Angels Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down (LA Series)

*Weaver continues to show why he should be the ASG starter. 8 more innings, just 1 run on 4 hits along with an 8/2 Ks/BBs ratio. Over his past 31 innings, he’s allowed just 21 hits with a 24/5 Ks/BBs ratio, a 0.87 ERA, and a 0.84 WHIP. On the year, he now leads the AL with a 1.92 ERA. His WHIP is only 0.92, and he’s allowed just 5 HRs in 131 innings. 

Santana pitched a really solid game Sunday in allowing just 1 run and 6 hits in 7.2 innings, and having an 8/1 Ks/BBs ratio. Over his past 27.1 innings, he’s allowed 24 hits with a 26/6 Ks/BBs ratio, a 2.30 ERA, and a 1.10 WHIP. He even pitched out of a 2 outs bases loaded spot that he prolonged with an error, and kept the deficit at 1-0.

Downs only made one pitch this weekend, and of course got the batter out on a GB. Walden recorded his 2nd straight save after blowing 3 straight save opps, and had solid control in getting the Dodgers out 1-2-3.

*Aybar was 4-14 with a key HR Tuesday night, and drove in 2 runs. Wells had a big 2 run HR against Kershaw, his 2nd HR off of the Dodgers’ ace in 2 games. Abreu was 3-11 with 2 rbis, helping to beat Kershaw with 2 rbis. Kendrick is still Mr. Consistent, going 4-10. Bourjos had another solid series, going 3-9 with a walk. Mathis actually was the instigator against Kershaw on Saturday night, going 2-3 including the double that got the Halos going. Branyan went 1-2 with a walk, and hit his first HR as a Halos player and made it a game winning 2 run blast in the 7th inning on Sunday evening. After an XBH drought of some 39 at bats, he’s had 2 XBHs in his past 2 games.

*Bourjos and Wells had great catches on Sunday, although Bourjos did overrun one drive that led to the only run scoring on Sunday evening. Hey, no one’s perfect. Besides which, Bourjos so far in 2011 has saved more runs than any position player in MLB.

*This was series win number 6 in a row, and gives them a final 2011 interleague record of 13-5, not bad considering the entire AL was only 10 games over .500 against the NL. Texas for instance was 9-9 against the NL in 2011, in spite of playing the worst team in MLB 6 times (4-2 against the Astros). It’s always good to beat the Dodgers in a series. But they made it tough this weekend.

*AngelsWin.com congratulates Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick on making the AL All-Star team. Both players richly deserved those spots. We also congratulate first round pick C.J. Cron on his first pro HR. Cron hit .438/.571/.813 with two home runs in his first weekend at Single-A Orem.

*The Halos had a poor weekend with RISP hitting, going just 3-21 (.143 BA), fortunately hitting a couple of clutch HRs to overcome that.

*Hunter missed most of yet another series with yet another injury, this time a HBP. It’s probably just a coincidence, and the pitcher likely throws inside to a lot of teams. But throwing back-to-back pitches inside at Trumbo was questionable.

*Chatwood had his first poor outing in a while, allowing 4 runs and 12 hits in only 5 innings with a 1/2 Ks/BBs ratio. We have to remember that he is still only 21, and will have outings like that. Plus the Dodgers faced him a week earlier, and had a better book on him. Adjustments are always a key for any young pitcher. He has allowed just 6 HRs in 94 innings so far, showing his heavy sinker.

Cassevah returned to his wild ways, walking 3 batters in 1.1 innings. He has good stuff, but not nearly enough consistent command of it.

*Izturis (1-12 with a walk), Trumbo (0-7), and Conger (0-6 with a walk) all struggled at the plate. Izturis may need more rest the rest of the way, as he’s already not too far from his career high for at bats in a season as a MLB player. Conger is really in a big slump, hitting just .160 in his past 81 at bats after hitting .300 in his first 60 at bats. He’s got to make some adjustments now, because the pitchers have definitely made theirs.

*Conger is also getting lit up in SBs, as the Dodgers went 7 for 7 in 2 games with him catching. Again, we have to remember that he is just 23. But he is not looking too good at anything right now.  And to compound the above, Conger failed to throw to 1B on a strike out where the pitch bounced. I hope he wasn’t channeling his inner Josh Paul. Fortunately, unlike that October 2005 disaster, the runner didn’t eventually score.

*Callaspo made his TENTH error already. He’s got a good arm, and is better at 3B than at 2B, but there’s still definite work to be done there. Santana even had one brain lock play himself, bowling ball tossing a simple toss to 1B on a comebacker, and getting charged for an error.

*Friday night was also forgettable because the Halos let Tony Gwynn Jr. and Aaron Miles reach base ELEVEN times between them. Gwynn Jr. and Miles????? Really? Really? Really?