It's About Time, Angels

Well, what a weekend for the Halos, wouldn't ya say?

First, we get a Nationally televised game on FOX, much to the dismay of millions of sports fans across the United States then we get a thrilling, back and forth Sunday afternoon game against the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks.

Sunday's tug-of-war 12-8 victory over the Diamondback's Triple-A affiliate - oh wait, that was the Diamondbacks' professional team? Oops, my bad - did two things: 1) it wrapped up interleague play for the 2008-2009 Major League Baseball season and 2) cemented the Angels' third three-game sweep over opponents from the horrendous minor league division that is the National League West.

The win also boosted the Angels' interleague record to a Major League best 14-4. Sure the 14 victories came via NL West foes but don't laugh, these NL West teams are {trying not to laugh myself} quite, hmm how can I put this nicely? Competitive? All in all we swept the woeful Padres at home, the Giants on the road, lost 2 out of 3 at Angel Stadium to the Los Angeles Joe Torres (ouch!), took 2 out of 3 from the Rockies at home and swept the dreadful D'Backs in Arizona.

With the combination of an Angels victory and a Rangers defeat on Saturday the Angels leapfrogged Texas to take over sole possession of first place in the American League West for the first time all season.

Ah, there's no place like home. Ah, and a warm seat to boot! Thanks Texas!

Over this 18-game interleague stretch, it looks as if all question marks are finally beginning to stabilize. Namely, Juan Rivera.

I'm guilty of being one of those who buried Juan before the season, saying the following: "So you're telling me this summer we decided to invest our money into a mediocre outfielder who's never hit more than 23 homers in a year and has had a history of injuries instead of chasing one of the greatest right-handed batters of all time? Did we at least get some free balls in the deal?You can't tell me signing Manny Ramirez wouldn't have re-energized the Angels faithful. And all this talk about Manny possibly not being happy in Anaheim ... we're right next to Disneyland for God's sake! The Happiest Place on Earth! How could Manram not enjoy living next to Disneyland for two to three years? Instead, he's hitting dingers for our hated crosstown rival and we're left with Juan Rivera (a fourth outfield, at best) hitting .200 for three years. Grrrrrreat."

(In a perfect world, The Weakest Link lady would turn to me ever so slowly, glance coldly at me as if I was dressed in drag, and deliver the patented haymaker: "You ARE the weakest link, good-bye!")

Needless to say, Rivera has already surpassed my underwhelming expectations with 73 hits, 12 home runs, 41 RBIs, a .305 batting average, a .504 slugging percentage and a cemented spot on my fantasy baseball squad. All this while Manny Ramirez is hitting longballs for the Inland Empire 66er's. Do I wish Manny Ramirez was hitting dingers for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (our single-A affiliate) and still secretly visualize him in an Angels uni? Of course I do.

More importantly, Vladimir Guerrero is starting to show signs of a pulse. I'll admit, about a week ago I was getting ready to throw in the towel on Big Daddy Vladdy's illustrious and historic career. He was below the Mendoza line and showing no signs of life. His swing was flatter than Nicole Richie. He had less pop than Carson Daly and less pizazz than Heidi Montag (damn right I made a reference to The Hills). But I still had hope. Hope that one game we'd see him golf a ball over the outfield fence, clumsily trot around the bases, give a few Tiger Fist Pimps along the way and give an unadulterated DX Chop to all the fans who buried him.

However the reality was he was carrying around this glazed, Blake Griffin "I can't believe I'm going to be playing for the Clippers for six years" look on his face the whole time. That is until this past week. During the Rockies series, Guerrero finally delved into his emergency power supply and emerged a balder, yet rejuvenated hitter. Yes he still swings at pitches that bounce five feet in front of the plate at an alarming rate, but we Angels fans have come to expect and accept that from our future hall of famer.

You see, what makes Guerrero so unique is his uncanny ability to step up to the plate and hit the ball 400 feet after such a debilitating and humiliating swing. But all of a sudden he wasn't doing that. He was just swinging at bad pitches. You could tell Guerrero's leash was getting a little tight - much like the David Ortiz situation in Boston - and we were all left wondering what had happened to our goofy, yet lovable right fielder.

As his 2nd home run of the season glided over the right field wall on Wednesday, you could practically hear Angel Stadium let out a collective sigh of relief. Now even though we didn't embarrass him by asking for a curtain call (cough, Boston, cough) we did let him know that it was good to have him back - even if it was only for one night.

As for the positives, if Chone Figgins continues to play the way he's playing right now, next season he's going to be Oprah rich. Unfortunately it's not going to be the Angels who are paying him. What's going to happen is we're going to cut ties with Figgins (because he's more than likely going to be asking for too much) after this year and hope one of our highly-regarded prospects pans out, bidding an Au Revoire to another proven major leaguer in the process. It sucks. Lucky for Angels management, they're not going to have to pay Figgins a bonus for making the All-Star team considering the only spots reserved for Angels players in the Mid Summer Classic are the team's leading homerun hitter (Torii Hunter) and incumbent closer (Brian Fuentes). Hopefully Figgins catches on in a big market city in 2010 so more people will recognize and appreciate his irreplaceable contribution and astounding consistency. We're keeping his nickname though. That's ours.

Though our bullpen isn't exactly on par with the Red Sox' or the Dodgers' it is beginning to come around. We were dealt Mike Tyson blows when the durable and dependable Scot Shields went down with an arm injury and Jose Arredondo all of a sudden switched bodies with pre-glasses Ricky Vaughn. However, with the help of some serviceable arms from Salt Lake, the bullpen isn't quite as bad as it once was. Don't get me wrong, our bullpen isn't "great" by any means, but for where it started it's much improved.

So, as of June 28, 2009 the Angels are riding a 5-game win streak (winning 14 of their last 18 overall. Thanks NL West!) and are in sole possession of first place. After a rocky and frightening start, it's hard to argue that the Angels aren't once again the team to beat in the American League West.