Beating the Yankees

As boredom truly sets in, I've been watching a reasonable amount of Angels baseball over the last few weeks. My frustrations with the team remain the same, but a thorough dismantling of the Yankees always brightens my spirits.

But I'm more curious as to what, exactly, has been going on with Scot Shields.

Scot "Only one T, Please" Shields was the eighth-inning rock in the bullpen during Francisco Rodriguez's run as Angels closer. He was never truly dominant, but had dominant stretches and was generally reliable enough to be trusted in close game situations even in back to back, or several consecutive, games. His two-seam fastball was listed, at one point, as the #1 swing and miss pitch in Major League Baseball. He led the league in holds. He pitched at least 77 innings (and a max of 148) in every season from 2003-2007.

Then something happened. That something was a rash of injuries, including a major surgery and trip to the disabled list in 2009 that ended his season. Since returning, and even before his departure, Shields has been...bad. Bad is the best word to describe his performance. Bad BB/9, bad IP totals, bad WAR, bad ERA, bad tRA, bad everything.

Tonight, Shields threw an inning, allowing a walk, a hit, and earning a pair of strikeouts. He looked much like the pitcher he was from '03-'06, seasons during which he posted impressive WAR's of 2.6, 2.4, 2.7, and 2.0 Looking at his successful seasons, we see a couple major differences in some peripheral stats that indicate Scot's true problems. With a career average BB/9 of 3.50, he has rates of 7.64 and 6.37 in the last two seasons. This season, his BABIP has climbed from a career average of .286 to .319, despite lowering his HR/9 to .61 from a career average of .67.

So, with those numbers in mind, what's Scottie's problem? Well, he's walking too many people and he's getting unlucky, with hits falling in at a higher than expected rate. This means, of course, that his walked batters are turning into runs courtesy of an unlucky hit rate. Where hits used to merely put a man on base, they're now driving in walked batters.

To be fair, Shields is turning 35 in two days, and some natural reduction in performance is expected with age. But with a change in mechanics, or preparation, or voodoo, or whatever it is that allows pitchers to regain control, there's nothing separating Shields from a fourth 2.0+ WAR season.

Oh jesus

Here they come.


We'll be talking broomball and hockey tomorrow.

Let's see here

Yankees "vaunted" lineup shut down by Cliff Lee? Check.
Phillies lineup enjoys right field at Yankee Stadium? Check.
New York bullpen exposed, again? Check.

A closer look at the numbers:

• Cliff Lee went all 9, allowing 6 hits, one for extra bases, and one unearned run. 10 strikeouts. 0 walks. An "NL pitcher," indeed.
• CC Sabathia had an impressive, although uneconomical, start. 7 innings, 3/6 walk to strikeout, 4 hits, all for extra bases. He also threw 113 pitches.
  
• The Yankees bullpen is crap, and they proved it again tonight. Over two innings, five pitchers combined to give up 4 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. Damaso Marte got the only strikeout of the relief corps. Outside Mariano Rivera, there is nobody in that bullpen who can be trusted.
• Chase Utley hit two homers to right. Both were actual homers in non-Little League parks, and both came on nearly identical pitches. Considering his defense, Chase Utley is a franchise second baseman.
  

Ha...and hockey!

Any team with a competent lineup and a smidgen of defense will bring down the Yankees in 5 games. I didn't think so before this series, but the Angels tried, with all their might, to hand this series to New York in three games, and the series still went 6.

It's going to be an easy title for Philadelphia. New York has one reliable starting pitcher, one reliable reliever, and one reliable bat. Ryan Howard sez hi.


Lucic Crew 5, Flying V 6

We were winning 5-3 with 5 minutes to go. I hadn't given up a goal since halfway through the first period. I then allowed the same guy to score three consecutive times on the same shot from the same place to lose the game.

Positives? Well, I only gave up 6, which is a new personal best. I had a clean second period. I had a nice glove save and I'm pretty sure I stuffed a breakaway, but it might've just gone wide. I successfully skated from the crease to the bench with 50 seconds left without falling on my face. I played the puck up to a forward from above the circles. I had a nice butterfly slide.

Negatives: I gave up a goal on the first shot, again. I gave up three consecutive goals on the same shot from the same place to lose the game. I didn't see anywhere near as many shots as I usually do, so the 6.00 GAA is misleading. I left out a rebound but didn't get a whistle when I covered up and got run over by 4 skaters in the crease.

Sigh

I swear, this happens constantly. I suck. I guess I have to watch at least another game.

I am done with baseball

At some point, you have to take a stand.
In a series of blatantly missed calls, a blatantly missed call cost the Angels the series.

Enough is enough.

Look

Without admitting defeat, I can confidently say this:

Let's go Phillies.

Coming back from a 3-1 hole isn't unprecedented...11 teams of the 69 who have been a game away from elimination have come back to win the series. The odds aren't great, and with the way the Angels have been playing in the ALCS, it's probably less likely than the 15.94% statistic above.

But what the Angels can do is play with some pride. Allowing an admitted steroid user* to hit home runs at will isn't something you should put up with in an elimination game. Back him off the plate. Hit him. Do something, because the team is missing the spark it had for those mid-summer months.

Drop Guerrero to 5th, move Kendrick to 4th (yes, Kendrick), replace Rivera with Gary Matthews Jr., and-wait, did I just suggest playing Gary Matthews Junior?

Yup. If you look at offense, the Angels have gotten nothing out of Rivera in the playoffs. And the defense he provides is substantially reduced from GMJ. Moreover, if Rivera's going to keep hitting into double plays, you might as well have a guy at the plate who might be able to beat out a few of them.

You might as well start Jeff Mathis as well. His last three hits have been doubles, which is more than I can say about ice-cold Mike Napoli.

Mike Scioscia is criticized as being a little too nonchalant with his in-game management during the playoffs, and I'm inclined to agree. With MLB's stupidly short playoffs, managing a series the way you manage a season doesn't work. You can't let a struggling starter give up runs in the early innings. You can't leave runs on second and third when all you need is a guy to hit a sac fly. You can't leave a struggling, aging cleanup hitter in the cleanup spot when he leaves 8 men on base.

*I don't really have a problem with Rodriguez, a point I've outlined before. But hey, we're down 3-1, I'm allowed to be a bit of a hypocrite.


Playoffs Miscellany:

• It's disappointing, despite none of the calls truly affecting the score of the games, that the umpiring in this series has been so horrendous. I still can't believe an umpire can call a player safe despite the fact that he was tagged while off a base...it's one of those things that doesn't even happen in little league. Something needs to be done.
• The Dodgers had a terrible showing this season. The Angels/Yankees series has been close, and the series might have been 3-1 the other way with a couple different bounces. The Dodgers, though, really weren't in it, and I think the weaknesses in their starting rotation were exposed. It's a shame that there's so many off days during the playoffs, otherwise the Yankees would be similarly disadvantaged. Also, it's ridiculous that Orlando Hudson wasn''t starting every game. Joe Torre is an idiot.
  
• Yeah, I'm going to whine about the playoff format again. No more off days without travel. It's stupid. It's not what happens in the regular season, so why does it happen in the playoffs? It allows teams with severe problems with their starting rotations to succeed. Baseball is a team game...if you can't throw out 5 starters who give you a chance to win, then why is the regular season so long?
  
• CC Sabathia's arm will fall off next season if there is any justice in this world. It's going to be awesome when he needs TJ surgery and his contract becomes a drag on the suddenly poor Steinbrenner family, the fans abandon the Yankees for the Orioles, and the Blue Jays start a ten-year run of AL East domination. A kid can dream.
  

Umpiring is a stain on the game of baseball

Never mind balls and strikes, which umpires have proven themselves completely incapable of doing properly.

• When you can't see a clear pickoff when you are three feet away from the tag with nothing interfering with your vision, something is wrong.
• When you call a player out on a tag-up play when you weren't even looking at him, something is wrong.
• When a catcher tags two players off a base and you signal for one, not two outs, something is wrong.

I'm going to type this in caps for the nearsighted, largely illiterate Bud Selig:

HEY, BUD. SOMETHING IS WRONG.

Beyond that, even, the fact that the home plate umpire had to ask Angels catcher Mike Napoli to get lower so he could better see the strike zone should be enough to prove that umpires have been rendered obsolete. Cameras attached to computers DON'T CARE WHERE THE CATCHER IS PLAYING. They don't interfere with balls in play. They don't miss routine plays at the bases, they don't screw up fair/foul calls, they don't miss critical home run calls, and they don't call players tagged OFF THE BASE safe.

This is not part of the game. This is insanity. And baseball fans need to make it clear that this is unacceptable.

When Jeff Mathis is the one saving a team...

Image shamelessly stolen from ESPN.

This is a fantastic playoff series, and Jeff Mathis is my new hero.

A brief discussion on weather

We play baseball when it looks like this outside:

We don't play baseball when it looks like this outside:


Also, Vlad should never hit 4th again.

Oh yeah, the ALCS (and some Husky hockey)

Yes, I realize I haven't talked about the ALCS at all. And there's actually a good reason for that. My goals for any team before the season are pretty clear, and generally all I ask for is improvement. When I started watching in earnest at the beginning of '06, I wanted to learn about baseball, and results were mostly unimportant. In '07, I wanted to see them reach the playoffs. In '08, I wanted them to reach the ALCS. Following that schedule, this would have been the year I wanted them to win the World Series*.

But after the Angels lost last season, they fell off schedule, and all I wanted to see this season was a trip to the ALCS. Beating the Red Sox was a relatively major footnote after the complex the Angels developed over the last four playoff series, but getting to the Championship series was a big step, both from a baseball perspective and a mental perspective.

But Marcus, shouldn't you want your team to win the title every year, and don't you think settling for anything less is a sign of poor fandom?

Well, yes and no. I'd love to see the Angels bring home that trophy every season, but I'm not greedy and I'm not an idiot. Some fans will never see a World Series title in their lifetime, and I've been fortunate enough to see one of my teams win a title in my first few years of avid sports interest. I would absolutely love to crush the Yankees and roll through the NL champions in 4 games to bring a parade back to Disneyland. I would love to see Vlad's hall of fame status secured, John Lackey decide to give a hometown discount to a team that brought him two titles, and force Red Sox fans to acknowledge that the Angels are the decided team of the decade.

But I don't think that's the only way to measure success. Every time I watch the Royals, I feel for those fans. And frankly, there's no shame in a playoff system in which the best team wins, and that team is the Yankees.

With all that said, the Angels can beat the Yankees. AJ Burnett has been two pitchers this season, and if Bad AJ shows up, the Yankees are vulnerable. Andy Pettite has been solid this season, but the Angels have seen him more than they've seen Sabathia or Burnett, so that experience might play into their favor. The biggest problem might come down to weather, because the rain is likely going to cancel the game tonight, and New York is trying to run a three-man rotation. That's easy when you have 15 off days during a 7 game series.

No more off days in the playoffs. Imagine how much more relevant it is to have to pitch your guys on 3 days rest or use a real rotation, the rotation that got you to the playoffs in the first place.

Finally, it's been said many times before, but the Angels have played the Yankees twice before, beaten them twice before, and lost the first game in each of those series' both times.

*Frankly, once any team from the AL makes it out of the AL, they really should be beating whoever comes out of the NL. Obviously it hasn't worked that way in recent years ('06, '08), but with the AL's huge edge in interleague play and, by most accounts, overall talent, the Angels need to win the World Series should they get there. All apologies to Cardinals and Phillies fans, of course.


Northeastern 3, Bentley 2

First of all, Matthews Arena has never had as many students in attendance as it did last night. Although the game was pretty boring and the crowd noise died out a little towards the end of the game, the first five minutes were the loudest I've ever heard the place. I got to the Arena an hour early and still had to sit on the opposite side of the rink because the entire balcony was full an hour before game time.

The game itself was relatively morning, but it included some things never before seen at Matthews: Disallowed goals courtesy of instant replay.

It was weird, actually, and terrible luck for the Falcons, who had two goals waved off and a third also under review which stood. Supposedly, both disallowed goals were kicked into the net, but the replays they show on the video board don't include the above-net camera which typically shows the best information. The goal they allowed to stand looked like it was scored on a deflection off a high stick, but the Bentley parents in attendance looked like they were about ready to jump over the glass already anyway.

Northeastern pretty much dominated play, but it wasn't a pretty win by any means. Chris Rawlings still looks so nervous in the crease, and I think that's where Husky fans have been spoiled by Brad Thiessen. The first time any of us saw Thiessen in Matthews, we were all shocked to see a goalie who wasn't in a state of constant emotional flux. He was calm, in control, and while he wouldn't make the extraordinary saves he became known for in his last season, he exuded an air of confidence that calmed the defense and the fans. I was telling Mark that in every game of hockey, I cringe a little bit on every shot taken. Thiessen was the only goalie who I could watch without getting that little cringe on every shot, and that's the part of his game I miss most.

Of course, Rawlings and Thiessen put up nearly identical numbers in the BCHL, so you'd think they'd have similar numbers in Hockey East. His only real hurdle is the mental side of the game, but I'm hoping he gets that squared away as he gets a few more games under his belt.

Husky miscellany:

• The ice crew at Matthews is awful. At the start of the second and third periods, there were large amounts of standing water on the ice because they didn't finish their Zamboni runs until less than two minutes remained before the start of the period. Use cold water, or clean the ice sooner, because goalies are going to start getting stuck to the crease and pucks will start hitting puddles and stopping.
  
• I don't really understand why the instant replays have to be so crappy. We have cameras in the goals and above the goals, but the only angle they show is some feed with Mr. Shaky Hands at the camera and angled obliquely from behind the glass. You can't ever see the puck.
• The building has major echo issues, and that's good for fans. It's not good for long discussions and interviews on the video board. Add subtitles or put speakers directly above the fans.
• Steve Quailer is done for the season, and possibly his NU career, after having ACL surgery earlier this week.
• Brad Thiessen may get his first professional start of his career tonight with the WBS Penguins. John Curry made 38 saves in a 6-3 win last night, so they might want to get Brad in there tonight. Joe Vitale is still with the team, of course, and Louis Liotti and Dennis McCauley both made their starts for the Worcester Sharks, with both picking up some time in the box.
  

My goodness, welcome back to football

I didn't see tonight's 5-3 loss to the Yankees, but the reaction over at HH seems to indicate several missed opportunities and miscues, which seems to be par for the course in throwaway games like tonight's. The Angels head to Boston for three in a game with wild card implications before facing off against Texas for three. I'll be at Wednesday's matchup between Hokie Joe Saunders and Paul Effing Byrd. Why the Sox threw away Penny in favor of an identical pitcher in Byrd is beyond me.

But the real game tonight was in Foxboro.

Patriots 25, Buffalo 24

Let me preface this recap by explaining the Curse of Marcus as is pertains to fantasy teams. This past baseball season, I had more players hit the DL than anyone else in my league. Naturally, I drafted lots of Angels.

So my fantasy football draft comes around, and all the players I drafted have had miserable opening weeks. Every single running back and receiver, along with my tight end and defense, all undershot their projections between 15 and 85%. My last two players to suit up? Tom Brady and Wes Welker.

I was half expecting a bomb to go off in Gillete Stadium, but the only thing explosive was the general flatulence exhibited by the Patriots defense. The Pats were also saddled with two insanely bad roughing the passer calls, both of which dramatically changed the game. When New England allowed Trent Edwards to connect with Fred Jackson for an 11-point lead with 5:32 left, I was already dreading class with the self-anointed "Buffahoes" in class tomorrow.

Of course, I conveniently forgot about Ben Watson. Ben Watson is the tight end I should have drafted for my fantasy team instead of Vince Shiancoe, and he connected with Brady with 2:06 remaining.

At this point, Bill Belichick made a smart move: Forgo the onside kick and hope for a defensive stop. With all three timeouts remaining plus the two-minute warning, the Partiots had an opportunity to stop the Bills without giving them better field position with a 10% recovery rate onside kick.

Gostkowski shellacked a ball into the endzone, and McKelvin decided to run it out. His decision made sense...if he gets it out of the endzone, Buffalo can burn 40 seconds off the clock instead of 5. His mistake, however, was trying to gain a couple meaningless yards at the end of his run. Merriweather stripped it, and Gostkowski, of all people, came up with the ball. Another Brady to Watson touchdown sealed the game.

It's funny how a secondary which has played like crap all day can come back and win a game. Sports are weird.

My only real problems with the Pats, outside some pretty poor defense, was the dropped passes and overthrows to Welker and Moss which are so atypical of a Brady-led offense. I'll chalk it up to rust, but if it's still happening next week, it's cause for concern.

US Open

I'm planning to have Mark guest-blog here, if I can. I didn't watch the match, but he did, and besides, he knows more about tennis than I do. I didn't even know Nadal was eliminated.


Hockey

The brick motif is terribly inaccurate, but a sieve pattern looks too much like polka dots.

I believe I have a team. I have an almost completely covered-in-electrical tape mask*, and all the equipment I need to play goalie in a semi-competitive setting. Kira provided the artistic know how, and the general concept was inspired by some of the goalies over at the Goalie Store boards.

First game should be coming up pretty quickly. Also, wearing this mask in broomball should provide a pretty distinct intimidation factor, or at least a "hey look at that moron" factor, which tends to be equally effective.

*From what I've been told, the electrical tape will stay put. And it better, as it took me most of an evening to cut tape into 1.5 inch bricks and then carefully mold it over compound curves. I'd still like to find a small California flag decal to go with a small American flag decal for the back. I'm probably also going to fill in the chin with bricks until I think of a cool nickname.

I love playing the Yankees

"Again with the @#$% ing Angels." - DustinPedroia aka Keebler Elf, Pinstripe Alley

Angels 14, New York 8

As you've all read hundreds of times be now, I started watching baseball because I couldn't stand idiot Red Sox fans. Well, the Angels still can't beat the Red Sox, but destroying New York's AL team for the last decade has been a happy substitute.

Jered Weaver had a weird line score today. 6 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 2 walks, and 9 strikeouts. 2 of those hits went over the fence, and thus proceeds the expected regression of Weaver's freakishly low HR/FB rate. Weaver's always been a flyball pitcher, and most flyball pitchers live and die by the homer. Jered avoided letting any fly over the fence over his first few starts but has given up 12 since then. Luckily, his career HR/FB rate is right around his season total, so I don't expect the high rate of four-baggers to continue any longer than I expected his homerless streak to last.

Beyond pitching, you've gotta love seeing Wood in the lineup, going 1-3 with a walk(!) and a two-run homer to right. We can only hope Scioscia was paying attention and decides to leave him in for 4 or 5 games a week. The ESPN Mobile writeup referred to him as a "perennial prospect." Please shoot me.

Kendry Morales continued his hitting streak with a double in the eighth, and Mike Napoli went 2-4 with 3 RBI, including a long homer to left in the seventh. The offense this afternoon was clearly not an issue.

"DL" actually means "Bad Strength and Conditioning Coaches"

After going 1-2 against the Rangers for like the 17th time this season, my confidence in the Angels was understandably low. After all, the only games that really matter are divisional, and the Angels' success over the last few seasons has been largely related to their ability to beat Oakland, Seattle, and Texas at a .500+ clip. Meanwhile, an improving Vlad and an MVP candidate in Torii Hunter both hit the DL.

If this isn't a cursed season, I don't know what is. Also, I'd really like to have a meeting with the team strength and conditioning coaches and ask why they can't keep a team on the field. It's ridiculous that so many athletes are getting hurt playing the least physical major sport in America. Hockey players don't get hurt this often.

Regardless, I was expecting a blowout when I checked the score while walking back from the Charles. 3-0 Yankees in the first, and with the way Saunders has been pitching, the expectation was that each subsequent inning was likely to add another run or two to the New York cushion. The Yankees scooted out to a 4-0 lead before the Angels got one back in the bottom of the second. The real fireworks, however, came off the bat of a constantly-improving Kendry Morales. A three-run homer coupled with an Abreu RBI single in the fifth would put the Angels ahead, and they'd score 2 and 3 runs in the next two innings. The second triad of runs was courtesy of an Erick Aybar three-run shot, so bravo, Erick.

More about Kendry tomorrow, perhaps, as Fangraphs had an interesting story up a few weeks ago.

The nice thing about this lineup, at the moment, is versatility. Missing it's two best players, it still has power in Morales, Napoli, Rivera, and (supposedly) Abreu, while still utilizing a former All Star in Gary Matthew Jr. off the bench. If the front office realizes that now is the PERFECT time to put Figgins in the outfield or at second and call up Brandon Wood, maybe he'll finally begin to develop as a major league player.

Tonight's game is at 4:05 Pacific and happens to be on national TV, virtually guaranteeing an Angels loss. On top of that, Jered Weaver threw 118 pitches last week, showing that Scioscia reads this blog and is trying to completely demolish my small, loyal group of readers. As such, I'm not expecting much from him, particularly as his last start after throwing over 110 was pretty underwhelming.

This Slurpee Sucks

Seriously. I bought it like 10 minutes ago and it's already doing that thing where it ices up and then won't make it up the straw. At least it's watermelon and not some crap like blueberry or cherry.

Angels

The Angels have had a strange week. Their series with New York was predictable, but only with regards to the record with which they left. I expected them to go 2-2, and they indeed went 1-2 with rain postponing my guessed second win. What was weird was that they a.) won Matt Palmer's start against CC Sabathia, and b.) managed to lose a game they should've won by blowing a 5-run lead with 6 outs to go.

The bullpen is clearly still an issue, but I think it's steadily improving as Arredondo, Shields, and Fuentes all relearn how to pitch. The biggest issue, in my mind, has been bullpen management, but a solid Arredondo-Shields-Fuentes back end helps reduce the number of games Scioscia can manage to screw up by putting in relievers like Rafael Rodriguez and Jason Bulger.

By the way, Matt Palmer has an obscene amount of movement, at least from my observation. Since Kalk's Pitchf/x tool doesn't include Palmer at the moment, I really can't provide a better analysis other than "everything he throws starts here and ends somewhere way different." His fastball reminds me of Scot Shields' two-seamer, in that it's pretty clear he doesn't know where it's going because it tails and drops so much. A neat guy to watch, although someone who's been in the minors until his age 30 season is probably not going to continue winning pitching duels with Sabathia.

I caught the last few innings of the Angels/Oakland game last night, and was overall pretty impressed with Joe Saunders and Jose Arredondo. Jose struck out all four batters he faced before giving way to Fuentes, who earned the three-run save without allowing a baserunner. Division wins are very important, and I'll feel more confident about this team if they can play .500 ball against the other divisions and .600 ball within the West, which isn't an unreasonable proposition.

Lakers 92, Houston 100

Nobody expected a 4-game sweep, but watching this team last night was aggravating. When the Lakers refuse to try and score easy points, they end up taking three pointers the second they encounter adversity. So they did. And they shot 2-18 from beyond the arc. Whoops.

Lamar Odom missed 5 of his 6 free throws. Kobe missed 2 of his 5. Add up those points and the game might've been 100-99. Free throws are easy, and they matter. The fact that Ray Allen is like the only NBA player who can consistently shoot over 95% on free throws should be embarrassing to the other players, but I guess Odom is too cool to use the glass.

I'm still not particularly worried about this series. I don't think Pau Gasol is going to go 6-14 from the field again, and I don't think Fisher and Ariza are likely to go 0-4 on three pointers again. This was a game the Rockets had to win if they had any chance of winning this series, and they did. But nothing leads me to believe we'll be seeing Yao Ming knock down deep jumpshots like he did last night.

Also, free Jordan Farmar. Fisher can't defend me, much less Aaron Brooks. Farmar, at least, hit a three and harassed Brooks.

Miscellaneous

Find the headline below which is an embarrassment to Yahoo Sports and the sports world in general:


Next week's headlines:

• CC Sabathia pitches 8 strong, A-Rod doesn't eat sunflower seeds in dugout
• Housing crisis continues, A-Rod doesn't wear tux to wedding
  
• Yankees beat Baltimore, A-Rod sneeze startles Teixeira
• A-Rod goes 4-4, doesn't have swine flu

What a joke.

Power = 3 straight wins

Angels 8, Seattle 0
Angels 7, Baltimore 5
Angels 3, Baltimore 2

These are the Angels I remember. And the Mariners during that span? 1-3. Yes, much more like regular life than the bizarro world start to the season.

The Angels now sit at 9-11, 3 games behind the first place Mariners. The Halos generated all three of those wins thanks to power in the lineup and at least league-average pitching. Finally. They've hit 5 homers (two Kendrick, two Morales, and one Hunter) and have had 9 other extra base hits, including a rare Morales triple yesterday which is likely an inside-the-parker with anyone else running.

It's important to note that the Angels have managed this with both Vlad and Brandon Wood on the bench, something which bodes well for the team once both players return to the lineup.

The Angels make their first trip to New York today for a four game series. Projected pitchers are:

Ortega-Burnett (lol)
Weaver-Pettite
Palmer-Sabathia (LOL)
Saunders-Hughes

I'm looking at tonight's game and Saturday's game as good times to go to the gym, move out of my dorm and into my new one, and get a root canal, all of which will likely be better options than watching the Angels.

Other positive notes from the last couple days:

• Scot Shields seems to be relearning how to pitch.
• Fuentes has picked up another two saves.
• John Lackey and Ervin Santana have both had encouraging bullpen sessions. I imagine they're both close to returning to competitive baseball, but I'm pretty confident Santana will be forced into Tommy John surgery before the season is over, or at least in the offseason. UCL's don't heal particularly well by themselves. (Apparently, Santana threw about 40 pitches over 3 innings in Arizona...I'm not sure if this was a rehab assignment or what.)
  
• Howie Kendrick and Kendry Morales seem to be heading towards the higher side of their offensive projections.
• Bobby Abreu is still freakishly fast for a man his size and age.
  

ALCS Musings

All right, so it's now finally time for me to become an impartial observer on the world of baseball. The Angels are out, the Red Sox are vanquished, and all that's left are two teams which I like more for who they beat on their trip to the Series than who they are themselves. The Phillies spared me from Dodger fans, and the Rays ended the Red Sox's season in a humiliating, painful way, guaranteeing a quiet winter from the pink-hatters out here in Boston.

For the next week or so, I get to watch baseball without caring who wins. It's a nice feeling.

That said, I hope the assholes at ESPN and other national media outlets have learned something from what is sure to be a poorly rated World Series. From the first day of the season, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs got countless more hours of footage, analysis, and hype than any other team. The networks played off the success of Fever Pitch and quite literally marketed a team to the general public while ignoring perfectly capable ball clubs on both coasts and towards the middle of the country.

Now, they reap what they've sown.

Two unheralded teams are going to play for baseball's biggest trophy, and neither of these teams saw half the analysis on ESPN as the Red Sox. Hell, Manny Ramirez was a bigger topic of conversation than either the Rays or the Phillies for the second half of the season. One player. Over two teams playing for the World Series.

I want to believe that the networks have learned something from this. Maybe they've learned that it makes more sense to cover teams that are playing well, regardless of their clubhouse makeup or past success. The Yankees were irrelevant for months before the playoffs, but they received more press coverage than the Angels who were quietly assembling MLB's best record. The clear and obvious bias has to stop or the executives at ESPN, FOX, TBS, or whoever, can expect consistently bad and declining ratings for each playoff series.

Also, I would immediately fire national broadcasters who openly root for teams. For example, Chip Caray. When Joe Morgan sounds impartial, you know something's wrong. What would be nice would be a dual-audio format, where the SAP button uses one team's usual announcers and the main audio uses the other team's announcers. At least this way, the bias is obvious instead of being hidden behind the supposed neutrality of new announcers.

Finally, I think the playoff format is dumb. Baseball has a massively long season which rewards day-to-day consistency in a way no other sport really does. And yet, at the end of this season, the playoffs commence with a 5 game series that has like a million off-days between each game. My opinion? Every series is 7 games long and there are no off-days. Period. Make it like the regular season. Force teams to use five starters just like they did all season. This makes it more likely that the deepest team wins, not a team with two hot starters. Reward consistency, not streaks, just like the regular season.

Cheering for both teams

Olympic Basketball

I woke up early (well, early by collegiate standards) this morning to watch the United States Olympic men's basketball team take on Yao Ming and China. The game started with one of the more resonant shots of the last few years, a Yao three pointer which opened scoring and gave China their only lead of the game. The place went nuts, but basketball in China is unique. The fans would cheer for Chinese scores but also cheer for Kobe dunks and LeBron alley-oops. I have to imagine it was a very special game for both teams, with Yao doing some impressive cheerleading as the clock wound down to zero.

The US won 101-70, but honestly, you have to feel good about international basketball after a game like that. Hopefully, China will leave Yao alone and let him become the superstar he can be. Also on display during the game: now-Laker Sun Yue. He looked good, although without figuring out his number until the third quarter, I probably missed a lot of his play.

The team plays Angola on the 12th, I believe.


Series Recap: Angels 3, Yankees 0

Another sweep of another overrated AL East opponent. And my, oh my, did we get some offense this weekend. Without delving too deeply into details, particularly at 12:40 AM, the Angels outscored the Yankees 25-12 over the three game series, with 8 of those runs coming in the eighth inning of Saturday's game. Somehow, the Angels broke a 3-3 tie with 8(!) runs in the bottom half of the inning, with the RBI-fest starting with Vlad's homer and ending with his single to left. Yes, Vlad went 2 for 2 in the inning, finishing 2-5 overall in a game where every Angels starter had a hit. It was a remarkable game.

The Halos managed to pull off the sweep today thanks to Joe Girardi's inexplicable choice to bring in Mariano Rivera in a non-save situation. Without the S statistic in play, Mo's been downright mortal, giving up 7 ER in 21 innings, as opposed to 1 ER in 29 innings with the save on the line. It's weird, but it's something to look at. He probably got screwed by an exceedingly lazy play by Cano, who looked like he had a real chance at Chone Figgins' game winning RBI single to right in the bottom of the ninth. Erick Aybar, though, didn't seem to mind as he flung his bat into the air as Howie scored the winning run. It was pretty funny to watch.

Jose Arredondo did his best recreation of a Frankie inning, allowing Alex Rodriguez to double with one out in the eighth. Thanks to a great throw by Mike Napoli and bad positioning by the third base ump, A-Rod was called out at third attempting to steal, although replays showed he was safe by a couple inches. Jose got out of the inning, and such is baseball. Regardless, the strike zone was a fluid concept this afternoon, reminding me again why umpires need to be replaced with pitch tracking systems as soon as possible. I swear, Derek Jeter gets a strikezone the size of a shoebox. It's ridiculous.

This sweep logged a couple milestones for the Halos, one of which demands reflection back to 2002, the last time the Angels were 30+ games over .500. 2002 was a good year for the franchise.


Miscellany

• Amanda's in another tournament, this time the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Unlike her other tournaments thus far, this is a WTA event, so it's worth $175,000 in prize money. She plays #31 world ranked Katarina Srebotnik tomorrow.
• The Rays won their 71st game this season, breaking their former franchise season win total with 45 games remaining. Bravo, Tampa Bay.
• Olympic sports that are not sports: badminton, beach volleyball, diving, "equestrian," gymnastics, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, and weightlifting. Not sports. Sorry. I'm not trivializing the athletes, just the dumb games they play.
• A small part of me feels bad for sweeping the Yankees and making life easier for Boston, but then I remember: I hate the Yankees also.
• Kira sent me an interesting link about why I should've chosen athletic training over mechanical engineering. Even so, fuck ESPN.
  
• Firefox 3 is a worthless piece of shit. I'm going to downgrade to a functional browser in the next couple hours. Whoever is responsibly for the asinine URL bar needs to be fired and/or shipped to Apple.