The Angels came into this past weekend’s series with the Mariners five games behind the division leading Astros. They came out of the series winning two of three and four games back. Just. Keep. Winning. Series. Although, an extended winning streak would be nice. You know, the kind that puts the .500 mark well into the rearview mirror. Like, far enough into the distance that the “images may be closer than they appear” message becomes irrelevant. Just a thought, Angels.
Boxscore Breakdown Game 1: Angels 1 – Mariners 3
Boxscore Breakdown Game 2: Angels 4 – Mariners 2
Boxscore Breakdown Game 3: Angels 3 – Mariners 2
Surprisingly (Maddeningly) Consistent
Despite Mike Trout‘s (1.6 fWAR, 189 wRC+ in June) and Albert Pujols‘ (1.6 fWar, 215 wRC+ in June) best efforts, the Angels offense has seemingly forgotten that a bat is necessary when they come to the plate. David Freese has had a decent month with a 123 wRC+, but after that, every other Angels hitter has been below 100. And that was magnified this past weekend when the Angels went 3-17 with RISP. Against the Astros in their last series, 3-21. For the month they are averaging 3.8 runs per game, last month they averaged 3.9. It is becoming more and more of a frightening possibility that, without any personnel changes, This is the kind of offense that Angels fans should expect for the balance of the season. And I am not sure that they have the bullpen to pull a 2014 Kansas City Royals.
All Hail Hector Santiago
OK, maybe I should pump the brakes on the fan fare, but as the season progresses, his performance is becoming more and more legitimate. Only twice this season has he allowed more than three runs in a start. His FIP still hates him at 4.23, but his 1.134 WHIP, 8.4 K/9 and career best 2.68 K/BB ratio don’t really care about normalizing stats. He also a very slick park adjusted ERA+ of 142. There is plenty of room on this bandwagon for the rest of you crazy animals. Really, there is. And it probably isn’t healthy that I am eating all of this delicious buttery popcorn alone.
Kole Calhoun: Starting to come around
Don’t look now, but it looks like Calhoun could be breaking the constraints of his prolonged slump. The larger sample size of him hitting second has him posting a .208/.283/.292 slash line, which, on it’s face, is terrible. But, over the smaller and more recent sample size of the past week, Calhoun is slashing .250/.318/.450. And although a .768 OPS isn’t all that much to write home about, it is right in line with his career norm. Which I imagine anyone will gladly take over his stretch as an automatic out that had lasted for the better part of three weeks. Welcome back to being an appreciated ginger, Kole.
The Angels welcome the Yankees tonight for the start of a three game series and they are 4-1-1 over their last six series. Having Calhoun back to being productive can go a long way towards this offense turning the corner on what has been a rather putrid season offensively. And I can’t think of a better team to unload upon then the Yankees.
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