Angels vs. Athletics Series Preview: Beaneball or Beanball?

Angels vs. Athletics! Beaneball time in Anaheim! Or is it beanball time in Anaheim? Who can tell anymore after what the A’s have been up to early in this season. Either way, the Angels are a struggling team about to face a division rival that is totally fired up and, oh by the way, already has a +24 run differential on the season.

LAST TIME ON ANGELS VS. ATHLETICS…
As per usual, the Angels and A’s played a tight season series last year. The Halos went 10-9 against Oakland, but seven of those games were decided by one run. It really just doesn’t matter with these teams. One team can be really good, one team can be really bad, they both can be good, they both can be bad. Whatever the case, it will be a close series with a bunch of close games.

THE NARRATIVE
As I alluded to above, the A’s are coming off a series in which they had a whole lot of bad blood with the Royals. It generated into a battle of beanballs, ejections and guys threatening to fight each other but not actually fighting each other. That kind of ugliness early in the season tends to have a hangover, so expect to hear about it this series. Also, with Brett Lawrie on the A’s, he’s always liable to create more bad blood against just about every team like he did with the Royals.
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THE MATCH-UPS
MONDAY, 4/20: Kendall Graveman vs. Matt Shoemaker
Graveman is one of the meany young arms in the A’s rotation, because there are always young arms in the A’s rotation. He wasn’t supposed to be anything special, but now he’s in Oakland and suddenly everyone thinks he’s going to be something special because all Oakland pitching prospects are supposed to be special, basically because of the legacy of Hudson-Mulder-Zito. I haven’t seen Graverman pitch, but I’m already tired of hearing all the hype around him.

TUESDAY, 4/21: Drew Pomeranz vs. Hector Santiago
See, Hector? You made it through the seventh inning in your last start! I always knew you could do it. You just need to maintain your wonky mechanics for seven full innings, keep your stamina and battle hard against a lineup that is going to be stacked with righties. That doesn’t sound so hard now, does it?

WEDNESDAY, 4/22: Sonny Gray vs. Jered Weaver
Jered Weaver is going to have to face off against one of the top up and coming young pitchers. He’s going to have to do that while trying to figure out how to survive at 84 MPH. Some folks think he needs to change his mechanics. Others think he needs to change his pitch mix. Others yet think he needs to change his approach. Pretty clearly he needs to change.

THURSDAY, 4/23: Jesse Hahn vs. C.J. Wilson
Jesse Hahn might miss this start because poor little baby has blisters on his fingers. Awww, I hope he is able to find a Band-Aid for it. Of course, now that I’ve been so glib about this, whoever replaces Hahn will shutout the Angels in his stead, not like that is hard to do, but still.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyqVcg_wvAU]

OFFICIAL PREDICTION
I probably should predict a split here, but I won’t. I refuse to believe the Angels offense is as bad as it has been. This hardly seems like the pitching staff to get right against, but at a point guys just need to start playing up to their talent, regardless of who is on the mound. With that incredibly specious reasoning in mind, I predict the Angels to win three of four.

UNOFFICIAL PREDICTION (so don’t hold me to it)
Matt Joyce looks to me like he is on the verge of breaking through. He’s gotten a little outside himself trying to prove his worth to his new team, but I think he’s slowly starting to settle in. This will be the series where he comes alive, stabilizes the middle of the order and helps get the Angel offense rolling again.