Game 3 Results

Game 3 for Team First2Third.net was brutal.  Ervin Santana really only had one bad inning, but you can't win a game without putting some runs on the board.  Vernon Wells flashed a lot of leather out in Center Field, he can certainly still go there.  Aybar pinched hit in the 8th and got a nice Ground Rule Double, but not much happened after that.

The Angels DFA Brandon Wood.

Just ran into Brandon downstairs & wished him the best wherever he ends up…really, really good dude & someone I want to see succeed.

--Victor Rosas

I can remember, thinking back to two years ago, sitting at Angel Stadium on an usually hot Spring day.  The Angels were taking on the hated New York Yankees.  I was so confident in the work Kendrys Morales had put in and was hoping that Brandon Wood would follow suit.  I particularly wasn't to thrilled with Eric Aybar and remember thinking that I was hoping that Wood would eventually take over at short-stop for Aybar.  The couple I sat with were huge Angel fans, but didn't know much about Wood.  I leaned over to my friends and told them, "Watch this... Brandon Wood is my guy."  And believe it or not, Brandon Wood went deep against the Yankees, (I believe it was Sabathia, but I'm not sure.)  

When push comes to shove, the Halos didn't make the playoffs last year.  And although Brandon Wood doesn't take the sole blame, the writing was on the wall when the Angels made the trade for Alberto Callaspo.  There isn't room on this team for players who cannot perform.  I am one of those guys who always thought that Brandon Wood was destined to be great for the Angels. However, of all of his opportunities, he hasn’t really produced at a major league level. I didn’t want to see him go, but realistically the Angels weren’t going to keep a guy who provides so little offense to the team.  With Wood’s departure, I hope he can land on a young team that will be competitive in the future and allow him to be a cornerstone of a successful team.

Go Brandon Wood.

Go Halos

If we took a Halladay...

If we took a [Halladay]
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice

If the Angels would have made that deal for Halladay they possibly would have given up some of the Halos' Top Prospects: Trevor Reckling, Peter Bourjos and a combination of Joe Saunders and Erick Aybar or Mike Napoli. If we took a Halladay, The Angels would have made their way to another AL West. If the rotation was Halladay, Weaver, Saunders, Santana, and Kazmir and if they pitched on all cylinders with no injuries the Angels would make the ALDS and ALCS their bitch! And probably won the World Series. But, those are a lot of big Ifs.

Looking back at it now, I'm glad we didn't. Halladay immediately agreed to a contract extension with the Phillies once he was traded. And I'm sure Halladay will impact their playoff hopes again in 2010. And so the Angels were left out of the Halladay sweepstakes. On the outside looking in. And this tends to happen every year. I tend to fall in love with the idea of the Angels making a trade to bring a true front of the line ace to Anaheim and bring the Halos back to the World Series. Last year it was Jake Peavy and this year it was Halladay. Now I've got my hopes for Matt Cain.

Ultimately the Angels are going to continue to develop starting pitching with guys like Reckling, Trevor Bell, Anthony Ortega, and whomever they manage to bring up. And with all the draft picks the Angels accumulated this off-season I assume they'll go after pitching.

Torii Hunter adds another Golden Glove - Aybar and Figgins snubbed

Torii Hunter won his 9th Golden Glove award.

Mike Scioscia was quoted in the article Torii adds another Gold Glove to mantel

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he felt Hunter was the AL's MVP at the time he was forced to the disabled list for a month.

"He's the captain of the outfield," Scioscia said. "Torii is as good as it gets out there, with his athletic ability combined with his knowledge and awareness."

Scioscia felt both his left-side infielders -- third baseman Chone Figgins and shortstop Erick Aybar -- were viable Gold Glove candidates.

"I've never seen a left-side infield with the range of Figgy and Aybar," the manager said late in the season. "Both those guys had seasons worthy of Gold Gloves."

I have to agree with Scioscia. Jeter plays some pretty good D at short, but I don't think he played better than Aybar. And was there any better 3rd base play from anyone other than Figgins?

Long Time coming, but the Red Sox finally get their comeuppance

It had seem that up until late afternoon, the Red Sox has unceremoniously owned the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not even the lore of Dave Henderson could affect this bound and determined Halo Staff. In a no class move, the Red Sox looked to its storied tradition of whoopin on the Angels in Post-Season to one of the guys who had ripped the heart out of the franchise in years past. Henderson's homerun off of Donnie Moore killed the Angels momentum in 1986. The Angels would go on to lose two more games in Boston that year and wouldn't make it to another ALCS game until 2002.

You get the feeling that the Angels know they are about to accomplish something special. I was lucky enough to be at Game 2 of the best of 5 series and Boston's pending demise was palpable. It is without a doubt one of the greatest come from behind wins for the Angels, down to their last strike, last out, in Fenway, and manage to come up 3 runs giving them not only the lead, but the victory.

Red Sox reliever Billy Wagner worked into a second-and-third, two-out jam in the eighth, prompting manager Terry Francona to summon Jonathan Papelbon from the bullpen for a four-out save. Juan Rivera greeted Papelbon by lining his first pitch to right center for a two-run single, momentarily making it a 5–4 game, but Boston added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Papelbon retired the first two batters in the top of the ninth, but Erick Aybar kept the inning alive with a two-strike single. After Chone Figgins worked a walk, Bobby Abreu, also down to his final strike, doubled off the Green Monster to score Aybar from second. Torii Hunter then received an intentional walk, loading the bases for Vladimir Guerrero. Guerrero ripped Papelbon's first pitch for a two-run single to center, putting the Angels ahead 7–6. Closer Brian Fuentes retired the Red Sox in order in the bottom of the inning for the save.