Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/8037
GETTING INTO Angels In Waiting There is no one better than Mike Scioscia at winning close games. He is the Angels' ace in the hole, and, entering the 2009 postseason, he gave them the added confidence of knowing they wouldn't be outcoached. On the contrary, Yankee manager Joe Girardi entered the playoffs with grave doubts surrounding his ability to coach a team through a month of high pressure baseball. And his post-season efforts didn't do much to dispel those doubts. From poor handling of his bullpen and lineup to thoughtless late inning offensive substitutions, Girardi looked lost in the moment. Yet, thanks to Alex Rodriguez's late inning heroics and Carsten Charles "CC" Sabathia's sheer awesomeness on the mound, they outlasted the Twins, reached the ALCS, and hosted Anaheim. The series looked to be a classic Anaheim- New York confrontation—the precision and guile of the Angels versus the brute force of the Yankees. Recently, the Angels owned the Yankees in post-season play, a testament to their superior coaching and ability to execute the fundamentals. It was a definite source of pride for the Halos who saw their postseason success over the Yanks as proof that Big Baseball could be beat, that precise team play in the postseason is more reliable than a lineup of superstars going at it hammer and tongs. However, in 2009 the tides turned, and the Yankee lineup proved irrepressible. The Yankees, for the first time, overpowered the Angels and, after signing Sabathia, A.J Burnett and Mark Teixiera in the offseason, made a strong case that Big Baseball is superior if it's big enough. The Angels have battled with that harrowing possibility this offseason, and it no doubt led them to sign World Series MVP Hideki Matsui to add some pop to their lineup. The absence of Chone Figgins atop the Angels lineup also suggests that the team may be pursuing a lineup that can slug with Boston and New York. 2009 was a definite blow to the status quo in Anaheim, but it may have been just what the team needed to get them back to the World Series for the first time since 2002. Straw Man Last season, before Stephen Strasburg was on everyone's baseball radar, Tim Kurkjian delivered a piece on ESPN calling him "the best prospect of all time." He lionized the kid in every aspect imaginable leaving the ESPN studio anchor almost speechless. His only question: "How good is he going to be?" The piece, for as tantalizing as it made the young pitcher seem, was absurd. Kurkjian sounded like Don King promoting a fighter; the story about Strasburg was less a prospect watch than a guarantee of what the future holds. Furthermore, it created a narrative wherein the young pitcher's talent was a foregone conclusion, and what was left to be decided were how many victories he'd have in his rookie season, how many strikeouts, how many innings pitched. People were counting their chickens. It's not that this doesn't happen all the time with talented prospects, but what it leaves Strasburg, now a signed Washington National, and those in his camp feeling, is a sense that his early success will rely more on his SPRING TRAINING 2010 WRITER>>TYLER ANDREWS 26 LIVEMAGS.NET MARCH>>10