Monday, September 26, 2005 |
The Golden Era: Angels 4, A's 3
They hate the Dodgers in San Francisco, "Beat LA" the rallying cry almost as universal as "Yankees Suck" was in Fenway.
They hate you when you win.
The Angels got the hate over at AN, watching their dreams of a division title grind down to the barest of spider-silk threads, an elimination number of two now hanging above their green-and-gold squad.
Is it too much to ask, now, in the perverse but plausible logic that only becomes evident after the fact, whether Gene Autry needed to die before the team could really start winning? The history of the team was always "win one for the Cowboy", but the Cowboy could never keep his hands off the wheel long enough to let the team settle on a strategy. Big name free agents? Okay, but which ones? Build from within? And who, and how long to wait? More than the endless star-crossed tragedies of men like Donnie Moore or Lyman Bostock, impatience and vascillation killed the Angels year after year under Autry. Though Disney took a while to figure things out, they did far more right by the team than wrong, even -- finally -- finding not just a good owner but a rich one, one content to let the baseball people make baseball decisions.
Steve Finley, hero at last
Generosity rules the day. Steve Finley comes up huge with a two-run, game-winning home run that imperfectly echoes his grand slam last year for the Dodgers that decided their 2004 season. Lackey: struggling a bit despite the idiotically wide (and variable) strike zone given by Mike Everitt, yet good enough to hold down the A's to two and earn the win and a quality start besides. Frankie, another recipient of Everitt's area-code sized strike zone, getting a called third strike on a ball three inches off the plate. Scioscia may have complained about Vlad's "double" -- which, from what I can tell, was in fact a fair catch -- but he got it back and more at the plate.
We're lucky. No matter what happens, if the Angels get to the victory circle -- and there's every reason to think they will now -- it'll be the third time in four years the team has been in the postseason. How many clubs can say that since the start of the current division structure? Well, the Yanks, Cleveland, Oakland, and Minnesota in the AL. In the NL, Atlanta, of course, St. Louis, and San Francisco. It's a fairly short list, but this was a team -- a franchise -- waiting to be uncovered. With all the talent the Angels have in their minors nearly ready to contribute, and very, very soon, it's going to be an interesting decade. These, kids, are the good old days. Right now.
: 9/27/2005 12:35:00 AM
: 9/27/2005 06:30:00 AMLook, there's no question that a team that draws more walks, puts more guys on base, and hits more homers is generally going to have an easier time finding success. But talk about annoying and boring. The A's have been the most boring team in baseball for the last six or seven years, and it just got worse when Giambi and Tejada left. Their job is to win, not necessarily entertain, and that's fine. But I don't watch games to see guys perfecting the art of not swinging.
That said, I wish the Angels would draw more walks.
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