and having ERA of 12.69+

Angels score first, as Eckstein got on due to an error in the 1st inning. Figgins singled him to 3rd, and Eckstein came home on a balk by pitcher Harden

Figgins has been RED HOT! and also got another stolen base.

Oakland tied the game with an RBI double by Eric Karros, then went ahead, 2-1

But, the biggest blow came via a Tim Salmon 3-run blast. Salmon had been hitless in prior 13 at-bats and off to his usual slow start in April, batting 0.184

but, oh, what a blast!!!

Ortiz lasted only 5 innings; Weber had a good 2 innings, giving up an unearned run. K-Rod shut down the A's in the 8th, extending his no-runs allowed streak to over 13 innings.

Percival got his 4th save in the 9th, only after Durazo barely missed a homer, blasting a ball deep to the 400-foot sign in center.

wowowowow, Angels came to Oakland down 2 games out of 1st, hoping to win 2 games out of 3.

And, after battering Zito for 9 runs in game 1, they sweep the A's.

And the impresssive thing is:

Garret Anderson missed all 3 games due to a bad back; Vlad didn't even play in game 3 as he was rested.

Angels now tied with Rangers for 1st place, and play at Detroit Tuesday.

4/27/04 update: 10-4 Angels roar over the Tigers

a fairly good pitching performance by John Lackey, who was great in 6 innings...then got tired in the 7th, giving up a double and 2 walks.

Scott Shields came in and gave up a grand slam to Bobby Higginson, resulting in a 5-4 Angels lead.

Lakcey gave up 3 runs...but he did well. And hopefuly, he'll improve.

Troy Glaus had a BIG day, with a single, double, triple. And needed a homer in his last 2 at-bats for the cycle. He struck out and popped up.

Vlad had 3 hits, 2 RBIs.

Eckstein had a leadoff hit, and scored a run...but sprained his groin, and went out after 1st inning. Most likely, he's headed to the 15-day DL

Angels jumped out to a 5-0 lead on great hitting, esp. with 2-outs by Erstad.

Tigers responded with a grandslam to get it to 5-4 and immediately the next inning, the Angels responded with 5 runs --- a great sign of a team that is superior! Give up 4 runs, then come right back with 5.

Angels now 12-8, same as the Rangers, who won 3-2 last night despite the Royals loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th with no outs. Royals couldn't score, lolol....reminded me of last year's Dodgers.

Bartolo Colon pitches Wednesday for the Angels. He's been TREMENDOUS!

4/28/04: Tigers clawed Bartolo Colon and the Angels 10-2

after a Troy Glaus 2-run homer gave Colon a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning, Colon promptly gave up 7 runs......

a bad outing by Colon, who's 3-1.

Maroth, a 21-game loser last year, pitched tremendously...and got a victory

not much else to say.

Angels tied with the Rangers for AL lead as the ROyals beat the Rangers. A's lost their 5th straight game

4/29/04: Angels 12-3 over the Tigers, taking 2 out of the 3 games

a TREMENDOUS game by the Angels, as they took 2 games, and are now 5-1 on this roadtrip.

Angels got off to a 10-0 lead, started by Chone Figgins triple and scored...

Angels scored 2 runs in 3rd and 8 runs in the 4th, and that was that

Vlad blasted a solo shot, 4 hits, 2 RBIs
Jose Guillen had a 3-run homer
Erstad had 2 hits and 4 RBIs

and more importantly, Jarrod Washburn continued his better pitching, allowing only 3 runs in 8 innings pitched

Angels now 1/2 game ahead in 1st......

and now, head to Minnesota for a 3-game series to conclude a 9-game road trip. Should they get 2 wins, that will be a tremendous road trip!

5/1/04: 1-0 Angels as they take the 2nd game of a 3-game series after losing yesterday to the Twins 6-3

what a tremendous pitching performance by both teams!

Aaron Sele is tough vs the Twins
Brad Radke is tough vs Angels

Angels had opportunity after opportunity..... including bases loaded with 1 out, but Jose Guilllen grounded into double play.

But, in the top of the 9th, Jose Molina singled with 2 outs; Adam Kennedy singled him to 3rd, and Chone Figgins got the clutch RBI

Troy Percival came in to get the save, striking out 2 of the 3 Twins.

K-Rod got the win

Rangers won game 1 of double header; hopefully, they'll lose game 2 so Angels can get back into tie for 1st place.

a win tomorrow would be tremendous! and give the Angels a 7-2 record on this 9-game road trip

5/2/04: Angels 3-1 over the Twins to take 2 out of 3, and go 7-2 on this road trip, their longest of the year!

No Garret Anderson for all 9 games
No Tim Salmon for most of the games
Ditto for David Eckstein.....

and it didn't matter, as Chone Figgins, DaVanon and Halter filled in admirably

John Lackey pitched his best game of the year, allowing 1 run in 7 innings before K-Rod finished the 8th and Percival the 9th for his 7th save.

Lackey hasn't pitched this well in over a year, and his last 2 starts have been very encouraging!!

Percival gave up 1 hit, and 2 BB, but fortunately escaped the 9th without allowing a run.

The key hit was provided by Jose Guillen, who drove in Vlad and Figgnis with a clutch 2-out single to right field!

A tremendous pitching performance, as the Angels won 1-0 Friday and 3-1 Sunday.

Angels 1 game behind the Rangers, who are absolutely RED-HOT

Now, they come home to face the Tigers, with Colon vs Maroth tonight. Colon had a terrible game last week vs. the Tigers, so hopefully, he will rebound tonight

5/4/04: Angels 11-9, as they stage their biggest comeback of the season

Bartolo Colon had his 2nd straight terrible outing vs the Tigers, this time giving up 6 runs in less than 7 innings, starting with an Ivan Rodrguez 2-run homer in the first and a RBI scoring single by Sanchez in the 2nd inning.

But, the Angels clawed their way back to 3-2....

only to see Vlad misplay a fly ball that would've been the 3rd out and instead resulted in a 6-2 lead for the Tigers going into the bottom half of the 6th

And that's when things turned!!

Darrin Erstad started things with a double; Vlad singled him in to tie the score, and Glaus promptly blasted a 2-run homer to give the Angels a 8-6 lead. They went on to score 3 more runs

and headed into the 9th up 11-6

Scott Shields couldn't hold the lead, giving up 3 runs....and Percival, pitching in his 4th straight game, got his 4th straight save.

But, the Rangers won yet again, their 5th in a row, and still lead the Angels by 1 game

nice rally by the Angels...but I am deeply concerned about the lack of good starting pitching - this will hurt come August, if not sooner.

5/4/04: Angels 11-4

boy, talk about an offensive explosion, part deux!

after getting no run support for practically all of 2003, Jarrod Washburn is getting 9+ runs per game in his starts in 2004!

Benji Molina got the Angels started with a 3-run homer in the bottom of 2nd

Troy Glaus hit a MONSTER 430-foot homer to dead center, followed by a blast via the bat of Jose Guillen in the 6th, and the rout was on.

Vlad Guerrero went 3-3 with a couple of RBIs

lots of hits, runs, RBIs

and a pretty good pitching performance by Washburn, who gave up 4 runs in 7 innings.

Rookie Hensley got his first major league appearance, cleaning up in the 9th. After giving up a single to the first batter and a walk, he retired the next 3 batters.

The Angels bullpen needed a rest, esp. K-Rod and Percival, and that's exactly what the Angels offense provided.

Tigers are 0-9 at Anaheim for the past couple of years

Rangers lost to Tampa Bay, so Angels are now 1 game up

Angels are hot hot hot

best record 19-10, a 5-game winning streak

and all this without Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, and Brendan Donnelley

I didn't see yesterday's game, so not much to say

5/7/04 update: 1-0 Angels

Angels are red hot!!

a 5-game winning streak and baseball best record at 20-10

Today, it was all about John Lackey, who pitched a complete game shutout, and was masterful in his 9 innings. After a rocky start to 2004 (and a bad year in 2003), Lackey looks like he's turning it around.

The only run of the game was driven in on a single by David Eckstein......

otherwise, it was a good pitching duel b/t Lackey and the Devil Rays pitcher

5/8/04: 8-4 Angels

Angels are sizzling hot..so hot you can fry an egg on them...

however, Jose Guillen joined the list of injured Angels, with a sprained ankle after sliding into 2nd base.

I was at the park, didn't see the game or listen to it, so can't say much

however, the Angels completed their first ever 7-0 home trip in franchise history. Their previous best was 6-0.

Angels are 2 games ahead of Texas, who came from behind yesterday to win 16-15 after being behind by 10- runs. But, today the Tigers managed to beat the Rangers

Angels have Monday off...boy, do they ever need it!
Garret is out indefinitely
Salmon is out for another week
Guillen likely is out 15 days
Glaus still has to DH due to painful shoulder

And those are the key starters!!

but, Washburn pitched a fairly good game, got good run support..and that was that

next up: at Yankees, Tuesday

5/11/04 update: Yankees beat Angels 8-7 in extra innings

Angels will only go as far as the pitching takes them

and yesterday, the pitching was horrific

a Vlad RBI double and Troy Glaus 2-run blast gave the Angels a 3-0 lead.

Escobar promptly gave up 3 runs.

a Vlad homer gave the Angels a 4-3 lead.

.....

and with the Angels leading 5-4 in the 8th, K-Rod gave up 2 runs..

benji Molina hit a 2-run blast off star reliver Rivera to give the Angels a 1 -run lead....only to see Troy Percival blow the save by giving up 1 run in the 9th

Then, Ben Webber gave a RBI-double to Sheffield.

and that was that.

Great offense by an Angels club missing 4 starters...but the pitching stunk worse than a rotten egg

5/12/04: Angels 11-2

Angels got back on their winning ways after having their 9-game hitting streak halted yesterday by the Evil Empire.

Today, Aaron Sele did a TREMENDOUS job in limiting the Yankees to 2 runs, and the bullpen pitched the final 3 innings without giving up 1 run.

Meanwhile, Jose Guillen (who sprained his ankle / knee this past Sunday) was right back in the game, and hit a 2-run blast in the 1st inning....

But rookie Casey Kotchman (subbing for injured Erstad for the next month) provided the key clutch 3-run double that broke open a close game.

wowow....Angels missed 4 starters yesterday and score 8 runs. With Jose back, they were without 4 starters (Glaus was a last minute scratch) and scored 11 today.

Tim Salmon is slated to be back Tuesday

Doggone Rangers won yet again.....Angels have a 1 game lead over them, and the best record in AL..

5/14/05: Yankees 7-4 over the Angels, who found out they would not have Troy Glaus with them for at least 1 month.

not much to say, since this was a 10am game PST, and I didn't get a chance to watch it.

Lackey just didn't have it today, giving up 6 runs in 6 innings

fortunately, Rangers also lost, so Angels are still 1 game ahead

it's now on to Baltimore

5/14/04: 10-9 Angels

holy cow, the Angels had a 9-0 lead, with Bartolo Colon pitching, and nearly blew it!

but the player of the game was Chone Figgins, who will surely be in the starting lineup for the rest of the year

Eckstein started the game with a triple, and Chone drove him in with a triple

Then, in the 2nd inning, Chone hit his 1st homer of his career, and a grand slam at that!

But, with a 9-0 lead, Colon gave up 4 runs, suffered a stiff lower back, and left after 5 innings. Kevin Gregg and the rest of the bullpen gave up 5 more runs, including Percival giving up 3 in the bottom of the 9th - Tejada driving in 2 to tie the game) - for a blown save.

But, Chone, who already had 4 hits, singled in Adam Kennedy in the top of the 9th for his 5th hit and 6th RBI and an Angels win. a career game for Chone!!!

Rangers lost to Detroit 7-1 and Angels are now up 2-1/2 games

Last year, Angels were 1-8 in Baltimore.

This year, they won their first game here...and hopefully, can reverse last year's trend

5/16/04: Angels are just incredible. Missing Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad and Tim Salmon (all starters), they continue scoring runs and winning.

They beat up on Orioles again Saturday, 7-2

Jarrod Washburn ptiched a great game, allowing 2 runs, 3 hits in 8 innings of work

Shane Halter, one of the star reserves, hit a 2-run blast to dead center

Chone Figgins had a couple of hits, runs scored and RBI

Vlad Guerrero hit a MONSTER solo shot, and had 3 hits in 4 at bats

I don't know how the Angels are doing it, but they continue to keep scoring runs.

Angels now 25-12, and won 2 games in Baltimore in 2 tries. Last year, they were 1-8 vs. the Orioles

Angels currently playing Orioles, with 0-0 score, and Escobar pitching, today

5/18/04 update: 1-0 Angels in 11 innings

one of the best pitching performances by both teams this year, esp. by the Angels, whose pitching staff gave up 3 hits in 11 innings. The Yanks pitching staff gave up 11 hits.

a well-played game all around.

And, in the 9th inning, the Yanks had a chance to score a run, but bernie Williams single to right and Jorge Posada trying to score from 2nd base was all for naught as Vlad Guerrero made a near-perfect throw to Jose Molina, who blocked the plate well and got the out.

what a play, and I believe Vlad has either 6 or 7 assists so far.

The Angels relief pitching was spectacular, with K-rod pitching 2 scoreless innings, Percival 1, and Scott Shields pitching the 10th and 11th innings, getting the win for his 3rd of the season.

In the bottom of the 11th, DaVanon singled, and Guerrero singled him to 2nd. Amezaga, atoning for being picked off base in the bottom of 8th, moved over both runners with a great bunt.

Rookie Kotchman was walked. and with the infield and outfield playing in, Adam Riggs lofted a fly ball to deep right that ordinarily would've been caught.

Regardless, it was deep enough to score the winning run.

a tremendous game by both teams.

the rest of the AL West lost, and so Angels have a 3 1/2 lead over 2nd place Rangers

Troy Glaus looks like he will be out for the season, as he is scheduled for shoulder surgery this coming Friday, a surgery that normally requires 4-6 months rehab. He should've had it this past summer - oh well!

Glaus is a free agent at the end of this year, and he and his agent is looking for a $10M+ a year contract. Angels won't give him that, esp. with him being so fragile and hurt so often. And they have Dallas McPherson in the minors, waiting to come up.

5/20/04: Evil Empire 4-2 over the Angels

John Lackey walked 6 batters and gave up a 2-run homer to Giambi

the Angels pitching staff gave up 11 walks

can't win when you're walking that many batters

ugh!

Unlike the Lakers, the Angels can never be accused of NOT trying, as they swept the Baltimore Orioles, using clutch hitting, spectacular defense (3 runners thrown out at home plate in close games), and above average pitching.

Angels own the best record 29-15, and now head out to Toronto

5/26/04: Toronto wins 6-5, again

Troy Percival blows his 5 save in 17 opportunities

it's time for Mike Scioscia to give K. Rod the closer role and take Percival out.

enough said.

wow percival blowing 5 saves out of 17

12/17 sv opp is pretty bad

even though Percival has almost at 300 career saves for the Angels (I think he's only 4-6 saves away), it's K-Rod time.

let Percival work out his kinks in the minor league

Help is coming in the form of Raul Mondesi, who has said he will be signing with the Angels, and be in uniform Sunday vs the White Sox

not sure if he's going to help or hinder the team, but, we could use a hot Mondesi

5/29/04 update: 5-1 Angels, as they beat 6'11" Rausch, a minor leaguer who played tremendous in the Olympics in 2000, and was the White Sox star minor leaguer.

but, he was trounced for 5 runs in less than 4 innings and gave up 10 hits. Once he was replaced, he stormed out of the park and went home.

White Sox management stated they will option him to minors or else trade him; they don't want to deal with problems.

Angels now 3 1/2 up on A's and Rangers

We shall see if Mondesi starts for the Angels today vs the White Sox

5/30/04 update: Angels finished a 6-game road trip by getting smoked 11-2

The game started off well, with a Jose Guillen single scoring Eckstein for a 1-0 lead

Then Lacky promptly gave up 3 runs in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd, including 3-run homer to Valentin

Lackey ended up giving up 8 runs in 3 innings and should be placed in the bullpen or else optioned to the minors.

He pitched terribly in his first 3 starts ot the season; then pitched fairly well in 3 starts, including a complete game shutout of the Devil Rays. Now, he's had 3 terrible games.

Combine this with a horrible 2003, and it's time this guy fixes his problems in the bullpen or the minors.

Stop letting this guy pitch every 5th day and allow run after run to score!

Angels, despite going 1-5, only lost 1 game lead in standings.

Now, they go home for a lengthy stay, starting with 2 games vs. the Red Sox this coming Tuesday

Raul Mondesi DHed today, went 0-2 with a walk.

After the stunt he pulled on Pittsburgh that resulted them to release him from his contract, we will see what sh*t Mondesi pulls once the Garret Anderson is healthy and Tim Salmon comes back, and Mondesi is put on the bench.

He was a mess with the Dodgers, Yankees, D-backs, and Pirates.
That's what you call a TREND

6/1/04: Angels 7-6 over the Red Sox

wow, what a great game that almost turned into a loss

Red Sox started out by scoring runs in the 1st (RBI-double by Ramirez) and the 2nd (solo blast by Millar)

Eckstein got a run back in the 1st, with a single and an RBI from DaVanon

Eckstein had a great game, going 3-5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Don't forget that Eckstein was once in the Red Sox minors, was mired in a slump, and waived (he was playing behind Nomar) b/c he could only play shortstop and 2nd, which the Sox didn't need.

Angels picked him up in 2000 for $25,000 - a tremendous investment no matter if Eckstein stinks from now until he is released from the Angels. Eck has a 16-game hitting streak, and improved his BA to .279 from .219

Kotchman continues to perform well, getting 2 hits, a run scored and an RBI. And he is a fabulous 1st basemen!

When Erstad gets back in about 2 weeks, Kotchman may be sent back to the minors, but he's gonna be back in the majors really soon. And he's only 21!

Bartolo Colon had his 4th straight terrible start, this time, lasting only 4 innings, giving up 4 earned runs.

but Kevin Gregg pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief, K-Rod brought the Angels into the 9th with a 7-4 lead for Percival to save.

Percy ended up giving up a double and a 2-run homer by Daubach, but fortunately, 3rd baseman Amezaga made a Sportscenter-like catch as he dove to his left to grab a line drive.
A save for Percival, his 297th of his career. He's blown 4 so far in 17 chances, and would've blown this one if not for a 3-run lead!

Angels lead Texas and Oakland by 2-1/2 games. Oakland got some bad news, as their 3rd baseman Chavez is out with a broken bone.

This was game 1 of a 12-game home series.

Now, they face Pedro Martinez in game 2 of a 2-game series. Can Washburn pitch well tonight, b/c Pedro's not going to give up too many runs

6/2/04 update: 10-7 Angels

Even with Pedro Martinez pitching, the Angels are hammering out 17 hits and 10 runs in 8 innings so far.

David Eckstein is havin a career night, going 5-5 to extend his hit streak to 17 straight, and scored 4 runs with 1 RBI

Chone Figgins is 3-4 with 3 runs scored.

BUT THE BIGGEST STORY:

Vlad is 4-4, with NINE RBIs...that's right, Vlad has NINE RBIs!! A 2-run homer, a 3-run homer, a sacrifice fly, a 2-run RBI double

other than that, Vlad hasn't done a **** thing, lolololol

wowowowowowowowow..I am watching the game in awe

as the Angels hammer out hit after hit after hit

Manny Ramirez has a homer, and the Red Sox did manage to score 7 runs off starter Jarrod Washburn.....

but, man, NINE RBIs by Vlad.

it's now the top of the 9th, and we just need 3 more outs. It looks like K-Rod will close out this game, and not Percival, who is struggling mightily as a closer.

6/3/04 - Mini-update

Angels win 5-2 over Cleaveland.

Eckstein continues his 18 game hit streak, and scores one of the runs of the night, but is pulled from the game due to a little bit of Hamstring tension. He was noticeably hobbling as he rounded 2nd on his hit.

Raul Mondesi scores his first HR as an Angel, putting him at 2/13. Solo HR.

Figgins grabbed an RBI, along with Vlad and Mondesi getting 1 each. Guillen grabbing 2.

Guillen's sore arm affected his play today, keeping him as a weak batter in the cleanup position.

Kelvim Escobar put in a SOLID 8 innings, throwing over 80 strikes, and Under 30 Balls.

A Very scary moment in the 5th, I believe, when Mondesi and Amazega nearly had a bad collision. it almost happened again later in the game.

All in all wonderful. We gave Lee his first loss of the season. So far so good!

very Cool, Voltaic - thank you!!

6/5/04 update: Cleveland has beaten the Angels these past 2 games after the Angels won the 1st of a 4-game series.

in game 2, a 6-4 lead by the Angels disappeared as Frankie Rodriguez gave up a 3-run bomb to lightweight Belliard, and then Ben Webber gave up a 2-run homer in the 9th.

Angels had 2 man on in the 9th, and Mondesi up...but he struck out.

Weber has since been optioned to the minors. He did a great job for us in the past 3 years...but he struggled all season this year. The Angels called up a minor league reliever from their farm system with a 1.79 ERA

in the 3rd game, played Sat, the Indians won again 3-2, as 3rd baseman Chone Figgins misplayed a hard hit shot down the 3rd base line into a double that allowed 2 runs to score.

Lackey pitched a much better game, going 8 innings and giving up 3 runs, but the Angels offense was stifled.

boy, when the Angels give Lackey 7 runs, he gives up 8. Then, when he gives up only 3 runs, the Angels score 2.

Angels now have only a 2-game lead over the Rangers.

6/11/04: after a miserable 5-game losing streak that resulted in the Angels losing their AL West lead, the Angels now have back Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson

5-4 Angels, thanks to a clutch 2-run double by rookie Kotchman to get the score to 4-3, an RBI-scoring single by Guillen in th 8th to tie it at 4-4, and a clutch RBI-scoring single by DaVanon to get it to 5-4

but, the Angels still are struggling, as twice, they had the bases loaded with less than 2 outs, and in the 8th, with no outs... and failed to score those base runners.

K-Rod didn't have command of his pitches, as the Brew Crew loaded the bases, but got a double-play grounder to short to end the game.

Angels and Texas are both 1/2 games behind the A's, who have been surging!!

Angels now face Cubbies for the 1st time ever, with Maddux pitching and going for his 294th win tonight

well, it's been over 1 month since I've updated this thread.. but with the crummy play of the Angels, there really wasn't much to talk about.

However, lately, they had a 5-game winning streak heading into the All Star break, and have won 2 of 3 against the Red Sox at home, with the 4th game played today

Angels seem to have their pitching fairly consistent now, and the hitting has come alive again

currently 3 games behind Texas (they have 5 games vs the Rangers in the next 2 weeks - 2 at Texas, 3 at Anaheim), so we'll see what happens. Texas has owned Anaheim this year

Yeah, I haven't updated lately either. I've been missing the games due to my Crummy Non-Baseball-Compatible schedule. I heard Colon has actually been winning the games he's been pitching, so that's a big improvement.

Go Angels! 2-1 in the BoSox series right now! Make it 3-1 and we can close the gap for AL West Lead!

Is it my imagination, or did Colon go to one too many buffet bars in Southern CA?

He seems fatter and fatter.....


and for a guy who is supposed to eat up innings (and not just the food), he doesn't have a complete game this year, and hasn't made it to the 8th inning too many times

Yeah. The man is balooning. So much, in fact, that ESPN ran a huge article about it. Pretty sad. I think that's why he's done so well in the last couple games. All the criticism is finally starting to kick him in the butt.

Crasnick: Hitters losing fear of Colon
The Angels would like the 250-pound Bartolo Colon to miss a few meals and a few more bats. (http://proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1829123)

Very sad, indeed.

it may be sad..but he is paid a lot of money to perform, and there are very few positions in sports where the fatter you are, the better you are

perhaps sumo wrestling - that's the only sport I know of.

In football, you can be 375 lbs and be a good offensive linemen, but the more and more you weigh, sooner or later, you start getting injured more and more

Oh hey, I agree. What I think is Sad about it is that he hasn't responded, nor has the Team. Scioscia has said publicly that they're not worried about it, but it is clearly affecting his game.

I guess only time will tell.

So far we're 1-0 in Game 4 of the BoSox series, with our solo point from a HR by Lackey. Here's hoping we keep it up!

7/18/04: well, Curt Schilling limited the Angels to 5 hits and one run as the Red Sox won to split this 4-game series

Lackey was humming along, then suddenly starting walking people, and next thing you know, David Ortiz hit a 3-run blast, and later a solo shot...and that was that

Angels are just drifiting now, winning here, losing there

and meanwhile, the games start sliding off the schedule......

7/20/04 .....Cleveland 14-6 as they sweep the 2-game series at Anaheim

may, does this suck or what?!?!?

Travis Hafner, in 2 games, blasted 5 homers (inlcuding the game winning 3-run shot off Percival in the 10th inning yesterday) and had 11-RBIs

Angels are in deep danger of being out of the running for the wildcard

they have a 2-game series with Texas starting tomorrow, and then 3 more next week ......

time to make a move - the only question is: up or down?!

7/21/04: Rangers 3-2 over the Angels

I was at work, didn't get a chance to see this afternoon game

but, Angels are in danger of sliding out of the hunt for the AL West

boy oh boy, a 6-game deficit to Texas, who have dominated the Angels so far this season.

Excobar seemed to pitch a pretty good game; but the Angels just can't score runs when he's pitching.

They average 8+ runs when Washburn pitches

7/22/04: 11-1 Angels blast the Rangers, as they had 9 different players get an RBI, led by 4 hits by Robb Quinlan

No homers

again, I didn't get to watch this game, as it was played in the early afternoon

Bartolo Colon pitched his 2nd straight good game, lasting into the 7th inning, giving up 1 run.

Angels still 5 games behind the Rangers....and need to sweep the upcoming 3 game series with the Rangers at Anaheim starting next Monday; at worst, they need to win 2 of 3

Angels now face Cleveland at their home park this weekend. Cleveland has OWNED the Angels, led by Travis Hafner

7/23/04: 8-2 Angels bash the Mariners

Isn't it interesting....for the past week, neither the Dodgers nor Angels were on local TV at all...

then, this weekend, they are both on at the same time.

So, I was watching mostly the Dodgers Friday night, instead of the Angels....

but in switching channels, I did see Jose Guillen blow open a tight 2-1 Angels lead with a 3-run blast to right field off of Jamie Moyer.

On a note of relief, Vlad Guerrero was hit on the right wrist, and I thought/prayed it wasn't broken. He was taken out of the game after getting hit b/c the Angels already had an 8-2 lead, and it was late in the game.

X-rays post-game showed no fracture....but there's always the chance that he may have a stress fracture, which doesn't show on X-rays until 2 weeks after initial injury

Guerrero is day-to-day

Garret Anderson strained his groin the other day as he ran out a ground ball...and is also day-to-day, having missed this game, and he likely will miss the weekend as well - I hope not!

Rangers beat the A's, so Angels are 4 games back, but only 1-1/2 games out of the running for the wild card

7/24/04: 8-4 Angels beat the Mariners yet again..

without Vlad (day-to-day after getting hit on the wrist yesterday) and Garret (day-to-day after straining a groin muscle 3 games ago), the Angels got a huge lift from Robb Quinlan, who had 4 hits 2 days ago and hit a single, double and homer vs the Mariners in this game!! His 1st ever homer.

And then Josh Paul followed with a solo blast for his first homer in a couple of years.

Angels started the game down 1-0, then were down 3-1 before a rally gave them a 5-3 lead, the last 2 runs coming on a 2-run blast by Darin Erstad.

Aaron Sele is 6-0, but that is very deceptive, as he pitches mostly 6 innings, and depends on the help of the bullpen....but, he has been pitching well.

Angels are now 4 game behind the Rangers, who lost to the A's.

Starting Monday, the Angels play 3 vs. the Rangers at Anaheim; so far this season, the Rangers have dominated the Angels

7/25/04: 6-1 Mariners as they avoid being swept at home

Garret Anderson was back in the starting lineup, but that didn't help, as the Mariners and Joel Pineiro beat the Angels with good pitching and hitting

it's tough to sweep a team at THEIR ballpark, so 2 out of 3 isn't bad, esp. when Vlad misses the last 2 games.

Now, it's on to an important task: a 3-game series at home vs. the Rangers as the Angels hope to overcome a 4-game deficit

7/30: Angels, having won 4 of 6 games within 2 weeks vs the Rangers to get back to 3 games behind them,

promptly lose to the Mariners by 1 run yesterday in extra innings

Anaheim got a clutch 2-run homer by Benjie Molina in the bottom fo the 9th inning to tie the game at 5-5.

But, in the 12th inning, with Garret Anderson on 3rd and 1 out, Erstad popped up and the next batter couldn't get the run in

Mariners went on to score in the next inning, as a 2-out single by Bret Boone scored Ichiro

what a shame...Angels look like they're just wasting the season away.........

A's won their 7th straight game to get into 1st place by 1/2 game over the Rangers.

Well, thank god... Angels terminated Mondesi's contract.

He joined with us, and played a total of..

Wait for it..
Waaaait for it..

8 GAMES!

That's right, 11 days. Then bam! Injured and on the DL list.
In that time, he went a spectacular 4 for 34.

Thank god for small miracles!

Linkage riiiight here. (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1849532)

lololol...

Mondesi had 1 excused absence to go back to the Dominican Republic and 1 unexcused absence.

He then missed rehab appointments here in U.S.

lolol....I suppose he made enough money so far to last him a lifetime

he really didn't do much during his very brief time here anyways

7/31/04 update: 9-8 Angels, in an incredible rally, in an up-and-down game!!

Angels were down 5-0 as the Mariners scored 5 in the 3rd, helped by a solo blast by Olivo and a 3-run blast by Ibanez

But, the Angels came back with 3 runs the next inning, helped by a Vlad solo shot

AFter being down 6-3, the Angels pecked away, with 2 in the 5th, 1 in 7th, and finally led 7-6 on a run-scoring single by Eckstein in the bottom of the 8th.

But, Percival blew yet another save as Ichiro led off the ninth with a solo shot.

Ichiro singled in the 11th, and eventually scored on an RBI-single by Boone.......

but the Angels weren't through ---

Curtis Pride (subbing for Vlad, who was hit in the shoulder by the ball in a run-down) led off with a single vs closer Guardado, and Jose Guillen, already with a career best 4 hits (all singles), then blasted a walk-off 2-run shot!!!!

man, I was ready to bust the Angels for not being able to score with bases loaded and 1 out in the 10th inning, and ready to rip them for losing yet again after the Mariners scored in the top of the 11th....but Guillen saved the day!

wow, what a comeback!!!!!

8/1/04: 3-2 Angels

Angels are just dominating the Mariners this year, and did it again in this series, taking 3 out of 4 (and if they had been able to score with a man on 3rd and 1 out in the 12th inning Thursday, this would've been a sweep

As it is, Mariners jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a Bucky Johnson 2-run blast off Bartolo Colon in the 4th inning

Angels came right back with a solo shot by red-hot reserve Rob Quinlan - he has 3 career homers, and all hit within 1 month.

In the 6th, Erstad hit a sac fly to drive in Garret to tie the score 2-2; then Quinlan did it again, as he doubled in Vlad for a 3-2 lead

The bullpen did a great job holding the lead and Scott Shields pitched the 9th for his first save of the season

It was interesting that Scioscia didn't go to Percival today.... but then again, Percy has about 17 saves, and 7 blown saves........

A's beat the Rangers yet again and took 3 of 4 from the Rangers to get a 1-1/2 game lead over them; Angels are in 3rd in AL WEst with a 2-1/2 game lead

but, in the wildcard race, the Angels are just 1 game behind Texas. Unfortuntately, Texas holds the tie-breaker.

It's just August, and the pitching staff seems to be coming around, I think!

The Angels play 13 of next 16 games against teams with 0.500 or worse.

Their next game is Tuesday at AL Central leading MN, for a 3-game series.

8/3/04: 10-0 Twins

boy, it got ugly, and got ugly real quick!!

in 3 of the first 4 innings, Angels has 2 men on base with 1 out or less. And grounded into 3 double plays.

John Lackey stunk up the joint, giving up solo shot to Torii Hunter, a 2-run shot to Koskie and 7 runs in 5 innings

Hensley pitched rhe rest of the game, and didn't do any better, giving up 3 runs on 2 homers

both the A's and Rangers won, so the Angels fell further behind the A's by 4 games

ugh!

8/4/04: 6-3 Angels

boy, no pitching, no hitting.

it was depressing as I listened to the game on the radio, in between doing my work.

Twins scored 3 runs on 2 homers...Angels came back to tie the score the next inning.

Then, 2 innings later, with bases loaded and 1 out, Chone Figgins struck out, and Garret flied out. The twins then promptly scored 3 runs the next inning.

boy, Figgins was doing well...but it appears that he has tired. He's come up with the bases loaded and 1 out or less and struck out twice in the past couple of weeks

for someone who has no power and is mostly a contact hitter, Figgins is struggling mightily


thank goodness the Yanks rallied to beat the A's, so the Angels are still just 3-1/2 games back

boy, the Angels just plain suck!!

8/5/04: Angels 8-3 over the Twins, to salvage the finale of a 3-game series.

This game wasn't really close, as the Angels jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. I was fairly busy at work, so, didn't get a chance to listen to the ball game much.

But, Garret Anderson had 4 singles in 5 at-bats, including a bases loaded single for an RBI


Bench player Jose Paul did an admirable job filling in as a backup catcher, with 3 hits in 4 at-bats, including a double to drive in 1 run.

Torii Hunter had a solo shot, his second straight homer in 2 games

Aaron Sele pitched fairly well again, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings and is now 7-0 .. but this is probably the worse 7-0 pitcher in the majors. He's really not that good....but pitches just well enough, and the Angels score just enough runs. But no way is Sele a #1 starter or even a #3 starter.

With the A's losing and the Rangers winning, Angels are 3 games behind Rangers for AL West and 2-1/2 games behind for wildcard race

I think the Angels now face KC Royals in a 4-game series that extends to Monday, a rare feat

8/6/04: 3-0 Angels

Kelvim Escobar didn't get much run support, as the Angels scored 3, all in the 4th inning on a Robb Quinlan 2-run homer, and a Tim Salmon RBI double that drove in Erstad

Quinlan is on an absolute tear in the past 1-1/2 months, and has a 16-game hitting streak, best amongst Angels rookies in their history.

but this game was all about Escobar, who, while he hasn't gotten much run support, also has been pitching terribly...but not in this game.

He managed to get out of jams in the first 3 innings, then cruised the rest of the way, pitching 7 innings before giving way to K. Rod in the 8th and Percival's 302nd save in the 9th

A's won, Rangers lost, Red Sox lost

so, Angels now 2-1/2 games behind A's for AL West, 1-1/2 games behind Rangers for wildcard, tied with Red Sox for 2nd in wildcard race

8/7/04 udpate: 7-5 Angels, as they move within 1-1/2 games of 1st place in AL West, and 1 game for wildcard.

Angels playing their next 11 games vs. sub-0.500 teams, including 2 more vs. KC Sun and Mon

Angels got off to a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout to score Garret by Erstad in the 2nd inning...but the Royals replied with 2 in the next inning for a 2-1 lead on a clutch 2-out single by Brown to score 2 runs.

The Angels got to Serrano, making his major league debut, in the 5th inning with 3 runs, as Guillen doubled to score Garret and Figgins and then scored himself on a sac fly by Guerrero for a 4-3 lead

The play of the game came in the 7th inning, score tied 4-4, bases loaded with 1 out, and Darin Erstad hit a clutch single off left-hander Reyes to break the tie. A batter before, Garret struck out weakly - boy, I am thinking the arthritic condition that Garret has is making it very difficult for him to plant himself and swing through....he's got 1 homer in 32 games.

Percival pitched a rocky 9th, as he allowed a single and a walk, and with the score 7-5, he induced a double play grounder by slugger Mike Sweeney on a very close play at 1st place

Percy got his 303rd career save, his 20th save of the season (9th consecutive time for him).......

Angels continue to play poorly vs. the good teams but beat up on the bad teams

8/8/04: 6-4 Angels, in a dramatic 3-run comeback in top of the 9th at Royals stadium

and pull within 1-1/2 games of 1st place A's in the West, and a tie with Red Sox and Rangers for wild card

wowowow.....Jose Guillen hit a clutch solo shot off a Royals reliever in the top of the 9th. Then, helped by a Royals error that loaded the bases, David Eckstein laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to drive in 2 runs as the pitcher fielded the ball and wildly threw to 1st base

prior to today, the Angels were a lousy 1-44 in games in which they trailed heading into the 9th inning.

Lackey pitched terribly again......

Donnelley got the win; K-Rod got the save.

Angels now go for a 4-game sweep Monday, knowing that the A's won early this afternoon, and the Rangers incredibly got swept by Orioles in a 4-game series!!!

Angels now 2 games behind the A's for 1st place
Angels and Red Sox both 1/2 games ahead of Rangers in wild card

8/9/04: 5-3 Angels sweep the 4-game series at Royals Stadium

it's one thing to sweep a team at home...but boy, to do it at someone else's place is pretty awesome, even if the other team is basically giving away the game.

Royals Brian Anderson pitched a great game, allowing just 1 run in 7 innings and left with a 2-1 lead....

Then, in the bottom of the 8th, the Royals got a gift run as relief pitcher Kevin Gregg balked in a run.

Trailing 3-1, the Angels rallied, with help from Royals.

Rob Quinlan (he of the 20-game winning streak, best in Angels history for a rookie) got his 3rd hit of the game in the 9th.

Pinch Hitter Tim Salmon singled to right, his 5th pinch hit in 11 at-bats

David Eckstein walked to load the bases.

Figgins hit a CLUTCH single to right to score Quinlan and get the game closer, 3-2

A wild pitch scored pinch runner Amezaga to tie it 3-3

Vlad then hit a bat off the pitcher's glove, picked up by the 2nd basemen, who wildly threw home, scoring both Eckstein and Figgins for a 5-3 lead.

Guillen grounded into a double play to end the inning.

And to top it off, 35-y/o Troy Percival gave himself a birthday present with his 21st save of the year.

wowowowow..I was ready to skewer the Angels for their failures, esp. with the game 2-1 Royals, and man on 3rd and one out -- Adam Kennedy (strugglying mightily as he begins his spiral towards 0.200) struck out on obvious balls. Eckstein then popped out on the first pitch he saw.

but, thanks to the Royals generosity, the Angels completed the sweep....

with Rangers (swept by Orioles, who play the Angels in a 3-game series starting tomorrow) and Red Sox both losing, the Angels now have a 1 game lead in the wild card, and only 1-1/2 games behind A's for the AL West.

You don't want to be the wildcard coming out of the AL West, b/c that means the AL West wildcard plays the Yankees (team with the best record plays the lowest ranked playoff team, unless that team is from the same division)

8/10/04 update: 5-3 Orioles leading going into bottom of 5th at Angels Stadium

While this game is not over....I stopped listening on the radio while at work, b/c I am so exasperated by the entire bullsh*t that is the Angels!!!

No wonder they're loaded with talent, but are struggling to stay in the wildcard race!!

First, Adam Kennedy is having a HORRIBLE year, and his BA at home is ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC, at 0.179 !! Kennedy will always be in Angels lore for the 3 homers he hit in 1 game during the Twins-Angels playoffs en route to the title....

but, this year, the year farking sucks, and sucks the big one!! He can't get hits; He can't move runners over; He can't get RBIs. Tonight, as has happened in the past 3 games, he was up at bat with a man on 3rd and 1 out or less....and all 3 times, he's struck out.

For freaking god!!, bench this piece of sh*t!! He's proven he can't do anything this year, why not call up a minor leaguer and give him a chance....the minor leaguer can't do any worse!

Second, Mike Scioscia refuses to admit that he has terrible pitchers. Aaron Sele, the worst ever pitcher to go 8-0 in the season (he basically gives up 5-6 runs a game, and only wins b/c the Angels score 8-10 runs) ... was struggling every single inning.
After 4 innings, he had already given up 3 runs, and 11 hits, and was never in control...

so what does Sciosci do? He leaves him in to pitch the 5th inning, and a 1-run Angels deficit promptly runs to a 3-run deficit.

farking Scioscia!!!!!

You're a ****nn manager - manage!!

Everyone could see Aaron was struggling - why not take him out??

if you decide that taking him out means more work for the bullpen, fine....leave him in to pitch 9 innings, give up 20 runs, and take the loss.

but if you want to win, take him out IMMEDIATELY, and use the bullpen.

Don't wait until this piece of sh*t gives up 6 runs, then send in a reliever.....

ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

but hey, at least the Dodgers are winning, with a 6-1/2 game lead, a 5-2 win over the Reds, and Gagne got his 33rd save

8/10/04 update: well, I guess I am a glutton for punishment, b/c I turned back on the radio at work again....

and of course, we give up 5 more runs to the Orioles, with 11-3 lead and 19 hits!!

then, in the bottom of the 8th inning, bases loaded and 1 out...

Adam Kennedy is up.
.
.
.
gee - what's he going to do?

1. pop up?
2. line out?
3. strike out?
4. hit into double play?

well, since he's already donw #1-3 in past week..... how about we choose #4?

And that's exactly what happened, as this piece of sh*t grounded into a double play

8/12/04 update: 6-1 Orioles control the Angels

boy oh boy....

Angels are showing, slowly but surely, that they are more a pretender than a contender...

Bartolo Colon, with a 7-game winning streak, had bad game, giving up 6 runs (Orioles also stranded 12 runners).

Angels couldn't hit worth a lick!

yuck!!

i hope ur rite cuz i want the A's the win

Originally posted by aka50cent
i hope ur rite cuz i want the A's the win

if only management of the A's were willing to spend money, your A's might have won 1-2 World Series titles.

You are losing the best of your players: Tejada, etc... b/c management refuses to spend money (even though Chavez just signed a new contract).

Pretty soon, Mulder, Zito, and the other pitchers will get new contracts, and it's not going to be cheap

8/13/04 update: 5-3 Detroit

I am sick of the way the Angels play

They are a good team...but any hopes of them doing anything in this year's playoffs is shot

First, their relievers are horrible; yes, they have one of the better ERAs, but Percival is 2-2, with 5 blown saves in 27 opportunities. and the Angels refuse to use K-Rod as the closer. 3 times this year, they have blown saves of 3-run leads in the 9th inning - this should NEVER happen. Sure, if you've got a 1-run lead, it's easy to give up a solo shot. But, you should ALWAYS be able to hold a 3-run lead for 1 inning

Second, this team is one of the worst in clutch hitting. Since the All-Star break, they are hitting 0.158 with runners in scoring position; even worse, they strike out when there's a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs. Adam Kennedy alone has done this 4 times within 1 wekk. YOU HAVE TO SCORE RUNS WHEN THERE'S A MAN ON 3RD AND LESS THAN 2 OUTS - ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE CONTACT

Third, Mike Scioscia refuses to pull the pitchers when a pitcher is obviously struggling. For example, Aaraon Sele gave up 13 hits in 4 innings and 3 runs....so what happens in the 5th inning? Sele is allowed to pitch the 5th, promptly giving up 3 more, then Scioscia takes him out!

Ok, if you want to save the bullpen and not tire them out, then let Sele continue pitching. Even if he gives up 20 more runs in the next 3 innings. A loss is a loss, whether you lose by 1 or 25.

But, why take him out in the 5th, if you're not willing to take him out in the 4th???? The bullpen will be tired and exhausted, whether they are used in the 4th or the 5th

ugh!!!

and oh yea, Angels tied 3-3, Percival came in, and promptly gives up 2 runs

8/14/04: 6-4 Tigers leading in the 6th inning

MIKE SCIOSCIA IS A FRIGGIN' IDIOT!!!

Ramon Ortiz was struggling inning after inning, even though he manage to limit the Tigers to 4 runs.

Then, after the Angels tied the score in the 5th, rather than going to a reliever, Scioscia let Ortiz pitch the next innings, then finally took him out of the game after 6 runs scored.

I don't understand.....

1. if you want to win, why not get rid of Ortiz and Sele at the first sign of trouble - these are 2 of the worst pitchers, even if Sele is 7-1!!

2. if you don't want to over-work the bullpen, why not leave Ortiz in to pitch 8-9 innings?? who cares if the other team score 20 or 30 runs??? a loss is a loss...not matter if you lose by 1 or by 30!!

Scioscia is a friggin' moron!!!!

8/14/04: well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!

the Angels came right back in the bottom half ot inning to score 5 runs, helped by a 2-run blast by Chone Figgins, and got the score 11-6

2 solo shots by the Tigers, including one by Ivan Rodriguez, got the score to 11-8

In the 8th, the Tigers loaded the bases, but Donnelley managed to get a strikeout; then K-Rod came in to strike out Rodriguez and the next Tigers player....stranding the bases loaded

Tigers had bases loaded, no outs, and couldn't score -- for a minute, I thought that was the Angels doing that!

well...needless to say, the Angels managed to win the game despite Mike Scioscia's managing!

Angels still 1-1/2 games behind the A's for 1st; and 1 game behind Red Sox for wildcard

8/15/04: 3-2 Angels, as they take 2 out of 3 from the Tigers

Angels started the game with 2 runs in the 1st inning, helped by RBIs by DaVanon and Garret..... and didn't score again until the bottom of the 8th inning

meanwhile the Tigers managed to score 2 to tie it up 2-2, with single runs in the 2nd and 7th.

Then, in the 8th inning, Eckstein walked, stole 2nd, and was doubled in by Erstad....grabbing the lead at 3-2

Percival had a shaky 9th, as he walked a batter and hit a batter.. but finally got the last out as Guillen flied out to deep center.

Rangers won
Red Sox lost

So, it looks like all 3 teams are tied for the wildcard, with Texas and Boston at 0.552 and Angels at 0.551, just percentage points behind.

And, with the Royals taking 2 out of 3, including beating Zito today... both the Angels and the Rangers are 1/2 behind the A's for the AL West.

In case of a tie, Rangers and A's have tie-breaking advantage over the Angels.....

this is getting exciting!!!

Angels play Devil Rays at Florida starting Tuesday; meanwhile, Oakland plays red-hot Baltimore Monday. Orioles have won 12 of their last 15!!!

8/16/04: sheesh, on an off-day for the Angels

Rangers, A's, and Red Sox all won

so, Angels are 1 game out of AL West lead and 1/2 game out of wildcard, trailing both Rangers and Red Sox

8/17/04: 8-3 Devil Rays beat up the Angels

well.... in about 2-3 more weeks, all the excuses the Angels are using will be moot

they may have injuries galore....but they have had Gullen, Vlad, Garret back, and haven't done much at all.

And today, Escobar sucked

Angels scored 1 run in 3rd, Escobar promptly gave up 1 run

several innings later, Angels scored 2 runs
and in the latter half of the innings, D-Rays scored 3......

all the other teams in front of hte Angels won, so the Angels are 1-1/2 back of 1st place A's and same for wildcard

oh well...................

8/18/04: I forgot the score - something like 6-4,

didn't get a chance to listen to much of the game, as I was busy at work.

Vlad had a solo shot, and an RBI double.

Bartolo Colon, who is 6-0 vs. the D-Rays, pitched a fine game, going 8 2/3 innings, but he twisted an ankle in the 8th inning, managed to convinced Scioscia he was fine and able to pitch the 9th, and struggled as he got 2 outs.

Then Scioscia decided it was enough, and with a man on 1st and 2nd in the 9th, K-Rod was in. D-Rays scored 3 runs, as a rusty K-Rod had trouble finding the strike-zone (Frankie hadn't pitched since last Saturday).....but finally managed to get the final out.

Bartolo looks like he's rounding out into fine shape after a series of starts where he went 1-5. He's now 12-9, not too bad, but not that great for a guy getting paid over $10M a year

Rangers, A's, and Red Sox all won....Angels still 2 games out of 1st place in AL West and 1-1/2 games behind wildcard

8/19/04: 10-7 Angels take 2 of 3 from the lowly and error-prone D-Rays

Vlad started the offensive show with a 3-run blast....

and John Lackey pitched a wonderful 6 innings....

Josh Paul blasted a grand slam to put a game seemingly out of reach at 8-0.....

but, the D-rays scored 4 in the 7th, and took Lackey out.

Shields gave up 2 runs; K-Rod gave up 1 run but got the save.

This game was played in the early afternoon - and I had lots of work, so didn't have much time to listen to the ballgame.

Angels now 1-1/2 out of 1st for AL West and 1 out for wildcard.

Now, it's a 3-game weekend series vs the Evil Empire......

8/20/04: 5-0 Angels shut out Yankees, a rare feat, and do it at Yankees stadium, even more rare!!

wow, what a great game pitched by Ramon Ortiz, who's been stinking up the joint this year, to the point where he was demoted to the bullpen. This guy has good stuff, as you can see, but he just can't locate the ball!

but today, he had it all! a 5-hit shutout of the Yankees, who rarely had chances to score.

Adam Kennedy gave the Angels a 1-0 lead with a solo blast

and the Angels scored 2 more runs to make it 3-0.

Garret Anderson, who earlier had a weak groundout and failed to get an RBI with bases loaded and 1 out, hit a 2-run blast in the 8th to give the Angels even more breathing room!

unfortunately, A's , Red Sox, and Rangers all won, so just another game taken off the schedule

8/21/04 update: 6-1 Angels beat the Yanks again.

in a game that was delyaed 3 hours by rain, Jose Guillen hit a solo shot and Jeff DaVanon followed that with one of his own

Garret Anderson, with a 10-game hitting streak, went 2-4 with a double and an RBI

Sele pitched a good 3 iinnings, but with a 3-hour rain delay, Scott Shields pitched several innings for his 7th win

was watching the Dodgers game, so didn't see much of the Angels game, even though the Dodgers game started 3 hours after the Angels game.

Angels, A's, Red Sox, and Rangers all won yet again for the 3rd straight day

nothing changed other than 3 games are off the schedule

8/22/04: A RUMBLE IN THE BRONX!!

4-3 as the Angels sweep the Yankees for their first sweep at Yankees stadium since 1999. Yanks have been swept twice at home this year.

Kelvim Escobar, who suffered from a blister on his finger in his last start, gave up 2 runs, and shut down the Yanks the rest of the way through his 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, but striking out 8.

But the star of the game was BENJIE MOLINA!!!!

a clutch 3-run blast off of Kevin Brown, on a 2-2 count, to give the Angels a 3-2 lead in the 5th.

wowowowowowow!!! Molina also hit a clutch 2-run homer off Mariano Rivera earlier this year at Yankees stadium to tie the game in the 9th (a game the Angels later lost in extra innings).

Molina went 4-4, with a 3-run blast.

jose Guillen added more insurance with a sacrifice fly that scored Erstad in the 6th. Erstad, since being moved to the 2nd spot in the lineup earlier in August, has been on a 0.340 roll, with a couple of homers, doubles, and a number of RBIs!!!

Yanks scored 2 runs in the 3rd on RBI doubles by Bernie and Sheffield to give Brown an early 2-0 lead. Brown couldn't hold the lead.

It is interesting to note that Kevin Brown is 9-3, but of those 9 wins, 4 have been against the lowly Devil Rays early in the season.

Tampa Bay beat Oakland 2-1
KC Royals winning 9-0 in bottom of the 5th... and while the Rangers certainly have the offense to score 10 runs, you would think that this is a loss for the Rangers

Angels are now 5-1 on the road trip (lost the first game at Tampa Bay, won the last 2, and sweep the 3-games vs the Yanks)

Next up is the Royals

8/24/04: 5-4 Royals currently leading the Angels going into the Angels bottom of the 5th

boy, is this irksome!!

Lackey has been struggling from the get-go, giving up 3 runs in the first, and then putting the Angels in a 4-1 deificit.

But, Guillen's homer made it 4-3, and the Angels eventually scored another run to tie it at 4-4.

Meanwhile, Lackey was allowed to pitch the 5th inning, and promptly gave up a solo shot...he's now got 97 pitches after finishing the 5th inning


so......how about getting rid of Lackey and using the bullpen?

arrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Mike Scioscia is just doing weird things!!!!

8/25/04: 21-6, as the Angels totally dominate the Royals

holy cow, I cannot believe what I heard, as I was at work!!!!

21 runs, 22 hits, no errors!!!

Jeff DaVanon hit for the cycle, the first to do so since Dave Winfield for the Angels back in 1991. He had 4 hits in 6 at-bats with 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored

Garret Anderson was 3-5, with a homer and a double, 5 RBIs, 3 runs scored

Vlad was 3-5 with 2 RBIs (100 for the season) and 2 runs scored

Jose Guillen was 3-6 with 1 RBI and a run scored

heck, even pinch hitter Jose Molina, catching for his brother Benjie once the game got out of hand, hit a grand slam homer, in the same inning that DaVanon hit the homer for his cycle!!!!!

Eckstein was the only starter without a hit, but he had 2 runs scored and 1 RBI

Angels swept the Royals in all 7 games played for the first time ever in their history.

Ramon Ortiz sucked, pitching 6 innings, with 12 hits allowed and 6 runs....but, he was given a 10-run lead to work with early on, and managed to pitch 6 innings.

21 runs is the most runs scored at home for the Angels ever.

Too bad the Red Sox and A's won yet again, so Angels are still 1/2 game out of 1st place AL West and tied for lead in wildcard

up next is Minnesota this coming Friday - tomorrow is off-day

8/27/04: 9-6 Angels

9th win in a row, and yet, the A's and Red Sox keep winning as well..so Angels still 1 game behind for AL West and tied for wildcard with Red Sox!

11-1 in last 12 games, and still not in 1st place!

Adam Kennedy, cold as hell in July, is starting to heat up, and had a 2-run homer to get the Angels a 4-2 lead.

Garret Anderson had a 2-run homer as well

boy, Brad Radke has something like a 15-5 record vs. the Angels with a below 2.00 ERA, and lately, the Angels have rocked Radke

wow, are the Angels on an offensive roll!! Even an off-day yesterday couldn't slow them down.

It's one thing to score 21 runs in one game vs the last place Royals....

but to score 9 runs on Brad Radke, an Angels killer, and the 1st place Twins is impressive!!!

Originally posted by podstock
but to score 9 runs on Brad Radke, an Angels killer, and the 1st place Twins is impressive!!!

Too bad you couldn't quite do as much against my boy Johan :)

Originally posted by insanefishpossay
Too bad you couldn't quite do as much against my boy Johan :)

Johan was awesome, and the AL Cy Young is going to either him or Mulder

Once Colon gave up that 4 runs in one 1 inning for a 4-0 lead, I knew the game was over

Angels either score loads of runs.... or else they don't score at all

8/29/04 update: 4-2 Angels, on a walk-off homer by Adam Kennedy in the bottom of the 9th, as the Angels took 2 out of 3 from the Twins

Kennedy, struggling mightily for a few months, has absolutely gone berserk. He is something like 14 for 18 in his last few games.

But today, with the score tied 2-2, Troy Glaus walked, and Kennedy slammed one

And a surprise - Glaus, just 12 weeks after shoulder surgery, and 1 week of minor league play, got activated and played, going 0-2 with a walk

Kelvim Escobar again got no run support...but at least he held the Twins to 2 runs.

the Twins' Silva was even better, limiting the Angels to 1 run before he left in the 6th due to a stiff neck.

Angels promptly tied the game as Guillen doubled in Guerrero

A's won yet again, and so did the Red Sox ---- Angels still 2 games out of 1st in AL West, and 1-1/2 behind Red Sox

Angels play the Red Sox Tuesday for a 3-game series, and are 4-2 so far in this series.

Incidentally, with the Yankees losing, Red Sox, once behind by 12 games, are now only 4-1/2 games out. Boy, heads are going to roll in NY!! lololol

Originally posted by podstock
Johan was awesome, and the AL Cy Young is going to either him or Mulder


And I don't see how people can honestly say that Mulder should win the Cy Young award. Look at the stats between the two, Johan dominates Mulder in every stat except for Wins.



Grrr, Adam Kennedy just seems to hit well against us :(

Originally posted by insanefishpossay
And I don't see how people can honestly say that Mulder should win the Cy Young award. Look at the stats between the two, Johan dominates Mulder in every stat except for Wins.


there's still 1 month left to figure out the winner

Mulder will have a gauntlet to go with the Angels and Rangers in the last 3 weeks... plenty of time left

Originally posted by podstock
there's still 1 month left to figure out the winner

Mulder will have a gauntlet to go with the Angels and Rangers in the last 3 weeks... plenty of time left

Yeah, and it should be a good race between the two.

I'll admit that I am biased, Johan is easily my favorite player, but when you look at the stats they show that Johan is easily the better pitcher right now.

What's especially amazing is how good his stats are considering he got off to a HORRIBLE start. His ERA right now is nearing 3.00, amazing consdering at the beggining of June his ERA was 5.61. Imagine how great his stats would be if it weren't for his slow start(which was caused by offseason elbow surgery).

8/31/04: 4-0 Red Sox in 2nd inning

well, it's a showdown b/t 2 playoff-caliber team, and of course, the Angels are behind, as the Sox get a 3-run homer from Manny Ramirez in a 4-0 1st inning

Schilling is pitching

and with Troy Glaus on 3rd base and 1 out, Adam Kennedy naturally pops up. No runs for the Angels

Game is over - Scioscia didn't take out Lackey, which probably means Lackey gives up 8-10 runs, then is taken out 2 innings later, lol

boy...this year is just confusing.

a team loaded with talent like the Angels plays like sh*t

a team with bad starting pitching, average offense Beltre notwithstanding), is ahead in the NL West by 5 games

lolol

and naturally, Manny Ramirez hits his 2nd homer of the game off Lackey, and score is 5-0

lol

Mike Scioscia may have won 2 titles as a player, and 1 title as a manager, but this year, he's been a piece of sh*t

doen't take out a pitcher after 2 innings and 6 runs scored, but takes out the pitcher after 4 inings and 8 runs scored

lololol.....farking piece of sh*t

if you want to win the game, take the pitcher out NOW.
if you want to lose, then keep leaving him in thre to pitch 8-9 innings

doesn't matter whether the bullpen comes in the 2nd or the 4th, they'll still be over-worked. ThE difference is, if it's the 2nd, the score is 4-0

if it's the 4th, score is 8-0

I am sooooooo frustrated!

9/1/04: 6-5 Red Sox winning in

**** farking Mike Scioscia!!!

Sele, the worst pitcher to ever attain a 7-1 record, was being battered left and right

He gave up 4 runs in the 1st.
Angels scored 2 in the 2nd to cut the lead to 4-2.

Sele is allowed to stay in, and promptly gives up another run to get the score to 5-2

Angels tie it in the 3rd at 5-5

Sele is still allowed to picth more, and of course, gives up 2 more runs in the 4th

THEN, Scioscia takes him out.

WHY?!?!?!?!?!??!?

Why not take him out in the 1st inning?

A bullpen is over-worked, whether or not they pitch in the 1st or the 4th.

Why not just let Sele pitch all 8-9 innings, giving up 30 runs??

Why let Sele pitch a lousy 4 innings and get the shower gate in the 4th?!?!??!??!

farking Angels now down 7-5

congrats to farking Scioscia - what a piece of sh*t!!!

Sele was ineffective from the get-go, and the Red Sox were scoring left and right off this piece of crap

and yet, Sele finally is taken out AFTER 7 runs score!

FARK!!!!!!

9/2/04: 4-3 Red Sox sweep Anaheim and win 9th in a row, to stay 3-1/2 behind Yankees and 4-1/2 ahead of Angels

Angels now 4 games behind AL West leader A's

oh well....Bartolo Colon did ok, giving up 1 run in each of the first 3 innings...

Garret Anderson doubled in Vlad to give Angels a 1-0 lead, but the Red Sox promptly tied it at 1-1.

Angels then grabbed the lead at 2-1, only to see it disappear

Red Sox just have too good a hitting club....

but at least Bartolo wasn't like Lackey and Sele, giving up 7 runs in 3 innings....Angels had chances to win the game, but couldn't come through in the clutch

on to Cleveland for a 3- game series.

Last time the Angels played them, the Indians took 2 of 3 in Anaheim

9/3/04 update: 10-5 Angels rebound from getting their heads handed to them in a 3-game sweep by the Red Sox

well....it sure helps to play bad teams, eh?

Kelvim Escobar had a subpar game, going 6 innings and giving up 4 runs. Normally, it's a loss...but today, the Angels scored some runs for him

Garret Anderson went 3-4 with a 2-run shot and added another RBI later on

Troy Glaus hit a solo shot, his first homer since coming back from shoulder surgery and missing about 3 months to rehab the shoulder.

Benjie Molina gave the Angels a 3-0 lead with a 3-run shot

Angels still 4 behind the A's and 4-1/2 behind the Red Sox

A's are so hot that it's incredible!!! The Angels went 13-4 in their last 17 games, and LOST 3 games in the standings!!!

This is reminiscent of the 2002 year, but back then, A's had a 19 game winning streak, but couldn't make up ground on the Angels.

Now, the roles are reversed.

Angels need to keep up.... We have 6 games left with the A's, but surely, I hope the Angels don't think they're going to sweep the A's

lolololol...A's have dominated the Angels in head-to-head meetings this year - I am not sue what the records are, though

The Angels will make the playoffs but nothing more.

9/4/04 update: 6-1 Angels beat the Indians for their 2nd win in a row

Great pitching performance by Jarrod Washburn, just off the disabled list, as he only allowed 1 run in about 6-7 innings pitched.

Angels took a 2-1 lead thanks to a 3-base error by the 1st basemen, as he misplayed Adam Kennedy's grounder, scoring 2 runs.

Later on in the game, the 1st baseman again made another error that led to another Angels run

Jose Guillen went back to CA to have his wrist examined, with a possible diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome and won't play again until at least Tuesday when the Angels return to Anaheim for a 3-game series vs Toronto

Garret Anderson went 3-4 with 1 RBI and run scored. 6 hits in 2 games for Garret, who looks like he's hitting well again.

Casey Kotchman, pinch hitting for Troy Glaus, who tripped while gong over 1st base and left the game for precautionary measures, singled in Anderson for the 6th run.

A's are just incredible, winning 16 of their last 18, and won again today, coming from a 5-2 deificit in the 7th inning.

Red Sox lost to the Rangers, and Yankees lost to the Orioles

Angels stilll 4 games behind A's and 3-1/2 behind Red Sox

9/5/04: 2-1 Angels, thanks to one of the most incredible plays you will see this year, or any year!!

In the 8th, Cleveland's pinch hitter Ron Belliard hit a double, and moved over to 3rd on a ground-out. K-Rod then struck out Vizquel (a very hard person to strike out!) for the 2nd out

With Hafner up, K-Rod bounced a pitch to home plate, and the ball caromed a few feet away from Benjie Molina, who immediately ran to it, grabbed the ball, and gave a no-look pass to K-Rod, who tagged out the speedy Belliard as he blocked the plate

man, Magic Johnson would have been proud of that pass!!!!!

Lackey, struggling all year, had a hell of a game, pitching 7-1/3 innings of 2-hit, 1-run (unearned). He had a no-hitter through 6 innings before an Indians player hit a double

K-Rod pitched the rest of the 8th and 9th for his 11th save. It is looking more and more like Troy Percival will not be back.

After all, who would you rather have:

1. 35-year old Troy Percival, who's lost velocity on his 95-mph fastball, injured several times this year, and due to make $8-10M, and struggling mightily this year, with 4-6 blown saves in about 29-31 opps

or

2. up-and-coming youngster in K-Rod, who's due to make about $1-2M, has a tremendous fastball and devastating slider, and can come in with runners in scoring position and less than 1 out, and not allow runs?

K-Rod was absolutely clutch in the 2002 playoffs as a rookie

He did ok last year

He is coming on strong this year

oh, the A's finally lost, and the Angels finally gained a game on the A's for the first time since August 22nd.

Angels won 19 games in August, equaling their best ever
and the A's won 20, gaining a game, lololol

now, the Angels play the Blue Jays in a 3-game series Tuesday
Red Sox go the Oakland to play a 4-game series starting Monday vs the A's

If the Angels can sweep the Blue Jays, and the Red Sox take 3 of 4, Angels tie for 1st

but, I am dreaming......

9/7/04: 5-2 Angels take the first of a 3-game series vs. the Blue Jays

Thanks to the Red Sox, who won Mon and Tuesday vs the A's, the Angels are now only 1-1/2 games out of AL West.

Today, the A's face Pedro Martinez

As for the Angels, Bartolo Colon did a fine job, going into the 7th inning and allowing 2 runs, with 1 walk and 7 strike outs.

Garret Anderson contributed with a solo shot for his 12th homer

Chone Figgins hit a 2-run blast that went off the foul pole for a home run.

I didn't get to listen much to the game, so I can't say anything

9/8/04: 1-0 as some no-name Blue Jays pitcher (2-3 record, with 4+ ERA) totally shut down the Angels, limiting them to 1 run and 2 hits in 8 innings

a totally dominating victory

Red Sox bombed the A's again...but the Angels coudln't take advantage.... Angels now 5 games behind Red Sox in wild card.. looks like their only chance is the AL West, and the Angels suck vs. the A's

9/9/04: 5-4 as the Blue Jays score 5 runs off Jarrod Washburn in the 1st, and held on for dear life

a very tough game to take, and luckily, I was watching the NFL game, so didn't pay attention to this one.

Not much to say, except that the Angels are slowly looking like they're going to be watching the playoffs.

when the pitching gives up 1 run, Angels can't score.

When the offense scores 7 runs, the **** pitching staff gives up 8 runs

can't win either way!

9/10/04: 7-5 Angels rally to beat the White Sox

And with the A's losing to the Indians in 12 innings, the Angels are now just 1 game behind them

you know why the Angels won today?

b/c Mike Scioscia got both his hands out of his ***, and actually made a decision to get rid of John Lackey before more damage was done!!!!

Lackey pitched 6 innings, gave up only 2 runs, but was in trouble all through the night....listening to the games, I was shocked to see that the Sox only scored 2 runs. They had runners on base galore, but couldn't get the big hit.

Angels got offense from

Vlad - who hammered a 3-run no-doubt homer
Garret Anderson, a clutch 2-run single to give the Angels a 7-5 lead in the 8th inning

and clutch defense from Chone Figgins, who helped quell the 4-run rally by the White Sox with a spectacular do-or-die pickup of a grounder to 3rd to throw the batter out!

A's have lost 5 in a row, and those have been at home!!!!

Can the Indians help us out more?

9/11/04: congratulations to Mike Scioscia, an absolute piece of sh*t as a manager

man, Aaron Sele was struggling in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd... so much so that our Angels announcers (who are the biggest homers this side of the Chicago White Sox), even said Sele just wasn't pitching good at all....

so, instead of taking out Sele, Scioscia continues to let him pitch, and the White Sox put up 8 runs in the 3rd to get the score to 8-1

farking Mike Scioscia!!!!!!!

how can you refuse to see that a pitcher is struggling?!?!?!??!?!

You can't rally from 6, 7, 8 runs behind!!!!!!!!!!

fark Scioscia!

9/13/04: 5-1....

boy, did the Angels have an offensive outburst or what for Kelvim Escobar?

After getting 1-2 runs of support, and usually well after he's gone out of the game, Escobar got a run in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th, and that was more than enough, as Escobar pretty much shut down the Mariners

Ichiro went 0-4 with a walk

Garret Anderson provided all the offense that was needed, with a huge 3-run blast

A's won, so Angels are still 2 games behind
Red Sox were off, so Angels are 3-1/2 behind for wildcard

9/14/04: congrats to FARKING MIKE SCIOSCIA

when pitchers are struggling, this piece of sh*t won't take the pitcher out until he gives up 7+ runs

So, what happens when Jarrod Washburn is pitching one of his better games, giving up only 1 run, but had a runner on 3rd and 2 outs?

Scioscia brings in Brendan Donnelley, who promptly gives up a 2-run homer to the pinch hitter Randy Winn

mother-farking Scioscia!!!!

He won't take out a pitcher who's struggling; but he'll gladly take out a pitcher who's been doing well

Since when did managers adhere strictly to a pitch count!?!?!

so, when a pitcher has 97 pitches in 7 innings, that's it??? Even if he's only given up 1 run?

But, when a pitcher is in the 2nd inning, has 40 pitches, gives up 5 runs, he gets to stay in so he can give up more runs???

you've got to be farking kidding me!!!!

9/15/04 update:

Ryan Franklin was 3-15 for the Mariners this season
He is 0-11 in his most recent 11 decisions
He has allowed 9 homers in his last 3 games

So, what happens?

He absolutely shuts down the farking Angels, who managed a 2-out triple by Erstad and a lousy single.

Lackey pitched probably his best game of the season, gave up 1 run, and lost

luckily, the A's are losing 9-2 to the Rangers.....

boy, do the Angels suck

they made Ryan Franklin look like Randy Johnson tonight.

You would think, after their first at-bats through 3 innings, that they would start making him pitch more, and stop swinging so often at the first pitch

oh well.......

9/17/04: 9-5 Angels over the Rangers

and with the A's losing to the Mariners, Angels finally gain a game, in what seems like an eternity. Angels now only 1 game back

boy, what a game!!!

Bartolo Colon looked lost in the 1st inning, giving up a solo shot, and a 2-run shot to Blalock and Texeira for a quick 3-0 lead

But, the Angels crawled and fought their way back, as the bats woke up!!

Eckstein had 3 hits in 5 at-bats with 2 runs scored
Vlad went 3-4, with 2 homers, 3 runs, 3 RBIs
Glaus was 2-4 with a homer and 2 RBIs
Guillen also homered, his first in over 20 games
Adam Kennedy went 3-4 with 1 run and 1 RBI


While it's great to finally see some offense...this was all Bartolo Colon....after giving up 3 hits and 3 runs in the 1st inning, he allowed NO HITS and NO RUNS in the next 6, going a strong 7 innings! wowow!

Colon has 5 wins vs. the Rangers...Angels have a 6-7 record vs the Rangers. ---- so, basically, unless Colon is pitching, the Angels can't beat the Rangers. This does not bode well for Saturday's noon game and Sunday also!

we shall see what happens!!

9/18/04: 2-0

wow....the Rangers called upon a reliever out of the bullpen to start the ballgame, informing him of this decision just 2 hours before the start, and he pitched 4-1/3 scoreless innings

then, 6 other relievers came in to complete the shutout

incredible....Kelvim Escobar pitched another gem, going 8 innings, allowing 1 run

then, Scioscia pulls Escobar, probably b/c of the 112-pitches he made, inserted Kevin Gregg in the 9th inning, and the Rangers promptly added an insurance run

oh boy....the Angels make bad pitchers look like Cy Young award winnners

and the A's won, so the lead is now back to 2

Angels suck!
Scioscia's a farking moron!!!!

He won't take out a pitcher in the 2nd, even if the pitcher has already made 65 pitches, and gave up 6 runs....

but he doesn't hesitate to take out a pitcher who's dominating 8 innings of 2-hit, 1-run game...just b/c of the 112 pitches!!

farking moron!!

9/19/04: 1-0 Rangers

I have nothing to say.

Angels, in this past week, have lost 4 games when the pitching has allowed 2 runs in 2 games, and 1 run in 2 games

boy, the offense is absolutely pathetic!

9/24/04: 6-3 A's put away the Angels, and now have a 3-game lead

day after day, the Angels announcers keep putting up excuses after excuses

this Angels was injured
that Angels was injured

well....for the past 2 months, Anderson, Guillen and Vlad have been in there

and the offense has been stinking up the joint worse than a leprosy outbreak!

and the pitching ain't that much better!

it's over - time to think about next year

First, get rid of Percival, who's due $10M+ ... hell, go after Gagne, who's only asking for $8M, and give Gagne the $10M. We have K-Rod, who's good enough

Second, get rid of Troy Glaus.... we have Dallas McPherson, who hit his 2nd major league homer tonight. It's time to give McPherson a shot at 3rd. Save the $10-15M that Glaus is looking for, and get a quality pitcher.... hey, go get Randy Johnson; go get Odalis Perez!!!

Third, get rid of Sele and while we're at it, get rid of Ortiz. both pitchers stunk worse than I ever could!

boy, I cannot believe how badly the Angels are choking..

9/25/04: 5-3 Angels

wow, Angels actually had a clutch hit!!!

Washburn pitched a pretty good game, going 6-7 innings, giving up 3 runs.

down 1-0, Darin Erstad gave the Angels a 3-1 lead with a blast off Mark Redman

But, the A's came back with 2 to tie it.

Then, in the 8th, Garret Anderson hit his 2nd double of the game to drive in the 2 runs; Percival closed it out in the 9th

Angels now 2 games behind

tomorrow is Lackey vs. the A's Mark Mulder

Mulder has been struggling the past month, but he's still 17-6.

we shall see if the Angels can edge closer to 1st place, or if their chances get shot tomorrow.

Angels win, and they're 1 game back
Angels lose, and they're 3 games back

A's next play the Mariners before ending the season at home vs. the Angels

Angels go on the road vs the Rangers and then the A's

9/26/04: 5-3 Angels win!!! (not sure about the score

I was mostly watching Jerry Rice and the Raiders, then switching to ESPN2 to catch snippets of the baseball game

Lackey appeared like he pitched one hell of a game, going 7 innings of 2-run ball.

K-Rod pitched the 8th, and Percival the 9th

Glaus hit a monster shot to center off Mark Mulder to give the Angels a 2-1 lead, and the Angels took it from there, scoring 4 runs off a struggling Mulder.........

Angels now 1 game behind the A's

Angels have 4 at Texas, then 3 at Oakland

A's have 4 at home vs. the Mariners, then 3 vs. Angels

9/28/04: 8-2 Angels take the 1st two games vs the Rangers, as Kelvim Escobar starts on 3-days rest

wowow, talk about OFFENSE!!!

Vlad appears to have stop his slump, as he's been taking 1-2 more pitches before swinging wildly.

Yesterday, he hit a solo shot for his 34th homer...

today, he shouldered the offense,with a solo shot to give the Angels a 1-0 early lead in the 1st, and then a 3-run shot to extend the lead, for his 36th homer

Vlad went 4-5 with 5 RBIs, 3 runs scored!!

Garret Anderson went 1-5, but that 1 hit was a 2-run shot!!!

Rookie Dallas McPherson hit a solo shot, his 3rd of the season

And Kelvim Escobar, who rarely gets 3 runs a game, much less 8, had a relatively stress-free game, going 6 innings before Shields came in for 2 and Donnelley mopped up the 9th

Since Escobar only made 80 pitches, and without too much stress (very few runners on base), he should be ok for his start this Saturday on 3 day's rest.

wowowowow...I thought the Angels were dead...and now, they're breathing again!

9/29/04: wow, what a performance by the Angels, as they eeked out an 8-7 win in extra innings

with the Angels down by 1 in the top of the 9th inning, and Vlad on 1st, pinch hitter Curtis tripled to tie the game at 6-6, one of the most clutch hits this season by an Angel!

Then, in the top of the 11th, Troy Glaus blasted a 2-run shot!!!!

in the bottom of the 11th, the Rangers managed 1 run off Percival, but he closed out the inning for the Angels 5th straight win, and their 3rd over the Rangers, with 1 more to go tomorrow at noon.

Angels got 3 in the 1st, as DaVanon tripled in 2, then scored on an error

The Rangers got 4 off of Washburn to take the 4-3 lead

Angels and Rangers fought to a 6-6 tie before the extra innnings....

Angels now await the results of the A's - Mariners game to see if they remain tied for 1st, or get a 1-game lead

Rangers are now mathematically eliminated

9/30/04: 6-3 Rangers salvage 1 of the 4 games

looks like this 4-man rotation isn't working out

Kelvim did ok, and won

Washburn sucked, going 4 innings, giving up 4 runs and 7 hits

Today, Lackey stunk up the joint, going 5 innings, and giving up 5 runs. He has bases loaded in 3 of the 5 innings

everyone in the media embraces Scioscia b/c he's "smart", blah blah blah

well, all I know is when you:

1. take out pitchers in the 7th innings just b/c that pitcher made 105 pitches, but only gave up 1 run, is winning 3-1...and the Angels lose

2. leave in struggling pitchers in the 4th, even though they've given up 6-7 runs, 10 hits, and the Angels lose

3. refuse to pitch K-Rod early in the season in save situations, instead, electing to pitch Percival, who promptly blew 3 of 5 saves.
Then, Percival admitted to having hip pain, and went on the DL

think the Angels couldn't use 2 or 3 of those victories?!?!?

Everyone could see Percival was pitching like sh*t, except for Scioscia


how come the Angels didn't let Sele start today's game, while Ramon Ortiz warmed up in the bullpen right from the start of the game.

Then, if Sele walks the bases loaded, or gives up 3 runs, take the farking piece of sh*t out and insert Ortiz in!??!?!

You'd think with Sele and Ortiz, the Angels could coax 6 innings before the bullpen took over -- that way, you don't force pitchers to pitch on 3-day's rest

things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

nevertheless, Angels go to Oakland for the final 3 games, and at worse, they'll be tied

A's tied 2-2 with the Mariners in the bottom of the 6th right now

boy, the Mariners did a GREAT job winning 2 out of 3 so far!

now, it's in the hands of the Angels and Mike Scioscia

10/1/04: 10-0 Angels win the 1st game of a 3-game series at Oakland that will determine the AL West winner

HOLY CRAP!!!

10 farking runs!! You've got to be sh*tting me?!?!?

wow!

It all started in the 2nd, as Garret Anderson hit a soft dribbler, limped his way to 1st, and the A's pitcher and 1st basemen couldn't convert an out, as Mulder dropped the ball

it all seemed so innocent.....


Adam Riggs double Anderson to 3rd
then the bases were loaded

then Jose Molina hit a grounder to 2nd baseman, who bobbled the ball, then tried to throw out a gimp Anderson at home - that didn't work

and the roof caved in after that, as the Angels scored 4.

Mulder was quickly taken out in the 4th

While the Angels mounted a 10-run, 14-hit attack, highlighted by light-hitting Amezaga's grand slam and Galarraga's 399th homer, it was the WONDERFUL pitching of Bartolo Colon, pitching on 3 days rest

He went 7 innings, gave up no runs

1 game down, 1 more to go for the AL West title

tomorrow, it's Kelvim Escobar vs Barry Zito --- should be low-scoring, as the Angels rarely score more than 2-3 runs for him

10/2/04: Angels - AL West champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5-4 ..... wooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo!!

today, it wasn't Mike Scioscia making the bullsh*t moves; it was Ken Macha traking his turn!!

Game was tied 2-2 after Chavez doubled in 2 runs, and Vlad hit a 2-run shot

but it was Oakland who had the upper hand.

Vlad hit a 2-run shot to tie the score, but other than that, Barry Zito has above average command.

As a matter of fact, Zito had a 4-2 lead, but Ken Macha took him out b/c of 114 pitches

Kelvim Escobar was struggling, and had given up 4 runs

hahahahahahahaha --- Now, all the A's can rest until next Feb, when pitchers and catchers report

I just don't understand the sh*t that has been happening for much of the 1980s, and emphasized in the 1990s to present

WHY DO YOU TAKE A PITCHER OUT JUST B/C HE SEEMS TIRED WITH 114 PITCHES???

Zito still had a 4-2 lead heading into the 8th inning.

If you are going to lose, do so with the best that you got!

Well, as soon as Zito was removed for the 8th inning, guessed what happened?

Light-hitting Josh Paul got on base
leadoff hitter Chone Figgins got on base

Darin Erstad promptly spanked a pitch to deep center for a 2-run double

Then, with 2 outs, Garret Anderson came through with an RBI single

K-Rod came into the ball game in the bottom of the 8th, promptly walked the leadoff hitter, then struck out the side

Percival came in for a 1-2-3 9th

whewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

usually, it is Scioscia who leaves in pitchers in the 2nd, even thought they've given up 10 hits and 6 runs, then taking out the pitcher in the 3rd (newsflash --- take out the pitcher BEFORE he gives up a ton of runs, or else let the pitcher keep pitching)

or else Scioscia takes out a pitcher who['s pitching a 7-inning shutout

but this time, Ken Macha gave us the AL West title, by taking out Zito before the 8th inning in a 4-2 A's game

why not leave Zito in there? what are you saving him for?

There is NO tomorrow

at least now, all the A's pitchers can have their lengthy rest

now that the euphoria is starting to wear off, we look ahead...

and listening to the Sports radio announcers,

it looks like Aaron Sele will be trotted out tomorrow as a sacrificial lamb (Jarrod Washburn was scheduled to pitch on 3-days rest if needed) now that the game doesn't matter

Now, when Sele gives up his typical 5 runs in 2 innings with 9 hits, I won't care and won't complain

Scioscia, if he's smart, will allow Sele to pitch until it's extremely apparent Sele has nothing left.

It doesn't matter if Sele gives up 5 runs, 15 runs, or farking 40 runs....

just keep the idiot out there pitching 7 innings if possible.

Next game is Tuesday - not sure of the opponent.

We await the results of tomorrow.

Twins played the Indians today to a tie in the 11th inning at the Metrodome. Then, with the NCAA football team to be played tonight, there was a curfew, and play was suspended.

So, a double-header is due

if the Twins sweep, they will have homefield advantage vs the Red Sox. We then go to New York. If this is the case, then Jarrod Washburn will be pitching game 1, on his normal 5-days rest. But, Scioscia could opt for John Lackey as well.

if the Twins lose 1 of the 2, we host the Red Sox at Angels stadium. The Twins then go to New York, where they are almost certain to lose. Twins just can't seem to beat the Yanks

much like the Yanks can't seem to beat the Angels. In the past 4 years, only Anaheim as a winning record vs the Yankees

wooohoooooooo!! bring it on!

and I sure hope that Scioscia lets Sele pitch until his arm breaks off. We have no more need of Sele - he can take his $30 or $40 million contract and leave!

I also hope Scioscia lets Galarrage play tomorrow (probably as DH) so he can try for his 400th homer. He hit home run #399 last night

otherwise, tomorrow's game should see NO starters out there

While I'm of the same opinion about Sele, it is NOT true that this game is unimportant.

Whether we win or not, Combined with How many the Twins win, decides who we play for the next series.

If we win, and the Twins don't win Both, we play Boston.
If we lose, and the Twins win at least 1, we play the Yankees

I don't know which team I'd rather pick to go against, but it still matters.

Voltaic - you are right, the game does matter.

And now, with the Twins losing game 2 of the double header, the AL playoffs are set

Red Sox come to Anaheim Tuesday to start the playoffs, with Curt Schilling going in game 1 and Jarrod Washburn for us

yikes!!!

I would've much rather faced the Yankees

nevertheless.................let the games begin!!!

10/5/04:

Mike farking Scioscia does it again!!!

all year long, this piece of sh*t manager constantly leaves in pitchers to pitch 3-4 innings while giving up 7-8 runs, then takes them out in those innings

all year long, this piece of sh*t takes out pitchers who are pitching a 5-hit, 1-run, 7th inning just b/c that pitcher "seems" to be tired

and now, in the playoffs, with Ace pitcher Curt Schilling pitching, Scioscia screws up yet again!!!

Troy Glaus doubles in the 2nd with no outs
Jeff DaVanon is up

Is DaVanon a HOF? HELL NO
Is DaVanon headed to the Hall of Fame? HELL NO!
Can DaVanon afford a plane ticket ride to the Hall of Fame for him and his family - perhaps

So what does Scisocia do? He lets him swing the bat

and of course, DaVanon pops up!!!

farking sh*t!!!

Schilling is 5-1 with a 1.62 ERA in the playoffs

That means you ain't getting a bunch of runs off of him

So, why not bunt him over to 3rd with no outs????

Naturally, after DaVanon pops up to shallow left, Molina grounds out to short (might have scored Glaus from 3rd had the bunt been in place)

and extremely weak hitting David Eckstein weakly flies out to right

Eckstein has a 0.133 BA with runners in scoring position - the WORST of any starter... this moron can't even get an RBI with bases loaded and no outs!!!!

Red Sox up 1-0....... and the only salvation the Angels have is that it's only the 4th inning

plenty of time to tie the game...

of course, plenty of time for the Red Sox to score even more runs!!


in edit: 2:19 pm PST -- naturally, Red Sox score 3 more to get the score to 5-0, with Millar blasting a 2 run shot and another run scoring.

Scioscia takes out Washburn -- holy farking cow, the piece of sh*t manager decided not to wait for Washburn to give up 10 runs before pulling him

Angels are playing scared......

3rd-basemen Figgins made a 2-base error that allowed the 5th run to score

in the 1st, Figgins misplayed a Ramirez grounder for a double; Amezaga couldn't keep a grounder from going to right field from Ortiz that scored Ramirez

just an awful game by the Angels, and a great game by the Red Sox

Unlike the A's and Barry Zito, you won't see Schilling ask the manager to be out b/c he's "tired"

hell, you make $10M a year, if you blow out your arm, you're still set for life!!!!

Zito saves his arm, saves his career, and now is on a golf course

10/6/04: Angels not yet blown out as they're tied 1-1 in the 3rd

but, Chone Figgins should be told to pack his bags and go home

in game 1, he had 2 errors that led to 7 runs

Today, he's swinging at balls left and right, up and down.

This is a small (5'7") hitter with NO power, but he swings like Mark McGwire.

farking put this crap on the bench!! He served us very well during the season, but he's proven he can't handle the playoff pressure!!

10/8/04: Angels now do what I am doing: watching the
playoffs at home

David Ortiz, in the bottom of the 11th, blasts a 2-run
shot to win it

I congratulate the following Angels for helping the
team lose:

First and foremost, Chone Figgins, who made 2 errors
in game 1 that lead to the first Red Sox run, and
another that lead to 2 more. Figgins also choked his
way on offense, as he swung and missed in the manner
of a Mark McGwire - big, loping swings.
This is a piece of sh*t who's 5'8", runs extremely
fast, but has no power. HOW THE HELL DO YOU HAVE SUCH
A LARGE, LOPING SWING? He had 2-3 hits, but otherwise,
never got on base for anything

Second, I congratulate Garret Anderson, who went
hitless in Games 1 and 2.... limped his way in the
outfield, allowing balls that could've been caught by
a healthy CF to fall in for a single / double. EVEN
MORE IMPORTANT.. in a 6-6 tie in game 3, with bases
loaded and 1 out, Andeerson weakly struck out. In 3
games, Garret had 2 hits, both in game 3. He was hurt,
and he was hurt bad.

Garret is not a Michael Jordan. 50% of Garret is NOT
better than 100% of another Angel. When Garret is
hurt, and not hitting, then you BENCH him. If you are
a liability on offense, and a liability on defense,
what the hell are you playing???

Third, congrats to the Angels offense, which couldn't
hit in the clutch; and the pitching staff, which
constantly was giving hits to Red Sox batters left and
right.

So, congrats to the Red Sox, and I hope they make it
to the World Series (anyone but those farking
Yankees!!!)

What do we do for 2005?

FIRST, terminate Aaron Sele and his $10-15M salary.
when Sele was 7-0 this season, I said he was the worst
undefeated pitcher in the history of MLB. The only
reason this piece of sh*t won any games is because the
Angels routinely averaged 8 runs for him, and he only
had to pitch 5 innings, while the bullpen held it the
rest of the way.

We're supposed to pay $15M for a piece of sh*t who
pitches 5 innings, with a 5.45 ERA?????

Second, GET RID OF David Eckstein or Chone Figgins.
You can't have 2 weak hitting batters in the same
lineup.
Eckstein was something like 0.133 BA with runners in
scoring position --- that is PATHETIC!!!!!
Figgins kept striking out with runners on 3rd...but
his versatility (plays LF, CF, RF, 2nd, 3rd, and SS)
and his tremendous speed are good assets
Eckstein gave us a wonderful 2002, and he made his
million dollars. Now, it's time to cut him.He's one of
the least skillful players to get to the majors, and
he's getting older, and slower on defense. He may have
a 0.988 fielding average on defense, but that's
because he can only get balls hit right near him. You
won't ever mistake Eckstein for 1/2 an Ozzie Smith or
even 1/3 a Cesar Izturis.

Third, I would have a talk with Scioscia over his
mis-handling of the pitchers.

Look, when a pitcher has 65 pitches, gives up 9 hits,
and 3 runs in 2 innings, GET THE PITCHER out of the
game before the dam bursts. If you don't want to ruin
the bullpen, then let him pitch the 7-8 innings and
consider the game lost!

There is no point in keeping a pitcher in the 2nd
inning after allowing 3 runs and 9 hits, then taking
him out in the 4th with 9 runs and 16 hits.

either TAKE THE PITCHER OUT EARLY, or else LEAVE HIM
IN THERE UNTIL THE 7TH OR 8TH INNING.

Tell Scioscia if he continues to manage in this
manner, he can pack his sh*t and leave!

4. Tell Benjie Molina that if he doesn't get down to
230 lbs or less, he's on the bench. This guy is so fat
and so slow that if he raced a pregnant woman, he'd
finish 3rd (by the way, that's what Tommy LaSorda used
to say about Scioscia)

5. re-sign Troy Glaus. McPherson may hit homers....but
he's gonna strikeout 125+ if he's playing next year.
This guy cannot hit a breaking ball ...............
guess what MLB pitchers will be throwing at this kid?

6. Release Percival (unless he agrees to a decrease in
contract). Right now, he's due to get $10-12M for
2005. Hell, Eric Gagne will be lucky to make $8M for
next year..... and Gagne is better now than Percival
ever was in his career

oh well.........a season lost

and by the end of tomorrow, both Southern CA teams
will be gone, as the Cardinals will blast their way
out of Dodgers Stadium.

For the Dodgers - this was a very successful season
For the Angels - this was a sh*tty season