The Post Mortem

A columnist (not the Bish because he's been fired from ESPN 710, his second firing in as many years) believes that the Angels have sent a "Monster" message to the Red Sox with a three game sweep, and winning five of six from the jerks this season. Guaranteed to win the season series from the Massholes with a three-game series in Boston forthcoming.

Let's not get that far ahead of ourselves.

The Angels own a nine-game lead in the AL West. They have the best record in baseball. And the magic number is down to 56. But did they really send a message about the playoffs? Not really. The Red Sox are going to need to make the playoffs first. With that bullpen, don't assume that they will be in the postseason. The Angels, though, are going to need to prove that they can string together the clutch hits in the playoffs. Until that time, it is important to savor the small victories.

Namely, that many Boston fans paid hundreds of dollars, pumped some money into our economy just to see their beloved team lose. There is nothing better than seeing the red lights streaming up the 5 north, going back to Los Angeles to pout about their team losing. Again.

And why is it, that when the Yankees and Red Sox come to town, their fans always seem to be coming from LA? When Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle, etc. play in Anaheim, there is practically nobody heading north on the 5 after the game. But when it's the douche bag twins, all of the opposing fans come from up north. Obviously Los Angeles is littered with the broken dreams of Bostonians who moved to Tinsel Town to become actors, comedians and screen writers, only to fail miserably.

Much like the Sports Dork, Bill Simpson.

So Boston fans, thank you for paying all of your in-state taxes. Just be sure to enjoy the weather and the butt-kicking that the Angels just handed your crappy team. Oh, and sorry about those horrible accents.

• Doing their part. Big congratulations go to James David and his buddy Patrick Sullivan for hosting a Palm Springs bachelor party this weekend. The event took four Red Sox fans to the desert, meaning that there were four less douche bags at Angels Stadium this weekend. Hey, every little bit helps.

• The Angels swept the Angels, but is there any chance that will be the bigger story than Manny Ramirez circus antics in the outfield? He's like a right handed Barry Bonds out there.
  

• Boston fans also need to stop crying about the injury to David Ortiz. The Angels went a couple of months without John Lackey and will not get Kelvim Escobar this year. Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick both had significant injuries. Injuries happen, the only difference is that some fans don't invent a 'curse' to explain it all.

• Figgins 10 RBI this season is very Rod Carew like. Only Figgins is a much better table-setter than Carew could have ever been.

• The Redskins acquired Jason Taylor for a couple of draft picks. Dan Snyder was so good about not throwing away his money this year. Taylor, however, isn't a bad pick up. He should be in great shape.

• Being away from Brett Favre coverage for an entire weekend was very refreshing.

• There is enough money in the world to make me watch the ESPYs. That would probably only take about $250. But seeing that nobody is offering, the ESPYs was down one less viewer last night. And while on that subject, the whole notion of the Title Town series is extremely annoying. Like it or not, Green Bay is Title Town. End of story. Would there ever be a contest to determine the new Beantown? The new Big Apple? No, this is just ESPN's attempt to give another hand-job to New York and Boston because we know who is going to "win" this thing.

• Padraig Harrington won his second consecutive British Open, coming seemingly from nowhere to defend his crown. Maybe it was his writer injury that kept him out of the talk about "who would take over for Tiger" but still seems strange that he was given nearly no consideration to win the thing. But hey, watch out for the Irish.

• And not Notre Dame, either.

• Carson Palmer is a huge fan of Ohio State. From FanHouse: It's amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there. I just can't wait for two years from now when SC comes to the 'Shoe and hopefully we'll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf. I'm really getting sick of it and I just can't wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin' and go back to the Big Ten. Word Carson, word. Spot on.

AND FINALLY
The Super Bowl Buzz Kill starts on Monday. You'd better be ready. Or not.