Halos Heaven

Game Thread 2

2012-05-27T21:51:39Z

This is the second Game Thread.

The Coolest Non-Angels Website You'll Ever Visit

2012-05-27T20:23:12Z

Long before the arrival of the Brooklyn Carpetbaggers, professional baseball had been thriving in The City of Angels for over six decades. The Los Angeles Angels were a minor league team in name only, and like many other teams in the old Pacific Coast League, had talent & payroll comparable to anything in the MLB, with whom the league had long sought to merge with. The Angels had their own stadium at downtown Washington Park and sported the iconic interlocking "LA" logo on their caps:

all at a time when the Brooklynites were still busy renaming themselves the Atlantics, Greys, Robins, Bridegrooms, Superbas & Gangbangers with each passing season (okay, I made that last one up).

Before tax cheater Walter O'Malley crashed the local scene, LA's own homegrown Angels were the premier franchise of the PCL, winning a record 11 league titles since the team's inception in 1903. For those of us who love baseball history, there's an amazing website that's a treasure trove of historical sports apparel from this era called Ebbets Field Flannels. EFF sells caps, jerseys & jackets of not only the old PCL teams, but also Federal, Negro, Cuban and International leagues as well as those of legendary barnstorming teams like the House of David & the Ethiopian Clowns. EFF can be a bit pricey, but keep in mind that these are not replicas, but exact reproductions. All their products are made with 100% real flannel, felt numbers & letters, brass zippers, leather pocket trims and they never use any synthetic materials -- the company takes great pains to make even the most minute details true to the originals. One thing you'll never see on any of their merchandise is that unbelieveably tacky Majestic logo, which utterly ruined the whole authentic look of yesterday's uniforms:

So now you too can be as awesomely cool as Angels First Baseman & Hollywood Bad Ass Chuck Conners was in the original 50th Anniversary Jersey:

Or look as scary smart as Angels Second Baseman Gene Mauch did with this 1957 Road Jersey:

If the allowance your parents give you is generous enough, you can even buy The Most Epic Los Angeles Angels Leather Jacket Ever Made and be the envy of HH:

There's also a pretty sharp Wrigley Field Grounds Crew Jacket that's a bit more affordable for the rest of us:

Ebbets Field Flannel also makes the only authentic 1956 Los Angeles Angels hat -- however these are made exclusively by EFF for J. Crew and are only available at the J. Crew website. Not even EFF sells them. You can order it HERE.

This hat is guaranteed to make anybody look sexy, except maybe this scrub Angels pitcher who would later gain fame for this legendary achievement:

For those of you who are proud of our team's glorious heritage and would like to learn more about the only Los Angeles professional baseball team that was actually native to Los Angeles, there's this wonderful book that I highly recommend:

and that you can order from Amazon HERE or download to your Kindle.

Angels Five Game Win Streak Full of High Fives

2012-05-27T07:21:41Z

The Angels won their fifth straight game. Here is a video analysis.

They won Tuesday night in Oakland 5-0 with C.J. Wilson throwing 8 shutout innings.

They won 3-1 in extra innings Wednesday afternoon against the Athletics when Alberto Callaspo hit a clutch two-run double in the top of the eleventh inning. Ernesto Frieri got his first career Save.

In Seattle on Thursday night it was all Dan Haren tossing a Complete Game Shutout in a 2 hour 19 minute 3-0 three-hit masterpiece.

Friday night against the Mariners was the first big comeback of 2012. The Angels were down 4-0 in the sixth and 4-3 in the ninth. After tying the game Howie Kendrick's pinch hit single up the middle was the difference in a 6-4 Angels win.

Saturday afternoon against Felix Hernandez, the throwback uniforms seemed to favor the red team but the 1955 Los Angeles Angels squad finally triumphed in the Pacific Northwest in a 5-3 win that featured a pinch-hit grand slam by Alberto Callaspo and a win for our number five starter Jerome Williams.

Vote for Mister Shucks

2012-05-27T05:14:39Z

Vote for Mister Shucks

The Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels Low-A affiliate) have their mascot MISTER SHUCKS entered into Minor League Baseball's Mascot Mania and this baseball head in a cornstalk body needs your vote. At the link above you will find him on the upper right, MidWest bracket, pitted against Lou Seal, a formidable first round opponent. Vote early and often for Mister Shucks through May 29.

Week 07: Chone's Chonies reigns supreme!

2012-05-27T04:00:14Z

Week 7 featured 113 unique HH players, with an average of 76 player per game!

This week was a bit harder to score points as there was only an average of 3.27 points per game, and this week's leader Chone's Chonies led the pack at 9 points. 4 others were tied at 8 points, just missing the top mark. Find where you stand here

Overall, btown100 was able to keep the crown and stay on top with 49 points. Oxygen48 is right behind with the amount of points his username has. Gorbachav5 is behind him by 1 point... and Lanabanana is right behind by another point... and scottnak is right behind by? you guessed it, a single point! And Bacalao is just another point behind. It's a tight race! Find where you stand here.

As for pick6, this week's results looked like this:
1 WiHaloFan 272.9
2 VPBOB 268.0
3 Erick Danielsen 237.5
4 Ant Fan 233.2
5 jsal 220.5

And in fact, on the 20th, dabird22 was the overall leader for the day and beat every single person on SBN. Congrats to him. He is also the overal leader for HH, with WiHaloFan just behind! Here's how it looks:
1 dabird22 922.4
2 WiHaloFan 912.8
3 SLOfan 824.1
4 Ant Fan 804.8
5 drtrix 794.3

Callaspo Slam Slays King Felix, Angels Avenge '55 PCL Series

2012-05-27T02:24:26Z

This one was for Mauch, Bilko and the 1955 Los Angeles Angels.

Final Score in Seattle: Mariners 3, Angels 5

Wearing 1955 PCL Championship Series uniforms of the LA Angels and the Washington Rainiers, the Angels played the Mariners in a Saturday afternoon throwback affair. Pinch hitting in the 6th inning, Alberto Callaspo seemed to channel the ghost of LA Angel great Steve Bilko in hammering a grand slam off of King Felix Hernandez to turn a 2-1 score favoring the Rainiers into a 5-2 Angels lead that would not be relinquished.

The 1955 Rainiers beat the LA Angels for the PCL Championship but 57 years later revenge was a dish served cold and on national television.

The Angels came from behind late for the second game in a row, won their fifth straight game and beat the pitcher who dominated the Rangers on Monday. Ernesto Frieri got the save and along with Jordan Walden and Scott Downs pitched scoreless bullpen mastery. The great Mike Scioscia teams have relied on shut-down bullpens and the blueprint seemed as fresh as the blue LA Angels helmets the team wore to great amusement of everyone but fans of the Chavez Ravine pseudo-Raiders.

Game Thread Roll Call: Rev Halofan, migfig, angels_rally_mom, ladybug, red floyd, AngelsHIMYMfan, blast21dave, angelsfan7, 5thStarter, Angelsrthebest101, LanaBanana, HaloDanO, Angelsfan015, hobbit_86, Oxygen48, Hoppity Hooper, justaguy92320, supermarcio, ~MMP~, halosfan4ever, Figgi4life, pereubu77, RexTookMyStash, K3YEROUT, bc56274, Halowitz, mathisrocks5, Pipo, opiejeanne, sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher, TheGodofRuns, boyjohn, Jason Andrew Martin, halo everybody, matthiasstephan, Turks Teeth, raskul, HaloFanSince1978, Halosfan777, FanSinceRyan, LAA101010, HalosFanInNorCal, maze88, stuck in Romania, AnaheimHalos61, MH252525, KB_24, halofolife, tanana40, Jack Frostt, The Mikay, LAA of A Fan, Unclearnie, SaltyDawg, Nocturne, DanishThunder, Henderson-Sports 06, Quinlan's Goofy Swing, Quad Fin Rider, sunsforlife34, GTFO Fernando, Ed@northridge, poguemahone, Larry Rosen, Halostradamus, hbhalofan, Tapatio Man, Christie2002, AlanFalcon, ryanfea, Danzot, bbasher103090, Darth Duane, ihigh, autry's cowboys, salmonforever, Commander_Nate, DMAGZ13, Birdle, lifegrind, Halofan1043, Captain Thailand, firebird81, Dono Romantico, Haloredistheonlyred, VAangel, eyespy
Total Users: 87 • Total Posts: 1,581

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Panther of the Game

Friday Angels Comeback a Game of Firsts

2012-05-26T07:21:49Z

Friday's dramatic come from behind win included many firsts for the Angels this season...

It was the first time the Angels win after trailing in the 7th inning

It was the first time the Angels have won four straight games this season

It was Howie Kendrick's first ever pinch hit appearance, and first pinch hit.

It was Albert Pujols first three run HR as an Angel

It was Kole Calhoun's first major league stolen base.

I am not going to bother looking to see if it was Mike Trout's first 0-5 game of the year, ugh.

It wasn't the first time that Erick Aybar bunted straight back to the mound in a critical situation in his career, ugh, but it was the first time that the outcome of said Aybarian sacrifice was positive, as an errant throw by the Seattle pitcher led to the tying run scoring.

It wasn't the first time an Angels starting pitcher walked 7 batters and didn't get the loss but let's not go there.

Angels Rally Shocks Angels Fans Much More Than Mariners or Their Fans

2012-05-26T05:02:38Z

Final Score in Seattle: Angels 6, Mariners 4

Ervin Santana finally got some offense to support him but he did himself in with SEVEN walks. Albert Pujols hit a masterful wrist-powered Homerun deep to the Centerfield bleachers to make a 4-0 Bad BooDoo outing a 4-3 respectable loss. The Angels were 0-21 when trailing after 8 innings this season and with some familiar flat tire innings early in the game it did not seem like #22 was in doubt.

But then they rallied!

Howie Kendrick's first career appearance as a pinch hitter saw a 9th inning single up the middle off of Mariners closer Brandon League. Tattoo You indeed. It was a two-run base hit that broke a 4-4 tie.

The inning started with a single by Mark Trumbo and a well-crafted walk by Alberto Callaspo. Still down by a run, it was time for Mike Sciosica to taunt the baseball gods with some buntage up frontage.

Peter Bourjos was running for Trumbo and when Erick Aybar bunted (awfully) right back to the mound, Speedy Petey barreled into 3B and lept up, threw the third-baseman off of his shoulder and ran to home courtesy of an errant throw by League. Chone Figgins made up for his terribly cold play in the 2009 postseason for the Angels by bobbling the hell out of the ball that had rolled all the way into the foul territory near Left Field. Clutch McCostco and Aybar then moved up to 3B and 2B. Then Howie, previously a slumped has-been, did his thing.

On the 35th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, Red Leader led the late charge to blow up the SafeCo Death Star of Seattle. It was the Angels fourth win a row, the first time they have reached that mark this season. Hopefully many sequels are to come!

Game Thread Roll Call: angelsfan7, Tapatio Man, blast21dave, Christie2002, angels_rally_mom, 5thStarter, tanana40, MH252525, opiejeanne, ladybug, HalosFanInNorCal, Commander_Nate, OC Awhole1, sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher, ~MMP~, Quad Fin Rider, ryanfea, Darth Duane, maze88, hobbit_86, halosfan4ever, Nocturne, SLOfan, Halos2008, boyjohn, Big Easy Halofan, VAangel, red floyd, Dono Romantico, salmonforever, Halosfan777, RexTookMyStash, raskul, Rev Halofan, Hutch83, ihigh, migfig, Angelsfan015, DMAGZ13, LAA101010, Sethy, Pipo, FlaAngelFan, frosse, eyespy, TheGodofRuns, san cristobal de las casas, Halostradamus, BartonSpringsMatt, clover_black, Curtzilla, mustard_man, Alavel, max peter, bighig, bc56274, Unclearnie, PhiSlamma, Tonysix23, Oxygen48, Evan Gillette, DanishThunder, justaguy92320, lifegrind, michael23333, Quinlan's Goofy Swing, DAD OF VLAD, firebird81, snowhor, GTFO Fernando, Larry Rosen, Raaddad, Erick Danielsen, LittleCupcakes, Foulbert Polejus, Chone's Chonies, Captain Thailand, Theren86n02, RumorsOfWars36, wonderbread403, 101halo, aces666high, niners3, Buselben
Total Users: 84 • Total Posts: 1,656

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