Why We Watch - 2008 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

March 4th, 2008 by Tuffy Posted in baseball, mlb, why we watch |

There’s 200 days or so of baseball to come this season and it can be quite intimidating to jump into the deep end of the baseball viewing pool.

To help, Refrigerator Logic is providing a list of reasons to watch every Major League Baseball team for the 2008 season. Anyone that’s read all the team lists should be able to pull up the MLB schedule on any day in early June and find reasons to enjoy any contest on the board that night.

Please join in the comments to add your own reasons. Tell everyone why your team is worth three and a half hours of their lives on any given day. Make us care and we’ll be there with a tasty beverage and an appreciation for what you feel each time your team takes the field.

Transactional Analysis

These two gentlemen either have an odd sense of fashion or $112 million of Arte Moreno’s money. (Then again, that’s the kind of money that allows your fashion sense to be labeled “eccentric” and not “homeless chic”.)

Torii Hunter’s 5 yr/$90m contract brings his Famous Proven Veteran persona to the Angels, effectively replacing Career Year Wonder persona Gary Matthews, Jr. Both men are wildly overpriced, but this isn’t a concern for baseball fans; Arte can cover the financial bill.

More importantly for viewers, Hunter’s an entertaining player and person. He’s still got enough speed and savvy to track down balls in center and the flair to make it look oh so pretty. He may spend an awful lot of striking out, but one can forgive Moreno for taking a gamble (though one may also wonder why Andruw Jones wasn’t worth the same gamble for fewer years).

The fine fellow to his left is World Series Champion persona Jon Garland, acquired from the White Sox in an exchange of expiring contracts.  He may be only a third starter these days, but he fills a need better than the exiting Orlando Cabrera.  On the other hand, Cabrera was well-liked ’round these greater Los Angeles general area parts and Garland will be expected to succeed immediately.

In both cases, the cost for Moreno will come more from his ego than his wallet.  If another offseason of expensive acquisitions fails to push the Angels out of the first round of the AL playoffs, his ego may have finally written a check that his bank account can’t cash.   Watch to see how both men handle the pressure and the effects of aging on their skills.

The Ego States of the Angels in the Outfield

Down on the field, manager Mike Scioscia has more egos to juggle than open positions.  Unless his petition to Bud Selig to expand starting positions to 10 players to allow for a short center fielder to sit on the cooler behind second base is heard soon, Scioscia might have to start breaking hearts with his firm parental stance.

In the outfield, Gary Matthews, Jr. is feeling a bit put-upon by Hunter’s arrival and has chosen the nearest chunk of turf (left field) as his new home.  This is, of course, news to the current resident, Garrett Anderson.  He has a certificate of “dibs” signed by Mickey Mouse himself.  In right field, Vladimir Guerrero has kicked his feet and then plopped onto the turf at the idea that he might rest his legs at DH a little this year.  If he can’t play right field every game, he’s taking his glove and going home.

On the infield, there are little kids everywhere trying to take spots away from the grown-ups.  Erick Aybar feels ready to pick up the Cabrera mantle, but Maicer Izturis brought glove-flavored Kool-Aid for everybody and totally thinks it’s unfair he might have to play a utility role.  Chone Figgins couldn’t agree more as he wants to know why Brandon Wood keeps lingering around third base and taunting Chone with “I’m not touching third.  I’m not touching third!  Is this bothering you how I’m not touching third?”  At catcher, Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis are all smiles at sharing the starting job because all that squatting is a lot of work, y’know?

Scioscia will stick to his guns and take advantage of the depth provided by his large group of very skilled boys who he’s very proud of, all of them.  There will be platooning and DH rotations and bruised egos and it will all go away after they’re up by 14 games in the AL West.  Mike’s doing it this way because he *is* the boss of them and they can go to their rooms and sulk until playoff time as long as they do their chores to win the division.

But they’re *so* moving out when their contracts are up.  Hmph.

Rally Monkey, You’re a Desperado

Then the ape grew very depressed
Went through transactional analysis

The World-Famous Rally Monkey returns for his ninth season, quite the accomplishment in this business.  Most stars would be happy to collect their syndication money and fiddling with their production deals, but the monkey’s strapping the sign back on and getting out there.  That’s dedication.  (Or someone bought a house in the Valley.)

It’s easy to forget one’s humble beginnings when you’ve reached the heights of entertainment.  Look back at him in the early years and it’s easy to think you’re just looking at a clip from Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.  How low-rent!

Still, he caught on at just the right time, carrying the squad just two short years later to a world championship.  (By the way, you can see the Monkey’s ring on display at the LA Zoo in 2009 as part of the “10 Years of the Rally Monkey” exhibit, touring zoos nationally and internationally.)

As with any success story, some missteps were to be expected.  The Monkey started attaching his name to unfortunate and unsuccessful causes.

Still, he’s back after hitting the gym last winter and rededicating himself to his craft.  He’s ready to carry the Angels further than their first round exits of recent vintage.  He also wants to remind everyone that he is the starting Rally Monkey and has no interest in ceding his position to Torii Hunter.

Warm Fuzzies

For all the drama surrounding the Angels, though, the best reason to watch the Angels on any given night has to be the unadulterated joy of watching the 2007 Home Run Derby champion swing the bat.  Vladimir Guerrero wouldn’t be anyone’s pick to win the Home Run Derby any more than Dirk Nowitzki’s jump-heavy three point shot would be.  Yet both mercurial men won their showcase trophies on luck and passion as much as skill.

Vlad’s swing is unfettered by considerations like thought or planning.  The primal nature of his bat handling puts into question any study of the sweet science. Why study film or chart tendencies when Vlad can just grip it and rip it? He flings his entire being into every stroke.  Would that any of us every try injecting such passion and uninhibited action into any single motion of our life, much less the one we would be defined by!

And yet he does not miss often.  If he does not care for a pitch, it does not enter the field of play.  If a pitch is to his liking but not remotely close to him, he hunts it down like a fierce predator.  That pitch might be resting comfortably in its tent, thinking it has finally lost Vlad, when he rises from a nearby mudhole with bared fangs and eyes full of cold intent.

Also, he’ll bring a bat.

It’s unclear how much longer a swing that intense can last, from injury or fatigue.  Be sure to catch it while it’s in the wild.