Jeff Riger: The Angels' Move Is Total Bull

Ever since the Tigers won the AL Central title I have heard over and over again how the goal now is to win home field advantage for Mr. Ilitch, the fans, and most importantly, the city. And I agree!

So it should come as no surprise to anybody that I am beyond pissed to find out that the Los Angeles, California, Anaheim, Orange County, whatever the hell they are called these days, Angels, have to decided to do something totally classless and scratch two of their three best starters for the final two games of the season. On Monday night, the classless losers....uh I mean Angels lost to the Rangers, which ended any chance of LA winning the Wild Card spot in the American League.

I watched that game, I even felt sort of bad for the players and team until that same team announced Tuesday that Ervin Santana and Jared Weaver will not make their last starts of the year and the unknown Tyler "Something" Chatwood and Garrett "who's he?" Richards will toe the rubber instead.

Of course the two "new" Angels pitchers will give the Rangers a great chance to have success in the final two games and probably win home field advantage. That means the Tigers will have to start in the Bronx rather than starting at Comerica on Friday for game one of the ALDS.

This is wrong on so many levels. Below, I list the first four or five reasons that popped into my mind on  the topic of why all Detroit fans -- regardless of the outcomes -- should now HATE the Angels!

-This is more than likely the decision of LA skipper Mike Scioscia, who is supposed to be one of the classiest men in the game. How can a guy who eats, lives and breathes baseball forget about the biggest rule of the game: Don't embarrass the team you represent. By pulling Weaver and Santana, Scioscia is essentially waving the white flag. He is quitting! He's not taking the responsibility of being a manager and a student of the game seriously. In other words, he is pathetic, and has gained a considerable amount of weight, something that I would not have even mentioned if he was a man that had any kind of moral integrity. Look at Yankees manager Joe Giradi, his team has sealed up home field advantage for the postseason and he continues to play his better players. On Tuesday night, even though New York lost to the Rays, Giradi played guys like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano. Ohh and by the way, the Yankees have a chance to keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs by using some of their lesser talented players, but they didn't. Scioscia should be ashamed!

-Staying on the Scioscia bashing bandwagon, I propose this question. What kind of manager would not allow his ace, Jared Weaver, to acquire the ERA title? If Weaver were to even go out and pitch one scoreless inning he would finish with the best ERA in the American League and stop Justin Verlander from winning the pitching Triple Crown. Currently, Verlander has an earned run average of 2.40 while Weaver is at 2.41

-Now I know what you are thinking, maybe Weaver went to Scioscia and asked to be pulled because of what happened with him and the Tigers and Carlos Guillen back in August. Remember, Weaver threw at Alex Avila after Guillen stared him down after hitting a home run off him. Weaver was tossed from the game and the Tigers ending up winning while Weaver's Cy Young chances never seemed to be same. But if Weaver did ask to be scratched, why would Santana be scratched as well? He wouldn't!

-The Rally Monkey!!! That thing sucks! Sorry just had to throw that in there.

-The final reason that you should hate the Angels is because they are robbing their fans of quality baseball. The team has surpassed 3 million in attendance for the 9th consecutive season and then they do this. You don't think Halo's fans would love to see Santana improve on his career best 3.38 ERA and Weaver get that ERA title? You don't think fans might like to see Weaver win his 19th game of the year? What about trying to keep division rival Texas from home field? It's pure thievery I tell ya! Just awful! Maybe next year LA fans might think twice before buying a ticket and spend their money on the Dodgers instead. OK maybe not, but I told you, I'm not making sense, I'm mad!

So in closing, as it looks like the Tigers will be forced to open the playoffs in New York while the Rangers were handed a gift and will more than likely get home field. I propose if Detroit doesn't win the World Series, then BLAME LA! Yeah that sounds good, doesn't it? BLAME LA!!!

Wait, hold on, take a breath. There is a chance that because both Weaver and Santana have thrown slightly more innings this season than any other season in their career, the Angels might just figure there is nothing to win and everything to lose if one or both these guys get hurt. But as I sit here and see that the Rangers won again, I say forget the common sense approach and go back to hating LA, it just feels so right!