What a difference a year makes.

At this time last year Ervin Santana was on the verge of pitching himself out of the Angels line up. Now, with his latest victory, Santana is out to a quick 4 and 0. Along with fellow starter Joe Saunders, the Halos duo is a combined 8 and 0. It is the understatement of the year to say the two pitchers are off to a nice start. With the injuries to John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, it was looking like the Halos where going to be in deep trouble. No one would be surprised if the Angels where at 9 and 15 this time of the season. Instead, the Angels find themselves with a record of 15 and 9 and 3 and1 on this current road trip against the beast of the east, the Boston Red Sox and the team most picked to win it all this year, the Detroit Tigers. Sure the Angels have had some breaks this week. The Red Sox where having to deal with a flu bug that hit them this week. And the Angels are playing a Detroit team that is off to a shaky start this year. Still, the Red Sox where coming off a four game sweep of the Rangers and Detroit was on a roll, going for their fifth win in a row before running into Santana and rest of the Halos. Besides, a win is a win. Any team in baseball would take a 3 and 1 record against Boston and Detroit on the road. No matter how they got it.

The next two Angels games are on national TV.!!!

It’s nice to see the Halos getting some respect.

The Angels aren’t the only team playing well right now. The AAA Halo team, the Salt Lake Bees are off to an incredible 19 and 1 start. It’s going to be harder and harder for the national media to ignore what’s going on in Anaheim. There is no team in Baseball that has better, younger talent then the Angels. This team is so deep. I’ve been a Halo fan all my life and I’ve never seem any team, let alone MY ANGELS, have so much depth in their system. I keep pinching myself. I’m trying to stay calm but it’s like finding out you have all the numbers right in the Mega Lotto. You want to jump up and down and tell the world “look what I’ve got !!!” If I’m right, the world will find out soon enough about this team.

Congratulations on your great start Ervin Santana. Keep believing in yourself and the sky’s the limit.

The Angels have Dustin Moseley pitching today. I hope Moseley will see what Santana went through last year and know that everyone struggles from time to time. Just keep going out there and throw strikes. Mike Scioscia still believes in you. Once Lackey returns, you still will be in the Angels plans. As a middle and long reliever.

GO GET EM ANGELS !!!!

JUST ANOTHER HALO VICTORY !!!!

HALO RECORD 15 WINS – 9 LOSSES .

The Angels find themselves at 12 and 8 going into Boston for the first time this year.

The Red Sox are playing great baseball right now. Perfect for the Halos to see where they match up with the best. The Angels and Mike Scioscia have enough confidence in the Halos roster to know this is not a make or break series so early in the season. The Red Sox know the Angels are one of the better teams in baseball. No matter what happens the next three games. What I want to see is the team play good fundimental baseball. Jared Weaver gets the start for the Angels tommarow. What I want to see from Weaver is to challange hitters. I’ve noticed Weaver has become very pradictable when he is ahead in the count. 0 and 2 Weaver always throws out of the strike zone. 1 and 2 he throws a fastball up in the strike zone. Against the Red Sox I want to see Weaver go for the strike out. 0 and 2, come inside, break some bats. Throw more fastballs. The Angels have a great outfield and with Eric Aybar at short, The ground balls are going to be outs more then they are going to be hits. The Red Sox are going to get their runs. The way to beat the Sox is to stay away from the big inning. easier said then done but, the Angels have the pitching staff to do just that.

This years Angel offense looks like it has the power to get more respect from the Red Sox pitchers then they did last year. Tori Hunter, Vlad, Kotchman, Napoli, even G A , are all capable of hitting the ball out of the park. With the speed of Figgins, Matthews, Aybar and Isturis, the rest of the offense can still put preasure on the defense with their taking the extra base, stealing and hit and runs that are the Halos trademark. 

As a long time Angel fan, I’m not as afraid of the Red Sox as I was in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sweep the Halos this week and outscore them by 10 runs a game. But I would not be surprised if the Angels sweep the Red Sox and outscore them by 10 RUNS A GAME !

No matter what happens this week, I know that Scioscia won’t let the team get too high or too low. The goal for this Angels team is to try to win every game that they step on to the field to play.  After each game that is played, win or lose, take something from that game and make the team better.

I’m really looking foward to this series because it should be some great baseball.

GO GET EM ANGELS !!!

The Halos called up Kendry Morales. I don’t think its to play first base. I think it means Juan Revera’s days with the team may be numbered. I really hope I’m wrong because Revera has made a great comeback from his broken leg from last year but, don’t be surprised if you see Revera traded or released. I hope if they do let Revera go that they get something in return. He has a good bat and a better then average arm and he’ll be a great add on to any team. What ever the Angels do , DON’T TRADE KENDRY MORALES. No matter how great Casey Kotchman is doing, Morales is the future of the Angels. If not at first, then in the outfield. 

P.S. I don’t know how to use spell check on the updated MLBLOGS so please excuse my bad spelling. THANKS !!! 

The Angels came in to tonights game with the KC Royals on a three game winning streak. With Jered Weaver on the mound, It wasn’t too far out of the reach of imagination that the Halos would make the winning streak four. Thats why they play the game.  The Angels ended their winning streak to a KC team that doesn’t look like the type of team that’s going to finish in their usual last place. In fact’ I think if the Royals where in the AL West, they would give Seattle a run for their money for second place. They have steady starting pitching, they seemed to be well coached and they have a great closer in Joakim Soria. It would be great to see KC return to their glory days of the Seventies and early Eighties. Just not against the Angels. Counting last year, KC has beaten the Angels their last six meetings. Enough already !

Besides losing the game, the Halos may have lost Vlad for a while.

Vlad came out of the game in the eighth inning with what looked like a sore hand. Lets hope it’s something minor and not something that will take him out of the starting line up for too long.

Even with the loss, the Angels seem to be on schedule to have a great season.

So fat the Halos have not lost more then two games in a row,  That’s without the arm of John Lackey in the line up to steady the pitching staff.

If the Angels offense keeps hitting home runs. This team will be very hard to beat.

For now, lets work on getting a win on Thursday.

GO GET EM HALOS !!! 

ANGELS RECORD -  9 WINS – 7 LOSSES

After the first ten games, the Angels find themselves at 6 and 4.

If the Halos can keep winning 6 out of 10 games for the rest of the season, their record after 160 games will be 96 wins and 64 losses. If the Angels win the last two games, that will put them at 98 wins and 64 losses. 98 wins should win the division. Of course with the team the Halos have, 98 wins would be a low estimate.

So far the offense is scoring runs and hitting home runs.

The Angels pride themselves in playing small ball. Hit and run, stealing bases,  taking the extra base. But in the American League you have to be able to hit the long ball if you want to go to the World Series. Now with the addition of Torii Hunter. the offense can count the long ball in as another weapon to score runs. Hunter won’t hit 40 home runs but he might hit 30 . And after watching the Halos series with the Indians, home runs are contagious. Anderson, Kotchman, Napoli, Vlad , even Gary Matthews are more then capable of hitting 20 home runs this year. It’s still very early but, the Halo offense is heading in the right direction.

So far the defense is doing fine.

Even with the injury to Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis are playing great so far. Aybar has such great range and such an incredable arm. Izturis is so cool and smooth, he makes playing second or shortstop look too easy. The Angels are very fortunate to have two catchers to work with the Halos pitching staff. Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis are are both capable of starting full time. Napoli looks right now like the number one catcher. His bat seems to have come around. I don’t see him look like he’s going to strike out at the plate everytime he picks up a bat like he looked all too often last season .Mathis has a solid glove and a great arm. Defensively I feel Mathis is a better catcher then Napoli. Not by much though.  Napoli has the edge because of his bat. Napoli already has a grand slam  this year and looks like there are a lot of Home Runs left in his bat.

I have a lot more to say about the Halos, like the depth they have in pitching. But it’s getting late and I have to go to work in the morning so I’ll have to save my thoughts for another day.

It seems it was easier last yeat to find your favorite teams blogs. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out and every Angel fan will find my Blog and be able to exchange their thoughts about the Halos with me.

The Angels play a weekend series with the Seattle Mariners.

GO GET EM ANGELS !!!!    

HALO RECORD 6 WINS 4 LOSSES.

Glad to see the mlblog is up and running.

What a great game last night. Torii Hunter carried the team on his back. The Angels now have another bat to go along with Vlad that can win a game with one swing.

Lost in last night’s win was the great pitching of Joe Saunders. He kept the team in the game and gave the rest of the league something to think about.

Once again, its great to have the sight back. I’ll post more later when I have more time.

JUST ANOTHER HALO VICTORY !!!

ANGEL RECORD – 5 WINS – 3 LOSES

There’s just a little more then three weeks til the start of the season. I hope everyone had a great off season. I don’t know about you but, I can hardly wait for opening day. I’ll add more the closer it gets to the first game. Until then, take care everybody and I hope to hear from you throughout the year.

I was thrilled to see the Angels acquired another arm with the trade with the White Sox for Jon Garland. That is until I saw who they gave up to get him. None other then the heart and soul of the team, Orlando Cabrera. It looks like the shortstop position now belongs to either Eric Iybar or Chone Figgins.  It looks like this is the first move of many in an effort to get the Angels over the hump and into the World Series. I am really going to miss seeing OC at Short with his nervous twitching or seeing him turn a single into a double and then driving the pitchers crazy with his bouncing back and forth acting like he was going to steal third. It’s really too bad that the higher ups in the Angels organization felt that Orlando was the player they could give up to make the team better. The passion that Orlando Cabrera has for the game of baseball is something that can’t be taught. That comes from the heart. The Angels may have gained another strong arm in the rotation, but they lost a heart that can never be replaced. Good luck Orlando ! Please don’t hold it against the Angel fans for the trade. You earned our love and respect. As far as I’m concerned, you will always be an Angel and you will always be respected. For the way you carried yourself. On and off the field. If the Angels win the World Series next year it will be great, but no one will ever convince me it was a good move to trade O C .

The Angels playoff run came crashing down like with a thud.

The final score said 9 to 1 , but the real story came from the number of players that were not in the game. Gary Mathews Jr, Casey Kotchman, and Garret Anderson, all were out of the line up because of various injuries. In the end, in a series that was going to be tough to win in the first place, became virtually impossible. The pitching did their part. Jared Weaver, although he gave up back to back home runs to Big Papi and Manny Ramirez, only allowed two runs to keep the Angels close. That is until the Red Sox put the game away with seven runs in the eighth. Now the Red Sox go on to the ALCS and the Halos go back to the drawing board.

It just wasn’t the Angels time. I know the Bill Stoneman bashers will be out in force crying for his head, but injuries were the main problem this series. Injuries were a big problem the whole year. From Dallas Mcpherson surgery on his back to Juan Rivera braking his leg in winter ball, the angels had to deal with players going down. They made no excuses. The young players really stepped up to carry the load throughout the season. But with the loss of Mathews Jr, Anderson, and Kotchman, it was just too much of a loss for the rest of the team to absorb.

The question now is what will the Angels do to improve themselves to compete with the Red Sox, Indians, and Yankees of the league next year ?

Number one need is a big bat to back up Vlad. G.A. showed a glimpse of what a big bat would be like behind Vlad when he was on his big hot streak in July. Now the Angels need someone with the potential to hit 30 home runs or more. The second thing I think the Halos need is another veteran front line starting pitcher. You can never have enough pitching. BARTOLO COLON will be gone next year so there will be some money freed up for a front line free agent starter. Right now the starting five for next year are Lackey, Escobar, Weaver, Santana, Saunders. Also possibly Moseley. Not bad but, still a little young on the back end. With this staff the Angels get to the playoffs. One more veteran arm, the World Series.

There will be plenty of time to discuss next year.

For now, lets remember it was a great 2007 regular season. It hurt to get swept by the Sox AGAIN !!! Yet I know, not like years in the past as a die hard Angels fan, the Angels will once again be in the thick of things. The Halos have talent galore and big enough pockets to get even more. Just think of this year as a stepping stone to better things. The sting of how the season ended this year will go away once Angel Fest rolls around next March. And once again the Halos will be taking that long journey for the American League West crown and another shot at the World Series. 

The Angels played their hearts out. They stood toe to toe with the mighty Boston  Red Sox. The pitching held the Sox down to three runs right up to two outs in the ninth inning. Then Frankie Rodriguez intentionally walked Big Papi to get to Manny Ramirez. Manny took a fast ball from Frankie and hit a game winning home run over the green monster to give the Red Sox a 2 games to 0 lead in the best of five playoff series. I think it was the right move. You can’t pitch to Big Papi with an open base and two outs. Frankie left a fast ball in the middle of the plate that Manny took advantage of.

Things just haven’t gone the Angels way the whole week. Tonight was no exception. From the kid who took a sure out from Jeff Mathis by sticking his hand in front of Jeff’s glove to Vlad getting tagged in the back with a fast ball that had him leaving the game before he had a chance to come up again.  Things just keep going against the Halos. Yet the Angels are still alive. And they are coming home. 

I want to see every rally monkey, every rally stick, every Angel fan cheering and making the Halos feel like the fans haven’t given up on them. If the Angels do get swept, I want the Red Sox to feel like they got lucky in doing so. Of the four teams that are down 0 to 2 in the playoffs, I feel the Angels have the pitching to take this Series to a game 5. First things first. Game three is Sunday. Jared Weaver is going for the Angels against Curt Schilling.  Even if the Halos had won tonight. Game three would have been a game the Angels still wanted to win. Now it’s just do or die. If the Halos win Sunday, that puts all the pressure back on the Red Sox. No matter what anyone says, the Sox don’t want a game 5. Even if game 5 is at Fenway.

Lets go Angels. The Red Sox haven’t seen your best game. Let them see it on Sunday. If the Red Sox still win, then I’ll say they are the better team.

The Angels came into game one of their division series knowing that the Red Sox could score in bunches. What they didn’t count on was that all the Red Sox would need tonight was just one run. Josh Beckett shut the Halos out 4 to 0 to take the first game of the best of five first round series.  John Lackey kept the Angels in the game giving up four runs in six innings. In Fenway, a four run lead is nothing to be too comfortable with. That is unless your name is Josh Beckett. The Angels wouldn’t have scored tonight if the game was at Williamsport.

As great as Beckett pitched, the Angels didn’t seem to have any fire tonight. The last week of the season the Halos where having a hard time scoring runs. I just thought the team was resting before the start of the playoff. The first warning sign was the final series with Oakland.  Although the Angels won two of three, they only scored seven runs in three games.  Now tonight.

What’s the problem ? Missing Gary Mathews Jr doesn’t help but, what really doesn’t help is the golf ball stuck in Garret Anderson’s eye. WHAT THE F@#! WAS THAT ?!?!  Pink eye ?  It looked more like pink fist !  Whatever it is, if G.A. can’t see, he shouldn’t be in the line up ! 

What I really didn’t like about tonight was the way the Red Sox players showed no sign of surprise or emotion about the outcome. There is no worry or fear of the Angels right now. If the Halos keep playing like they are, this series should be a walk in the park for the Sox.  I know Josh Beckett pitched great tonight but, this is the playoffs. Every loss is one step from being eliminated.  Someone should have argued a called strike. Stepped out of the box a few times when they where at bat. Crowed the plate. Try to get hit by a pitch. SOMETHING !!!!

The saving grace about tonight is there is no game tomorrow.

The Red Sox chose the format of having a day off after the first game to give their best starting pitchers more time between starts.  With the day off the Red Sox may lose a little momentum they have built up.  I hope so, for the Angels sake. Tomorrow, the Angels have to get ready for the next game. In Fenway you can’t have Willits and Figgins in the starting line up at the same time. The Angels need some power. The Halos need Juan Rivera’s bat in the line up. And if G.A. can’t see, Morales needs to take his spot. He’s played some outfield this season and he has two good eyes.

I know the team has a better game in them then what America saw tonight.

GO GET EM ANGELS !!!!!!