Thursday, October 11, 2007

Reading the Articles


Ok it has been a few days now since the Halo’s were eliminated. I had a few phone calls and another few conversations with some of the people I work with on my feelings on what happened with the Halo’s. Well here they are. I did not read anything about the team tell this morning. Why? Was I depressed? Angry? Hoping it was all a bad dream? No is the simple answer. I just did not want to read or listen to people bash Scioscia and the Angels players. T.J. Simers, Bill Plashke of the LA Times make me just… well I don’t know how to even explain it.

Are they fans? Probably not. They came from towns far far away. T.J. Simers attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. Bill Plaschke was born in Louisville, Ky., and worked in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle before joining the Los Angeles Times in 1987. They write the articles they write not as viewers telling you what you may not know or have not heard yet, but they write articles to make noise. Cause a stir. They may watch the game; they may even enjoy the game. But do they root for the Halo’s. Do they watch with regularity? No is my guess because after reading some of their articles they seem to be going for the flash and show.

In TJ Simers article, he talks about Scioscia blowing it. “Two weeks ago Sunday, the Angels, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians each had 92 wins, the Angels clinching and soaking themselves with champagne after securing a playoff berth.’ ’ Six games to play, time to go all out to give themselves the best chance of winning it all, and they proved my point -- unable to play their game effectively on the road, they couldn't even take advantage of a schedule calling for them to play against down-and-out teams in Texas and Oakland.” Ok this is a snippet of the article but all he does is say how Mike screwed up by not playing everyone like they were fighting for their lives. But I know for a fact that he could not have watched the team over the past month or else he would of realized we not only limped into the playoffs mostly on the backs of Seattle’s poor play, but we did it with a team that hardly looked like the team that won the first 80 or so games.

Yes we were hurt. Is that an excuse? No not from me, or from Scioscia but it is a fact we were hurt. We got our asses handed to us by a better team. Would home field have helped? Maybe, who knows? From GA’s eye, Vlad’s arm, the total absence of Mathews and the bullpen that had blown up over the second half of the year no wonder we got shelled.

Game two should have been ours. From the called strike that was a foot out on Kendrick that should have been ball four, to the catch made by the Boston owners son out of the glove of Mathis. We should have had that game. But Manny came through for them. That’s was a shame but shit happens.

Now Plaschke he is selling himself for more TV time and he now writes just to do that, sell himself. He is a TV whore. So I will not go into his nonsense except to say that Vlad did not choke like A Rod. He could not. A Rod played healthy, not happy but at least healthy. Vlad seemed to be happy but not healthy, probably not happy about loosing but just happy to be where he is at this point in his life. The comparison is not even close. So just remember if you read the LA Times just take it with a grain of salt, or a bag. They are trying to sell newspapers and become TV stars on ESPN. I do not know how to end this article except to say things are going to be interesting this fall and winter with free agents and the what if with A Rod. The team could look very much the same next season or it could be totally revamped. Stoneman could turn some heads this off-season.

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