The state of the 29-29 Angels.

As you know, I am an unconscious supporter of the Angels. Win or loss, first or last, World Championship or hitting the golf course early. However, after a tough series against Tampa Bay and a resulting .500 record, I think it's important to address the state of this team. I was listening to the radio, and heard that the opinion is that the Angels will be sellers toward the trade deadline as they get ready for 2010. Are we really willing to pull up the anchor and sail through this year after just 58 games? We'll start by looking at last night's latest debacle. 

Much was made of the need for Ervin to turn things around quickly after starting poorly once he returned from the DL. In answer to that, Black Magic pitched a hell of a game last week against the Tigers (8.67 innings of 1 run ball and a F bomb in a post game interview, as documented on the blog). So, not very many in Angels Nation were worried that the win was an aberration and the continued poor play could be expected. Far from it, I think most Angel fans were thinking Erv would cruise in this game. He ended up finishing just 4.67 innings of 6 run ball, giving up 8 hits and walking 2 while recording only 14 outs. This is his current earned run count since returning from the DL in order: 3, 1, 7, 8, 1, 6. There are three really good games in there and 3 really bad games. He's been either flat out good or flat out bad thus far. It should be noted that he earned a loss in a 0-1 defeat at the hands of the Mariners despite pitching 6.67 innings of 1 run ball. So, my point would be that he isn't pitching as bad as most Red Hat fans think, but he certainly isn't pitching consistently. I guess you'd have to imagine that he going to be nails in his next start after this bad one, but who knows? The bad news in this one is that neither the bullpen nor the offense bailed El Rosario out. The bullpen rundown was: Oliver (1 inning, 1 run), Jepsen (1.3 innings of shutout ball in his return to the big club), Rich "The Mad Aussie Thompson (0.67 innings of 4 run ball, and just not having it), and Bulger (0.3 innings of shutout ball to stop the bleeding). A further blow to our pitching woes is that Kelvim Escobar is being relegated to the bullpen after his first start since 2007. Now, let's be sure that this has nothing to do with Esco's only start. He lost, but he pitched 5 innings of 2 run ball, including 4 shutout innings. Evidently, Esco just doesn't have the strength or stamina to get it done on the starting bump. That, and a) our bullpen sucks and b) Matt Palmer may be able to hold it down for the rest of '09. But, Esco is going to be shutdown until next week. The big question when looking at this move is: Is Esco just being sent to the pen instead of the DL to make things look better than they are? Or, is Esco actually being sent to the pen to bolster what has been the worst relief pitching in the majors, as he has done in the past? Keep in mind that Scot Shields is out indefinitely wtih an injured left knee, and Esco could be out set up guy, because we know he can pitch at least one perfect inning. Meanwhile, Memphis, TN native Matty P will bring his 5-0, 4.06 mark to the mound as he reenters the starting rotation for the foreseeable future against the Padres. 

Before we get to last night's offense, let's decide what we think is the focus on the Angels pitching from here to 162. Here is our rotation: Joe Saunders (6-4, 3.94), Jered Weaver (6-2, 2.31), John Lackey (1-2, 6.61), Ervin Santana (1-3, 7.47), and Matt Palmer (5-0, 4.06). This rotation obviously has the potential to be solid, but when we look at things we're having a couple of problems. Jered Weaver is currently the best thing we have going lately, with Palmer pulling a close second. Joe Saunders has been soft lately, but you'd have to hope that he'll pull things together. I guess Lackey and Ervin are the two current wild cards. We all know that they are great Cy Young potential pitchers, but will they pull things together? I'm going to say Lackey yes, and Ervin maybe. Overall, the rotation is really going to be the thing that holds us together while everything else fluctuates. In the pen right now we have Jason Bulger (2-1, 5.33), Eco (0-1, 3.80), Kevin Jepsen (0-2, 15.00 but on the way down), Darren Oliver (1-0, 3.04), Justin Speier (2-1, 4.84), Rich Thompson (0-0, 5.87), and Brian Fuentes (0-2, 4.71, 16 saves in 19 chances). The bullpen DL features Shane Loux (maybe coming back at the end of the mont), Dustin Moseley (probably out for the season, and Scot Shields (could be just a week or two away). So let's decide what we think about this pen. Well, Bulger and Oliver are kind of the old standbys right now, with big hopes pinned down on the relief resurgence of Kelvim, Jepsen, and Rich Thompson. None of us are going to hope Speier is going to get any better. Meanwhile, Brian Fuentes has been better than most people want to point out. Just in case you want to know, Francisco Rodriguez has a 1-0, 0.61 ERA mark for the New York Mets, earning a Fuentes-esque 16 saves (only he's done it in 16 chances). Obviously Fat-Cisco is having a better year than Fuentes, but I don't think we should complain as much as most fans are complaining. I think the bullpen has much better potential than most think, and a lot that hinges on Escobar's new role and Shield's return from the DL. No matter what happens, Halos fans are going to be holding their breath every time a starter walks into the dugout, but I think the fear is slightly overblown. 

I know the Angels lost 1-11 to the Rays last night, but I'd like to suggest that the offense has to take a ton of the blame for the loss. The magic number is 8. 8 walks were given to the Angels from the Rays pitching staff (6 alone from the "amazing" & ESPN overrated David Price). Can anyone answer why David Price has been anointed king of baseball rookies? I've looked at his game log, and it's good, but ESPN has to be overblowing this guy on Sports Center every week, right? He's 94.0% owned in fantasy baseball leagues, and I just think this Vandy grad isn't as solid as we all are being told. Sure he gave up just a single run last night, but he pitched poorly in my opinion. Wow, that was a rant. Sorry. So, the Angels were handed 8 walks and only scored 1 run on 4 hits. There is another magic 8 that you should be aware of. 8 was also the number of runners left on base. Ha! 8 walks and 8 runners left on base? Pathetic. The lone Angel run was on a Torii Hunter single in the fifth, but a lack of timely hitting really made the Halo offense look anemic in St. Pete last night. Vlad Guerrero was kind of the goat of the game, along with my main man Howie Kendrick (both going 0 for 4), but what is the real state of the Angels offense here after 58 games? 

Well, I can tell you who isn't the problem this year. BFA (aka, Bobby F'n Abreu) is hitting .297/.398/.415 this year, including 17 extra base hits and 28 RBI in his 54 games of action. How about Torii Hunter? Big Game is hitting .313/.394/.572. Are you kidding me? And this guy isn't in the top 3 outfielders for All-Star voting? Hunter has also smashed 12 jacks, leading the team as the only double digit bomber. His 44 RBI are leading the team by far. Kendry Morales is #2 in the RBI department with 32, but his .261/.313/.454 leaves a little to be desired currently. Chone Figgins is also a player I have to give some love to. I often come down hard on Figgy, so I'll point out that he's going at .316/.391/.396, leading the team in average. His 89 total bases is also second on the team to Kendry. Let's skip over to Juan Rivera and his .306/.348/.462 numbers. JR has really shown why he was brought back this year, and hopes to improve on his 6 jacks and 27 RBI. Erick Aybar may have made a couple of big mistake here in the '09 season ("best bunter the Angels have!"), but you really can't come down to hard on the guy's .281/.307/.392 numbers. Maybe he could take a couple more pitches (just 6 walks in 43 games) to raise his OBP, but he's doing adequately. So, why does everyone hate our offense? I'm not sure. I mean, we're the #3 hitting team (in terms of average). #3 team batting average in the AL!!! What the hell is wrong with that? The OBP slides down to 7, which is an issue of not taking walks (please don't pay attention to the 8 walks we earned in yesterday's game), but we also hold the fourth lowest strikeouts by any AL team. Most idiots love to point out how the Angels are in last place in terms of home runs (44 is 4 less than the 13th place A's), but we are #2 in triples. Look, this team isn't made to hit jacks, I get that. When you aren't made to hit jack, you need to come away with a ton of timely hits to get runs. We're ninth in the AL in runs, and that is a problems, but since we have the third highest batting average, you'd have to have hope that things will come around. 

Let me just unequivocally state: The offense is not the problem with this team. The problem, if we have one, is pitching, and even then, I have hopes that the pitching will be able to complement the offense to the point of getting the Angels "just another" AL West Championship (I'm not delusional, am I?). 

The Halos (29-29) are 4.5 games back of the Texas Rangers (34-25), "tied" with the Seattle Mariners (30-30), and 2.5 games ahead of the A's (27-32). Some people don't like run differential, but I do. The Angels have a -21 run differential and it was -5 not too long ago, so this is an issue that needs to be resolved. Tonight, the Angels will try and to just that. Our southern boy Matt Palmer (5-0, 4.06) will take his spot in the rotation back, and his fellow Red Hats have to be happy about that (the Angels are 6-1 in games started by the Palm Tree). San Diego counters with New Orleans native Chad Gaudin (2-4, 5.01), who pitched 2 innings of relief in his last outing against the D-Back last Sunday. So, Gaudin will have rest, but so will Palmer, and it should be a solid battle on our home turf. 

T- minus seven games until the Freeway series. Keep the tweets coming, dog.