EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 7, 2017 Page 5
Los Angeles Angels Praying
to Ascend into Postseason
By Adam Serrao
Don’t look now… but despite a horrible
start to the season, the Los Angeles Angels
are making a strong push toward a postseason
appearance this year. The reason that the
team is making its push may not be for the
reason that most people would immediately
assume. The Angels haven’t necessarily been
obliterating their competition this year. Instead,
the competition has been just as mediocre as
the Angels have been. Whatever the reason
may be, though, Los Angeles is certainly in
the hunt. And one thing that we all know
from playoff competition is that once you
make it into the race, absolutely anything
can happen from there.
When looking at the MLB standings at
any given moment, you’re more likely than
not to see the Angels record at 5-5 over
their last 10 games of play. That may not
come as a surprise being that the team has
hovered right around a .511 win percentage
for the majority of the second half of play.
At this point and time, it’s safe to say that
the Angels don’t have what it takes to catch
a Houston Astros team that has been at the
top of the American League all season long.
With Mike Trout back to full health and a
roster full of players who are finally hitting
their respective strides, though, the Angels
just might have what it takes to beat out a
list of other mediocre teams vying for the
last remaining Wild Card spot in the American
League.
August was the Angels’ most impressive
month of the entire baseball season by far.
The Halos jumped out to a four-game winning
streak to start the month before another
six-game streak and a three-game sweep over
their divisional rivals from Oakland rounded
things out. Though it’s late in the season,
Los Angeles has been playing its best ball
of the year at precisely the right time. The
team’s recent impressive showing has done
its part to not only put it into competition
for a shot at the Wild Card, but to also make
the Angels one of the frontrunners vying for
the last available spot.
One massive wrench in the Angels’ plans
to take the American League West this
year was the injury to their star--and arguably
the game’s best player--Mike Trout.
Naturally, it would have been easy for
Los Angeles to give up without its leader
on the field, but instead of folding, the
team found a way to stay in contention. One
of the ways it stayed within reach was the
play of shortstop Andrelton Simmons. The
infielder’s defense has never been a question,
but this year Simmons has been having
a career year at the plate as well. He has
been hovering around a .300 batting average,
which is well above his career .266 showing.
He is also approaching his career high
in home runs (17) and has already broken
his season high in RBIs, which was previously
set at 59.
Though the Angels haven’t looked like
much of a World Series contender for a
good majority of the season, general manager
Billy Eppler stayed strong and kept hope.
Instead of selling off assets, he decided
to bolster the lineup in hopes of making
a playoff run. “This team showed a lot of
fight over the course of the year,” Eppler
explained. “Their play warranted continued
investment in the club, which we were able
to do when [owner] Arte [Moreno] gave us
the green light.”
That green light led to the signings of both
Justin Upton from the Detroit Tigers and
Brandon Phillips from the Atlanta Braves.
The moves immediately gave depth to a team
that was obviously lacking in that area, with
Upton specifically bringing much-needed
power to the lineup in front of Trout. “The
lineup looked good,” Simmons said last
Friday night after Upton and Phillips played
their first game with the team. “We put up
really good at-bats, scored a lot of runs. That
lineup showed what it can do.”
That lineup will have to continue to
show what it can do in order to back up a
pitching staff and a bullpen that have been
less than stellar this year, to say the least.
Despite the Angels’ nine-run output with
Upton and Phillips in the lineup for the
first time, starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs was
only able to go two innings while giving up
six runs. The bullpen gave up another three
in a 10-9 loss that was awfully reminiscent
of many games that the Angels have lost
this season.
As of last weekend, Los Angeles was still
hovering just above the .500 mark, well
behind Houston in the American League
West standings and just barely on the outside
looking in at the last spot in the American
League Wild Card standings. The Angels’
front office has now done all that it possibly
could do in order to put the team in a position
to make a run at the playoffs this year.
Now, it’s simply up to the players--new and
old--to produce on the field. Unfortunately
for the Angels, producing is something that
the team has been awfully mediocre at all
season long.
– Asixlion@earthlink.net •
Water Polo Team Reloads for
Another Successful Season
Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School boys’ water
polo team has as much storied history as its
baseball team. Last season, the Eagles won
another league title by running the table and
going 8-0 in the Ocean League. This season,
which kicks off with the Conejo Tournament
Friday and Saturday, has the potential to
be another league championship campaign.
Head coach Riley Brady is highly encouraged
by the prospects of his team to defend
the Ocean League crown. He’s also encouraged
by a possible postseason run too. Last
season the Eagles were defeated 14-7 by
eventual CIF champions Santa Margarita,
from the Trinity, in the first round of the
CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
The Eagles were moved to the Division 3
for this season when the CIF instituted a
competitive balance system.
This season’s team will be led by captains
Kyle Crist, a three-year starter, and third-year
player Nolan Young. Crist was the team’s
leading scorer last season and has been
selected to the first team All-Ocean League
his sophomore and junior seasons. He was
also named to the All-CIF team the past two
consecutive seasons and is being touted as
one of the top players not only in the South
Bay but in Division 3 this season. Young’s
experience and leadership skills will also help.
Another one of the team’s top players
could be one of the best sophomores in the
South Bay if not the entire Southern Section.
Owen Hale is coming off a summer in which
See Water Polo, page 6
Nolan Young (center) will be counted on for his experience as the Eagles look to defend their Ocean League title.
ES High’s Owen Hale Competes
at International Level
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School water polo
team has a budding superstar. Owen Hale is
not your typical 15-year-old sophomore. He
is a well-spoken, highly motivated teenager
and excels in the pool. Hale was a standout
in his freshman year, helping the Eagles to
an Ocean League title.
Hale, who had been playing club water polo,
wanted to set his sights higher by playing for
a national team. As he explained, the process
of making the national team takes about a
year. It involves sacrificing most weekends
to play in tournaments or training and getting
through various cuts. In the beginning ,there
are between 375-400 athletes from all over
the country competing for 14 roster travel
team spots.
After the Olympic Development Program
Championships 70 athletes were selected for
a four-day “National Team Selection Camp”
featuring two to three sessions a day as well
as a 2,000-yard swim for time. From there,
24 athletes were selected to be the US Cadet
national team. After a weekend in May and
a week of training in June, they made a final
cut to 14 players. This was the last cut, with
the rest comprising the team that has the
privilege to represent the United States on
the international stage. Owen Hale made it
through all of the preliminary cuts and was
named to the final roster representing the
United States.
The team flew to Belgrade, Serbia to
compete in The Darko Cucic Memorial
Tournament and faced teams from Slovakia,
Malta, Moldova, Australia, Serbia and the
Netherlands. Team USA won the prestigious
15-and-under tournament for the first time after
defeating Croatia 9-6 in the title game. Team
USA went 7-0 in the tournament, including
back-to-back one-goal victories that led the
team to the final. The U.S. defeated Serbia
8-7 and the Netherlands 9-8.
The first night in Belgrade, the players
were lucky enough to train with the Serbian
15u National Team. Hale said that there was
See Owen Hale, page 13
Team USA poses with the winning trophy after winning the Darko Cucic Memorial Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
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