Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10148
26 LIVEMAGS.NET MAY>>10 N umerical yardsticks dance around in a baseball fan's head: a .300 avg, a 99 MPH fastball, 100 RBI in a season, a 5.40 ERA, a 40 -homer year, a no (0) hitter. These values and others signify success (and failure) in a nutshell. One in particular, which is significant to the 2010 Angels, is the number 27. No, it's not Vlad Guerrero's old number missing from the lineup; it's one of the snarkier statistical values in baseball. "Age 27". This is the age when big leaguers reach their peak physical output. If a hitter suddenly "breaks out" and hits 15 more homeruns than last year or if a pitcher suddenly dials in his stuff and toys with a 20 win season there is an uncanny likelihood that the guy just had his 27th birthday. Managers, coaches and scouts all take this factor into account when setting rosters and signing and releasing players—though they seldom voice it. Analysts try to debunk the "Age 27" theory with players who've proven it false, but these numbers only accentuate the rareness of the exceptions to this rule. The fact is, even by broadening the rule, the average player between the age of 26-28 is in his peak years. The 2010 Angels, while boasting one of the most talented young infields in baseball, have only two other players on their active roster still in their peak performance years—starting pitcher, Scott Kazmir and reliever, Kevin Jepsen. The Angels outfield is flat-out old—Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera, Bobby Abreu, and Hideki Matsui are all over 30—and their pitching staff isn't as young and spritely as they once were. Joe Saunders, Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana are no longer inexperienced starters—they're veterans. It's strange to say: "The Angels are a team of veterans, one of the older teams in baseball." It's the way they play —reflecting a youthfulness that defies the veteran label. But is that style of play changing? For as long as Mike Scioscia's been at the helm in Anaheim, his teams have shown spirit and zip, winning with defense, hustle, station to station offense, sacrifice bunts, stolen bases and contact hitting. This highly kinetic style of play has been the trademark of the Halos and, for many fans, the reason they believe in the team. They play like kids. They play quickly; they take chances; they go after the win. Or, at least, they used to. The 2010 Angels may turn out to be a new breed of Halo. Rewinding to the second half of the 07-08 season, the Angels, for lack of a better term, rented Mark Teixeira for the summer months. With Vladdy's power numbers dropping and Torii Hunter as the team's only other substantial slugger, for the first time in a long time, they went after a premiere hitter to challenge the potent AL EAST lineups in a postseason showdown. Sadly, the Teixeira experiment only lasted for the 07-08 season, after which he was shipped off to said rival Yankees, and the Angels were left with a taste of what real power could mean. The organization saw the resilience Hunter had shown as a bounce-back power hitter, and the Angels took on ex-Yankee outfielder, Bobby Abreu to play that same semi-slugger role. While Abreu's power numbers didn't match Hunter's in '09, he knocked in over 100 runs and, with his clutch gap shots, quickly became a fan favorite. The other major development for the '09 Halos was the rise of first baseman, Kendry Morales. Not since the days of Troy Glaus had the Angels had a power hitter on the corner of the diamond. Morales, a Cuban defector, had been in Scioscia's and the Angels' execs' periphery since '06. They knew he had the ingredients to be a big league masher, but the team was hesitant to use him consistently at bat. It's strange to think that the organization spent so much money for half a season of Teixeira when they had Morales in house, waiting for the chance, seeming to underscore the kinetic style of play the Angels embraced in '06 and '07 but moved away from in '08. While the 08-09 Angels still utilized Figgins' speed on the base paths and played a good deal of small ball, the team that had previously prided themselves on beating the high-dollar slugging lineups of New York and Boston with small ball now tried their hand at the long ball. Cut to this year of 2010, when the Angels have added Hideki Matsui, another high profile slugger and ex-Yankee, to their lineup. The early returns on his power numbers look positive, although it will be difficult for him to repeat his Yankee 2010 Angels Opener By>>Tyler Andrews