I know my Dad had many halo favorites over the years, but Jim Edmonds is the one I remember most because he was my Dad's most recent favorite and the one we liked most to tease him about.

     I'm not sure what that reveals about my Dad, but my Dad did like to get his money's worth for anything, even baseball, and Edmonds usually delivered. His diving, over-the-shoulder catches always pleased my Dad, even if it brought chants of "Showboater" from the 'peanut gallery' (us girls), which never failed to produce big ear-to-ear grins from my Dad. A native California guy like my Dad, Edmonds, in my Dad's eyes, was the perfect Angel.

    My Dad's only regret about the Angels' 2002 WS win was that Edmonds was not there to share it. Quite naturally, he was more than happy to root for the Cards in the 2006 Series, and when they pulled it off, my Dad didn't fail to point out what the Angels had missed out on by letting Edmonds get away!

    On a trip to St. Louis my sister brought back an Edmonds autographed ball for my Dad. Shortly after that, my Dad passed away and the ball was returned to her. It is now one of her most prized possessions, but not because Edmonds signed it, but because my Dad valued it. Happy Fathers' Day, Dad. We miss you. 

After watching, no, make that suffering tonight's miserable loss against the Orioles, I found myself asking that seemingly unanswerable question: What is wrong with this team? There have been several attempts over the past couple of weeks to pinpoint the answer.  Is Mike Scioscia Derelict? Is Juan Rivera Worthless? Is Anaheim Minor League? These and countless posts about trades and line-ups litter this blog site, but without producing any satisfying answer to this all-consuming question: What is wrong with this team?

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     First, let me state that I do not troll, so this post is not intended to incite any anger or hatred. What caused me to join this site was the apparent blogging war between HH and PA which erupted yesterday. A link to your "Open Letter" was posted at HH on the front page. I had no idea any problem existed, so I read the HH thread in question, then read the "Open Letter". After reading the PA post, I decided to join PA with the intention of leaving a comment, but, of course, I had to wait the requisite 24 hours.

     Since I had to wait anyway, I took the advice of the site and began reading many of the posts, comments, and even links to other blogging sites. I was becoming increasingly impressed. Lots of good information, interesting stories and well written posts.

     Well, now that 24 hours have past, any irritation, grudge or even anger that the "Open Letter" may have inflamed in me has long passed, but I am left with an interest in remaining a member of PA. Now, don't get me wrong- I am a die-hard Angel fan and absolutely love booing Yankee players when they square off against my team, but it's just a sports rivalry thing, nothing more. And this site proves a theory I have about real baseball fans. Real baseball fans have more in common than they have differences. Real baseball fans, while fiercely loyal to their team, value and respect baseball played well and played right. I have no problem saying that I admire and respect Derek Jeter, however, I do not hesitate to say that I have neither admiration nor respect for Alex Rodriguez.  And, yes, I do offer condolences on the loss of your team's owner and your team's announcer. This past year the Angels lost one of their broadcasters, Rory Markus, whom we all loved dearly, so there is some sincere empathy.

     So, thank you for giving me a platform for airing my opinions, and I hope to God we meet up at the play-offs. Really.

I would have posted this sooner, but I've been away in Sacramento this past week and just got back. If this is old news, I apologize in advance. 

Saturday, July 3rd I was fortunate enough to be a guest at a tail-gate party at Anaheim Stadium with the members of Angelswin.com. courtesy of the creator, owner and mayor of  'Matsuiland', Claude Bilodeau. During the party, we were treated to a private press conference with Tim Mead, Vice President of Communications with the Angels front office. Several things Tim said were of note. First, he said that he has never seen the Angels' depth tested to this extent, which might lead one to assume that a trade (or trades) are imminent. He went on to say that the Angels will not replace Kendry Morales and that his spot on the roster is secure when he is able to return next season. Having said that, he continued by stating that the Angels are NOT interested in renting a player to replace him. He then went on to say that he and the entire Angels organization are more than happily surprised by the performances of Kevin Frandsen at third base and Mike Napoli at first. Mead singled these two guys out as reasons why the organization is very optimistic about the team's outlook at this point. Mead did, however, point out that the bullpen is something that the organization is looking to improve as it heads into the second half of the season. 

The rest of what transpired seemed to be nothing more than a lot of ra-ra homerisms that all of us fans readily eat up, and I certainly ate more than my fill (go Angels!). Now, what does all of that mean? Well, on the surface, it seems as if Mead is saying that no trade will be made for an infielder  because Frandsen and Napoli are doing just fine, thank you, but trades may be made to help out the bullpen. Will this information hold up? Well, as the Rev has stated succinctly in another post, the Angels organization plays their hand tight to the chest. So, would Mead really give any real inside info to a bunch blogging fanatics? Maybe, maybe not, but the food was good and the company was even better, and the following day (July 4yh) I got to participate in unfurling the world's largest American flag on the field at angel Stadium before the start of the game (!). All in all, a great weekend.

Let me begin by stating the facts: I am an Angel fan, not a Dodger fan. However, I am a native Californian and will, therefore, root for the Dodgers when a Dodger win does not conflict with my aforementioned fan loyalty. Now that that is out of the way, this is my gripe and I am curious to know what Dodger fans think about it.

When the Dodgers played their series against the Red Sux, I tuned in on the radio to keep track of the game while watching the Angels play on televsion. Immediately I thought I had tuned in to the wrong frequency because of the praise the announcers were heaping on the Red Sux players. Wasn't 790 KABC the Dodgers' radio network? The announcers went on and on about the merits of Pedroia, Youkilis, et al, until I was forced to shut the damn thing off. I figured the broadcast must have been national, not local, hence the biased east coast announcers. Then, when the Dodgers squared off against the hated Yankess, again I tuned in to the games but only to find the same pathetic east coast fawning over Jeter and A-Fraud until again I had to throw the cursed machine across the room, rendering it just as useless in tiny bits on the floor as it was to me while listening to the game with it in one piece on the table. Who were these anti-Dodgers calling the games? I looked the information up on the Dodgers website and discovered it was Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday (former Dodger great!). How could this be?

So, my question is, did I just tune in at a bad time? I love Vin Scully, and when the Dodgers and Angels play each other I relish the opportunity to hear an Angel game called by the great one, and I am convinced that I would not have heard all that slobbering over the Red Sux and Yankees if Vin had been calling those games. Now, I don't want a total 'homer' calling a game to the point of being blind to the truth, but as a fan, I do want to hear more about my guys than about the opponents. So what do you Dodger fans think? I'm not trying to dis your announcers, but I truly was disappointed. Having said all of that, I think the Dodgers have a great team this year and should go very far. Good Luck.

My father, who had followed the Angels since they were a part of the old Pacific Coast League back in the 30s and 40s, had always dreamed of making a visit to every major league stadium in the country. Well, he died a year ago on September 11th, and not long after his death my sister and I decided that we would take on my father's dream. In the year that has passed since my father's death, we have toured such storied venues as Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, as well as much newer ballparks like Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Last week, after attending countless Angels' games, we decided to take a tour of Angels Stadium.  Unbelievable. Unbelievably bad, that is. The tour we were given easily ranks as the worst we've been to so far. The only tour worse than the one we got in Anaheim is the one offered by the Oakland As. The As don't offer an actual tour, but you can take a 'virtual tour' on their official website.

For the cost of three dollars (yes, three dollars), you get to see the VIP elevator that no one on the tour is allowed to take pictures of (?), and are informed that the carpet upon which you stand carries a 'baseball motif' because, well, there are baseball designs woven into the fabric. The tour guide (quite possibly one of the Angel Boosters) helps you imagine what the inside of the Angels' Clubhouse looks like if you were able to take a tour of it, which you are not. We got to see the inside of the press room, where the kindly guide tried to remember where we could get the very same wallpaper should we want to decorate a room in our house similarly. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have the keys to the batting cages, but our guide again helped us to imagine what we would see had we been able to actually tour them.

The tour guide was a nice lady, and probably the very best grandmother in the whole world. But information about how new the carpeting is and where wallpaper can be purchased makes for one lousy tour. In contrast, two days later my sister and I toured AT&T Park in San Francisco and what a difference! First of all, the setting can't be beat. From the ballpark you can visually take in the entire San Francisco skyline on one side, and the Golden Gate Bridge on the other. But even better than that was the fact that our tour guide was quite possibly the most baseball knowledgeable guy I'd ever met. Importantly, not only did he give us great information on the history of Giants baseball, but he gave us great info on the history of baseball in the west, including some history of the Angels during their Pacific Coast years. The cost of the tour was twelve dollars and fifty cents, but it was light years better that the one at Angels Stadium.

Arte Moreno and the Angels stake a claim to being "Fan Strong", and they are. But please, Arte, do your fans, and baseball, a favor: hire a real tour guide and take pride in the Angel history that has brought this franchise to its current championship level of play. Please.