Entire Nation Glued to Angels/Rays Rivalry

As most of the sports world is focused on the NFL Draft, any baseball fan worth anything has their tv time dedicated to the fierce rivalry between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels. Last time these two faced off, the tensions were high, and the Angels used their superior starting pitching to help lead them to a two-game sweep.

As many of you already know, this ferocious rivalry goes back to Tampa Bay's inception in 1998, when the Rays took up the Angels turf as the team with the silliest looking jerseys. Since then, the two have been in a heated battle for American League supremacy. Things got even more heated when former Angels bench coach Joe Maddon took the job as Manager of the Tampa Bay Rays.

2011 has been no exception, and the entire baseball world is enthralled with this weekends series between the two hated rivals. I mean, why else would MLB Schedule makers give the Angels 5 games in Tampa Bay before we even face Seattle once? We must be enormous rivals with deep-seeded hatred towards one another... right?

Say It Aint So, Scott!

Rumors are running rampant that the Colorado Rockies would be interested in trading for Left Handed Pitcher Scott Kazmir. Uh... I'll throw in 20 bucks to sweeten the deal. Is this the Rockies really trying to improve their team? Is this them making up for sending us Brian Fuentes? (kind of a "No hard feelings"deal?)

No matter why the Rockies had this lapse in judgment, lets take advantage of it. I dont care if they want to send us a Turkey Sandwich and a bag of baseballs, if they are taking Kazmir and his contract, let them at it.

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In other news, former Angels Pitching Coach Bud Black won the National League Manager of the Year award. This is great news for Ron Roenicke, who will become the third former Angels Coach under Mike Scioscia to become a manager for another team. The first two, being Black and Rays Manager Joe Maddon, who won the AL Manager of the Year award in 2008.

Everyone here at Angels Nation is incredibly happy and proud for Bud, and wish the best for him in the future.

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In other, other news, Felix Hernandez was announced as the AL Cy Young Award winner today. While its rare that I'm happy for a Division Rival in such a way, its kind of nice. The 24-Year-Old had a stat line of 0-3, 4.13 ERA in 32.2 Innings Pitched against the Angels this past season. Thats right, one of the worst offensive teams in baseball slapped around the Cy Young Winner in 5 starts. Its not the best thing about this season for the Angels, but it will something nice to throw in the face of gloating Mariners fans.

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In More other news, Angels Nation would also like to congratulate the following:
Ron Gardenhire for winning AL Manager of the Year (after being the runner-up 5 times, twice to Mike Scioscia)
Roy Halladay for winning NL Cy Young (Duh..)
Buster Posey and Neftali Feliz for winning Rookie of the Year in their respective leagues.
Dan Uggla for getting the hell out of Florida (I bet Braves fans wish this move would have happened about 4 months ago)
Vladimir Guerrero for winning an AL Silver Slugger award. (No hard feelings, chap)

Meet The New Boss...

Angels Bench coach Ron Roenicke has been hired as the new Manager of the Milwuakee Brewers. The news came as a shock to Angels and Brewers fans both. For the most part, with the backdrop of the World Series, Angels fans were unaware Roenicke was even in the running. Many Brewers fans thought former Mets skipper Bobby Valentine was a sure thing.

However, Brew Crew fans shouldnt fret. Ron Roenicke has managerial experience in the minor leagues, and has spent the last 5 seasons picking the brain of one of the best managers in baseball in Mike Scioscia. Roeknicke also becomes the third former Angels coach under Scioscia's reign to become a big league manager, with Bud Black in San Diego and Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay being the first two.

I must say, I'm incredibly happy for Roenicke to finally have control of a big league club all his own, and in the weak NL Central, with an already impressive lineup including perennial all-stars in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, he could be poised for a division championship in the very near future. Taking Scioscia's brand of small ball to a small market club like the Brewers makes great sense, and has worked wonders so far in San Diego and Tampa Bay (San Diego hasnt turned that into a playoff team yet, but they came VERY close this year, only losing out on the last day to the eventual world champion Giants).

Suffice to say, Angels Nation will probably have at least some coverage of Roenicke's first week in Milwaukee, and will probably visit in a couple times during the 2011 campaign. We wish nothing but the best of luck to Ron in his new endeavors, and hope he decides to take Mickey Hatcher with him.