Angels @ A's - MLB's Greatest Rivalry Resumes

by Rev Halofan on Jun 6, 2008 12:40 AM PDT in News Comment 47 comments

Many pundits thought this would be an off year for baseball's greatest rivalry, but I was in the minority in correctly predicting that Billy Beane reloaded this off-season and was prepared to battle with the favored Angels for the division title as fiercely as he has 5 out of the past 6 seasons. The Green and Gold Pennypinchers have not faded, nipping at the Angels' heels like the hungry dogs we know they are, ready to attack at the slightest hint of weakness. We are in First Place but they will not be beaten back without a direct confrontation - and we face them in their own dirty kennel this weekend.

With two young quality starting pitchers acquired thru trade (Greg Smith and Dana Eveland) bolstering the Harden-Duchscherer-Blanton trio, the Athletics have the best starting pitching outside of Boston and L.A. of Anaheim in the American league. Their bullpen is solid and the weakest link, Huston Street, still has 12 saves under his belt.

Their offense has shared a good part of the load this season and they have a healthy Eric Chavez back as well as touted rookie Carlos Gonzalez up to take a spin beyond 4-A. The A's split a four-game series in Anahiem earlier this season and the one thing to note about their game this year was that while great starting pitching held them at bay, the batters murdered every Angel pitching mistake and slaughtered anything even approximating league-average pitching. This is not the No-Hit Mathletics of Moneyball Walking that we have snickered at, folding their tents in September and On-Base-Percentaging their way down the drain ... these bats will kill the lackadaisical fielders and the panicky pitchers.

Let's get ready for a weekend of the West's two most storied franchises of this century's first decade. They are going at it again to make great baseball for all of us.

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and i'm going

to the game tomorrow, and possibly even the on on saturday too.

i’m definitely hoping we win while we’re there, not only cause i hate to see us lose to fremont, but because going and sitting in that P.O.S. stadium is bad enough, i’d hate to lose and have to listen to the annoying a’s fans all the way back to the car.

"Here we go baby, 'bout f***'n' time!"

by b0rd3rline on Jun 6, 2008 12:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Have Fun

Don’t get stuck under the tarps, bleach off the fleas and lice from the hippie drum circle when you get back home and avoid the Raider fan “black hole” come-ons (unless you are into that sort of stuff)

by Rev Halofan on Jun 6, 2008 1:03 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

thanks rev

i’ve been there before, and hated it. but i’ll do anything to see my angels play!

and on the bright side, school’s out for summer next week, so i’m coming home to SOCAL!! can’t wait to see ‘em play at the big-A again, its been WAY too long!

"Here we go baby, 'bout f***'n' time!"

by b0rd3rline on Jun 6, 2008 1:13 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

dude how excited are you to go home?

im headed back soon also…im psyched

http://inplaynoouts.blogspot.com/ - A blog about teams I like, written by me.

by Carl Johnson on Jun 6, 2008 8:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This should be fun.....Oh King Nick aint here to give up 8 runs we have upgraded to an on trackey Lackey with an ERA of 1.82

Put Kendry Morales at 1B, and move Sean Rodriguez to 3B......NOW LETS GO WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by acuda27 on Jun 6, 2008 1:04 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

This series is three weeks too soon

I’m gonna be at the tarptastic P.O.S. stadium during beerfest, Saturday the 21st. I am hoping against hope fellow Halo fans will be present , assuming your good in a brawl. I’ll be wearing my vintage Bob Boone jersey , and pretty inebriated ( not like Lindsay Lohan, but close)

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....

by halofolife on Jun 6, 2008 1:07 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Lindsay Lohan is pretty inebriated?

I’ve seen papparazi shots, and she’s pretty UGLY inebriated.

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Jun 6, 2008 8:20 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

meaning

Drunk, not a scrawny red headed bar hag.

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....

by halofolife on Jun 6, 2008 12:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know what you meant

But everyone around here (myself included) likes to deliberately misunderstand stuff, if they think it’ll get a laugh.

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Jun 6, 2008 1:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

made me laugh

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No problem.

I posted when I got home from work, cracked open some Cuervo, thought I might have typed something grammatically incorrect.

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....

by halofolife on Jun 6, 2008 3:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I will be happy taking two out of three from the Freakin' Future Fremonts.

Who knows, coming off the sweep in Sweepattle, the Angels have some good momentum and a great record on the road in their back pockets. Maybe Mike Napoli’s new Mohawk haircut will strike Road Warrior fear in the hearts of the former Kansas City A’s.

Go Angels!

by 44FAN on Jun 6, 2008 1:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'll be there...

tonight and tomorrow doing my level best to represent NorCal Angel fans. Saturday I’m even bringing my 5 month old daughter for her Angels-A’s rivalry initiation. Gotta start ‘em young!

by Ando775 on Jun 6, 2008 9:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

you should look for us

we’ll have a decent sized group of people in angels gear. if you need to be around friendlies, hit us up. not sure where we’re sitting tho. haha.

"Here we go baby, 'bout f***'n' time!"

by b0rd3rline on Jun 6, 2008 12:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure

where my seats are for tonight, probably nosebleeds, but for Sat. field level 1st base side row 14. Don’t know the section number. I’ll be the one holding the baby in the pink Angels onesie.

by Ando775 on Jun 6, 2008 1:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

oh.

well we’re buying the cheapest tickets, then moving around to better seats after an inning or two, since we know that the seats closer won’t be taken. lmao.

"Here we go baby, 'bout f***'n' time!"

by b0rd3rline on Jun 6, 2008 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i was started young also

and will be there for tomorrow’s game and sunday’s completion of the sweep. because that stanky-ass coliseum needs a good sweep

***Me to fellow die-hard Ryan after the Angels scored their tenth run on an eighth inning Tommy Murphy home run (10+ runs = free hot wings):

Me: "What the hell are you doing, dude?"

Ryan: "I'm flapping my wings for hot wings!"

Me: "Sit the f*** down and stop acting like a drunk 15-year-old, you ain't Christopher Lloyd and we ain't sitting in the outfield"

by AHaloInSF on Jun 6, 2008 10:36 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Excellent post, Rev

While I hate the team with a burning, unholy passion, I have to tip my cap to them for at least keeping it interesting every year with a variety of guys I’ve never heard of. I just think that the A’s play a particularly boring style of ball, but I guess that’s what happens when you play by statistics. We’ve had a fairly easy schedule thus far, and this series is going to be a real test for the Halos. Our bats need to heat up tonight, because while the Angels pitching has been nails, there’s only so far they can carry the team.

by RubixsQube on Jun 6, 2008 11:19 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm using my F-bomb.

FUCK THE A’S.

GO HALOS!!!

by Higz on Jun 6, 2008 11:29 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I know the Angels and the A-holes have competed for the

AL division title throughout the 21st century, but is this really a rivalry? You have to go all the way back to 2001 to find a year where one team dominated the other. I think a rivalry has have higher highs and lower lows give it energy. These two teams seem to always be about even when they meet. Also, where’s a heart breaking heart wrenching loss here? I can’t remember losing one to these guys that really hurt.

I suppose 2004 hurts for them but I can’t really feel the hate unless I’ve been punked at least once.

On the other hand, 1986 and 2007 give you plenty to hate on the as far as the bosox go. Also the bosox fans and the pizza thrower in left field are thugs. 2005 and AJ lewinsky… 1995 gives me something to hate about the aquamen, especially since their fans seem to spout off every year since we won the WS that they’re going to take us down only to get pummeled and swept.

The one exception to this thesis is the Yankees. We’ve never lost a playoff series to the Yankees and they surely hate our guts for ruining what is rightfully theirs year in and year out. So moshing those arrogant jerks definitely is enjoyable every time.

But the fremonts? They can’t even fill their stadium during the playoffs. And thats WITH the upper deck cordoned off.

It’s like sleeping with a drunkard. It seems like a good time because you won’t have trouble getting what you’re after but later you realize that the challenge is more than half the fun.

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 12:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

that is pretty much the OPPOSITE of what rivalry means but... uh whatever...

Rivalry means not one team so dominating the other that it can be taken for granted and that one has to always be “UP” for a meeting between the two.

But hey, you can take any word you want and make it mean whatever you want it to if it helps you write paragraphs… Does “toast” mean “handsome” in your corner of the Lexicon Universe?

by Rev Halofan on Jun 6, 2008 12:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

seriously

Just about every game between the two teams is decided by a run or two. How does that not create a bitter rivalry?

Heart-wrenching losses? How about losing on a throw back to the pitcher? How about Shields’ many implosions in Oakland?

On the other side, getting totally pwned by Lackey (27 consecutive outs recorded) had to hurt. How about seeing the Halos celebrate winning the division on Fremont’s own turf? Twice!

Plus you have the NoCal/SoCal angle.

Yeah, I’d call that a rivalry.

by jjackflash on Jun 6, 2008 12:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

First of all, there is no NoCal SoCal rivalry.

NoCal hates So Cal because we live in happy sunny paradise and they’re bitter and angry and resent our cheerfulness. So Cal on the other hand has sun glasses tinted too dark to even know that No Cal exists. When was the last time something happened in No Cal that made you say, “Wow, I wish I lived up there…”?

Rival and rivalry has approximately two connotations. Equal to another and competitive with another. Rev is emphasizing equal, I’m emphasizing competitive.

What gets my competitive juices flowing is a facing a team that smacked us in the face or has arrogant annoying fans, players, or paparazzi.

Facing the fremonts doesn’t do it for me. Their fans are lifeless, their players seem to have modeled their disposition after GA, and no one cares about the fremonts except for fantasy wonks.

Every game DOES seem to be decided by one run, and EVERY YEAR the two teams seem to have about the same record against each other, but be honest, wouldn’t knocking the bosox out of the the division series give you like a billion times more joy than sweeping the fremonts in the season series?

Hell, wouldn’t it give you a hella more joy to see AJ lewinsky get cold cocked by K-Rod after getting beaned in the bottom of the ninth?

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

use of hella indicates a NorCal vocabulary...

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 12:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

How ironic ;)

Check the second example used in the first definition.

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 1:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dude...in my college days on the central coast...

all I heard was HELLA from the NorCal’ers and how they hate LA and how we down here in LA steal their water. That urban dictionary posting is a NorCal word and it was entered by a NorCal’er. No coincidence on that example.

I have had this discussion here before, so there is some sort of rivalry between N/S but, folks down here just don’t care. We are all Californians as far as SoCal’ers know. The NorCal’ers are the ones with the identity crisis.

As Shaquille O’Neal once said, “Los Angeles is the capital of California.” What a genius that man is….

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I suppose that if my airport was closed 5 days a week because of

fog, I’d be grumpy too.

P.S. Not a Shaq lover but he was right about LA on that point. But didn’t he recant later?

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 1:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he looked at a map?

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

True.

I never heard the word “hella” till i started going to college up here in NO cal

Halos Fan Since 5th Grade

by angels4adam on Jun 8, 2008 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

well.

i “hear’ that norcal has the best pot. but i don’t smoke, so i don’t know. :-X

"Here we go baby, 'bout f***'n' time!"

by b0rd3rline on Jun 6, 2008 1:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I try not to inhale

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....

by halofolife on Jun 6, 2008 3:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

um

any postseason series victory trumps a regular season sweep

Seattle I would like to thank you for sucking. It allows me to get back to my roots: Hating Fremont.

by hauldog on Jun 6, 2008 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

But if you're talking to to a M's fan

they’ll tell you a preseason victory trumps a regular season sweep. :-)

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Jun 6, 2008 5:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

HIGHLY competitive

I don’t see how you can credibly and seriously claim that the teams are not competitive with each other, when they so clearly are. Frankly, when it comes to competition, what takes place on the field is far more important than whether the fans are annoying. That just makes zero sense.

And for the record, there are plenty of things about NoCal that SoCal can rightly be jealous of – better air, fine dining (San Francisco), natural beauty. There’s a lot to like up there.

wouldn’t knocking the bosox out of the the division series give you like a billion times more joy than sweeping the fremonts in the season series?

Yes. Also, I like cheese.

Neither has anything to do with a rivalry, though.

wouldn’t it give you a hella more joy to see AJ lewinsky get cold cocked by K-Rod after getting beaned in the bottom of the ninth?

Again, yes. But it’s a red herring, as it does not establish much of a rivalry. Two teams that regularly compete against each other for the same thing are rivals. When there is such a marked contrast in styles, as well as a geographical proximity, that only heightens it. Sorry, I just don’t feel much antipathy towards Chicago. Or Pierzinski, for that matter. The one I hate is Doug Eddings. Pierzinski was just smart.

by jjackflash on Jun 6, 2008 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

UCLA sucks in football and yet they are arch USC rivals.

Doesn’t fit your model. Sports rivalries apply more to fans than to players. There are all kinds of rivalries going on on the field between players that we don’t know about. I don’t think they have much to do with franchise history though as most of the players don’t stay with one club for more than 4 or 5 years. You’ve got Paul Pierce playing for the Celtics even though he grew up a Laker fan. I think the rivalry aspect is more of a distraction for players than anything else. I think players generally care about the quality of the opponent and not what jersey they are wearing.

So in that sense, the greatest rivalry is between the teams that are in the playoffs. And it’s often different teams every year.

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 5:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

the throw-back...

that’s the heart-breaker I remember the most…brutal loss.

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember that game but my point is it could not have been that critical.

I can’t even remember when it was. Only that it was Frankie that whiffed.

Most teams can lose at least 60 games a year and still make the playoffs. Losing in a playoff series or getting knocked out of the playoffs late in the season is more memorable and more emotional. I can’t remember the last time that happened with these guys.

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

RE: 1986 and 2007 give you plenty to hate on the as far as the bosox go.

2004 would like a word with you.

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

2004 doesn't count because...

1) I was just happy that they were there after missing 2003 and
2) I still hadn’t recovered from 2002 and wasn’t getting greedy.

by melvintoast on Jun 6, 2008 12:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

...and it was the Angels first division title since 1986

so there was cause for celebration.

I attended that game when Davanon squeezed the final out. The next night, I was at Candlestick watching my Rams blow out the niners (for a rare victory in SF). Still my best weekend of sports ever.

I agree with you, though, in that it is not really a rivalry. There is just no interest in the East Bay and no rabid fans. You got the horn blowers and the drum beaters and that’s pretty much it.

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

im glad im not the only one who still considers them my rams

the future looks bright

by halofan4life on Jun 6, 2008 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nope.

Not since they left the Coliseum for Anaheim (and damn near ruined the Big A while they were at it).

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Jun 6, 2008 1:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

about the same time that the dancer murdered the swimmer.

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

They'll be lucky to get back to 3 wins this year...

but I will still love ‘em.

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 6, 2008 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

last week of 2006

the future looks bright

by halofan4life on Jun 6, 2008 1:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Personally, I would rather see:

Tampa Bay win the East, and The Halos win the West, BUT…

The A’s do so well that they take the WC.

Not because I want to avoid the Red Sox or Yankees in the playoffs, but because I would love to see the Sox pwnd out of the post-season completely, and have the AL West be the reason!

by Stirrups on Jun 6, 2008 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs