#41 – Oct. 30, 1999: Angels
hire Bill Stoneman as GM
By
Craig Malone, Angelswin.com Editor
Sexy!
Daring! Bold! Risk-Taker! Words you will not see
used when describing Bill Stoneman’s reign
as general manager of the Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels.
Stoneman didn’t need fancy words or daring
risks; the former pitcher, who finished his career
with the same Angels 25 years earlier, needed to
rebuild a franchise from the ground up. He inherited
a team rich with turmoil, coming off a 70-92 record
good enough for a solid grasp on fourth place.
With
the hiring of Stoneman, the Angels were looking
to put a horrible decade of baseball behind them,
and looking hopefully toward a brighter future.
That future started with the hiring of Mike Scioscia,
who has now become the all-time winningest manager
in Angels history.
Stoneman,
working with limited Disney resources, looked to
build up a farm system that consistently ranked
near the bottom of MLB. His first draft was not
as successful as many would have liked, with top
pick Joe Torres barely making it out of A-ball.
But then along came a guy named Mike Napoli and
things were looking a little better. Over the years,
with improved scouting, Stoneman was able to draft
guys like Casey Kotchman, Jeff Mathis, Joe Saunders
and Howie Kendrick, a group that forms the young
nucleus of the current team. More importantly, Stoneman
was able to open up scouting in the Dominican Republic
and convinced the accountants at Disney it was worth
the money to sign players like Francisco Rodriguez,
Ervin Santana and Erick Aybar.
His
2000 team surpassed expectations, thanks mostly
to unprecedented power from Troy Glaus, Mo Vaughn,
Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson, and an unbelievable
season from Darin Erstad. In 2001, however, the
Angels slipped back to their losing ways and finished
41 games out of first place.
Heading
into the 2002 season, Stoneman’s biggest moves
were signing serviceable starter Aaron Sele and
swapping Mo Vaughn’s huge contract for Kevin
Appier’s. But it was the smaller moves that
illustrated Stoneman’s discerning eye for talent:
picking up David Eckstein, Ben Weber and Brendan
Donnelly off waivers; trading Kimera Bartee for
Chone Figgins.
It’s
funny in a way that Stoneman’s legacy will
undoubtedly be centered around the World Championship
in 2002, though it is the accomplishment in which
he perhaps had the smallest hand. In reality, Stoneman’s
presence was most felt during the run of three division
titles in four seasons from 2004-2007 (and, no doubt,
for the next two or three seasons to come.) It is
the signing of Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon,
Kelvim Escobar and Jose Guillen in one eye-popping
offseason; the staring contest he won against Scott
Boras in the Jered Weaver negotiations; and the
development of a farm system that is the envy of
baseball year in and year out.
Often
chided for his refusal (or inability) to pull off
trades perceived to be necessary to the club’s
success, Stoneman’s record speaks for itself.
During his eight-year tenure, the Angels compiled
a 703-593 (.542) record and appeared in the postseason
four times — the team made just three playoff
appearances in the 39 years that preceded him.
Stoneman
took the Angels from obscurity and mediocrity to
being recognized as one of the elite franchises
in all of baseball. He built a model that many subsequent
clubs have chosen to follow. And he leaves behind
some might big shoes for Tony Reagins to fill.
Sexy
or not, Stoneman slowly, methodically, conservatively
and above all else successfully served as the architect
of the greatest era in Angels history and will always
hold a special place in the hearts and minds of
Angels fans.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/10/31/archive/main55685.shtml
#42
– GA steals the All-Star show
By
Geoff Bilau, Angelswin.com Editor
#42
– July 14-15, 2003: GA steals the All-Star
show
If
the Angels were to retroactively come up with a
slogan for the 2003 season, it might have been “Come
bask in the afterglow of 2002.”
As
April rolled around, and pennants were hoisted up
gold painted flagpoles, Angels fans were still drunk
on World Series emotion. Only trouble was the players
seemed to be, as well.
The
team sleepwalked through April, May and June and
arrived at July with a perfectly mediocre 40-40
record. But with fans flocking to Edison Field in
record numbers (attendance would surpass 3 million
for the first time ever in 2003), most of them wearing
something bearing the words “2002 World Champions,”
it was difficult to be too disappointed.
Heading
into the All-Star break, however, the team finally
seemed to recapture a little bit of the 2002 magic
of which it was constantly reminded on the scoreboard
in right field. They won nine of their first 12
games in July, including five straight before the
break. Sure, they were still 8.5 games out of first,
but it was better than the 12.5 deficit they faced
when the month began.
And
for two amazing days at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular
Field, it was like October all over again. The Angels
had three players selected to the American League
squad: Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus and Brendan Donnelly,
the latter of whom was in the midst of one of the
best relief seasons in franchise history. He hit
the break with a 0.38 ERA, having given up only
two runs in 48 innings pitched.
On
top of that, as American League champions the previous
season, Mike Scioscia was the A.L. manager, bringing
his entire coaching staff along with him. The Angels
presence in Chicago was already assured, but this
contingent seemed determined to be seen and heard.
The
most improbable of events actually occurred first;
in hindsight a harbinger of things to come. Garret
Anderson, who hit 22 home runs in the first half
of the season, beat out former teammate Jim Edmonds
in the semifinals and then 23-year-old phenom Albert
Pujols in the finals to win the Home Run Derby.
“I
don’t look at myself as a home run hitter,
but I know I'm capable of hitting the ball out of
the park,” Anderson said. “It’s just
another platform to go out and show America what
I can do.”
The
GA show wasn’t done, either. The next night,
with the American League trailing, 5-1, in the sixth
inning, Anderson smoked a two-run homer to right-center
on Woody Williams’ first pitch to pull the
A.L. within two runs.
Donnelly
pitched a perfect top of the eighth to hold the
N.L. lead at 6-4. In the bottom half, Anderson’s
one-out double off the Dodgers Eric Gagne, his third
hit of the night in four at-bats, started a three-run
rally that was capped by Hank Blalock’s game-winning
two-run home run.
The
A.L. won, 7-6, Donnelly was the winning pitcher,
Scioscia the winning manager and Anderson named
the game’s MVP, his second trophy in as many
nights.
It
was an outstanding night and the perfect denouement
to the championship season. But, of course, all
good things must come to an end, and those two nights
in Chicago were indeed the end of the afterglow.
The Angels lost their first five games after the
break and finished the season 77-85, in third place,
19 games behind the A’s.
For
a couple of days, however, the defending champs
looked every bit the part.
#43
– July 6, 1983: Lynn simply grand in the All-Star
Game
By
Kurt Swanson, Angelswin.com Contributor
#43
– July 6, 1983: Lynn simply grand in the All-Star
Game
For
the first 40 years of the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim
Angels history, the 1982 season was arguably the
franchise’s best – albeit one with a real
stinker of an ending.
Preceding
the collapse in Milwaukee, however, was a fine campaign.
The Angels won their second division title with
a 93-69 record; Reggie Jackson led the league in
home runs with 39; and Fred Lynn, acquired the year
before, but sidelined by injuries, had his best
season with the Angels, batting .299/.374/.517 with
21 home runs and 86 RBI.
Though
the Angels blew a 2-0 lead in the ALCS against the
Brewers, Lynn was still named series MVP after batting
.611 (11-for-18) in the five games.
On
the heels of the 1982 season, 1983 was a season
of great promise for the Angels. It was not to be,
however, as the team slumped badly to a 70-92 record
and a fifth-place finish in the division.
One
bright spot was Lynn. The USC graduate, who had
longed to play for a team in Southern California
after beginning his career in Boston, was voted
to start the All-Star Game in Chicago. Old Comiskey
Park played host to the 50th anniversary of the
mid-summer classic. The nod represented Lynn’s
ninth consecutive All-Star game appearance.
In
the third inning, with the National League trailing
3-1, San Francisco ace Atlee Hammaker elected to
load the bases by intentionally walking Milwaukee’s
Robin Yount, taking his chances instead with Lynn,
who hadn’t seen the batter in front of him
intentionally walked since becoming a professional.
Big mistake.
Lynn
took a 2-2 slider from the lefty and deposited it
into the right field bleachers for the first grand
slam in 54 All-Star Games. (And to this day the
only such home run.)
The
American League scored seven runs in the inning
and cruised to a 13-3 victory, snapping an 11-game
losing streak for the junior circuit.
“I
hadn’t won a single All-Star Game in eight
years up until that point,” Lynn would later
say. “That grand slam put us up 7-1, and I
knew we wouldn’t blow that lead. I didn’t
care that they walked Robin to get to me. I wanted
to win.”
It
was Lynn’s final All-Star appearance. He finished
with four home runs and 10 RBI in 20 career All-Star
at-bats. At the time, only Hall of Famers Stan Musial
and Ted Williams had more home runs and RBI, respectively.
Musial finished with five homers and 10 RBI in 63
at-bats, Williams with four homers and 12 RBI in
46 at-bats.
#44
– Angels become first franchise with four 30-home
run hitters
By
Adam Dodge - Senior Writer
#44
– April 3-Oct. 1, 2000: Angels become first
franchise with four 30-home run hitters
Going…going…going…gone!
Over
the past few seasons, the Angels have entered Spring
Training with seemingly just one concern —
a general lack of home run power throughout the
lineup. Some fans, specifically those who jumped
on the 2002 bandwagon, may forget that just eight
short years ago the Angels, in manager Mike Scioscia’s
first season with the club, fielded an historic
group of sluggers.
In
2000, Angels third baseman Troy Glaus led the American
League with 47 home runs. Glaus became only the
third Angel ever to lead the league (Grich, 1981;
Jackson, 1982) and at the time set the record for
most home runs by an AL third baseman (tied by Alex
Rodriguez in 2005 and surpassed by Rodriguez last
season.)
To
complement Glaus, the Angels had not one, not two,
but three others who hit more than 30 home runs,
becoming the first team in MLB history to have four
players hit 30 or more round trippers.
Mo
Vaughn clubbed 36, Garret Anderson walloped 35 and
Tim Salmon rounded the bases 34 times. (And if that
wasn’t enough power for you, Darin Erstad added
25 homers from the leadoff spot, just for good measure.)
The
2000 club’s power fit hand in glove with the
newly born Rally Monkey, as a significant chunk
of the Angels’ 82 victories were of the come-from-behind
variety, due in large part to the team’s power
surge.
While
the 2000 Angels fell short of the postseason, the
team did inject hope into a suffering fan base,
a hope that would be realized just two years later
when the Angels won the World Series.
#45
– Sept. 9, 2005: Vlad’s Mad Dash
Thomas
Crow - Angelswin.com Contributor
A
reasonable argument can be made that 2005 was the
second-best season in Angels history. The team won
95 regular season games and again defeated the favored
New York Yankees in the American League Division
Series. They might just have made it back to the
World Series, too, if not for a now infamous umpiring
call that certainly won’t be referenced anywhere
else on this list.
The
team formerly known as the Anaheim Angels was the
Los Angeles Angels again. (Well, almost.) Fitting
that in order to win this standout September game
against the Chicago White Sox, Vladimir Guerrero
and the Angels had to steal a scene straight out
of Hollywood.
The
play brings immediate comparisons to the climax
of the 1989 film “Major League.” In the
film, the perennially lousy Cleveland Indians, comprised
of a bunch of washouts and no-names, somehow forces
a one-game playoff against the division rival Yankees
(Remember when the Indians and Yankees were in the
same division?) for the AL East pennant. The ending
features bad-kneed catcher Jake Taylor calling his
shot before laying down a bunt on which speedster
Willie Mays Hayes scores from second base to send
the Indians to the playoffs.
In
the Angels version, the team was clinging to the
slimmest one-game lead over Oakland and locked up
in an extra-innings donnybrook with the White Sox.
In the 11th inning, the White Sox appeared poised
to win the game, but Juan Rivera nailed Aaron Rowand
at the plate to preserve the 5-5 tie.
Leading
off the 12th, Guerrero scorched an 0-1 pitch from
Dustin Hermanson to deep center field. Believing
he’d just given the Angels the lead with one
swing, Guerrero was slow out of the box and barely
got into second ahead of the tag once he realized
the ball had remained in the park. Frustrated at
himself for his mental blunder, Guerrero seemed
determined to score by any means necessary.
Up
stepped catcher Bengie Molina to lay down a sacrifice
bunt and move Guerrero to third. (Molina did not
call his shot and, sadly, unlike Taylor he didn’t
get the girl, either.) Molina bunted to third baseman
Geoff Blum, who threw to first where Tad Iguchi
was covering. Guerrero, who will never be confused
with a great baserunner, charged straight through
third base coach Ron Roenicke’s stop sign and
galloped, as only Vlad can, toward the plate.
“I
never got to the yes part,” Roenicke said.
“I was ‘No, no, no.’ I didn’t
hold my hands up but I said ‘no’ a couple
of times. When his mind was made up to go, he got
going in a hurry.”
Iguchi’s
throw home got there well ahead of Guerrero, but
was offline, leaving catcher A.J. Pierzysnski (Booo!)
out of position. Guerrero awkwardly shifted his
momentum to avoid Pierzynski’s tag and fell
down with his hand landing on home plate to score
the go-ahead run. Stunned by the play, Angels broadcaster
Steve Physioc instinctively called Guerrero out
before seeing that home plate umpire Ron Kulpa had
indicated safe.
“You
look back at the last 150 years of baseball and
you can probably count on one hand how many times
that play has worked,” Blum said. “So
you can call it luck, you can call it savvy, you
can call it whatever you want.”
The
Angels held on to win the game, 6-5, with Frankie
Rodriguez striking out the side in the bottom of
the inning.
All
of his home runs and clutch hits not withstanding,
this play captures so much of Guerrero’s almost
certain Hall of Fame career in a nutshell. Even
blessed with such immense talent, he still plays
the game how most of us imagine we would: with joy,
passion and occasional recklessness that remind
us why we love the game so much.
#46
– April 27-28, June 9, 2002: Eckstein is thrice
grand
By
Geoff Bilau - Angelswin.com Editor
“Yes!
No way! YES!”
Three
reactions to three grand slams. More specifically,
three grand slams hit over a six-week span of the
2002 season by diminutive shortstop David Eckstein,
the first two coming in consecutive games.
Ultimately,
these home runs would be justifiably overshadowed
by some slightly bigger wallops by Eckstein’s
teammates later in the season, but if 2002 is remembered
as a magical season for the Angels, this is where
the magic started.
Starting
the season 6-14 on the heels of a 2001 campaign
that saw the Angels finish 41 games out of first
place, Anaheim seemed anything but magical as 2002
began. A 10-6 win at Seattle on April 24, snapped
a four-game losing streak and the Angels headed
home with at least a small puff of wind in their
sails.
Back
home again, Kevin Appier and three relievers combined
on a 9-hit shutout over Toronto to provide a little
more momentum. What happened the next two days,
however, is the stuff people tell their grandkids
about.
In
the second game of the Toronto series, the Angels
went to the bottom of the fifth inning tied, 4-4.
RBI-hits by Troy Glaus and Brad Fullmer, and a run-scoring
groundout by Bengie Molina gave the Angels a three-run
lead. And following a walk to Scott Spiezio, Eckstein
put the game away.
On
a 1-2 pitch from Scott Cassidy, Eckstein snuck one
just over the short wall in left field, near the
foul pole, for a grand slam and an 11-4 lead. It
was the Angels biggest inning of the season to that
point, Eckstein’s first home run and only the
fifth of his career.
A
day later, things went from surprising to just plain
silly. A back-and-forth game saw the Angels and
Blue Jays tied, 4-4, in the 14th inning. Toronto
finally broke the deadlock with a run in the top
of the inning, however, and the Angels run of bad
luck appeared to have returned. But Glaus led off
with a single and Salmon doubled him to third. A
one-out intentional walk to Molina loaded the bases,
but Kennedy struck out, leaving it up to Eckstein.
The
5-foot 6-inch shortstop took a 1-1 offering from
Pedro Borbon Jr. to nearly the same exact spot in
left field for a second grand slam in as many days,
this one a walkoff shot that gave the Angels their
first three-game winning streak of the season and,
finally, some serious swagger. Two days later, they’d
defeat the Indians, 21-2, in Cleveland and not look
back in winning 21 of 24 games following their 6-14
start.
With
the Angels magic in full swing now, it was only
fitting that Eckstein had one more trick up his
sleeve. On June 9, in the second inning of an interleague
game against the Cincinnati Reds, Eckstein again
came to the plate with the bases loaded. No sooner
than you could think, “He couldn’t possibly
do it again, could he?” he did it again.
“I
don’t know if one time is better than another
for a home run,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia
said, “... but (Eckstein) has hit them at three
times which have been incredible and have won three
games for us.”
Eckstein
became only the second Angel ever to hit three grand
slams in one season. Joe Rudi did it in both 1978
and 1979. Of course, Rudi hit 179 home runs in his
career. Eckstein has 30.
That
thing they say about big things coming in small
packages — in 2002, David Eckstein proved it.
#47
– June 6, 2000: The Rally Monkey debuts
By
Eric Denton - Angelswin.com Senior Writer
Picture
it: An average Tuesday night game at Edison Field
of Anaheim.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200006060.shtml
In
the midst of another mediocre season, the Angels
were trailing, ironically enough, the San Francisco
Giants, 0-3, in the sixth inning of an interleague
game. The Anaheim crowd was its typical lethargic
self when suddenly a clip from the film "Ace
Ventura: Pet Detective" popped onto the Jumbotron.
It was very simple footage of a monkey jumping up
and down on a stool with the words "Rally Monkey"
superimposed underneath it.
The
Angels scored a run that inning, on a hardly-riveting
Mo Vaughn groundout to score Darin Erstad, but it
was a run nonetheless. The monkey returned in the
seventh inning and the Angels scored twice, cutting
the Giants lead to 4-3. In the eighth, Tim Salmon
tied the game with a solo home run.
The
Giants regained the lead in the ninth, however,
on a Marvin Benard double, but the Rally Monkey's
work was not done.
Giants
closer Robb Nen replaced Felix Rodriguez for the
bottom of the ninth and gave up a one-out single
to Adam Kennedy and walked pinch hitter Scott Spiezio.
The Rally Monkey appeared again. Erstad singled
to right to score Kennedy and tie the game. And
following a Kevin Stocker fielder's choice, Vaughn
singled home Erstad with the game winner. Angels
6, Giants 5.
The
next night, the Angels blew a 9-4 lead in the seventh
and eighth innings and entered the bottom of the
eighth tied with the same Giants, 9-9. A fan seated
above the video control booth began yelling at the
top of his lungs, "RALLY MONKEY!" Shortly
thereafter, Dean Fraulino and Jaysen Humes, working
in the booth, flashed the video of the monkey. The
crowd, and the Angels, responded.
Bengie
Molina singled with one out and after a Kennedy
lineout, Edgard Clemente singled. The Rally Monkey
again coaxed the fans to their feet and Erstad singled
to left to score Molina with the eventual game winner.
Angels 10, Giants 9.
The
video proved very popular with fans and the Angels
decided to film their own videos of the monkey.
The Rally Monkey was now portrayed by "Katie,"
a white-haired Capuchin monkey, and the song "Jump
Around" by hip-hop group House of Pain and
a voice over were added: "Believe In the Power
of the Rally Monkey."
Rules
were implemented dictating how the monkey was to
be used: The Angels must be tied or trailing by
three runs or fewer in the seventh inning or later,
and the Halos must have put at least one runner
on base.
While
the Angels fans and the Rally Monkey became fast
friends during the 2000 and 2001 seasons, the mascot
wouldn't became a national phenomenon until the
historic 2002 World Series season.
The
power of the Rally Monkey reached its peak during
Game 6 of the World Series, against those same Giants
and their closer Nen. Angels 6, Giants 5. But that's
another story, isn't it?
Since
then, the Rally Monkey has become a sports mascot
icon, appearing in ESPN SportsCenter commercials
and mentioned in the monologues of late night hosts
Jay Leno and David Letterman.
She
also became a staple of the Angels fan experience.
Fans bring their stuffed animal monkeys to the game
and the monkey video features — now a bit more
slickly-produced — are still being shown regularly,
with the monkey being superimposed into scenes of
popular movies such as "Star Wars," "The
Ring" and "Jurassic Park."
#48
- Chuck Finley becomes all-time Angels leader in
Wins
By
Lou Garcia - Angelswin.com Journalist
#48
– July 29, 1997: Finley passes Ryan with victory
No. 139
"Fin
to Win!" And he did. More than any other pitcher
in Angels franchise history.
It
was Tuesday evening, July 29,1997, when Chuck Finley
took the mound in Cleveland to face an Indian lineup
that included Manny Ramirez, Sandy Alomar Jr. and
Matt Williams. In the bottom of the second inning,
Finley gave up two runs on three hits — the
only runs or hits he would surrender on the night
en route to a 7-2 complete game victory. Jack Howell
homered twice to pace the Halos.
In
front of 42,975 at Jacobs Field, Finley upped his
record to 10-6 on the season, but more importantly,
he had just notched victory No. 139, surpassing
Nolan Ryan as the team leader in career wins.
A
five-time All-Star, Finley ended his Angels career
with 165 wins — a record that still stands
(and should for several more seasons — John
Lackey is the team's active leader with 79 victories.)
Chuck
Finley Trivia - Finley is the only Major League
pitcher to strike out 4 batters in one inning more
than once, accomplishing the feat 3 times (twice
as an Angel)
Anaheim
Angels IP H R ER BB SO
C Finley, W (10-6) 9 3 2 2 2 9
#49
- Saunders honors Virginia Tech
By
Victor Varadi & Geoff Bilau - Angelswin.com
Columnists
The
All-Time Top 50 Angels Historic Moments continues
and our selection for #49 happened on April 20,
2007 as Angels pitcher Joe Saunders honored Virginia
Tech.
Four
days after a rampage shooting at Virginia Tech University
left 33 dead and several others wounded, Joe Saunders,
the only Hokies alumnus in the Major Leagues, threw
six scoreless innings while wearing a heavy heart
and the cap of his alma mater.
Saunders
was a student at Virginia Tech up until the Angels
drafted him in the first round of the 2002 draft.
His parents are alums and his father helped to architect
the Hokies' football stadium. Saunders is engaged
to a girl he met while attending college in Blacksburg.
Receiving special permission from the Commissioner's
office to wear the Hokies baseball cap, Saunders
took the mound on an emotional Friday evening and
battled his way through six shutout innings against
the Seattle Mariners.
Saunders
wrote "VT" on his cleats and scribbled
"Virginia Tech" in the dirt on the mound.
"I
think somebody upstairs was looking after me, and
everybody in Blacksburg was looking after me,"
he said after the 8-4 victory over Seattle. "My
heart was out to them."
"I
was really nervous coming in — just the sheer
fact of knowing what the game meant to me, to all
the Hokie Nation out there in Virginia, to my family,
and to this team because we needed to win,"
he added. "There was a lot riding on it."
