It's so great to finally be back in baseball season. Football is nice, but it's limited to just a few weekends a year. Basketball is fun, nice to see the Lakers doing well. Hockey is hockey - only good when enjoyed in person. MLS is just pathetic - and I love soccer (can't wait for World Cup 2006). And then we have baseball. America's pasttime. It doesn't get much better than watching the match-ups, rooting for your favorite teams, watching the ball fly over the wall, and seeing people blown away with 98 MPH fastballs. It's just a great game with so many intricacies, so many little things you don't catch every time, all the stats, all the little meaningless confrontations - it's just a great time of year.
And the year gets even better as I watch my hometown Angels start the year 2-0. In each of their first two games, they've had 10 runs and 3 homeruns and one player with multiple homeruns. Yesterday, Troy Glaus became the third Angel ever to hit multiple homeruns on opening day, but he wasn't the first Angel to hit a homerun. That distinction goes to Jose Molina, filling in at catcher for his brother, Bengie Molina. Then, today, Garrett Anderson, my pick for this year's AL MVP goes deep twice as the Angels run out to an 8-0 lead, only to see it cut to 9-7, but then end up winning 10-7. Garrett was joined in the homerun club by the Angels new star, Vladamir Guerrero, acquired from les Expos, he signed for a huge free agent salary and thus far he has shown he is well worth it. He capped off a 5 run inning with a three run homerun today and was only a triple away from hitting for the cycle.
If there's an achille's heel of the Angels this year, it's their pitching. Their newest acquisition, Bartolo Colon is their ace, and he proved it yesterday, but then, things get a bit shakey. Washburn had one good year and has been inconsistent at best for the rest of his starts. He fills in the second spot in the rotation, while the third spot goes to another new Angel this year, Kelvim Escobar. I don't know much about him, but I'll get to see him in action tomorrow at 1:35pm (on TV...game is in Seattle). After Escobar, we have Ramon Ortiz, who can either be dominating or shelled. He has a very ugly tendency to give up homeruns, however, most of those are solo homeruns, so they don't do much damage. Rounding out the rotation is Lackey, a young pitcher who had a great year in 2002 as the Angels marched to their first ever World Championship, but he disappointed us last year and hopefully, after being given the last spot in the rotation over Aaron Sele, he will have something to prove.
But then again, who needs pitching when you're averaging 10 runs a game? I'm looking for the Angels to win the AL West easily this year and hopefully they can return to their 2002 form in the playoffs with a strong lineup and maybe a pitching acquisition midseason to bolster the starting rotation.
URL: ESPN.com - Anaheim Angels - Clubhouse
And the year gets even better as I watch my hometown Angels start the year 2-0. In each of their first two games, they've had 10 runs and 3 homeruns and one player with multiple homeruns. Yesterday, Troy Glaus became the third Angel ever to hit multiple homeruns on opening day, but he wasn't the first Angel to hit a homerun. That distinction goes to Jose Molina, filling in at catcher for his brother, Bengie Molina. Then, today, Garrett Anderson, my pick for this year's AL MVP goes deep twice as the Angels run out to an 8-0 lead, only to see it cut to 9-7, but then end up winning 10-7. Garrett was joined in the homerun club by the Angels new star, Vladamir Guerrero, acquired from les Expos, he signed for a huge free agent salary and thus far he has shown he is well worth it. He capped off a 5 run inning with a three run homerun today and was only a triple away from hitting for the cycle.
If there's an achille's heel of the Angels this year, it's their pitching. Their newest acquisition, Bartolo Colon is their ace, and he proved it yesterday, but then, things get a bit shakey. Washburn had one good year and has been inconsistent at best for the rest of his starts. He fills in the second spot in the rotation, while the third spot goes to another new Angel this year, Kelvim Escobar. I don't know much about him, but I'll get to see him in action tomorrow at 1:35pm (on TV...game is in Seattle). After Escobar, we have Ramon Ortiz, who can either be dominating or shelled. He has a very ugly tendency to give up homeruns, however, most of those are solo homeruns, so they don't do much damage. Rounding out the rotation is Lackey, a young pitcher who had a great year in 2002 as the Angels marched to their first ever World Championship, but he disappointed us last year and hopefully, after being given the last spot in the rotation over Aaron Sele, he will have something to prove.
But then again, who needs pitching when you're averaging 10 runs a game? I'm looking for the Angels to win the AL West easily this year and hopefully they can return to their 2002 form in the playoffs with a strong lineup and maybe a pitching acquisition midseason to bolster the starting rotation.
URL: ESPN.com - Anaheim Angels - Clubhouse
posted by Blake | 01:32
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