5 questions with Halos Heaven's Rev Halofan

by Randy Booth on Sep 30, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in News Comment 23 comments

In anticipation of Wednesday's American League Divisional Series opener, Rev Halofan from Halos Heaven and I traded five questions about the ballclubs. Here are Rev's answers to my five tantilizing, earth-shattering questions:

1. The Red Sox know about John Lackey and Ervin Santana, but who is the one pitcher that could burn the Sox and why?

When Joe Saunders is getting curveballs over for strikes, Red Sox Nation is going to wish Tim Donaghy was behind the plate with his money on Mister Yawkey's racial hiring preferences. Teams that don't hit lefties well get overconfident when they finally get a man on base and stop the "take" and try for the "rake" and end up with double play squibbers.

2. If it's a one-run game with the Angles on top, are the Sox doomed or is there a way to topple the mighty Angels bullpen?

The Angels left Justin Speier off the postseason roster, so the only hope is to hope Shields and Frankie cannot find the strike zone and make up your deficit with bases on balls.

3. Which starting pitching match-up are you most worried about and why?

The Angels are hackers and the magic of Dice-K's ability to walk every player on a team's roster is sort of lost on us, so that would be the one where we play into letting his greatest weakness go untested. HE is up agianst Ervin Santana and if the kid's slider gets hit hard, he will serve up fastballs for your hitters to feast on.

4. How does this Angels team rank compared to any in the past 5 years? Does the community in Los Angeles or Anahiem (wherever your team is from) feel that this is the year?

Well, this is the only professional non-hockey team that is actually FROM Los Angeles - The Dodgers moved here, the Rams and Raiders came and went, the Lakers, the Clippers moved here. The consensus is that this is the best team, it is certainly the deepest and easily the healthiest Angels team in the last 5 seasons. The recent postseason drubbings (despite the ALDS victory over the MFY in '05) coupled with the Dodgers also making the postseason this year has lowered the buzz a notch. But you guys know bandwagons better than anyone, it is easy for it to fill up with winning and people are piling on as I type this.

5. Does this still hurt?:

via cache.daylife.com

Manny's blast off of Frankie (and Pap-Smear's off of Washburn in 2004) do not even remotely hurt as much as Dave Henderson in 1986, but there were no Red Sox fans back then, just Kevin McHale asking Peter Gammons if the shot clock had run out, but it is nice there are enough of you guys who recall some highlights from last season and still celebrate a player Theo and Larry stabbed in the back.

To read about the ALDS from the perspectives of Angels fans, visit Halos Heaven.

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sigh

I’m not sure I would have published his comments. They’re not exactly constructive, in the large part.

"no1 has time to read your long comments, are you writing a book?"

by britsoxfan on Sep 30, 2008 7:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Sep 30, 2008 7:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

-1

"There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher." -Ted Williams

by AnaheimHalos61 on Sep 30, 2008 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're right. Sorry.

He is a colossus. A titan of the blogosphere. Rather than display a pervasive bigotry, his deliberately provocative comments flow from a creative wellspring, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Shakespeare put quill to parchment.

I’m not going to let the machinations of an Internet Hero detract from my enjoyment of postseason baseball. I just don’t think he should be given head room on our blog.

"no1 has time to read your long comments, are you writing a book?"

by britsoxfan on Oct 1, 2008 3:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree...

I saw the headline and was expecting a nice analysis of the matchup from the LAAoA point of view but instead got some seemingly angst-ridden blasting of the organization from past ownership to present. It just seems like a lot of comments are unnecessarily biased and non-objective. Some of the questions are answered perfectly (No.3) but comments towards Theo and Yawkey’s racial hiring tendancies seem misplaced and vengeful.

I don’t want to rant against Halo Heaven, albiet their past history makes it easy, but just to say it bogged down and interview that could have been a very intelligent and interesting read. Pitty, I suppose.

by Red Peltic on Sep 30, 2008 9:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I used to

respect the Angels, but now man they just feel like we’re gonna lay down and die for them.
They have to be concerned seeing as how the Red Sox own them in the playoffs.
This team has changed, I’m calling the Red Sox in 4.
Sox take Game 1 and come home and sweep them bastards.

"Why not us?"

by reversecursing on Sep 30, 2008 11:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dice-K vs Santana should be a beauty, and we own Lackey

You know, the Sox could come back from that shitty stadium up 2-0. :)

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Sep 30, 2008 12:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

OTM should not meet the leaders of rogue websites without preconditions. I’m very concerned that Randy met with Rev Halofan. Negotiating with a person of Randy’s stature and standing in the community might serve to legitimize Rev Halofan in the eyes of others.

As we all know, Halos Heaven is a member of the Parabola of Evil. It doesn’t recognize Red Sox Nation, and its leaders vow to push us into the sea. Thankfully they’re not very good at geography, and have pushing towards the Adriatic.

After the tragic Boston loss of 6/11/08, while the rest of the blogosphere was rallying behind us, members of HH were out in the streets burning red socks. Or maybe that was just another LA riot, I can never tell…

I also have conclusive evidence that HH was the actual purchaser of the arms shipment hijacked off the coast of Africa. Can you see this evidence? No, you can’t. But trust me, it’s really conclusive. It’s a known unknown. Besides, the absence of evidence is not the evidence of abscence.

In any event, I hope Randy got some concessions from Rev Halofan before they sat down. Maybe some popcorn, or bon-bons. A non-aggression pact would also be good.

by 0157H7 on Sep 30, 2008 12:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

You can’t simply meet with leaders of the Parabola of Evil willy-nilly. I heard that Halos Heaven wants to wipe Oakland and its Moneyballing ways off the divisional map. Randy’s actions could be seen as legitimizing their Antiathletic agenda.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Sep 30, 2008 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ecoli.

At least you, SD, and I are still clean.

Panther.

"Are you a real doctor, or a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a doctor?"

by Allen Chace on Sep 30, 2008 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

when talking s@#$ to Sox fans...

…it helps to know what the f@#$ you’re talking about.

//it is nice there are enough of you guys who recall some highlights from last season…//

what?!? you can call sox fans many things. irritating, loud, obnoxious, obsessive, chauvinistic, xenophobic…but i don’t think i’ve even heard yankees fans question our ability to recall the events of the past. in fact, to a fault, what we’re best at. talking like we don’t remember what happened from season to season is like ragging on yankees fans for NOT knowing how many rings the franchise has won all time. fail.

//and still celebrate a player Theo and Larry stabbed in the back.//

from his expert insider position on the situation, this angels blogger happens to know the inner workings of what went down between manny and management behind closed doors. one wonders how he’s had time to blog about the angels with all this sox investigation he’s been doing.

and then there’s this tired old nonsense:

//you guys know bandwagons better than anyone…//

…including the angels, who can’t seem to draw a crowd even when they’re the team to beat in the american league. maybe most of them are waiting to make sure they don’t get swept by boston in the first round (AGAIN) before they jump on board with the rally monkey.

i WOULD address the racial hiring practices thing, but frankly that sentence was just totally incomprehensible and i’m not sure what he’s even trying to say there.

by confessionalpoet on Sep 30, 2008 2:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sox HAVE to split in LA

This series could actually come down to one performance. That performance coming from Ervin Santana. Look up his numbers, because in 6 playoff appearances he has like a 6.17 ERA. 5 of his wins came at home, meaning he was a much better pitcher on the road.

We have to be worried about shutting their offense down, Torii Hunter and Tex scare me the most. I’m no longer scared of Vlady but their tablesetters can’t be on.

Ellsbury/ Lester will be our “ALDS MVP”

Again, Sox in 4

"Why not us?"

by reversecursing on Sep 30, 2008 3:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Scared of their lineup?

I am scared of a couple players, but not their lineup. Their leadoff hitter (Figgins) has an AVG of .276 and SLG of .318, as long as we don’t walk him we will be alright. Their #2 hitter (Anderson) has an OBP (.325) less then our #2’s batting average (.327).

Tex, Vlad, Hunter are all good hitters and scare me.

Kendrick, Matthews, Aybar, Mathis, Rivera?? Please? The highest OBP of the 5 is Kendrick with .333, that is worse then Ellsbury (.336)

If they know what is good for them they will put in Mike Napoli, the only other deep threat they have on the team.

As long as we don’t walk Figgins and avoid the 3 mentioned above we will be just fine.

I also say Sox in 4

by drabidea on Sep 30, 2008 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by the way....

MLB Team 2008 Average .264/.333/.416/.749
Angels 2008 Team Average 268/.330/.413/.743

by drabidea on Sep 30, 2008 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no sox fans in 1986?

That’s just idiotic.

by RickD on Sep 30, 2008 4:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This sucked.

Remember when we were kids and we mixed sodas together and called them "suicides"? It was OK though, because Dr. Pepper was always there.

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Sep 30, 2008 5:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This did suck

I came over from HaloHeaven. I’m an Angels fan and won’t apologize for that. But you’d hope exchanges like these would be informative. It doesn’t hurt to get a friendly barb in now and then, but I think Rev took it a little farther than he should have.

Randy’s responses over at HH were much better. There’s a place for inside jokes and demeaning nicknames and I don’t think this was that place.

Should be a good series – better than the last few, anyway. Go Angels!

I feel the need, the need...for speed!

by Gorbachav5 on Sep 30, 2008 6:40 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

I'm reading the comments from Randy's responses over there at HH

That’s just sorry, I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure who’s worse, Rev Halofan himself or pretty much everyone else. Nearly everyone showed a total lack respect. I wish we’re not playing these assholes next season.

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Sep 30, 2008 10:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

while i do not like HH too because of the totally useless RevH...

… i am pretty sure we are not playing vs him, but the Sox playing vs the Angels.

and that is a very interesting matchup i am looking forward too.
i hope for pretty good games and a fight till the last from both sides.

i do not care about who we could play next year yet (if and when and so on).
but i always prefer teams closer to the westcoast rather then these late evening eastcoast games ; -)

by OilCanBoyd on Oct 1, 2008 5:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

mixed up west- and eastcoast

whatever, i prefer games as early as possible and 1000 pm is really bad for me

by OilCanBoyd on Oct 1, 2008 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Reading over at HH -

“No free passes for making dumb, obtuse jokes” or so says the Rev when talking about Ecoli’s Parabola of Terror.

I tried to respond with some of the Rev’s dumb, obtuse jokes (“Mister Yawkey’s racial hiring preferences.” “But you guys know bandwagons better than anyone.” “1986, but there were no Red Sox fans back then.”) but they don’t let you post over there until 24 hours after you’ve signed up.

Manny ain't the only bad man.

by tommy.otm on Oct 1, 2008 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yawkey's racial blablabla...adn Theo racial this blablabla

there is a lot of talk about that lately (here, there and wehreever) and i wont mess with it because i do not have any business with it.

but i wonder if u heard about the general problem that there are less and less colored players coming up (especially from the US).

my NicknameFather, the still somewhere playing Oil Can adressed this problem early and is working with others on it : )

here is an ESPN article (i think on the mlb.com site there was even a video feature about it last year):
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2950053

and here is a one written with a bit mor heart for the Can:
blog.hofmag.com/category/dennis-oil-can-boyd/

by OilCanBoyd on Oct 1, 2008 9:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rev is very dumb

When he told Ecoli to learn to write better, I wondered if writing better means calling us racists and making stupid ‘jokes’ about our fan base. Rev’s an ass, and I now he made me wanna sweep the Angels with Paul Byrd on the mound in game 3. :)

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Oct 1, 2008 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs