#49
- Aug. 18, 2009: Nine Times .300
By Geoff Bilau - AngelsWin.com Senior Editor
In the top of the fifth inning of their Aug. 18
game at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Angels catcher
Mike Napoli smashed a line drive single into center
field off Indians starter Fausto Carmona. It was
Napoli's second hit of the game, lifting his batting
average to .302.
And though Napoli popped up and struck out in
his final two at-bats of the Angels 5-4 victory,
his average at the game's conclusion was .300.
While it's always noteworthy when a batter (especially
a career .256 hitter) eclipses the magical .300
mark, this particular moment was altogether monumental.
Napoli was just one of nine Angels hitters who
finished that game with a batting average of .300
or better.
It would
last only those final four innings and the time
leading up to the next day's game — Angels
manager Mike Scioscia inserted .275 hitting Howie
Kendrick for .300 hitting Izturis and Napoli flew
out to left field after walking twice, dropping
his average back to .299 — but it was historic,
however fleeting as it may have been.
According
to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the first
time since 1934 that any Major League
team at least 100 games into its season finished
a game with every player in its starting lineup
hitting .300 or better. Mickey Cochrane's Tigers
accomplished the feat Sept. 9, 1934, against Boston — which
was all the more impressive considering pitcher
Lynwood "Schoolboy" Rowe and his .301
average was batting ninth. The Tigers lineup that
day included four Hall of Famers (Cochrane, Hank
Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin) and
two All-Stars (Rowe, Gee Walker).
The
Angels hitting heroics helped rookie starter
Trevor Bell win his first Major League game — one
that he and Angels fans won't soon forget.
#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
#47
- June 18, 2007: Figgins Experiences the Joy
of Six
By Adam Dodge, Angelswin.com Senior Writer
Chone Figgins spent all but the last day of April
on the disabled list, batted .156 in May and finished
the season in an 0-for-21 slump. How then, one
may ask, could 2007 have possibly been a breakout
season for the Angels' de facto third baseman?
From May 31 until Sept. 22 - the time between
his less-than-stellar bookends - Figgins batted
.403 (135/335), a span of 83 games where the speedy
lead off man reached base in 46 percent of his
plate appearances. Despite his early and late woes,
Figgins finished with a .330/.393/.432 season,
his batting average the seventh highest in Angels
history. He also earned MVP votes for the third
time in his career. Not too shabby for a guy that's
never made an American League All-Star team.
If 2007 was the year Figgins entered baseball
stardom, then it was the night of June 18 that
his star shined the brightest. Figgins went 6-for-6,
leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 10-9 comeback
victory over the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium.
And as if just going 6-for-6 wasn't spectacular
enough, Figgins' final hit was a ninth inning,
walk-off triple down the right field line, scoring
Reggie Willits from first base to complete the
Angels' comeback.
"I was trying to catch Reggie. That way,
at least I'd know he would score," Figgins
said with a laugh.
Perhaps ending the game in such dramatic fashion
was the only thing that prevented Figgins from
a 7-for-7 or 8-for-8 night - Astros pitchers sure
couldn't slow him down. As it stood, Figgins' six
hits in one game tied Garret Anderson's team record,
which had been set in 1996.
Figgins finished his brilliant night with four
singles, a double and his game-ending triple.
"This is one of those special games," Figgins
said. "You can't explain it. You just stay
within yourself. The thing about it was that the
game was close, so it made you concentrate even
more to get a hit."
It was indeed a special game for Figgins, one
that highlighted the best month of his relatively
young career. Figgins collected a Major League
best 53 hits in June, the most by any player in
Angels' history during one calendar month. Figgins
also led Major League baseball in June with a .461
batting average.
But it was his 1.000 average on June 18 that landed
him on our list.
"I don't think I ever did that in a video
game, much less in a professional game," Figgins
said.
#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.
#45 – K-Rod
breaks single season saves record
By
Eric Denton - Angelswin.com Senior Writer
On
September 14, 2008 Bobby Thigpen’s 18 year
major league record of 57 saves fell to the Los
Angeles Angels All Star closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Preserving
a 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners the Angels
closer made history and made his countrymen in
Venezuela proud.
"A
lot of people back home have been rooting for
me to break the record," Rodriguez told
the MLB website (mlb.com). "It's very important
for my people, my country, to get that record."
Rodriguez
finished the 2008 season with 62 saves, assisting
the club to a franchise best 100 win-season.
For
his efforts, Rodriguez was name the Angels team
Most Valuable Player.
With the Halos playing more than their fair share of tight ballgames the honor
was rightfully earned.
Rodriguez,
(26), a free agent at the end of the 2008 season
likely closed out his Angels career in spectacular
fashion. Recording 208 saves for the club, with
a 2.35 era and 1.11 whip and most importantly
a World Series Championship in 2002.
#44 – Angels
become first AL 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 the AL 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.
#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.
#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.
#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
