Don’t. Don’t say it. I don’t even want you to think about saying that word. You know, the “c” word that rhymes with bumpack. I know it is tempting to get excited about the Angels ALCS Game 5 win, but any talk about a comeback is not only premature but also totally against the Angel philosophy.
Don’t call it a comeback… yet.
There is only one way that the Angels and their fans should be thinking right now, and that is just one game at a time. This same mentality is what allowed the Angels to come out firing early in Game 5 instead of pressing from the first pitch knowing that they have a huge mountain to climb in the form of winning the next three games to survive the ALCS. Want to know what happens when you start looking ahead? You blow a 4-0 lead and nearly lose the game all because you saw that early lead and kicked it into cruise control while dreams of toppling the Evil Empire in a miraculous comeback danced through your head.
The Yankees are probably the one opponent that most demands this present-centric approach to the game. With a line-up deeper than the Mariana Trench. If you so much as let your mind wander for one second they’ll will pound you into submission, like say with a six-run inning. Their starting pitching is too potent, if you have them on the ropes and let them get back to the middle of the ring, they might well know you out the way AJ Burnett shutdown the Angels for five innings after getting tagged for four runs in the first. I think you get my point.
If you though Game 5 was crazy, just wait until you get a load of Game 6. The Yankees will be at home and starting to feel the pressure to win. The weather predicts a ton of a rain and cold (though not as cold as the first two games). It is going to be one tense, sloppy marathon of a game that will undoubtedly go down to the wire like almost every other game in this series. Do you know which team is going to win that game? The one that doesn’t worry about Game 7 the next day.
We all want to see the Halos celebrate again, but just be patient first.
One game at a time is the way Mike Scioscia has always done done things in Anaheim and I think we can all agree it has worked out pretty well for the Halos thus far. I know we all want to fantasize about the Halos ripping the hearts of of Yankee Nation in their brand new stadium this Sunday, but let’s just keep that to ourselves for now and worry about Game 6 first, agreed?