On Friday, September 15, Dorina and I stopped at the Brea Art Gallery for the closing reception of the No Song Unsung exhibit. Light refreshments were served and a DJ was on hand, which gave the suburban museum a more sophisticated feeling. The Berfin Ataman pieces below have a fun, futuristic feel that I really enjoyed.
That was just the first stop before our trip to Angel Stadium to watch the Angels take on the Detroit Tigers. Anaheim has been the center of my universe even more than usual lately. Back on September 3, we attended the Burbank Card Show which was actually held at the Anaheim Convention Center. On that day, I managed to snag some reasonable baseball and hockey card finds while also browsing much more expensive inventory than I planned to buy.
Despite the lack of playoff implications for the ballgame, I was pleased to find club seats for a reasonable price. My old routine of using an inexpensive remote parking lot and subsequently hiking through the old train station worked to perfection. Plenty of Mike Trout Silver Slugger Bobbleheads were available when we reached the gate.
Despite missing the game with a wrist injury, Trout was honored as a nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. Clemente was the first Latin-American player inducted into the Hall of Fame after a decorated career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Puerto Rican star’s life was cut short much too early due to a plane crash that occurred when he attempted to deliver supplies to Nicaragua following an earthquake in 1972.
The Tigers greeted Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning with a barrage of seven hits before the home team was able to muster any. Andre Lipcius delivered an RBI double in the first inning and Spencer Torkelson’s second-inning single plated another run. Javier Báez homered in the fourth and Jake Rogers added another solo shot in the sixth to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage. In the meantime, we nibbled on nachos served in a souvenir helmet.
Rookie Kyren Paris, playing center field, got Anaheim’s first hit with a bunt against Tarik Skubal in the fourth frame. The Angels didn’t score until David Fletcher hit the left field foul pole for a solo homer in the seventh. The score was reasonably close at 4-1 until Jhonathan DÃaz embarked on a terrible, horrible, no good very bad eighth inning.
In part due to some spotty fielding, DÃaz allowed seven hits, two walks, and seven runs in just a third of a frame. Kerry Carpenter added an exclamation point with a two-run single to make the score a lopsided 11-1. Manager Phil Nevin finally turned to third baseman Eduardo Escobar for mop-up duty. Escobar would retire the five batters he faced, much to the delight of the crowd. Despite a late Jared Walsh home run, the Tigers ended up winning 11-2.
The Angels opted not to trade Shohei Ohtani at the trade deadline, but that hasn't stopped speculation about the rest of his career. On Friday, it appeared that hundreds of Japanese fans were in attendance despite Ohtani missing the game with an oblique injury. As it turned out, he wouldn’t play another game in 2023.
After the game, we noticed television commentators Kent French (also known for his broadcast work with the Ducks), Bobby Valentine (one-time manager of the Mets), and Garret Anderson (former Angels outfielder) discussing the game in front of Ohtani supporters. He has been compared to Babe Ruth, and yet even the Sultan of Swat didn’t regularly pitch and hit for long. Ohtani is an extremely rare breed, an elite hitter and pitching ace all rolled into one. When the Angels had the chance to deal him, they instead bolstered the roster in a failed effort to make a playoff push with their all-world star.
With the fireworks of Disneyland as his backdrop, Ohtani hit 44 home runs this season to go with 95 RBI. He ended with a .304 batting average, .412 on-base percentage, and .654 slugging percentage. Did I mention that he steals bases as well? Given a pending free agent market that looks otherwise uninspiring, there had once been speculation that his next contract could reach $500 million before he tore his UCL in August. Now, Ohtani won’t be pitching until 2025 at the earliest. Where he decides to play in the future is entirely up to him. Could a local rival in the Los Angeles Dodgers bring him into the fold? Stay tuned.
In a stroke of luck, Dorina spotted Anderson leaving the stadium and asked if he would take a photo with me. The 2002 World Series champion and three-time All-Star was gracious enough to accept, and I thanked him for his time. For someone who came of age during Anderson’s prime and attended his 2016 pregame induction into the Angels Hall of Fame, it was a meaningful encounter. Without question, I considered it a great way to close out my last visit to the Big A this season.