Sad Day

It’s hard for me to believe it was 7 years ago already. 2606 days. Since I was serving with a ministry team and wasn’t at home I had to watch game 7 of the series on a small black and white TV which was fuzzy. It was a beautiful night though. Angels beat the Giants to win the World Series. They had never even been close to winning the World Series until this night. Since I had become a fan in 1994 the Angels had not even made the playoffs.

This was such a great team though. No huge super stars but just a great group that made an amazing run to the World Series. Then like most things in sports, it had to come to an end. The next year they kept all of their core players around but injuries took their toll on the team. It was the next year that I realized that baseball is a business and eventually a team will get rid of players or they will choose to leave. In 2005, Jarrod Washburn, David Eckstein and Troy Percival left. Percie, was the hardest as he had been my favorite pitcher. Benji Molina in 2006. 2007 was especially hard as my 2 favorite Angels left. Darin Erstad and “The Kingfish” Tim Salmon. K-Rod and Garret Anderson left in 2008.

Still through all of these players leaving there had still been 3 that had remained since the World Series. Up until this week. In a matter of a few days the Angels lost Chone Figgins and John Lackey. Chone wasn’t super hard to lose but Lackey hurt. A lot. He had been the rock of the rotation for 7 years. The bull-dog. The player that as a fan I knew the Angels had to give the ball to in a touch situation. The ace. He was the first player since the early 1900’s to win a World Series Game 7 as a rookie. His emotion was so much fun to watch as a fan. What hurts even more is where he signed. With the Red Sox. A rival that the Angels finally broke through against in the playoffs this past season. Now, the only player left from that great team is Scott Shields. It’s an incredibly sad day to be an Angels fan.