Series Rewind: Break Out the Red Was Weak – Angels Lose Series to Toronto

An Angel series loss to the Blue Jays in which the Angels broke out the red didn’t do much else, displaying some of their weakest offense of the year.

Game 1 – Blue Jays 3, Angels 0

Game 2 – Angels 7, Blue Jays 2

Game 3 – Blue Jays 4, Angels 1

Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS

• Serving of crow, table three!  That’s what I get for trashing Scioscia in advance for giving Matsui a start versus a lefty.  Not only did he hit a two-run jack, but he even went 4-for-4 on the night and scored three runs.  OK, I get it, I was wrong.  Point proven.
• We probably all kind of thought it before, but after Bobby Wilson’s two-homer, 5-RBI game, Jeff Mathis is now officially the third best-hitting catcher on the Angel roster.  Wilson has more homers, RBI, and walks than Mathis and he has just over half as many at-bats as Mathis does.  I can’t wait to have this conversation again next year when Mathis is still inexplicably starting half of the Angels’ games.
• Peter Bourjos still isn’t hitting much, but he made so many great plays in the field this series that I lost count.  If I have just one critique, it is that he takes some Spider-man lessons from Torii Hunter after he failed to make that one catch up against the wall on Friday night.
• I’m still not sure I trust Scott Kazmir, but I can’t say I hate what I saw on Friday.  His velocity was up and his slider showed some signs of life.  His command though left a lot to be desired.  When he missed his spots, he didn’t miss by an inch or two, he frequently missed by nearly a foot but was lucky enough to not pay for it.  That being said, a great sign from him was that the Halos only wanted him to go five innings, but he was so efficient with his pitches for a change, that he was allowed to go six and keep building up his stamina.  There hope here, folks.
• The day off to start the series look like they did Alberto Callaspo some good as he went 4-for-6 with a walk in this series.  It didn’t amount to much, but a nice hot streak for him would go a long way towards the trade for him seem worthwhile.

Los Angeles Angels of FAIL

• This was the final series of Break Out the Red Week.  Unfortunately, the Angel hitters must’ve thought it was break out the red “weak,” not week.  If not for the totally unexpected outburst from Matsui and Wilson on Saturday, the Halos got almost nothing going at the plate the entire series.  Their showing in Sunday’s rubber game was like a clinic in how not to score runs as they found new and different ways to foul up run-scoring opportunities whenever they got them.
• Friday’s game wasn’t much better though, in fact, it was probably worse due to the degree of difficulty involved.  The Halos should have had an easy time against Rzepczynski who was barely even around the strike zone the first few innings of his start, but the Angel hitters chased so many bad pitches that he got bailed out time and time again before he finally settled in to help combine on a shutout.  The Angels should be ashamed of themselves for not drawing a single walk against that guy.
• Just to emphasize what a bad series loss this was for the Halos, bear in mind that Toronto hasn’t won a series in Anaheim since 2006.  That isn’t to say that Toronto is a bad team, just that the Angels have slipped from the peak of their powers and no longer dominate teams that they used to own.
• Joe West, feel free to go ahead and retire.  Based on your performance on Saturday, I think you might have outstayed your usefulness as an umpire.

Halo Hack of the Series

I think we can all agree Howie Kendrick shouldn’t be allowed to hit fifth anymore.  For some reason unbeknownst to me, Howie got to bat fifth each game this series.  Howie took full advantage by failing to get one hit with runners in scoring position, including a back-breaking doubleplay on Sunday.  But hey, I should layoff Howie because he is a future batting champ, right?  Right?  Anyone?  Hello?