Happy New Year!

If you’re a baseball fan, there’s a good chance that at some point in time you uttered the phrase “there’s always next year” (usually after your team just fell short of expectations). Well, next year is tomorrow and even though the year came and went in the blink of an eye, there were times when many of us may have thought “tomorrow” would never get here.

This whole time thing had me thinking; if time really does fly, why do some weeks seem like they’re never going to end? How many times have you come home from work and said to yourself or your wife, “it’s been a long day”? And then when December hits, you wonder; “where did the time go?”

Think about all the song lyrics written about “time” like “Time in a bottle,” “Time keeps on ticking, ticking into the future…” or “Time is on my side,” etc., etc. One thing’s for sure, we can’t ever seem to get enough of it.

Time is that mythical thing that heals all things. An event isn’t big enough or important enough unless it has the word “time” involved; like “winning time” or “hammer time.” It’s that thing that frequently escapes us, but at the same time, we can never run from it.

Time has also always had a special relationship with baseball. Some of us mark the years by the teams who won the World Series that year. It’s that thing that makes us crazy when there’s too much of it between pitches. And let's not forget that baseball is America's favorite pastime.

Well, now it’s time to put 2009 to bed.

The 2009 Angels baseball season was a long one. Granted, I would have preferred it to be a tad bit longer and had a better outcome, but it was long just the same. There were times when I couldn’t wait for it to be over (although rarely) and when it did end, I couldn’t wait for it to start again.

Well, in about six weeks it will all start again when the sweetest five words ever invented are heard around the world… “Pitchers and catchers report today.” I can’t wait. It will be here before we know it and when it does arrive, we’ll probably say, “I thought it would never get here.” Go figure.

And with that, I wish you all a Happy New Year! I am looking forward to blogging more about Angels' baseball in 2010. Trust me; I’m just getting warmed up.