Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ... And The Apocalypse!

In yet another bizarre and gruesome turn of the screw for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, several members of the team bore witness to a grizzly scene outside their New York City hotel this morning.

Former Yankee Hideki Matsui and the Angels are in the big city to play the Yankees in a game sure to be dubbed "Godzilla's Revenge" by some overzealous New York Post headline writer.

According to ESPN, early this morning, a man apparently "jumped to his death" from the 42nd floor of the team's hotel. The players were boarding the team bus several minutes later as the police closed off the street. A couple of Anaheim pitchers - Jered Weaver and Matt Palmer - witnessed the event from a coffee shop across the street.

This is not the first time in recent memory that tragedy has befallen (no pun intended) this team. Just last year, on Opening Day a fan was killed in a brawl that broke out following the game (see my post on baseball-related violence here). The very next day, rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in car crash following his first-ever big league start. And now we have this seemingly random occurrence 3000 miles away from their sunny California home.

Is it just me, or are the Angels are being targeted. It's almost as though Karma has it out for them. But what could they possibly have done to incur this sort of cosmic wrath?

Oh wait, that's right: Hideki Matsui Snuggie Night.

Last week, in just the second game of the new season, the Angels forced 45,000 unsuspecting Angelinos to wear logo-emblazoned fleece blankets (a.k.a. "snuggies") in order to set a new World Record.

Is their team so lacking in entertainment value that they needed a record-setting promotion just 24 hours after the excitement of Opening Day? Or are the baseball fans in southern California just that disinterested in baseball? Either way, I'm staying as far away from that team as I can until the karmic smoke clears.

In the meantime, if you need me, I'll be curled up on the couch in my Kosuke Fukudome fleece blanket watching the Cubs lose again.