83-72

by Jeff on Sep 23, 2007 5:38 PM PDT in Regular News Comment 50 comments

Because this has been a foregone conclusion bereft of any suspense for a while, now, I'm pretty well psychologically prepared to say the following:

Congratulations to the Angels, a very well-run organization from top to bottom that deserves to be where it is. They're the best team in the division by a comfortable margin, and, thanks to a strong system and a reasonably young Major League core, stand to have targets on their backs for the next several years. I don't like them, but I respect them, because they do a lot of things well, and serve as a pretty good model of how one should go about building a successful and self-sustainable franchise. As much as we joke about Darin Erstad, Reggie Willits, and some of the things they value in a player, I don't think there's a single one of us who doesn't wish our front office were even half as competent.

I'm not going to wish the Angels the best of luck in the playoffs, because I hope they lose, and I hope they lose quick. Should they go on to win the Series, though, it won't be an accident. With their topheavy rotation, awesome closer, and contact-driven lineup, they're built right to go a long way. Don't let the Boston/New York hype fool you - the team that the Angels are taking into October is plenty good enough to beat anyone else before they even know what hit them. When (I dunno) Scot Shields or Gary Matthews Jr. are your biggest question marks going into the postseason, you know you're sitting pretty.

It's a good time to be an Angels fan. It's a good time to be an Angel.

Biggest Contribution: Ben Broussard, +11.7%
Biggest Suckfest: Sean Green, -14.4%
Most Important AB: Broussard double, +11.4%
Most Important Pitch: Izturis homer, -13.5%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -26.9%
Total Contribution by Hitters: -26.5%
Total Contribution by Opposition: +3.4%

(What is this chart?)

Walks aside, Sean Green has to be the unluckiest son of a bitch I've ever seen.

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Sean Green

I think McLaren needs to avoid having him inherit runners for a while. Green does exactly what he needs to do every time out but the balls keep finding holes and leading to big innings.

by ThundaPC on Sep 23, 2007 5:49 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Unrelated note

The ESPN Tony Romo receptionist commercial is totally inaccurate for one reason: he doesn't fumble the phone when he picks it up.

by Gomez on Sep 23, 2007 5:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

There was a shot of McLaren in the dugout....

just after the loss, where he looked like he was going to cry. Easily the biggest frown I've ever seen in my life. Did anyone screen grab it?

by FWombat on Sep 23, 2007 6:19 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Man

I'm starting to wonder if he seriously did think the M's were in it up until the bitter end.

by Gomez on Sep 23, 2007 6:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

McLaren and CO...

...aren't going to concede until after the wild card is gone.

by rtang on Sep 23, 2007 6:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Which will probably be

Before the team even takes the field against Cleveland in two days.

Oh, and McLaren always seems to look like that when he's not talking for some reason.

by ThundaPC on Sep 23, 2007 6:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yankees magic number

Is like 1, so thats basically done by tommorow.

by vkut79 on Sep 23, 2007 6:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't see the game... Was it kinda like this?

by okdan on Sep 23, 2007 9:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

But even more pronounced. I really felt sorry for the guy.

by FWombat on Sep 23, 2007 11:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whenever I see him make that face...

...I'm reminded of an old post card that I bought in Germany with a guy making a face similar to this:

Unfortunately my Google skills aren't helping me find images similar to what I'm talking about -- this is as close as I can find.

Yes. Shrubberies are my trade. I am a shrubber. My name is Rogerthe Shrubber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies.

by PositivePaul on Sep 25, 2007 1:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

If we somehow had gotten into the playoffs

this year, our rotation would be something like Felix, Batista, and Washburn. That alone explains why we didnt make the playoffs.

by vkut79 on Sep 23, 2007 6:52 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Felix is OK at 1...

but yeah. This rotation desperately needs a 2.

by eponymous coward on Sep 23, 2007 9:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

And a 3.

by SethGrandpa on Sep 24, 2007 2:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, you really only need the #2

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/how-good-is-your-4-starter/

Granted these numbers are for last year, but I don't think they'll have changed all that much. Washburn and Batista are perfectly servicable 3 and 4 starters. What you need is that second stopper, a guy who will give you a good outing 8 times out of 10 or so.

*Visiting Angels fan* Never give up, never surrender!

by TheOptimist on Sep 24, 2007 5:04 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fat chance of that, though...

by Graham on Sep 24, 2007 9:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Wash and Batista are both #4s.

They just have to pitch out of position.

by SethGrandpa on Sep 24, 2007 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

they're really not

they've pitched like 3s in the AL.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 11:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Felix is okay at #1?

No way. You think he would match up well against guys like Lackey, Sabathia, etc. in the playoffs? He's shown this year that he isn't able to pitch that well on a consistent basis.

by vkut79 on Sep 24, 2007 11:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Go look at his FIP/xFIP.

And, um, the guy IS barely old enough to buy beer. Let's not go OH NOES HE SUXX0RS when he's cut his ERA by half a run, and easily has potential to do more.

If we had someone on the staff with a good potential to run a 4.0-4.3 FIP/xFIP, we'd be fine, because the staff would look like this FIP-wise,m even assuming King Felix does NOT take a step forward:

King Felix: 3.7-4.0 FIP
Mythical 2: 4.0-4.3 FIP
Beluga Tits: 4.4-4.7 FIP
Washburn* 4.6-5.0 FIP
Back of Rotation 5.0-5.5 FIP

* But Washburn generally has his FIPs a touch over his performance, like Moyer.

by eponymous coward on Sep 24, 2007 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

If we had a realistic #5

this year, we might still be in the hunt. HoRam was and is a joke.

Even if we get some mix of RRS, Morrow, Campillo and Baek next year for the 5 slot, I'll be happy.

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

For whatever reason

I recalled their last game in the ALDS of the 2003 playoffs, where K-Rod pitched himself to death in extra innings and then they coughed up the series when his reliever came in the next inning.

That reliever? Jarrod Washburn.

by Gomez on Sep 23, 2007 9:41 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

In 2003

The Angels did not make the playoffs.

What do I look like, a guy who's not lazy?

by Rollo Tomasi on Sep 24, 2007 1:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oops, then maybe it was 2004.

I could have sworn they made the postseason in 2003. Foggy ass memory... or maybe I did everything I could to block out 2004 from my memory.

by Gomez on Sep 24, 2007 10:12 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

One of Scioscia's relatively rare lapses

in which he went to a by-the-book matchup by having lefty Jarrod Washburn — who had pitched no relief innings that year, and could be counted on to be, at best, shaky — with the score tied 6-6 and Pokey Reese on first and David Ortiz at the plate? Washburn had some horrific numbers against Ortiz, .333/.500/.667 that year alone (in 6 PA), and from memory, even worse career numbers (presently .353/.455/.529). It was a classic misuse of the obligatory lefty/lefty matchup, odd because the Angels have never been ones to insist on carrying below-average LOOGY types if their right-handed pitchers can carry the freight.

by scareduck on Sep 24, 2007 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mike probably should have just put in Percival

but it was just a bad deal either way. We got our butts handed to us, no question.

*Visiting Angels fan* Never give up, never surrender!

by TheOptimist on Sep 24, 2007 5:36 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good time to be an Angels fan?

I thought that was any day that they didn't wet their pants in public.

by Manzanillos Cup on Sep 24, 2007 8:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

At least it wasn't as embarassing as....

Milton Bradley. Tore his ACL while arguing with an ump.

I wonder what that ump said to him that pissed him off so much? I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict something really, really racist, otherwise that just makes no sense.

I hope the league takes action on that, the ump shouldn't have been baiting him like that at all.

by Notor on Sep 24, 2007 11:44 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

why do you assume the ump was bating him?

milton bradley is pretty much insane. besides, there's a whole other diary devoted to it.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

and if I had stayed up to date on that

I'd see the ump bating seems real.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 12:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

One thing I've never understood

In all my years of sports in baseball and football, when the game was over, we went over and congratulated the other team on a "good game", regardless of the outcome. In NFL Football, the two sides cross the field and shake hands and congratulate each other in a show of respect and good sportsmanship.

Why doesn't baseball? They slap hands with each other and congratulate themselves if they win, with the other team just leaving the field in disgrace. Japanese pro leagues are very good at sportsmanship, almost every other sport has some sort of congratulatory ritual. Baseball seems to be the odd man out here.

I will not make jokes in my sig. I will not make jokes in my sig. I will not...

by TIF on Sep 24, 2007 1:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I've always wondered that myself. Seems odd.

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i hated that part of youth sports

if I lose, the last thing I want to do is go shake hands with the other team and congratulate them and if I win, what the hell are you supposed to say?

I think making it compulsory diminishes its value to nothing. When there really is a close, heated game/match, one of those "neither team deserved to lose" things, and the winning team wanted to acknowledge that, how would you differentiate it from when you blew the other team out?

Is it really good sportsmanship when it's mandatory?

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 2:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

For kids, it is

Is it really good sportsmanship when it's mandatory?

Absolutely, for little kids. It teaches them (or is supposed to teach them) that no matter what happens in the game, it's important to be respectful of your opponent, because they're out there fighting just as hard as you are.

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Sep 24, 2007 2:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Absolutely, for little kids."

Amen. I think it should be for most adults too. Seems most people have forgotten about basic courtesy.

I held a door open for a lady this weekend and she backed away from it like I was some kind of serial killer.

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

does it really teach them anything?

I don't know about others, but as a kid, the post-game stuff didn't make me more respectful, I just viewed it as something we were made to do.

Kids learn by watching how others behave, I feel. If you want to teach them good sportsmanship, then be a good sport yourself (and that means many things). Forcing them to go shake the other team's hands doesn't teach squat on its own.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

A lot of kids use it as an opotunity

to talk shit one last time.

I don't think it teaches much once you hit double digits.

by JI on Sep 24, 2007 4:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's why coaches should be present

for the handshake/high-fives. Shit-talking shouldn't be tolerated by the adults who are present.

If we had done that when I was growing up in sports, we would have been benched for the next game. Unfortunately, from my experience with my nephew's teams, I can tell that's not how it works anymore... :(

Now I'm going to go yell at some kids for being on my lawn.

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 4:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

but even if a coach is present

it just teaches them to shut up around the coach.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 4:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

But that's teaching a kid anything.

It's the whole "cop didn't see it, I didn't do it" mentality.

Parents (and adults in general) need to stop using the "it only works when I'm there to enforce it" excuse as a reason not to even attempt to teach their children respect and proper manners.

(I'll get down off of my high horse now, the air is getting thin up there)

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 4:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think we agree on the goal

it's just that I don't think those things can be taught in that sense. IMO, a child has to see his/her role models (namely parents) actually act that way, otherwise there will be a disconnect between what the parent does and what the parent preaches. And basically, the child stop listening to anything the parent says.

by Matthew on Sep 24, 2007 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Even a better argument to say that

baseball teams should shake hands with the other team after the game. That way young kids can see their "heroes" acting that way, and possibly learn from that.

It's like my girlfriend's young son asked me the other day after the Seahawks game: "Why are they shaking each others hands, right after they were hitting each other?" I explained to him that the hitting was part of the sport, but that the players on both sides had respect for each other, and showed that by shaking each other's hands.

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 4:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remeber when the Cards and Dodgers

decided they were going to shake hands after their playoff series a few years ago MLB threatened fines.

by JI on Sep 24, 2007 5:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seems to work in hockey.

by Jeff on Sep 24, 2007 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup.

Walker certainly had a fresh perspective, playing in his first postseason series since 1995 with Colorado. He is from Canada and said his hockey roots there gave him this idea.

"Being a hockey fan, you watch teams in the playoffs beat the daylights out of each other and then they shake hands when it's all over," Walker said. "I brought it up to Tony the last time we played here in the regular season and I said, 'Take it or leave it.'"

http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20041010&content_id=890451&vkey=ds2004news&fext= .jsp&c_id=null

by JI on Sep 24, 2007 6:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats to the Angels for being a well run team.

But they can still bite my shiny metal ass!

"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll,"

by Thingray on Sep 24, 2007 2:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Ahh...you know

I was hoping the Yankees would win today to officially end our playoff "hopes". As it is, the team will probably send out the same veteran-based lineup because "stranger things have happened" and "we're in it until we're mathematically eliminated".

by ThundaPC on Sep 24, 2007 3:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs