NO FALSE STARTS

If I were running for President, there would be two very important issues in my platform. First, I’d get rid of the BCS (but that’s another column for another time).

I’d also pass a law that all holidays must be celebrated during their appropriate season. That means Thanksgiving would be properly observed. No more Christmas decorations going up the day after Halloween. The first painted snowflake shouldn’t make an appearance until the fourth Friday in November.

You see, I’m still fully invested in baseball season while it seems the rest of the sports world has moved on to football. Everyone is doing backflips because large men in shorts and helmets are running sprints and hitting blocking sleds.

Really? I mean, with all apologies to Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice.

Meanwhile, there are still more than two months left in what is shaping up to be a very interesting race to the finish in Major League Baseball.

Despite the Dodgers running of and hiding from the rest of the NL West, Ned Colletti and the Boys in Blue are still trying to find a way to load up the storeroom for a long stay into October.

But the more interesting story is thirty miles down the Golden State Freeway in Anaheim.

A slow start, a patchwork pitching staff and a lineup that right now wouldn’t scare Nervous Nellie after twelve cups of coffee and the Halos are on top with a bullet. Mike Scioscia has to be the frontrunner for Manager of the Year and needs to start being mentioned in the same breath with some of the all-time greats.

Call it National League style baseball. Call it aggressive baseball. Call it whatever you want, but the Angels are the most exciting team in the majors. Good team speed, smart base running, quality defense and just enough power to keep opposing pitchers honest.

Add to it that Tony Reagins is not afraid to pull the trigger on a big deal before the trading deadline (I’m looking at you, Brian Sabean). He’s the same guy who engineered the Mark Teixeira trade last season and no one would be surprised to see an equally big name taking up residence in Orange County before this year was done.

With the Red Sox playing Kryptonite to the Angels’ Superman in the AL and the Phillies standing in the way in the NL, there’s no guarantee of a Freeway Series in October. But before we toss the season aside to chase pigskin, let’s see how this works out, okay?

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