ANAHEIM, Calif. — Like any other tourists, the Angels will be in the city this weekend to see a show. It’s called “Shock the World.”
“I promise you, that’s the plan,” Torii Hunter said yesterday as the Angels spent a few more hours in the California sunshine before flying east. “That is the plan, to shock the world. We have a lot of fight left in us. We’re always clawing, kicking and scratching, doing what we got to do. We never give up.”
Another part of the plan is to keep walking Alex Rodriguez, who is getting the Barry Bonds treatment from the Angels. As for the difficult weather in New York, Hunter said: “I want to be cold in October. I want to be cold in November.”
That would mean the Angels, and not the Yankees, would be in Philadelphia for the World Series.
This was a bunch of loose Angels at the workout. The sun was shining, a butterfly was fluttering behind the batting cage at the Big A. It was perfect. Manager Mike Scioscia has done the same routine for all three trips back east, deciding not to work out in enemy territory in Boston or New York, instead working out at home before flying east.
Scioscia knows about winning big games in New York in October. When he played, his Dodgers shocked the Mets in 1988, winning Games 4 and 5 at Shea Stadium with Scioscia blasting a key home run in Game 4. His Angels came back to beat the Giants in the 2002 World Series.
There also will be butterflies in New York — the kind that are in your stomach.
“All the pressure is on the Yankees,” Hunter said.
That’s the Angels’ mindset, and surviving Game 5 with that dramatic 7-6 victory after losing a four-run lead in the seventh gives them that belief.
“You have to play with nothing in your mind except making plays and winning a game and not be afraid to go out there and play the game of baseball,” Scioscia said. “I think we’re at our best when we’re in that mode.
“I think [Thursday] night we were in that mode, and hopefully moving through this weekend in New York we’re going to be able to do that because we’re certainly capable of meeting this challenge.”
The Angels believe. Joe Saunders, who pitched Game 2 in New York, is scheduled to go tonight in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence,” the left-hander said. “We have a lot of momentum. We’re going to be ready to play. It’s going to be the usual Yankee hostile environment. . . . It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
It’s only going to be fun for the Angels if they can find a way to put runs on the board early. They were a mess until breaking through against A.J. Burnett in the first inning of Game 5.
“That dude is filthy,” Hunter said. “People said his sinker wasn’t working, whatever. Hey, we just got him. His ball was still moving, trust me.
“We’re halfway up the mountain,” Hunter added. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’ll keep climbing, do what we got to do.”
The Angels know that CC Sabathia is on the horizon, if the Angels can push the ALCS to Game 7. Hunter said he’s not worried about that one bit.
Can the new Yankee Stadium find its own mystique and aura?
“All that Yankee history flashes across your head,” Hunter said. “That’s history. Yeah, the aura is still there, but I don’t think it is going to bother you in October. You’re just out there to play the game, that’s it.
“We’ve been through everything this year. We lost a teammate. Players went down with injuries. It was an uphill battle and we overcame it, we’re still overcoming obstacles with the Yankees, the big dogs, and nobody’s given us a chance, still. So we’re used to adversity, man.”
They still must deliver on the big stage.