Angels continue late climb towards .500 with 12-1 romp over A’s

Angels, so hot right now. Angels. There might not be another team in baseball hotter than the Angels, which is fun and great, but also kind of pointless. That part is unfortunate.

This is the team we were expecting all season long. One that could go into Oakland, an equally as hot team that has actually been good all season, and beat the snot out of them. Alas, it is too little too late. Sure, mathematically speaking the Angels are still alive for the Wild Card, but they'd essentially have to win all of their remaining games and even then still need a lot of help.

The goal, for lack of a better one, now is to get the team over .500 before the year ends. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things other than the symbolic nature of not having a "losing" season. Breaching .500 won't change the disappointment or save anyone's job, but it is something.

Angels 12, Athletics 1

Game Notes

– Hey, jerks. Quit changing the rotation assignments at the last minute. I spend literally minutes writing up these series previews and don't need the whims of managers screwing up the work I barely slaved over.

– The fuckleball is back! I still don't know if Robert Coello is actually any good, but I do know that I like typing fuckleball. Fuckleball so hard.

– C.J. Wilson, pretty dang good again. This rotation still needs help, but with Wilson pitching like this and Weaver still mostly Weaver-ish, the pressure to add a big impact pitcher has been greatly reduced. They still need to do a hell of a lot better than Blanton and Williams, but they don't need to throw foolish money at Matt Garza (which they almost certainly will now that I have said that).

Halo Hero of the Game

You know, I don't think I've given the Halo Hero to Trout all season long. That's partly because I've pulled recap duty for so many losses, but also partly because he is so damned amazing that I take for granted the amazing things he does. This was really a team win with several players chipping in, but Trout deserves a little extra love just because he is who he is.