Best bullpen in the Show

The first month of the season the Angel relievers were known as the "blow-pen" of baseball. Ernesto Frieri was a rocky one-pitch closer, Joe Smith was an unknown name to Halo fans, Salas never got comfortable and home product Kevin Jepsen has had had one good season in six big league seasons. No lead was safe.

However since June 25th, the Angels bullpen has an ERA of 1.64. Frieri was traded for Pirates' Jason Grilli, who would take on the non-pressure 6th inning role. 1.50 ERA in 12 innings. Kevin Jepsen has a sub-2 ERA in 46 innings and has not given up a run in his last 13 innings while hitters are batting .073. He's got the 7th inning. Joe Smith has given up just five hits and no runs in his last 16 innings. While I like him as the closer, I love him in the 8th inning. The caboose of the reliever train is the newest Angel, Houston Street, who.. (go ahead and guess) has not given up a run in his 6 innings in red. Wow what a surprise! A closer with a .093 ERA is worth three top minor leaguers when your in the race. This is especially true when Roth, Rasmus, and Morin all have sub-3 ERA's while Santiago continues to improve as an inning eater (especially during all these extra inning extravaganzas).

Grili 6, Jepsen 7, Smith 8, Street 9...game over.

Halo role players continue to play well. David Freese's bat has seem to come alive and Skaggs, Richards, and Shoemaker have continued to impress. The "stars" of the team need to become reliable as we get closer to October. Whether its competing with Oakland in the division, or facing Detroit or Baltimore in the playoffs, guys like Weaver, Wilson, Pujols (currently hitting alright), Trout, and Hamilton have to be guys who step up in the spotlight. This being the best record in team history to this point, its starting to have the feeling of a memorable year. These names can complete the best all around team in baseball.

Let's go get those A's!

Go Halos.

Why every Angel fan should love Erick Aybar

If I told you that your team would be given a shortstop for the next decade that was going to be a switch hitter, bat .280, have gap power, steal bases, never strike out more than 80 times a season, can bunt for hits, has extended range defensively, stellar glove, and a strong arm... you would be pretty satisfied right?

Here's Erick Aybar for ya. Nine solid years so far with the Angels and no one seems to give him the recognition he deserves or gives him the credit for his baseball IQ. Let's also not forget, he's hit practically everywhere in Scioscia's lineups one time or another. Versatility, reliability, magnificent defense, feisty hitter, career long Angel. This is how I view Erick Aybar.

Today he was very deserving to be named to the All-Star team replacing the talented Alex Gordon, although Aybar had better stats than him and shortstop Alexi Ramirez. I was on the Garret Richards train too, but Sale is a phenomenal pitcher with a fantastic first half. The fact is before today, Aybar should've gotten the same publicity and recognition from the fans and organization to be pushed into Minnesota.

Aybar was basically Vladimir Guerrero's little nephew for the years they played together. Still to this day, its hard to find another player who has more fun day in and day out than Erick Aybar, and it is a pleasure to watch him in an Angels uniform everyday making spectacular plays.

One story I have about Aybar was my old roommate and fellow Angel fan Mike Belcher was a middle infielder at LaVerne University and at this time graduated and got a job in the city of Orange right next to Angel Stadium. It was during a lunch break at an outdoor mall called "The Block" that Mike saw Aybar walking through with two hoochie mamas around his arms. Mike saw him and yelled "Hey Aybar! You're one of my favorite players man!" Aybar looked at him with a big smile and yelled "Thanks man!" and kept walking. It just makes you smile, laugh, and shake your head...gotta love Erick Aybar.

Some Aybar stats:

2011 Gold Glove winner
Top 5 Fielding % among shortstops over last 5 years
Top 10 in AL sacrifice hits in last 7 years
Career 74% Stolen Base success rate (121/43)

He also competes with Swisher's lippers.

Don Baylor is the All-Star

It seemed like a bad omen when Don Baylor was idiotically thrown behind the plate to catch the first pitch on opening day from Vladimir Guerrero. Baylor, who has had bone marrow cancer was asked to squat for the outlandish Vladdy Daddy. Baylor broke his right femur trying to catch the pitch. The entire stadium and every fan watching had the air sucked out of them. Whoever set this combo up in the Angels organization did not think this through.  The Angels ended up getting blown out by Seattle 10-3 in that ballgame. Right or wrong, I heavily blame this omen for the Angels rocky start to the season. Knowing Vladdy's arm and that he's still not that old, it would've been smart to put an active player back there...or Dino Ebel.

For the first month, the Angels relief pitchers were known as the "blowpen" for obvious reasons. Then when the pitching started coming around in May, the hitters went quiet. It seemed as though every hitter was trying to pull every pitch that was thrown to them. Approaches at the plate were abysmal, and every ball in play was predictable.  It was hard to watch as broadcasters would say "The Angels AGAIN are 1-14 with runners on base." Then Hamilton and Calhoun went down with injuries. It was all coming back to the bad omen.

Unexpectedly, the bench players started to come through and there was a different hero every night. Pujols and Trout were slumping, but Cowgill, Cron, and company were picking up the slack. The Angels would finally break .500. Slowly Calhoun and Hamilton came back, but the Angels still couldn't put it together with their stars and role players. Pujols especially was struggling as he dropped below a .150 average with RISP.

Then on June 25th, it was annoucned that Don Baylor would be back in the dugout as the full time hitting coach. Since that day, six Angels have hit well over .300, some like Trout, Freese and Kendrick are even over .350 including Albert Pujols who is hitting .370 with 16 RBI's since that Tuesday. From watching every game on TV, you could tell the complete turnaround in the hitter's approaches. Right-handed hitters are peppering right center and left-handed hitters are using left center. Three times this past week Pujols came up with multiple runners in scoring position and all three times he got hits, two of them being dumps into right center rather than being roll overs to short.

One of those at-bats followed with a Hamilton sac fly to center, an Aybar line drive over short (from the left side) and a base hit up the middle by Kendrick. All of the sudden its a whole different team in the lineup, and I personally believe it is all due to the 1979 AL MVP and 3x Silver Slugger winner Don Baylor being back on the bench with the guys. Even though Baylor was a .260 lifetime hitter, do you remember how good the offense was in Tempe during his first spring training with the Angels? Coincidence...I don't think so.

The team chemistry and clubhouse seems to be doing great thanks to the personality of Mike Trout and some of the team vets such as Aybar and Kendrick (who are the currently the longest tenured middle infield combination in baseball). They look like they are having fun, but now with their refined hitting approaches they will be winning more ball games. The offense is stacked on paper, but sometimes it takes that extra guy to get everyone thinking the right way at the plate. Dare we call it the Tony Gwynn approach? For now I'm calling it the "Thank God Don Baylor is back approach."

Even though the Angels are only sending Trout to Minnesota, everyone is playing well and playing together like all-stars including the last 11 game home win streak that was recently snapped. Hard to catch the A's but right now is a great time to be an Angels fan. As I speak, Pujols just hit a go-ahead home run to center field against Toronto in the 7th. GO HALOS!

2nd Oldest?

Did you know, having opened in 1966, Angel Stadium is the second oldest park in the American League after Fenway Park.  Here is the nine oldest ballparks in major league baseball. Tampa Bay Rays' Trop comes in at #8 showing how many stadiums have been built in the last quarter century.


Fenway Park            1912
Wrigley Field           1914
Dodger Stadium       1962
Angel Stadium         1966 (April)
McAfee Coliseum    1966 (September)
Kauffman Stadium   1973
Rogers Centre          1989
Tropicana Field        1990
US Cellular Field     1991

Erstad's new millennium hit parade

In 2000, Darin Erstad set the Angels single season batting average record, hitting .355. Behind him is Rod Carew's .339 average in 1983. Erstad's 240 hits that year is also a franchise mark, one that is distant from the rest. Garrett Anderson has flirted with 200 hits multiple times in his career, only surpassing it once in 2003 with 201 hits. Other than that, no one even comes close. Angels current center fielder Mike Trout might have a say during his next six years with the Halos. During that 2000 campaign, Erstad led the American League in hits, singles, at-bats, he was second in total bases and third in runs scored. With a major league-leading 100 hits in 61 games, he became the fastest to reach the 100-hit mark since 1934. He reached 200 hits faster than any player in 65 years. Erstad was just 26 years old at the end of the season. He became the first player in Major League history to record 100 RBIs as a lead-off hitter as he won the AL Silver Slugger Award. Erstad's .355 average was still second best to Nomar Garciaparra who hit .372 that season.

This Nolan Express or "Nuke"

Angels' Nolan Ryan awlays threw a lot of pitches. In 1972, 73, 74, 76, 77, and 78, Ryan led or tied for the lead of the American League in both strikeouts and base on balls. In 1975, it was the Angels own Frank Tanana who replaced Ryan as the strikeout leader of the American League. You could say he had a little "Nuke" in him. Thank goodness Bull Durhams Crash Davis wasn't the catcher. He would demand for more ground balls because strikeouts are fascist and ground balls are more democratic.

1962 All-Star pairs

The first members of the Los Angeles Angels to start in an All-Star Game were outfielder Leon Wagner and second baseman Billy Moran in 1962. What some may not know was that there were two All-Star games in 1962, one in Washington DC and one in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Both Leon and Billy started both games. In game one, President John F. Kennedy threw out the first pitch and would share some words with an older but still All-Star caliber Stan Musial.

 

 "A couple years ago they told me I was too young to be president and you (Stan Musial) were too old to be playing baseball. But we fooled them." - President John F. Kennedy

The first game the National League won 3-1 on the pitching of Don Drysdale and Juan Marichal while Maury Wills picked up the MVP. It was the first All-Star Game MVP given out, and Wills entered the game in the 6th inning.

Game 2 at Wrigley was a whole different ball game with the American League winning 9-4. Four home runs were hit in the game including one by Leon Wagner in the 4th inning off Art Mahaffey in the 4th inning landing Wagner the MVP in Chicago. This would be the last win in the All-Star battle for the AL for the next decade.

Ryne Duren and Ken McBride were named to the All-Star team in 1961, but neither appeared in the game that year.

Perci Time

Closer Troy Percival holds the team mark with 316 career saves in 10 seasons while with the Halos, converting more than 86% of his save opportunities. He came up with the Angels in 1995 and became the regular closer in 1996 replacing another great closer Lee Smith. Percival would have 36 saves that season. What not many people know is he was drafted by the Angels in 1990 as a catcher. The switch from behind the plate to the mound came when coaches started noticing he threw the ball harder back to the mound then it was coming in. Perci was a four time All-Star and a World Series champion.

Innings Eater

Chuck Finley is the Angels' all-time leader in innings pitched with 2,675. Surprisingly, he has none of the Angels' top-10 seasons in terms of innings pitched; he barely cracked the top-20. Here is the list of the top 10 innings pitched seasons in Angels history. You will notice a trend with Nolan Ryan. Also you will see some of them did it as teammates

1. Nolan Ryan                   332.2            1974
2. Nolan Ryan                   326.0            1973
3. Bill Singer                     315.2           1973
4. Nolan Ryan                   299.0            1977
5. Frank Tanana                288.1            1976
6. Nolan Ryan                   284.1            1976
7. Nolan Ryan                   284.0            1976
8. Dean Chance                 278.1            1964
9. Alex Messersmith         276.2            1971
9. Clyde Wright                 276.2            1971

18. Mark Langston            256.1            1993
19. Chuck Finley               251.1            1993

Palm Springs Training

Before moving Spring Training to Tempe Arizona in 1993, the primary home for the Angels during the pre-season was in Palm Springs at Palm Springs Stadium. Originally a polo ground built in 1949, the field would host Pacific Coast League baseball games through the 50's and into the 60's.  The Palm Springs Angels would use it as their home in the Class-A California League from 1986-93. Why Palm Springs you ask? Well that is where Gene Autry lived and he wanted his team close to him. He purchased the polo ground area and build a 5,000 seat stadium inside. The Angels would eventually move from California to Arizona since they were the only ones left in the golden state. But for 32 years, local fans got to see their favorite Angels close to home as they prepared for the season. The move to Tempe Diablo Stadium wasn't much of an upgrade for a while besides the amount of space. A stadium that was built in 1968 was home to the Seattle Mariners until the Angels came in. It needed upgrades and it wasn't until 2006 when $20 million worth of renovations was put in. Now its one of the nicest facilities in the Cactus League.

2010 ASG

In the 2010 MLB All-Star Game, the National League broke a 13-year skid by defeating the American League 3-1. There were a few new ASG rules that were implemented, although they might not have been noticed. Rosters were expanded to 34, a DH would become a fixture for both teams for all future games, and re-entries were allowed. An Angels favorite, Rod Carew threw out the first pitch. Long time Yankee owner George Steinbrenner past away early that morning.

1989 All-Star Game

In the 1989 All-Star Game, Bo Jackson awed the baseball world with his towering 448 foot home run to lead off the bottom of the first. Wade Boggs followed with his own solo shot. This would be the first time the top two batters in the lineup had opened an All Star Game up with back-to-back home runs. The pitcher was Rick Reuschel of the Giants. Angel Jimmie Reese threw out the first pitch, Chuck Finley made his first ASG, and Nolan Ryan was the winning pitcher, but wearing a Texas Rangers uniform. The American League won 5-3 and Bo took home the MVP.

Fastest with wings

Desmond DeChone Figgins holds the record for most stolen bases by an Angel with 280 during his eight seasons. Figgy had his most productive year in 2005 where he stole a league leading 62 bags while also hitting .290. In 158 games he had a career high 186 hits and 25 doubles. It was a scrappy bunch with Figgy, Darin Erstad, Orlando Cabrera, Maicer Izturis, and Adam Kennedy protecting Vladimir Guerrero. The Angels would win the West with 95 wins but lose to the White Sox in the Championship Series. Bartolo Colon won the Cy Young with a 21-8 record.

Jim Fregosi 1942-2014

One of the best defensive middle infielders in the 1960's with the Angels, Fregosi was a 6-time all-star and a gold glove winner during his tenure under the Big A. As a manager, he coached the Angels to their first division title in 1979 along with players Rod Carew and Nolan Ryan. His #11 will always be in view at Angel Stadium. Today we say goodbye to an original Angel.

1967 All-Star Game

In the 1967 MLB All-Star Game, the first held in the "Big A" in Anaheim, a solo home run by Red's Tony Perez broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 15th inning. It won the game for the NL and earned Perez the MVP of the game. The starting pitcher was Dean Chance, returning to Anaheim as a representative of the Minnesota Twins. His counterpart was Juan Marichal. This was one of the most Hall of Fame heavy All-Star games ever played. Major names included were: (NL) Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal, Tom Seaver, Tim McCarver, Joe Torre, Ernie Banks, Orlando Cepeda, Bill Mazeroski, Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Pete Rose, (AL) Catfish Hunter, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Rod Carew (Twins),  Brooks Robinson, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson, and Carl Yastrzemski.
It was the longest all-star game by innings until 2008 matched the 15 innings.

Chuck Finley for the win

Can you name the three pitchers with the most wins in Angels history?
Nolan Ryan won 138 and Jared Weaver has 112 to date, but we will give the spotlight to the pitcher with the most wins in Angels history right now, Chuck Finley.
Chuck Finley wore the Angels uniform from 1986-1999. In that time he won 165 games for the Halos, the most all-time. Finley was a four time all-star as an Angel. His finest season was in 1990, when he won 18 games to just 9 losses and posted a 2.40 ERA — to date, the lowest by an Angel left-hander on a season, surpassing Frank Tanana's 2.43 in 1976. In 1993 Finley led the major leagues in complete games with 13. However, Finley will always be famous for being the first pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to record 4 strikeouts in a single inning more than once; he accomplished the feat 3 times in 2 year.
He would play for the Indians and Cardinals until his final season in 2002. He entered into the Angels Hall of Fame in 2009.

Baylor for MVP

Don Baylor won the American League MVP in 1979, helping to lead the Angels to their first division title. His 120 runs and 139 RBI led the league. His 36 homers and 22 stolen bases demonstrated his all-around ability.

Bobby Grich also put up monster numbers with 31 home runs and 101 RBI's while hitting .294. Baylor hit .296

Winner Winner

The most wins in a single season is shared between two Angels who did it within five years of each other. The record is 22 wins and it was done by Clyde Wright in 1970 and then Nolan Ryan in 1974.
At the time, Clyde was only the second Angel next to Dean Chance to reach 20 wins. Unlike Nolan Ryan, Clyde Wright was no Hall of Fame pitcher. In the previous 1969 season, Wright went 1-8 with a 4.10 ERA. After Fregosi would get him to play around with a screwball during the offseason, Wright came back in 1970 with a career low ERA of 2.83 with his 22 wins, along with a no-hitter against the Oakland A's on July 3rd. He would win the American League comeback player of the year award. Wright would have two more solid years with the Angels. He would finish with a career record of 100-111.

Nolan Ryan also threw a no-hitter in his 22 win season. The only difference is it was his third of his career. Ryan also had two games of 19 strikeouts. His dominance was in full effect as he struck out 367 in 332.2 innings and going the distance in 26 of his 41 starts. However, the Angels would finish 68-94.

Big Daddy Vladdy

In 2004, Vladimir Guerrero's stellar stat line, including 39 homers, 126 RBI and a career high 124 runs scored, together with the "bonus" of 15 stolen bases, demonstrated to voters that he was, indeed, the American League's Most Valuable Player. His 206 season hits tied a career high that he set just two years prior. None of his other stats were his best. Yet combined, they were better than every other player in the American League in 2004.

What a start!

In the inaugural game for the Angels franchise, Ted Kluszewski and Bob Cerv smashed back to back home runs to help lead Los Angeles to their inaugural Opening Day victory over Baltimore. The homers were given up by Milt Pappas in the top half of the first inning. What a start for a franchise! Kluszewski was a 15-year vet playing in his first and only year with the Angels but the final year of his career. Cerv would only play 18 games with the Angels before being traded back to the Yankees, where he started his career.  Pappas didn't make it out of the 2nd before surrendering 6 runs.