Angels Tame Hot Streaking Tribe Winning 2 Out of 3
The Angels took two out of three against the first-place Cleveland Indians and gave Mike Scioscia his 1,000th win as a manager, while all of Major League Baseball donned the now traditional pink accessories for Mothers’ Day in support of Breast Cancer. Not a bad weekend, eh? Outside of baseball, it’s actually been a weird weekend for me. I brought a lot of work home, we had my in-laws over for Mothers’ Day and we got to go to the game last night (Yay!), so there wasn’t a whole lot of time for extras including, sadly, blogging. We didn’t even do our usual Friday Gourmet, Wine and Angels. We watched the game, but it was more of a Friday leftover (but still delicious) taco salad, Kristen building PDF forms for work and Angels kind of affair…though we did enjoy Pasoport’s lovely Ruby port for an extra innings dessert.
I remembered to bring an actual camera to Saturday’s game instead of just my Droid, so I figured in lieu of a more detailed write-up of the games, I’d just share some of the photos I took. It was mostly a good game with lots of scuffling back and forth, and right up until Maicer Izturis’ uncharacteristically terrible decision to run to third in the 8th, I thought the guys might pull this one off. Unfortunately no, so I was greeted with this very sad, very unlit Halo when we 
left the stadium. I mention the Halo a lot but it occurs to me that you might not all know what I’m talking about. The Giant A you see before you is the Big A’s namesake and was the stadium’s original scoreboard. It was moved to the parking lot and transformed into an electronic marquee when the stadium was renovated in the late 1970’s to accommodate the Rams. When the Angels win, the Halo around the top lights up, which is why so many Angels fans great a win with loud variations on Light that baby up!
We had the exact same seats we had for the last game against the Indians, oddly enough. First row of the top level, two sections behind third base. What a difference a few megapixels and a real zoom makes! This is Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar stretching and goofing around with, I believe, Orlando Cabrera before the game. I know old school rules outlaw fraternization between opposing players, but I actually like seeing the players hang out together before the game, then put their game faces on try to outdo their buddies:
I was pleased to capture this shot because you can the first long stride of Jered Weavers delivery (the right foot then lands right at the base of the mound or slightly off of it and angling towards first during his release, pretty cool stuff) and Mark Trumbo and Izturis moving into position at first and third. Weaver looked a little off all night, like he had to work for each pitch. I think he is still recovering from the weakening effects of his stomach ailment last weekend. I have no doubt he’ll be back on top again soon:
Angels players hang out on the bar of the dugout in the bottom of the first. I believe that is Tyler Chatwood to the left of Bobby Wilson (#46). Chatwood pitched a great game Friday night, but was unable to earn the win – he needs to work on his walk to strike ratio. Fernando Rodney was lights out on Friday and definitely earned the win…and then he almost blew it for the Angels on Sunday. I wish he could figure things out.
Mark Trumbo (in the on deck circle) and Howie Kendrick (the RBI) congratulate Vernon Wells on his two-run homerun. He’s coming around. It’s taking a little while, but he’s coming around:
Bobby Abreu takes a swing. It seems like such an obvious thing to say but, looking at the last several games’ stats, when we hit the ball with runners in scoring position we win. When we don’t we don’t. The Angels had 8 hits in Saturday’s losing effort compared to 6 in Sunday’s winning one. Its not the hits, it’s the hitting when it counts:
Mark Trumbo shown in one of what would be the many attempts to pick off Grady Sizemore at fist. Our fielding this game, and indeed in the rest of the series, was very good with the Angels committing 0 errors:
The photo I wish I had? The Kiss Cam focusing on the Indians Bullpen! Basically, in the middle of the 6th inning, the cameramen focus on couples throughout the stadium, showing them on the Jumbotron in a heart- shaped frame and any couple who finds themselves in said predicament is supposed to kiss. 90% of the time, I think it’s annoying. I generally do not like any of the gimmacks geared towards the fan with no attention span. Watch the game, okay. But every now and then something funny happens with the Kiss Cam. At the Angels vs. Indians game I attended in April, the Kiss Cam panned into the Indians bullpen for the final shot, focusing tightly on two relievers (and I wish I could tell you who) who were in a deep discussion that took on overtones of “A Talk” with the Kiss Cam added context. The fans laughed uproariously and the relievers didn’t even seem to notice until the last second when they just looked surprised before the Kiss Cam faded to black. This game, the Kiss Cam again panned to the Indians Bullpen (I have no idea what the story is, they don’t do this with any other team). But this time the relievers (I assume the same ones) were ready for this treatment and one of them pretended to slap the other one, who jumped back and pretended to cry while the first reliever pretended to look huffy. Well played gentlemen! You are excellent sports!
So, all in all, a few things to work on in coming games, but still another great series! Congratulations to Scioscia on his 1,000th win as a manager! I wish I had been there to see it. I am looking forward to the coming series against the White Sox. They’re coming into Anaheim on a few wins, so we should see some good baseball…and I have tickets to Tuesday’s game. Can’t wait!
This is a very simple game... 
Wow, great pics from the game. Top level front row are the best seats in the house, IMO. The super zoom makes us feel like we’re right there with you. Also impressive wins for the Angels, as the Indians are proving they are the real deal in the Central.
–Mike
http://burrilltalksbaseball.mlblogs.com
Nice photos!!!! The one with the pitcher Jered, is incredible!!!.
—Mark Gauthier
http://cubden.mlblogs.com/
Great pics! And what a kiss cam story! Nice! Did you happen to see Will Ferrell and John C Riley’s kiss cam shenanigans at the Lakers game recently? That was a classic! Google it if you haven’t seen it!
–Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
Congrats on 1000 for Scioscia, Kristen! That makes him the franchise manager for the Halos – well deserved, too!
As for the Kiss Cam, I went to a networking mixer last Thursday hosted by that bloody cultural lifestyle magazine I used to freelance for. The magazine is hosting another group (900-1000 seats) for a Twins game in July and the organizer of the event is plotting to get them to scan the Kiss Cam into the group’s section. Oh, the mayhem in the stands!
Personally, I can’t stand the Kiss Cam. Just sayin’.
– Randy
http://heirloom.mlblogs.com
Reason #947 to love baseball. The bullpens. No sport has ever had as goofy a group of players as Major League bullpens. Even considering the current beard epidemic.
~Rob
http://robsanto.mlblogs.com/
It was a great series, even though we lost Saturday’s game. I was one of the 40k lucky enough to see Sosh’s 1000th win, and the atmosphere was incredible. I haven’t had that feeling at an Angels game since K-Rod broke the single-season saves record, and even that paled in comparison.
Loved that Chatwood was actually the best pitcher of the weekend, and loathed that Fernando Rodney nabbed two “wins”s. All-in-all, a great weekend to be an Angels Fan… I can’t wait for the rest of 2011.
-Josh
http://www.angelsnation.net
Mike – Thanks! Yeah, I am really starting to see the appeal of seats at this level beyond the affordability. I think the Indians are the real deal this season. Those guys were playing well. I am thrilled the Angels could compete and win.
Mark – Thank you!!
Jeff – Thanks! Yeah, it was pretty funny. I don’t watch basketball much. They’ll take my L.A. card away for saying it, but I think the Lakers are a bunch of spoiled brats and I can’t bring myself to watch a team that doesn’t feel it’s necessary to put any effort into playing until just before the playoffs and will say as much to the press. But it sounds like I will have to google that. I can only imagine.
Randy – Thanks! Sosh is something else! My favorite Dodger and definitely my favorite manager. I understand hating the kiss cam. I think it’s stupid, has nothing to do with the game and potentially discriminatory because I know they won’t show every kiss. It’s only funny when people do the unexpected, like the Indians bullpen did and like your lifestyle magazine group is planning on – I want to see YouTube footage of that, especially the mayhem in the stands.
Rob – Agreed, it takes a special and wonderful kind of warped personality to survive in a major league bullpen and I do enjoy the end results.
JT – Lucky!! I am so jealous. I was hoping they would get the 1,000th win on Saturday and then I couldn’t go on Sunday. Rodney deserved the first win, I think, for really pulling out the clutch, but the way he nearly blew Sunday’s game should almost count as a negative win against the first one. It’s really nice to see Chatwood coming along though. What a great addition to the rotation!
— Kristen
Love the pics! Your camera has great zoom. I always try to take pics like that when I go to games, but my camera isn’t the greatest and I always end up with blurry dots of the players.
Your KissCam story is the first amusing one of those things I’ve heard! Now instead of those thngs being annoying 100% of the time, I’ll reduce it down to 98.67% of the time 🙂
Catherine
http://chisoxblog.mlblogs.com/
Thanks Catherine! Part of it is a pretty good camera. Part of it is I have steady hands – I learned when I had to take my own event photos for my publications when I worked in nonprofits. And here I thought the kiss cam was so obnoxious and non-baseball that it was an only in California thing. I’m not entirely certain I’m happier knowing almost all stadiums use this annoying tactic, LOL!
— Kristen
You’re not the only one who thinks about the Lakers that way (though perhaps the only one in L.A.). I like to say that Kobe has only two rings (the first three were Shaq’s).
–Jeff
Congratulations to Scioscia on his 1K! I wish he was still a Dodger. sigh. One of many of Dodger mistakes in letting Scioscia get away.
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your post and pics made us feel like we were at the game.
Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com
Aw, Kristen, looks like your guys snapped out of it last night? Ready for the rubber match?
Catherine
http://chisoxblog.mlblogs.com/
Seems lilke your boys found their stride last night and it seems to be continuing. Also, we seem to have these magically appearing holes in the defense the last couple of days that weren’t there before. Someone on twitter tonight said that he saw Christopher Lloyd hanging from the foul pole and Danny Glover sitting in the dugout. 🙂 Maybe that’s our problem.
But, hey, when things are whirly and not going our way, at least Ozzie will put in Omar Vizquel – which always makes me happy.
Also, in other news, night games are late when they happen in California and I keep having to stay up pst my bedtime. 🙂
-Keleigh (Watching the Dandelions Grow)
Jeff – I completely agree.
Emma – Thanks! Yeah, Scioscia is something else. Definitely glad the Dodgers decided to look in other manager directions. 🙂
Catherine – Last night in a big way that’s for sure. This rubber match is killing me…or maybe it’s just the calls, but at least they’re bad across the board I suppose.
Keleigh – No Angels in the Outfield, LOL. It’s bad enough some fans have started doing that stupid arm flapping thing from the movie…that started late last season. Well, it looks like you’re staying up even later tonight.
–Kristen