Last 7 Games 3.57 1 0 0 3 17.2 18 7 0 6 19
Season 4.33 11 10 0 30176.2 173 85 20 54 152
The Angels were left stunned by their third first-round exit in the past five postseasons. This year, they thought, would be different.
"It's going to be with me for a while. It's frustrating," outfielder Torii Hunter said. "With this team, I could have sworn to you we were going (to the World Series). I was so happy and confident. If any team I was part of was going to go all the way, this was it."
That was a common sentiment in the Angels' locker room after their AL Division Series loss to the Boston Red Sox. But the reality is that regular-season success has not translated into playoff success for the Angels. They have won 90-plus games and a division title in four of the past five seasons. In that same time, they are 5-15 in playoff games with only one series victory (the 2005 ALDS against the Yankees).
"I don't want to downplay our disappointment. This has been frustrating," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's disappointing. But I also look at where we intend to be and where we intend to go, and it's a process. Sometimes it doesn't happen on your timetable, but we intend to get there."
The latest playoff failure has led to comparisons between the Angels of recent seasons and the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s. Like those Braves teams, the Angels have been a very good regular-season team but a playoff disappointment.
"If you're comparing what we're doing here to what the Braves did in the '90s, I think it's, first of all, very complimentary," Scioscia said. "Our goal is to win world championships by reaching one goal at a time. That's the only way you can go about it. And you have to keep getting better. I feel that we're on the right track to be perennial contenders, and that's the first step you have to take.
"I think our philosophy is sound, and we're committed to it. I think it comes down to having the right players in the (locker) room at the right time that are ready for the challenges at hand. I think we were the closest this year with any team since 2002."
The players in that room could be very different next season, though. The Angels face an offseason filled with difficult decisions. Key players could be lost to free agency (most prominently, record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez and first baseman Mark Teixeira). Others have contract options to be exercised or not (Vladimir Guerrero, John Lackey and Garret Anderson). Still others face salary arbitration (Chone Figgins, Maicer Izturis, Mike Napoli and Ervin Santana).
"I hope to see a lot of the same guys around," right-hander Jered Weaver said. "But the way the business works, you never know what's going to happen. It's going to be an interesting offseason."
--Manager Mike Scioscia said OF Vladimir Guerrero would meet with the team's medical staff in mid-October to discuss the possibility of knee surgery this winter. Surgery was recommended two years ago, but Guerrero opted against it. His right knee was particularly troublesome this season, and he played only DH in the Angels' playoff series for the second year in a row.
