As I'm sure many of you recall, the Anaheim Angels completed an ALDS sweep of their perennial playoff nemesis the Boston Red Red Sox. This left many baseball pundits, analysts and  fans  wondering "What happened?"

Was it poor pitching? 25 ip 5.76 era 10 bb 18k

Poor  hitting?   .158/.223/.232 7h 7rbi

Poor relief work? 1 awesome blown save

Worldwide umpire conspiracy?

Global Warming?

El Niño?

The answer to these questions is a resounding NOPE!! None of these things compare to the insurmountable odds that America's favorite, blue collar, salt of the earth, gritty, gutty, play the game the right way, team faces on a day in and day out basis. In fact, I cannot even put into words how disadvantaged they have been all season. I'll let Dusty (.167/.231/.250) do the talking
Via

Two costly runs that Pedroia knows would not have scored if he fielded the grounder cleanly.

"It took a bad hop," Pedroia said. "Our infield (stinks). It's the worst in the game."

Pedroia was obviously peeved, but did not back away from his statement.

"I'm not lying about that. That is true. I think about those things. That stuff upsets me," Pedroia said. "My job is to take 1,000 groundballs a day. Other guys' job is to get the field perfect so we can play baseball."

Remember kids, it's not how you play the game, it's how many white collar, bourgeois, merlot sipping ,caviar nibbling groundskeepers you can throw under the bus afterwards.