Los Angeles Angels Spring Training Tickets - Preseason Overview

Spring training ought to be great for Angels fans who can make the trip out to the Arizona desert. The Angels won 100 games last season- the most in Major League Baseball in '09- and took the AL West title. However, they failed to make great gains in the playoffs, losing their opening series to the Boston Red Sox 3-1. The Angels made some moves over the offseason, but in general this team had little to do to get back into World Series contention. Let's take a look at some of the things the Angels did right and a few they did wrong before we delve into some of the more contemporary issues facing the Angels. If you go to StubHub to get Los Angeles Angels spring training tickets for their games this March, you'll get to see how the new additions to the roster are fitting into their spots.

-2008 Highlights-
There were many Angels highlights from 2008. Let's start out with the offense. As a team the Angels were a middle-of-the-pack unit, but there were plenty of great individual hitters. For instance, when Mark Teixeira came over from Atlanta about two thirds of the way through the year he started putting up MVP-caliber numbers. Teix averaged .358 and slugged an incredible .632 while with the Angels. Howie Kendrick and Vladimir Guerrero averaged over .300. Torri Hunter, Garrett Anderson and Juan Rivera were all consistent hitters. On defense the Angels were much more productive as a whole team.

Anaheim's pitching staff had the third lowest ERA in the American League at 4.00. The bullpen, led by Francisco Rodriguez's 62 saves (best in the AL and a career high), was one of the best in baseball. Scot Shields, Darren Oliver and Jose Arredondo provided excellent relief. The ace of the starting pitchers was probably Joe Saunders, who finished with a 3.41 ERA and 17 wins. Ervin Santana, Jon Garland and John Lackey all achieved 12 or more wins.

-2008 Lowlights-
The batting order seemed to struggle in some important areas. They weren't patient, as they were well below average in their accumulation of walks and, consequently, on base percentage. Had Teix been with the club all season, things might have looked different overall. Jeff Mathis struggled to get anything going at the plate. Postseason performance was lackluster, as we all well know.

-Spring Training and Future-
Angels fans saw many of their favorite players leave over the offseason. K-Rod went to the Mets as a free agent, and Jon Garland, also a free agent, signed with the Diamondbacks. On offense, Mark Teixeira signed with Yankees (gasp!), and Garret Anderson remains an unsigned free agent. Who did the Angels grab? Brian Fuentes came over from the Rockies, and unless fans see something change when they use their Los Angeles Angels spring training tickets, Fuentes should replace K-Rod as the closer (if "replace" is the correct word in this situation).

The loss of Mark Teixera and Garret Anderson will be softened by the addition of outfielder Bobby Abreu. Bobby has hit over 100 RBI in each of his past seven seasons, so fans can appreciate his ability to instantly help the team's run scoring ability. The starting pitching crew should still be solid despite the Garland loss. You should expect another long, beautiful summer as the Angels beat the life out of the AL West once again.

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