Sunday, October 02, 2005 |
The Rally Monkey Has Left The Building
"I don't even want to talk about that (expletive deleted) monkey," said Angels pitcher and longtime Rally Monkey skeptic Jarrod Washburn.But, noted Sharon, the sabermetric evidence comes squarely against the Monkey's effectiveness since then. With the team tied or behind in the sixth inning or later, the Angels had won only 47 of 134 games (at press time for the August 28, 2005 edition) since the 2002 postseason, or a .350 winning percentage. It was even worse for the 2005 season: 13-26, or a .333 winning percentage.
Needless to say, Sharon received megabytes of hate mail, enough to choke, well, a monkey. His editors insisted he write a retraction piece.
You've got to write a story, they say."From Sept. 16 to Sept. 23," he goes on, "the Angels won five games in which they were tied or trailed in the late innings. They did not lose during that stretch." Now, of course, Sharon's taking credit for awakening the Monkey. Me, I'd just as soon have a fully-functional Tim Salmon batting fifth.You've got to eat some crow, they say.
Eat crow? I say. I'm not eating crow. I'm taking credit.
A few days after my story kicked the Rally Monkey in the butt, the Angels exploded, winning 10 of 11 games and running away with the Division crown. And during that streak, the Rally Monkey's mojo came back like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator 2."
Something happened on Friday night, Sept. 16. Maybe it was the Santa Ana winds. I have no idea how mojo comes and goes, but it came that night. The Angels were playing Detroit. The score was tied, 6-6, in the 12th inning when Vladimir Guerrero singled. Darin Erstad then bunted the ball back to the pitcher, who promptly threw it wide to first base. Rally Monkey voodoo at work? I don't know, but a bona fide rally was under way. Suddenly, it was 2002 again.
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