The Battle of Los Angeles
The Angels (23-17) roll up the 5 Freeway to the Ravine this weekend for a Freeway Series that has become loaded with all new stakes this year, with their attempting to rebrand themselves as the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.”
As Los Angeles traditionalists (long-suffering Dodger fans), we know carpetbaggers when we see them, and we acknowledge the boys in blue as L.A.’s one and only baseball squad. This is not to say we don’t pull for the Angels when they’re not playing the Dodgers (22-18). We hold out faint hope for a Freeway World Series one day. And the Angels earned a special place our hearts for the devistating hurt they put on the hated Giants in the 2002 championship. When I am down, I just think of Barry Bonds failing in what was probably his one and only chance at a ring, and it raises my spirits.
So will Vin Scully soil his mouth with the phrase “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”? We think not, but it will be fun to listen for his verbal sidesteps. As it is now, he is at an all-time high this year when it comes to bizarre digressions and focusing on obscure minutiae (don’t even get him started on broken bats). Plaschke had a good column on this LAA vs LAD identity battle yesterday and Newhan has a piece today about the history of the Angels playing at Dodger Stadium from ’62-’65.
