By Jason Sinner - Angelswin Columnist
We wanted Miguel Cabrera. It would have given every Halo fan that warm fuzzy feeling inside. We would have been able to say that we match up with the big boys......on paper. Maybe!Now we are left with debating the pros and cons of what we have or have not done. Many are left with the notion that regardless of whether we win the
Let’s start with a side by side comparison of our playoff squads in the MS era:
Lineups
Year | 2002 (99-63) | 2004 (92-70) | 2005 (95-67) | 2007 (94-68) | 2008 |
Lineup | Eck SS | Eck SS | Figgy 3b/2b/CF | Figgy 3b | Figgy 3b |
| Erstad CF | Figgy 3b | Erstad 1b | Cabrera SS | GMJ LF |
| Salmon RF | Vlad RF | Vlad RF | Vlad RF/DH | Vlad RF |
| | | | | |
| Glaus 3b | Guillen LF | Finley CF | GMJ CF | Hunter CF |
| Spezio 1b | Salmon DH | Cabrera SS | Kotch 1b | Kotch 1b |
| Fullmer DH | Erstad 1b | Molina C | Kendrick 2b | Kendrick 2b |
| Molina C | Molina C | DMAC/Rivera/JD | | Napoli/Mathis C |
| Kennedy 2b | Kennedy 2b | Kennedy | Izzy/Willits DH/etc. | Aybar/Izzy SS |
Runs | 851 | 836 | 761 | 822 | ????? |
*in 2004 we had Glaus at DH for 29 games but lost Guillen for the playoffs.
Pitching
Year | 2002 (99-63) | 2004 (92-70) | 2005 (95-67) | 2007 (94-68) | 2008 |
Starters | Appier | | | Lackey | Lackey |
| | Escobar | Lackey | Escobar | Escobar |
| Ortiz | Lackey | Byrd | Weaver | Weaver |
| Sele | | | Santana | |
| Lackey | Sele | Santana | | Saunders |
Bullpen/6th | Schoeneweiss | Ortiz | Escobar | Saunders | Santana |
| Percy | Percy | Krod | Krod | Krod |
| Weber | Krod | Shields | Shields | Shields |
| Levine | Shields | Donnelley | Speier | Speier |
| Donnelley | Gregg | Yan | Oliver | Oliver |
| Pote | Donnelley | Greg | Boot | Moseley |
| Shields | Hensley | Peralta | Moseley | Boot |
| Cook | Weber | Woods | Carrasco | Bulger |
Runs/ERA | 644/3.69 | 734/4.28 | 643/3.68 | 731/4.23 | ???? |
From an offensive standpoint, Figgy and GMJ can easily equal that of Eck and Erstad.
What about the competition in those years?
2008 outlook
Potential AL Playoff Teams | Halos | NYY | BOS | CLE | DET |
Starters | Lackey Escobar Weaver Saunders | Wang Pettitte Hughes Chamberlain Kennedy | Beckett Schilling Dicek Lester | Sabathia Carmona Byrd Westbrook Laffey | Verlander Bonderman Willis Robertson |
Bullpen | Krod Shields Speier Oliver Santana Moseley | Rivera Igawa Farnsworth Mussina Proctor Bruney | Papelbon Okajima Delcarmen Lopez Snyder Timlin | Borowski Bentancourt Kobayashi Fultz Mastny Lee | Jones Rodney Zumaya Seay Grilli Byrdak |
Lineup | Figgins 3b GMJ LF Vlad RF Hunter CF Kotch 1b Kendrick 2b Aybar SS | Cabrera CF Jeter SS Abreu RF Arod 3b Giambi DH Matsui LF Posada C Cano 2b Mientkiewicz 1b | Pedroia 2b Youklis 1b Ortiz DH Manny LF Drew RF Varitek C Ellsbury CF | Sizemore CF Cabrera 2b Hafner DH Garko 1b Peralta SS Lofton LF Gutierrez RF Blake 3b | Granderson CF Polanco 2b Ordonez RF Cabrera 3b Guillen 1b IRod C Jones LF Renteria SS |
Bench | Morales Rivera Willits Izturis Mathis | Damon Phillips Molina Betemit | Cora Crisp Brown Moss | Shoppach Marte Barfield Michaels Dellucci | Inge Rayburn Infante |
Keep in mind that I, personally, take nothing for granted. The team still has to go out and win. This is just a comparison based off of what we currently have on paper.
Going off the raw team numbers, the '02 team had a differential of over 200. Clearly the sign of a damn good team. That year the Yanks also had a similar differential and
Come playoff time one of the above teams obviously cannot make it. The Halos,
Now let's tackle the real reason why there is the perception that we are a tier below any of those teams mentioned. It's the giant pink elephant in the middle of the room. The
Let's all recognize this for what it is. Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. Nothing more. We are not a second tier team. If we can come close to the numbers we put up in 2002 then on paper we are better than the Cle's and Det's of the world and on par with Bos and NY. We just can't beat the Red Sox in the playoffs. Recently, we haven't even come close. But, we changed our playoff mojo in 2002, so who's to say we can't do it again.
1 comments:
nice post and good call... faceing boston again would put a knot in my stomache i think you are on to something there.
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