Whats up with the Angels?

The offseason signing of MVP candidate Josh Hamilton was supposed to propel the Angels to the AL West team to beat, but the Angels’ loss to the Twins last night gives them a sad record of 4-9 on the young season. They are playing worse than the rebuilding Houston Astros, who are expected to be the worst team in the bigs. They are last in the AL West in offensive scoring, and second to last in runs allowed. The “Big 3” aka Trout, Pujols and Hamilton have had a very average start, and to make matters worse Vernon Wells is actually playing pretty well in pinstripes.

 

But it is still early, the Halos have 134 games to figure it out. Assuming  that their problems can be “figured out,” and that these last 13 games have been a simple slump rather than an exposition of glaring weaknesses. However, my 10^th grade history teacher told me that assuming makes and ass out of u and me, and the numbers say there is real cause for concern in Orange County.

Their offense will come around, Trout may not hit .330 this year but he is too good to keep batting .260 the whole year and once he gets going that will give Pujols and Hamilton prime RBI opportunities, assuming (there it is again) Josh Hamilton RElearns for the millionth time how to lay off a curveball in the dirt. They need to get Aybar back to solidify two spot, because Bourjus is too inconsistent to be at the top of the lineup. I think Howie Kendrick would benefit the most from hitting in front of Pujols but Scioscia seems to think Hamilton needs protection from protecting Pujols. Anyways, their offense is slumping, but when all of those guys are on, it may be the best one through nine in the game.

But, as the great Paul Bear Bryant said, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships,” more specifically pitching wins championships, and the Angels’ staff needs Walt Disney’s magic to come to life if they are going to make the playoffs.

Weaver’s freak injury made their starting pitching really, really thin. CJ Wilson needs to step up and be an ace while Weaver heals, but lack of control has led to three average starts (1-0 4.00 ERA 1.5 WHIP). After Wilson, their starting pitching drops off a cliff, Joe Blanton is the new number 2 and he just received his third consecutive loss last night and is averaging 8.59 earned runs every nine innings. Tommy Hanson, and Jason Vargas sum up their rotation, and they have combined for 1-quality start.

If a team’s starting pitching is struggling, the bullpen has to find a way to pick them up, and that’s nowhere close to happening. Ernesto Frieri has had a good start as the closer, only giving up one run in five innings, but he has also walked three in that span which would be detrimental if he didn’t have ten strikeouts on top of that. Mark Lowe and Kevin Jepsen are tied for second on the team in appearances, and they both only have one pitch that they can kind of throw for a strike, and when they do, it has been getting raked. Lowe has an ERA of 12 and Jepsen has given up an average of 9 earned runs.

These numbers are awful, and they should get better over the next 134 games, but how much better? Can they improve enough to compete with the A’s who have scored 30 more runs and allowed 20 less runs to date? Or How bout the Rangers, who are only allowing an average of 3 total runs per game without their opening day starter? It doesn’t look good for the Halos, they have very glaring weaknesses in their pitching staff, so it may be early, but Angel fan definitely have grounds to ‘freak out”

-Blake Dale Lepire

When NOT to Charge the Mound

As a pitcher, I understand that I may have a little bias in regards to this subject; however, last night's charging of the mound by Carlos Quentin (Padres' outfielder) was in my mind one of the most idiotic events I have ever seen in sports. I happened to be at the game when it happened and it was a 3-2 count when I saw Zack Grienke (Dodgers' pitcher) hit Quentin and I thought nothing of it and looked down as it happened. I only looked up to the sound of the people around me yelling "Fight!!" 

Quentin Charging Grienke

Now I'm not going to lie, my initial thought was "wow this is awesome I've never seen a brawl in person!" But after taking the time to think about it and hearing that Grienke had to leave the game due to a fractured collar bone from the brawl, I thought "why did Quentin charge the mound in the first place?" When I thought about it, none of it made sense. It was a 2-1 ball game and the Dodgers were winning in the 6th inning when Grienke hit Quentin in the arm with a 3-2 pitch to lead off the inning... 

Now in that sentence I can spot 5 good reasons that show that there was zero intent behind Grienke hitting Quentin:

1. It was a 1 run game (Don't want to jeopardize chances of winning)
2. The Dodgers were WINNING by 1 (Put the tying run on base?? Yeah why not)

Grienke About to Break His Collarbone

3. The pitch was never even close to Quentin's head (Main reason hitters get upset with brush back pitches, but the pitch never threatened his head)
4. It was a full count (If you are going to hit someone, you do it early in the count to not waste pitches)
5. It was to lead off an inning (Putting the tying run on base to start an inning is just asking to give up a run)

There is no way that you could convince me that the Dodgers intentionally hit a guy in the arm, in a one run game to lead off an inning. Quentin, as a guy who lead the National League in Hit by Pitches last year should understand better than anyone when someone is intentionally throwing at him. The facts add up to that there was obviously no intent behind Grienke's errant pitch and since intent behind being hit is usually the main reason that someone would charge at a pitcher, I really can't wrap my mind around why Quentin reacted the way he did.

Matt Kemp Confronting Quentin After Game

Matt Kemp was quoted to have said the following after the game: "I think Carlos Quentin went to Stanford. I heard there's some smart people at Stanford. That wasn't too smart.'' In the midst of the whole brawl, Grienke fractured his left collarbone and is expected to miss at least 6-8 weeks. Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said that he believes Quentin should not be allowed to play as long as Grienke is unable to pitch. I completely agree. There is never really a "right time" to charge the mound, but there are certainly times when one could justify it at least a little bit. This time, I don't think anyone is on Quentin's side.

-Dan Kolodin

Week 1 Analysis of the 2013 Season

The first week of baseball is over and what a week it was. Clean standings give every team a glimmer of hope, but six games have gone by and its time to start speculating. Who is going to have a breakout season? Which team is going to burst on the scene? Who is going to bust under the pressure? It may only be week one, but it’s never premature to talk baseball.

Hottest Start from a Player:

That’s easy, Chris Davis the first basemen for the Orioles has hit 4 homeruns and driven in 17 runs through his first 6 games compiling a .455 batting average and an OPS of 1.636. Is it a surprise? He has always had power and showed it last year belting 33 homeruns in 139 games. However, his problem has been playing time, so there isn’t much history on Chris Davis to be able to determine what kind of hitter he truly is. Davis started out with the Rangers who had a huge first base “problem” because they had three big first base prospects in Mitch Moreland, Justin Smoak and Chris Davis. In result, Davis didn’t get substantial playing time early in his car

eer, but maybe he’s always been this good and hasn’t been given the stage. Chris Davis will come back down to earth eventually, but maybe he stands on the ground a little higher than everyone thought.

Best Team That No one is Talking About:

The Arizona Diamondbacks

The DBacks are off to a 5-1 start, which ranks them tied for first in the National League West. Previously, I questioned DBacks GM Kevin Towers for trading potential superstar Justin Upton in order to increase team chemistry, but it seems to be paying off early. Martin Prado hasn’t gotten off to quite the start that Upton has in Atlanta, but his team first mindset has been contagious in the clubhouse. They are doing all of the little things right, taking the extra base, moving guys over, and getting two out RBIs. Their starting pitching had a solid first week, but their offense has been the difference. It has been very impressive to say the least, but this style of baseball is very effective in close ball games, so the only way Arizona will be able to maintain their success is if their bullpen is able to shut the door consistently. Heath Bell had a very shaky first week, and they may need him to solidify the eighth inning. Everyones talking about the Dodgers and the Giants out west, but don’t be surprised if the Diamondbacks find themselves in the mix.

Biggest Concern:

Toronto Blue Jays

The biggest concern is with Dickey, he needs to be an ace because the rest of the starters have limited experience pitching in big games and thus far he is 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA and the Jays have started the season 2-4 which is the worst record in the AL East. To back it up the offense has been abysmal ranking 20^th in the league in runs. It is still early and it’s not time to panic yet, but it was definitely a week to forget up in Canada. 

Blake Dale Lepire