Let’s assemble the best possible Angels team by letter of the alphabet to begin a player’s last name. Today is M. 100 men whose last name started with “M” played major league baseball in an Angels uniform.
C – Bengie Molina
1B – Don Mincher
2B – Billy Moran
3B – Ken McMullen
SS – Rance Mulliniks
OF – Hideki Matsui
OF – Bubba Morton
OF – Gary Matthews Jr.
DH – Kendrys Morales
Surprise, surprise, Jeff Mathis is not the best “M” Catcher in Angels history. There are few things more indelible than Bengie Molina running toward Troy Percival after Erstad made the catch on October 27, 2002. The 2009 Morales and the 1967 Mincher are two all too unheralded single seasons by a Halo.
SP – Andy Messersmith
SP – Kirk McCaskill
SP – Ken McBride
RP – Donnie Moore
RP – Greg Minton
Messersmith -aka the one that got (traded) away- here heads up a more than serviceable starting staff and memories of Donnie Moore should occasionally recall that 150 ERA+ and 61 Saves he amassed for the club, right?
Arte really had the golden touch out of the gate when signing FAs. An AL MVP, AL Cy Young and boom we were in the ALCS in 2005.
But then the next big signings were all busts —— GMJ was the start.
as also pointed out, Morales was another key turning point.
these two were why the 2nd decade of the 21st century was not as good as the 1sr decade.
Well not all. It took him 3 try ( Strike 1 GMJ, Strike 2 Steve Finley) But he got it right the third time with the signing of Torii Hunter.
Have we had a successful free agent signing since?
Wilson was pretty good for his first 3 seasons.
I thought we were out on him?
Loved Captain Kirk but That outfield is pretty weak though.
I take no exceptions with any of these choices (even though I was a big fan of Rick Miller) and I appreciate leaving off the washed up veterans that came here as one of their last stops on their way to the glue factory. And, boy the Angels’s M team has a shitpile of them like Mike Marshall, Eddie Murray, Raul Mondesi and Black jack McDowel. )
Definitely Molina.
Moore had a lot of bright moments. He’ll just always be remembered for a bad one.
Not entirely fair, but that’s sports.
Lucas hadn’t hit a batter all season. But that’s what I think of, every time I see his name. There must be some mathematical equation where i = importance, c = clutch, o = outcome, m = memory
and d = don’t swing at the first pitch when the pitcher just walked the bases loaded.
and p = pitcher ready to piss himself (as Crawford said later)
Actually m= Mauch, over-managing again, right out of a WS spot.
If that game was today Witt would never have seen the 8th inning let alone the ninth. Plus could you really blame Mauch for pulling him after giving up the 2 run homer to Groove earlier in the ninth considering the way that Gedman (who was the tying run in the 9th) had owned Witt all game?
I know it’s still too soon but I think my animosity towards Mauch for the Lucas move has subsided.
Now bringing in Moore to face Henderson on the day Moore had a cortisone shot in his rib cage was asinine and I dont think I can ever forgive Mauch for that. I just dont think he had a back up plan past those 2 pitchers.
But none of that would have mattered if Decinces had not swung at the first pitch.
May 29, 2010 is a date that should resonate with all Angel fans. That was the day that Kendry Morales broke his ankle celebrating a grandslam homerun jumping on home plate. It changed the course of that season and arguably heralded the downturn that we have all experienced from 2010-2022 (with the exception of 2014). It marked the end of the golden decade of Angels baseball and was a stark reminder that the baseball gods are very cruel and have a wicked sense of humor delivering the GOAT at around that same time to a team that would not win a playoff win for 13 seasons and counting.
Rev., I totally agree about Bengie. He was the unheralded hero of the 2002 team.
Though it was a true “team” in every respect, he was perhaps the one single position player (Frankie as pitcher) without whom the 2002 success would have been unthinkable.
There have to be multiple Molinas (Molinii?) ahead of Mathis.
Jose. The third Molina played for the Cards.