By Steve Waverly
First and foremost, I've been an Angels fan long enough to remember that they were once considered to be cursed on a level nearly comparable to the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs (who still are.) It was no laughing matter. Star players were shot and killed, others died in car accidents, others simply crashed and burned the moment they put on a Halo uniform. And there were the epic collapses of 1983, 1986, and 1995, to name a few.
Then came 2002, and the curse was over. I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime. I was there at game six (magical) and game seven, and watched Salmon run around the field with a trophy over his head like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
It was lifted off mine as well.
But now... I want them to do it again. In fact, Mike Scioscia told me personally they would. Back in the fall of 2004, I was still smarting from the Bosox sweep of the Angels, when I crossed paths with a solid looking guy with his wife and kids on Balboa Island, California. One look and I knew: it was Mike. As I passed him on the sidewalk, I had to say something. So I gently told him that the move to bring in Jarrod Washburn to face Ortiz was iffy (it was worse than iffy, it was a horrible) but that I had been an Angels fan since I was a kid and he had given me a World Series, and I would always be grateful for that. He slowed down, actually turned around to keep talking to me, smiled, and said 'We'll get you another one."
So there it is. The Mike Scioscia guarantee. What he didn't say was when. So, is this the year? Well, here are a few early thoughts:
The good: Escobar (had forgotten about him, but could be the difference;) Abreu (how did that happen?;) Kendrick (please, please, get 500 at bats. The season depends on it;) Arredondo (needs a nickname, but everything else is in place;) the report that players in the Angels system are now being encouraging to take pitches. The 2002 team worked every count like a magician, but since then, nothing but free swingers who think a walk is something you do on the beach. It took only NINE years to get back to where they were. Way to go, Hatch!
The bad: Well, most of the bench. Willits - pop up power. Can't hit it out of the infield with a tail wind. If you want to squeeze, he's your guy. Matthews - clean, sober, and a .260 hitter. And honestly, unreliable in the outfield. One great catch and he's enshrined. The Angels got snookered on that deal. A guy has six mediocre years and one good one and he gets fifty million? Scioscia said Matthews had finally figured it out. What he'd figured out was where to stick the needle. Mathis - a good catcher, but if he's anywhere near home plate with a bat in his hands, game over, and not in a good way.
Then there's that other team. The one I hate writing about. Hate thinking about. And really hate facing. The Boston Red Sox. But there's no getting around it. They're the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Even without Manny. So root for Tampa, root for Toronto, even root for the Yankees, 'cause the Angels kick their butt. But I don't want to see Boston anywhere in the playoffs. Not when the Angels are there.
And they will be there. The Angels are solid, won't win it by 20 games again (mark that down in your lifetime, you'll never see it again. Oakland, Seattle, Texas all tanked at once, Angels rolled... it was a beautiful thing - until the playoffs) but they'll win the west in 2009. Best pitching, plain and simple.
And before we head into the promise of a new season, one last word on the little squeeze that couldn't. I know, it's been talked to death. But let me just say this about whether Scioscia blew it. He didn't. And if you blamed him for that bunt, well, you lose a few points in Angels fandom. Sorry. You just do.
Now, Scioscia is not bullet proof. Not by a long shot. He blows a handful of games every season. Pulls a starter too soon, leaves a struggling player in the line-up too long. But the squeeze was a good call. An obvious call. I knew it was coming - ask my cat, I yelled it at her. The problem wasn't the call, it was the execution. The blame falls on Aybar. And to those who say Scioscia shouldn't have put that kind of pressure on a rookie, I agree. The Angels never should have traded Orlando Cabrera. But they did. And Izturis got hurt. And all Aybar had to do was make contact. And - this is the key - Scioscia called it on the right pitch. Boston knew it was coming, too, so the first two pitches were way out of the strike zone. Scioscia waited patiently, then pulled the trigger on the third pitch. The one Aybar was supposed to bunt. The one that was hittable. And that was the real problem.
Aybar tried to bunt for a hit, instead of for contact. If he squares up correctly at worst he fouls it off. But he didn't follow fundamentals, he made a mistake, and the series was over.
Broke my heart, all I'm sure it did all of yours. But the call was correct. If Aybar gets it down the Angels win. Probably. I mean, who knows what Boston would have done to K-Rod. 61 saves or not, Boston always had his number in the playoffs (which is why I don't mind seeing him on the Mets.)
But that was 2008. This is 2009. And this year is going to be different. Right, Tampa? Right, Toronto? Right, New York?
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