(Angel Stadium – Anaheim, CA) Victor Varadi who’s reporting live from Angel Stadium for AngelsWin.com, noted that before today’s game Mike Napoli will be recognized as the May player of the Month. His seven homers in May were the most by an Angels catcher in a single month since Lance Parrish hit seven in June of 1990.
Napoli’s hot month at the plate combined with the unfortunate injury to Kendry Morales on Saturday, had Scioscia penciling in Napoli in at first base on the lineup card on Sunday.
Napoli played 68 games at first base in the minors posting a .984 field percentage.
The real question is, can Napoli field the position well enough to stay there until Kendry Morales returns and will 2010 underachievers Juan Rivera, Erick Aybar, Hideki Matsui and Howie Kendrick heat up at the plate along side Napoli while their slugger is out?
Or will the Angels need to go after a Paul Konerko or Lance Berkman before the club goes into an offensive tailspin and fall further behind in the standings?
Whatever be the case, seeing Mike Napoli’s name written on the lineup card and at first base today over Robb Quinlan who was called up after last night’s game, was a breath of fresh air. The mighty Q posted .322 slugging percentage for the Bees in the Pacific Coast League through 23 games.
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