Angels getting straight crushed.

I felt so excited about the Angels doing well against the Doyers over the weekend, and was pumped up heading into the series with the White Sox. What a relief to know that I don't have to keep high expectations for my team when it comes to consistency. The Halos opened the series with a 3-17 loss to the Sox where Ervin Santana and company got straight murdered. They followed that up with a tough luck loss last night 2-4. All of the sudden, we're left asking what the heck is going on? 

On Monday night, the Angels had 3 runs on 4 hits. Not too awesome, but good enough, right? Well, not when the opposition puts up 17 runs on 24 hits. Ervin was just straight ugly, and I'm not just talking about what Karen thinks of his face. The damned cheater. Black Magic went 1 inning (1+, really), allowing 7 runs on 9 hits. He tossed 41 pitches, boosting his ERA to a hefty 7.82. Raffy Rodriguez came in to try and do anything to salvage the game, and allowed 6 runs in his 3 innings. No bullpen pitcher shut things out. Awful. Of course, there was brief excitement when the Angels tied the game at 3 after 1 inning with some cool offense, but things pretty much cooled off after that. Offensive props to Torii Hunter, who brought his big game with 2 RBI in the gigantic loss. 

But, whatever, we would get back down to reality on Tuesday night, right? With Joe Saunders on the mound, we were sure to have a loss stopper. Finally, we got the pitching duel that we all love. Both teams were blanked through four innings, with Joe succumbing to a homer by a Nix not named Lance in the fifth and the seventh, as well as a RBI baseknock by Konerko. Saunders finished with a good enough evening, going 6.67 innings of 3 run ball. The V. Tech grad earned 4 punch outs in the loss, which dropped his record to 6-3. He deserved better, but Bartolo Colon was on a mission. Fat Bart went 6.67 innings of 1 run ball after giving up a jack to Bobby Abreu in the seventh. The Angels bullpen was pretty solid, with Shields (0.3 innings of shutout ball), Oliver (1 inning of shutout ball), and Palmer (1 run allowed in his inning). The offense just didn't have it. By the way, what is the deal with Matt Palmer coming out of the bullpen at this point? Kelv still has one more rehab assignment in Rancho, and we're already shifting out fifth starter into the pen? A fifth starter, by the way, who has a 5-0 record as a starter in 2009? Well, we were later informed that he is still going to get a scheduled start, but Scioscia was just pushing him out the bullpen door to get some actual in game work going. Does that usually happen? I don't think so. Odd call, but I guess it didn't matter. 

The offense, as I said, just didn't get the job done. 2 runs on 8 hits, with 5 total dude left on base in a close game, just isn't good enough. The notables were Chone Figgins (2 for 4), Torii "Guess Who?" Hunter (2 for 4, RBI), and BA (1 for 4, with a jack). Outside of that, things were relatively quiet. I have to address a lineup issue, though, that has been bugging me. Granted, my favorite Angel, HK 47, has been having a tough start to the '09 season. In the first 40 games, Howard is stroking .238/4/20. With a .281 OBP, things just haven't been falling for my boy. So, the Angels brass have decided their answer is to drop Howie in the order until he heats up. But, is that really the best choice? Let's take a look at BA by spot in the order to see. When HK has been in his most traditional #2 spot, he hits just .196. In the recently placed 8 hole, he's hitting just .206. So, neither of those answers seems to be good. Where should we put him? The spot with the largest sample outside of those two spots is the #9 slot in the order. Howie is hitting .467 at the bottom of the order, and this may be a great place to stick him for the time being. I mean, I would like to let him settle into the #2 role, but a) it doesn't seem to be working and b) Bobby Abreu seems to fit so well there. Do we think Vlad will heat up now that he's back? 

The loss kind of hurts. At 23-22 (a -10 run differential after that Monday night blow up), the Angels are now 4 games back of the division leading Texas. The Rangers, at 27-18, are still surprising me. Seattle is 6.5 back of the lead, and Oakland is at 8.5 back of the top. The Angels will go up in the final game of the series. Jered "Big Baby" Weaver is going to try and get to 4-0 at home with a win tonight. His 3-2, 2.52 mark shows that he has been a tough luck loser this season (losing a 1-3 no decision to LA and a 0-3 loss to Texas before that). Can he keep the home love going against Annapolis, MD (and probable military brat) Gavin Floyd (3-4, 6.54). If Weaver can keep things going well, you'd have to imagine that this would be our chance to get a win in this series. By the way, Weav is so solid at the Stadium. He is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA, getting a 31-5 strikeout to walk ratio in his 36.67 innings. Keep it up, stud. 

Now, before I sign off and watch the game tonight, I want to explore the issue of bringing Brandon Wood up to the big squad. While driving home from work, I sat in my car listening to "fans" arguing back and forth about the Brandon Wood debate. Let's take a look from my perspective. First off, I've always like Wood and thought he would pull things together. I mean, I've always had fears that he would become another D-Mac (note, Karen has a D-Mac t-shirt jersey), but he hasn't seemed to have a bad back up to this point. But, Brandon Wood has been huge at AAA with the Bees. Wood is hitting .320/10/21 in his 27 games with the Bees this season. However, the more important part is his K-BB ratio. He's sitting at 23-13 in that department. If you know Brandon Wood, you would know that is a crazy improvement. The Austin, TX native may be ready to get a full shot in the bigs, but where would he play. Chone Figgins is doing fairly well this year (.299/0/12/19 stolen bases). Keep in mind, though, that Chone Figgins has his contract expiring after this season. The club knows what they are doing. Brandon Wood will be the Angels starting third baseman in 2010, and Chone Figgins will be moving on. Write it down. So, since he'll have a slot in '10, stop complaining, stop worrying, and we'll see him for a full stint next year. Calm down. 

One more thing before I go. I want to address the DL, which is kind of getting out of control. We're looking at Shields, Esco, Loux, and Moseley all on the injured list. I guess that answers my questions about why they are bringing Palmer out of the pen a couple of days before he starts. Best of luck to the call ups, Raf-Rod and Rich Thompson. We always love to have the wacky Aussie out of the pen. 

Well, Jon, the Hawks and Wings are headed to OT tied at one. Come on Hawks, I believe in you too!