Last night was one of, if not THE most boring night of baseball ever. The never ending game of the Angels vs the Blue Jays finally ended in the 18th inning.

Final score: Blue Jays 2, Angels 1.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The Halos really need to pick up a bat. I can't believe Stoneman keeps talking about adding to the bullpen. Last night our pitching was amazing, and the loss is ENTIRELY due to the poor batting of the Halos.

Tonight's game against the Yankees has me scared. Not only is our bullpen beat up from the loooong night last night, but our batters are in one of the worst slumps ever.

I'd love to see us get Manny Ramirez from the BoSox, or Nevin from the Padres. Either way, Stoneman will have to do something before the trade deadline. Hopefully we will pick up a bat (not more pitching).

Some of the most beautiful words I could imagine waking up to this morning -- "On FedEx vehicle for delivery". My new machine should be here shortly now, and anticipation is building.

After watching the shipment process (Shanghai, CN to Anchorage, AK, to Memphis, TN, to Los Angeles, CA) I eagerly await OSX Tiger goodness.

Ok, its official. i've come to the "darkside". I ordered a 15" Powerbook, 1.67gb, upgraded the hd to 100GB, upgraded the vram to 128, and got the DVD+/-RW/CD-RW "superdrive".

At some point in the future, i'll order the ram from crucial or whatever and get it maxxed at the 2gb. No point in upgrading that from apple.com.

After much debate, I decided to go with the 15". I think the 17" is awesome, but i already have a 19" viewsonic flatscreen that I will plug in using dvi connector, so that buys me some serious screen real estate.. The 17" is a beast in person. It's really not the most portable thing in the world. Anyways, on with the specs:

15" Powerbook:
Z0B6 PBG4 15/1.67GHZ
With the following configuration:
Processor 065-5644 1.67GHz PowerPC G4 w/ 128MB VR
Memory 065-5597 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
Hard Drive 065-5379 100GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400
Optical Drive 065-5286 8x SuperDrive (DVD+/-RW/CD-RW)
Country Kit 065-5376 Country Kit/AirPort Extreme
Keyboard/Mac OS Language 065-5290 Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS
Custom SW II 065-4681 Not Applicable

I never play any games on my computer anymore, the last PC game I had installed on a computer was probably Command and Conquer like 5 or 6 years ago and honestly I have no interest in trying to keep up with top end gaming anymore. Top end PSU's to ensure frame rates measured by the nanosecond are achieved, meh.

That's why I have gaming consoles under my TV. (not that I even have time to play those anymore anyways)

So I watched the Home Run Derby and All Star Game the other night. IMO, the Home Run Derby is waay too long. They need to shorten it to 5 outs. Fun to watch for a while though, I just couldnt watch the whole thing...

Also, I think its weird that you have American League players rooting for National League players who are from the same country. It should be country vs country, or American League vs. National League, not both.

As far as the All-Star Game goes, I just would like to thank all of the other American League teams for helping the Angels secure home field advantage, It was a nice gesture for them to work so hard in our behalf…

I was watching Sportscenter yesterday, they did the segment of Fact or Fiction involving Major League Baseball. The Fact or Fiction statement was The St. Louis Cardinals will win the World Series.

Gammons answer: FICTION!!!! I believe the Los Angeles Angels will win the World Series!

I hope that isn't the Kiss of Death!!!

I'm convinced. The Padres in any other Division would be in dead last place. Welcome to the NL West, where even a sub .500 team can win the Division. Sigh. The Pads have been 12 and 20 from June 1 to now, and they still had a 4.5 game lead.

In Angel news, I find it funny when former Angel players land elsewhere, suddenly the media "discovers" them and they become All-Star players? Edmonds is a good example, and Eckstein is another. You would think that the Cardinals developed both of them from the press you read. It is apparent to me that good/great players on the Angels get little national recognition. When they move on to other teams, it's like they appeared by magic and the media and baseball fans suddenly sit up and take notice.

I feel badly for players like Tim Salmon (one of the greatest hitters in baseball the last 10+ years), Garrett Anderson (who had to be voted in by the PLAYERS to the All-Star game this year, who thankfully appreciate him more than the fans), Shields, Molina, Erstad, etc. They'll never get national recognition unless they move on to "higher profile" teams (how did St. Louis end up as a higher profile team anyway?)

Angel players have been hosed many times by the national media. Lansoford and Joyner's rookie seasons, Nolan Ryan's 1973 season should have garnered him a Cy Young (31 wins, 1 no hitters, 2 one hitters, still MLB record of 383 Ks).

FACT: If Garret Anderson played for the Yankees or Red Sox, he'd have finished in the top 5 for AL voting.
FACT: If Erstad was on the Yankees, he'd be considered the best first baseman in the league. Erstad would be the Yankees new Jeter and a darling of the national media.

Like it or not, there is a media bias against west coast teams. One of the big problems is that Baseball Tonight is usually on while LA games are being played (unless LA is playing back east or against a central team). I guess it's too much both for EasternSPortsNetwork (ESPN) to have a show the next day that covers yesterday's games. Just skip over the west coast games.

Yesterday's game I find somewhat funny, being that we trusted a 22 year old rookie to pitch in that homer haven.

Either way, look at the stats - the Rangers improved their record to 4-9 against the Angels. LOL!

There are a lot more "bright side" things than that as well:
1. Texas came into the series needing to gain ground on us and they gained none. There are now only 6 head-to-head meetings left.
2. The Kenny Rogers blow-up is going to have significant repercussions for the Rangers. He is going to be suspended and miss a few more starts than the one he would have missed with his boneheaded move against the water cooler. For a team already short on starting pitching, they cannot afford to have their ace out.
3. Getting beat the last 2 games will hopefully remind the team and Angels fans not to get over confident. The season is only half over and there is PLENTY of baseball to be played.
4. Seeing Santana and the other rookies Peralta and Woods get lit up like that (albeit by a great offense in a bandbox) will hopefully spur Stoneman on to being open toward seeking another starting pitcher and maybe another reliever as well. Santana has a ton of talent, but Escobar is out until September, and we lose Washburn and maybe Byrd after this season. Going out and getting a Jason Schmidt makes perfect sense if it doesn't cost us too much in prospects.
5. Kansas City is up next, and their honeymoon with Buddy Bell appears over. They are the right opponent to get back on our feet against.