I wrote earlier today about Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, the original home of the California Angels. I’ve been reading more about Wrigley LA today and I found some interesting information about its use as a football stadium. The field’s strange dimensions made it hard to fit a full football field, so they just squeezed it in the best they could and cut out a small piece of the back of each end zone. I’m not sure if any other football fields were like this in the country, although I know most football teams pre-1970 did play in stadiums designed for baseball, including such famous cathedrals as Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and even Wrigley Field in Chicago. Here’s an overhead view of the football field lines drawn on Wrigley Field Los Angeles in 1948:
I came across this wonderful article in the LA Times about the original home of the Angels: Wrigley Field. No, not that Wrigley Field. There was also a Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, and it stood for over 40 years. For one season the stadium was home to the major league Angels, and before that it hosted the minor league LA Angels and also the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. It was abandoned in the mid-60’s and finally demolished in 1969.
The Red Sox beat the Angels last night with a game-winning hit in the bottom of the 9th a batter after the Angels had appeared to strike out Nick Green twice on consecutive pitches for what would have been the final out of the game. The first pitch was out of the strike zone but Green tried to check his swing. He failed, but the 1st base umpire failed to notice that minor detail. Mike Scioscia gave ‘em hell, and then was outraged a pitch later when Green looked at a pitch split the plate about 2 inches above the knees. The home plate umpire seemed to think it was low, because he called it a ball, even though ESPN’s K-Zone showed it wasn’t even close. That pitch wasn’t even on the border of the strike zone, it was completely within the box with a clear gap between the ball and the border. You don’t see a call that can end the game go as wrong as that one did. Congrats to the Red Sox on the win, we’ll see you later tonight and again in early October. Karma is a bitch.
Down 8-1 in the 6th inning, it looked like the Angels were well on their way to another loss that would have put them at 1-5 on their current homestand while playing some of the lesser talents of the American League. Instead, the Angels took advantage of numerous Mariners blunders and came back to win 9-8. Kendry Morales had the big hit, a bases loaded single with two outs in the 9th inning.
In other Angels news, rumor has it that Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar should be getting their tickets to AAA very soon. The Angels are making room on their roster for Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez. Kendrick is in a bad slump and Aybar has pretty much stopped trying for anything not hit directly to him in the field. He’s the Roger Dorn of the 2009 Angels.
The Angels got back to back home runs from Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales on Wednesday night to beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2. Two batters after the home runs, Orioles starter Koji Uehara left the game after being struck in the middle of the chest by a Gary Matthews Jr. line drive. X-rays were negative and it appears he only has a bruised sternum and ego. The win gave the Angels a 2-game sweep of the O’s.
Shane Loux pitched real well in this game to earn his first victory since 2003. He’s been injured and in the minors during that 6-year span. The Angels are now 9-11 and creeping slowly towards the top of the AL West. By this time next week, they should be a few games above .500 and looking down on the scrub teams they look down upon every year. So long, suckers.
Angels manager Mike Scoscia got his wish today as the league suspended Red Sox pitcher 6 games for throwing at Bobby Abreu on Saturday. The pitch occurred after Beckett took too much time watching the baserunner on second base and Abreu called time. Beckett went ahead with his throw and missed Abreu’s head by a foot or so. Replays showed Beckett stood in the set position for about 12 seconds. The pitch caused both benches to clear.
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