Some say spring starts with the vernal equinox, or maybe the first robin of the year, or maybe even Opening Day. Ninja please. Nothing says spring has sprung until baseball players start fighting like schoolgirls near the pitcher’s mound.

(Now these guys know how to put on a brawl.)

The Angels and Red Sox were eager to play that part today, as a Josh Beckett pitch over Bobby Abreu’s head set off a weird quasi-melee that eventually led to four ejections… none of whom were Beckett or Abreu. In fact, the main offender was, for some reason, Torii Hunter.

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I’m starting to get the impression that the Angels don’t like playing the Red Sox in October all that much. The supreme ownage continued last night as the Sox took Game 1 of the ALDS 4-1 at the Big A. Boston has now won 10 consecutive playoff games against the Angels, a streak that has spanned three different incarnations of the Angel franchise even though they’ve played in the same stadium the whole time. The first game in the streak was the infamous Dave Henderson/Donnie Moore Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS. Incidentally, the Angels took eight of nine from the Sox during the 2008 regular season.

The biggest problem for the Angels? This guy is always the home plate umpire:

His strike zone is always brutal in the top of the seventh inning.

New England columnists are singing the praises of Jon Lester and Jason Bay, while So Cal writers are bemoaning the gaffes of Gary Matthews and Vlad Guerrero, who curiously tried to go first to third on a ball that was hit 150 feet. One writer wonders if the Angels will ever beat their arch-rival.

Meanwhile, the Cubs extended a streak of their own. They’ve now lost seven straight in the postseason dating back to the 2003 NLCS. James Loney’s grand slam stunned the Wrigley crowd and sent the Dodgers on their way to a 7-2 win. Joe Torre had a plan to make Ryan Dempster work hard, and it paid off with L.A. drawing seven walks off the Cubs starter. Dempster had few answers for tying a career-high in wildness.

The Phillies won their first playoff game since 1993, surviving Mitch Williams‘ ceremonial first pitch and discarding the Brewers 3-1. Brad Lidge wasn’t exactly on top of his game, but he got the job done in the ninth inning. The Crew didn’t go very far in earning respect in Philly.

If you thought that the 2005 NBA Finals between San Antonio and Detroit was exciting, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! The WNBA apparently uses a multi-game format to decide its champion, and the Shock of Detroit dispatched the Silver Stars of San Antonio in Game 1 of possibly a best-of-five series. The best thing about all of this is that we get to see Russian/South Dakotan Becky Hammon in action for a few more days:

• Just days after reports surfaced that PLAYBOY model and Girls Next Door star Kendra Wilkinson was dating the Eagles’ Hank Baskett, PAGE SIX is now claiming that Wilkinson was in Miami canoodling with Girls Gone Wild emperor Joe Francis. Score one for the d-bags of the world.

• ESPN chief John Skipper is phasing out original series and movies (what, no Junction Boys 2?) and focusing on acquiring as many live games as he can, says MEDIAWEEK.

• Pirates broadcaser Lanny Frattare has decided he’s seen enough, according to USA TODAY. Frattare was in the booth for the 1979 World Series title, but should’ve just gotten out then. Instead, he’s been the voice of 16 straight losing seasons.

• The oldest baseball stadium in the world is in London. Ontario. Canada. Thank you, THE RECORD, for clearing that up.

• METSBLOG Brandon Eddy thinks the Diamondbacks are looking to trade Eric Byrnes, which sounds reasonable. But then he blows his credibility by suggesting that the D-backs would take Luis Castillo in return.

• Rangers owner Tom Hicks says it might’ve been a mistake to trade John Danks a couple of years ago for some guy who isn’t really doing much, via MLB.COM.

• When Ryan Braun hit his game-winning home run against the Cubs on Sunday, this lady jumped up and down so vigorously her water broke:

The MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL’s Jim Stingl has all the excruciating details, including the phrase “it was more like the ground-rule double of amniotic fluid.”

•  Trail Blazer fans are just a little paranoid about Greg Oden’s health, notes the COLUMBIAN’s Brian Hendrickson. Oden suffered a immensely mild grade-one ankle sprain but that’s no consolation to a base that suffered through Sam Bowie and are facing another year of Joel Przybilla if Oden gets hurt again.

• NBC SPORTS’ Steve Silverman lists the 10 most selfish players in the NFL, and has the gall to put the Gunslinger on the list.

• Alabama is pretty good at scheduling basketball games. Other than a trip to the Maui Invitational, they play exactly one of 13 preseason games on the road. Thanks to FARK for the link to ROLLTIDE.COM.

The Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez is lucky enough to play on a team that on 63 occasions this year has managed to take a lead, but not too big of a lead, into the ninth inning. And since he’s been successful in that role 57 times he now shares the single-season record in a weird, arbitrary statistic. Seriously, all you need to know about saves is that a guy once got one in a game his team won by 27 runs.

In last night’s win over Seattle, the Angels took a 7-3 lead into the ninth inning, when Scot Shields allowed the first two runners to reach safely. Mike Scioscia immediately popped out of the dugout to remove Shields and bring in Rodriguez, who shockingly managed to not pitch like an absolute moron and held on to that precarious four-run advantage against a crappy Mariner offense. And oh yeah, he got the save.

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As a rookie thrust into a starting role on a World Series-contending team because of injuries, the Angels’ Sean Rodriguez needs all the help he can get. Especially since he’s only hitting .192 for the season. What he doesn’t need is have the count go to 4-2 before striking out, but the L.A. TIMES reports that’s just what happened to him last night against the Tigers.

During his at-bat in the fourth inning, home plate umpire Tim Welke thought the scoreboard count of 2-2 was off and ordered it changed to 1-2. Rodriguez then proceeded to work a “full count” before striking out, when really he should have walked the pitch before.

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Let’s tell you a Hollywood tale about a woman that works with severely handicapped children at Betsy Ross School. This woman, being something of a pro with the needle and thread herself, spends her nights and weekends during the summer keeping the local baseball team from falling apart with her magic mending skills.

(We recommend the whole photo gallery; we hope Sam Zell counts each picture as a thousand words)

Eventually, all the teams in the league come to her for their special needs: commemorative patches, difficult mending jobs, a quick uniform re-design on the road. When the team wins the World Series, she gets a ring for her troubles.

That’s a story that can only happen in L.A., right? According to Arte Moreno, that’s true enough. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim employ just such a woman. Meet Erica Ford.
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Arte Moreno has worked very hard to expand his fan base in southern California. (The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: The “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Los Angeles” of professional baseball.) He sends Angels TV commercials and billboards deep into L.A. County and has no plans to cede ground to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Moreno also has no compunctions about targeting skilled Latin players. Vladimir Guerrero, Kelvim Escobar, and Bartolo Colón are just a few of the Spanish-speaking stars to join the franchise since Moreno’s arrival. If he wants to extend the marketing reach of the Angels well past the border, though, he might consider signing the best Mexicans to ever play the game.

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THE OKLAHOMAN tallies up the news that Oklahoma City voters have approved an arena tax, clearing one more hurdle that will help the Sooner State land the Seattle Supersonics.

Over 62% of the votes were in favor of extending a current 1-cent sales tax that was to expire at the end of the year. The new proposal would continue the tax into 2010, and is expect to raise more than $121 million for improvements to the Ford Center.

The Sonics appear one step closer to pulling out of the Pacific Northwest for the Great Plains. Even their website acknowledges the inevitable. Read more…