WTF LA Baseball?

I thought this year was going to be the year the Dodgers and Angels finally went head to head in the World Series, but instead we got NY Roiders Vs the Philly Fat Asses.



I got to attend a couple of these playoff games (ALDS 1, NLCS 1) and I would say it was the best games I've seen played by the Angels and Dodgers. Torii's & Manny's home runs both made the stadium shake and erupt in passionate cheers from the home crowd. There was very few Philly fans at the NLCS game one and those that were there got heckled badly. At the Angels/Red Sox game many of the Angels fans were just so happy to see Boston lose in Anaheim finally that they didnt want to jinx it by heckling a BoSox fan. It was a disappointing end to the season but not without support from the fans. The Angels provides more of a comeback spirit over the Yankees while the Dodgers gave up on there team after a horrible loss in game 4. Athough both teams didn't make it to this years Fall Classic, I can almost guarantee that they would be within reach again next year.

Two of the best sign for the Lakeshow

Vote for Figgy

There is only hours left in the voting. Its very simple to do. Visit this link to vote. Soon to come my analysis on the Ron Artest acquisition by the Lakers.

Vlad vs Manny

So here in the Los Angeles area are some of the two best hitters of modern time. One is tied for the most consecutive seasons batting over .300 and having over 25 HR's and the other has been to four Fall Classics and was voted World Series MVP. Both came from the Dominican Republic and up until a couple weeks ago had dreads. Each one has been to the All Star game more than 5 times. Vladdy is close to hitting his 400th HR whereas Manny has well over 500.

Both have cheerful personalities and show their lighter side even while playing the game. They are both considered icons for their franchises. Even though Mannywood gets the most attention, although the outpouring of support for Guererro has been noticed over the years. Both have had a rough start this year with Vladdy hitting below .300 with only 4 HR's the entire year and Manny being suspended for 50 games. The only big difference between these players is only one has used a banned substance. What that says about Manny character is up for public opinion, but from what I've seen everyone seems not to care about what he did.

This is pretty sad for baseball to ignore this lack of judgment by Manny. I know he got his "punishment" but for the sake of the game give us some much needed answers as to why he was using female hormones. Which is commonly used by players to reduce the side effects of taking steroids. It seems to be that people in Los Angeles ignore the motivation to the crimes and just assume they're guilty then let him go free. Perfect examples would be OJ and MJ. For the love of the game don't let this one slide. Make them accountable for their crimes by refusing to move on from what really happen. He can apologize all he wants but that's not going to fix the problems facing baseball and performance enhancing drugs.

As for Vladdy, he's a shoe in for the Hall of Fame as long as he doesn't make any bad choices, which he hasn't so far, and judging by his character probably won't ever juice in his remaining years. What is the saddest part about Manny is I never thought he would go that route, but sometimes the pressure to perform can change ones character. I hope this has been insightful to two great LA baseball players, one has a past filled with strange choices, and the other is hopefully about to make history.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This is the first posting of the So Cal sports blog covering the (good) Angels, Dodgers, Lakers, (bad) Padres, and (ugly) Clippers. Hopefully my insight is resourceful and at the very least thought provoking in regards to the subject matter. Look for future posts and highlights from recent MLB games plus other So Cal sports news.