More "Signs"

The Kool-Aid will be flowing today. There will be folks jumping back on the Angels bandwagon after their sweep of the Kansas City Royals. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing because anything that keeps people watching and going to Angel games is a good thing. I’m just observing.

As great as all of the recent wins are – let’s not get carried away. Those victories came against the Kansas City Royals who are tied for last in their division. Granted, this is what the Angels are supposed to do, but let’s not make it out to be some sort of season changing milestone. It’s not.

Don’t get me wrong, winning is still winning, but again – let’s just keep it in perspective.

Today is an off day and that’s going to give Angel fans too much time to think and talk. Trust me, between now and Friday night the hype will be back. The battle cry will be along the lines of “Here come the Angels; we’re rolling now…” Sounds great. I hope it’s true. Just don’t look for me to lead that parade.

I’ll leave that to people like Jeff Biggs.

Biggs did the post game show on the radio yesterday and he is back to dolling out the hype. He’s saying “the pressure is off the Angels now.” Funny what a sweep over a team who is tied for last in their division can do. Kool-Aid is being served and people like Biggsy are playing bartender again.

Personally, I don’t feel the need to hype every victory as some sort of proof that the Angels are about to make things interesting. I can simply enjoy the victory as simply that – a victory. If they continue to win, I’ll be very pleased and if they don’t, I won’t be too surprised. I’m just trying to be somewhat objective here. I will simply continue to watch and attend as many Angel games as I can (which will be a ton), cheer loudly and not look too far ahead.

The Angels are still 7.5 games out (as of this posting). They’re still 7th in the AL in runs scored and 10th in OPS as a team. These numbers don’t induce much confidence.

Just saying.

That being said, this weekend will be a good test. The Blue Jays are a solid offensive team. They lead the AL in homeruns and should the Angels handle them, I may actually think the Angels are giving me a reason for optimism and an opportunity to believe.

In the mean time the Rangers will be hosting the Red Sox. I hate to do this, but it’s all about the team; so here it goes… GO SOX!

Did I really just write that? That’s just so wrong.

I blame the Angels for putting me in this position. I’m scoreboard watching and cheering for the likes of the Yankees, A’s and Red Sox. I feel dirty. It’s not enough for me to just cheer my team on to victory; I have to hope teams I really despise also do well against the Rangers. Oh well… that’s baseball.

On a completely different note (after all, it is an off day)… I was reading some thoughts about Dallas McPherson on AngelsWin. Yes, that Dallas McPherson. He’s still toiling around in the minor leagues and is currently with the Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League. He’s part of the Oakland A’s farm system.

McPherson has been on somewhat of a tear lately, hitting four homeruns in August. He appears to be healthy – at least for the moment (which has always been an issue for him).

The reason I bring him up is not because I think he could help a club win ball games, but because any discussion about McPherson reminds me of the 2002 movie “Signs” that starred Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix.

Phoenix played a character named Merrill Hess, who was best known as a guy who hit monster homeruns in the minor leagues, but also set records for strike outs. In my opinion, McPherson looks a little like Phoenix and the Hess character kind of describes him to a tee.

What do you think?

All I’m saying is that if we are ever invaded by aliens, Dallas McPherson should get called up, but probably not until then.