After getting all smug about being able to see the baseball playoffs even over here in Hong Kong … we got to Game 4 of the Angels’ series with the Red Sox and ESPN International crapped out on me.
They were showing Chelsea soccer. Against some Romanian team. I think. In one of those interminable “champions” tournaments, presumably.
I was ticked.
So, I was reduced to blogs and espn.com … and that isn’t quite the same, is it? Actually, it’s like 1930, or something, when guys like Ronald Reagan recreated games to radio audiences off of a Western Union ticker.
Anyway, I see the Angels lost 3-2, and that’s too bad. Because I like the Angels and I loathe the Red Sox. Actually, all teams Boston.
The Angels went 100-62 during the regular season, but 1-3 in the postseason is enough to finish you off.
From my reading of things, literally, it seems as if the Angels were let down in this series by 3-4 guys you wouldn’t have expected to hurt them.
1. Erick Aybar. He had the bloop single that won it in 12, on Sunday, but he missed that suicide squeeze bunt today, keeping the Angels from taking the lead. And, sitting here, I was thinking Aybar is exactly the kind of flakey, not-quite-fundamentally-solid player who would miss that bunt. The Angels would have been far better off with Aybar at third and Reggie Willits at the plate.
But I give Mike Scioscia credit for rolling the dice there. It was bold. It was daring. And squeezed worked so often for his team this season. Just not when it really mattered.
2. Howie Kendrick. His bobble of what, I’m told, was a potential double-play ball in the fifth led to two Boston runs. In a game that finished 3-2. He also hit .118 in the series, which works out to 2-for-17 with no runs, no RBI. If you want to second-guess Scioscia for anything in this series, running Kendrick out there every day is where you start. Kendrick had only 15 at-bats in six games the final week of the season — after sitting out nearly a month. He never looked right, in the field or at the plate.
3. Reggie Willits. I love Reggie Willits. Almost as much as I love David Eckstein. But Willits hurt the ballclub in this series. He muffed that fly ball by David Ortiz in the ninth inning of Game 2; if he catches it (and a good fielder does) maybe the Angels don’t give up two runs in the inning and lose, 7-5. Also, Willits apparently had a shot at Jason Bay’s ball today, the one that went for the double that led to the run that beat the Angels in the ninth.
4. Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez. Both guys were shaky. Each took a defeat. These guys peaked about three years ago, both of them … and I don’t care how many saves F-Rod had this year. Each is far less impressive than he was a few years back.
So, Angels out in the first round for the third time in their last four playoffs appearances. It’s nice to get there, but it would be nicer if they could get back to the World Series.
It’s a darn good thing they have 2002 (and a World Series championship) on their resume, or we’d be talking about “the Angels curse” the same way Cubs observers talk about their benighted team.
6 responses so far ↓
1 mpcincal // Oct 7, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Paul, just to clarify a few things, since you didn’t see it: The grounder Kendrick bobbled probably wouldn’t have been a DP because it wasn’t hit that hard and Ellsbury would have been tough to double up; however, the bobble did cost him a chance to get the guy at second and that made a difference with the subsequent double. Willits can’t be faulted for not making the play; Bay hit a well-placed fly ball that Willits had to make a long run on. If he had any fault on that play it’s that his go-for-broke effort could have resulted in an IPHR if the ball hadn’t bounced in the stands.
2 mpcincal // Oct 7, 2008 at 9:35 AM
Finally, although I agree Shields has been very shaky this year (and in Game 1), I thought he pitched great the last two nights. He held the Sox at bay in Game 4, and last night was victimized by the Bay fly ball and the Lowrie grounder which had eyes and could have been an out (according to one of the ESPN guys) if Kendrick had been farther back on the edge of the grass.
3 Dennis Pope // Oct 7, 2008 at 9:51 AM
It was hard to watch the games once the Red Sox got to the Angels’ bullpen. You could sense doom approaching.
I hope the team doesn’t waste a bunch of money re-signing a closer incapable of getting a 1-2-3 save. Let the Mets have him.
Besides, it’s time to give Arrendondo a crack at it. He throws harder anyway.
4 Chuck HIckey // Oct 7, 2008 at 10:58 AM
The series was pretty depressing. I’m a big Angels fan and, like you, hate the Red Sox. And the Celtics. And the Patriots. Etc.
Tough series for the Halos. They left too many runners on base, didn’t get enough clutch hits and the bullpen let them down.
Lots of decisions to make in the offseason. This could be a very different team next year — and not for the better, though the AL West will still blow.
5 Brian Robin // Oct 7, 2008 at 2:06 PM
I’m a Red Sox fan — largely because my mother was born in Boston and it was my first Little League team (the way you pick your teams. . . ) — but I have more than a healthy respect for Mike Scioscia.
In this case, however, I beg to differ about the squeeze. I know it’s part of the Angels’ arsenal, but the go-ahead run sitting on third with one out in the ninth inning of a must-win game is too valuable a resource to gamble away here.
Besides, everyone from Jason Varitek to the 8-year-old from Chelmsford in the right-field bleachers at Fenway Park knew it was coming.
And Eff Chelsea.
6 Ian Cahir // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:12 PM
First thing: Screw Chelski.
Second thing: The Champions League is the best tournament around.
Third: I’m still crying. I stayed up late just to get my heart ripped out.
Go Rays.
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