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Vlad's Game 1 gaffe was latest Halo playoff woe
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More on the playoffs:
I'm not sure I ever saw a guy in a room full of people look so alone. He stared straight ahead, acknowledging no one, nothing. If only his wounded feelings could be numbed like his aching joints, you'd feel better about the Angels' chances here. But looking at the timer, you wondered how long the damage to his confidence would last.
It's only a game, of course, the first of the 2008 Division Series against Boston. But it's more of the same for the Angels, who have been swept in their last two playoff series against the Red Sox. What's more, Wednesday night will be remembered as a wasted opportunity for the home team. Boston's Jon Lester pitched brilliantly, getting stronger as the game got longer.
But the play of the night, the one that epitomized the Angels' postseason woes, was Guerrero's baserunning blunder.
Already famously unsuccessful in October, Guerrero returns with a postseason batting average of .183, exactly 140 points lower than he's hit in 12 big league seasons. By the eighth inning, however, he was 2-for-4. Having just smashed a single to left off Red Sox reliever Justin Masterson, he represented the tying run. The score was 2-1. Then Torii Hunter blooped an accidental hit into shallow right field, just beyond the grasp of Kevin Youkilis.
Guerrero took off, looked back to see the ball drop, then took off again on his gimpy knees. His was quite a trot, slow and oblivious. Guerrero took no notice of the third base coach signaling him to stop. He didn't know what was going on until the ball reached third, about 20 feet ahead of him.
"I was very surprised," said Hunter. "I didn't think he would be going from first to third." You could feel the stadium deflating. The fans had no expectation that their team would come back. The next batter, Howie Kendrick, grounded out to end the inning. The Red Sox scored two more in the ninth.
"I think the mood did change," said Hunter, when asked about the effect of Guerrero's mistake. "But you've got to keep battling, keep fighting, not let it deflate you. Thank God we got a day off tomorrow to get it out of our system. That's something I've learned playing in the postseason. You've got to have amnesia."
Hunter arrived in Anaheim as a free agent, a .300 hitter in five playoff series. He is one of the players, along with Mark Teixeira, who's supposed to change the franchise's fortunes. But you wonder, after Wednesday night, if they'll be enough.
The Angels — the only 100-win team in baseball — managed a total of one unearned run. In other words, they've picked up right where they left off in last year's division series when they scored four runs in three games against Boston.
Guerrero would explain himself thusly: "I saw the ball drop and I thought it was farther than it was. I did not have a chance to look at the third base coach. If I had seen that, I would have stopped. I'm very upset with myself."
He wasn't the only one. "You got to give Jon Lester a lot of credit," said John Lackey, who allowed only a two-run homer to Jason Bay in the sixth. "But we've got to find a way to score some runs. It's pretty frustrating."
For the record, the pitch to Bay was a two-seam fastball, away. But from Lackey's perspective, the pitch wasn't the issue: "When things like that are costing you games you've got to look at the bigger picture ..."
The bigger picture? No offense, bonehead plays. "The fact that we're talking about one pitch, let's be honest ... you've got to make your own luck. We've got too much talent ..."
Too much talent to waste. This is supposed to be the year for the Angels. Not only did they add Hunter and Teixeira, but Boston's loss is supposed to be their gain. Curt Schilling, no slouch in October, is gone. Josh Beckett, the best big-game pitcher in baseball, is injured.
As it happened, Lackey lasted 6.2 innings. He was good. Lester was better, though, striking out four of the last six batters he faced.
A year ago, Lester was best known as a cancer survivor, having just undergone treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He didn't even pitch in the Division Series. Now he's riding a two-game postseason winning streak, a run that began when he started the clinching game of the 2007 World Series.
"It's a huge win for us," said Lester, who spoke of the "momentum" and the "confidence boost" his "shut-down inning" had provided.
The Angels clinched their playoff spot Sept. 10. It seems long ago. Now you wonder, in this second season, what has happened to their confidence? Is it, like Vladimir Guerrero's, something that's been put on ice?
Member Comments
Why don't you get over the 100 win season and the destiny thing that the Angels thought they were supposed to win. Kevin Youkillis made a great play as did Jason Varitek. The Angels made qutie a few poor plays thats what wins or loses championships. They Red Sox had some great teachers in making great plays like Youkillis and Varitech did.<br />We learned from the Yankees. I hate to admit it but some plays that killed us by Jeter showed us how to win. Jeter once dived into the stands to make a play, he came out bloody , but he got the out. Jeter is a great teacher.
zigberttime10/7/2008 19:24:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
RedBox3<br />"Who care? I just saw those guys are dating with several hotties on the HOT SEXY&MILITARY dating site<br /><br />'UNIFORMEDMATE,.COM'.<br /><br />MOST of them are HOT girls."<br /><br />Hey man, what are you talking about? Is that true? I have checked that site. Some sports celebs are hanging out there.
TiTanFans200810/7/2008 10:47:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
The biggest myth about the playoffs is a the five game series! Little can be measured in a five game series only the known fact that if you start off slow your doomed. With the parity that currently exists in Major League baseball it only takes a hot team to excel in a five game series. Boston and LA were very hot teams going into the playoffs...they won the first two games and the series was over! The fact that it only takes two more games to be a seven game series I don't understand why they should stay with a five game series...makes no sense.
Tommyeagle10/7/2008 10:40:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
VeteranJack<br />Hey buddy, I've no time to watch the games these days, lol. Because I am lookin for a girl on ____u n i f o r m e d m i n g l e. c o m Meet military hot girl online on that site. That's cool. So what do u think of this?
ReganSmith10/7/2008 9:32:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
Her's how one can prove whether or not playoff experience is given too much weight. go back through the last 20 years of playoffs and see what the return -or lack thereof- would be on a $100 bet on every team with more experience would be as opposed to the flip side- $100 bet on every team with less experience. This would be difficult in that it would involve finding the betting odds for past series and making a subjective determination of how to determine playoff experience. Would it be number of playoff games for everyone on the roster, or simply based upon the teams' recent playoff experiecnce prior to the applicible series.
Jake101110/7/2008 9:10:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
here it comes...overmanaging will cost the angels again!
AngelLoco10/5/2008 19:45:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
Mark K. did you know your wife is having an affair?
lanefrost10/5/2008 7:05:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
Why is anyone talking about the Pats/Giants Superbowl? My team got its butt kicked in historical fashion, its the beauty of football(See Dolphins/Pats week 3). However, I respectfully maintain my hatred for all things in the NY sports world. Love the city, but the teams and their fans can p#@s off!!!! The Jets and my Pats will not do a damn thing this year, count on it and watch out for the Bills.
lallycolumn10/5/2008 2:47:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
The reason why the Angels won't win is because MLB's biggest story would be Manny vs. the Red Sox, watch, I bet it will happen.
datailes10/4/2008 22:17:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
jets ....what a joke ....now you have a QB who's mouth is as big as the dooooshbeg in the firemans helmet...Jets wont win 7 games this year
hgdlljh10/4/2008 13:54:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
Hopefully you'll have the class to admit that you were WAY wrong and write an apology article AFTER THE JETS MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS.<br /><br />EAT CROW DOG LIPS.
Jayhawk44410/4/2008 12:15:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
I'm guessing you got 'kicked down' to baseball duty after you're crappy comments on Favre - especially since he showed you up.<br /><br />HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Jayhawk44410/4/2008 12:14:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
Hide behing your computer - I hope Brett Favre kicks you into next week with his superior play tomorrow.<br /><br />You're a WEAK assessor of the competitive fire of winning atheletes.
Jayhawk44410/4/2008 12:12:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
Hey Kriegel, where are your Brett Favre bashing stories at now? You are an absolute loser for the comments you made about one of the most talented, tough and competitive atheletes the world has ever known. Favre is also one of the top five quarterbacks of all time.
Jayhawk44410/4/2008 12:10:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
All time clutch post season players. 5. Chipper Jones. 4 Chunky C Sabathia. 3 Alex Rodrigez. 2 K Rod. 1 Vlady G!!!!!
simonlebon10/4/2008 8:56:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
I would like to meet a sincere man who knows how to live happily. You can contact me at " BillionaireRomance .c om".If you are a sex hooker, leave me away. I love true guys.
GucciLoversss10/4/2008 6:08:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
So angelloco what exactly do you want to call this current angel post season performance if not a collapse? Should we say they are "thriving" in these playoffs? As I stated earlier this is a WEAK MINDED collection of players. Hopefully the angels have the good sense to let kcrap walk. The only reason why he had a great 2002 was because no one knew who he was. So hopefully angels will also not pick up Vlad's option and figure a way to dump Shields, Figgins, Anderson and some others and choose to build around Tex instead.
dawgg210/4/2008 4:06:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
NYYDude<br />10/3/2008<br />4:58 PM (report inappropriate content)<br /><br />hgdlljh,<br /><br />You can make up all the lies you want to, in the end, I will always be better than you are. And keep on wishing, but the Yankees will never match the record of failure that your Rag Sox (yes, loismustdie, it is the Rag Sox, since they and all of you fans are a bunch of pusies having that time of the month) have so pathetically accomplished. I stand by my statement regarding all of you Pats fans admitting that the Giants won that game outright before I admit anything. Too bad that you can't produce your end of the deal. But then, since you really are the biggest pusie on her, hgdlljh, you would try and distort things to work in your favor.<br /> HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH<br /><br /><br />no lies just fact....and you are correct it is that time of the month.....for the Sox to beat the Angels in the playoffs.......looks like the Yanks have had an hysterectomy playoffwise...ah too bad<br /><br />2000.....2000.....2000
hgdlljh10/4/2008 0:08:00 AM(Report inappropriate content)
I find it funny that this article is on the angels and people start talking about yankees-red sox even though thats not the case right now
scottymak10/3/2008 19:02:00 PM(Report inappropriate content)
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