As we are close to the end of the decade, I deem it an appropriate time for the unveiling of an "All-Decade Angels Team." This team is composed of all Halos from 2000 up until present . Tell me if you agree with my picks.

Starting at catcher, we would have our catcher from our glorious 2002 World Series Championship, Bengie Molina. While painfully slow, there was none like him behind the plate. He had a rocket arm, hit a solid .274 as a Halo from 2000-2005, while wining a couple Gold Gloves.  Backing him up would probably be Mike Napoli as we haven't had many other good catchers the past nine years.

Over at first base, the starter would be Scott Spiezio who hit that crucial three run HR that got the Angels back in Game 6 of the 02 World Series when they were facing elimination. Mark Teixeira would no doubt be the backup had he played more games in an Angels uniform. Since he only played half a season, he has to fight with Casey Kotchman, Kendry Morales, and Darin Erstad (who many forget won a Gold Glove there in 2004) to be the 2nd string to Spiezio.

Now to second base where Adam Kennedy would no doubt start. He had a good 7 year run with the Angels and lets not forget that he was the MVP of the 02 ALCS vs. the Twins. Maicier Izturis and Howie Kendrick  would fight to back up AK just as they are fighting for the position this year, but I might give it to Kendrick based solely on those hilarious Howard's TV commercials

At shortstop, I would give Orlando Cabrera the nod. He played stellar defense and won a Gold Glove in 2007. Fan favorite David Eckstein would back up OC because while Eck was much more popular, hustled more, and was faster, OC was better with the bat and the glove.

At third base is a landslide to Troy Glaus, the 2002 World Series MVP who set the Angels single season HR record with 47 in 2000. Backing him up would be the much faster and much better defesnively, Chone Figgins.

My left fielder would be Garret Anderson, perhaps the greatest Angels of all-time who broke most if not all Angels offensive records. His backup would either be current leftfielder Juan Rivera or hot-headed Jose Guillen.

In center field, I have a deadheat between Erstad and Torii Hunter. Hunter while much better defensively and probably offensively, he hasn't been a Halo long enough to beat Erstad who actually won a Gold Glove in 2000 and 2002 as the everyday center fielder.

In right field would definitely be Vlad Guerrero. While he is going downhill, he consistently gave the Angels .300, 30 HRs, and 100 RBIs a year for a few years. His 2nd string would be newbie Bobby Abreu who is destined for greatness in a Halo uniform.

My DH would be one of the greatest Halos ever, Tim Salmon who spent his entire career a Halo and hit nearly 300 HRs. I placed him at DH because Salmon, while a truer Angel than Vlad Guerrero and the everyday right fielder for many years, Guerrero was better defensively until maybe this year (Vlad's arm is like no other). His backup would be 2002 DH Brad Fullmer who came through many times in the clutch that year.

On the mound, I would send out our overweight but incredible pitcher Bartolo Colon who was the club's sole 20 game and Cy Young winner of the decade. Enough said. His backup on the hill would be John Lackey who won Gm 7 of the 02 World Series as a rookie, has a career ERA under 4.00 and is closing in on 100 careers wins.

My relief pitcher would be Scot Shields who has been our middle relief/occasional setup man holding games since 2001. His backup would either be Darren Oliver, JC Romero, or Scott Schoenweis.

Finally, my closer would be the wild K-Rod who set the single season saves mark last year and was untouchable as a rookie in 2002 up until his departure last year. His backup would be good but not as great Troy Percival who closed games during the championship season but whom K-Rod as since amassed as a closer.

There you have it. The All-Time Angel Team from the years of 2000 til present day. We've definitely had some great players on our club the past few years.

I am a huge (with a capital H) huge fan of the Angels just like everyone else on this site. But recently I have discovered that possibly there could be a curse of the Angels.  It's not like the Curse of the Bambino or the Curse of the Billy Goat or a Curse of the Black Sox or anything like that. This curse actually goes beyond the sport of baseball.

You may have seen a story of a possible Angels' curse elsewhere on the web but in case you didn't, I'll run it by you.

There are numerous stories that Angel Stadium (formerly known as Anaheim Stadium and Edison International Field) was built on Indian burial ground. This is possibly how the curse started.

The bad luck started in 1965 when rising rookie pitcher Dick Wantz died of a brain tumor. Two years later, another promising young reliever was paralyzed in a car crash, Minnie Rojas, which killed his wife and two kids and ended his career.

The curse reared its ugly head again five years later  when another car crash claimed the life of infielder Chico Ruiz. In 1974, pitcher Bruce Heinbechner died in another car crash during Spring Training.  In 1977, shortstop Mike Miley was killed in yet another car crash (this is getting ridiculous). Then just a year later one of the Angels' star players Lyman Bostock was shot and killed, mistaken for someone else while riding in (of all things) a car.

The curse didn't really come back (unless you count numerous losing seasons and heartbreaking playoff losses) until 1986 when the Halos, one strike away from advancing to the World Series, suffered another heartbreaking loss on a Dave Henderson homer to give the Sox the lead and eventually the Series. Donnie Moore, the pitcher who gave up the HR was tormented by it, so much so that in 1989, he shot his wife before killing himself. Then in 1992, the team bus crashed injuring 13 and nearly killing manager Buck Rodgers but thankfully everyone survived.

And then after all that, it seemed that the curse had been shaken, especially after the Angels first World Series Championship in 2002. Some say the Rally Monkey defeated it.

And all was well in Angel Town. That is....... .until last April when our top prospect and seemingly ace of our pitching staff for the future, Nick Adenhart, was killed by a drunk driver just hours after he pitched in his first game of the season. It seems as though the curse may have returned. Do you believe?

I'd like to thank http://adventurenotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/angels-curse.html, http://www.slate.com/id/2072685/, and http://www.ocregister.com/articles/angels-accident-moore-2359264-year-heinbechner for helping me out with my research on this subject.

Sure the 2008 LA Angels of Anaheim finished with 100 wins.

Sure they won yet another AL West title finishing a whopping 21 games ahead of the second place Rangers.

Sure we made a blockbuster trade landing us All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira for the last few months of the season (and boy did he make a difference).

Sure last year we still had one of our greatest closers in the history of the Angels, Fransisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez who set a major league record with an astonishing 62 saves.

Sure this year Teixeira, K-Rod, Garret Anderson, Jon Garland, and the recently released Justin Speier are no longer Halos.

Sure the Halos have been plagued by injuries to their three biggest bats (Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Juan Rivera) and numerous pitchers (Lackey, Escobar, who has still not returned, Saunders, Santana, etc.).

Sure we've had to put rookie after rookie on the mound on a nightly basis (who had ever heard of Sean O'Sullivan, Matt Palmer, Jason Bulger, Trevor Bell, Kevin Jepsen, Shane Loux, and company before this year?).

Sure Big Daddy Vladdy is in the worst shape of his career.

And sure the 2009 season started on an awful note after the death of a Halos fan on Opening Night at Angel Stadium and Nick Adenhart being killed a few days later.

But despite all these things, I strongly believe that our Angels this year are much deeper. Why you ask?  To start us off, the Angels lead the league in batting average after only batting a mediocre .268 all of last year ("good" enough for 7th place in the AL alone). This year they lead the league in BA. Look at their stats. All of them (except for maybe one or two hovering just below it) are batting .300+. Even Mike Scioscia admitted to being impressed by that.  Heck the only ones batting below the .300 line are the bench/utility guys who don't play every day (Willits, Matthews Jr., Kendrick, Mathis, Quinlan, Wood, etc.).

Onto pitching.  All of our starting five (Lackey, Weaver, Saunders, Santana, and Palmer, O'Sullivan, and Trevor Bell taking turns in the 5th slot) have winning records.

Moving along now to our replacements. We have seen the breakout of a future All-Star in Kendry Morales who replaced Tex.  Look at his stats he is batting over .300 and is leading the club in slugging %, home runs, and RBIs.  I think he is a more than adequate replacement for Mark Teixeira.

Now to Brian Fuentes, K-Rod's replacement. He is 2nd in the league in saves with 35 (one beind Mariano Rivera and 8 ahead of K-Rod). While nothing close to K-Rod's performance last year, it definitely gets the job done.

Over to Bobby Abreu, the world's most patient hitter, who replaced Garret Anderson. He is second on the team in RBIs, is batting over .300, and is a stolen base threat. A lot better than the slow and double play prone Garret. Remember, I am talking about the 08 Anderson vs. the 09 Abreu. GA is one of the greatest Angels of all time but Abreu has a higher BA, Slugging %, and OBP as well as more swiped bags, BBs, and HRs and equal RBIs through 117 games played than Anderson had all season last year (he played 145 games).

Finally, Garland's replacement in the rotation, Matt Palmer. Palmer has gone 9-1 while Garland has cleared waivers for the cellar-dwelling D-Backs. I consider Palmer to be Garland's replacement because he has started more games and won more games than anyone other than Lackey, Saunders, Santana, and Weaver (O'Sullivan, Bell, Loux and Co. included).

And the defense. The entire infield is capable of winning a Gold Glove. The Angels are one of the league's best in fielding %. From Figgins with his rocket arm at the hot corner to Erick Aybar with his throws from the left field grass (who by the way leads the Angels in BA) to  Izturis at 2nd base stopping any ball that goes up the middle or through the right side to Kendry Morales with his masterful scoops at first base (who leads the Angels with a .994 fielding % good enough for 14th in the entire league). Add those four to Torii Hunter over in center (always a Gold Glove candidate and winner of 8 straight) and the Halos could be hauling in numerous Gold Gloves at season's end.

The 2009 Angels are also faster (at least five players have swiped at least ten bags with two, Figgins and Abreu, over the 25 mark). Their bats are also better as six are in double figures in HRs and nine have at least 40 RBIs with about 40+ games remaining.

I have to admit, the 2008 Angels were damn good. This years' Angels are just better. And what will seal the deal in the debate that this years squad is better? If they at least make it past the ALDS (something they could not do last year).