Posted 9:34 AM by Sean
What an unbelievable few days for Garret Anderson. His team gets rolling, he's named American League Player of the Week, he wins the Home Run Derby, and then he goes 3 for 4 with a home run and a double and is named MVP of the All-Star Game following the American League's come from behind victory. I think we can safely say that he's managed to wedge himself into even the casual fan's consciousness at this point.

In fact, between Anderson's monster performance, Brendan Donnelly's perfect eighth and winning pitcher status, and the World Series victory last year, the Angels have gone from being a league afterthought to one of the preeminent teams in baseball. That won't last forever, of course - these things never do - but it's pretty amazing to realize that you're living through what's indisputibly the best era in your team's history. It's a feeling a lot of fans will never know. Yankee fans, for example, may be able to point to the 1998 team, but can they really say that those guys were better than the '27, '32, or '39 editions? How many could compare the two from first-hand experience?

I was also gratified to see Hank Blalock homer to win the game off of Eric Gagne, who's had unbelievably nasty stuff this year. Blalock is one of the Rangers' brightest hopes for the future, and I strongly suspect that if Texas ever puts together even a halfway-decent pitching staff they're going to be a pretty good team. Blalock himself deserved to play in this game, and maybe even start.

Awright, enough basking. I'm already jonesing for tomorrow night's game against the Orioles, and I hope the Angels are too.