Is there anything more annoying than the rally monkey? He's the Anaheim Angels new mascot that jumps around on the Jumbo screen and the inspiration for the stuffed animal replicas wrapped around the necks of little Angels' fans. This annoyingly lovable monkey was conceived on June 6, 2000 in a game that the Angels were losing to the San Francisco Giants. In an attempt to get the crowd going, the stadium crew found a clip of a monkey jumping up and down in Jim Carrey's "Ace Ventura," and superimposed "Rally Monkey" over it. After the clip was shown on the Jumbotron, the Angels scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. The rally monkey became a daily part of SportsCenter highlights this season and has carried the upstart Angels to the World Series.
Facing the Angels and the monkey in the All-California World Series will be Barry Bonds and the newly crowned, National League Pennant-winning Giants. Despite both California teams being wild card winners, the similarities stop there. They each have an entirely different makeup of players, so let's look at the chances of each of these teams to win the World Series.
Nobody picked the Anaheim Angels to do anything this season, but in a turnaround worthy of the 1991 Atlanta Braves, the Angels overachieved. Without any true superstars, they epitomize the meaning of "winning as a team" with their style of sound, fundamental baseball. Night after night, the players sacrifice, hit and run, steal and play great defense. Their offensive lineup has no proven superstar in the middle of it, but Garrett Anderson put up MVP numbers this season, and Troy Glaus has been providing clutch hits and homeruns this entire postseason. Despite not having that one monster offensive player, the Angels have a very balanced lineup from top to bottom, which was highlighted by number nine hitter, Adam Kennedy, hitting three homeruns in Game five of the ALCS. The two-headed monster at DH of Brad Fullmer and Shawn Wooten will have to sit out all of the Series games played in San Francisco, but neither are great hitters to begin with.
Anaheim's starting pitching staff is not as proven as the Giant's staff, but ace Jarod Washburn will have something to say about that. He and fellow starters Ramon Ortiz, John Lackey, and Kevin Appier have performed well in the postseason, but it is the strength of the Anaheim bullpen that has carried this club this far. Twenty-year old unknown, Francisco Rodriguez emerged from a September call-up from the minors to collect four postseason wins and a 1.80 ERA in a setup roll out of the bullpen. And when the Angels have any kind of lead late in the game, you will be sure to see the star closer, Troy Percival. Angel's manager Mike Scoscia was hesitant about bringing Troy Percival into the first ALDS game against the Yankees _ the Yankees struck for four runs to win the game. He better not hesitate to use him in this series.
The Giants team persona is totally opposite that of the Angels. While the Angels only have a team personality, the Giants have the strong individual personalities of Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, and Manager Dusty Baker that are too big for one clubhouse. Amazingly, they have been able to keep their egos in check and gather their talent for this World Series run. The Giants relied on the hitting of Bonds and Kent for most of the regular season, but it has been the clutch of hitting of number two-hitter Rich Aurelia and NLCS MVP Benito Santiago, hitting behind Bonds, who have carried the Giants through the playoffs. If the Giants are to win their World Series rings, players other than Bonds and Kent will have to step up because pitchers will never give either of those players any pitches to hit.
Despite having a very good home run-hitting team, the Giants rely on their starting rotation for most of their wins. Kirk Reuter, Livan Hernandez, Jason Schmidt, and Russ Ortiz are all crafty veterans and with the exception of Schmidt, win with pitch location and changing velocity. While their bullpen, led by closer Rob Nen, and setup men Tim Worrell and Felix Rodriguez, has been very good this postseason, they are not quite as good as their Angel's counterparts.
Pitching is the name of the game in this series and the teams that make the fewest mistake pitches will win. Both teams are opportunistic offensively, and will punish you if you leave the ball out over the plate. Every player in both lineups is capable of "going yard" any at bat, so good late-inning relief will be the key to this series. The Angels have a better relief core and will be able to neutralize the power of Bonds and Kent. Barry will not win his first World Series ring this season, and once again that annoying Rally Monkey will strike, leading the Angels to the crown in six games.
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