Garret Anderson tells it like it is

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 18, 2007 7:16 PM PDT

Say what you want about his bat, but G.A. is suddenly a panther-of-the-mouth. Naysayers be damned:

From the official website:

http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070817&content_id=2153802&vkey=news_ ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana
"They don't want to accept us," Anderson said. "They want to see superstars, players they're familiar with. They don't even have to be good players -- it's the perception that matters.

"We put a bunch of good players on the field that people don't seem to recognize. Look at Chone [Figgins]. The year he's having [batting .341, and .410 since May 31], imagine the attention he'd be getting playing on some of these other clubs. Here, he just goes about his business.

"Fans can tell you everybody who plays for the Red Sox and Yankees, but they'd have a hard time identifying our players. On the West Coast, they know about the East Coast, but it doesn't work the other way.

"It boils down to who gets air time. You watch the TV highlight shows, and they break down everything the Red Sox and Yankees do. For the West Coast teams, they show two highlights and it's over."

Anderson takes it beyond Anaheim and a team largely known as "Vladimir Guerrero and Co."

"Even when [Ken] Griffey [Jr.] was playing in Seattle, and A-Rod when he was young, they didn't get that much national attention, really," Anderson said. "Edgar [Martinez] was one of the best hitters in the game, and a lot of people didn't know it. It's all about the exposure.

"That's just the way it is. Those are the facts."

Poll

Garret Anderson:

Truth Teller?

49 votes

Truthiest Teller?

56 votes

105 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

WTF,

The Angels barely even get any coverage on our local (LA) television news channels, how do they expect to get coverage in the East?

by 44FAN on Aug 18, 2007 7:53 PM PDT reply actions

Garret knows

you may as well dog ESPN as everyone is waiting in line to suck up to them and getting nothing for it.

One day ESPN shareholders are oging to wake up and see that the big media markets in California, Texas and parts elsewhere are being utterly ignored and shut out and that is when the Red Sox and Yankees are oging to be aborted.

by Rev Halofan on Aug 18, 2007 9:01 PM PDT reply actions

I hate the East Coast Bias

as much as anyone. But doesn't anyone else see what's going on? ESPN will talk about the Yankees/Red Sox and call it the greatest rivalry in all of sports (which is completely blown away by almost any college rivalry) forever. The more they talk about it, the moer exposure the teams get. And as a result, viewers will tune in to see what's happening to them. For some, to cheer if they win. For everyone else, to cheer if they lose. I mean, I will watch a game with Joe Morgan in the booth just to hear what dumb stuff he says today. ESPN will continue to blabber on about the East Coast forever unless they are struck by a bout of righteousness, which is doubtful since corporations have small consciences and big bottom lines.

by BruinHalo on Aug 18, 2007 9:59 PM PDT reply actions

Here is the deal.

It is THE JOB of any media enterprise and EVERY media employee to CREATE and GROW an audience. If you cannot grab and grow audience share, you are replaced. It is the law of the land. It is NOT the job for the media to simply pick the low-hanging fruit and feed back what is easy programming to the easiest audience available - the base.

So what do they actually do? They take the pre-existing audience interest and feed it back to the pre-existing audience, using the excuse of "giving the audience what it wants". That is a bullshit cop-out. Yeah, give the audience YOU HAVE what it wants, but bust your ass to GROW YOUR AUDIENCE BY GIVING THOSE WHO ARE NOT CURRENTLY YOUR AUDIENCE A REASON TO BECOME YOUR AUDIENCE.

This is not an especailly hard notion to get a grip on. Nor, fucking ESPN dipshits, is it an especially hard thing TO ACCOMPLISH. Why not, you ask? Obvious. Those bastards have their jobs because, and only because, Madison Avenue pays all of the media employers for small chunks of opportunity to get behind the wheel of the media feed and MANIPULATE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE AUDIENCE. If the media market advertising was not effective, then advertisers would go elsewhere. The fact that they go directly TO the ESPN's and FOX Sports' of the world is total and complete evidence that advertising IS effective.

And what is advertising? It is manipulating the behavior of your audience. Manipulating. The. Behavior. Of. Your. Audience.

70% of the time, each and every hour, the media midgets have total control of what content they choose to provide. And they have the exact same power to manipulate audience behavior as the advertisers who use the other 30% to reach the same audience. Therefore, do they USE that power to DO THEIR JOB and try and grow their audience share beyond what is easy and obvious? Fuck no. That is too hard.

So, because of that, I laugh and applaud when I hear news of how some major sports league suffers poor ratings when the championship event is held. The teams that got there did so because they were great, and their effort was great, and in that greatness there were many interesting stories and athletic acheivements and plenty of personalities upon which the media elite might have based some effort towards building their audience even more than it is now. But because they did not, the "low hanging fruit" of an audince base has no reason to pay attention, and they switch away to the low-hanging fruit of the next sport in sequence. Low ratings = low revenue for the media. Low revenue = punishment where it hurts the most. And I, for one, am gleeful to see the media punished over and over again as many times as it takes before SOMEBODY figures out how to DO THEIR JOB.

by Stirrups on Aug 18, 2007 11:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Guys, guys...

it HAS to be because the west coast is still going on at 10:30PM Pacific time which is 1:30AM eastern. The main stories are already done by the time sportscenter comes on. Then, they simply add the west coast games as they complete. If there is something special to report, they might have a footnote the next day, otherwise, nobody in the east even sees ANYTHING that happens out here. Honestly, that HAS to be it.

Quit yer whinin' and START CHEERING!

by Downing Rules on Aug 18, 2007 10:08 PM PDT reply actions

This is obviously true

as we never hear about the east coast teams when they head out west. Except all those times when the Angels are "randomly" broadcast on the nights their playing the Yanks and Sox

by BruinHalo on Aug 18, 2007 10:15 PM PDT up reply actions

GA needs to wake up.

If he wants the East Coat Media to talk about the Angels more, maybe he needs to kick himself and his teammates in the ass and play better when the East Coast Media is watching.

So far on this particular swing east, he is 4 for 22 with 1 walk, 5 K's, 4 RBI and 8 men left on base asn the Halos have gone 2 - 4. I don't particularly want to watch much of that either.

by Stirrups on Aug 18, 2007 10:39 PM PDT reply actions

What the hell is with G.A.

even when he can't hit for shit during a stretch of time, runs get driven in. 4RBIs in 6 games (22ABs) is a good number. Something seems off about his whole career and his RBI stats. He doesn't even hit well in clutch situations this year, but his RBI numbers always stay constant.

Fucking twilight zone.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 18, 2007 11:10 PM PDT up reply actions

We have had a running gag in our house

for years. When the Halos are already up by 5, or down by 6, and it is the bottom of the 8th, we call it. GA is your man. He rakes.

GA gets just enough clutch hits to arm his supporters with a relatively recent anecdote in his defense.

by Stirrups on Aug 18, 2007 11:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Including game 7 of the World Series

he got the only hit that'll ever matter for anyone's career with that one.

I think the biggest thing you can say, for his career is that he's not NOT a contributor in the clutch. His numbers across the board in all clutch situations are pretty much exactly the same. If he had worked the walk into his repertoire during his career, his numbers would be very, very, very ridiculously similar to a certain shortstop who was recently discussed in another diary. If he could have stay healthy, he'd have had a shot at HoF numbers (via that magical 3,000 plateau). As is, I'd give him an outside chance...especially if he can find maybe a season or two of health in him. He always finds ways to get hits, meaningless or not.

Yeah, he can drive'em in with the best of them when it's meaningless, though...you've got that down.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 18, 2007 11:34 PM PDT up reply actions

He also had the clutch bloop single in game 6

My favorite "makes me happy when I think about it" play of all time.

I love it for a number of reasons.
1. The Giants looked like they surrendered.
2. Bonds was in the middle of it slipping and booting.
3. It always makes a team look bad when they get beat with a bloop.
4. McCarver has this ridiculous analysis that Figgy caused Bonds to whiff. The analysis is so bad it's good.
5. Other reasons that can't be described in words.

by melvintoast on Aug 19, 2007 7:30 AM PDT up reply actions

and....as I recall

I was upset Figgy slid into 3b when he could have scored on that play when BB booted the ball....?! :)

Stop swinging at balls out of the zone!

by K3YEROUT on Aug 19, 2007 6:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Do you ladies ever quit crying?

Who gives a flying crap about a perceived East Coast bias? Seriously, who cares?

ESPN is centered in Bristol, Connecticut.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the two most storied franchises in baseball history. They're going to get more publicity than the team with less than 50 years of history.

Who cares?

If I want Angels news, I'll listen to craterface Kevin Kennedy talking about his managerial expertise. Or Rex Hudler licking his eyebrows. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll become immersed with Angels knowledge with the alluring blonde Lindsay Soto, wearing her tight little jacket, and trying not to imagine what color her panties are.

If you don't like ESPN, turn the channel.

So, shut up, babies....just shut up.

Wahhhh.

Wahhhhhhhhhh.

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 1:35 AM PDT reply actions

Good one...

I actually PREFER to fly under the radar. To be the underdog. The one that nobody listens to or pays attention to. When we strike, we will strike mightily and throw everyone for a loop. It makes a better story and makes us feel better as fans when that happens. Better than having all the microscopes focus on every single move we make.

Quit yer whinin' and START CHEERING!

by Downing Rules on Aug 19, 2007 1:57 AM PDT up reply actions

Lindsay Soto

had better be wearing RED knickers when she covers our games!

Try getting that out of your head bc! :P

Don't call me Desmond

by highlandhalo on Aug 19, 2007 6:08 AM PDT up reply actions

Ibid

by mattwelch on Aug 19, 2007 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions

Dinnae see previous reference to

Lindsay's red knickers.

Goes to show where my mind is. My apologies welch.

Don't call me Desmond

by highlandhalo on Aug 19, 2007 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Please remove the word

"perceived" from your post, then I will accept it.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions

DITTO

but if I want Angels news, i come to HH and 6-4-2.

they go 24x7.

by rbrianc on Aug 19, 2007 12:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Me too!

Stop swinging at balls out of the zone!

by K3YEROUT on Aug 19, 2007 6:03 PM PDT up reply actions

I'll give you the Yankees but not the Red Sox

The Red Sox are not more storied than the Giants or Dodgers.

Infact, the Sawx-Yanks rivalry doesn't compare to the Giants-Dodgers rivalry.

Too bad ESPN doesn't acknowledge it.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions

I disagree on every single count.

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions

That's a shocker

Red Sox: .515 WP%, 6 World Series
Dodgers: .524 WP%, 6 World Series
Giants: .539 WP%, 5 World Series

Funny thing is that the Giants-Dodgers rivalry is the only one to ever span 3000 miles. A Hall of Fame player [Jackie Robinson] retired after being traded to the Giants. The series is as even as it gets, as well. They've played more games against eachother than any other two teams in a rivalry. By the way, the Dodgers and Giants are two of the top three teams in terms of all-time wins, with the Cubs sandwiched between them. Not to mention all the big events between the two teams from pennant race drama, to spoiling the other team's postseason hopes, facing eachother in a Championship series, and Juan Marichal attacking Johnny Roseboro. One fan killed another fan at after a game at Dodger Stadium back in 2003 -- I was actually there. That rivalry has more bad blood attached to it than the Sawx-Yanks rivalry.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions

And you didn't even have to mention

that the all-time series is 1,054-1,035, in favor of the Giants. How you can be that ridiculously closer over a 100 year history is AMAZING.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 7:58 PM PDT up reply actions

I mentioned it

The series is as even as it gets, as well.

I just didn't really elaborate on it like you did.

I'd rather watch a Giants-Dodgers in person for all three or four games than a Red Sox-Yankees series.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 8:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Just don't wear Giants gear

at Dodger Stadium. That place has turned into a fucking gangland in recent years. They REALLY need to do something about it. It's a blemish on the game and the franchise to have fans like that around stadiums.

Yeah, sorry...I saw that line in your post, I just felt the need to emphasize how close it was.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 8:39 PM PDT up reply actions

I wore my Angels gear to a Dodgers-Angels game

this season at Dodger Stadium. It was the only game the Angels lost despite a great outing by Ervin Santana. I had to hear it walking through the stadium. Funny thing was that the guy in front of me, wearing his Angels gear, flipped out on the people chanting "Angels Suck" at us. He responded with: "The last World Champion from California has 'Angels' in their name, jackasses!"

Needless to say, I smiled.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 8:43 PM PDT up reply actions

I just have one name for you:

George Herman Ruth.

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 10:14 PM PDT up reply actions

I have about 10 for you . . .

Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca, Jeff Kent, Dusty Baker, Jason Schmidt, and Steve Finley.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/caple_jim/1432476.html

At least one ESPN guy recognizes the Dodgers-Giants rivalry as being better. At least it's even and not a one team beatdown.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 10:42 PM PDT up reply actions

I thought you guys hated ESPN?

How convenient for you now.

I've got a dozen names for you: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Carl Yastrzemski, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz.

Please note your list included Steve Finley, which disqualifies you from future arguments.

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 10:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Your list

is just a list of all-time greats that played for either of the two teams.

His is a list of players that have keyed in significantly to crucial moments in the rivalries between the two teams: i.e. Finley's walk-off grand slam to eliminate the Giants from the post season in the second to last game of the season for the Dodgers in 2004.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 11:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh, really?

What did Barry Bonds ever do critical in a Dodgers/Giants rivalry series?

There is hardly any hatred between these teams anymore. There may have been back in the 60s, but it no longer exists.

Yankees/Red Sox, however....

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 11:13 PM PDT up reply actions

There was hardly

any Yanks/Sox animosity on any relative scale pre-00s. Since then, it's been the talk of the town, sure, but there's never been a consistent 100 year rivalry between the teams with the bad blood that there is between the Giants and Dodgers.

Barry Bonds is the Giant. No player has ever been hated by Dodger fans more, or ever will be hated more. He's hit 64 home runs against them, carries a .979OPS against them (all the more impressive considering his woes in recent years against them). He has been the utterly loathed face of that franchise, tormenting Dodger fans for 15 years. No one player in history has been more hated by an opposing team's fan base.

And on top of all of this, arguably THE biggest moment in the entire history of the sport was between the Giants and Dodgers; Bobby Thompson and Ralph Branca.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 11:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Do a poll.

Yankee/Red Sox
or
Dodgers/Giants

See where the bigger rivalry is.

I'm going to bed, but let's agree on one thing, Angels are going to dominate the Yankees this week.

Later man.

by bc56274 on Aug 19, 2007 11:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Such a poll

would only prove the exact thing I'm arguing.

That is that the perception of current fans, skewed by east coast bias into thinking otherwise, is ignorant of how marvelous and grand the 100 year rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers really is.

Take that poll 15 years ago, and people might not even be aware that there ever even WAS a Yankee-Red Sox rivalry in recent memory.

People in such a poll today would just know what ESPN has told them...that YANKEES RED SOX IS THE BIGGEST THING TO HAPPEN SINCE PARIS HILTON GOING TO JAIL.

In other words, such a poll would produce nonsense results from nonsense voters. The average baseball fan isn't half as informed on the sport as you, weavermania, or myself.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Yee of little knowledge

In 1997, a late September two-game sweep of the Dodgers at Candlestick highlighted by Barry Bonds' infamous twirl after a home run in the first game and Brian Johnson's home run in the bottom of the 12th in the second tied the Giants with the Dodgers for first place and eventually propelled them into the playoffs. The impact on both organizations was significant; Fred Claire, who was then general manager of the Dodgers, said "those two days have stayed with me for the last 10 years," and Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke argued that "it led to an organizational upheaval...(from which) (i)t has taken the Dodgers nearly a decade to recover."[4] In contrast, the Giants' run from 1997 through 2003 produced the most playoff appearances in that stretch for the franchise since the 1930s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgers-Giants_rivalry#Spoilers

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 11:38 PM PDT up reply actions

The Dodgers and Giants rivalry

is so damn intense that they freakin' MOVED together to stay on the same coast and continue their rivalry.

http://kotchatthebat.livejournal.com/

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Aug 19, 2007 11:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Somewhat true

The Giants moved because the Dodgers needed a team to take with them over to the west coast since the closest team to the Dodgers would have been the Cardinals all the way over in St. Louis. The Giants were needed in order to keep the Dodgers on the west coast and make it marketable. Walter O'Malley convinced Horace Stoneham to move the Giants to San Francisco instead of to Minnesota, where Stoneham wanted to move them originally.

If not for Walter O'Malley, the Dodgers-Giants rivalry wouldn't be the best in baseball.

Then again, a lot of Brooklyn people hate his guts. I understand that, but it wasn't his fault the idiots in Brooklyn wouldn't give the Dodgers a new stadium there.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by WeaverMania on Aug 19, 2007 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions

May I suggest. . .

just say "no". Ignore the national sports media. They've become as lazy and unethical as the rest of the Establishment media. What with Halos Heaven, 6-4-2 and a few other sources, I feel little need for ESPN, Fox Sports and the LA Times. I've learned more about baseball analysis from Matt Welch and Rob McMillin alone than I have from years of reading Mike DiGiovanna and his ilk. "Our" guys present the facts, give their opinion of them, and leave it to me to evaluate things. That's what journalism is supposed to be.

I miss the old Herald-Examiner sports section, but those days are gone.

. . .and the young lions will lock horns!

by rspencer on Aug 19, 2007 2:14 AM PDT reply actions