Finishing the last two weeks 5-6 including getting swept by Seattle before the All-Star break sums up the first half season by the Angels. With all the hype of Josh Hamilton and the signings to revamp the pitching staff, it has been nothing short of disappointing being 11 games back of the first place Oakland A's. It was a battle of spending in the off season between the two LA baseball teams. On paper before the season, a freeway World Series looked very possible. Both teams struggled out of the gate. The difference between the two is the Dodgers called up Yasiel Puig and turned their season around. It does help that only the Diamondback in the NL West have a record over .500, but the boys in blue have fought their way back to .500 while the Angels are still 5 games under.
Offensively Trout, Kendrick, Shuck, and Aybar have done their jobs hitting .290+ and getting on base for the big bats. Shuck is the nice surprise thus far, but I would be happily shocked if he was able to keep this up in the second half. The problem is the 3, 4, 5 hitters in Hamilton, Trumbo, and Pujols are all hitting under .250. On the contrary the Angels do score plenty of runs. They are 7th in MLB in runs scored, 6th in hits, and 4th in average. The problem is both Pujols and Hamilton are .300 career hitters. Both of them are having career lows. Chris Iannetta has been having season woes of his own hitting just .211. Look for Hank Conger to get more playing time if the Angels improve and Iannetta does not.
With a top 10 offense, the pitching has to be the problem. Joe Blanton has been front and center of the blame game, and its a fair blame when a starter is 2-12 with a 5.53 ERA. It doesn't look like Weaver will fully recover this year from his early season injury. He has still been pitching well, but not the dominant Weaver we are used to seeing. CJ Wilson has stepped up and has been pitching better and better, going 8 1/3 in his last start, only giving up two hits against the Oakland A's. Sean Burnett and Ryan Madson were supposed to be the pick ups to seal down the 7th and 8th inning. Both have been hurt the entire season. Scott Downs and Ernesto Frieri are holding it down, both with sub three ERA's.
The Angels will have to hit on all cylinders to get back in the playoff race. 10 games back in the AL West might be too steep, whereas 7.5 of the wild card has higher chances. A lot of things have to align for this season to prolong after the first week of October.
Congratulations to Mike Scioscia on his 1,200 career win as a manager. He becomes the 39th manager to do so. 23 managers who have reached this mark are in the hall of fame. Connie Mack has the most wins all time at 3,731. Mack also has the most losses and most games managed.
