I have one piece of advice for both the Angel players and their fans. RELAX!
The Angels need to just do what Frankie say.
For the players, this advice applies particularly to the Angels hitters who are gripping so hard at the plate, I am surprised that they haven’t ground the handles of their bats into sawdust. Whenever an Angel batter has a chance to drive in a run, you can just see how tense they are. I swear, if Juan Rivera ever gets a chance to hit with the bases loaded, he is going to soil himself right there in the batter’s box. They just need to quit thinking so much during each and every at-bat, relax their mind and trust their standard approach and their swings will do the rest.
As for us fans, relaxing is easier said than done. None of us, myself included, can stomach watching the Angels lose to the Red Sox, not with that impending match-up set to occur again in the playoffs in a few weeks. But teams go through cold streaks, especially on the road like the Angels are now. We just all need to weather this storm and have some faith in the innate talent of the roster and believe that things will return to normal before long.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (86-58) @ Boston Red Sox (85-58)
Starters: LAA – Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81 ERA) BOS – Paul Byrd (1-1, 6.08 ERA)
Game Info: 4:10 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West & ESPN, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
THREE Questions:
- How the frak does Joe Saunders have 13 wins? That little detail somehow eluded me until now. Saundo has been generally awful all season long, but somehow he has that many wins. Sometimes baseball is just plain goofy.
- Will the game be blacked on ESPN for local Angel fans? I sure hope not because I could really use the break from the Angel crew of announcers.
- Did someone kidnap Mike Scioscia? I think he might have gone missing because whoever filled out the line-up card today had an overwhelming amount of common sense. Not only did they start red hot Howie Kendrick against a righty, but he is batting in front of ice cold Juan Rivera. I think we might need to organize a search party.
TWO Predictions:
- Both teams are into their bullpen by the end of the fifth inning as the game turns into a sloppy slugfest and yes, based on the Angels’ recent offensive output, I realize how crazy this sounds.
- The Angel fielding troubles continue as they commit two errors and allow at least one unearned run.
ONE Wish:
- I wish for the Angels not waste the opportunity to pounce all over Paul Byrd. They face a tough slate of starters in the next week (Josh Beckett, Tommy Hunter, Scott Feldman, Andy Pettitte) and can’t let these easier match-ups get away.
ZERO Tolerance for… the Angels continuing to skid while the Rangers’ are slumping just as badly. The Halos could’ve put the Rangers out of their misery if they had played better the last two games, now Texas still has a shot at getting back into this thing with this weekend’s series in Arlington.
Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or wishes as a comment or just hang out with us during the game or even chat with us on twitter (@MonkeyWithAHalo).
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