I'M BAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!! AND SO IS BASEBALL !!!!!!!!!!

It's great to be back and it's even better for baseball to be back.

My next blog will be about the up coming season and my predictions for the rest of major league  baseball. (HINT- I'M PICKING THE ANGELS TO GO AND WIN THE WORLD SERIES).

Tonight I want to talk about the Angels who have left from last season for greener pastures.

Notably Garrett Anderson , Frankie Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

First Mark Teixeira.

First off , It was a shame to see Tex not sign with the Angels.  But everyone knew that the chances of getting Tex back where slim to none. As a Halo fan it hurt to see him put on that Yankee hat and put on the pin stripes. But it would have killed my baseball soul if Tex would have signed with the Red Sox. It would have been like losing all your life savings to Bernard Madoff and then finding out your wife left you for him and legally is entitled to the 65 Billion that the man has hidden away !!!

So Mark Teixeira, thank you for not signing with the Red Sox. You are a great great player. I can't speak for the rest of Halo Nation but as for myself, I will never boo you when you come to Anaheim. You will get booed . Without mercy I'm sure.  But with the extra 20 plus Mill in your wallet, I bet you'll be able to afford some really nice ear plugs .

Garrett Anderson...

As for Garrett Anderson. GA should still be waring an Angel uniform. The Angels could not pick up the 14 million dollar option on the last year of GA's contract. With a chance to sign teixeira still in play that money was too much to give out without having an answer about Tex. But once Tex went to the Yankees the Angels should have offered GA at least the same money they ended up signing Abreu with. Anderson has a good chance at getting 3000 hits and going to the Hall of Fame. It would have been so great to see Anderson in an Angel uniform getting his 3000TH hit or standing in Cooperstown and seeing his plaque unveiled with a big A on his hat and it not standing for the Atlanta Braves. 

Anderson to some Angel fans will always be thought of as the player that didn't hustle. A player that didn't dive for balls the way Daren Erstad did. To me GA will always be the player that got the winning RBI in the seventh game of the 2002 world series. The player that always made getting 100 RBIs and hitting 300 look easy. That was his problem. he never got dirty. Because most of the time he was in the right place at the right time. When it is all said and done, GA could have hustled more then he did. But in the years to come, Halo fans will be talking about this player or that player and what a great year he had . Then you will compare stats with some of the Angels of the past. Guess what, Garrett Anderson will be at the top of almost every list. Not bad for a man who never hustled.

Frankie Rodriguez (aka K ROD ).

What can you say about this man. 

How can you call yourself an Angel Fan and not remember how Frankie came on to the seen.  A TWENTY YEAR OLD MAN CHILD.

I remember the first time I saw him. It was against the Oakland A's. My first reaction when I saw his first pitch was OH MY GOD !!! I pointed to the sky with both my hands and said "THANK YOU GOD, THE HALOS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES". Not only did the Angels go to the World Series , they won it !!!!  The Angels won the World series !!!  IN MY LIFETIME !!!

Watch the 2002 World Series DVD again.  K ROD was the last piece of the puzzle .  No K ROD, no 2002 CHAMPIONSHIP. It's that simple. 

I'll be the first one to admit, for every save Frankie had last year, I lost 10 minutes of my life. Frankie thought it wasn't a save until he had bases loaded and the tying run on third with a three and o count. But he got the save... 62 times.

This year when Frankie"s getting save after save for the New York Mets, Your going to say to      yourself " How come his saves are so much easier for the Mets then they were for the Halos"?   I'll tell you why, your heart won't be hanging on every pitch. All you'll see is the save. Thats when you'll realize what a great pitcher K ROD really is. 

Garrett Anderson and Francisco (K ROD) Rodriguez.... Thank you both for your many years of playing great baseball for my Angels. And for your contributions for the Halos only World Series. With the crop of new Angels players coming up along with the veterans on the team, I truly believe the Angels have the talent to win the World Series this year as well. But GA and K Rod and Spiezio and King Fish and Erstad and Bengi and Washburn and Percy and Lackey  etc.... You will always be the first !!!