LA LA! Perfect mascot for LA versus LA World Series!!!
An all Los Angeles World Series??? We’re Halfway There
Sitting here writing while watching the Sprint Cup chase play out in the far eastern suburbs of Los Angeles, the prospect of an all LA-LA west coast World Series is looking pretty strong. LA-LA the Dodgers versus LA-LA the Angels, GO FIGURE!!!
The Angels have played well all year overshadowed perhaps by the extent to which the New York Yankees have dominated the American League, but consider this, in head-to-head competition, the Angels and the Yankees played to a 5-5 draw. Some will point out that two of those Yankee losses came early in the season before the team was up to full strength.
Before we go further, we apologize to Minnesota Twins fans for writing them off so soon, but they didn’t win a single game against New York in the past season and the Yankees only need one out of three games to move on.
With 97 wins, the Angels were the second best team in the majors. The Red Sox and the Dodgers both posted 95 wins, but where were the Red Sox, what happened to their bats. Apparently they found them good enough for six runs in Fenway Park this afternoon, but the Angels did them one better with a 7-6 win. Who’d ever expect River Dancin’ closer, Jonathan Papelbon would blow a save with the season on the line? He converted 38 out of 41 chances during the regular season.
Did anyone think the Dodgers didn’t wrap things up with the stunning way they won game 2? Matt Holiday’s error in the outfield seemed to be one of those historical plays like the ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 World Series or the bogus home run awarded the New York Yankees when New York fan robbed a ball in play by leaning over the Yankee Stadium right field railing resulting in the umpire on the scene calling it a Derek Jeter homerun. Today with homerun recall, aside from the fear of the New York fan, who knows what would have happened. Still, there are those events that clearly seem to be the pivotal moment on which post season series turn. No home cooking and friendly home crowd could undo the harm inflicted on the St. Louis Cardinals. In the Joe Torre versus Tony LaRussa matchup, give this one to Gentleman Joe.
The Angels perhaps have not received the recognition they’ve deserved perhaps because east coast fans aren’t as tuned into games that start at 10:00 pm for night games. Was it not noteworthy that they won two out of three from the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Mid-September?
The Angels offense boasts four players with 20 or more homeruns. Los Angeles pitching is not as strong with two dominant starters with Jered Weaver (16-8) and Joe Saunders (16-7) setting the pace, John Lackey (11-8) in 27 starters and Matt Palmer (11-2) also contributed to the team’s success. The bullpen shows room for concern. While closer, Brian Fuentes wracked up a respectable tally of 48 saves, he also blew seven. Among the rest of the bullpen, only three additional saves were posted against 16 chances. In total, that means the Angels blew nineteen save situations.
The message to Angels opponents is knock them out early and get to their bullpen. However, John Lackey appears to be a solid clutch performer. While the Yankees should be the clear favorite especially with home field advantage, the Angels are a formidable opponent that they’ll have to throw every resource on the field to stop.
Colorado and Philadelphia are even as they begin play in Denver tonight. Imagine a game postponed for snow and ice!!! It’s not helpful for Philadelphia that their starting rotation ace, Cole Hamels, was setting up excuses for potential losses complaining about having the Phillies first round home field advantage translate into two early afternoon starts. Hamel started game two, gave up four earned runs in five innings to suffer the loss, a one run game, the Phillies could have won. Perhaps it was a good sign for Philadelphia that their suspect bullpen only gave up one run but it was the margin of victory in their game two loss.
With two games at Denver and one game if needed in Philadelphia, the Colorado Rockies would appear to have the edge against the Phillies, but how would either team perform against Joe Torre’s men?
The Dodgers posted a 4-3 mark against Philadelphia. Should Colorado prevail to face the Dodgers, the Dodgers beat their divisional foe 14-4 including winning the last two games of the regular season against the Rockies.
Things look good for the Dodgers for sure.
So get ready for red carpets, H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D on the hill, and the so called beautiful people (plastic surgery augmented human forms), the prospects of a Los Angeles matchup looks strong.
Sitting here writing while watching the Sprint Cup chase play out in the far eastern suburbs of Los Angeles, the prospect of an all LA-LA west coast World Series is looking pretty strong. LA-LA the Dodgers versus LA-LA the Angels, GO FIGURE!!!
The Angels have played well all year overshadowed perhaps by the extent to which the New York Yankees have dominated the American League, but consider this, in head-to-head competition, the Angels and the Yankees played to a 5-5 draw. Some will point out that two of those Yankee losses came early in the season before the team was up to full strength.
Before we go further, we apologize to Minnesota Twins fans for writing them off so soon, but they didn’t win a single game against New York in the past season and the Yankees only need one out of three games to move on.
With 97 wins, the Angels were the second best team in the majors. The Red Sox and the Dodgers both posted 95 wins, but where were the Red Sox, what happened to their bats. Apparently they found them good enough for six runs in Fenway Park this afternoon, but the Angels did them one better with a 7-6 win. Who’d ever expect River Dancin’ closer, Jonathan Papelbon would blow a save with the season on the line? He converted 38 out of 41 chances during the regular season.
Did anyone think the Dodgers didn’t wrap things up with the stunning way they won game 2? Matt Holiday’s error in the outfield seemed to be one of those historical plays like the ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 World Series or the bogus home run awarded the New York Yankees when New York fan robbed a ball in play by leaning over the Yankee Stadium right field railing resulting in the umpire on the scene calling it a Derek Jeter homerun. Today with homerun recall, aside from the fear of the New York fan, who knows what would have happened. Still, there are those events that clearly seem to be the pivotal moment on which post season series turn. No home cooking and friendly home crowd could undo the harm inflicted on the St. Louis Cardinals. In the Joe Torre versus Tony LaRussa matchup, give this one to Gentleman Joe.
The Angels perhaps have not received the recognition they’ve deserved perhaps because east coast fans aren’t as tuned into games that start at 10:00 pm for night games. Was it not noteworthy that they won two out of three from the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Mid-September?
The Angels offense boasts four players with 20 or more homeruns. Los Angeles pitching is not as strong with two dominant starters with Jered Weaver (16-8) and Joe Saunders (16-7) setting the pace, John Lackey (11-8) in 27 starters and Matt Palmer (11-2) also contributed to the team’s success. The bullpen shows room for concern. While closer, Brian Fuentes wracked up a respectable tally of 48 saves, he also blew seven. Among the rest of the bullpen, only three additional saves were posted against 16 chances. In total, that means the Angels blew nineteen save situations.
The message to Angels opponents is knock them out early and get to their bullpen. However, John Lackey appears to be a solid clutch performer. While the Yankees should be the clear favorite especially with home field advantage, the Angels are a formidable opponent that they’ll have to throw every resource on the field to stop.
Colorado and Philadelphia are even as they begin play in Denver tonight. Imagine a game postponed for snow and ice!!! It’s not helpful for Philadelphia that their starting rotation ace, Cole Hamels, was setting up excuses for potential losses complaining about having the Phillies first round home field advantage translate into two early afternoon starts. Hamel started game two, gave up four earned runs in five innings to suffer the loss, a one run game, the Phillies could have won. Perhaps it was a good sign for Philadelphia that their suspect bullpen only gave up one run but it was the margin of victory in their game two loss.
With two games at Denver and one game if needed in Philadelphia, the Colorado Rockies would appear to have the edge against the Phillies, but how would either team perform against Joe Torre’s men?
The Dodgers posted a 4-3 mark against Philadelphia. Should Colorado prevail to face the Dodgers, the Dodgers beat their divisional foe 14-4 including winning the last two games of the regular season against the Rockies.
Things look good for the Dodgers for sure.
So get ready for red carpets, H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D on the hill, and the so called beautiful people (plastic surgery augmented human forms), the prospects of a Los Angeles matchup looks strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment