Thumbs UP & Thumbs DOWN (April 1)

By Jeff Flinn – AngelsWin.com Contributor

• Haren was his usual dominant self. I’m glad that Weaver and Haren give the Halos a comparable 1-2 to pretty much anyone in MLB.

• Kendrick hit his first HR, and will always attack lefty pitchers.

• Aybar had a pair of hits and a SB (against a lefty pitcher) as he looks to rebound from a sub-par 2010, now that he’s healthy.

• Bourjos had another hit, and is doing a better job of seeing more pitches in each at bat.

• Walden had a great 8th inning, save for the walk and SB allowed.

• Mathis does work well with Weaver and Haren.

• The Halos make yet anther soft tossing lefty look like an All-Star. Why is it that the Halos struggle so much against soft tossing lefties, compared to many other teams?

• The hitters just couldn’t attack Francis after Kendrick’s HR in the 1st inning.

• Mark Trumbo has solid potential, but he has to do better than 2 GIDPs against a lefty.

• Abreu just looks so bad sometimes against lefties. Makes one wish the Halos had a righty to take the DH starts against lefties.

• Mathis continues to struggle at throwing to 2B. Why is it that he can throw it to 1B behind the runners just fine, but not throw it just fine to 2B?

• Kohn, as mentioned here before, will be good eventually because he has the moxie for a setup man. He left one over the plate and it was hammered to win the game for KC. Be that as it may, why is someone like Thompson, who reinvented himself in 2010 (adding the cutter) and had in 19 innings up here a 0.81 WHIP, 1.37 ERA and 15/4 Ks/BBs ratio, not even used in the first 2 games?