Baseball: September 2008 Archives

Tomorrow, The Halo Is Lit will be teaming up with an excellent Red Sox blog, SoxBlog, to bring more analysis of the up-coming playoff series featuring our takes on each team's strengths and our predictions on who will win.  But until then, I wanted to take a quick look at the position-by-position match-ups for the first round of the playoffs.
 

Projected batting orders:

(Note: the two stat lines for each player is season total and career numbers against the opposing team's current pitchers)

				Catcher
	Mike Napoli					Jason Varitek
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Napoli - 2008			227	62	20	49	.273	.374	.586
vs Red Sox			24	4	2	5	.167	.200	.458
Varitek - 2008			423	93	13	43	.220	.313	.359
vs Angels			116	24	2	14	.207	.336	.302

Napoli has been on fire the last month of the season and ended the season with pretty good numbers after starting the season splitting time with Jeff Mathis.  Jason Varitek started the season well, but tailed of in June and July.

				1B
	Mark Teixeira					Kevin Youkilis
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Teixeira - 2008			574	177	33	121	.308	.410	.552
vs Red Sox			87	19	2	10	.218	.292	.368
Youkilis - 2008			538	168	29	115	.312	.390	.569
vs Angels			93	27	5	15	.290	.350	.505

These two players match up pretty closely, a lot closer than I would have thought after watching Teixeira do his thing.

				2B
	Howie Kendrick					Dustin Pedroia
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Kendrick - 2008			340	104	3	37	.306	.333	.421
vs Red Sox			44	16	0	6	.364	.404	.455
Pedroia - 2008			653	213	17	83	.326	.376	.493
vs Angels			74	26	1	3	.351	.380	.486

MVP candidate Dustin Pedroia had an awesome season, and has killed Angels pitchers over his brief career.  Kendrick's season was hampered by hamstring problems, but he did well when able to play.

				3B
	Chone Figgins					Mike Lowell
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Figgins - 2008			453	125	1	22	.276	.367	.318
vs Red Sox			98	25	1	8	.255	.315	.347
Lowell - 2008			419	115	17	73	.274	.338	.461
vs Angels			110	31	3	18	.282	.316	.427

Two entirely different players.  Figgins is a top-of-the-order speed guy, while Lowell is a typical 3B type who hits in the middle of the order and provides some pop.

				SS
	Erick Aybar					Alex Cora
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Aybar - 2008			346	96	3	39	.277	.314	.384
vs Red Sox			22	11	0	6	.500	.522	.727
Cora - 2008			115	41	0	9	.270	.371	.349
vs Angels			52	14	0	4	.269	.333	.423

Both players may see less time during the playoffs.  Aybar may give way to Brandon Wood if the Angels are looking for more offense from the shortstop position and Cora is just coming back from injury and may be replaced by Jed Lowrie.

				LF
	Garret Anderson					Jason Bay
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Anderson - 2008			557	163	15	84	.293	.325	.433
vs Red Sox			175	55	9	35	.314	.335	.531
Bay - 2008			577	165	31	101	.286	.373	.522
vs Angels			15	2	1	2	.133	.188	.333

For the second year in a row, Anderson was a liability the first half of the season and caught fire in the second.  Jason Bay has been an effective replacement for Manny Ramirez.

				CF
	Torii Hunter					Jacoby Ellsbury
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Hunter - 2008			551	153	21	78	.278	.344	.466
vs Red Sox			145	47	5	23	.324	.346	.462
Ellsbury - 2008			554	155	9	47	.280	.336	.394
vs Angels			38	7	2	3	.184	.225	.342

Torii Hunter did exactly what he was brought in to do for the Angels, provide protection for Guerrero and bring leadership to the clubhouse.  In my mind, Hunter is the Angels MVP.

				RF
	Vlad Guerrero					J.D. Drew
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Guerrero - 2008			541	164	27	91	.303	.365	.521
vs Red Sox			190	57	16	36	.300	.391	.626
Drew - 2008			368	103	19	64	.280	.408	.519
vs Angels			83	22	2	5	.265	.361	.422

Both players are battling injury; Guerrero is slowed by a sore right knee, while Drew has back problems.  Guerrero is able to rest by DHing which keeps his bat in the line up.

				DH
	Juan Rivera					David Ortiz
			AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Rivera - 2008			256	63	12	45	.246	.282	.438
vs Red Sox			53	15	2	9	.283	.350	.472
Ortiz - 2008			416	110	23	89	.264	.369	.507
vs Angels			155	46	12	41	.297	.398	.600

Rivera took over for struggling Gary Matthews Jr. halfway through the season.  While better than Matthews, Rivera has been streaky.  Ortiz is Ortiz, but not in the way Manny being Manny, Ortiz is one of the most feared hitters in baseball.

Finally!  I always hate seeing the regular season end, but I am so looking forward to this season's playoffs.  This year's Angel team is healthy, rested and seems like they're focused to go deep into the post-season, and I'm really anticipating an exciting playoff series starting with the Red Sox.  Below are the Game 1 match-ups for both teams (thanks to Stats, Inc.).

On their third try the Halos got to the 100 win plateau on Sunday.  The Angels finished their best season ever by shutting out the Texas Rangers 7-0 yesterday.  This is the first time in Angels history that they reached 100 wins, and although it didn't make a difference in the play-off rankings, it was an important goal to reach as not many teams win 100 or more games in a season.  There have only been 83 teams to win at least 100 games in the history of major league baseball, and of those 83 teams only nine of failed to win a pennant. 

Obviously, the purpose of winning those games is to win the World Series and the Angels take their first step in achieving that goal on Wednesday when they face the Red Sox in Anaheim for Game 1 of the ALDS.  In 2008, the Angels played 9 games against last year's World Champs and won 8 times, last losing on April 22 in Boston.  Since then, the Halos have reeled off 8 straight wins (including a 3 game sweep in Boston back in July) against the Sox and have outscored them 61-33.  Game 1 will feature Angels' ace John Lackey facing Boston's #2 pitcher Jon Lester.  Josh Beckett was originally scheduled to start the opener, but is sidelined with a strained oblique muscle in his side and will likely start Game 3 in Boston.  

Game 1 ALDS Wednesday October 1st, 7pm at Anaheim

	vs.
Jon Lester		John Lackey

John Lackey's numbers against the Boston Red Sox

In 12 starts at Anaheim during 2008, Lackey is 5-3 with an ERA of 4.29

Lackey hasn't fared too well against Boston in his career, but his 2008 season was excellent having won both of his starts and holding the second highest scoring team to just 5 runs.  Lackey was terrible in his last start of the season last Friday against Texas, giving up a season high 10 earned run in just 2.2 innings.  During the second half of the season, Lackey was a .500 pitcher winning 6 of his 12 starts and posting an ERA of 4.03.

Lester's one start against the Angels in 2008 was comparable to his career average when facing the Halos by having a +7.00 ERA and walking more than he struck out.  The left-hander has been very good during the second half of 2008, holding his opponents to a 2.95 ERA and winning nine of his 13 starts.

Prediction: Angels win Game 1 by a score of 7-5. 
Winning pitcher - Jose Arredondo 
Losing pitcher - Jon Lester 
Save - Francisco Rodriguez

This is a short preview, I'll go over my thoughts on the Game 1 line-ups and complete series review tomorrow, but here are some expert predictions (I'll look for more and post them when I find them):

ESPN -
Jason Stark: Red Sox 3-2
Buster Olney: Angels 3-2
Rob Neyer: Red Sox 3-2
Keith Law: Red Sox 3-1
Bob Klapisch: Angels 3-2

Daily Notes:

• Rookie reliever Kevin Jepsen was chosen over veteran Justin Speier for the final playoff roster spot.  Speier had been effective lately, but had a disappointing 2008, posting an ERA of 5.53 in 68 innings.  Jepsen has pitched just 8.1 innings for the major league squad, but was impressive in 2 stops this season in the minors.  Throwing a combined 54.2 innings, while striking out 56, walking 30 and posting an ERA of 1.81.  Speier will still be eligible for the ALCS, as will pitchers Dustin Moseley, Jason Bulger, and Shane Loux who were also left of the ALDS series roster, if Scioscia decides a change is needed.
• There were no other big surprises in the Angels play-off roster.  Brandon Wood and Kendry Morales will be on the bench, but I predict Wood will see a decent amount of action as he has had a good last month of the season both with the bat and on defense. 
• Catcher Mike Napoli continued his torrid September yesterday by going 3-for-3 and hitting his 20th home run of the season.  Napoli also drove in 4 runs.  His hot hitting may have earned him a few extra at-bats in the DH spot when Jeff Mathis is behind the plate during the post-season.
• Here are some interesting polls on ESPN about the Angels-Red Sox series.  As of Monday morning 57% of those polled thought the Angels would beat Boston.
• I'm waiting to hear back from a writer of this Red Sox blog.  A couple weeks ago I sent an email to the blog to see if he'd be interested in a blog-debate about who's going to win the series between the Angels and Sox.  He liked the idea, but I'm still waiting to hear back as to how we'll do it.

Okay, I'm going to write something today.  I tried three different times yesterday to get something out there, but each time I only got a few lines on the page.  Consistently posting something is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  As you've probably noticed if you've been visiting this site is I'm not a very good writer.  But I like to write and it doesn't cost anything but my time, so here I am.  My method of writing starts while I'm doing non-writing activities, such as the dishes, or standing outside having a smoke, or driving somewhere in my piece of shit pick-up truck with no radio.  The idea starts in my mind and then forms itself into sentences and paragraphs.  That's the easy part.  The hard part is getting the crap out of my head and onto this page.  Maybe you've also noticed that sometimes my writing is, I don't know...disjointed?  What I mean is, I'll sit down and write, and get into the flow of the subject I what to write about and then I get interrupted by something - such as, my 2 year-old daughter needing me to take her to the bathroom for the 47th time, or the phone will ring.  Whatever.  So when I sit back down to continue writing, the thoughts and flow I had are gone and what comes out doesn't really follow what was previously written.  A lot of the time what I've written in my head is forgotten by the time I sit down to put it on the page and what comes out is only partially what I wanted to say, leaving what is finally written as short and not fully forming the point I was intending to make.   Plus, I think it'd be easier for me to write if the Angels weren't doing so well.  Looking back at my previous posts, it seems like I've mostly been focusing on the negative aspects of the Halos; what needs to be improved, or what they did wrong...stuff like that.  It's always easier to criticize and find fault than to look at the good things.  Something I need to change, not only in writing here, but probably in my personal life as well.

So anyway, my first attempt at writing something yesterday was going to be about how I admire the Angels' management staff and their handling of the last couple weeks.  Since clinching the division so early, I thought the team would become less focused, but Scoiscia has managed to keep the team on track while also getting the players enough rest to get ready for the post-season without losing anything from taking the time off.  His attitude of "one game at a time" is paying off.  This year's team is so much different than last year's play-off team because the players are rested and healthy.  For example, Vlad Guerrero took 6 games off to rest his right knee.  Since returning to the line-up, Guerrero says he feels much better and proved it last night by belting two home runs.  The second homer came in the top of the 9th, breaking a 4-4 tie and carrying the Angels to their 99th win.  Hopefully this difference translates into a different outcome than last year's sweep by the Red Sox.

The second attempt was about how some of the players - Garret Anderson, Mike Napoli, and Mark Teixeira are getting hot at the right time.  That thought died when I realized Teixeira has been hot ever since joining the Angels, hitting .362 and driving in 42 runs in just 51 games.  In fact, Teix has been so hot he's gotten on base by either a hit or walk in 46 of the 51 games he's played with the Angels.  Anderson is just doing what he did last year, suck until the All-Star break and then bust out an awesome second half.  Since the break, Anderson has hit .338, and he's hit .367 in September.  So he's not getting hot either, he's been on fire since July.  Napoli on the other hand has heated up.  He's hit a scalding .684 over the last week and has raised his average 47 points since September 10th.  In that short time, Naps has hit 4 home runs, driven in 11 runs, and scored 7 times.  What's impressive is his BB/K rate has greatly improved.  Prior to the All-Star break, Napoli walked just 20 times while striking out 46 times for a BB/K rate of .435.  Since the break, he's improved his BB/K rate to .682 resulting in a post-break batting average of .359 (compared to a batting average of .204 in the first half of the season).  This is huge.  To add a bat like that to an already impressive line-up will have an enormous impact on the team's success, plus it would take the pressure off of the big three (Teix, Vlad and Hunter) to carry the entire offense.

My third try at writing something was basically a variation of this theme.  I was hoping the third time was the charm - obviously it wasn't.

Daily Notes:

• One of the guys over at Halos Heaven made the comment that the Angels and Rockies are the only two teams never to win 100 games or lose 100 games in a season.  I thought that was interesting, especially because the Angels have been around a lot longer than the Rockies.  The Angels sit right now at 99 wins with 3 games to play.  This nugget of information about 100 wins is about to change.
• Another interesting thread at Halos Heaven is about motivational posters.  A bunch of people have created posters with Angels' photos and many of them are very good.  Check it out here.
• In this piece from the L.A. Times, Jon Garland states he doesn't deserve to be one of the post-season starters based on his recent performance.  Garland had previously done well in the play-offs with the White Sox, but he's right, he's sucked lately.  But you gotta love his attitude, not too many players would admit what he did.
• The Dodgers clinched the NL West division yesterday when the Diamondbacks lost their game Thursday afternoon.  How cool would a Freeway Series be?  The Dodgers have a long road to the World Series as they're definitely the worst play-off team (record-wise), but they have been good over the last month winning 16 of their last 22 games.  Depending on which team is the wild card will determine who the Dodgers play in the first round.  If the Brewers get the wild card spot, the Dodgers will play the Cubs.  If the Mets or Phillies get the final spot, the Dodgers will face the NL East champ.
• The Minnesota Twins won an important game last night against the White Sox moving them into first place in the AL Central by a half game.  The Twins play the Kansas City Royal for 3 games at home, while the White Sox host Cleveland.  Chicago also has a make-up game against Detroit on Monday.  I'm not sure if they'll play the game is its not needed.
• With either an Angels win or a Tampa loss, the Angels will clinch home field advantage.

Ah, the good old days.  When starting pitchers threw 500 innings and were considered pussies if they couldn't finish their games, and the major league saves leader had a season total of nine.  When the primary role of a trainer was to tell a player to "rub some dirt on it" and then give him a shot of bourbon to wash down a greenie.  A team's bullpen was typically made up of washed up veteran starters or rookie "bonus babies".  Gone are the days where a pitcher such as Mike Marshall will pitch 208 innings IN RELIEF, and appear in 106 games.  These days, a team's bullpen has a LOOGY (lefty one out guy), a set-up guy, a 7th inning guy, long relief guy, a mop-up guy, and a closer guy.  That's a lot of specialized guys.  And this is the philosophy of Angels' manager Mike Scioscia.  He uses his bullpen in a systematic way where each pitcher has their role and each guy has their use.  Heading into the play-offs, the Angels suddenly have no one who can pitch out of a jam.  Over the last 8 games, the Angels bullpen has given up 25 hits, 18 earned runs, and 15 walks in 24.2 innings.  They've posted an ERA of 6.57 over those 8 games, but the good news is the Halos have a record of 5-3.  Fortunately the Angels have been playing Oakland, Texas and Seattle, and not Tampa or Boston.  Two pitchers vying for one of the play-off roster spots are Mark Bulger and Kevin Jepsen.  Over the last 7 games, both pitchers have been less than stellar:

With the recent performance of these two players, and the decent week Speier has had, it's looking like Speier will be on the post-season roster unless something changes in the last 5 games.

Daily Notes:

• Second baseman Howie Kendrick is back from his hamstring injury just in time to get in a few games before the play-offs.  Kendrick played 3 innings Monday and 5 innings last night.  He went 2 for 3 with two runs scored last night and appears to be running well.  He'll likely get tonight off to rest and then play in the remaining 4 games to see if he's well enough to make the start in game one.  Also recovering from injury, Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins have returned during the last week.  Aybar was also suffering from a sore hamstring and Figgins has a sore elbow after getting hit by a pitch.  A full strength team will be a nice change from last year's post-season when the Angels had a number of players less than 100% and were swept by Boston in the first round.  Fill-ins Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez did well during Kendrick, Aybar, and Figgins absence, but still look to be a season away from becoming the Angels' starting middle infield.  Wood has improved during his recent call-up, hitting .262 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI after hitting just .091 in 44 at-bats during the month of May.
• Vlad Guerrero is currently hitting .301.  If he remains at .300, he'll join Lou Gehrig as the only two players in history to have 25 home runs and hit at least .300 for 11 straight seasons.
• Speaking of Guerrero, his right knee is better, but not completely healed.  In this piece from the L.A. Times, "Guerrero has had knee problems for three years -- he has averaged 141 at-bats as a designated hitter the last three seasons -- but chose rest and rehabilitation over surgery the last two winters."  Hopefully, his knee holds up during the play-offs.  Expect Guerrero to see more games at DH, especially if the Angels play at Tampa on their artificial surface.
• An interesting stat from the L.A. Times; The Angels have won 191 games since the start of the 2007 season, and 80 of those (42%) were by one run, the most one-run wins in the major leagues in that span.  This is one of the reasons the Angels Run Differential stats are skewed.  Although the Angels don't outscore their opponents at the same rate as some teams, they still manage to win.  I'm not sure what to think about this.  It's thought that there are no players who are consistently "clutch", or in other words, who hit better with runners in scoring position than they typically do in other at bats.  Is that true for teams?  Do the Angels consistently do just enough to win, or have they been lucky over the last 2 seasons?  This will be something I can look into this off-season.
• The Angels' magic number for home field advantage is 3 with five games remaining.  Both Tampa Bay and Boston have clinched play-off spots, which the only thing left to determine is who's going to be the East division winner and which team will be the wild card.  Tampa has a 2 game lead over Boston.  Regardless of who wins the East, the Angels are assured of home field during the ALDS as they would play the wild card team.
   

  	W	L	Pct	GB
  Angels	97	60	.618	-
  Tampa Bay	95	62	.609	2.0
  Boston	92	65	.586	5.0
  Chicago	86	70	.551	10.5

One of the main strengths of the 2008 Angels is been their pitching, specifically their starting pitching.  This year's five primary starters have combined to win 66 games in 118 starts.  All but 11 games have been started by the Angels quintet and the Angels have used just 7 starting pitchers the entire year (compared to Boston, who have used 11 different starters this year).  The other two starters have been Dustin Mosely for 8 starts (2-4) and Nick Adenhardt with 3 starts (1-0).  All but two of Mosely's starts and Adenhardt's 3 May starts came while filling in for injured John Lackey when Lackey started the season on the disabled list.  Lackey and Santana will be the one-two punch to start the series, but who's to follow?  If the play-offs were to start today and the Angels have home field advantage, games 1, 2 and 5 would be in Anaheim, while games 3 and 4 would be on the road for the Halos.

2008 - As of 9/16/08

Post Season - Career

Since the Angels have already clinched a play-off spot, they have the luxury of setting up their post season rotation the way they want it.  It's undecided as to who they will play in the first round, but here are the number for each of the starters against both Boston and Tampa Bay.

vs. Boston - Career

vs. Boston - 2008

Boston Splits - 2008

The Angels have dominated Boston this season, both at home and at Fenway.  They sport an 8-1 record against the Sox, while none of the starters have lost a decision.  I don't think it really matters who starts game 3, the Red Sox are balanced with their lefty/righty splits, but Saunders has done slightly better than Garland during this season.   

vs. Tampa Bay - Career

vs. Tampa Bay - 2008

Tampa Bay Splits - 2008

Tampa Bay has been tough on the Halos this season, beating the Angels 6 times in 9 games, but the starters have done fairly well.  The Rays are a bit weaker against left-handers, but Saunders is winless this season versus Tampa.

If it were up to me, I'd start Garland in game 3 against both Boston or Tampa Bay, moving Saunders to the pen.  Garland is 2-0 in post-season starts with an ERA of 2.25.  The Angels' bullpen has Darren Oliver as their lone lefty, with the addition of Saunders, the pen gets a little deeper if the need arises early in games for a situational lefty or someone to keep them in the game if the starter should falter.  Saunders has never relieved, but would that really be a problem for him?  Probably not.

Daily Notes:

• Lackey didn't look sharp in his start last night against Oakland, giving up 4 runs in 5.1 innings.  Lackey usually is very effective against the A's, having gone 14-4 in his career.  Winless in his last 3 starts, Lackey has given up 9 hits in each, but has walked just 4 hitters in 17.1 innings.  
• The bullpen looked terrible last night, especially Jason Bulger who couldn't find the plate.  Bulger faced 5 batters, walking 3, hitting 1 and giving up a single to Ryan Sweeney.  Darren O'Day worked 2 innings and gave up a run on 2 hits and a walk.  The one bright spot was rookie Kevin Jepsen who relieved Lackey in the 6th and retired the only two hitters he faced, striking out one.  
• Home field standings, with 12 to play:
  

  	W	L	Pct	GB
  Angels	92	58	.613	-
  Tampa Bay	89	60	.597	2.5
  Boston	89	62	.589	3.5
  Chicago	84	65	.560	8.0

While browsing through some internet articles I came across this piece on the MLB site about the preseason trade the Angels made with the Chicago White Sox when they traded shortstop Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland.  I had forgotten about this deal because Garland has fit so well into the Angels' rotation, it seemed like he's been there forever.  When the trade was first announced I remember thinking that it wasn't a very good deal for the Halos because Cabrera has been a solid player putting up decent offensive stats and providing steady defense at a critical position.  With Garland the Angels were getting a reliable, but unimpressive starting pitcher.  I think one of the reasons I didn't care for this trade was I wasn't sure Erick Aybar or Maicer Izturis were capable of manning the shortstop position adequately.  Last season, in part-time roles Aybar and Izturis combined to hit .270 (143 for 530) with 70 RBI.  I'll admit I wasn't aware of the numbers these two players put up.  Because looking at them now, they're pretty decent, especially at the shortstop position.  In acquiring Garland, Angels GM Tony Reagins received a starting pitcher who has made at least 30 starts in the previous 6 years.  Although Garland isn't a dominating pitcher, he is a steady back-end starter who can be counted on to eat innings and keep his team in most games, which is exactly what Garland has done this year.  His last start September 13th against Seattle was his 30th start of the year.  In those 30 starts he has been exactly the pitcher his career numbers suggest:

Orlando Cabrera is having a solid year with the White Sox, but let's compare him to the Angels' shortstop duo:

While Izturis has played some of his games filling in for Kendrick at second base and is out for the rest of the season with a thumb injury, the combination of Aybar and Izturis at shortstop compare to what Cabrera has done this year offensively.  Defensively, the two players have done just as well as Cabrera, which is an important part of the type of baseball the Halos have been known to play, solid defense and aggressive base running.  Although Aybar is also injured, the play of Brandon Wood at short provides the Angels with the depth they rely on to remain a winning ballclub.  Next year, if Wood is to be the everyday shortstop, that depth may provide the ability to move either Aybar or Izturis for additional pitching, or whatever Reagins decides there is a need for.  Garland will be a free agent after this season and the Angels can offer him arbitration.  Whether Garland accepts arbitration or not, the Angels will have the depth to fill any needs that come up.

I agree with the conclusion that the Garland/Cabrera trade was a winner for the Angels.  Aybar/Izturis were able to replace Cabrera on the field and in the batting order, and Garland has provided the Angels with better starting pitching than what could have been expected from within the organization.

Daily Notes:

• Mark Teixeira hit his 200th career home run yesterday against the Mariners.  It was also his 30th of the season.  He's hit at least 30 home runs in his last 5 seasons.
• Ervin Santana struck out his 200th hitter and became the first Angels' pitcher since 1999 to top 200 K's.  He's the first right-handed pitcher to have at least 200 strike outs since 1986.
• The Angels have a three game lead over the Rays for home field advantage with 13 to play.
   

  	W	L	Pct	GB
  Angels	92	57	.617	-
  Tampa Bay	88	59	.599	3.0
  Boston	88	61	.591	4.0
  Chicago	83	65	.561	8.5

Angels' closer, Francisco Rodriguez recorded his single-season record breaking 58th save last night in the Angels 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.  Rodriguez now has more saves than 3 major league teams have wins (Seattle, Washington, and San Diego).  It was kind of ironic that K-Rod got the record breaker against Seattle, the team many "experts' had picked to win the division - or at least give the Angels a run for the Western Division title.  I'll have to look into this a little more to see if a closer has ever finished the season with more saves than a team has wins...stay tuned.

Okay, a lot of people feel that saves are an over-rated stat, and I agree.  But that shouldn't take away from the fantastic job Rodriguez has done this year.  Yeah I know, I've written here many times about how shaky he is when closing out games.  How he allows too many base runners and always seems like he's right on the edge of blowing the save, but you got to give him credit, he did get 58 saves and will probably finish the season with at least 60.  Congratulation K-Rod!

I'm really getting excited about the Angels middle infielders Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez (but not in the same way Jill is).  If these two players continue to develop as projected, the Angels are going to have a log-jam in the infield.  Log-jams aren't necessarily a bad thing, especially in this case since the Angels may be looking for another starting pitcher next year.  Figgins or Aybar would be a good base for dealing for pitching.  There are so many questions that pop up each off-season, the Angels are no exception.  Will they sign Sabathia?  Will they offer Garland arbitration, and will he accept it?  Will Teixeira stay in Anaheim?  How will Escobar respond to shoulder surgery?  Its good to have depth, which is one of the main reasons the Angels are so good, proven by this year's team and its ability to handle injury (Kendrick, Izturis, etc.).  I know I'm getting way ahead of myself.  This season's not even over yet and I'm looking toward next year, especially with an exciting October coming up in a couple weeks.  But getting back to my main point, Wood and Rodriguez are fun to watch and should only get better.

Daily Notes:

• In the race for home field advantage, the Angels are 2 games ahead of Tampa and 4 games in front of the Red Sox.
   

  	W	L	Pct	GB
  Angels	91	57	.615	-
  Tampa	88	58	.603	2.0
  Boston	87	61	.588	4.0

Okay, just to clear something up...no, that wasn't a picture of me in my first post, and that's not me in today's picture.  I just want to give you boys something to look at other than a bunch of ball players grabbing each other's asses.  If you want to see pictures of me you'll have to ask VERY nicely and I might help you out.

Moving along to the important stuff...my boys won again last night when Mike Napoli went yard in the ninth.  I'm telling you, I love this longball stuff.  Since they won it in the ninth, Frankie didn't get a chance to break the saves record, but there's still a handful of games left, so I'm not worried.  What I'd like to see happen is the Angels win 100 games.  Last night was #90.

How sexy is our middle infield?  Sean Rodriguez made a diving stop up the middle and flipped the ball with his glove hand to Brandon Wood standing on second to get the out.  I think those boys might stick, but they've got to start hitting first.  Erick Aybar is one of the ugliest guys I've ever seen, he looks like one of the zombies from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.  Brandon Wood has more up-side, plus you gotta love his name.

Douchebag of the Day
Here's a story about a player from the Washington Nationals minor leagues...
"A professional baseball player on the Harrisburg Senators minor league team has admitted that he twice had "sexual acts" with a 15-year-old Elizabethtown girl, police say.  Elizabethtown Borough Police on Wednesday charged Garrett Guzman, 25, with one misdemeanor charge, corruption of minors.  One incident was in a parking lot at the MoviE-town movie theater, 700 N. Hanover St., another in the Elizabethtown Middle School lot at 600 East High St., according to a police criminal complaint filed in District Judge Jayne F. Duncan's office.
"They met at a Harrisburg Senators game and exchanged phone calls and texts," Elizabethtown Police Detective Clair R. Martin Jr. said today. "(Guzman) then met her in Elizabethtown on two occasions.
"One time, he picked her up at her house. Another time, he picked her up at a friend's house," Martin said.
One time, they went to the movies, he said.
In both incidents, Guzman took the girl to parking lots and "sexual acts" occurred in the vehicle, the detective said.
The criminal complaint said Guzman admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim.
Martin said the sexual contact was consensual and the victim had presented herself as a 16-year-old to Guzman."

I don't want to make light of this horrible situation, but come on..."sexual acts" in a parking lot?  One at a movie theater the other at a middle school.  What, was he picking her up from school?  He did take her to the movies once, but at least the creep coulda bought the poor girl a happy meal.  Guzman's claims that the girl presented herself to be 16, not 15. So, you can't blame him for...wait a sec.  He thought she was 16 so that made it okay??  What a douche.

Dudes, send me some questions!  I want to become the "Dear Abby" of the baseball world... jill@thehaloislit.com

Angels' closer Francisco Rodriguez recorded his single season record tying 57th save last night against the Seattle Mariners.  And he did it in usual Frankie fashion by allowing 2 hits in his inning of work.  K-Rod entered the game with two guys on after Scot Shields started the 9th by giving up hits to the first two batters he faced.  Rodriguez induced a double play grounder from Ichiro and then gave up by back-to-back hits and allowing a run to score before getting Raul Ibanez to ground out to first for the final out.  57 saves is an awesome accomplishment, and he still has 16 games to get the record breaker, but why does each attempt have to be so nerve racking?  Aren't closers supposed to come into the game and shutdown the opponent, rather than making each outing a nail-biter?  I suppose the net outcome should be all that matters, and the outcome has been terrific. 

K-Rod reportedly has backed off on his demand for a 5 years contract this off-season when he files for free agency.  He has stated he'd take a 4 year deal with an option for the 5th year.  I still think what he'll eventually get in salary is too much for a closer, and there always seems to be a reliever out there who can step it up to work the ninth inning pressure situations.  The Angels already have two candidates in-house in Jose Arredondo and Jason Bulger, not to mention Kelvim Escobar will be returning next year after losing this season to an arm injury.  Escobar had a pretty good year closing for Toronto in 2002 where he recorded 38 saves and struck-out 85 batters in 78 innings.  Although his ERA was a fluffy 4.27 and he did blow 8 saves, he does have the experience to close.  I'm not advocating returning Escobar to the closer's role, he's a very important part of the Angels' rotation, or I should say he could be an important part.  His ability to return from shoulder surgery will be the big question he needs to answer next year.  The surgery he had included stabilizing the labrum with staples and repairing a slight tear in the back of the shoulder and the expected recovery time is nine month to a year.  The Angels should expect him back sometime around the All-Star break next season.  A half season in the pen might not be such a bad thing before easing him back into the rotation.  Arredondo has been excellent in his set-up role.  He's allowed just 36 hits in 52 innings, while striking out 47 and issuing just 18 walks.  Bulger has pitched just 11.1 innings for the Halos this year, and over his last 5 appearances has allowed just 1 hit over 6.2 innings.  I realize 6.2 innings is a microscopic sample size, but he had a 0.63 ERA over 43 innings this year at Triple A Salt Lake.  Most importantly, he hasn't allowed a home run this year.  In fact, he's only allowed 7 home runs in over 356 innings in the minors.  Bulger's strike out totals are pretty impressive also, he's struck out 428 of the 798 batters he's faced.  That's 1.20 strike outs per innings pitched.  Bulger will be 30 years old before opening day 2009, which is old for a player at this point in his career, but it's better late than never.  As I wrote, there are always relievers out there who might be able to perform the job.  Here are some stats to compare:

Pretty comparable group of relievers.  Some may be having career years, and some may just be getting started, but either way they're a good group of pitchers.  Here's who they are:

Player A - Francisco Rodriguez, LAA
Player B - Taylor Buchholz, Col
Player C - Mike Adams, SD
Player D - Matt Thornton, CWS

The casual fan probably wouldn't recognize three of those guys.  Buchholz ranks 5th in the NL in Holds (21), Adams is Trevor Hoffman's set-up guy in San Diego, and Matt Thornton is a 31 year-old lefty reliever who came up through the Seattle organization.  I'm not saying these players are as good as K-Rod.  I'm not even going to suggest they can close.  There's no way anyone can tell how a pitcher will handle the pressure of the closer's role until the player is put in there.  My point is there are pitchers out there who might be able to do the job, who are a whole lot cheaper.

Daily Notes:

• The Angels still have the best record in baseball, and I'm still pissed about Rob Neyer's column on ESPN and so is O.C. Register's Bill Plunkett.  I'm not going to get into it again, I'm just going to say regardless of (or in spite of) the Angels Run Differential number, their record is still the best.  And that's what counts in the race for home field advantage. 

  	W	L	Pct	GB
  Angels	89	57	.610	-
  Tampa Bay	87	57	.604	1.0
  Boston	85	60	.586	3.5
  Chicago	81	65	.555	8.0

• According to an article in the L.A. Times,  Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar are about ready to return.  Kendrick and Aybar have been out for a couple weeks with leg injuries, and Figgins is nursing a sore elbow.  There hasn't been any hurry to get the players back, as the goal was to give them enough time to be sure they were healthy for the play-offs.
• Once the play-off picture is set, and the Angels know who they'll be playing, I'm going to find a blogger for that team who'd be willing to debate which team is the best and why.  As it looks right now, that team would be Boston, so if you know of a good Red Sux blog, please let me know.

Hey boys, how's it hangin'?  My name's Jill and I'm here to write about my Boys in Red.  I'm going to write about the things they do that make me tingle in a way you guys just don't understand.  How a Frankie fastball makes my toes curl.  Or when Torii Hunter does a face plant into the wall.  I'm all about the face plants.  They say "chicks love the longball."  Well, all I can say is I like it when a guy goes deep. 

This is just a short, but sweet note to introduce myself.  Please drop me an email at jill@thehaloislit.com with any questions or comments.  I'll answer your questions in my future posts, and reply to all of your comments...baseball related or not.  Just don't suck.

I'll leave you with a story about something that happened during my high school athletic days...I had an ambitious coach for my softball team that started giving us steroids. Our performance soared, and we went on to win the county and state championships. The day before the nationals, Penelope, our 16-year-old shortstop, went into his office.

“Coach,” she says, “I have a problem. Hair is starting to grow on my chest.“

“Oh my God!” yells the coach. “Well, how far down does it go?”

“Down to my balls,” she replies, “and that’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about…"

Let's see, what should I write about?  Any big Angels news out there?  How about another post about Frankie Rodriguez and his pending free agency, or how cool Torii Hunter is?  How about the addition of Mark Teixeira and how the Angels are a better team?  Nah, I should probably write about something else, but what?  Hmm, let me think...oh, I know how about the Angels being the 2008 WESTERN DIVISION CHAMPIONS!

Okay, so it was kind of a letdown that the Angels had to wait until the outcome of the Seattle-Texas game to see if they had clinched the division, as it would have been nice to see the boys jumping around on the field after the last out of the game.  Oh well, regardless of how it played out, the result is what's important, and that result is the Angels winning their fourth division title in 5 years!  By clinching the division on September 10th, the Halos won the West in the shortest amount of games in the division's history.  The previous record was September 17th, which they beat by a week.  It's now time to take a day to celebrate and rest, and then to set out to achieve the next goal - home field advantage.

Rob Neyer is one of my favorite authors, and one of the main reasons I pay for ESPN's Insider service, but the title of his post today is, "Even with Teixeira, Angels not the best team".  He bases his claim on Run Differential.  The Angels' RD is +62, while the Red Sox (who he writes is the best team) RD is +155.  That is a huge difference, but to completely ignore each team's win/loss record is stupid.  If RD is the true indicator of a team's success then why keep track of wins?  I've been following the comments to Neyer's post and there are two definite sides; those who think wins and losses are more important, and those who think stats are more important.  I've written here more than once that I'm a self proclaimed "stathead", but not to the extent that it blurs the truth as to the outcome of the games.  I like reviewing stats to see what happened and to use them to explain why.  Some try to use stats to explain why something shouldn't have happened.  As in this case; Neyer suggests the Angels aren't the best because they haven't outscored their opponents at the same rate as the Red Sox, completely ignoring each teams' record.  Not to mention, how the Angels have completely dominated Boston when they've played each other.  The Angels are 8-1 against the Chowds, while outscoring them 61 to 33.   I don't care what should have happened, what should have happened has no bearing on the outcome.  What actually happened is what's important, and what actually happened was the Angels kicked Boston's ass. 

How do the Angels have the best record in baseball while having the 10th best run differential?  I don't know, nor do I care.  I only care that they have won the greatest number of games.  But let's look into the numbers anyway (as of 9/11):

Projected win/loss using run differential:

By looking at the numbers, the Angels and Red Sox have virtually identical numbers in Runs Against (RA), which means the difference in the two teams is the number of runs scored.  The have scored approximately 4.65 runs per game, and Boston has scored roughly 5.28 runs per game.  About a half a run per game difference.  How much of a difference will that half of a run make in a 5 (or 7) game series?  I would say not much.  The people who rely on Run Differential will never be convinced that it doesn't tell the entire story as it relates to the actual games being played, as with the people who dismiss Run Differential who don't think it matters.  It does matter, but to me, it doesn't matter to the extent they think it does.  The games aren't played on paper, and it's not a Strat-O-Matic league.  And thankfully for Angel's fans it's played by real players on real fields. 

Daily Notes:

• During yesterday's win against the Yankees, the Halo pitchers held the Bombers to just 4 hits.  The bullpen went 4 strong innings, giving up 1 hit (by K-Rod), and Dustin Mosely pitched his best game of the season.  A strong bullpen will be very important in the play-offs, and is something the Angels have been lacking the last couple weeks.
• Kind of funny, during the player's on field celebration after Texas lost in Seattle, Justin Speier worn Torii Hunter's jersey.  I took it as Speier's way of showing respect to Hunter and what he's done for the team.  In an article by Reuter's, they misidentified Speier as Hunter.  So much for the accuracy of the mainstream press.
• Frankie Rodriguez recorded save number 56 yesterday and is now just one save shy of tying the single season record.
• The Halo Is Lit has a new contributor.  Her name is Jill Stewart.  Jill plans on posting her thoughts on the Angels, but from the girl's point of view.  Hopefully you'll find what she has to write entertaining. 
• No more magic number.  Later when the play-offs start I'll post the new magic number, which starts at 11.  Eleven is the number of games required to win the World Series (3 wins in the ALDS, 4 wins in the ALCS, and 4 wins in the World Series).

Torii Hunter has got to be the coolest.  "I don't take no mess".  Man, that's a classic.  Ivan Rodriquez thought he could give Hunter a little extra shove after a play at the plate during Monday night's game, but you don't screw with a guy who quotes James Brown.  Hunter gave a shove back and the throw down was on.  Video here.  "I don't take no mess" can become the rally cry the Angels should take to heart.  Led by Hunter, the Angels should play like a team who won't take any crap from anyone.  They're the best team in the American League, they should act like it.  Show some bravado, have some swagger.  Make other teams fear them, when they see the "Angels" on the upcoming schedule they should think to themselves "Oh shit!".

But then Tuesday night rolls around and the Angels face-off against another pitcher making his first major league start.  What happens?  The Halos take some mess; they get pushed around by Alfredo Aceves who held them to 5 hits over seven innings, Gary Matthews, Jr. makes a weak ass play in center, Reggie Willits muffs one in left, Johnny Damon goes yard twice, and the magic number stays at 2.  Hopefully, once the play-offs start, whoever the Angels get in the first round doesn't notice how crappy the Angels' offense does against AAA pitching.  Here's a break down:

That's a 4-0 record and a 1.85 ERA.  Not really a concern, but it makes one wonder what these rookies do that makes the Angels' bats go quiet?  Obviously, no team is going to start a pitcher making his major league debut in the play-offs, but it kind of worries me if the Halos make it to the World Series and face a National League pitcher they've never seen before.  In last night's game, Aceves retired nine of the first 10 Angels batters he faced, while not allowing a baserunner past second base until the sixth inning.  If the Angels face a Cubs pitcher such as Carlos Zambrano or Ryan Dempster, excellent pitchers who know what their doing, Aceves is going to look like Carlos Silva and the results aren't going to be pretty.  Rich Harden will be the only familiar pitcher to the Angels, but only Garrett Anderson is hitting over .300 against him.  All of this is moot since the Angels have to get past two tough A.L. teams first, but unless they get their swagger on, we fans could get treated to another early play-off exit.

Daily Notes:

• Torii Hunter left Tuesday's game in the 6th inning due to tightness in his left quadriceps.  Hunter is listed as day-to-day and Angels' manager Mike Scioscia says the injury isn't serious.  Hunter might expect to also miss some time if he is suspended after fighting with Yankees' catcher Ivan Rodriguez during Monday's game.  Rodriguez wasn't in Tuesday night's lineup because of what Yankees Manager Joe Girardi called "whiplash." Rodriguez said his neck was sore, but his feelings weren't hurt.  Someone get that guy a hanky.
• There's speculation in this article that John Lackey had a cortisone shot prior to last year's play-off start against Boston.  Lackey said, "Let's just say there were some things needed for me to get out there every five days. It's a long season, and when you throw more than 200 innings several years in a row, it adds up."  He also added that since he started the first 6 weeks of this season on the DL, he's feeling better now than at this point last year. 
• There was an interesting graphic shown during last night's game.  It said that the earliest an A.L. West team had clinched the division title was September 17th (by Oakland).  With a 16.5 game lead over second place Texas, the Angels can break that record by a week if they can finish off the Yankees and Seattle can win against the Rangers today.
• Magic number:  stuck at 2 (with 18 games remaining) 

Coming soon to a ballpark near you...Robot Umpires!  No, this isn't another opinion on instant replay in baseball; this is a rant on how crappy the umpiring has been this year.  What the hell is going on?  Has anyone ever seen an umpire lose track of balls and strikes before?  I mean, other than the 14 year-old kid at a Little League game, or the old guy calling pitches at the local softball game?  I can dismiss a Major League umpire losing track once, barely.  But back on August 19th, Boston's Coco Crisp walked on ball 3.  And then on August 24th, Andre Ethier walked on 5 balls.  Finally, yesterday Angels' 2B Sean Rodriguez struck out on a 4-2 pitch.  Isn't anyone paying attention?  What are the other 3 umpires doing, checking out the chicks in the stands?  Sorting their sunflower seeds?  Two of these story links are from articles on MLB's website, so they're aware of this happening.  Someone in the league office needs to take a look at this situation before it has an impact on a game's outcome.

Daily Notes:

• The Angels got out of Detroit after taking 2 of 3.  Yesterday's game featured both barrels of the Angel attack in the form of outstanding pitching from Ervin Santana and timely hitting from the top 6 hitters in the line-up.  Santana improved to 15-5 with his 8 strike out performance.  The offense was highlighted by a four run 4th inning.  Torii Hunter added an 8th inning home run that traveled an estimated 435 feet.
• How happy are the Angels that they didn't make the off-season trade for Miguel Cabrera?  The rumors had the Halos as the front-runner in acquiring M-Cab from Florida until Detroit stepped in and snagged him and Dontrell Willis.  The rumored deal included Santana, Kendrick, Mathis, and a minor league pitcher.  As the saying goes, sometimes the best trades you make are the deals you don't make.
• The Angels head to Chicago for a 3-game weekend series against the White Sox.  The Chi-Sox are a potential play-off opponent as they're fighting the Minnesota Twins for the Central Division title.  Chicago leads the Central by 1.5 games. 
• Magic Number: 6 (with 23 games remaining).  The Angels trail Tampa Bay by a half game for the leagues best record and home field advantage. 

(In part 1 of my interview with Mat Gleason, a.k.a. Rev Halofan of Halos Heaven, I wrote about Mat's opinion of the future of print media and where internet sports reporting is heading.  I thought his views were very interesting and I wanted to make sure those views were published before writing the next part of the interview.  This second part is more about the fan and his website.)

From the short time I've known Rev Halofan, and what I mean by "know" is the impression I get from his postings and comments on his website, the Rev is as fervent a fan of the Angels you'll ever meet.  By reading the content of his postings, you can tell he's an intelligent, opinionated, loyal fan who doesn't take shit from anyone.  There are times I don't agree with his point of view, he loves Frankie Rodriguez and I think he's over-rated, but he'll listen to your point before telling you you're wrong.  I picture him having a conversation with someone in person, finger on his chin - head nodding in agreement as he listens closely to what's being said, and then replying, "I realize the point you're making and understand what you're saying, but you're f*^#king wrong."  This is how he comes across to me on his site.  This trait comes across when I asked him about "statheads" and sabermatricians, "I understand and appreciate stats, I have read almost everything that Bill James has written. What I am totally opposed to is the Stat Orthodoxy - the belief that stats are above the game and that they trump the human element of the game.  The absolute blind adherence to "theory" especially in the face of proof that the theories are imperfect measurements is the problem.  The book Moneyball has been proven as a completely inaccurate approach to assembling a baseball team - once Billy Beane lost the three aces the theories did not hold water at all. I am the same way in my art criticism; I am anti-orthodoxy and despise the academic establishment. I taught art theory at Claremont Graduate University 12 years ago and assigned Charles Bukowski on my syllabus instead of Foucalt and Derrida. My contract there wasn't renewed, by the way."

Gleason has been an Angels fan since 1975, "I went with my Webelo troop." He added the reason why he was an Angels fan; “I grew up in La Mirada and my whole family was Dodger fans, so the Angels kind of allowed me to find my own voice."  I asked him what his favorite Angel's moment was.  Usually the typical fan answer is their World Series victory in 2002, but I wasn't too surprised he had a different moment as his favorite.  While I'm sure that season is very important to the Rev, he said, "I was in Oakland when the Angels clinched the Division in 2005. Arte Moreno was sitting in front of me. He turned around and high-fived me and said WE DID IT! My worst Angel moment was two seconds later when (Angels President) Dennis Kuhl glared at me like I was a piece of shit."  What did Dennis Kuhl have against him?  "I think he is Arte's bodyguard. Hey, the dude IS a billionaire and Kuhl fits the profile of the beefy security guy. I think Dennis just might be packing. He was probably sizing up my temple to plant the barrel of the 9 Millimeter. I don't begrudge anyone in the game who gives attitude to the fans, though, the grind in the big leagues can destroy the peanut vendors, the people with the team just get beaten down completely. Looking at a fan like he is an idiot is almost a courtesy relative to what some of these guys really want to do to your "begging-for-an-autograph" ass." 

I was curious about Gleason's opinion of Angel’s owner Arte Moreno and what's different about the Angels organization since Moreno has owned them.  "I have met some straight shooters in my time but the guy is like a laser - absolutely cuts thru everything.  SoCal is a such a bullshit-filled region and the guy just has none of it anywhere near him. Fundamentally Arte believes the adage that you have to spend money to make money and Jackie Autry, because she did not earn her money, she inherited it, she just was not a business person, she was just waiting for the team to give her that monthly allowance. She was terrified of letting loose a nickel because she had never had a successful experience in life where that nickel came back as a dime. Disney was just using them to promote the Disney brand and even Gene Autry was never really focused on building them up from the foundation, he was too Hollywood and used the studio formula - spend some money on the next film it might do better than the previous one and might be a hit, but Gene never thought once to build the baseball equivalent of a movie studio.  I am actually pitching a book on that very subject right now. So yeah, one could write a book."  Gleason does have some ideas on how to make the team better, "This might sound weird but I would move the outfield fences back in Anaheim and focus on acquiring pitchers with more groundball tendencies", and added as owner he'd change the season-ticket policy, "I would discontinue season seats and put every game's tickets up for an internet auction. I am so sickened by fans of other teams in good seats, yes, but I am just as sickened by the Newport Beach elite deigning to have a glass of champagne in the diamond club for a few innings. That class structure stuff absolutely burns me up. Scott Boras sitting behind home plate blabbing on his cell-phone hardly watching the game while his Helga there entertains clients and runs errands all while I am just watching the batter - oh it is best I stay a commentator, revolutions have a way of imploding once they get started."

Here's something I hope makes you laugh...

Recently, during one of the game threads on Halos Heaven, someone made a comment about Francisco Rodriguez getting a "nervous" save.  What was meant by a "nervous" save (NS) was that K-Rod always seemed to get the save, but he allowed base runners causing the save to be risky.  The comment got me to thinking about how often Rodriguez allowed base runners during his save opportunities compared to other closers.  I went through the top 20 closers (based on Saves) and counted the number of times during a save opportunity that the pitcher allowed more than one hitter to get on base, either by a combination of hits and/or walks.  Here's what I found:

We Angels' fans are pretty spoiled.  The Halos are about to win their 4 division title in 5 years, they play in a beautiful stadium, and the team is owned by a man willing to spend the money to put a competitive team on the field (while keeping beer prices down).  Another reason Angels' fans are spoiled is we have the most entertaining and informative fansite on the internet.  Halos Heaven was created by art critic, art magazine publisher and astrologer Mat Gleason, a.k.a. Rev Halofan, in 2003 and is now the highest valued Angels fansite and 59th most valuable sports blog on the internet.  When asked about the high ranking of his site and if he was surprised, Gleason said, "I don't do anything without the intent of my efforts having an impact, so I cannot say I am surprised, but in the context of the Angels getting no respect in the national scheme of things it was cool."  Asked if the "mission" of Halos Heaven has changed with the increased readership, Gleason added, "From day one the mission has been to be a cool non-fascist community for intelligent Angels fans. The rabid-ness waxes and wanes but we are still on target."

According to SiteMeter, the Angels site gets on the plus side of 40,000 visits per month and has had over five million page views.  One of the favorite features on Halos Heaven is the game threads where fans can interact live during Angels' games.  During last weekend's series against Texas, there was an average of 648 comments posted during the games.  Over the same four game timeframe, the numbers below show how Halos Heaven compares to other American League teams' sites on the SB Nation blog network:

Gleason says one of the reasons for his site's popularity is the network his site is associated with, "SBN's tech is easy to use and more sophisticated than anywhere else - just the ease of use of the game thread comments alone is light years ahead of places like ESPN's message boards - once you try ours you cannot go back to the stone age."  The content of the posts is also a major factor, "...the conversation is pretty intelligent and at the same time light and humorous with out being tit and poop jokes, most message boards cannot have ten posts without talking about bodily functions. Our average is like 1 per 30, unheard of on the internet."

One of the main reasons I wanted to interview Mat was because while reading his posts and comments on Halos Heaven, I realized he had he feet firmly planted in two of the 3 main media outlets and I was curious as to his feeling about print media's future.  I also wanted his take on the Buzz Bissinger meltdown on Costas Now and how it relates to mainstream media's "fear" of internet sports reporting.  Gleason said he had seen the video of the Costas Now show and said, "Bissinger reminds me of the Sinatra-era establishment that could not understand rock-n-roll. Do you know that Tip O'Neill in the 1950s led a movement in congress to ban the playing of rock-n-roll on the radio since it was such obviously terrible "noise" that the only way it could be getting airtime was that the deejays were being bribed. That is Buzz Bissinger today - clueless in the greater scheme of history and evolution, a living fossil. His anger and frustration stems from the fact that in print, there are limited number of people with the resources to print and distribute content. Bissinger or his agent obviously spent as much time sucking up to them as he did writing prose."  Asked if Bissinger's negative comments are indicative of print media's feelings towards internet sports reporting, Gleason added, "The internet basically allows you to get to the writing part without sucking up at cocktail parties and leveraging your ivy league connections to get a meeting with the "right people" - so Buzz wants that sort of thing to stay in place, that system of buddy-buddy, but he wants everyone to believe he got there on talent alone and that is like, well, talent is about 5% of the equation in corporate America, and as much as Buzz would have you believe he is a rock star independent writer lone wolf, he is sucking corporate dick every other day to maintain that status." 

Regarding the future of print media, a media he is also heavily involved in, Gleason said, "I publish the world's largest free art magazine and the only saving grace of print is that it is a definite place to advertise whereas the web is chock full of bullshitters who want ad revenue with complete falsehoods about their numbers. A paper route is a quantifiable so print will be around for a little while longer - the web will have to have a critical mass - a few sites have this - drudgereport and dailykos are probably the best examples, so hopefully SBN will too.  Gleason believes internet sports reporting will eventually surpass print media as to where people get their sports information, "The internet will surpass print as #2 but the death of print will solidify TELEVISION as #1. I have been doing a little television work lately and the one thing that teevee has that the internet cannot guarantee is that television knows how to not be boring."  He added, "Love ESPN or hate them, they give you a 20-second sound bite of why some sports thing is the way it is and right or wrong that beats a 2-page dissertation on the merits of OPS and it also is above the poop and tit jokes that the internet cannot 100% screen out."  Gleason would like to see Halos Heaven become the number one location for Angel's news, "The goal is to be ubiquitous. When something happens in a few years with the Angels, the goal is that when a million people hear about it they all get on the internet and check my site."

Despite their previous 3 game win streak, the Angels are just 7-7 since Maicer Izturis landed on the DL with a torn ligament in his left thumb.  In the month prior to Izturis' injury, the Halos were a scorching 19-7.  Do the Angels miss him?  The obvious answer is "yes", but why?  And how much?  Izturis' slash stats were an un-spectacular .269/.329/.362 as he was playing in more than half of the Angels' games, splitting time with Erick Aybar at short and 20 games at 2B while Howie Kendrick was on the DL.  Here's some quick numbers.

Pitcher groundball to flyball ratio for the 5 Angels' starters:

Garland, Lackey and Saunders are the Angels' groundball pitchers, while Santana and Saunders are flyball pitchers.

Games when Aybar played shortstop

Pitcher's record
(Record/games started are the decisions for each pitcher in the games they started, overall record is the Angels' results in games started by each pitcher.)

Games when Izturis played shortstop

Pitcher's record

Comparison

According to these numbers, all of the pitchers had a better chance of winning when Izturis is in the game, with groundball pitchers having an even better opportunity than flyball pitchers.    Izturis' injury had made all of this moot, as he had season-ending surgery on his thumb and won't be returning to the Angels' line-up.  These number do show Maicer was an important part of the Angels' "chemistry".

The Angels finished a good weekend series against division rival Texas Rangers, winning three of four games.  It was kind of curious as to why Angels' manager Mike Scoiscia rested both Vlad Guerrero and Torii Hunter in the same game; I suppose the reason was the off-day on Monday would give both players two days off.  The only race the Angels are involved in at this point of the season is home-field advantage, a very important race as the Tampa Bay Rays have a terrific record at home.  The road to the World Series would be a lot easier if the time spent in Tampa were kept at a minimum, and home field advantage would ease that trip.  The Halos have the best road record in baseball, but Tampa has lost just 19 games in their dome, and took 2 of 3 games against the Angels last time they met in Florida.  The Rays are just a .500 team on the road.  As of today, the Angels are 1.5 games behind Tampa for the best record.  Resting players is a good idea, and with their huge division lead, is a luxury the Angels can afford.  But what they can't afford to do is lose ground to Tampa by resting key players during the same game, especially against weak pitching teams such as Texas, reducing their chances getting ahead of the Rays.

Daily Notes:

• Angels' starting pitcher John Lackey didn't look sharp during his game against the Rangers on Sunday giving up 9 hits and 4 earned runs in 5 innings.  I don't think it's anything to worry about, Lackey has been consistent all season, with just a few of these bad outings sprinkled in among his good starts.
• The Angels were unable to trade for a back-up middle infielder before the play-off rosters are set.  Rumored shortstop David Eckstein was trade to Arizona, ending any talks of the former Angel returning to Anaheim.
• Why does Major League Baseball schedule days off during national holidays?  10 teams, including the Angels, are scheduled off this Labor Day.  It doesn't make sense to me to have off days when fans are more likely to visit the ballparks.
• Magic Number:  9 (with 26 games remaining)