| Douglas Benton. 24th July, 2005 - 4:14 pm
 Recently, I had the chance to go to Anaheim and watch the Angels take on the New York Yankees. What I saw was a team that is strong across the board and has the fortitude to make a run deep into October. With a team that is built to win now and an owner who wants nothing more than that, I see the Angles going to the World Series as the American League representative.
The team starts with right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who is quickly becoming one of the best overall players in baseball. The reining AL MVP is the unquestioned leader of this group and the face for the franchise. He, along with Garret Anderson, provides a one-two punch that rivals any in the American League. Anderson might be the most underappreciated players in baseball, but he just does everything right and lets his play do the talking.
Now, a team must have a couple of big bats to make a playoff push, but they also need role players who do the dirty work. Chone Figgins is the epitome of this with the way he plays multiple positions and helps his team every time he steps to the plate. Other role players that have been important to the Angles are Darin Erstad, who switched to first base to make room for Guerrero, and the Molina brothers, who provide solid defense behind the plate.
The only weak point of this team is the starting pitching, even though they have four quality starters. The problem I see is that they have a group of #2 and #3 starters with no ace to lean on. Bartolo Colon is an excellent pitcher and has the talent to be an ace of a staff, but he is too inconsistent to have that label just yet.
In the bullpen, it is lights out as soon as you get to the eighth inning. Setup man Scot Shields is considered by many to be one of the top setup men in the business and is an exceptional arm to go to before Francisco Rodriguez gets the call. “K-Rod” is in the upper echelon of closers and will take over the role as the best closer in baseball in the next few years.
So, with a team that is so balanced with superstars and role players, it isn’t hard to see why they will make the World Series this fall. They even have the Rally Monkey on their side, just like they did when they won it all in 2003.
The only team that does need to be worked out is the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim, which makes a very good team the butt of everyone’s jokes. |
