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.
  

Carbonated Beverages + Computer != Fun

Posting to this blog is obviously going to slow down a little now that the Angels' season is over, but with college hockey, the NFL, the NHL, and soon the NBA, I really don't have a good excuse.

First, a casual note about playing with racquetballs indoors: it's dumb. I tried to swat a ball away from my roommate, hit the open, full Coke on my desk, and knocked it directly onto and into my PC through the conveniently located fan grille on top. The machine instantly hanged, and naturally the vent holes were directly over my PCI slots, dousing my video card, TV tuner card, and motherboard with delicious syrup.

Amazingly, all that really got destroyed was my network port. Everything else works, so I've installed a PCI network card and everything seems to be working fine. While I was cleaning the residue off the board, you could see where the acidic Coke etched away parts of a few traces near a chip. Unbelievable. This is why I can't have nice things.

Anyway, here's some brief recaps before I start looking at some homework.


Northeastern 4, Alaska-Anchorage 2

I'm in a little pool with the guys over at DHD, with my sponsored players being Ryan Ginand and JP Maley. For every game the Huskies win, I donate $5 to the program for each goal one of those players scores, $2 for an assist, and a $5 bonus for the gamewinning goal. Naturally, Ginand had two goals, including the gamewinner, in Northeastern's second and final game in Alaska.

The game had online video, so I got to watch the Huskies in action for the first time. Joe Vitale had a quiet series, which is unusual for him, but Ginand and McCauley had two goals each for the weekend, Thiessen looked solid between the pipes, and the freshmen, Quailer in particular, didn't look lost and seemed to fit into Cronin's system. The first home game is Saturday vs. BC, so I'm both excited and nervous.


Patriots 10, San Diego 30

Look, the Patriots can't win if they don't have an effective pass rush, and they didn't. Phil Rivers had hours in the pocket to go deep to a few different receivers, so the loss here doesn't surprise me. Frankly, one of these two teams needs to make it to the Super Bowl, so I'm not opposed to the Chargers beating the Pats.

Matt Cassel looked like crap, which is generally what happens when the other team knows how to pass rush and your team doesn't. This game, again, not Cassel's fault.


Rays 9, Boston 1

The Rays, America's new favorite team, took a 2-1 series lead by beating Jon Lester. Finally. I don't care what the statistics say. Jon Lester is not a #1 starter, and that he's pitched like one all season just shows how novelty can affect opposing lineups. This is the first year Lester's really had the opportunity to show himself to the whole league, and he introduced a new pitch. His stats will regress next season, and I look forward to it.

Also, I think Lester believes this more than anyone: He's not just a kid who beat cancer anymore. Cancer shouldn't define him. He's past it, it's done, respect the guy for his accomplishments and stop talking about his cancer every time he shows up on TV.

Evan "Wunderkind" Longoria and BJ Upton both had homers in the third, and it just kept piling on from there. I thought the Rays were dumb when they gave a rookie a big, long contract, but clearly they knew what we all now know. Go Rays.


Phillies 7, Dodgers 5

The Dodgers have no chance in this series after losing the first two, but I'm not sure I really care anymore. It's hard to root for a team whose fans threw full beers at me at a Dodgers/Angels game. It's also hard to root for the Phillies, since I hate Philly fans (at least Eagles/Flyers fans), and a small part of me still likes the Mets.

Either way, Cory Wade, who's really been quite good lately, gave up a 2-run dinger to Victorino to tie the game, and it was pretty much all-Phillies from there. The Dodger bullpen is looking like a very soft spot in the neck of the franchise.

Oh yeah, other teams are still in contention

A loyal reader sent me an email decrying my general lack of coverage with regards to the other LA team, the Dodgers. While I will casually point to the header of this blog, showing my specific interest in the Angels, Lakers, and Kings, I'll take moment from an otherwise uneventful evening to offer my thoughts.

The Dodgers, with today's 3-1 win over the (choking) Chicago Cubs, advance to the NLCS for the first time since their World Series title year of 1988. Yes, it has been 20 years since the Dodgers were relevant. I was a year and a half old, about three years before I went to my first Dodger game and about 18 years before I became an Angels fan after moving to Boston.

There's still a soft spot in my heart for the boys in blue, but none of that is based on anything from the present. You never forget baseball games when you're a kid, and I still remember calling to Hershiser in the bullpen for a ball. Regardless of those memories, I still thoroughly enjoy watching the Angels beat the hell out of the Dodgers during interleague, but I'd be lying if I said I disliked them even half as much as I hate the Red Sox and A's.

The ongoing storyline with the Dodgers involves a couple factors. Idiot ownership on the part of the McCourt family, terrible general managing from Ned Colletti, and a penchant for trading away young talent for terrible, overpaid free agents. The Angels will regret Torii Hunter's contract, but hey, at least he's no Andruw Jones. LA looked destined to lose the NL West (Worst?) until petulant Manny Ramirez was acquired from the Red Sox in a three-way trade with Pittsburgh. Manny, for all his faults, is one hell of a hitter.

I have a hard time believing one batter can completely reverse a team's fortunes, but that's basically what Manny did. The players around him in the lineup, Jeff Kent particularly, saw their averages skyrocket as Manny provided protection for seemingly the entire lineup. The Dodgers went on to win the division every team was trying to lose and entered the postseason playing the best team in the National League, the Cubs.

It's not that I dislike the Cubs, it's that I dislike their fanbase. They are not like pre-2004 Red Sox fans. They are like post-2004 Red Sox fans but without the winning pedigree to back it up. The Cubs were expected to steamroll the Dodgers with Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden, but, in a hilarious joke from the baseball gods, found themselves swept out of World Series contention yet again. Watching my childhood team destroy an incredibly irritating team with an incredibly irritating manager and incredibly irritating fans was fun, but I would've traded anything to have the Cubs lose to the Angels in the fourteenth inning of game 7 in the World Series.

But it is what it is.

The Brewers won today, but down in the series 2-1 are likely to fall to Philadelphia, who will be the Dodgers' next opponent.

Meanwhile, I will be at Fenway Park tomorrow to get heckled, possibly punched, and generally embarrassed as the Angels continue their record-setting futility against the Red Sox in the playoffs. Or, they win and live to lose another day.

Worst No-Hitter* Ever

Sorry for the long layoff...I've been in LA until today, so I've been preoccupied with broken Volvos and other LA-centric crap.

Angels 0, Dodgers 1

I'm currently sitting in Washington-Dulles airport waiting for my 7:00 flight to Boston, but I figured I'd blog while I could. Plus, this game bordered on the never-before-seen, particularly for me, so I decided it was worth talking about.

This is possibly the only time you will ever hear a fan of a team complain after their pitchers throw a no-hitter. And yes, I realize that the no-hitter, generated by Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo, isn't official, because it was only 8 innings, but that's a bullshit rule and wel all know it.

This game is proof that the NL sucks and needs to drop the archaic "pitcher must hit!" rule. Weaver had thrown 98 pitches through 6 (more on this later), but was lifted for pinch hitter Chone Figgins as he was losing the game 1-0 without giving up a hit. Only in the NL will you see that, and it's utterly pointless because it does things like this on a daily basis. Forcing pitchers and their .125 averages to bat at least once every three innings is a great way to spoil a good pitcher's duel. It's also a great way to injure multimillion dollar arms like the Yankee's Wang (always fun to type). Honestly. Nowhere else does the pitcher hit. Not in college, not in the minors, not in the superior AL. Get over it.

As far as the rest of the game goes, Jeff Mathis should not be starting. Supposedly valued for his plus defense, he's been making lots of throws to second base "plus," also known as Torii in center field. He also can't hit. So Mike, put Napoli in before this happens again. Second, Garret Anderson is done. Juan Rivera needs to take over. Third, Torii, Torii, Torii. No excuse for the offensive offensive performance this evening. And finally, come on. Your pitchers throw a no hitter. You score 0 runs.

Jered Weaver, considering his no-hitter through 6, managed to make 6 innings of linescore-beautiful baseball so torturous I couldn't watch. The old adage is "the most important pitch is strike one." Throwing a strike to begin each at-bat doesn't gurantee success, but falling behind 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 is a recipe for disaster. Frankly, even without being pinch-hit for, I doubt Jered would have been able to throw 8 innings today. His pitch count was far too high, and with young pitchers, their mechanics fall out of whack and they blow out their arms as they tire. Jered is destined for the same career arc as his brother unless he somehow learns to command his fastball early in the count.

Jose Arredondo is still good. I'm curious to see how he does the second time through the league, but anyone who throws an 89 mpg splitter is probably gonna do just fine.

Expect additional entries soon.