Ten Things About Los Angeles Baseball
Submitted by Robert Daeley on Fri, 2006-06-02 18:57.
From Dave Studeman at the Hardball Times, Ten Things About Los Angeles Baseball
The Dodgers and the Angels. One team plays in Los Angeles, the other plays close enough for government work. The one that actually plays in LA got its name from dodging trolleys in Brooklyn; the one that doesn’t actually play in the city derived its name from a translation of the city’s name, kind of like calling the Boston Red Sox the Boston Bostons.
More like calling the San Francisco Giants the San Francisco Saint Francisses of Redwood City, but never mind. ;)
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim appear to have much in common, but appearances can be deceiving. Last year, the Dodgers suffered a horrible rash of injuries and finished a dismal 71-91 while the Angels soared to the AL West division championship with a 95-67 record. This year, the Angels are near the bottom of this year’s worst division and the Dodgers are near the top of the rejuvenated NL West. As I write these words, the Dodgers are 29-22 and the Angels are 22-29.
These teams are looking at each other in the mirror, passing each other on the freeway, add a metaphor of your own. There are so many good baseball stories percolating out of LA right now that I decided to take a closer look at both teams. Here’s what I learned…
In the section entitled, simply, “Nomar!” Dave points out:
Pity the poor Cubs. They took the exact same gamble with Nomar last year, and got virtually nothing to show for it. After understandably letting Nomar walk, their star firstbaseman, Derrek Lee, hurt his wrist early this season, and they now have essentially replaced Lee with Neifi Perez (moving Todd Walker from second to first). Think they’d like to have Nomar back?
Pity, indeed. And when did Derrek Lee hurt his wrist? Against the boys in blue at Dodger Stadium, when Rafael Furcal ran into him at first base. Spooky!