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Postseason Playing Pepper: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

If you were reading this blog before this season started, you may remember a series I did called "Playing Pepper", where I asked five questions of a blogger covering each major league team.  With the season coming to a close, I thought I'd tap into the talents of the newly formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance and ask five new questions of the bloggers covering the postseason teams.

Tragedy Strikes Angels

Most of you know by now, but if not, Los Angeles Angels rookie Nick Adenhart died in a car accident last night in California, only hours after throwing six scoreless innings.

Cardinal fans know about this.  We know about a young pitcher being with us one moment and gone in an accident the next.  We know about a pitcher not answering the door of his hotel room.

Knowing it doesn't make it any easier to go through, however.  We remember how much we hurt, how much the shine of baseball was tarnished by their early passing.  We remember and we grieve with the Adenhart family and our Angel fan brothers and sisters.

Playing Pepper 2009: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same.  I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posted them five questions.  This is the result.  You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

The Angels have gone from one-time afterthoughts to easily the class of the AL West and a consistent October presence.  They've not made it completely over the hump since 2002 (and a lot of those players have moved east to St. Louis) but they still have a shot every fall.

Jim from our fellow Blogs By Fans blog The Halo Is Lit was kind enough to answer some questions about how the Angels could actually miss October and whether Vladimir Guerrero's best days are behind him.

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Postseason Preview

So the quiet season begins.  Not much is likely to happen between now and the end of the World Series relating to the Cardinals.  I've got a few blogging projects in the works for the rest of the month, but nothing that I can start on right now.  And being that I'll be out of pocket tomorrow, this could be the last post of the week.

Thankfully, we have postseason baseball to discuss.  No Redbirds, but it's still baseball.  Caveat before beginning: I've looked back at some of my preseason predictions and comments in the UCB roundtable.  I'd not suggest paying all that much attention to any picks I might make!

Let's take a look at the American League first.  Last night's exciting playoff game means that Chicago now has to go to Tampa Bay and get started tomorrow.  Tampa Bay has been an amazing story this year and you just keep wondering when it is going to end.  But a team that can play all year in a division with the Red Sox and Yankees isn't going anywhere all that easily.

The consensus pick seems to be the Rays and I personally can't argue with that.  You'd think Chicago would eventually run out of momentum after three elimination games in a row, though it didn't seem to phase the Rockies much last year.  The Rays should have Carl Crawford back in the lineup for the series, which just adds a weapon to their lineup.  The Sox will be tough, but I'm going with the Rays in 4.

The other series is Boston vs. Los Angeles.  I really like the Angels.  They've got a solid rotation and an impressive lineup that can beat you in a number of ways.  Adding Mark Teixeria has really given them the thumper that they needed.  Boston has a lot of weapons as well, though they may miss Manny Ramirez in the series.  Then again, if they get Mike Lowell and JD Drew back, maybe not.  Still, I'm going Angels in 5.

Moving over to the National League we find Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia.  Great to see another NL Central team get in, even if it's one the Cardinals have had issues with the last couple of years.  That said, it's going to be a very tough road for the Brewers.  Getting Yovanni Gallardo back to start Game 1 is a nice boost, but he's been out of action for a while.  Losing Sheets before the series is a really big blow.  Because until Sabathia can go three straight games, they will need other pitchers.

Philadelphia has its weaknesses as well, as their rotation can be gotten to.  But having Brad Lidge out there, at least theoretically past The Homer, could be a great equalizer.  If the Phillies lead after 7 or 8, they've got to feel confident they are going to win.  I'm not sure the Breweres can say the same thing.  I'm going with the experts: Phillies in 4.

Which leaves us with just one series.  A series that none of us really wanted to see.  Anytime historical Chicago things are happening, it scares a lot of Cardinal fans.  The biggest key for the Cubs is Carlos Zambrano.  If he blows up, the Dodgers win this series, I believe.  I think Lowe can win Game 1, Harden will probably win Game 3.  If you get into the last two games up by one, you've got a great chance.

There's, of course, no way I'm picking the Cubs, even if I thought they were a lock.  I do think the Dodgers can hang with the Cubs, though, and if they can stay around until the middle relievers, they can feast there.  I probably won't watch much of this series due to the agonizing stress of the possibility of the Cubs winning, but I'm still going to go: Dodgers in 4.

Games start this afternoon.  We'll see how accurate these are in a week!

That Was Quick

And, again, an American League team celebrates on foreign soil.  You'd think they'd start losing the All-Star Game so they could party at home, don't you?

As for this whole "AL is dominant" stuff the major media keeps spewing....unfortunately, there may be something to that.  Since the strike year of '94, the AL is 43-26 in the World Series, including five sweeps.  The closest the NL has gotten to a sweep was the Cardinals' win in 5 games last year.  Right now, when coupled with their streak of winning All-Star games, it's pretty apparent the AL is the top league, even though it's painful to admit it.  These things are pretty cyclical, though.  A lot of the good young talent is in the NL, so they should be making some strides in the next few years.

Somewhere out there, a seven year old has seen two Red Sox championships and no Yankee titles.  Who'd have thought that'd ever happen?

A-Rod has already opted out of his deal.  However, I'm wondering if that might not come back to bite him.  The Yanks have been adamant that they aren't going to deal with him.  The Cubs are in ownership flux, so they probably can't go out and put together a record-setting package.  The Red Sox just won the title and they've said that they want to resign Lowell, so I'd be surprised if they made a major run at Rodriguez.  The Mets have been floated about, but they have Reyes at short and Wright at third.  Where would they put him?  It may just boil down to the Angels, and if they think they are the only ones in the race, there's no way they'll go $30 million per.  We'll see how it pans out, but I think with the Yankees uninvolved, Rodriguez doesn't get as much as he thinks he will.

Should be a busy week in baseball.  The Cardinals should announce their GM soon and the Yankees their manager.  The free agent market opens in two weeks.  While the season is great, the off-season has become a lot of fun in its own right!

The Rise of the Small Markets

Arizona.  Colorado.  Cleveland.  Heck, even Los Angeles.  Do you think, perhaps, that there are some television executives waking up screaming in the night?

If TV really ruled the game, to the extent it would like to, we'd see Yankees/Red Sox in one LCS and Philadelphia/Chicago in the other.  Then a Cubs/Yankees World Series.

Right now, we're on pace for Arizona/Colorado and Cleveland/Boston (depending on who wins tonight).   That NLCS would be terrible for those East Coasters, unless they started the games at terrible times for the home teams.  (That's not out of the realm of possibility, of course.)

But at least the TV people would still have Boston alive, a big market East Coast team.  Just imagine, though, if LA would win that, knock off Cleveland and we'd have another all-Western World Series, like there was in 2002.  I'm betting ratings would be way down and there'd be a little less discussion of the games.

I don't want to come across as one of those ranting "East Coast Bias!" types.  It does exist, to a degree, but not to the levels some fans want to take it.  It's human nature to want your routines, and since a bunch of the media is on the East Coast, that's what they'll cover.  For them to stay up late and throw a kink into their normal days and nights, it's not going to make them happy.  Which means, for the rest of us, we are cheering awfully hard for such an outcome.

And I am one Arizona win away from my first stress-free October since the turn of the century.  The Cardinals always cause me angst, because as the pressure mounts, the less I can take it.  I'm flipping channels, trying to not think about wasted chances, the comeback of the other team, etc.  Then, the one year the Cards weren't in the playoffs, the Cubs went deep into October, causing the same level of dread in the other direction.  Thank goodness for Bartman, Alex Gonzalez and, well, the Cubs being the Cubs.

If Arizona can just win tomorrow, I can watch the rest of the playoffs with no deep-seated rooting interest.  My wife likes the Indians (and it's always enjoyable when the spouse gets into the games) but it's nothing to the level of the Cardinals.  And that should make for a fun month.

In Cardinal news, they picked up the option on Jason Isringhausen.  Really a no-brainer move, as there was no obvious replacement in system (Chris Perez isn't ready for that role yet) and the option was pretty reasonable when you look at the market.  Glad to see Izzy get another  year--2006 was rough for him, so it was good to see see that it was mainly the hip and he was back on his game last season.

Also on the Network: √ 2009: The Curse Of Shea Stadium [Loge 13] √ Braden Looper: Now More than Ever! [El Lefty Malo] √ The Ballad of Ricky-Bobby: March Madness [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Playing Pepper 2010: Oakland Athletics [C70 At The Bat] √ Book Review: Joe Cronin, A Life In Baseball [C70 At The Bat] √ Happy Birthday, Loge 13 [Loge 13] √ Things to Read: 3/11 [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ The Farm Team to Watch [El Lefty Malo]