Missing the "Big Inning"... Bullpen makes a stand.

One series in the books folks. So what exactly can you learn in three of 162 games? Well for one, that there's a lot of baseball left. However, it seems as though the Angels have left off right where they fell short last season. With a line-up so powerful, even pre-Hamilton, the Angels struggled in scoring a hand-full  of runs together. Too many times last year, and again in the series of Cincinnati, we would see a runner on second, or runners on first and second with no one out, and it would be a treat to score one run. One out would occur, then a sac-fly would take place, then another fly out and the inning was over. Give the Red's pitching staff some credit. They had to make pitches, and they return a solid staff from last year.
Another thing that was a recurrence this year already was CJ Wilson missing the strike zone in his start. We'll see how he bounces back as he is the potential starter for the Angels home opener on April 9th.

You look at the roster and the "big inning" should seem inevitable almost once a series where the Angels string together five hits out of six batters. Against Cincinnati in 40 degree weather, the Angels left 27 men on base as a team. Opening day, the first five batters went 2-25 with zero RBI's. Game two they were 4-20, but combined for seven strikeouts. The rubber match was a slight improvement, but were playing from behind the entire game. Three Angels hit three home runs during the series, solo shots of course, but came from the 6-7-8 hitters. Iannetta, Callaspo, and Kendrick. We can look at this as a positive note, that the bottom in the lineup is very capable of picking up the slack. When everyone starts clicking, it will tough to beat this one through nine order. When the Angels went the other way with pitches, the hit the ball hard. You can tell they were antsy at the plate, all the way up until the 2nd half of game three, trying to pull outside pitches.

The better side of things is the bullpen pitched extremely well in the first series, holding the Reds to one run in 12+ innings. The only run given up by Scott Downs to Joey Votto for a game winner in the second dog fight. Remember, Downs didn't give up a run until after the All-Star break last season. With the bullpen being the main concern of this team for most fans, they made a strong stand against a very good Reds lineup. Give the guys in the pen a lot of credit. Frieri, Lowe, Richards, Jepsen, and Burnett all showed up for their 2013 debuts. 15 strikeouts to five walks and only giving up one hit. Ryan Madson still yet to come. The bullpen is like an offensive line in football; 90% of the time, when you hear about them is when they make mistakes. They earned their 10% in Cincinnati.

Fans love to compare Trout and Harper, Harper and Trout. When asked what do you expect to do this year, Harper basically said he could not say what numbers he expects from himself because people would think he's crazy. Well, he's off to a hell of a start, especially after hitting two homers on opening day and 4-8 through three games. People cringed when Trout gained 15 lbs in the off season. He already looks like a military Sargent. Even though he K'd five times against the Reds, he did turn a single into a lead off double showing that he still has the speed. It will be interesting how these two pan out for the sophomore of the year award.