When you see Brandon Wood and Jeff Mathis penciled into the lineup, you can imagine that some serious Ks are going to get racked up. They combined for 5 in the Halos 5-1 win over Tampa Bay yesterday, while Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells bested them by combining for 6. If I told you that the Halos would strike out 15 times in a game, I'd doubt that you'd be willing to wager that they pulled off a win. But, thanks to Dan Haren's pitching and a couple of timely hits, that's exactly what happened.
Haren deserves most of the credit for the win, and the offense actually gave him enough to officially earn the win. He's been a pretty underrated arm since he joined this team last season, thanks to a lack of run support, and that continued in his first start of this year. Despite the lack of support, he has continued to pitch well, and yesterday's morning affair was no different. The Chessmaster finished with 7.67 innings of 1 run work, punching out 6, walking none, and allowing just 4 hits. Out of his 110 pitches, 76 were strikes (69%), and he was even sent back out in the eighth after toping the 100 pitch mark.
I can't help but hold out hope that Mike Scioscia's recent handling of the pitching staff will continue. It's been a breath of fresh air, to say the least. Kevin Jepsen came in for Haren and finished up the 8th inning, and then the Halos ushered Jordan Walden out for a non-save ninth. Waldo promptly slammed the door with another perfect inning, punching out 1.
It was a lovely thing to watch the three Halo pitchers keep the former Red Sox superstars down in this one. Manny Ramirez came in to pinch hit to a chorus of boos, finished 0 for 1, and has started his career in Tampa with a .059 average. Meanwhile, Johnny Damon went 0 for 4, and has looked just as awful (and I'm not just talking about his physical appearance). He's off to an .067 start, as the Rays sported 9 hitters with averages sitting at .176 and below in yesterday's game. I like Joe Maddon, and this start has me feeling somewhat bad for him, but it sure is nice to see Manny and Damon struggle.
On the flip side, it sure is nice to see our offense producing early and often. While there are a couple of dark spots, it's hard to be anything but overjoyed about our bats this season. Bobby Abreu doubled home Howie in the first, AC/DC hit another jack (pictured above), Jeff Mathis doubled home a hot hitting Mark Trumbo in the sixth, and the Halos got RBI singles from Trumbo and Hunter in the eighth to pad the lead. All of that sound awesome, but it the grand scheme of things, the Angels went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and left 9 men on base. They couldn't keep their foot on the gas, mostly because they were too busy swinging and missing.
That being said, it's hard to complain when you compare what we've seen early this season with what we suffered through last year. Markie Mark led the way with a 3 for 4 game, his first 3 hit game in the show, along with a stolen base and his second RBI on the campaign. Very quickly, his numbers are creeping up, and he's looking more and more comfortable. Trumbo was joined by Jeff Mathis (2 doubles), Alberto Callaspo (2 for 4 with the aforementioned jack), and leadoff DH Maicer Izturis (2 for 5) with multi-hit honors. Howie Kendrick went 1 for 3, but picked up 2 walks. Abreu also went 1 for 3 with a walk, and added his second stolen base of the year.
Abreu and Howie Kendrick are tied atop the team's OBP leaderboard, sitting on a very impressive .517 mark. Alberto Callaspo is a pleasant surprise at #3 with his .476 OBP. Getting guys on base is how we're going to get runs across the plate, and it's nice to see these three kind of going nuts to start the year. Peter Bourjos (I told you so), Maicer Izturis (I didn't tell you so), and Big Game round out our six .300+ OPB guys (at .333, .333, and .300 respectively). As for driving them in, Callaspo and Hunter are tied atop the RBI leaderboard with 5 a piece, and I think this all shows that AC/DV has been a huge surprise at the dish this year. Let's hope he keeps it up, so we can all finally sign off on that Sean O'Sullivan trade.
But, if we are going to celebrate the good, we also have to recognize the bad. And that bad is Vernon Wells and Brandon Wood. First, we'll look at Woody, and why he was even inserted into the lineup. The news isn't good. Erick Aybar was shown to have a mild strain in his hamstring after a MRI on Wednesday. It doesn't look like a DL kind of problem, but it is troublesome. I'm not sure why Scioscia wouldn't have put Izzy at SS, Bourjos at CF, Wells in LF, and Abreu at DH in this situation, but it all just kind of goes to show that the organization still thinks Wood has a shot to be a somebody in the show. I don't think that, and I think his 0 for 4 day with 3 Ks only goes to show that I'm probably right. His only non-punchout at bat was a dribbler in the infield that led to an easy put out. He's just overmatched in the big leagues. Let's face it, he always has been and he always will be.
Wells is a little more of a mystery. While I thought that he would have a down-ish first year in Anaheim, I never would have predicted this kind of start 6 games into things. He has been so bad, it's almost like a nightmare. Wouldn't Juan Rivera have been producing better than this? Stop it! Stop it! Don't decide on who won that trade after just 6 games. Vernon went 0 for 5 with 3 Ks yesterday, is hitting just .111, and only seems to get on base if he gets hit by a pitch. Turn it around, Vernon. By the way, a home series against Toronto may be a great time to do it.
Well, the Angels are .500 after their season opening roadie, and I don't think anyone can be too upset with that. At 3-3, we trail the highly publicized Rangers (6-0, as I'm sure you all know) by 3 games, but now lead Adam Kennedy and Seattle by a game, and lead Brian Fuentes and the A's by 1.5. When, oh when, will the Rangers crap out?
After getting about 54 hours off of work, the Halos will open things up at The Stadium tomorrow evening against Andrew's Toronto Blue Jays. It'll be the start of the 50th anniversary celebration at The Big A, and it should be pretty awesome. Ervin Santana (0-0, 4.05) will take to the mound against Kyle Drabek (1-0, 1.29) in the clash, and hopefully Ervin will be able to hold things together just a little bit better than he did in Kansas City. Don't get me wrong, he pitched well enough to win, but a dominating performance to open up the home schedule sure would be cool.
As long as Wood and Mathis are sitting, I'll consider that a win in my book.
*As you can probably tell, I ran out of proofreading time due to having a work meeting. Accept my apologies.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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