The power’s back on
If it’s a Tuesday, it’s usually a good day for Angels
It began one month ago in St. Petersburg, Fla., when the Angels’ radio play-by-play man, Terry Smith, informed the team’s television analyst, Mark Gubicza, that the Angels were 7-0 on Tuesdays in 2017.
Every Tuesday on Fox Sports West, Gubicza hosts a signature segment, in which he asks players their preferences in specific categories like burgers, candies, or superheroes. So the natural connection was made: The Angels were undefeated on “Gubi Tuesdays.”
As the club continued to garner improbable victories on Tuesdays — the streak was up to a dozen before a 4-0 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium — the connection strengthened. When he wakes up on Tuesday each week, Gubicza’s social-media mentions are flooded with fans heralding his segment. He loves the concept.
“First of all, I have zero effect on the game, nor do I think I have any effect on the game, other than the entertainment part of it,” Gubicza said. “Still, it’s kind of fun, though.”
An effervescent, relentlessly positive man, Gubicza had taken to
reminding players and coaches of the fun fact, grinning as he did it on the bus or in the dugout hours before a game. And then he waited for their incredulous response.
By Tuesday’s first pitch, at least half of the Angels were familiar with the streak, whether through forces within the team’s traveling party or outside of it. Reliever Blake Parker discovered it on the “Sports-Center” bottom line last week in a Manhattan, N.Y., hotel room, when the television continued to flash it along the ticker.
The Angels’ manager, Mike Scioscia, had referenced it in postgame news conferences, citing Gubicza. On Tuesday afternoon, he deferred questions about it to the broadcaster.
“I don’t believe in it,” Scioscia has told Gubicza. “But I guess the numbers say I should.”
When he pitched, Gubicza was superstitious. Over a 14-year, 132-win career spent almost exclusively with the Kansas City Royals, he took to wearing concert T-shirts under his uniform to combat the midsummer humidity. He would start with Aerosmith, and then introduce Rush and Pink Floyd iterations in the later innings, when the sweat built up on his body.
He understood the nature of randomness and that the trend was a fluke unlikely to hold up to continued testing. Only one team has ever won more games on Tuesdays to begin a season: the 1997 Baltimore Orioles, who won 16 consecutive and 94 games overall.
As a then-Cleveland Indian, Angels pitching coach Charles Nagy knocked those Orioles out of the playoffs. On Tuesday afternoon, Gubicza informed Nagy of this team’s statistic. Nagy made a face, seemingly acknowledging the jinxing potential.
“It is beautiful how everyone says, ‘Well, not now,’ ” Gubicza said. “And then it keeps going.”