Ever been to the Big A, home of the 1st-place Angels in Anaheim, Ca? Well I scored some tickets to the Angels vs. Yankees this past Sunday and thought I would show you around my home away from home – even more exciting when you can enjoy a weekend sweep of the Bronx Bummers.
It was hot, either from the 90-degree sunshine, or more likely the awesomeness of the Mighty Angels of the West. So hot, in fact, that the Yankees found it impossible to find a victory and had to get out of the kitchen after a 3-day sweep FROM the Angels.
Our tour begins from the front of the stadium while at the intersection of State College Blvd and Gene Autry Way. As excited fans cross the street, the excitement builds in anticipation of the start of the game against the Least of the East.
Cruising in to Sunday’s game, the Angels had a comfortable 13 game lead in the West, was playing something like 30 games over .500, and led the Majors with the best record. No wonder when you see that the heart of Sunday’s line up, hitting 3-7 were the Murderer’s Row of Marx “Tex” Teixiera, Vlad “Big Daddy/Super Vladdy” Guerrero, Torii “Big Game” Hunter, Garret “G.A.”Anderson and Howard “Hit Man Howie” Kendrick.
With the recent acquisition of Teixiera, many think that cemented the Angels run for the World Series. I don’t know if we’ll make it there, but obviously if we keep playing this way we have a great chance, but I think the Angels can count on a AL West Division title and possibly a win in the ALCS, which figures to be the hardest obstacle. If they can make it past the ALCS, there aren’t many scary teams in the NL to lose sleep over (sorry NL fans).
Back to our Sunday at the park, you can see the giant helmets that both greet and shade visitors at the Home Plate entrance to the park. Beyond that is a walk down the concourse, past the 2002 World Series trophy, where my wife Heather (yes, she is a huge baseball fan) decided to get coffee. Coffee at the ballpark? Don’t hold it against her though and she usually downs a bratwurst and beer with me, so we’ll let it slide this time.
In our seats we find ourselves surrounded by desperate Yankees fans, most of them good natured, and through the back and forth of a tied 3-3 game, we exchanged slams, making the ballpark experience that much more enjoyable. With a new ballgame on the scoreboard, the Yankees fans started heckling the Rally Monkey, wondering when it would appear. Well it didn’t take long, and they found out just how powerful the Monkey really is, sorry guys!
With the Monkey looking on and with a swing of the bat Figgins hit an easy single between first and second, scoring Kendrick home from second (in the bottom of the 9th), much to the disbelief of the Yankees and their fans. In a sea of over 44,000 people for the 21st sellout of the season at the stadium, you can imagine how charged the Angels crowd was, shaking the stadium to its foundation, as if they had just swept the Yanks in a post season series. What a feeling!
After the win, we walked out to the Rock Pile out in center field where our pennant flags are proudly waving for a last photo op.
Hope you enjoyed this little tour of Anaheim Stadium. Perhaps I’ll see your team in the post season. Go Halos!