Last night's rainout gave us a full day of the highs and lows of Angel baseball. In game one, the bats drove the team to a nice win which allowed them to gain some ground in the AL west. But in true Angel fashion the second game brought the Halos back down to Earth as the pitchers blew up in front of our eyes. So as time continues to march on with the 2013 season, the Angels seem content to still march in place.
Game One Angels 9 Red Rox 5
Game Two Angels 2 Red Sox 7
Game One Notes
— Tommy Hanson was his usual self. That is not a compliment by the way. Hanson gutted out 5 innings and gave up only two runs, but the Red Sox left a village on the bases to assist him in getting the win. Hanson is a shining example of why wins are a useless stat.
— The big news out of game one was the new look lineup. Trout was put back at the top with Hamilton in the two hole. This move reminded me a lot when Torii Hunter was slotted second and, after a while, he started raking. That is the logic here I suppose. Hamilton still hasn't shown even a glimmer of his old self so putting him this high in the line-up can't hurt right? Well he went 1-5 so I guess the jury is still out on this one.
— On the flip side, is anyone hotter than Howie Kendrick. Dude was 2-4 and seemlingly on the bases all day. Maybe he can win that batting title after all.
— Maybe it's time to send Garrett Richards down to AAA for a bit. He just looks absolutely lost out there. Richards gave up three runs in relief during what should have been a blowout. His stuff seems to be fine but his mental make-up is all out of whack.
Game Two Notes
— The Angel defense did not show real well in this game. Three errors and a passed ball extended innings and led to runs. The Angel's simply cannot play bad at any facet of the game and have a chance to win. But if the defense faulters, that usually spells curtains for any winning opportunity.
— Josh Hamilton was 1-4 in the 2 spot meaning over the course of the double header his average stayed exactly the same. Too early to end the experiment?
— Here's the real problem with this game. The pitchers stunk. CJ Wilson seems to have returned to his more timid ways and got beat up early. When you throw 30+ pitches every first inning, it makes it hard to go deep in games. As a result, Jerome Williams had to be used for three innings, which makes you wonder if he will start again when he was supposed to. This lack of depth from the starting pitchers has taxed the bullpen and led to a compete breakdown of the entire staff. It would be nice if CJ would go deep in a game just once.
Halo Hero
I choose to focus on the positive (mainly because i've run out of Halo A Hole images of CJ Wison). Hitman Howie went 5-8 and is now batting .328 for the season. When he hits this way, and doesn't ground in double plays, you can see why people felt he was a potential batting champ when he came up. I just hope he's not wasting his best season on a losing team.
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