Thomas Boswell: Angels' Magic

Thomas Boswell

The Washington Post

Thursday, September 13, 2007; Page E01

Vladimir Guerrero

BALTIMORE

Occasionally, a baseball team finds a slightly different and subtly efficient way to play the game. Through a blend of style and personnel that goes against the current vogues, such teams seem like throwbacks or outliers, clubs that cannot quite be explained by the vocabulary of the day. But the won-lost record tells the tale. They come to the top, though no one quite knows why -- except the teams themselves. They always know. Victory is never an accident. As October approaches, they can't wait for the postseason to begin. Because they are slightly mysterious, they are dangerous, especially to more famous foes.

That brings us to the Los Angeles Angels, a team that doesn't hit home runs, doesn't draw walks, doesn't successfully steal bases and doesn't show patience at the plate, all cardinal sins in the stat-geek world. However, the Halos do score tons of runs and have the second-best record in the sport, despite only one household name (Vladimir Guerrero). The Angels currently can be seen torturing the Orioles at Camden Yards; their series concludes Thursday night, none too soon for Baltimore's taste, after being edged 10-5 and 18-6 the last two nights.

"They're like the '59 Go-Go White Sox, though I guess nobody remembers them," Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said of those AL champs led by pesky bunters, base stealers and hit-and-run specialists. "They force your hand on every ball. When they get a hit, you better hurry up and get it back [to the infield]. On a single, it's like they go first to third automatically."
Some teams claim they've never seen the Angels' third base coach wave home a runner. That's because every Angel hits third base at a full-tilt boogie, assuming he's going to score, and only alters plans when he sees his coach's only sign: Stop.

"We've gone from first to third base on a single 107 times this season," Garret Anderson said. On what other team does a man with 1,205 career RBI, 10 of them in one game last month at Yankee Stadium, know how many times his teammates have gone first to third? Anderson knows because, at 35, he's still doing it himself. "Constantly going for the extra base is an attitude. You have to be thinking about it before the play starts. You've got to want to do it," he said. "And we all do."

As the season rolls toward the finish line, you can sense which teams are rising, which are sagging. When Boston came through Crab Town, Daisuke Matsuzaka (net cost $103 million) looked gassed, got crushed and left with a 12.56 ERA in his last three starts. In the Bronx, the Yankees wring their hands as Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina show their age. Meanwhile, the Angels have simply lapped the field in the AL West, built a 9 1/2 -game lead entering Wednesday night, rested their injured and now lay in wait.

Everywhere you look, there's an Angel on the mend or on a torrid streak. On Tuesday, after five days' rest for a minor injury, Guerrero returned with two homers to dead center. Since May 31, leadoff man Chone Figgins is baseball's top hitter (.406). The classy Anderson, hurt early, has 62 RBI in 56 games since the all-star break. The bullpen, anchored by Francisco Rodriguez, is so strong that they haven't lost a game after taking a lead into the eighth inning since April 19 -- of 2006. Kelvim Escobar (17-7) and John Lackey (16-8) are having Cy Young-contender seasons. Orlando Cabrera, hitting .305 and leading all shortstops in fielding percentage, "does everything for us that Derek Jeter does for the Yankees," Manager Mike Scioscia said.

"The Angels may not be the most publicized team, but a lot of people [in the game] may be picking them to go all the way," Orioles President Andy MacPhail said. "They'll be rested, have their pitching all set up. They can identify a certain type of player that really suits their game. There's method to their madness."

And delicious madness it is. Nobody plays like the Angels. The burly Scioscia stresses fundamentals, demands hustle and is delighted that few people understand what makes his team tick. The Angels are 26th in home runs with only three more than the lowly Nationals. Yet they'd scored 177 more runs than Washington. They're 27th in walks and next to last in "pitches seen" (patience at the plate). They've been caught stealing more than any team and rank 20th in stolen base percentage, though they're second in steals.

According to the "Moneyball" types, this should neuter their offense. But they are fifth in baseball in runs, close to Boston.

"We're aggressive because we have to be. It's not an organizational idea; it's just suits the personnel we have. We can't wait for homers. We think it's what you do once you get on base that matters. Don't die on the vine," said Scioscia, aware that this baseball age denigrates the stolen base as an antiquated tool, discredited by statistical analysis. But the geeks are wrong -- at least in the case of a team built on all-fields, high-batting-average slash hitters who seldom strike out (third lowest in baseball).

"There is a residual effect that goes beyond the stolen base itself. And it doesn't show up in statistics," Scioscia said. Yet, if you watch the Angels, you can sense how anti-steal "Moneyball" numbers can lie while aggressive base running creates chaos and kills.

As an added benefit, gaudy superstar-laden teams such as the Red Sox and Yankees -- who often have offense-first outfielders with weak arms -- are driven crazy by such humble dead-ball era tactics. Being beaten by the Angels is like being tied down, covered in honey and nibbled to death by insects.

"We're not reinventing the game. We're a group doing what we need to do to win with what we've got," Scioscia said.

Told that Trembley compared his team to the '59 Chisox, a team with only one 20-homer man and led by little pests Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox, Scioscia took it as a compliment. After all, Guerrero may be his only hitter with 20 homers or 85 RBI.

"There have always been teams that were hard to explain, but they won -- the '69 and '73 Mets," Scioscia said. "We'll see. No talkin' about October yet. That's too far off."

When next month rolls around, the Angels will be there, with bugs such as Figgins, Casey Kotchman, Howie Kendrick, Reggie Willits, Mike Napoli and Maicer Izturis in key roles. How can that be? Those six, combined, are hitting .300.

Nibble, nibble.