Justin Speier, who warmed the hearts of America on a Fox Broadcast reading the line up cards in the same vein as Harry Carry was released last night. It wasn't a salary relief move. The Angels will eat his remaining contract.The former Marine was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1995. And played for six other clubs before joining the Angels in 2006. Unfortunately Speier's flashes of brilliance were to few and far in between. Watching him pitch, was often like watching Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, one game he'd have a 1-2-3 inning. And the next night he'd give up three Home Runs in an inning.
Like on Friday, August 7th against the Texas Rangers. When the Angels were still very much in the game. Speier faced Teagarden who homered to deep left, Andrus who grounded out to shortstop, 42 Year Old Vizquel (who hadn't hit a homerun since 2007), and Young who homered to deep center, before for the remainder of the line up to ground out.
From all accounts, Speier is a good guy. He would be the first guy out of the bullpen if a fight broke out. Which is exactly what happened during the infamous incident where Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Becket tossed a ball at Bobby Abreu after time out had been called. When the benches cleared, it was Justin along with Torii Hunter along with Mickey Hatcher who were ejected.
The release of Speier doesn't come as much as a surprise. His struggles are well documented in Angel Fandom and surely were causes of many dogs getting kicked or beers being drank. Even durning the playoffs last year, Speier didn't make the playoff roster in favor of rookie Kevin Jepsen. The California native's release makes room for todays starter Trevor Bell. Although I will miss Speier's team first mentallity and over all "good-guyness" I won't miss his pitching. So as always, best of luck to Justin Speier. I will root for you until you face the Angels again. And then I will boo. Boo unmercifully.
