Garret Anderson Is English For RBI Machine

On August 20, ESPN writer, Jonah Keri, made the unfortunate comment that "Garret Anderson is English for Really Bad Baseball Player."  I took him to task in the comments section … I’m Champeen1969 … but GA himself trumped my defense by going 2 for 5 in that night’s game against the Yankees, followed by his historic 2 HR/10 RBI game the next day.  In fact, since Keri’s column ran, GA has played in 16 games, during which time he’s raised his batting average from .271 to .294, raised his OPS from .709 to .826, scored 14 runs, hit 8 HRs, and collected 28 RBIs.  GA has also driven in a run in 10 consecutive games, tying an Angels record held by Fred Lynn (1984) and Wally Joyner (1986), and leads the majors with 53 RBIs since the All-Star break.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think Angels management should consider putting Keri on payroll.  Next time they need someone to break out of a slump, have Jonah trash the guy in a column.  Win-win.

Vote For Vlad For Roberto Clemente Award

The Roberto Clemente Award, named for the former Pirate outfielder and famed humanitarian, recognizes the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual’s contribution to his team.  Visit the Angels’ official site to learn more about Big Daddy’s generous charity work in Orange County and his native Dominican Republic and to cast your vote.

Bullpen Undergoes Emergency Facelift

In my previous post I discussed how I was worried about Scot Shields and Frankie Rodriguez.  Guess what?  I’m still worried.  Shields gave up a game-losing grand slam to Hank Blalock on Sunday, prompting his demotion from setup man to "Get your sh*t together, man!"  Meanwhile, Frankie blew a save on Friday against Texas … though we came back to win that one… and almost blew a save on Tuesday against Oakland.  Assuming the Angels make the playoffs, the thought that we might get bounced because the back end of our bullpen implodes fills me with dread.  I can accept losing to a better team on a hot streak (e.g. 2004 and 2005), but self-inflicted wounds are awfully tough to swallow.

So, where does that leave the bullpen?  Justin Speier will take over Shields’ setup role, with a variety of arms combining to tackle middle relief chores.  According to the LA Daily News ("Halos give Shields some tough love," 9/3/07), Mike Scioscia is quoted as saying, "We have some nice power arms that can get to (the closer).  Lots of them are young, but I think the way (Chris Bootcheck) has come on and with Darren Oliver throwing the ball well, and you look at (Rich) Thompson and (Jason) Bulger, these are two power arms.  You put (Dustin) Moseley in the mix and I’m real confident in the job these guys can do to get us to Frankie (Rodriguez).  Hopefully, we can keep rolling."  Hopefully, indeed.

Looking Ahead

The Angels haven’t won anything yet, but with a 7 1/2 game lead in the AL West and only 22 games remaining, it’s not much of a stretch to say they’ve all but sewn up the division crown.  For the sake of argument, then, let’s take a look at playoff positioning.  The AL has home-field advantage in the World Series and no team is better at home than the Halos, so if they can capture the AL’s best record they’ll put themselves in the proverbial catbird seat.  Right now, the Red Sox have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Halos and a 2 1/2 game lead over the Tribe.  Needless to say, this weekend’s series against Cleveland looms large in that playoff picture.  If the Angels can go on a bit of a run … say, a 7-8 game winning streak, winning 11 of 13 at some point, etc. … and the Sox and Indians coast into the playoffs at about .500, it looks good for our boys.  The bottom line is this … given a choice, would you rather see the Halos play Game 7 in Boston, Cleveland, or Anaheim?  Yeah, me too.