Angels Flourish Despite Adversity

DETROIT -- The Angels have played a month without their two best starting pitchers, John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Their closer, Frankie Rodriguez, is just now rounding into form after dealing with two bad ankles. Their best pure hitter, Howie Kendrick, has played only 10 games because of a hamstring pull.

And yet they flew home early Monday, after winning four of six in Boston and Detroit, tied with Oakland for the best record in the American League. "They are," observed Jim Leyland, "really good." "We have a chance at something special," said Mike Scioscia, to which Torii Hunter added, "if our pitching comes together, we can be the best team in our league.

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"They're really tough to play," says Verlander. Indeed, they challenge opposing defenses with the theory that there are no red or yellow lights on their highway. The last two seasons, they led the American League in going from first to third, and they led in steals; they also led in getting thrown out going first to third and caught stealing. "We're encouraged to take chances and not be afraid," says Chone Figgins. "They force a lot of mistakes," says Leyland

"Infielders have to constantly be aware of steals and hit-and-runs no matter what the situation," says Boston's Dustin Pedroia, and his team's scouting report reminded Boston outfielders that the Angels will challenge any outfielder at any time. "One of my first spring trainings Jim Edmonds got thrown out going first to third," says Scioscia. "I told him, 'no problem. Don't stop doing what you're doing. That's the way this team is going to play.

What appears to be different about these Angels is that they are maturing offensively. Entering Monday's games, they are tied for second in the AL in runs scored, second in total bases and OPS, and tied for third in homers. Figgins, who admits he has worked hard to improve pitch recognition and get on base, has seen his on-base percentage rise from .338 to .390 to over .417 in 2006-08. Casey Kotchman is turning his patience and discipline into an OPS that's close to 1.000.

Catchers Jeff Mathis, who the Tigers believe is one of the best defensive receivers in the game, and Mike Napoli have eight homers, double the total of any other AL team behind the plate. Kendrick is a batting title waiting to happen, with comparisons to Bill Madlock and Tony Gwynn. And while Aybar has yet to learn plate discipline, he is an electrifying shortstop whose speed, bunting skills and hand-eye coordination may make him a significant presence.

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"This team has a chance to be really special," says Hunter. "We need time to get it all together, but as we've been putting it together, we've survived. This trip to Boston and Detroit was very important. Now come back and see us in a couple of months."

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you had to be "in" to read this, so i posted the entire thing from ESPN.com

UPDATE: HEY GUYS (from RevHF) - you can paste highlights of stories but not the whole thing, I came in and chopped this up a bit.