Now where did I put my broom?

So I'm standing there watching the game in the 7th, and the wife's Uncle turns to me and says, "Oh well, I guess we can clinch it in tomorrow's game."

I looked at him and calmly said, "Game's not over yet."

I had no doubt in my mind that the Angels could come back from a 5-1 deficit on Sunday to beat the hated Red Sox and sweep them out of the playoffs.  Soon after, we made it 5-2.  Then Billy Wagner let two men on in the eighth, and they brought in Papelbon.

I smiled.

It seems like every time Tito Francona sends in Papelbon against us and there are men on base, we end up scoring.  True, we usually only score enough runs against the kid to lose by 1, but we seem to reach him regularly.  And I had a feeling this time would be different.

Top of the eighth.  Two on, two out.  Juan Rivera gets his first-ever hit off of Papelbon, and suddenly it's a 1 run game.  Bottom of the eight,  it becomes 6-4 Red Sox.  Okay, that's just one extra run we need.

Top of the ninth.  Casey Kotchman in at first for the Red Sox (never thought I'd ever type that).  Papelbon gets two quick outs.  I'm so focused on what the Angels are doing, I don't even realize we're one out from playing another game in Boston.

Then Aybar singles.  They let him take second.

Figgins walks.  I start to smile.

CLANG! - Abreu doubles off the wall.  6-5 Red Sox.  Men on 2nd and 3rd.

And then, AND THEN, they intentionally walk Torii to get to Vladdy.  My confident smile becomes a huge grin.  Do these Sox not remember what happened the last time Vladdy came to bat in a do-or-die moment in this stadium with bases loaded?  I sure do.  And sure enough--

--CRACK! - Vladdy singles to knock in two runs, and the Angels take their first lead of the game.  Fuentes comes in and locks down the win.

7-6 Angels.

I hope Donnie Moore can finally rest in peace after this one.

I guess it's a good time--

--to mention that if you notice any cards I've missed in this collection, please let me know! I've spent countless hours pouring over every checklist I've been able to find to make sure I have the most complete collection of regular issue Topps Angels cards possible, but sometimes I miss things.

Heck, it was just earlier this year that I found out about the 2002 Topps Coaches' Collection Relic card of Don Baylor. Sure the main picture may be of him in a Cubs uniform, but the inset pic of him as a player features his 1977 card as an Angel. So I had to get it.

I guess this is a good time to talk about what I consider to be a "regular issue Topps Angels card." Obviously, if the team listed on the card is the Anaheim/California/Los Angeles Angels, be it a base card or an insert, it's in. But I also include multi-player cards, such as league leader, combo, 'rookie star', or playoff cards (even if it's another card of us losing to the BloSox) as long as there's at least one Angels player on it. So stuff like the 1964 "Friendly Foes" card of Leon Wagner and Willie McCovey is in, as is the 1983 "Super Vet" card of Dave LaRoche (he was with the Yankmes, but the inset pic is from his days as an Angel) and the aforementioned Baylor relic card.

Again, if it looks like I've missed something, please let me know, but keep in mind that I'm only collecting the regular Topps set. I'm not looking for any Upper Deck, Stadium Club, Pristine, Fleer, Chrome, Ricky and Lucy, Triple Threads, O-Pee-Chee, Yo Mama, Heritage, or anything else. In my entire 2000+ card collection, I've made maybe seven exceptions to this rule (and all for good reason). But if there's something that fits my collection and I somehow missed it, let me know!

And as Ed and Frank often said, "Thank you for your support."