99 Days Until Opening Day

Opening Day, April 1, 2013 is ninety nine days away.

There have been one hundred walkoff homers in Angels history. This is the story of #99.

August 18, 2011 - The Rangers had taken three straight games from the Angels and were seven games ahead in the AL West. It was hard to keep hope with the season sinking beneath our feet at such a quick pace. Jered Weaver had pitched seven innings of one run ball and the Angels offense could not manage anything.

Bobby Cassevah pitched a scoreless eighth and with two out in the ninth, Mike Scioscia brought in Horacio Ramirez of all people to get one out. He struck out Endy Chavez with a runner on second to end the inning.

Torii Hunter led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit off of Texas reliever Mike Adams. Mark Trumbo planted a 1-1 pitch deep down the LF line and into the Anaheim night. The crowd, those who had not Dodgered on out of this heretofore turkey of a game, went crazy.

Angels win 2-1. Of course, the Angels never did catch Texas that season, but this game gave them new hope, verve, swagger and life. It psychologically kept Texas in "pennant race" mode. By early September the Angels got to within a game and a half of the Rangers. While this was ultimately fruitless for purposes of an Angels playoff appearance, what it did do was force the Rangers to keep the A-Team out there a little longer each night, to bring in the best relievers in tight games deeper into the season.

When you look at how the Rangers bullpen laughably flushed away Game six of the World Series two months after this walkoff Trumbomb, you have to imagine that the cause and effect of one simple swing was more than just a 2-1 victory on a Thursday night in Southern California.

This was Mark Trumbo's second career walkoff homerun. It was the 99th in Angels history.