the baseball diaries

"I always thought of you as my brick wall, built like an angel six feet tall... Six feet tall. And when you go away I start to weep, you're too expensive, girl, to keep. Isn't it sweet...?" From cringing to surging to all points in between, the Angels have given us quite the season so far! They pitch (a Weaver no-hitter!) and then they can't pitch (Magic's struggle to locate), they hit (Trum-Bone .322 10 hr's) and then they can't hit (the well documented woes of Pujols). Yet, they somehow strung together an 8 game win streak, broken up by the Yank, then a couple solid outtings vs the Rangers, and find themselves at .500 in second place trying to make a run in the AL West. Losing the last two games, one to the aforementioned Rangers and last night to the Mariners, just doesn't help, but look at it ths way: Would it be better for us as fans if they hit every preseason mark of expectation only to collapse at the end? Or is it much better to see them struggle to get what they want now and fight for every win, hopefully improving even in losses? I say the struggle is what is more compelling, more interesting because we, at least I, can identify more easily with that. If success for these guys, maybe even for us, comes too easily, it doesn't seem earned. Unless you're just a complete badass and you have no true competition... If I may add, there is a direct link to Hatcher being fired and the Angels bats awakening! The Angels send Garrett Richads to the hill for his first start of 2012, filling in for the ubiquitous Weaver. Now that's confidence! "Hark, the Herald Angel's sting, please repair my broken wing. Why won't you look at me? I live and breathe..." - from Get the Message by Electronic dil8d halo P.S. I hate blogger! No spacing? The heck you say!!