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Games 38 and 39: Halos Split A Pair with ChiSox

The Angels took the first of two games against the Chicago White Sox, but lost yesterday’s day game to split the series at two. The team is 17-22, seven games behind Texas in the AL West.

In the first game, Jerome Williams used his dazzling sinker to induce 14 ground balls, en route to an eight-inning, two-run outing. Williams did allow 10 hits, but he also struck out five and didn’t walk anyone.

The Halos bats came alive for seven runs in the opening game, three of which came from an Albert Pujols blast. The Angels ended up with 12 hits in the game and won with ease.

The second game was ugly. This seems to be a recurring theme for the Halos, who just barely avoided a shutout with another schwinger from Pujols. The offense came up with six hits, including four from Mark Trumbo, whose batting average is now up to .370. Expect regression there.

Chris Sale became the latest solid-average pitcher to look great against the Angels, going 5.1 innings and striking out seven. Sale allowed five hits and one run, which came on the Pujols home run. Chicago’s bullpen shut the Angels out.

The Angels prepare for a series against the San Diego Padres. This is another big series, as this team needs to start taking advantage of the weaker talent that comes up in the scedule. Tonight we’ll see Jered Weaver against Jeff Suppan. Yes, Jeff Suppan still plays baseball.

Hudson Belinsky can be followed on Twitter at @hudsonbelinsky.

Game 37: Ervin shuts down A’s, and Mike Trout is pretty good

The Angels' best hitter congratulates teammates on a win. So do Albert Pujols and Peter Bourjos.

Ervin Santana dominated the A’s and earned his second consecutive victory, propelling the Angels to a 4-0 win and a split in their mini series against their Nor Cal rivals. In a formula the Angels used with success often last year, they scratched a couple runs early and rode their starter the rest of the way to victory.

As he seems to be doing with great regularity, Mike Trout was directly involved in all the Halo scoring. Today, he showcased his eclectic offensive skill set. Trout kick started a rally in the 3rd inning with a two-out single up the middle off A’s starter Bartolo Colon. Alberto Callaspo then doubled and Trout, with all his crazy speed, scored easily from first base. Albert Pujols then knocked in Callaspo to pick up his second hit in a 3-for-4 outing (raising his average to .212! Yippee!).*

* Taper the excitement. All three hits were singles, all of which were fortunate to bounce off an infielder’s glove; two of the hits were technically infield hits. I snidely remarked the BABIP is trying to even out.

In the 5th inning, Trout roped a one-out single to left field. As Callaspo struck out looking, Trout stole second base and advanced to third when A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki airmailed a throw into centerfield. Pujols promptly picked up his second RBI of the game with a soft grounder to Colon that bounced off his glove. In the 7th, Trout led off the inning with a home run to centerfield, his third home run in his brief 2012 Angels tenure.

Four runs proved to be plenty for Santana, who went 7 2/3 and struck out 9 batters (against 3 walks). At one point in the game, Santana retired 16 consecutive Oakland batters. Santana had his great slider working today and was able to locate his fastball, something he has struggled with at times this season.

The performance dropped Santana’s ERA to 4.36; it doesn’t seem like that long ago his ERA hovered above 6.00. It was Santana’s 4th straight good start after his debacle in Tampa Bay, the game in which he allowed 4 home runs in 5 innings. The Santana we’ve seen the past several starts is the Santana Angels fans are used to. He can be frustrating to watch sometimes, but he can miss bats and is a terrific #4 starter for a team rich in big league starting pitching.

But I want to give Trout some more love. While Bryce Harper is getting all the attention on Twitter and from various media outlets, Mike Trout has actually been the better player so far. Not that Harper hasn’t been impressive. What he’s doing at age 19 is damn impressive and he’s displaying the tools that made him a #1 overall draft pick in 2010 (.233/.309/.433 and quite possibly the best outfield arm in the game). However, Trout’s game is more refined at the moment and he’s showing why he was touted alongside Harper as one of the best prospects of all time.

Since his first AB in Cleveland a couple weeks ago, Trout has looked completely comfortable leading off, showing a great aptitude for taking pitches, working counts, and hitting with two strikes. He’s sporting a .316/.369/.561 slash line so far, to go along with 3 homers, 3 stolen bases, and 6 walks (respectable for a rookie in an organization that is notorious for not believing in walks) in 65 plate appearances. And according to UZR, he’s playing decent defense so far, albeit in a very small sample size.

Trout is the real deal and he’s a contender for AL Rookie of the Year, though I believe Yu Darvish will eventually win that honor. It might be a ridiculous thing to say for a guy that can’t even legally drink yet,** but in a hypothetical important AB, there’s no Angel batter I trust more. Obviously much of that opinion is because Pujols is hitting like the last Angel to wear #5, but it also speaks to Trout’s tremendous ability and potential. If the Angels happen to fall out of the race in July, watching Trout develop is one huge reason I’ll still be watching.

** Not that that stopped anyone. But still.

Jerome Williams heads to the mound tonight to take on Gavin Floyd and the White Sox in the opener of another two-game mini series. When Ernie Banks said “Let’s play two” I don’t think this is what he had in mind, but a weird schedule is better than boring off days.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewkarcher

Taking A Lead

I am guessing you can count on your fingers and toes the amount of times a 25-year-old major league baseball player fresh off winning his team MVP award in his rookie campaign has been displaced from his position in the ensuing offseason by his organization.  It is not often that a team makes a young player, voted by his peers just three months prior as the best their ballclub has to offer, an afterthought at the position he manned while earning such lofty praise.  How often do we see players like this given new positions and handle it with class, choosing not to complain, but rather to conquer.  It just doesn’t happen, or at least it is not supposed to happen this way.  But it is happening, and it’s happening right before our eyes…

As each and every one of us faithful Halo fans know, Mark Trumbo lead the 2011 Angels in nearly every power statistic, including homeruns (29) and slugging percentage (.477).  The man who had replaced Kendrys Morales so admirably in his first full season never even had time to celebrate his Rookie of the Year runner-up finish or his aforementioned team MVP award before being replaced by a quarter of a billion dollar surefire Hall of Famer in Albert Pujols.  What looked to be a promising young star in the making to both the media and the Angel fan base, now looked like someone the Angels needed to move.  Instead of Angels’ management tossing confetti into the air to celebrate their newfound power-hitting 25-year-old first baseman, they hung Trumbo like a piñata and hacked away.

Maybe even more remarkable than the actual Pujols signing was how the young man he replaced chose to accept his fate.  There would be no “woe is me” in Mark Trumbo’s attitude.  Unlike other seasoned veterans (cough cough Bobby Abreu) who complained openly about their obviously diminishing roles within the Angel ranks after the Pujols signing, Trumbo accepted the move with dignity.  This kid chose to pick up a third basemen’s glove and move to a position he had literally never played before because that was where the team needed him most. And if that wasn’t enough, he also kept himself sharp at the corner outfield positions and said aloud that he would gladly DH at any point he was called on to do so.  Look, for those of reading this that have no idea what being a major league position player is like and can’t understand how difficult it is to do what Trumbo has embraced, let’s just picture doing the job the guy in the office next to you is doing.  Then also volunteering to do the job the girl in the office next to him is doing, and then next week doing the job the guy in the building across the street is doing all the while outperforming every single one of them.   That’s essentially what Mark Trumbo is doing today, except instead of doing it with spreadsheets and staplers on his desk, he’s doing it in major league ballparks against major league pitchers capable of throwing 95 mph fastballs backed up by spine bending sliders mixed in between knee buckling change-ups.  You’d be correct in thinking “that doesn’t sound easy.”

The now 26-year-old is currently hitting baseballs with such ferociousness and voracity that his homeruns have nicknames such as “Trum-bombs” and “Trumbo-jacks”.   He’s doing it basically every night without having a clue where he’ll bat in the lineup, or where he’ll play in the field.  However, each time he steps to the plate, opposing outfielders instinctively take a step back closer to the fence and opposing third basemen are praying they just get the opportunity to take another step at all once the at-bat is over.  The kid just hits absolute missiles to all areas of the field and his power is becoming that of legend.  Take the story fellow teammate Peter Bourjos likes to tell of a homerun Trumbo hit in the minor leagues where the defending shortstop actually jumped to catch a line-drive over his head that eventually cleared the left field fence without ever having incurred a downward arc.  “It was still going up when it got out” Bourjos says.  If Peter Bourjos has not seen enough homeruns in his career for your liking, then take lifelong baseball man and Angels manager Mike Scioscia’s word for it when he says “Mark hits balls as hard and as far as anyone I have ever seen play this game.”

Taking a closer look at what Trumbo is doing points us in the direction of where this story is headed.  Put aside the uniqueness of the situation for a moment and take a look what he’s doing off the field in simultaneous fashion.  When you take into account all the aspects and difficulties of the challenges placed at the feet of Mark Trumbo and consider the success he’s having overcoming these obstacles you can see and feel the egg cracking and seemingly giving life to a new Angel leader.  After hitting a majestic two-run “Trum-bomb” to left field in a 4-2 win this past weekend against division rival Texas, Trumbo chose not to speak of his homerun, but instead wanted to talk about his team needing to play “with a chip on [its] shoulder.”  Not settling on one win, but instead speaking to an attitude of aggressiveness that this team has not yet established, shows immense character for a player with such a short tenure in the big leagues.  Stepping up and moving to the forefront of a clubhouse loaded with pricey veteran talent says a ton about a guy making less than 600k in just his second big league season.

Albert Pujols can afford to employ his own pilot to fly him to his own island somewhere in the middle of his own ocean.  But owning a .197 batting average and a spray chart that looks like a paintball park is operating between shortstop and third base won’t buy you credibility anywhere outside of your own locker.  Torii Hunter has long been, deservedly so, the leader and heartbeat of the Angel clubhouse.  He is the face of the team with a smile and personality worthy of Hall of Fame considerations if indeed being a great guy could get you into Cooperstown.  However, Torii is not signed past this year and unless Albert starts hitting like the Pujols everyone thought the Angels were getting and gaining the respect that comes along with that type of performance, it could certainly be perceived that this team might be sans “leadership” in the not so distant future.  Well, I am here to tell you, if you have not already figured out for yourself, that the person who has taken charge wears jersey #44.

Often times we hear of leaders in sports being separated into two categories: “vocal leaders” and players that “lead by example”.  Well guess what, Mark Trumbo is proving to be both.  Nobody on the Angels’ roster has been asked to do anything close to what Trumbo has been asked to do, and nobody is playing anywhere near his level doing it.  Maicer Izturis is the closest example of an Angel player who is expected by management to fill a varying level of roles, and he is excellent at doing so.   We can all agree though that filling multiple roles on the baseball field is Maicer’s job as a utility type player.  Not to mention, nobody to my knowledge has ever asked Maicer to play a position in the major leagues that he’s never played before in his life and I can’t guess as to how he or anyone else for that matter would accept or appreciate that being asked of them.  That is what makes Trumbo so special.  He has embraced it, owned it, and now he’s killing it.

I can’t speak to the precise timing of when Trumbo decided he could become a team leader in the big leagues, but the combination of him overcoming everything that has been asked of him by management has gained the immense respect he deserves within the clubhouse.  Anyone who meets and exceeds a challenge as difficult as Mark has will get noticed by those around him.  On top of that, Trumbo has taken it upon himself to speak up and speak out on team-related shortcomings.  Nobody had to ask him what he was thinking.  He just knew he needed to say it.  Is there anything more indicative of a leader than that?

Rumors swirled all throughout spring training that Mark Trumbo could be traded to any number of clubs.   Those same rumors persisted early on in the 2012 season when Trumbo seemed to be without an everyday position.  Just like a 3-1 fastball out over the heart of the plate Trumbo has turned his monster size frame on those trade winds and has blown them out somewhere over the left field fence and deep into the cheap seats.  Since nobody was able to find a position for him amongst the pack, he seems to have decided to forego the decision-making process and has designed his own role on this club.  You can find him all over the field and in the clubhouse playing his position; it may not be first base or third base, so we’ll just call it what it is…….Team Leader.

Follow Drew Mumford Jr. on Twitter:  @jrjantreshunt

Game 36: Tyson Ross Continues Push For AL Cy Young

Tyson Ross was dominant last night in Oakland’s 5-0 win over the Angels. Yes, Ross is a great pitcher, one of the best in baseball, so it’s reasonable for the Angels not to score on him. If we ignore the fact that Ross entered last night’s start with just 13 big league starts under his belt and a 7.71 ERA this season, we might think Tyson Ross is well on his way to stardom. It’s either that, or he just pitched against the Angels.

Ross is not a special pitcher. He doesn’t typically go very deep into games, throwing just 86.8 pitches per outing so far this season. So what might a team want to do against a guy like Ross? Take pitches.

In the first inning the Angels saw 31 pitches, and it looked like the team was set to tire Ross out until he got into trouble. In the second inning, however, the Halos saw only eight pitches, then 10 in the third. Ross didn’t need to throw more than 14 pitches in an inning again until the sixth, which was his last.

It would be easy to blame Mickey Hatcher for the awful approach to Ross. Maybe it’s time for him to go, but this is a team of players that should realize how to get to Tyson Ross.

This offense is really bad right now. Most of this lineup should progress to their mean production at some point, but sometimes you just see down years from players. It’s unlikely that this will happen to everyone (Pujols, Aybar, Callaspo, Bourjos), but it is possible.

Another huge issue is the type of contact the Angels are making. Last night they had 15 groundballs against seven flyballs. They need to hit the ball in the air more often if they’re going to turn this season around.

Ultimately there were no surprises last night. The Halos offense struggled whil Dan Haren and the bullpen were about average. It was ugly. The Angels will have a chance to split this two-game set this evening as Ervin Santana takes the bump against Bartolo Colon.

Hudson Belinsky can be followed on Twitter at @hudsonbelinsky.

Week 7: No Designated Hitters Allowed

Shot of the Padres home stadium, Petco Park. Where runs go to die.

Well that was….decent.

At least the Angels’ road trip last week wasn’t a disaster; a series loss in Minnesota then a sweep in Arlington may have resulted in many Angels fans hitting the eject button on the 2012 season and start really getting into hockey.* But the Angels took 2 of 3 in Minny then salvaged a victory on Saturday in Texas. With ace Jered Weaver going on Sunday, it felt like the Angels might sneak away with a series victory, but Nelson Cruz promptly ended that dream in the 3rd inning with a grand slam.

* Go Kings! Hit that miniature tire with the L-sticks!

I mentioned on Twitter that the series finale in Texas felt like a huge game, even if it was only May. A win would have made the Angels only 6 back with a very cushy upcoming schedule, not to mention the confidence boost in winning a series on the road against the best team in baseball. Yet, it wasn’t meant to happen, and the Angels’ second Sunday Night Baseball game of the year went a lot like the first one against the Yankees: starting pitcher gets roughed up early against an elite offensive team.

This week is a bit funky, as the Angels play three different teams in seven days. First up is a 2-game series at home against the Oakland A’s, a team that has gotten off to a bit of a surprising start, sitting at 18-17 despite the fact they can’t really hit the ball (last in the American League in OPS). The A’s, as it always seems, are led by strong pitching. They have a 3.57 ERA, third best in the American League. The staff is led by Brandon McCarthy, who in addition to being very funny on Twitter is trying to prove that his solid 2011 (2.86 FIP) was no fluke. Thus far McCarthy has been good, but a slightly lower groundball and K rate, and slightly higher walk rate, have kept him off his 2011 pace a bit. Luckily for the Angels, they get to miss McCarthy, but they will get a rematch against Bartolo Colon, who in his previous start this year against the Angels had a stretch where he threw 38 consecutive strikes. I couldn’t do that in a video game, even with a trip to hang out with Kate Upton at the Perfect Club on the line, and he did it against a real life big league “offense.”**

** The Angels offense deserves sarcastic quotation marks at this point.

The Angels will also avoid center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who was placed on the DL with a hand injury. He’s extremely raw and hasn’t been that great this year (a whopping 24.4% K rate), but he’s fun to watch because he hits the crap out of the ball sometimes. It’s the viewers’ loss he isn’t playing.

After Oakland, the Angels welcome the Chicago White Sox to Anaheim for a brief 2-game series. On offense, Obama’s preferred team is led by Paul Konerko, off to another great start (.333/.418/.553). His average is buoyed by a .365 BABIP, a crazy high number for a player that makes running look painful. Still though, Konerko is a true professional hitter and has remained a model of consistency throughout his North Side tenure. Adam Dunn is also having a great bounce back year. In 2011 he had a -2.9 fWAR (!) and slugged a paltry .277, way off his .505 career mark. This year? Yeah, he’s fine and having a very Adam Dunn season with a .418 wOBA. Bad seasons sometimes just happen for good hitters. If Pujols continues to blow all year and you need to console yourself this offseason, just remember Adam Dunn, and remember that Pujols is far and away a better player than Dunn. Just saying.

The Angels are also fortunately going to miss Jake Peavy, who so far leads all pitchers in Fangraphs WAR. Like Dunn, it looked like Peavy’s elite years could be behind him, primarily due to injuries. The last time he started more than 18 games was way back in 2008 when he was still with the Padres. He has a 1.89 ERA right now, and I’m glad to see him back as a relevant starting pitcher. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that he was in the discussion for Best Pitcher In Baseball and leading San Diego to the playoffs. He’s going to be a popular regression candidate amongst Debbie Downer baseball fans like myself because some of his peripherals aren’t that great, but it’s still nice to see Peavy back pitching meaningful games.

Last note on the White Sox series: Peter Bourjos Bobblehead night is Wednesday. Go out and get your bobblehead because after that game Bourjos will probably get traded to the Nationals for Tyler Clippard and a bag of Funyuns.

The Angels close out the week after a short trip down the I-5 to take on the Padres in the first interleague weekend of the season. The series will be interesting because if you thought Scioscia had trouble fitting everyone into a lineup as it is, just wait until he no longer has a DH spot to play with. While watching AL pitchers flail and pop up bunts always makes for a good time, it’s going to mean the Angels will be without Mark Trumbo or Kendrys Morales. With the way Trumbo is swinging the bat this year, though, I find it hard to believe he sits any of the games. Look for him to play a corner outfield spot in each game while Morales is utilized as a pinch hitter.

Frankly, the Angels should sweep San Diego. It looks like the Angels’ top 3 starters will go against a team that has scored the second fewest runs in baseball. As always, the Padres have a good bullpen (2.68 ERA), but this is the type of series the Angels should dominate if they want to be serious playoff contenders. And really, that’s the case for this entire week. They have the good fortune of missing some aces and they are simply more talented than each of the three teams they played. Not that having more talent helped them in April, but the Angels need to take advantage of the light schedule while they can. Have you seen the post-All Star schedule? That’s the gauntlet right there. The more games the Halos win now, the more they can afford to lose later this summer. A 6-1 week will be challenging, but it’s my goal.

Probable Pitchers, according to the Angels official team site

A’s

Monday: Dan Haren (4.19 ERA) vs Tyson Ross (7.71)

Tuesday: Ervin Santana (5.09) Bartolo Colon (3.96)

White Sox

Wednesday: Jerome Williams (4.19) vs Gavin Floyd (2.53)

Thursday: CJ Wilson (3.42) vs Chris Sale (3.08)

Padres

Friday: Jered Weaver (2.83) vs Jeff Suppan (1.69)

Saturday: Haren vs Tim Stauffer (5.40)

Sunday: Santana vs Anthony Bass (2.87)

1 Bold Prediction for Each Series

1) The A’s get shut out both games.

2) AJ Pierzynski gets booed loudly.

3) Ervin Santana will probably pitch Sunday. I predict he doesn’t make contact with the ball in any of his at-bats.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewkarcher

Games 33-35: Rangers Take the Series

It was easy to imagine a sweep in either direction for this series, which would have made things either really ugly or really interesting, but the Angels were able to take one game in the middle of the series to escape only eight games behind the Rangers in the AL West.

The opening game started–then stopped for about two hours–then continued with the Rangers beating up on the Halos. Texas had a 1-0 lead when the rain came down. CJ Wilson left with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the first.

After the delay, the Halos sent Jerome Williams to clean up Wilson’s mess. It didn’t go well. Williams allowed all three inherited runners to score, then gave up six runs of his own across six and two-thirds innings.

The Angels scored three runs, two on a home run by Mike Trout and one on a solo shot by Torii Hunter. The power wasn’t enough, though, and the Rangers took the opening game 10-3.

CJ Wilson started the second game of the series and went five and two-thirds innings, this time allowing just two runs on five hits. The bullpen was able to shut down the powerful Texas lineup, and the Angels won the game 4-2.

The final game was ugly. Texas won 13-6 on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Jered Weaver was rocked for eight runs (including inherited runners who scored) in just three and third innnings.

With the score 10-2, the Angels put together a miniature rally in the seventh, plating three and leaving the bases loaded. Elvis Andrus made a pretty play to end the inning, flipping a ball from his glove to second base to force out Mark Trumbo.

Texas responded to the Angel’s three runs with three runs of their own, as they bunched together a few hits in the bottom of the seventh. The final score was 13-6.

The series did not go well, but it could have been much worse for the Halos. This team stayed (relatively) competitive against the best team in baseball (in my opinion). For this season to turn around the Angels need to take advantage of the weaker teams in the schedule, like we saw them do in their last two series against Minnesota.

Hudson Belinsky can be followed on Twitter at @hudsonbelinsky.

Game 32: The One Where the Offense Looks Good

The Angels took the final game of their three-game set against Minnesota last night by a score of 6-2. Ervin Santana continues to bring his ERA down, and it now sits at an almost-respectable 5.09. Santana tossed 7.1 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits.

The story of the game was really the Halos’ lineup. The top third of the order (Mike Trout, Alberto Callaspo, and Albert Pujols) went 7-for-14 with 3 doubles, a walk, and 5 RBIs. When it was all said and done, the Angels had 14 hits and 6 runs.

One thing to notice: Carl Pavano, who gave up 10 hits and 5 runs, isn’t very good. It’s great to score runs against a big league pitcher, but it’ll be really impressive if the Halos can get to any of the arms in Texas this weekend. The Rangers will use Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, and Neftali Feliz in the series.

There has been a lot said about the upcoming set in Arlington being a sort of make-or-break series for the Angels. Assuming the Rangers split their doubleheader with the Orioles today, they’ll have a seven game lead entering the series. A sweep for the Halos could make things really exciting. A sweep for the Rangers could make the rest of this season pretty boring for the Halos.

I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t really start watching the standings until after some one hoists the Stanley Cup, but a 10-game deficit in mid-May would require some historical feat to overcome.

On tomorrow’s edition of The Angels Address I’ll talk to Baseball Prospectus’s Jason Parks, whose written about the Rangers and their prospects for years. The show will be available around 9 AM PST.

Hudson Belinsky can be followed on Twitter at @hudsonbelinsky.

Game 31: The one where the offense struggles

Twins pitcher Scott Diamond dominated the Angels in his 2012 debut

Dan Haren was roughed up for the second time this year in Minnesota, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits in only 3 2/3 innings, his shortest start since coming to the Angels in 2010. The loss dropped the Angels to 13-18 overall and 4-10 on the road.

Continuing another 2012 trend, the Angels offense fell into the fetal position and died when faced with an early deficit. After a Josh Willingham RBI-double and a Ryan Doumit two-run home run gave the Twins a 3-0 lead, the Halos did what they do best: flail at junk out of the strike zone and weakly ground out with guys in scoring position.

The Angels struggled against someone named Scott Diamond (7 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk), who was making his first start of the season after spending the early part of the year in Triple-A. Against a team like Texas or New York, Diamond probably would have been exposed as a fraud, a young cubic zirconia starting pitcher that takes his licks before excelling on the big league level; but against the Angels, he may as well have been the Hope Diamond. Although comparing the Angels offense to Texas is definitely an apples/oranges comparison,* the truth so far this season is that the Angels have been succumbing to pretty much everyone not named “Francisco Liriano.”

* Hell, it’s probably more of an apples to Jolly Ranchers comparison.

The Angels have the best starting pitching in the American League, but it’s impossible for the rotation to be unhittable every game. Yes, Haren struggled against an opponent he should have dominated (reports are he was dealing with some back stiffness), but the Angels should also be capable enough to come back, especially against mediocre pitching. The offense is garbage and, despite the convenient narrative, Pujols isn’t “back” (0-4 tonight). Even his home run on Sunday was on a pitch he probably shouldn’t have swung at, something he’s doing with disturbing regularity this season.

Truth is after the Doumit home run I knew the game was over and told my brother the same. I’ve seen this script too many times this year: Angels pitcher has one bad inning early (the Ervin Santana curse), League Average Pitcher X puts a Mortal Kombat finishing move on the Angels hitters (Tommy Milone…Wins), game virtually over in the 3rd inning. While the Angels scuffle against a Twins pitcher Ron Gardenhire has barely heard of, Josh Hamilton is whacking four home runs in Baltimore because he’s bored.

There were a couple of bright spots for the Angels in the game. After Haren left the game, the bullpen didn’t allow a run over the final 4 1/3 innings. David Pauley, recently called up due to Latroy Hawkins’ trip to the DL, threw 4 of those innings in his Angels debut. Also, Mike Trout continued to demonstrate his lead off acumen with a single and a walk in four plate appearances.

The Angels look to take the series victory in the rubber match tomorrow as Ervin Santana, looking for his first win of the year, takes the hill against Carl Pavano.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewkarcher

Game 30: Jered Weaver Doesn’t Throw Another No-Hitter, Angels Win Anyway

Jered Weaver is a man among boys, and followed up his no-hitter from last week with another strong outing Monday in Minnesota, tossing six one-run innings en route to an 8-3 Angels victory.

The Halos manufactured a run in the first inning after a leadoff single from Maicer Izturis. In the third, Alberto Callaspo’s two-run schwinger made the score 3-0. The Angels put together some timely hits and scored another in the fourth to make it 4-0.

Weaver struck out two, walked a pair, and allowed three hits in the outing, as he improved to 5-0 on the season. The bullpen got into a little trouble in the eighth inning when the Twins got to rookie David Carpenter, but the veteran arms settled in and eventually held on to the lead, especially with some insurance runs that the offense tacked on in the eighth.

The Halos improved to 13-17 with this win and are now in a tie with the Mariners for third in the division. They sit three and a half games behind Toronto for the final wild card spot.

Hudson Belinsky can be followed on Twitter at @hudsonbelinsky.

Week 6: Angels Assemble!

Man, the Angels and Twins just can’t quit each other. The two squads hook up again this week to play their third and final series of the season, and that certainly makes the Angels happy. The Angels swept Minnesota last week, highlighted by great starting pitching from CJ Wilson, Jerome Williams (complete game shutout), and of course Jered Weaver’s dominant no-hit performance.

The Angels hope they can take further advantage of the screwy early season schedule; they’ll wrap up their season slate against the Twins before they play division opponents Seattle and Texas at all. In a cruel twist of fate, the series begins with Weaver taking the mound again to face the Twins just five days after no-hitting them. The Twins likely don’t have to worry about Weaver pulling a Johnny Vander Meer, but facing a red hot Angels rotation has to be a punch to the gut. The Twins have the worst record in baseball (7-20) and don’t really have a redeeming quality; they scored 3 runs in 3 games against the Angels last week, and their starting pitching made a struggling Halos offense look passable.*

* To wit, after the Angels played the Twins, they failed to score against the Blue Jays for two straight games, as Brandon Morrow and Henderson Alvarez racked up back-to-back complete games shutouts. The Angels still aren’t a very good offense and won’t be until Albert Pujols hits consistently. 

There’s no such thing as a gimme game in baseball, but if you haven’t seen The Avengers yet and want to avoid the inevitable crowd next weekend (sorry, Johnny Deep wearing vampire makeup next weekend isn’t dethroning Avengers at the box office), it’s probably safe to go during one of the games against the Twins. If the game isn’t an Angels blow out, then the Twins are going to win something like 2-1.

The true measuring stick for the Angels this week is a 3-game series at Texas, this season’s earliest “best team in baseball.” Texas is more or less Minnesota’s antithesis: they do everything well. They lead the AL in runs scored (146 runs; .347 wOBA), 2nd in team ERA (3.26; also a 3.41 FIP), and 5th in defensive runs saved with 8 (somehow the Blue Jays have 29 runs saved; using defensive metrics in extremely small sample sizes is always weird). Oh, and Baseball America ranked Texas tops in their organization rankings and their top prospect, 19-year old SS Jurickson Profar, is probably a top five prospect assuming Matt Moore, Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout lose their rookie status this year. So yeah, Texas is going to be good for a while. Angels fans better get used to it.

Matt Kemp has rightfully stolen much of the headlines, but Josh Hamilton has hit the crap out of the ball so far this season too. His ISO is .309, his wOBA is .468, and he looks ready to repeat his 2010 MVP campaign. Mike Napoli continues to put up numbers that aren’t worthy of an Angels roster spot: 7 homers and a .500 slugging. He hasn’t been as good as last year (yet), but has blossomed into one of the most feared power hitters in baseball. But hey, we got Vernon Wells, who’s like better than Napoli and stuff because he has more career RBI and Gold Gloves.

The highlight of the series may be on Friday, when it looks like Japanese-import Yu Darvish will take the mound against CJ Wilson. Wilson spent last year as Texas’ ace, having a terrific season (5.9 fWAR) before struggling with command in the playoffs. Wilson had to feel jaded Texas didn’t make a stronger push to bring him back. In his mind, all he does is pitch lights out for 2 years, and for what? To be replaced by an unproven Japanese pitcher? Darvish looks as good as advertised, and Wilson got a big payday with his hometown Angels, but I imagine he must feel like Darvish’s bridesmaid in his return to Arlington.

It will be great for the Angels if they take the series in Texas or, at the very least, take a game and don’t completely embarrass themselves in the losses. The last couple years, Texas so obviously looked like the superior club when they played the Angels. They’re so deep, so athletic, and can beat you in so many ways.

With their 5-2 week, the Angels are only 6.5 games behind the Rangers even though it feels worse. It’s a big gap, but the Angels still have plenty of games against the Rangers to help make up the ground. A series victory this weekend would go a long way towards closing the gap.

Probable Pitchers according to the Angels’ website

Twins

Monday: Weaver (1.61 ERA) vs Liriano (9.97)

Tuesday: Dan Haren (3.43) vs Scott Diamond (season debut)

Wednesday: Ervin Santana (5.59) vs Carl Pavano (4.62)

Rangers

Friday: CJ Wilson (2.61) vs Yu Darvish (2.54)

Saturday: Jerome Williams (3.38) vs Matt Harrison (5.11)

Sunday: Weaver vs Neftali Feliz (3.38)

3 King of the Hill inspired Bold Predictions for the week

Last week, my three reverse psychology predictions worked: Pujols homered, Santana pitched well again despite the loss, and Jepsen didn’t screw up in a high leverage situation, probably because he got sent down to Triple-A to make room for newly acquired Ernesto Frieri. I’m still taking credit for that one because no Jepsen is better than some Jepsen. Let’s see if noted Texas Rangers fan Hank Hill can help us out this week:

1) “Why are we watching a foreign movie? You’d think if it was any good they would make an American version.”

Wilson vindicates himself a little and out duels Darvish, acting the spurned lover and earning a sweet victory over his former team.

2) Speaking to Peggy: “I didn’t marry you so you could cook and clean for me. I married you because you know, you know…..the love…”

Recently extended shortstop Erick Aybar breaks out of a season-long slump in Minnesota and starts being a productive bottom of the order player.

3) “I wasn’t flirting with her! I didn’t even mention that I worked in propane.”

Denard Span leads off the series with a hit, ending Weaver’s bid for a second straight no-no.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewkarcher