The Post Mortem

John Miller is obviously still smarting from the Angels defeat of the San Francisco Giants in the 2002 World Series. Especially if the Giants broadcaster called the Angels sweep of the Yankees a �shock.�

Really, a shock?

The Angels have won 18 of their last 26 games against the Bronx Bummers, hardly a "shock." The Angels, much like the rest of the rest of the AL this season, own the Yankees. Nothing shocking.

Will the Yankees ever consider dealing some of its aging players as they continue to tumble further out of the race? The Angels could make a play for Alex Rodriguez for merely prospects at this point because the Yankees have no need for Major Leaguers. This season is over for New York. They have no prayer of catching Boston, but the Indians, Tigers and A�s are better teams. (And the A�s have that 25-4 August coming.) But hey, Roger Clemens is only going to make, what, $30M this season?

Orlando Cabrera took his shots at the Yankees fans in the LA Times on Sunday.

"They don't appreciate good baseball," he said. "They just appreciate the Yankees beating up on everybody." "In Boston, they admire baseball," Cabrera said. "In Anaheim, those fans are some of the best in baseball. They know you care there. They know you can't do it every day. I appreciate that. These people here, they're mean. And they're really mean to the other team."

Word.

SHUT UP KOBE

Kobe Bryant's tenure as General Manager of the Los Angeles Lakers has been brutal. The guy gets Shaq shipped to South Beach, and now he is complaining that he doesn't have enough help? Trading Shaq was the right thing to do. But the Lakers hands have been tied in recent years because, let's face it, nobody is interested in helping the Lakers out in a trade. Now, callers to sports-talk radio have put together numerous packages that include Smush Parker, Brian Cook and a draft pick for Kevin Garnett, but that's not going to happen.

The team's only bargaining chip, Andrew Bynum, has become valuable considering that Greg Oden is in the division, so you can�t trade him. And remember, Bynum is only a year older than Oden, but he already has a couple of years of NBA experience under his belt. Jermaine O�Neal needed some time to develop, so be patient.

And that goes for Kobe, too. This is the team that you wanted.

• Wow, hope you didn�t blink and miss that UFC main event title fight on Saturday night. How does that feel when you marquee personality is knocked out in less than two minutes, probably ending his career? Yes, human cockfighting mixed martial arts is the next big thing. At least this shows that UFC guys aren�t smart enough to fix its matches. Enjoy your next UFC title fight on the Vs. Network next year.

• Maybe the UFC should look to groom one of Mike Vick's dogs as its next champion. The dog would be more articulate than Frank Trigg.

• Peyton Manning wins a Super Bowl in the rain. Now the Indy 500, where Manning served as starter, was called early because of the rain. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing.

• Did you notice that the Indy 500 coverage went overboard on the Ashley Judd front? Like the ABC execs said, "Listen, we are going to show one famous broad celebrating today." And Judd is with some Indy racing dude? Was this news to anybody else? Kind of figured she was the kind of girl who would end up with Richie Farmer or John Pelphrey.

• Alright, how long has Cleveland had a dude who looks like Sideshow Bob? This obviously isn't news to anybody who follows the NBA (all six of you), but damn it, that won�t stop THN from making stupid jokes about it.

• Justin Guarini. Yeah, that works, too. Sorry, this is a whole new window that was opened up. Kind of like somebody who just started watching Entourage for the first time back in March and won�t shut up about it now? And that becomes extremely annoying because, you know, the guy has still only seen the first season.

• Wait a minute, Ottawa has a black goalie? Who else thought that was just some rapper in a Senators jersey? Hey, if the Suns can win with Steve Nash, then anything is possible.

• There was a certain electricity in Anaheim on Monday night. Hockey is not dead in Southern California. Not enough to make a few of us refrain from going to the Angels game instead of watching the Stanley Cup finals at The National, but at least we cheered like hell when it was announced that the Ducks won. Hey, that�s progress.

• ASU's Pat Murphy, as a member of the NCAA selection committee, didn�t put Fullerton into the Sun Devils� regional, obviously still quivering from the shadow of the Titans. Good luck to the West Coast teams.

AND FINALLY

Thankfully the Duke lacrosse team lost its bid for a national championship on Monday. Now, those kids might have been innocent of sexually assaulting that exotic dancer, but looking at those kids, you know they were guilty of something. Seriously, those kids looked like the poster boys for Rohypnol Monthly. If they weren't guilty of this crime, they were guilty of something. It's only a matter of time before one of those punks are lobbying the president to go to war with some defenseless country in order to make a profit.