When I go to sleep at night I like to imagine that I'm Peter Bourjos

It's been a while since my last post here, so I apologize to the approximately 2 Angels fan who reads this blog: Hector and Todd. Shout out. I was going to whip something up around the All-Star break, a sort of mid-season recap/look ahead, but that didn't end up happening. Then again, I also planned on going to more than 2 Angels games this season, and so far that hasn't happened either. Just downright unacceptable.

For those of you who don't know (and you probably won't care), I spent a 6-week chunk of my summer by the bay, watching the tides of Giants success and struggles roll in and out. I also had to take a summer class, but that's beside the point. I did, by the way, pass and will receive my diploma from the finest public university sometime around December. They really are an efficient example of the bureaucratic process, aren't they? The point is, I did it.

Frank's in Korea at the moment, so I thought I'd take a minute to fill these pages with something other than Eric's moaning about the A's. We get it. Their inadequacy makes you unhappy. We are all Cal fans, don't forget. We know how this works. Oh but Giants fans, don't get your hopes up. I'm not writing about the Giants. I love the Giants; they're my #1 NL team and my #2 MLB team, and the Franchise really tickles my fancy, but I just can't fill the shoes of the might Frank-the-Tank.

In actuality, I'm not really going to talk too much about how the Angels nearly hit the big red self-destruct button last week. Yes, we dropped three of four to our division rivals at home, allowing them to stretch a 2-game lead to a 6-game lead in the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, Trumbo's walk-off seemed to light a fire under their collective asses. Since those late-game dramatics sent the Rangers back to Texas feeling, well, probably pretty good about themselves, the Angels have won 4 straight. What's that, we played Baltimore you say? Shhhh...just let it happen...

In the three game series with the O's, the Angels scored 24 runs. Weird right? Hunter, Bourjos and Trumbo are just out of control right now. In game 1 Torii hit two big flies for 5RBIs, while Bourjos and Trout each hit a solo shot. In game 2 the bats were alive once again, but at the end of 9 it was tied at 6 apiece. Then some craziness went down as the Orioles scored two in the top of 12, only to let the game slip away in the bottom half. Did I mention that Bourjos homered? Game 3 was less thrilling but just as fun to watch as the bats stayed hot. Can you guess what happened? Bourjos extended his streak to 3 straight games with a big shot, while Torii's 18-game hit streak came to an end.

This is good news, Halo fans, and I'd love to continue talking about how this sweep - combined with some Ranger fumblings - have brought us back to a 4 game deficit, but let's move on to more interesting matters.

I went to the game Wednesday. Santana vs. Wilson. I felt pretty good about it, had some sweet seats down the left field line, and Santana's been bomb-diggity over the past few weeks. He was pretty good, but after 2 costly errors and the expected lack of offensive support, we lost. Sigh.

Pretty good view from the seats though:

The unexpected part of the evening came after the game, when my roommate and I met up with our friend from high school. Butters, as we call him, was kind enough to have his mother take us on a bit of a tour after the game. Mrs. Stotch (not actually his last name) graciously took us to see some of the suites after they were vacated by their important-person inhabitants. I have to warn you that these photos are disappointingly low quality. This was the first time I legitimately regretted having an iPhone 3. Sigh.

We started off at Gene Autry's suite. Though the Autrys sold the club to Disney in the 90s, they held certain rights, including a permanent claim on this particular suite.

Mrs. Autry still comes to games and this is where she and her guests reside.

Gene Autry's Jersey...obviously...

Rod Carew was hitting coach when I was a wee lad, growing up an Angels fan. Also a Hall of Famer with 3,000+ career hits.

Don't forget, Autry was a cowboy in the moving pictures.

President Kennedy invited Autry to the White House via telegram and left him with a signed place holder.

This was Gene's favorite photo in the suite: Nolan Ryan batting. He missed the ball, but the ball didn't miss him.

I had to soil the album with my ugly mug at some point, right?

The view from the Autry Suite. Pretty nice if you ask me.

Next we went to the Manager's Suite: home of Tony Reagins and the other members of the brain trust. Word is it's all business in this one during the games.

The view door was rolled down, so just an interior shot.

They had an official media guide/stat book for each ball club.

Finally we were taken to the Owner's Suite. I've openly criticized Arte Moreno for his ridiculous change to the "Los Angeles Angels...", but after hearing from some of the staff it seems like he's a really nice guy. Just an Angels baseball fan who lets his people do their jobs. You gotta respect that, right? Even if a cup of Coors Light is $8.50.

Some fancy woodwork on those doors. Only the best...

A couple of big screens and some nice plush couches? Baseball in style my friends.

What's an owner's suite without a bar and several commemorative bottles?

Who wants to chip in and buy a professional sports team with me? We can get jerseys made...

More Nolan Ryan. Kind of a big deal.

Vlad Guerrero's signed ball. The future HoF'er hit over .300 with 25+ home runs in 11 straight seasons (6 with the Angels). He's second only to Lou Gehrig.

Bartolo Colon's ball representing his 20th win of the 2005 season. Colon won the AL Cy Young that year, going 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA.

Thought I'd throw in the John Wooden ball just because it's so cool.

I thought I'd throw this one in just for Eric. Enjoy the headline Eric; it'll be a long time before that's once again the case.

Well thanks for joining me on the tour. I'll try to put a video of some walkthroughs up soon. In the meantime, let's go Angels and let's go anyone-playing-the-Rangers.