Results tagged “Angels” from The Sports Desk

Frankie Rodriguez finished third -- without getting a first-place vote -- in the American League Cy Young balloting announced today.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Cliff Lee won the American League Cy Young Award in a runaway Thursday, capping a dominant comeback season that made him the second consecutive Cleveland Indians lefty to earn the honor.

Demoted to the minors last year, Lee went a major league-best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. He received 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Toronto ace Roy Halladay was a distant runner-up with four first-place votes and 71 points. Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels finished third with 32 points.

Here's a hint about how much this bothers me.

ESPN.com's David Schoenfield has rated the 14 baseball playoff-World Series competitions played under the current format, and he ranks 2002 (when the Angels won) sixth and 2008 next-to-last. It's always interesting to see how other people judge one thing to be more memorable, exciting, notable than another. Read Schoenfield's article by clicking here.

You can contribute to a column I'm planning to write. The topic is the right and wrong ways for athletes to celebrate victories, big plays, etc. Tell me what kinds of celebrations you like and what kinds go too far -- or not far enough.

Does it seem as if Francisco Rodriguez's saves-record pursuit is getting less attention than other record chases? I sure hope so.

Rodriguez's next save for the Angels will be his 58th of the season, breaking the record held by Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox. The question isn't how Rodriguez's achievement stacks up with Thigpen's, it's whether any achievement involving the statistic called saves is as big a deal as the feats of starting pitchers and hitters.

My attitude, and this applied to Eric Gagne's record-setting saves streak for the Dodgers a few years ago, is that the feats of bullpen closers are more like curiosities than Cooperstown calling cards.

In the wake of the Lakers' collapse against the Celtics Thursday night, we're making a list of the most historic cases of Southern California teams snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Send your suggestions in a comment. What's the most painful memory? Dodgers beaten by Jack Clark -- or Joe Morgan, or Reggie Jackson? Angels stunned by Dave Henderson? Rams losing the Mud Bowl game to the Vikings? Kings tripped up by Marty McSorley's illegal stick? USC falling to Vince Young and Texas? An earlier Lakers loss to the Celtics? Or something else? With your help, we'll have the definitive list in Saturday's papers and at this Web site.

Even though I'm modern enough to do most of my reading online and to write this blog, I prefer to keep track of some things on paper. Every day I clip Dodgers and Angels box scores and major-league standings out of the Daily News, glue-stick them in a composition book, and mark developments and trends with a pen and hilighter. I learn more about the season by flipping through that book than by clicking around internet pages.

The boxes say the key to the Dodgers-Angels inter-league series Friday-Saturday-Sunday is whether the Angels can keep the games out of the bullpens.

Dodgers relief pitchers are 10-3 this year, Angels relievers 4-8.

Mostly as a result: The Dodgers are 7-1 in games decided in the winning club's last at-bat, the Angels 2-3; the Dodgers are 6-3 in games decided by one run, the Angels 6-6; the Dodgers are 10-5 in games in which the winner scores eight runs or more, the Angels 4-8.

Basically, the Angels need starters Joe Saunders (facing Hiroki Kuroda), Ervin Santana (Chan No Park) and Jered Weaver (Brad Penny) to keep things quiet in Anaheim. If the games are wild and/or wooly, the Dodgers will have a good weekend.

The sports world has a lot going on the rest of April. I've written down nine big events, leaving room for your suggestion to make it an even 10. My question is: Which event in the next couple of weeks are you really looking forward to?

The Masters (through Sunday): Tiger Woods goes for his fifth green jacket, batting arch-rival Somebody Else.

Ducks in NHL playoffs (round 1 continues Saturday): The champs have to dig deeper after Thursday's 4-0 loss to Dallas.

Lakers' stretch run (regular season ends Tuesday): They can finish anywhere from first to sixth in the conference.

Dodgers, Angels face San Diego, Seattle (this weekend): With Bay Area clubs weakened, these might be the rivals.

Final Kentucky Derby preps (Saturday): In Blue Grass, Pyro and Cool Coal Man try to scare Fla. Derby winner Big Brown.

Long Beach Grand Prix (April 20): It's the last go-round for Champ Cars before the circuit merges with the IRL.

Hollywood Park opens (April 23): The 70th anniversary meet for the Inglewood track whose future is in doubt.

NFL draft (April 26-27): An ESPN mock draft has the Raiders using No. 4 pick on Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden.

Champions League semifinals (April 22-23, 29-30): Chelsea vs. Liverpool and Barcelona-Man U. will set May 21 finalists.