Angels Nation 2010 Postseason Preview

Just so we are all clear, Angels Nation is officially on the San Francisco Giants' and Texas Rangers' Bandwagons. If you are uncomfortable with this, please note that the rest of the league is evil, and should be treated as such. The Yankees, Rays, Braves and Phillies all come from the super evil East Coast, not to mention the Rays play in Florida (Voted most evil state by committee of voters), the Twins and Reds, well, they arent evil, but they are the two worst teams in the playoffs (fact), and no one wants to bandwagon a loser.

Lets start with the matchups in the National League:

Giants vs. Braves - Bobby Cox's last season as a manager, nothing would be a more fitting send off than a World.... boo hoo hoozle. Go cry about the loss of your manager some more Braves Fans. Oh wait, the Braves fans don't even like the Braves. The are probably all bandwagoning the Rays right now, considering they have a better shot at postseason glory. The Giants, on the other hand, have one of the best starting 4's in Baseball, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Zito. They also have Buster Posey, who is maybe the greatest rookie catcher of all time.
Prediction: Giants in 4

Phillies vs. Reds - Lets get things straight, I dont like the Phillies, but I'll be damned if they dont have the best team in the playoffs. The hitting is amazing, the pitching is out of this world, and they have a coach who has taken this team to the World Series the past two years. I like the story of the Reds, but they dont have the pitching to keep up with the Phils.
Prediction: Phillies in 3


American League:

Rangers vs. Rays - I don't totally hate the Rays, but their unfortunate affiliation with the state of Florida, not to mention their lack of fans with enough income to actually attend their home games, makes me like them very little. Rangers have taken the last month and a half off. They should be the most rested team in baseball right now (the Reds might be just as rested, but they have a crappy team, so...), not to mention they have Cliff Lee, who was really the only bump in the Yankees road to glory last season. Sure, they have to get through a tough Rays team who won the best division in baseball, but they dont have enough starting pitching to keep up with the Rangers.
Prediction: Rangers in 5

Yankees vs. Twins - No Morneau, Mauer isn't at 100%, their best pitcher is probably Carl Pavano, oh, and they have Brian Fuentes. How on earth did the Twins get this far?
Prediction: Yankees in 3

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Angels Nation will continue to be your source for biting 2010 MLB Postseason coverage well into November (because that's when Game's 5-7 of the World Series will be, for some dumbass reason), then, we wont have anything to talk about for a while, except the hyjinks of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney (and all their Kardashian pals!)

At Least We Aren't The Dallas Cowboys.

"America's Team" lost again yesterday to the Chicago Bears to start the season 0-2. Right now, under head coach Wade Phillips, they look more like Cowgirls than anything (and even that might be underestimating Cowgirls).

The Angels, however, beat the Tampa Bay Rays again to win the weekend series. They almost look like a real baseball team again. They were one Fernando Rodney Saturday blow-up from sweeping the second best team in baseball.

The Angels days are still numbered, however, as the Rangers won a game this weekend to bring the elimination number down to 4. The Rangers are in town for the next three games. By tomorrow night the Angels could officially be out of the race. Conversely, by the end of Wednesday, the Angels could be only 7.5 back with 10 to play (11 for Texas).

It would be the worst late-season collapse in Major League history, but its very unlikely. The Angels are still trying to find their identity, while the Rangers are playing for their first postseason in ten years.

Although, if the Angels can do the unthinkable and find themselves 3 or 4 games back of Texas when they start their final series of the season in Arlington, it would make for some damn interesting games.

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Speaking of the Cowboys, Kim Kardashian recently broke up with Cowboys Wide Receiver Miles Austin (again). Its pretty clear that Austin needs to step his game up. At this time last season, Kim's old beau Reggie Bush was 2-0...

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Angels Elimination Number: 4
Carl Crawford Countdown: 83 Days

Things I'd Rather Watch...

The Angels lost to Cleveland, the joke of all sports-towns, AGAIN last night, and to be honest, things dont look good going into tonight. Weaver is on the hill tonight, but that has spelled trouble for the Angels in the last two months, getting something like 5 runs in Weavers last 12 starts (I need a stat-checker).

Regardless of the Win or Loss, the Angels have been tough to watch lately. The Offense looks comatose, and the Bullpen seems to think they need to serve up batting practice.

So, lets go through my list of hilarious things I'd rather watch than Angels Baseball right now.

1. The WNBA Finals. At least some of those girls have talent.
2. Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Not only is Khloe married to one of the reigning NBA Champions, but she is a former WWF Women's Champion!
3. Pre-Season Hockey. No Good Reason for this, and its a little sad.
4. Dodgers Baseball. Haha, no, just kidding.

On the bright side, the season is almost mercifully over.

Rangers Magic Number (To Eliminate the Angels): 8
Carl Crawford Countdown: 88

Good News, Everyone!

In a few short hours, you will need to type even fewer letters into your internet browser to reach Angels Nation! We will have become Angelsnation.net. The leading source of grammatical errors and Los Angeles Angels Cynicism on the internet!

In more good news, the season officially begins tonight in Anaheim as the Rangers come to town (bringing our old friend Vladdy, whom they have held captive in an ugly blue uniform). Tonights matchup is Scott Feldman vs. Joel Pinero. I've got a good feeling about tonight. The rest of the series, on the other hand, not so much...

The division is at the point where whomever wins the season series between Texas and the Angels is going to win the division. These are as close to must win games as we will get in June.

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Also, the Lebron James sweepstakes is only 2 days away, well, actually closer to 30 hours away. It will be interesting to see how the next few weeks shapes the next few years in a sport I care little about. I'll post facts when they arise.

I will also post absolute rumors when I think of them.

For example, The Lakers are rumored to be trading Lamar Odom for Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys, in order to get an attractive Kardashian sister attending games.