Halos Heaven

weird series

to “cheer” for either side ( nauseating ). Last year, cheered on NYY against BOS every time, but now they’re the champs. . .and still had to cheer for them against first-class, bonafide a$shole Beckett. . .vs. Big John? Well, Go NYY again. Gonna be interesting to see how Lackey reacts to no longer being lead dog and to the whole overhyped circus atmosphere. . .oh, and to his new pinball machine of a home park.

LUVtheLAA - April 7, 2010 reply

I had to explain what was going to happen to my friend who was a sox fan....

My prediction: 5 shutout innings, until the meltdown inning when he walks jeter, granderson, arod on 12 pitches and then yeilds a slam to tex. When Francona tries to pull him he has a tantrum on TV.

This happens for 10 more starts until he goes on the DL with a hangnail.

Nashdiesel - April 7, 2010 reply

it's what he wanted

be a bit careful of what you wish for.

M.Napoli For President in 2012 - April 7, 2010 reply

Hopefully Napoli

But its a toss up

Biggsy said it's Naps.

red floyd - April 7, 2010 reply

it is the nips

hell ya
my fantasy team sucks with no catcher stats

You have to have Torri

cause how could you not. . . so he shoulda made up for no catcher stats.

But yeah it is crummy not to have catcher stats.

no just

Pujos
Granderson
heyward (big game today)
CC
Verlander
Matsui
uggla
And Naps and Mathis (so i can switch them up)

I do

I am in a keeper league and right after the keepers were selected and we were in the 1st round of actual picks, my computer locked up and I got Torri. So he has to have a good year or else.

Who the hell is Torri?

red floyd - April 8, 2010 reply

It is the brother of Tirrger

DAD OF VLAD - April 8, 2010 reply

Are we going to discuss both the NYY-BOS game and LAA-MIN game here?

BOS-NYY suck

Are you an ESPN writer?

ryanfea - April 7, 2010 reply

Can I have a dollar?

foxpaw - April 7, 2010 reply

now you dont start that

ughh do we have to??

desecrator09 - April 7, 2010 reply

I'd like to see John Lackey get lit up

Jeter breaks up the no-hitter.

Downing Rules - April 7, 2010 reply

game thread goes up at 7

you can talk about whatever you want here as long as it is baseball

Rev Halofan - April 7, 2010 reply

On yahoo.com team report they have the following quote:

"We are going to be a team that has the ability to drive the ball better than we have at any time since maybe 2000."
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia, on the team’s offensive capabilities in 2010.

Uh, the team went 82-80 that year and finished 3of4. ok it made me laugh.

The record had nothing to do with ability to drive the ball.

Did you see the pitching staff on the 2000 team? Our top WINS pitcher was Hasegawa with a whopping 10!

Downing Rules - April 7, 2010 reply

That team also hit 236 HR, slugged .472 combined, and scored the third most runs in Angels history. Last year’s squad was anemic in comparison: 173 HR and a .441 SLG, though they did score 19 more runs. The difference is pitching and defense: the 2000 team actually gave up more runs than they scored.

Good point about the D

124 errors in 2000 vs 86 in 2009.

Downing Rules - April 7, 2010 reply

Also, everybody was scoring runs in 2000

The 2009 offense, given the context, was much more impressive.

Yes, this is true

The average AL team scored 857 runs that year, which was ridiculous (must have been a warm summer, ahem). But it doesn’t sound like Scioscia had context in mind in that particular quote. He seems to think this team can mash like that one did. Whether he’s right or not is something else. I think it’s rather unlikely myself.

Oh, we'll have the 2nd most homers of the Sosh era, for sure

great more flyball outs

Napoli starts tonight

lineup:

Admiral
Chupa
Piñata Killer
Stan
Kowbell
Geraldo
Howie Lewis & The News
Side Salad
Balsa

yeswecan - April 7, 2010 reply

Atleast Soth is showing confidence is B-Woody

hopefully he comes through with something hard tonight…no pun intended

it'll take alot to get Scioscia to pull Wood

And it’ll be couched in the “giving some time to Izturis” excuse.

yeswecan - April 7, 2010 reply

I love Woddy I hope Soth gives him the same time

to prove himself that he gave Aybar. That turned out well.

Wood needs to start showing he deserves to be in the bigs

I think Scioscia will give him more than enough time to show it.

yeswecan - April 7, 2010 reply

He will prove it, he has everywhere

with due time he will become a legit MLB player

I've been waiting for this lineup...

Hope it explodes tonight.

Wytelitning - April 7, 2010 reply

I don't understand Scioscia....

Start Mathis with Saunders on the mound, probably our easiest pitcher to catch, yet throw Naps out there for Santana, probably our hardest pitcher to catch. I thought he valued defense?

I still think Naps is a solid defensive catcher. Scioscia just expects more of his catchers.

Halowood - April 7, 2010 reply

Well I remember Scioscia wanted both of them to catch back to back days before the season started.

Did Mathis end up doing that? I know he missed one start because of a bruised hand.

That might be it

~MMP~ - April 7, 2010 reply

Here comes the blowup inning for benedict lakcey baby!!

Guess not

Maybe next innning

Yeah fingers crossed, lol

he does look better in a red sox jersey, was way to weird looking for an Angels jersey. He fits in well there.

M.Napoli For President in 2012 - April 7, 2010 reply

Napoli

Is going to go deep tonoght and K-Mo

Tonight**

M.Napoli For President in 2012 - April 7, 2010 reply

I heard they are honoring Rory Marcus tonite. Is this true?

Yes

*Markas

fyi

I knew that, just expect typos from me. It happens and will happen again

cool

enjoy the game.

Pregame Picks results

where do we find ’em? JW

I know how to make the picks… just curious where to look where to see how I’m doing already (betting balance). sorry if I’m just lost as usual.

postgame thread

red box to click after the pagebreak.

Rev Halofan - April 7, 2010 reply

Quote of the day

“I’d hate to see him pitching if he had non-slippery balls.” — Dusty Baker about Chris Carpenter

Lackey hit Derek Jeter

lol

In retaliation to Pettitte plunking Youk

Epic Dean - April 7, 2010 reply

Lackey running out of gas, hope for a bomb by the Yanks

tanana40 - April 7, 2010 reply

Double play?

WTF!?!?!

John Lackey is too good.

I think he sealed up the Cy Young Award for the season tonight.

bc56274 - April 7, 2010 reply

Vlad hit a homerun.

He has already sealed up this year’s MVP title.

bc56274 - April 7, 2010 reply

I suppose

Figgy has already sealed up the batting title and Oliver has sealed up the Rolaids Relief Award

ryanfea - April 7, 2010 reply

Vladdy owning Arlington like we knew he could.

Turks Teeth - April 7, 2010 reply

Lackey can thank his old friend Scott Schoeneweis for blowing up his win

Just like old times, right buddy?

I find myself rooting for Scott

cause of all the stuff he has gone thru in the last year what with his wife. It is the sympathy vote.

Harden lasts 3.2 innings in Texas

5 walks, 8 strikeouts, 90 pitches, 3 runs … on one hit. Pretty normal.

Where definition of normal is freakland.

8 of 11 outs on Ks — one earned run — but out before four elapsed.

Still a pitcher that could go in any direction this season.

Turks Teeth - April 7, 2010 reply

Considering his injury past...

…. 8 pitches per out does not sound like a formula for long-lasting success.

Same could be said for Kazmir.

But small sample size and all that.

Turks Teeth - April 7, 2010 reply

Standard operating procedure for Harden

Not very efficient, but nasty as hell. The only thing missing is a tweaked groin or something. But I keep thinking about Harden, one season he’s going to stay healthy for 162 games and totally dominate. Just hope it’s not this season.