Angels continue heavenly ascent without Sabathia, Teixeira

Everyone talks about how the Angels always seem to beat the Yankees, but it's not true.

It wasn't true last winter, when the Angels wanted Mark Teixeira. It wasn't true, when the Angels wanted CC Sabathia.

Twice, the Angels went up against the Yankees on the free-agent market. Twice, they lost.

It hurt at the time. It hasn't hurt as much since, because the rest of the Angels winter went reasonably well, because the Angels summer went even better, and because the Angels' playoff experience so far has been better yet.

Sure, Teixeira and Sabathia have the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. But the Angels are in the ALCS, too.

No need for regrets, at least not yet.

"Business," general manager Tony Reagins said, when someone mentioned Teixeira and Sabathia the other day. "It wasn't meant to be. A couple of things didn't work out for us. When they didn't, we just felt we had to move forward and go to Plan B, Plan C and Plan D.

"And those are pretty good plans right now."

He's right, of course. If Teixeira was Plan A at first base, Kendry Morales was Plan B. If spending big money for either Teixeira or Sabathia was Plan A, then giving smaller deals to Brian Fuentes, Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera were B, C and D.

Morales didn't exactly match the numbers Teixeira put up for the Yankees, but he had 34 home runs, 108 RBI and an OPS that was eighth-best in the American League (while Teixeira was third). Fuentes wasn't always reliable, but he led the major leagues in saves. Abreu turned out to be a $6 million bargain, and Rivera was easily worth the $3.25 million the Angels paid him.

And the Angels still had enough money left to pick up Scott Kazmir's contract when the Rays wanted to trade him.

It all worked out ... as long as Teixeira and Sabathia don't turn out to be the guys who keep the Angels out of the World Series.

No regrets ... as long as Teixeira and Sabathia don't do any better against the Angels in the ALCS than they did against them during the regular season.

In 10 meetings with the Angels this year, Teixeira batted just .225, didn't hit a home run and drove in just two runs. In two starts against the Angels, Sabathia was 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA.

But now the Angels are going to face Sabathia in Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday night. They could face him three times in a best-of-7 series, because the Yankees are considering a three-man rotation.

They'll face Teixeira, too, of course, and hope he doesn't do what he did to the Twins (a walk-off Game 2 home run last Friday night). Or what he did to the Red Sox, another team that tried hard to sign him last winter.

In 18 games against Boston, Teixeira hit .351 with six home runs. He might well have been the difference in the AL East race, and thus he could be why the Yankees are still alive in the playoffs and the Red Sox aren't.

Take him out of the Yankee lineup, put him in the Red Sox lineup, and maybe the Red Sox win.

Kendry Morales' performance has lessened the sting of losing out on Mark Teixeira. (US Presswire)

Or maybe we're giving him too much credit. Maybe we're doing what we all did last year, when the Angels traded for Teixeira at midseason and we rushed to make them the immediate World Series favorites.

Then the Angels lost to the Red Sox in the playoffs -- again -- even though Teixeira hit .467 in the series.

The Angels badly wanted to keep Teixeira, and thought they had a very good chance of doing so. They very much liked Sabathia, and there were rumors all last summer that Sabathia had been house hunting in Orange County, so they thought they had a good chance at him, too.

They were never going to spend the money to sign both of them, but the plan for the winter always included signing one or the other. But the Yankees had more money, and the plan didn't work out.

But the Angels recovered well, and this year, the Angels finally got by the Red Sox in the first round.

And now they find Teixeira -- and Sabathia -- standing in the way on the path to the World Series.

Funny how things work out. Funny, although the Angels don't figure to be laughing if Teixeira and Sabathia are the guys who knock them out of it this year.

Whatever happens, the Angels aren't ones for regrets. They made big offers to both players (believed to be $160 million for Teixeira, $140 for Sabathia). They simply got out-bid, and then moved on.

"Over here, we just try to stick to a philosophy where we go with what makes sense," Reagins said. "We're aggressive, and if doesn't happen, we move on to the next step."

They moved on, and the next step worked out quite well for them.

Now they're in the ALCS, but Teixeira and Sabathia are right there with them. Or right there against them, anyway.