Boston Red Sox

Behind enemy lines

By Chad Finn

2 minutes to read

. . . also known today as the Official (And Annual) Los Angeles Angels Postmortem. Let’s get to the obits:

  • The Times’ Bill Shaikin notes that the Angels are becoming “the Atlanta Braves of a new generation” and quotes third baseman Chone Figgins on his sadly familiar sense of deja vu after the final out was recorded:

    “I couldn’t believe it,” [Figgins] said. “Once again, we’re on their field, and they’re celebrating.

    “I’m just wondering: How does this keep happening?”

    Shaikin also has Angels starter John Lackey reciting a timeless losers’ lament:

    There was disappointment and frustration in every corner of the Angels’ clubhouse, defiance and anger in some.

    “We lost to a team that was not as good as we are,” John Lackey said.

    That’s some hubris coming from someone who was outpitched twice in a four-game series, and that wasn’t all he had to say . . .

  • In the Times’ game story, Lackey, who had no problem showing up the Angels’ defense when they made a mistake, not surprisingly proves he’s something less than a gracious loser:

    “[Sunday] night they scored three runs on a pop fly that was called a hit, which was a joke,” Lackey said, referring to [Jacoby] Ellsbury’s pop that fell between center fielder Torii Hunter and second baseman Howie Kendrick in Game 3.

    “[Monday] night they scored on a broken-bat ground ball and a fly ball that anywhere else in America is an out, and he’s fist-pumping on second base like he did something great.”

    Asked to describe his feelings, Lackey said, “Like I want to throw somebody through a wall.”

    Within the same piece, Mike DiGiovanna takes Angels manager Mike Scioscia to task for the botched suicide squeeze in the ninth inning:

    Scioscia broke out his little-ball attack at the worst possible time Monday night, and the Angels, almost predictably, came up little.

    You have to wonder if this blunder will be the tipping point, and people will realize the Angels’ aggressiveness too often becomes recklessness, particularly in the postseason, when every out is precious.

  • The OC Register’s Mark Whicker says the botched squeeze was just one final, glaring example of the Angels’ series-long failure to execute.
  • We’re guessing the OC’s Bill Plunkett had a couple of chocolate glazed and an iced coffee or two while he was in the neighborhood:

    There are a few certainties about Boston in October. The leaves will begin to turn. You’ll never be more than 100 steps from either a Dunkin’ Donuts or a historic landmark – or maybe both.

    And the Angels won’t get past the Red Sox.

  • ESPN.com’s Amy K. Nelson writes about the “seething” Angels, particularly Lackey and Torii Hunter.
  • And finally, the Times’ Jerry Crowe comes up with the Slogan of the Day:

    You gotta bereave . . .

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