No one ever said wins have to be pretty. Just as Baltimore chops, line drives, and duck snorts all count the same toward a player’s batting average (assuming the batter reaches), an ugly victory counts the same as a shutout in the win column. The Angels have played the best baseball in the last week, outside of Trout showing off on his birthday, but they have two series victories to show for it and now sit just a half game back of the Astros for the division lead.
If the team can keep finding ways to win in spite of itself—overcoming baserunning blunders, a frustratingly sporadic offense, and the steadily deteriorating defense of Johnny Giavotella—then it would seem to bode well for when the team’s clicking on all cylinders, like they were for much of July. Seven of the club’s next 10 games are against the cellar-dwelling Chicago White Sox, so if there was ever a time for the Angels to start clicking again, this is it. Preferably before the Kansas City series.
Boxscore Breakdowns
Game 3: Angels 5, Orioles 4 (F/11)
Series Takeaways
Albert’s Power Stroke Has Disappeared
Mike totally jinxed it. It’s now been 39 plate appearances since Albert Pujols’ last dinger, a homer mostly made possible by Houston’s short porch in left. Before that dinger, you have to go back another 34 plate appearances to find another. Now, Pujols has certainly had longer homerless stretches over his long career, but he hasn’t suffered any longer than those two this season.
What’s more, it’s not as though those home runs are just suddenly turning into doubles. Pujols has just three extra-base hits overall in his last 74 plate appearances, good for a .314 SLG. While it’s tough to know what’s ailing the big guy without getting inside his head, it’s pretty readily evident that he’s having trouble with pitch recognition lately. His strikeout rate during his power outage is up nine percentage points over his career norm—from 10% to 19%—and his contact rate is down considerably. If there’s some silver lining to be found, it’s that his BABIP is finally creeping back toward the league norm. It’s at a solid .291 during his current rough stretch, so hey, things could be much worse!
Left Field Might Actually Not Be A Black Hole Anymore o/
For about a week there, it looked as though the Angels’ trio of trade acquisitions brought in to replace Matt Joyce were taking the task a little too literally. Entering Sunday’s game, Shane Victorino, David “The Jesus” DeJesus, and David Murphy owned a combined .147/.194/.147 line over 73 plate appearances in Anaheim. Not exactly an upgrade.
Victorino and DeJesus are still doing a whole lot of nothing—they have just two singles each—but Murphy’s performance yesterday was better than anything an Angels left fielder has accomplished in four months: his .597 Win Probability Added for Sunday was more than double the next guy’s best single-game total, and his three hits and four RBI both eclipsed Joyce’s season-bests. The only other Angels left fielder with three hits in a game this season is Efren Navarro, who’s done it twice. (Why is he in Triple-A again?)
None of the three deadline acquisitions are liable to carry the Angels into the postseason, but given a little more time to grow familiar with their new team they should all bring some positive value to left field. It’s not the big splash many wanted, but it’s still a helluva lot better than nothing.
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