How Dare Joe Maddon Bone Chone Figgins . . . and Brian Fuentes, Too

Roger Lodge, who hosts The Sports Lodge on AM830 that is broadcast live from Angel Stadium, went off on Joe Maddon,
the Tampa Bay Rays manager who also skippered the winning American
League team in Tuesday night's All-Star Game from St. Louis.

During a portion of his show that is simulcast on Channel 5's KTLA Morning News,
Lodge took the flat-topped, snow haired manager to task for failing to
get Los Angeles of Anaheim's Chone Figgins into the game, despite Figgy
having moved mountains to make it to St. Louis in time for the player
introductions.

Based on accounts on HalosHeaven.com and by Kathleen Nelson in the St. Louis Dispatch, here's what can be pieced together . . .
]
* Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria had an owie on his finger and told his manager Maddon he could not play.

* Around 7 a.m. (Pacific time)  before an 8 p.m. (Eastern) game, Angels vice president of communications Tim Mead
received a call from the American League office telling him to get
Figgins on a plane to St. Louis because Maddon wants him to take
Longoria's place.

* Mead calls team equipment manager Kenny Higdon and gets him to gather all of Figgins' equipment and send it off to St. Louis.

* As all this was going on, Figgins was snoozing peacefully in his
Newport Beach pad. Mead gives him a call. No answer on the house line.
Mead tries Figgy's cell. It'd been turned off.

* Flummoxed, Mead thinks of sending an intern to Casa de Figgy, but the
slaves don't start their unpaid shifts until 9 a.m., which will be too
late a turnaround.

* Mead calls former Angel/current Figgins friend Garret Anderson, a known early riser who lives in nearby Irvine. Mead, who has every known contact number in Halodom apparently, also calls
Figgins' uncle, who calls Figgin's mom, who calls the uncle back to
say Keith Johnson, the Angels' single A manager, is spending the day
with Figgins.
 


* Word finally got to the man of the hour. Figgins quickly arranged
for his family to get from Tampa to St. Louis. They made it by 7 p.m.
Figgins barely beat them.

* His plane landed around the same time as President Obama's Air Force
One, so after Lambert Police Chief Paul Mason greeted the president, he
went over and gathered Figgins to drive him from the airport to the
game. “That was my parade,” commented Figgins, who missed the official
parade for players.

Unlike his teammates and opponents in the 80th All-Star Game, Figgy also missed
Monday's home run derby but he still got to the ballpark before game
time. He missed the pre-game
batting practice but he still got to the ballpark before game
time. He doesn't even appear in the official team photo but he still got to the ballpark before game
time. And he did not complain one bit.

Figgins cruised into the locker room just in time to congratulate his teammates for making
the squad, get dressed and take the field for player introductions and the
obligatory tip of his hat to the crowd. Surely their ovation for him
would have been louder had they known how he'd busted his butt to get
there.

Maddon does not have that excuse. He knew what Figgins put himself
through. The manager's first mistake, of course, was not adding Figgins
to his roster
earlier, after Major League Baseball fans across the country failed to
vote the Angels' third baseman in in the first place–despite his .310
batting
average, 68 runs (most in the league), 23 stolen bases, seven triples
(tied for first in the league) and .827 OPS (on base plus
slugging percentage). Add to that his defensive highlight reel material
and the fact that this was the 31-year-old's first All-Star game when
it should have been his fourth or fifth, and working him into the game
should have been a no brainer.

After all, Figgy does it all, filling holes in the infield and outfield
every season depending on where the Angels need help. Maddon, who used
to be an Angel bench coach under Mike Scioscia, acknowledged this before the game.

“I like his versatility, the fact that he's played third base and can
also play second base, all outfield positions, and he can run and hits
from both sides of the plate,” Maddon said. “When you are making
decisions to augment your bench, I think you really are trying to get
the kind of fit that helps you out in so many different ways at the end
of the game.”

Alas, the end-of-game call never came for Figgins, nor the Angels' only other player on the team, closer Brian Fuentes, whose 26 saves leads the league.

Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the Figgy snub is the memorable
moment he would have produced for fans had he made it on the field. In
honor of one of his (and St. Louis') heroes, Ozzie Smith, Figgins was going to perform a back flip.

Incidentally, the player himself still said after the game he would not
trade his rushed All-Star game experience for anything in the world,
despite his name missing from the box score. For one thing, Figgins got
to meet Smith and his other hero (and St. Louis'), Lou Brock.

Still, the next time Tampa Bay comes to the Big A, it is incument upon fans to shower Maddon with our “appreciation.”