Time for the Sox.

John Lackey. . . .The next big pitcher born in the state of Texas. What more do I need to say? Sure, he walked five, but he also shut down one of the hottest offenses in the league. He's learning how to pitch, he's eliminating the big inning that plagued him so much the early part of last year. Like it or not, the Angels are developing a deadly 1-2 punch that's gonna carry their staff for years to come. That 1-2 punch is Lackey and Santana. You'd be hard pressed to find a better pair of young pitchers on the same team with the cieling that those two have.

Tonight is the start of a big 3 game series against the Champs, and the Angels pitching is beginning to come to form at the right time. Tonight is Weaver Vs. Garcia. Garcia has owned the Angels in the past, but alot of that was against a different lineup while he was with the Mariners. Freddie of course, was also one of the 4 guys who pitched one of the sick 4 complete games in a row last October. No doubt the Angels have turned the page on that mess. This is a new year, and the Halos have that mess behind them.

Saturday has Jose Contreras against Kelvim Escobar.  Although Contreras is hot, I have to give the advantage to the Halos here. Aside from the aformentioned October debacle, Contreras has struggled against us. I've never thought too highly of him, in fact, I'll go so far as to say that he's a flash in the pan and is due to fade back to earth a la Rick Ankiel and Hideki Irabu. Saturday night, I think will be the start of that fade.

Sunday is Garland Vs. Santana. The Erv is -hot-. Garland is not. Add that to the fact that Garland doesn't pitch that well against the Angels and you have a recipe for the final game of a 2-1 series victory for the Halos.

You might be asking yourself "Hey, he has season tickets. Why isn't he there to watch this big game?" Well I'll tell you why. I gave my tickets up today because I stupidly thought that the Ducks were playing at the Pond tonight, added to the fact that this is a Big Bang Friday. I really didn't feel like braving a closed parking lot and 20,000 extra people all trying to get off the freeway at the same time." So I gave my tickets to my uncle, and let him deal with the mess that in could have been. But of course, I felt like an idiot while watching the Ducks game on the TV last night.

Its an exciting time to be sports fan in Southern California. If the Clippers, Lakers, and Ducks make it through the first round of their respective playoff matchups, we have the possibility of having -every- professional franchise (that's in season) in the LA area in action next Sunday with the exception of the LA Kings and Long Beach Ice Dogs, who are out of their respective playoffs, and the Galaxy, who play on Saturday. The includes the 4 California league teams, and the Avengers, and this little known US pro rugby league. Good stuff.

Its game time, catch you all on the flipside.