Finding joy in a season of struggles

I know, I know, trust me; I know exactly how you feel.  

You’re frustrated.  You’re disappointed.  You’re confused and you’re even angry.  You keep asking yourself or anyone that will listen - how can a team with this much talent be this inconsistent?  You want to assign blame.  You’re ready to fire any combination of Mike Scioscia, Mike Butcher, the Rally Monkey and Vernon Wells.

I get it.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  Like I said, I know.

I don’t have any answers for why the Angels are in the predicament they’re in.  Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t.  That being said, I do have some thoughts and even some questions for you; yes – questions for you.

Let me ask you – can you enjoy a baseball season where your team doesn’t make the post season?  I know the quick answer might be – “No way” – but stop for just a second and think about the question in a deeper way.

Have you enjoyed watching Mike Trout burst onto the scene like a hurricane?  Have you enjoyed Mark Trumbo’s sophomore season as a middle-of-the-lineup-force-to-be-reckoned-with?  How about the season Jered Weaver has put together?

Look – I know nothing compares to a team that is winning and winning often, but the cold hard fact is that only one of the thirty teams in Major League Baseball will be a champion.  Don’t take this the wrong way; because I am in no way throwing in the towel.  I’m just asking some questions and sharing some thoughts.

Here’s what I know.  On many levels this season has been incredibly fun for me.  There was the Jered Weaver no-hitter and the fine individual performances of Mike Trout and Jered Weaver.  I have savored every moment of Torii Hunter’s season; knowing this could be his last in Anaheim. 

And yet… there’s an empty feeling that goes along with all the good times and it’s the feeling we have all come to know when the team struggles, under-achieves and just plain sucks.  It’s a horrible contrast in realities.

Still… this season isn’t over and if the Angels can make it to a wild card play-in game, they have a shot.  At this point in time, I’ll take that.  Just give them a shot; that’s all I ask.

If last season taught us anything about baseball; it’s that the season really is a marathon and that until your team is mathematically eliminated, anything can happen.  It’s a beautiful thing.  It can also be agonizing.  Watching a team this good – struggle, isn’t easy to do and judging by the attendance, many of you have definitely checked out.

And then there’s last night.

I know there are lots of other games I could talk about – such as the 14-13 triumph in Boston, but I’m going to bring up last night for the simple reason that we (Cheryl and me) were there.

When the Angels fell behind 5-2 in the sixth things looked grim, but if you’ve been following this team, you know that they seem to be hitting Clay Buchholz pretty good this season.  That gave me a little hope; albeit, just a bit. 

When the Angels closed the gap to 5-4, the spark of hope got a little brighter.  And then it happened...

Cheryl turned to me and said “We’re going to win this game; I’ve already played it out in my mind.”  You know what?  I believed her.  I didn’t say it at the time – but deep down, I knew I’d be reminding her of that statement after the game.

And then it happened… the Angels came from behind in the bottom of the 9^th for a walk-off win.  With one out- Erick Aybar was hit by a pitch.  Alberto Callaspo (who is under-appreciated in my opinion) walked.  Mike Trout singled and Aybar scored.  With runners on first and third; up steps Torii Hunter who delivered a sacrifice fly to score Callaspo to win the game.

Walk-off wins are about as much fun as you can have at a baseball game and last night was all that!

Sometimes I think Cheryl takes the losses harder than I do; so when she sees something or feels something about a game, I take notice.  It’s fun to watch.  She starts out by giving the players tough love – telling them how bad they are (not to their face, but just out-loud of course), but as soon as they do something positive, she’s cheering and high fiving everyone around her.

On a night when the weather was horrible (it was hot, muggy and the heat coated us like a heavy blanket), something cool happened – a walk-off win - over the Boston Red Sox no less.  More than that – a memory was created and a little bit of joy took place.  As we walked out, Cheryl realized she had called it… she called the come-from-behind win.  It was perfect.

That’s what baseball is all about. 

Even in the midst of a season of struggles, we can still manage to have a little fun and a heck of a good time anytime we’re at a game.  How about you? 

See you at the ball park.

Life in the fast lane

The last two days have involved two of Cheryl and my favorite things... music and baseball. It all started Thursday night with a concert with the Newsboys, who had Anthem Lights, Abandon, and the City Harmonic warming up for them.

We had a fabulous time and even though we knew we would pay for it today (after only getting a few hours of sleep), it was worth the time. Okay, maybe going to a concert and then coming home to finish packing for an early (4:30 a.m.) trip to Tempe for a little baseball isn't the smartest thing in the world - but that's just how we roll.

We rolled into Tempe sometime after 10:30 a.m. (Tempe time) and headed out to the practice fields where the pitchers were doing their drills in preparation for what we hope will be a championship season. That's right... I said "championship" season... after all, it's spring.

We caught up with Bob, who is one of the wonderful and extremely nice folks who work at the stadium, snapped some photos, chatted a bit with fans, players and coaches and then headed off for a late lunch.

One of the things we love about coming to Tempe/Phoenix is that we get to head out to some of our favorite eating establishments. We're always on the look-out for something new and local and today we were very pleased with a recommendation that came from Keith Law of ESPN. Law recently tweeted that "if you're covering the Angels and you're not spending at least half of your meals at Hillside Spot Cafe - you should just go back to Los Angeles."

Cheryl and I had a pulled pork sandwich that was absolutely mouth watering. We followed it up with cookie (blondies) that was equally delectable. We're adding this restaurant to our "must visit" list for every trip to the area going forward.

We then headed to our hotel to crash for a few hours.

Spring training is all about watching baseball, eating and sleeping. Hey, it's all about doing things that help us have the best possible experience. We need our rest and food to fuel our days. Just saying.

Which brings me to dinner... Mike Butcher's sister-in-law has a restaurant (I don't know the extent of her actual involvement) called Aunt Chilada's and we had been dying to try it. We learned about it last year from our friend Joe. We had actually forgotten the name of the restaurant, but when we saw Mike Butcher he was kind enough to tell us the name.

The food here was very good and the chips (specifically the flour chips) were the best "chips" I've ever had. Cheryl had a quesadilla sampler and I had the chicken and spinach enchilada.



How was the food? Let's just say that we were 2 for 2 today and batting a thousand. This is how you do spring training right, folks.

The day in photographs... Included below are Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson X 2, Latroy Hawkins/Jered Weaver/Mike Scioscia/Dan Haren, Jorge Cantu, Jerome Williams, and Chris Ianetta.