With Jered Weaver having turned back into the pitcher we all want to remember, the Angels’ starting rotation this series showed that it could be a rock the team can depend on to win enough games to earn an invitation to this year’s postseason tournament, and the defense and bullpen showed that it is willing to do its part to support that goal, but the offense in this series continued to follow some unsightly trends.
The Starting Pitching
The three Angel starting pitchers in this series, Weaver, Matt Shoemaker, and Garrett Richards were highly effective. They combined for a 1.64 ERA and a 0.59 WHIP against a potent Baltimore offense that is fourth in the league in OPS. The real curiosity this series, as far as pitching was concerned, was if Weaver would be able to string together a second consecutive high quality performance after the atrocious start he has had to the season. Well, there was nothing to worry about, folks. He turned in a performance on Friday that was vintage Weaver — throwing fastballs where ever Carlos Perez positioned his mitt, dropping curve balls exactly where he wanted them to drop, keeping hitters off balance. When you look at the numbers and compare Weaver’s last two starts with those of the rest of his career, one noticeable difference is the type of outs he is recording. He has struck out 7.4 batters per nine innings over his career, but in his last two starts, that number has fallen to 5.0. The outs that previously came on strikeouts are now coming more on fly balls, as his two-game 0.46 ground ball/fly ball ratio compared to his career mark of 0.51 indicates. As long as the increase in fly balls doesn’t result in more home runs, which in the last two games it hasn’t, then Weaver should be just fine.
The Defense
The defense was once again solid in this series. Kole Calhoun did his flying Red Baron act in Weaver’s start, robbing yet another batter of a base hit. David Freese completed the charging, off-balance throw on an Alejandro De Aza bunt attempt for an assist at first base. Mike Trout showed off his new and improved throwing arm when he threw a strike, on the fly, into second base while standing just ten feet away from the warning track on a Chris Davis fly ball. Albert Pujols, however, made the finest of the defensive plays, when he made a diving stop and then threw a perfect feed from the seat of his pants to a sprinting Shoemaker on a close play at first base. When Collin Cowgill is in left field and Carlos Perez is behind the plate, the Angels surely put on the field one of the top defensive squads in the league.
The Offense
The Angel offense slashed .248/.290/.356 in this series with the Orioles, all numbers that continue to be below/well below league average. Nothing screamed more to the fact that the Halos are struggling mightily on offense than seeing Erick Aybar and Johnny Giavotella hit in the numbers four and five spots in the batting order. The Carlos Perez call-up last week provided a little pick-me-up for the offense, and the Angel brain trust is hoping that Marc Krauss can now do the same. If the Krauss attempt doesn’t provide the dividends they are looking for, we may see Kyle Kubitza, who is leading his league in doubles and has a .309 batting average for the Salt Lake Bees, Jett Bandy, the other half of the Perez/Bandy catching tandem at Salt Lake this year who is currently batting .383, or Brian Hernandez, a corner infielder who is second in the Texas League in RBI, receive a call up. One of the glaring problems with the Angel farm system, though, is that there is a dearth of power bats to call upon. Kubitza, Bandy, and Hernandez have but seven home runs between the three of them.
The Angels’ run production ability received a black eye on Sunday when the Halo offense failed to score a single run off of rookie Mike Wright, who was making his Major League debut due to an illness to Bud Norris. Triple-A teams had scored 2.1 earned runs every 7.1 innings this season off of Wright, and on Sunday, the Angels scored zero.
Another serious issue with the Angels’ offense is their lack of stolen bases, which showed up again in this series. The Angels are currently 12th in the league in stolen bases. A team with the likes of Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun, Erick Aybar, Johnny Giavotella, and Collin Cowgill should do a much better job in the stolen base column. When you look at the Angels’ farm teams, though, you see that this is a systemic problem. The Salt Lake Bees, Inland Empire 66ers, and Burlington Bees are all near the bottom of their respective leagues in steals. Does anyone know if Chone Figgins is available to be the Angels’ roving stolen base coach?
The Fundamentals
One of the keys to the victory on Saturday was Giavotella’s performance in the seventh inning. Trailing the Orioles 1-0, Johnny successfully executed the hit-and-run, and then one batter later he alertly ran from first to third when he noticed that Manny Machado was intently watching the ball that deflected off of his glove scamper into the outfield, leaving third base uncovered.
I hope the Angels were taking notes on Steve Pearce‘s at bat in the second inning of the Shoemaker game. The Angels had the shift on for the right-handed Pearce, and he swung late on a pitch down the middle to purposefully poke it through the gaping hole on the right side of the infield for a base hit. Contrast that to Chris Iannetta‘s first at bat of the series when the Oriole infield was shifted over to the left side of the infield, and the right-handed Iannetta swung at the first pitch, an inside curve ball, which he hit right into the shift as science would predict, when he should have been looking for an outside pitch to drive to the opposite field.
One Last Thing
Jack White is from Detroit and is a huge Tigers fan, so it is just wrong for the Baltimore Oriole fans to sing “Seven Nation Army” whenever the Orioles score a big run.
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