Holly Madison threw out the first pitch at the Angels game Wednesday night and the Angels' pitchers tossed a 1-hit shutout. Coincidence or do we have a Rally Hottie on our hands?
Up next for Angels: Thursday vs. Texas -- latimes.com
Lackey will make his final regular-season start.
John Lackey vs. Kevin Millwood.
Choir of Angels pitchers one-hits Texas -- latimes.com
There will be few relievers in the playoffs with as impressive credentials as a starter as Matt Palmer's. The Angels right-hander capped an improbable regular season with his final and perhaps most memorable start Wednesday night at Angel Stadium, uniting with four relievers for a combined one-hitter during a 5-0 victory over Texas.Palmer, Darren Oliver, Jose Arredondo, Kevin Jepsen and Rafael Rodriguez gave the Angels their first combined one-hitter since July 27, 2004, against Texas.
Team Reports - CBSSports.com
Setting the rotation for next week's Division Series against the Boston Red Sox is the Angels' main priority as the regular season winds down, manager Mike Scioscia said. "There's a lot of things we're considering," Scioscia said. "Number one is going to be setting our rotation. I think that's always the most important thing to do. Then you try to anticipate some depth issues that might come up in games. "But number one is definitely setting your rotation."
Rangers-Angels Preview - FOX Sports on MSN
Los Angeles looks to win its fifth straight Thursday night when it closes a four-game series with the Texas Rangers.
Team Reports II - CBSSports.com
1B Kendry Morales was chosen as the Angels' MVP by his teammates and received the award before Wednesday's game. Morales leads the Angels in home runs (33), RBI (105) and slugging percentage (.563), ranking among the AL leaders in each of those categories.
Weaver wins the Adenhart Award - MLB.com: Multimedia
Jered Weaver wins the Nick Adenhardt Award for top pitcher as voted by his teammates.
Video highlights from last night's game:
Angels one-hit Rangers - angelsbaseball.com
Daily Recap: Matt Palmer allowed one hit through five scoreless innings, and the bullpen finished the shutout, holding the Rangers hitless
Aybar turns double play with a spinning toss - MLB.com
Erick Aybar completes an inning-ending double play with a spinning toss from second to get Nelson Cruz at first base in the fifth
Quinlan makes a diving catch at third base - angelsbaseball.com
Robb Quinlan makes a diving catch at third to end the game
The rest of the video highlights
from last night's game.
Lackey ready for final ALDS tuneup - angelsbaseball.com
Lackey is expected to throw only a few innings as he prepares for a likely start in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Red Sox on either Wednesday or Thursday at Angel Stadium. "It'll be probably a little shorter tomorrow," Scioscia said of Lackey's start. "It's almost like just getting some work in between starts and getting a good feel."
Hard to get playoff handle on enigmatic Red Sox - FOX Sports on MSN
So, who are the Red Sox, exactly? October will tell us all we need to know. For now, we offer three reasons to fear the Red Sox ... and three more that should scare the Sox themselves. In the accompanying poll, 45% of the respondents said the Sox will lose to the Angels.
Red Sox bumbling, stumbling toward playoffs - Los Angeles Times
The Red Sox have lost five consecutive games and seven of their last nine.
Every playoff team's main concern, from Yankees to Rockies - Jon Heyman - SI.com
The reality is that every team -- and that includes the $200 million Yankees -- has something to worry about. Some imperfection, a flaw, a weakness. Here is a rundown of each team's main concern (and in some cases, concern is putting it kindly):
Who'll be the 'go-to' guy? - Los Angeles Times
Who'll be the Angels' "go-to" guy in the postseason? You know, like Kobe Bryant is the Lakers' go-to guy. We're talking about the player who wants to be up there in the clutch spots, the one who can get the key hits and drive in the big runs that might finally take out the Red Sox in the first round. Let's take a quick look at the top candidates:
Forget the reports, just play ball | know, scioscia, angels, every, pitch - OCRegister.com
If you want to know what pitch Jon Lester throws on a 2-and-1 count on a Thursday when it's 55 to 60 degrees and the high tide at Buzzards Bay is scheduled for 9 a.m. or before … By this time next week, Mike Scioscia will be able to tell you.
I don't usually link to many OC Register stories, especially one from Mark Whicker, but this is kind of interesting since it's sort of a stats story written by a guy who believes Wins are a good stat in evaluating pitchers, and some hitter are more "clutch" than others.
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals - Recap - September 30, 2009
At the very moment Justin Maxwell 's grand slam off All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez with two outs in the ninth inning cleared the red flowers atop the left-field wall, the Washington Nationals came sprinting out of the dugout. He drove a full-count fastball from Rodriguez (3-6) barely over the wall for his third homer of the season. The Mets led 4-2 entering the ninth, but Rodriguez loaded the bases, then walked Adam Dunn to force in a run en route to blowing a save for the seventh time this season.
Wow, I didn't realize Frankie was having this kind of season.
Angels hosting postseason rally Thursday - angelsbaseball.com
The rally is expected to begin at approximately 6 p.m. and admission is free with fans asked to enter the parking lot at the Orangewood entrance and enter the stadium through the Home Plate Gate after the completion of the eighth inning.
Someone bring a camera a post some pictures please.
October 1 - BR Bullpen
Events, births and deaths that occurred on October 1.
2008 - In Anaheim, the Red Sox continue their postseason dominance of the Los Angeles Angels by taking Game One of the ALDS 4 - 1. Jason Bay hits a two-run homer off John Lackey, while Jon Lester gives up only an unearned run in 7 innings of work for the win.
Happy birthday to:
1901 - Jimmie Reese, infielder (d. 1994) Jimmie would have been 108 years old today. If he were alive, you'd probably see him hitting fungoes before tonight's game.
1945 - Rod Carew, infielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer
I had created a fanshot about this yesterday, but this video is pretty cool:
