Eric Young, Jr. was amazing in Angels 2-1 win over Braves, but the death of “Buttercup” is the real hero

Angels 2 Braves 1

On a night when every Albert Pujols AB filled the air with electricity, when the starting pitchers (Jesse Chavez and Jaime Garcia) were doing a little dueling, when Eric Young, Jr. was wowing those in attendance with a violent catch and a violent homer, when the Angels won a game and thus won a series, the main story of the night was still the apparent death of “Buttercup”.

I saw a tweet from beat writer Taylor Blake Ward that mentioned “Buttercup” was no longer being played during the 7th inning stretch, and I almost let out a jubilant scream that would have scared my neighbors half to death. Could it actually be true?

Then, when I tweeted out my ultimate excitement and relief that the reign of “Buttercup” may be over, I began to get confirmations from fans that were in attendance tonight and two nights ago.

It seems to be true, people. “Buttercup” is dead and buried. We won. WE WON! No more embarrassing song played during the 7th, no more self-fulfilling prophecies delivered by some saccharine-sweet 60’s radio gold. The fans who hated “Buttercup”, and they were a large, vocal swath of Angels fans, could finally have much-needed closure to this years-long ordeal where they were subjected to such inanity and cluelessness on display by the front office.

If you actually LIKED “Buttercup”, well...you’ve been Buttercupped. Welcome to the Post-Buttercup era...2017 P.B.

The Angels got a win, thanks to another gift run by the Braves defense that tied the game at 1-1 in the 7th inning, and then Eric Young Jr. completely destroyed a baseball in the 8th, sending it into the RF stands on a rocket, and giving the Angels the 2-1 advantage. This was no accident. This was because “Buttercup” was no longer infecting the Big A with its losery loserdom.

The only run the Braves got was from...you guessed it...a home run, this time a solo shot from Matt Kemp in the second inning. Normally, I’d use this space to rail on the Angels’ pitching staff for giving up yet another homer in 2017, but who cares? The Angels eventually won the game, they won the series, and “Buttercup” has been taken out to the woods, Old Yeller style!

That is all that matters tonight. Mike Trout may be gone for a couple months, and we may have a dozen other big problems to talk about as Angels fans, but “Buttercup” getting the boot, after so many seasons of making me ill and/or furious, does a pretty good job at making me not care about any of those things.

“Buttercup” has been defeated. The Angels won. Life is very, very good.

UPDATE:

Tim Mead just confirmed it, folks. IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE!!!!