Sloppy Angels Drop One to Yankees: Saturday Halolinks

by WiHaloFan on Oct 17, 2009 7:55 AM PDT in Angels News

Angels get off to a sloppy start -- latimes.com
Mike Scioscia is constantly stressing the importance of "bringing our game onto the field." The Angels brought something onto the Yankee Stadium field Friday night . . . and whatever it was, they had to call in a Hazmat team to clean it up.

Mistake-riddled Los Angeles Angels fall flat in ALCS opener - ESPN
Fresh off sweeping the Red Sox in the Division Series, the Angels opened the ALCS as if they were fresh off a long winter of golf and scuba diving. Los Angeles had nearly as many errors (three) as hits (four), walked five batters, hit another, threw a wild pitch and trailed almost the entire nine innings of a 4-1 loss to the Yankees.

Yankees 4, Angels 1 - Small Ball and a Big Lefty Lift Yankees - NYTimes.com
There were no base-running high jinks by the Angels, no first-to-third dashes, no daring leads, no stolen bases. Sabathia kept the Angels stuck in their tracks for eight innings of a 4-1 Yankees victory, allowing four hits and striking out seven with a walk. He was an island of cool that had nothing to do with the 45-degree weather.

Boxscore - Angels/Yankees - Sporting News

Hour by Hour Weather Forecast for Yankee Stadium - weather.com
Hour by Hour Weather Forecast for Yankee Stadium, New York, including weather conditions, precipitation, dew point, humidity, wind sunrise and sunset.

Team Reports - CBSSports.com
There is a 90-percent chance of rain on Saturday, raising the possibility that Game 2 will have to be postponed. One possibility would be to play on Sunday in New York, turn Monday into a travel day (rather than Game 3 in Anaheim) and play the next three days at Angel Stadium. Wednesday is currently scheduled as an off day between Games 4 and 5.

Angels need to play their game -- latimes.com
The Angels have played four postseason games. Figgins has gone 0-for-4 in every one. "We've got to get Figgy on," Hunter said. "If we don't, we're in trouble."

Angels need Figgins to find his stroke - angelsbaseball.com
"It doesn't help," Figgins said of his slump. "I personally love trying to get on base and create havoc. Like I said, I'm staying positive. Having good at-bats is what I can do, but I'd like to see some results before this ends."

Video highlights from last night's game:

TV, radio calls for Angels' dropped popup - MLB.com
Television and radio broadcasters make the call for Hideki Matsui's dropped popup in the first inning

Vlad hits a double that misses by inches - MLB.com
Vladimir Guerrero hits a double that just misses being a home run

A-Rod out at home - MLB.com
After running through the third-base coach's stop sign, Alex Rodriguez is called out at the plate as he collides with Jeff Mathis

What We Learned: Halos give Yankees some help - Bill Eichenberger - Sporting News
Three things we learned from Friday's 4-1 victory by the New York Yankees over the Los Angeles Angels in Game 1 of the ALCS:

A-Rod takes blame for blowing through stop sign, being called out at home
Rodriguez admitted he blundered, saying, "Once I saw the 'go,' I put my head down. It's my mistake." He added that he was "OK," after the collision and said he did not purposely try to lead with his less-vulnerable left side. "No, once I screwed up, I figured my only shot to be safe was to run him over," Rodriguez said.

Angels face cold hard facts - Yahoo! Sports
The Angels had no objections to A-Rod’s conduct. "It’s October, man," Lackey said. "I mean, I’d run over my mom in October." Now that’s cold.

Yankees rise above pressure, conquer Angels in Game 1 - Ben Reiter - SI.com
Why, Hunter was asked, did the Angels' uncharacteristic breakdown happen, on this stage, against these Yankees? "I have no idea at all," he said. "The cold has nothing to do with it. Maybe it was loud. Fig was saying, 'Aybar, Aybar, you got it,' and Aybar heard something else. For me, it was just a bad hop. That's baseball."

The Top 10 Reasons Why the Angels Will Bomb the Yankees - Bleacher Report
1. The Angels are the better team. Yes, the Yankees probably have the better talent. They certainly have the most expensive talent. But the Angels play as well as a unit as any team in baseball.

Bungling Halos don't respond well to New York's big chill - CBSSports.com
Some baseball players are so soft they make golfers look like Marines. The Angels though took the cake on softness. Jeez, tighten up those sports bras, fellas. It was 45 degrees at first pitch, not minus 45. The ALCS isn't being played on Soldier Field in January. This isn't the Iditarod.

Angels defense better in perception than reality - FOX Sports on MSN
The Angels carry the big "fundamentally sound" rep, but the perception of their defense, at least this season, does not match the reality.

Those guys look familiar - Angels blog - OCRegister.com
Escobar said his shoulder feels healthy now "it’s just the endurance" that is a problem. "When I throw hard, I still feel a little pinch in there and it gets irritated and it takes longer to recover," he said. Escobar’s contract expires after this season and he is eligible for free agency. He said he "definitely" believes he will be able to pitch somewhere next season and he hopes it is with the Angels.

Fans Find Ways to Show Loyalties and Battle Elements - NYTimes.com
For the handful of Angels fans sprinkled throughout the stands, keeping warm was just one challenge. Yankees fans serenaded Hiraiwa and his friend Ross Roshandel, another Californian, from the moment they arrived at the Stadium. Some of the comments were good-natured, but plenty included four-letter embellishments. At their seats in Section 414, they were on their own, cold and lonely. "I knew that coming in this would happen, but I have to cheer for my team," said Hiraiwa, who said he bought his ticket on StubHub for $200, about twice what he would have paid for an equivalent seat in Anaheim.

An Extension For Abreu? - FanGraphs Baseball
According to Jon Heyman, the Angels have offered a two year contract extension for Bobby Abreu worth $8 million a season. Adding Abreu has been one of the things that has pushed the Angels offense forward this year, and they’d understandably like to keep his bat around for the next couple of years. Is a 2 year, $16 million offer fair for both sides?

Blogging the Series - USATODAY.com
Angels: Chuck Richter, Angels win (http://AngelsWin.com)
Age: 39
Hails from: Southern California (Born in Redondo Beach, CA, lived in Riverside for years growing up & purchased our first house in Mission Viejo, CA. Currently living in the Northwest on a river, working in Seattle)

I thought the correct phrase was "Living in a van, down by the river". Anyway, Chuck continues his blogging on USA Today.

Dodgers rally to beat Phillies in NLCS Game 2 - nbcsports.msnbc.com
Andre Ethier drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk from rookie J.A. Happ, capping the Dodgers’ third comeback win of this postseason.

The other L.A. team evened their series at a game apiece.

October 17 - BR Bullpen
Events, births and deaths that occurred on October 17.

Poll

What surprised you the most about the Angels performance in Game One?

Their sloppy defense

396 votes

Their lack of hitting

70 votes

Nothing

57 votes

523 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Is there any chance

That this game doesn’t get rained out? That forecast doesn’t look good, even colder there in New York tonight.

by ryanfea on Oct 17, 2009 8:04 AM PDT reply actions

It's gonna be close.

I’ve been checking the doppler radar all morning. It might miss the Bronx to the west, might.

This team is our extended family, That's why we love them no matter what the record, no matter what the score.

by halofan4life on Oct 17, 2009 9:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Wanna be meteoroligist

LINK

An hour ago the doppler was THICK, now, not so much and looks like it’s heading more north than northeast. Of course this is all to the untrained eye. In case you were wondering further.

This team is our extended family, That's why we love them no matter what the record, no matter what the score.

by halofan4life on Oct 17, 2009 9:18 AM PDT up reply actions

Thanks

I’ve got my fingers crossed on this weather situation.

by ryanfea on Oct 17, 2009 9:34 AM PDT up reply actions

it kinda looks like yesterdays

everything is green which is a good sign…..i dnt see any red soo yeahh you right its going to be close

by Angels_48 on Oct 17, 2009 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions

Lackey has had some great quotes lately.

The Angels had no objections to A-Rod’s conduct. “It’s October, man,” Lackey said. “I mean, I’d run over my mom in October.”

This season is my best chance to get called out of the stands to pitch.

by Rally Manatee on Oct 17, 2009 9:06 AM PDT reply actions

Damn,

4 hits with the lineup that we have. This really blew my mind, C.C did a number on us. Cant wait for game 2 :)

They want power, We want respect...

by SenorChuckles on Oct 17, 2009 9:38 AM PDT reply actions

The official ammount of errors was 3

but we really had 4. There’s no way that botched infield pop up was an RBI single!

I hate how MLB lets the home team do the official scoring. It really should be somebody employed by the league.

RIP Nick. We will miss you!

by KingF15h on Oct 17, 2009 9:39 AM PDT reply actions

That's how it's scored everywhere

No touchie the popup, no error the popup.

by mattwelch on Oct 17, 2009 1:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Hard one to get over

I sensed the Angels didn’t want to be there. The dropped fly ball said it all. I want both Figgy and Aybar to want to catch that ball. They should be yelling and waving their arms and literally fight each other for the opportunity to get an out. Instead, they seemed emotionally unprepared to play a tough playoff road game in less than ideal weather.

I sure hope they show up next time to play.

by Diving Catch on Oct 17, 2009 11:55 AM PDT reply actions

Fuck MLB

for this “get a day off for every game played” type of scheduling. Why not just hand the world series trophy to the Royals? Because even they’d have an ALCS title shot if they could march out Zack Greinke 3 times in one series. Seriously, 162 games in 180 days…then, assuming you sweep the playoffs, you can actually get as many days off in SIX MONTHS as you do in the 28 day playoffs?

I don’t want to make excuses for losing THIS game…but it’s so unacceptable to let a paper-thin rotation team like the Yankees cover up their huge, glaring weakness by giving them the ability to use the same starter 3 times in 7 games because you wedge in constant, unnecessary off-days. Let’s play some REAL baseball, like we do the other six months.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Oct 17, 2009 1:48 PM PDT reply actions

yeah

this post season schedule pisses me off more than anything. we should have played the yankees by wednesday at the latest. With this incredibly stupid schedule, CC could have hypothetically pitched the last game with the twins and still pitch for game 1, 4, and 7 against the Angels.
also, yanks should not have been allowed to play on Wednesday after twins / detroit needed to play on Tuesday to wrap up the division. that was major fucked up too.

Angels 2009 WS Champs

by dan73962 on Oct 17, 2009 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions

If they had a "paper thin" rotation

how’d they manage to win 103 regular season games?

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Oct 17, 2009 3:19 PM PDT up reply actions

"Luck"

Shazaam.

This team is our extended family, That's why we love them no matter what the record, no matter what the score.

by halofan4life on Oct 17, 2009 3:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Cardboard thick

lineup and bullpen. Really, really thick cardboard. Part of the reason NY had so many comeback wins.

However, as a Yanks fan I wouldn’t mind shortening the off days. We would have won the series in 2001 without facing Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling a combined 5 (6?) times. Ditto for the 2003 World Series when Josh Beckett was so dominant.

by GMan83201 on Oct 17, 2009 3:22 PM PDT up reply actions

Eh whatever.

It’s the playoffs. You should have to earn that shit. You want to win the ALCS you should have to beat our best pitcher three times. We should have beaten Shilling, Randy, Beckett, whoever. They can start their best pitcher three times too if they want. I think it’s a lame argument.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Oct 17, 2009 3:29 PM PDT up reply actions

I don't think there's gonna be a game 2 today

but just in case, Go Joe!!

and yeah this scheduling is complete and utter B.S.. hoping MLB gets all the weather problems they deserve this weekend (then we Halo fans won’t have to also suffer with a Monday day game).

"This is a guy who is a combination of great courage and, nuts!"- Steve Physioc

by Brian S (brianguy) on Oct 17, 2009 2:34 PM PDT reply actions

I though it was particularly stupid

That both ALCS teams swept and then had t sit on their hands for 6 days. Wait 3 or maybe 4 and then get rolling!

game 1 of the ALCS this year was played on the same day as game 7 of the ALCS in 2003. We should be gearing up for the World Series right now (not saying which team will win, just that the WS should be getting under way).

by GMan83201 on Oct 17, 2009 3:24 PM PDT up reply actions