How Howie Inspires Konfidence

by Rev Halofan on Jun 22, 2011 3:00 AM PDT in Et Cetera

Of course, the disarming smile melts you. And then the good fielding keeps you in line. But when Howie Kendrick cracks a double with the sound of every wooden atom in his bat exploding life a bullet, that is when you confirm the desire to consider Howie an alltime Angels great. He exudes the confidence you wish the other eight would deliver.

Consider that Howie Kendrick is in his 6th season as an Angel. More years than Scott Spiezio, David Eckstein or Fred Lynn. He has the most Plate Appearances of any active Angel. Only Maicer Izturis and Ervin Santana have been here longer than him. He made his debut a month before Jered Weaver got the callup.

In Angels franchise history, Howie has hit two more doubles than Doug DeCinces did with the team. Howie did it in 950 fewer Plate Appearances. He has 11 more doubles in 1,100 fewer PA than Don Baylor and Rod Carew. In four games he will become the 34th position player to surpass Troy Percival's 579 Games as an Angel, the team's pitching appearances record.

Here is a cool ranking: Games played at 2B by an Angel. Of course Bobby Grich is at the top with over a thousand games played there. Adam Kennedy and Bobby Knoop are 2nd and 3rd on the list and Sandy Alomar Sr is 4th. Howie has played 487 games at 2B for the Angels, 5th most in franchise history. Never mind those 72 games at 1B or the few in the outfield that the Vernon Wells injury earlier this year forced him to LF. He is the 2B of this team for this era, the golden years. The Los Angeles Golden Years of Anaheim. And who cooler to spend it with than Howie Kendrick? Nobody cooler. Nobody.

Some franchises have assertions about when a player actually became a player on their team. Some guys you get the feel are just here for a while, others are always Angels no matter what jersey they put on. Some we are not so sure about and then one day he just becomes an Angel, you cannot think of him differently. Well, we all thought of Howie as an Angel since day one. His presence on the field and at the plate has always seemed like it was just supposed to be this way.

And who would want it any different? Nobody.

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