Angels win one for Nick

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart's death resonated so deeply around the country. When a 22-year-old is cut down by a drunk driver after pitching six scoreless innings that showed he belonged in the Show and likely to have a long and successful career (he was shaky and sent down to Triple A last year), it's just too poignant not to touch peoples' hearts. It's almost too much to imagine what his father must have gone through, although it was chronicled from the outside. We took a vacation from politics and wrote an editorial about his death and other recent deaths in Orange County, and it got 1,000 more hits online than editorials usually get.

So it was nice to see the Angels win tonight, behind a splendid 6-2/3 innings from Jered Weaver, one of the Angels' other fine young pitchers, and against the Nemesis Boston Red Sox. But win or lose, you could tell it was an emotional evening.

Angels snakebit? 7-5

For. A. Moment. I. Had. Hope. Then the Red Sox Jinx kicked in. You can't say the Angels didn't get enough hits, but when you leave 11 on base, six in scoring position, it's tough to win. So Frankie Rodriguez, who set the major-league all-time record for saves this year with 62, gives up a homer in the ninth, after the Angels had scratched out a tie. It's got to be playing with their heads.

I did my part, wearing my Vladimir Guerrero jersey through the whole game (and he did get three hits), but it obviously wasn't enough. We Southern Californians have been dreaming of a Freeway Series for 45 years or so, and based on regular-season records it seemed as if the Angels would do their part but we weren't so sure about the Dodgers. So much for prognostication. Now the Dodgers are 2-0 and the Angels are 0-2.

Ah, well, there's always Sunday. By the way, in the middle of the season we were wondering if Joe Torre might be having second thoughts about leaving the Yankees. I doubt if he is now. I first became aware of him in the '80s, when he was an Angels "color" announcer and I thought this guy knows so much about about baseball and he can explain it so well that he ought to be managing somewhere. At least that was a good call.

Not again! 4-1 Boston

What is it with the Angels and the Red Sox in the postseason? The angels beat Boston 8 games of 9 in the regular season, and they had the most wins, 100 in the MLB, but after tonight they've lost 10 in a row -- in a row! -- in the postseason to Boston. Jon Lester pitched a terrific game of course, but the Angels got hits -- just not when they would have scored runs. The only run came after an error, so I think it was unearned to boot. Aaaaarrrrrgghhh!

Did you miss me?

On Thursday night our nephew Tom showed up on our doorstep just as Jen was leaving to pick me up at the bus stop, so naturally we had to celebrate. Last night he went to the Angels-Yankees game -- he's a diehard Yankees fan -- and for the third time he's done that his beloved Yankees got trounced. Of course we had to watch the game to see if we could spot him in the crowd (we could) and then there were those Olympic opening ceremonies and . . .

Just finished my Antiwar.com piece and time for more homeowner errands.