love is in the air
at least for me it is.
what a game last night!! did you watch it?? did you watch all 5+ hours?? i did, and i love our team more than ever! game 3 was the first of the series when our own errors didn't [reasonably] COST us our game. we still made mistakes, but we were able to keep working to get past those mistakes. hitters other than the 3, 4, and 5 spots were able to get hot, and we were able to keep key players like jason bay at bay (sorry i couldn't resist- media used it the other day as in the angels being held at bay, i HAD to flip it back at them, right?!)
anyway, as proud as i am right now, i know this means we have a tough game ahead of us tonight again at fenway. with last night's game ending well past midnight, tonight's game kicking off just after 8pm, throw some jetlag into that mix and you've got a couple of worn out teams. i'm GUESSING that the red sox have the advantage because they may still have eastern time on their internal clocks, but the angels no doubt will be running more on adrenaline than on sleep for game 4.
last night really was a pitching duel. for a while i thought it might come down to whichever team had the most pitchers. and after we got frankie out there, i had no idea who scioscia would bring out- justin speier?? who else was there? and then out comes jered weaver. our lanky, 6'7" regular season starter. he sure did bring it. he commanded those last couple innings with a presence that he sometimes lost during the regular season. he made me proud! (trivia fact: as a little leaguer, jered played on a team called the Angels, and went to college at Long Beach State).
last night was an amazing team effort; in addition to the starting lineup, we got help from arredondo, oliver, shields, frankie, weaver, willits, morales, matthews, jr.,.. it'd almost be more efficient to list those who DIDN'T play! (s.rodriguez, b.woods, ...)
major props to our catcher, mike napoli. i'd been saying it the last couple games, that he was due for a big hit, and he got it!! TWO of them! those were huge, not just because it kept us alive in the box score, but for the momentum and morale of the team. especially for those 2 HRs to com in an elimination game against Mr. October himself spoke volumes of the fight that the Angels still had in them. Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales both haven't been producing as much either, and I think they're also overdue for big hits, so we'll see where Scioscia puts them tonight.
Now that the non 3-4-5 guys have been connecting with the ball (Figgy really got us going with that triple off Beckett's first pitch, Nappy's 2 HRs, etc.) I think the pressure is off of Teixeira, Guerrero, and especially Torii Hunter for game 4. Everyone knows that the WHOLE team is fighting, and I think that will help loosen up our 3-4-5 guys for some more extra-inning hits (which there has been a drought of). I'm looking for a big game from those 3 tonight.
Last, but SO not least, I gotta give so much credit to Mike Scioscia himself, number 14, the Angels franchise's most winningest manager. i really respect him- the trust he has in his players (putting krod back in last night after friday's night's, well, let's not talk about it), putting jered weaver in in the 11th and 12th, not blowing a gasket when others might have, offering some help and calling plays to napoli and the pitcher when he needs to, and especially for being able to keep his players calm (i love seeing him clap and motioning to the players to relax, stay calm). these are qualities needed especially during the playoffs, and for scioscia to do it with genuine optimism as truly admirable.
man, i love this team!!
tonight will be tough- lackey vs. lester. lester was a monster in game 1, but lackey worked the red sox pretty well himself (except for that one HR). i suspect our batters will be better prepared against lester tonight, having such recent experience with the new-and-improved lester and his pitching prowess. so, while we're facing a pitcher who's SO much better than he was when we saw him in the regular season, the red sox are facing an angels pitcher who has proven himself to be a consistent threat. brace yourself for another amazing pitcher's duel tonight!
let's take this series back to anaheim!!!!!!
GO HALOS!!!!!!
what a game last night!! did you watch it?? did you watch all 5+ hours?? i did, and i love our team more than ever! game 3 was the first of the series when our own errors didn't [reasonably] COST us our game. we still made mistakes, but we were able to keep working to get past those mistakes. hitters other than the 3, 4, and 5 spots were able to get hot, and we were able to keep key players like jason bay at bay (sorry i couldn't resist- media used it the other day as in the angels being held at bay, i HAD to flip it back at them, right?!)
anyway, as proud as i am right now, i know this means we have a tough game ahead of us tonight again at fenway. with last night's game ending well past midnight, tonight's game kicking off just after 8pm, throw some jetlag into that mix and you've got a couple of worn out teams. i'm GUESSING that the red sox have the advantage because they may still have eastern time on their internal clocks, but the angels no doubt will be running more on adrenaline than on sleep for game 4.
last night really was a pitching duel. for a while i thought it might come down to whichever team had the most pitchers. and after we got frankie out there, i had no idea who scioscia would bring out- justin speier?? who else was there? and then out comes jered weaver. our lanky, 6'7" regular season starter. he sure did bring it. he commanded those last couple innings with a presence that he sometimes lost during the regular season. he made me proud! (trivia fact: as a little leaguer, jered played on a team called the Angels, and went to college at Long Beach State).
last night was an amazing team effort; in addition to the starting lineup, we got help from arredondo, oliver, shields, frankie, weaver, willits, morales, matthews, jr.,.. it'd almost be more efficient to list those who DIDN'T play! (s.rodriguez, b.woods, ...)
major props to our catcher, mike napoli. i'd been saying it the last couple games, that he was due for a big hit, and he got it!! TWO of them! those were huge, not just because it kept us alive in the box score, but for the momentum and morale of the team. especially for those 2 HRs to com in an elimination game against Mr. October himself spoke volumes of the fight that the Angels still had in them. Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales both haven't been producing as much either, and I think they're also overdue for big hits, so we'll see where Scioscia puts them tonight.
Now that the non 3-4-5 guys have been connecting with the ball (Figgy really got us going with that triple off Beckett's first pitch, Nappy's 2 HRs, etc.) I think the pressure is off of Teixeira, Guerrero, and especially Torii Hunter for game 4. Everyone knows that the WHOLE team is fighting, and I think that will help loosen up our 3-4-5 guys for some more extra-inning hits (which there has been a drought of). I'm looking for a big game from those 3 tonight.
Last, but SO not least, I gotta give so much credit to Mike Scioscia himself, number 14, the Angels franchise's most winningest manager. i really respect him- the trust he has in his players (putting krod back in last night after friday's night's, well, let's not talk about it), putting jered weaver in in the 11th and 12th, not blowing a gasket when others might have, offering some help and calling plays to napoli and the pitcher when he needs to, and especially for being able to keep his players calm (i love seeing him clap and motioning to the players to relax, stay calm). these are qualities needed especially during the playoffs, and for scioscia to do it with genuine optimism as truly admirable.
man, i love this team!!
tonight will be tough- lackey vs. lester. lester was a monster in game 1, but lackey worked the red sox pretty well himself (except for that one HR). i suspect our batters will be better prepared against lester tonight, having such recent experience with the new-and-improved lester and his pitching prowess. so, while we're facing a pitcher who's SO much better than he was when we saw him in the regular season, the red sox are facing an angels pitcher who has proven himself to be a consistent threat. brace yourself for another amazing pitcher's duel tonight!
let's take this series back to anaheim!!!!!!
GO HALOS!!!!!!
Great post, Sharon. And thanks for coming over and visiting my blog. I'd like to see Torii Hunter have a good game tonight after the miscues last night. He seems like such a good clubhouse guy - always pumping players up and all that. And Vlad needs to bust out and pop a few. Nice job by Napoli, not only the homers but running the bases. A catcher running? What a concept!
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What a game indeed! Hope Lackey can take a no hitter into the 9th like he did late this year again against Boston. We'll see if Lackey has the right stuff tonight. He will need to pitch the game of his life! Im a Jays fan, so I'm rooting for the Red Sox to go down and an all LA World Series.
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I was worried about missing the game tonight, but I am so excited that I don't have to. It's almost magic, I just downloaded a "mobile browser" and I will be able to watch the game live on my cell phone. This thing is freak'n cool. Let me know if anyone is interested.
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I just moved out to Boston from Orange County for grad school, and as soon as I knew our Angels would be at Fenway I decided - what better use of student loans than to support my team! So . . . I was at the game last night and it was amazing! I took my responsibility to represent all my southern California Angels fan brethren very seriously, so I got there early enough to see our guys take BP and yell my support, to which they gave me a few thumbs ups, head nods, and smiles. When the game started I knew it would be tense, Fenway is small and boxes in the noise of the crazy fans. And whenever I tried to show my support for the Angels, particularly after each of Nap's bombs, I was yelled at and told to sit down. Haha, I loved it! Finally getting to annoy Red Sox fans at their place the way they've always done to us back in Anaheim! I will say, on the whole, they were pretty cordial when the tension was not at a max, and I even had some polite conversation with a few of them . . .
But when we gave up those three unnecessary runs and as the innings wore on and the crowd got louder, I had a nervous feeling in my stomach that made me think with every new inning the odds tilted a little more in Boston's favor. My one hope was that our defense would keep us in it until we could get past Masterson and Papelbon. I was sure that with our offense we could break through against whoever else they would bring in. And lo and behold, Shields and Frankie got us through some tense moments and we were able to get that chance against Lopez . . .
Napoli's home runs were awesome, but it was that single through the left side that led to our winning run with the help, of course, of Kendrick's perfectly executed sac bunt. It didn't seem like Aybar had gotten too many good swings in during his earlier at bats, but I knew if he could just sit on his pitch and get some good wood on it, he'd come through, and sure enough he did just that! Great pitching by Weaver and a sweet play by Figs at the end there sealed our victory, ended the postseason drought, sent a message to Boston and gave us another day to live. . .
It was past 2am when I finally got back home last night (this morning) and I was bone-tired and cold, but I could not have been happier. I know we still have to take this one tonight and get back home for a game 5, but I feel good about our guys having that particular monkey off their backs. I'm hoping we go out tonight and drop bombs all over that misshapen ballpark - make a statement. . .
After the game, I stayed at the park for several minutes to soak up the victory and the crowd's great disappointment. On my way out I walked down towards the field and took a peak into the Angels dugout and I overheard a Red Sox groundskeeper say, and I quote, "I've never seen this stadium clear out so quietly." Haha, that's our team, baby. Go Halos!
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