MAGIC NUMBER "13"

The Angels ran into a buzz saw Saturday night as the Cleveland Indians C C Sabathia pitched a complete game 6 to 1 victory. Sabathia has flown under the radar when it comes to the Cy young but, I haven't seen a better, more commanding pitcher this year.

Even with the loss, the Angels reduced their magic number to 13.

The Halos are a game and a half behind the Boston Red Sox for the best record in baseball so every game is still important.  It looks like the Yankees are going to get the wild card, but there still is a lot of baseball still left to be played. The team I don't want to play in the first round is the Red Sox. If Cleveland passes the Halos in the standings, that would be the case. I think the Halos can take the Sox in a seven game series, but it would be very hard to beat them in a five game series. The road to the World Series has just as much to do with who you are playing as much as how you are playing.  In 2002 when the Halos won it all, their first round opponent was the Yankees. The Angels have always matched up well with the Yankees and it was the same in 2002. The major reason the Halos won in 2002 was because the A's lost to the Twins. No team knew the Angels better then the A's that year. Everyone expected the A's and the Yankees would be playing in the A.L.C.S., but they played teams that they didn't match up well with, and in a five game series, it bit both of them in the back side. So the Angels played the Twins instead of the A's and the rest is history.

Garret Anderson's RBI streak ended last night at 12.

The streak may have done more for Garret Anderson then anything he has done in his whole career.

For some reason G.A. has always had a hard time getting respect from the Angel fans. Every year G.A. would put up consistent numbers yet a lot of the fans would call G.A. lazy for not diving for every ball like Erstad or Jim Edmonds. Andersons demeanor on the field of not showing emotion no matter what happened also gave fans fits. So to see G.A. smiling and tipping his helmet to the fans is not only a breath of fresh air, it shows that G.A. is not a robot. He's a player that truly cares about the fans . Now the Angels faithful are finally showing Anderson the respect that is long over due.

Sunday's game is on ESPN tonight. Lets hope the announcers can actually concentrate on the game instead of talking about everything under the sun. It was so annoying last week when the Angels played Texas. Shields was brought into the game in the eighth inning and let the first two hitters get on base. The announcers barley payed attention to what was going on until Texas hit a grand slam to take the lead. Just call the game and save the interviews and the grandstanding for between innings, or better yet, not at all.

If the Angels win tonight, they take the series and take anothe step closer to winning the west.

HALO RECORD   84  WINS  -  57  LOSES