Tonight, the Angels face former teammate John Lackey in what
was–before some ridiculous comments by the former Halo–nothing more than
another game against the Sox. Lackey
apparently wanted to up the ante, so he opened his mouth and spewed garbage.
]
Being
the third starter in the
rotation behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, maybe he felt he needed a
little extra
motivation–so he not only threw gas on a fire, he lit the fire then
poured gas
on it.
Remember, John? You were on that team back in 2002
that won the World Series. The team only
lost reserve outfielder Orlando Palmeiro the following year and replaced
him
with Eric Owens. Everyone else came
back.
But that didn't work out too well for your team back in
2003, did
it? The Angels only managing a 77-85 record in defense of their World Series title.
You see, John, this is how sports–and life really–works. You work toward something,
always with a goal in mind; from day to
day, month to month, even year to year, and you adjust to better reach that
goal. Sometimes that means making
decisions to let one player go, sometimes it means picking one player
over
another. Sometimes it even means standing
firm and doing nothing.
The team that isn't
adjusting isn't trying.
Have the Angels made mistakes in regards to player
personnel? Sure. Name one team
that hasn't. Would the Angels have liked
to have retained players like Chone Figgins, Vladimir Guerrero,
Francisco
Rodriguez, Garret Anderson, Troy Percival, Troy Glaus, Bengie Molina,
Darin
Erstad, David Eckstein and Jarrod Washburn for another year or two? Possibly. However, it would have needed to be within the team's financial boundaries and overall
vision.
That's what I like about the Angels ownership and
management: They are as open with their fans about their personnel decisions as any
club in
the MLB.
Take your situation as a prime example, Lackey. There is no doubt you were the ace of the
Angel staff, but you missed the first six weeks of the 2008 and 2009
seasons
with elbow problems. If you were a house
and an appraiser came out to inspect you, the report might have read,
“Very
nice exterior with a great history, but internally there are issues.”
Your
value dropped, forcing the Angels to
offer four years at $60 million. You
opted for the Sox's offer of five years at $82.5 million.
saying,
“The way they preach the team game, the way you're supposed to give it
up
for the team–that's a little suspect. You're supposed to give [it] up
for
the team; then when it comes time, they might not give it up for you”?
Dude, shut up. The
Angels' offer to you was fair, you got a better deal and you took it. Again, good for you.
Tonight the Angels get their first crack at Lackey
as a Red
Sox. The Angels are struggling and don't
need any more motivation to play for a win, but I hope Lackey's
ridiculous
comments serve as just a little extra juice for the Halos this time. A mad dash from first to third on a single, a
diving catch of a low line drive in the outfield . . . who knows? Maybe the
club
gets lucky and Lackey is forced to protect home plate with Mike Napoli
charging
hard with the go ahead run.
Here's hoping
goes
Texiera on Lackey's grill.
After all, that's life, Lackey.
