Extra Innings

Some thoughts on interleague rivalries and the Dodgers and Angels “rivalry.”

Compared to other cross town rivalries such as the teams in Chicago and New York, the Dodger and Angels have absolutely nothing on them. Some possible reasons as to why it isn’t nearly as intense.

So Cal is way too relaxed. The crowds at both stadiums are way too easygoing. At Dodger stadium they are too busy gobbling down all you can eat Dodger Dogs while the Angel fans are too busy being amused at the Rally Monkey. Speaking of the Rally Monkey, New Yorkers and Chi-town fans would murder that thing if their team ever brought out such as lame mascot.

We don’t play in the same city. Contrary to what Arte believes, the Dodgers are “of LA” while the Angels are “of Anaheim.” Heck sometimes the traffic is so bad, the Angels are “closer” to the Padres. Maybe they can be called the Los Angeles Angels of San Diego from Anaheim.

The Angels own the Dodgers. Yea I don’t have a problem admitting it. The Angels just simply dominate the Dodgers in interleague play. The Halos have won 9 of the last 11 meetings and have scored almost twice as many runs as the Blue Crew over this span. The Angels play a brand of National League ball that is brought from Sosh. In fact, we could just say that the Angels and Dodgers are the same team except the Angels have better players.

Lets compare:

Catcher: Martin v. Mathis/Napoli. Martin takes the cake here as hes going to be a yearly all-star.

1st: Loney v Kotchman. Even as both players are essentially the same contact but low power hitters.

2nd: Kent v Kendrick. Even as both are clutch hitters but Kent sucks on D and Kendrick sucks on the DL.

3rd: Dewitt/Laroche v Figgins. Figgins has shown to be a solid player day in and day out. Absolutely don’t know about Dewitt and Laroches yet.

SS: Blank v Blank. Berroa brings nothing. Furcal has never been consistent as he’s shown he can get hot and go cold or be injured as is the present case. The Angels platoon Izturis and Aybar, siblings to other major leagues. But they are scrappy and agressive players that fit Sosh’s game.

OF: Kemp, Pierre, Ethier v Vlad, Hunter, Anderson. Here’s the difference maker. All 3 Angel OFs are consistent, solid, and proven performers while the Dodgers have unknowns.

Pitching: Dodger pitching is in disarray while the Angel pitching has supported their team. It’s as simple as that.

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