Angels a Big Disapointment

I was away on vacation the last few weeks so I'm glad I didn't see a minute of the Angels getting swept out of the playoffs as the number 1 seed. I understand that the Royals are hot right now, but for the team with the best record in baseball not to win at least one game holding the home field advantage is a major let down. Angels were the highest scoring team in the league yet managed only 6 runs in 31 innings.

All the money and star power and they didn't get it done. Mike Trout, considered the best player in baseball, went 1 for 12. Albert Pujols and his $240 million salary went 2 for 12. Worse even was Josh Hamilton, who went 0 for 13. Hamilton was upset that Angels fans booed him, but they had a right too. He signed a $133 million contract with the Angels has done little to help the team win. Hamilton even said, "I don't think we played poorly." Really? The Angels win streak at the end of the season came without Hamilton in the lineup...coincidence? I don't know if anyone, but the players can answer that, but they were swept by the Royals with Hamilton back. To me, both Hamilton and Pujols have been epic failures that will cost the Angels for many years to come. The Angels parted with several top prospects and 1st round picks to sign those two.

It's not all on the offense though. C.J. Wilson lasted just 2/3s of an inning. The bullpen, which was great since acquiring Jason Grilli and Huston Street, took losses in games 1-2.Grilli and Street became non-factors when Fernando Salas took the lost in Game 1 and Kevin Jespen gave up the winning run in Game 2.

Still if the Angels could have put up a few more runs, Grilli and Street would have been a factor and I would be writing a different post. Both will be free agents next season. Street will likely be resigned, but after that the money gets thin. There is some hope for next season with rookie starters Garrett Richards and Matt Shoemaker, but what happens when their contracts are up?

The Angels mortgaged the future to win today...so far that's added up to 0 playoff wins.

Angels - Royals, Hoping Offense Keeps Rolling

On vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii, so I'm amazed that I'm even posting let alone reading anything on the internet. I was amazed that even in this house we're renting surrounded by lush green vegetation that they provided free wi-fi. I guess that's the time we live in now...may have to post about it sometime.

Anyway, my favorite MLB team is in the Playoffs again. The signings of  Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton haven't equaled playoff appearances until this season and will Hamilton out a lot this season he wasn't much contributor this year either. Pujols was better this season, so you have to give him some credit, but this team is led by Mike Trout, a rebuilt bull pen and a surprising rookie pitcher in Matt Shoemaker.

The Royals pitching is going to be key in this series. The Angels' pen may be deeper, but the Royals are slightly better with Gregg Holland (46 saves, 1.44 ERA) as their closer and Wade Davis (1.00 ERA) as their main setup guy. What there's no doubt in is that the Royal's rotation is better than the Angels' rotation. The Angels get a break with the Royals' having to pitch their Ace James Shields in the 1-game wildcard playoffs (that's the advantage of being the #1 seed). Angels' hitters will face Danny Duffy and counter with Jered Weaver in Game 1. Game 2 will be Jeremy Guthrie vs. Shoemaker. Weaver has all the experience, but doesn't have the velocity he once did. I wonder how Shoemaker, being a rookie, will handle it...especially if the Angels lose Game 1. Game 3 will be Shields vs. CJ Wilson who has been erratic. Shields will likely pitch on short rest if there's a game 5, were he'll face Shoemaker.

As Yogi Bera once said "Pitching will always beat batting...and vice-versa." For the Angels' sake, I hope it's vice-versa, because as clear cut as the Royals' pitching is better that the Angels...it's just as clear that the Angels' offense is superior to the Royals. Funny thing is the Royals are what the Angels used to be, an AL team that plays NL style...get on base, steal bases, move runners, timely hitting. I liked it when the Angels played that way. Now the Angels are the mashers with big hitters up and down the lineup and the potential to put up big numbers in any inning. The Angels are the highest scoring team in the Majors and that's what got them to the best record in baseball...they need to be the highest scoring team in the playoffs to get their 2nd World Series win.

You want a prediction...since I'm out here in the 50th state this is going to be straight from my gut as I haven't put much research in it. Angels in 4, winning Games 1, 2, and 4.

Los Angeles Angels 1st Team to Clinch Playoff Spot

Just about two months ago, on August 20th, making the playoffs was in doubt. On that day the Angels held a 1.5 game lead of the A's with a record of 75-50 (.600). Doesn't sound like a team in trouble, but on July 31st starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs was lost to a season ending injury and on that day, August 20th, #1 starter Garrett Richards also was lost for the season. On the 21st many sportscasters were questioning whether the Angels could hold off the A's for the division crown and some even questioned if they had the ability to hold on to a Wild Card spot.

Yesterday, with 8-1 win over division rival Seattle Mariners, the Angels clinched a playoff spot. Angels improved their record to 94-56 (.627) and it was the A's that folded. Angels hold a 10.5 game lead on the A's who only have a 2 game lead on the Mariners for the 2nd Wild Card spot. Angels also hold a 4 game lead over the Orioles for the best record in the league.

But all is not well in Anaheim. Richards was the staff ace sporting a 13-4 record and 2.61 ERA when he went down. The offense has been great, but in the playoffs you're likely to face the opposing teams 1-2 starters twice in a 7 game series. Richards and Jared Weaver would have made a nice 1-2 counter for the Angels. Rookie Matt Shoemaker has helped save the Angels so far going 16-4 with a 3.04 ERA. Shoemaker was called up for several spot starts early in the season, but got a permanent starting gig when Skaggs went down. Yesterday, Shoemaker suffered a mild oblique strain in the 8-1 win over Seattle. He will miss his next start, but hopefully he'll be 100% when the playoffs start.

With the playoffs guaranteed and a likely #1 seed, the question now is whether the Angels can get to and win the World Series without their Ace Garrett Richards.

Los Angeles Angels Sweep Oakland A's

When the Angels lost Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards earlier this month I wondered if they would be able to compete with the A's for the AL West crown. Who would have guessed that they would allow only 4 runs in the 4-game home stand against the A's, shutting out the A's in 31 of the 37 innings on the way to a 4-game sweep. Before the series started I would have said that a sweep was possible, but not probable....but this became a series of improbabilities.

C.J. Wilson was the only starter to allow a run (although one of the games really didn't have a starter...more on that later). Angels gave Wilson a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st, but he couldn't hold the lead and the A's tied the game in the 6th. Howie Kendrick ended up winning the game with a walk-off sac fly in the 10th...and that was the most normal game.

Jared Weaver outdid A's #1 Jon Lester by pitching 7 shutout innings on the way to a 4-0 win in game 2. The game was a 0-0 duel until Chris Iannetta drove a ball deep into left center. Coco Crisp seemingly made a home run saving catch, but the ball popped out of his glove when his wrist hit the top of the wall. Crisp had to leave the game with a strained neck and didn't play in the rest of the series.

Matt Shoemaker matched Weaver with 7 shutout innings in game 4. In Shoemakers win, the Angels ended former Angel Scott Kazmir's day in just 1 1/3 innings by scoring 6 runs in the 2nd, eventually wining 8-1. Shoemaker being the savior of the Angels is as unlikely as the 4-game sweep without Skaggs and Richards. Shoe was an undrafted free agent that wasn't that impressive in the minors. He only got called up to the Majors because of the injuries to the starters, getting a few spot starts earlier in the year. Shoe has been lights out in August, winning 6 games and pitching 23 1/3 straight shutout innings. He's the 1st Angel to pitch 3 consecutive shutouts of 7 or more innings since...get this...Nolan Ryan. He picked up his 14th win, which ties the Angels rookie record set by Dean Chance and tied by Frank Tanana. Nobody in their right mind would have even mentioned Shoemaker in the same breath as Ryan, Chance, and Tanana...but they are.

The bullpen allowed only 1 run in the series including a game 3 shutout that was pitched entirely by Angels relievers. The Angels used 8 pitchers against Jeff Samardzija who pitched all 8 innings in a 2-0 loss. Technically, Cory Rasmus was the starter and pitched 3 innings. Yoslan Herrera got the win pitching 2/3 of an inning. Fernando Salas, Jason Grilli, Kevin Jespen, and Joe Smith all recorded Holds, each pitching 1 inning each. Huston Street pitched a scoreless 9th to record the save. The other pitcher was Michael Roth who recorded the 1st out in the 4th before giving way to Herrera. I know this had to have been done before, but I can't remember a team using only relievers. 

The Angels now own a 5 game lead over the A's with 26 games left. Even if the Angels should go 13-13 the rest of the way, the A's would have to go 18-8 just to tie. If the Angels continue to play at the .610 pace they are on, they would go 16-10, meaning the A's would have to go 21-5 the rest of the way. Possible, but not probable. 

Maybe I shouldn't have typed those words.

The Dissapointment that is the Los Angeles Angels

For all the money the Angels have spent over the last 2 seasons the product on the field has been disappointing to say the lease.  They actually got better after signing Albert Pohjols going from 86-76 in 2011 to 89-73 in 2012...but they also got Kendrys Morales back from injury and signed Zake Grienke before the end of the season.  They also had some guy named Mike Trout have one of the best Rookie seasons ever.  Still neither record was good enough to win the Western Division.  So far this season they're 46-52 and likely to miss the playoffs for the 4th straight season.  They haven't made the playoffs since 2009 when they went 97-65 and lost in the ALCS 2-4 to the Yankees.

Back in 2009 the Angels were a fun to watch, overachieving team with a deep bench.  They were smart with their money picking up free agents without going to far into the hole (in terms of dollars and length of contracts).  This allowed them to put together a pretty good starting rotation. 1 through 4 of John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders.  The relief pitching was deep and solid with Brian Fuentes getting 48 saves that year.  Up until recently the Angels had a reputation for having one of the more solid bullpens in the league.

Fast forward to 2013.  They're not as much fun to watch, underachieving and no bench to speak of.  The Angels were once know for gambling on hit-n-runs and going 1st to 3rd more than any team in the AL (and maybe even in the league).  They don't hit-n-run as much...in fact they don't run that much at all.  They had 4 players with double figure stolen base totals in 2012...this season, only Mike Trout (22) has more than 7.  Big dollars have been paid out to Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.  Even if this had worked out and Pujols and Hamilton were producing as expected, this handcuffed the team in resigning players.  Productive players like C Mike Napoli, OF Torii Hunter, and 1B Kendrys Morales are gone.  The depth is also weak with J.B Shuck (yea, I wouldn't expect anyone to recognize the name) starting in LF.  The starting pitching is down to two quality starters in Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson.  Starters Ervin Santana, Dan Haren, and Zack Greinke all gone from 2012.  Wilson was the better off season acquisition two years ago because they got him for a bargain.  The bullpen is also suspect.  Ernesto Fieri has 24 saves, but he's a "hold your breath until the last out" type of reliever.  He's walked 23 batters and given up 30 hits in 42.2 innings.  Yea, 1-2-3 innings aren't that common.  Getting to Frieri is also an adventure, with Scott Downs the only reliable middle reliever. 

Let's play a little "what if", as in what if they didn't sign Puhjols and Hamilton.

1B would be manned by Mark Trumbo or Kendrys Morales.  Morales led the Angels with 34 HRs and 108 RBI in 2009.  He broke his leg in 2010 and didn't come back until 2012 when he hit 22 HRs and 73 RBI in limited duty.  Trumbo hit 32 HRs and had 95 RBI in 2012.  Playing in only his 3rd full season the kid has potential.  Trumbo ended up playing 1B this season anyway since Pujols's leg injuries has limited his time at 1B.  Puljol's has 17 HRs/59 RBI so far this season.  Morales has 15 HRs/57 RBI in Seattle.  Yea, Morales has less, but isn't being paid nearly as much and doesn't have the bats surrounding him that Pujols does. 

Looking in the outfield last season you would have saw Peter Bourjos, Trout, and Hunter.  With Hamilton getting the big contract, Hunter went to Detroit where he's hitting .308, only 8 HRs, and 46 RBI with 58 runs scored.  I've also seen him on Sportscenter still making great defensive plays in the OF.  Hamilton is hitting just .223 with 14 HRs and 41 RBI.  I was actually amazed that Hamilton had 48 runs scored since he has a terrible .279 on base percentage.

Would the Angels have been worse off resigning Morales and Hunter instead of going after Pujols and Hamilton?  I would argue that they would have been better.  Especially considering they would have had much more cash to spend on the rest of the team.  Possibly resigning Greinke and/or keeping Santana.  How would that pitching staff look...1-4 being Weaver, Wilson, Greinke, and Santana?  Maybe just keep Santana and adding depth and shoring up the bullpen. 

The team isn't likely to get better any time soon with so much money tied to Pujols and Hamilton for the foreseeable future.  What happens when Trout's contract is up?  What about Weaver?  Or Wilson?  Or even Trumbo?  With no hope for improving the rest of the team, especially if those guys get paid what they deserve, would you blame them for going elsewhere?  I wouldn't.

San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Angels

With the NBA season coming to a close and the MLB season just starting, my favorite teams from their respective pro-leagues aren't exactly making me feel good about them. 

With a resurgent season from Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter much improved from last year, Tony Parker having his best statistical season, and Kwahi Leonard building on his rookie year, I thought Spurs could make it back the Conference Finals.  Even their defense has been much improved over the recent past.  But since the calendar changed to April, the Spurs have gone 3-4 and I'm beginning to have doubts.

The Spurs have won their three home games (Magic, Hawks, Kings), but lost the 4 away games (Grizzlies, Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers).  Going back to last month, the Spurs have lost 6 straight road games (they lost to the Rockets and Timberwolves in March).  This April swoon has cost the Spurs the #1 Seed in the playoffs. 

I watched the game in LA vs the Lakers on Sunday.  Duncan had another throwback game (23pts, 10 rebounds), but he got little help from his teammates.  Leonard and Parker combines for 2-15 shooting. Parker may also have re-injured himself, sitting out all but 3 minutes of the 4th quarter.  The Spurs still could have won the game, but the offense in the last several possessions was out of sync and missed three forced 3-pointers.  With just under a minute left, they wasted 20 seconds just getting into their offense.  Without Parker (and with Parker not playing well) the Spurs aren't the same offensively.  They shot a sickening bad 37.1% from the field.

Their defense wasn't that much better, giving up open shots all night.  Steve Blake took advantage of that, hitting 8-16 for 23 points.  Despite the spotty defense, they did hold the Lakers to 36.5% shooting, but gave up 16 offensive rebounds. 

Remember this was a Laker team that was playing without Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.
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  The Angels are off to another slow start...deja vu from last season...and now they also have to deal with the loss of #1 starter Jered Weaver.  Reports are saying he'll be out for a month after breaking a bone in his left arm diving off the mound to dodge a hot shot up the middle in Tuesday's game against the A's.  Angels lost that game, 5-9 on the way to getting swept in a 3-game series at home.  Angels also started the season losing 1-2 to both the Reds and Rangers.  They finally got their first series win over the lowly Astros, 2-1, winning two straight after losing the opener.  Astros have moved to the AL West this year and are tied with the Angels in last with a 4-8 record.  Not exactly a great start for the Halos. 

Slow starts by new comer Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout has hindered the offense and the starting pitching has been terrible.  C.J. Wilson is leading the starting rotation with a 4.00 ERA...and now they will have to do without Weaver.  At least it's Weaver's non-pitching hand which should mean he should be able to pitch effectively as soon as he's able to field his position.  Garrett Richards, in his 2nd year in the Bigs, got the start on Saturday.  He went seven innings and left the game down 4-1.  Luckily the Angels managed to score 2 runs in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th for the comeback win.  Pujols came up with the 2 RBI double with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.  At least Pujols is off to a better start than last year (.293, 2HR, 7 RBI).

Hamilton isn't hitting well (.234, 15 Ks), but at least got the power stroke going, hitting a homer in the Angels last two games.  Trout is hitting .269 and has only 1 stolen base (he does lead the Angels in Runs with 8).  The offense needs to get things going and fast...the Angels are already 4.5 games down to the AL West leading A's and they are likely not getting much help from the starting rotation. 

I was already worried about the rotation with Weaver anchoring it.  Now the Angels are going to have to slug their way to wins or it will be 4 straight seasons of missing the playoffs.  Right now, I don't see any of the starters giving the Angels a chance at winning consistently in low scoring games (although Wilson and Tommy Hanson have the potential to do it every once in awhile). 

I'm left wondering if the Angels would have been better off locking down Zake Greinke (Yea I know he's out with a broken collar bone, but if he was still in Anaheim he wouldn't have gotten into that fight).  Would the Angels really be worse keeping Kendrys Morales and maybe trying Trumbo out in left.  Sure he would be a liability on defense, but Trout and Peter Bourjos can cover a lot of ground.

Maybe this is just early overreaction on my part (I hope so).  The Trout-Pujols-Hamilton-Trumbo line up still has the potential to put fear in opposing pitchers.  If those four can get hot it will make me forget about how bad the starting pitching is right now. 

March Madneess, Final Four, and MLB Opening Day,

My bracket is busted…completely, utterly destroyed.  In retrospect I should have believed in Louisville.  I should have listened to those people talking about Wichita State…including one of my coworkers.  I shouldn’t have dismissed Michigan.   I shouldn’t have gone the homer pick with Kansas (although they should have beaten Michigan if they could have taken care of the ball at the end of game or hit one more free throw).   

Hindsight might be 20/20, but it also wants to make you kick yourself in the butt for looking at things with your heart and not your head. 

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Of the Final Four teams, Louisville has been the team that has looked the best...which is obviously why they where the overall #1 and guys like me shouldn't have picked against them. If that wasn't enough, now they have the incentive to "Win it for Kevin."

A co-worker and I were talking about Syracuse today and wondering why teams where having so much trouble with their defense.  After all it's just a 2-3 zone, a defense that you learned to play when you first played organized ball.  Just goes to show you that if you have athletic players that know how to play together as a unit they can make a coach look like a genius.  Not to take anything away from Boheim, he's a great coach, but you're not doing anything special playing 2-3 zone. 

The team that has surprised me the most is Michigan (thought I was going to say Wichita State didn't you).  Coming into the tournament they weren't playing good basketball and didn't play tough defense.  They've got some streaky guys (Tim Hardaway Jr. & Trey Burke) that can light it up from the outside though.  Can they come through for an entire 6 game tournament?  I would bet not.  Despite playing zone, Syracuse closes out well against 3-point shooters and because of that zone, I believe this is the game that Hardaway and Burke struggle to find a way to get it done offensively.

Wichita State is a very solid team.  They look very balanced on offense with a disciplined, good rebounding defense.  I think they would beat Syracuse or Michigan...unfortunately they're playing Louisville.  They'll give Louisville a game, but in the end I think the talent on Louisville gives them the edge.  

So I have Louisville vs Syracuse in the Championship game with the Cardinals solving the Orange 2-3 zone and win it all.  I just don't see a 2-3 zone beating a talented club coached by Rick Pitino. 

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My favorite MLB, the Angels, open the season today against the Cincinnati Reds.  It’s  an odd coincidence that Josh Hamilton, the Angels big offseason signing, started his MLB career in Cincy (he was originally drafted #1 overall by Tampa Bay in 1999, but had several off field issues which eventually got Hamilton suspended.  He was picked up in the 2006 Rule 5 draft by the Cubs, who traded him to the Reds for cash).   Acquiring Hamilton in the off season, just like picking up Pujols last season, has made the Angels a preseason favorite to win the World Series…of course we all know how that turned out last season.  Both Texas and Oakland finished ahead of the Angels, who missed the Playoffs for the 3^rd straight year.  The combination of Pujols-Hamilton gives the Angels one of, if not the best, 3-4 combo of hitters in the league.  With Trout leading off the Angels shouldn’t have problems scoring runs  (unless Hamilton repeats Pujols start last year).

Speaking of Trout, a lot of sports media folks are wondering if he will have a down season.  How can he not have a down season?   Trout didn’t get called up to the big leagues until the end of April and still did something no other major leaguer has done (steal 45 bases, score 125 runs, and hit 30 homers in the same season).   If you projected his stats to a full 162 games it would look like this:  .326 BA, 150 Rs, 97 RBI, 35 HR, 57 SB.  He also had a .564 slugging % and .963 OB % (that’s with a slump at the end of the year, hitting just .257 in September).    Yea sure, like he’s going to be able to surpass that this year.    I’ll take 80% of that and call it a good season.

My concern is with the starting pitching. 

Jeff Weaver had another good year (20-5, 2.81 ERA), but faded towards the end of the season (6.14 ERA in his last five starts). Weaver and C.J. Wilson are the only two returning from last season's starting rotating. I thought Zack Greinke might stay, but he signed with the Dodgers.  Dan Haren is in Washington and Ervin Santana is in Kansas City. Greinke was a late season pickup, Haren lost it last year, and Santana was always inconsistent.  Their replacements are Tommy Hanson, Joe Blanton, and Jason Vargas.  Don't know if those are upgrades or not. 

In the end, Mark Trumbo may determine the Angels' destiny.  Hitting 5th behind Pujols & Hamilton he should see more people on the bases when he comes up to bat.  Last season, Trumbo was outstanding before the All-star break (.306, 22 HR, 57 RBI), then faded in the 2nd half (.227, 88 SO).  Trumbo is the wildcard of the Angels offense, potentially turning them from good to great if he swings the bat well.  With Torii Hunter and Kendrys Morales gone, I don't see anyone else in the lineup that can give the Angels extra offense outside of Pujols and Hamilton. 

Tony Parker, Mike Trout, and Joe Flacco

I'm going to continue with the "three things" theme from last week.  This week it's three players from the big three sports...Parker from my favorite NBA team the Spurs, Trout from my favorite MLB team the Angels, and Flacco who just became the highest paid player in NFL history.

Is Joe Flacco worth the contract he got?  I would say no, but it's hard to fault the Raven's organization for being willing to pay 120.6 million for 6 years to the QB that just led you to a Super Bowl win. 

In an article titled, I'm Worth What I'm Worth, on the Los Angeles Times website, Flacco said "Listen, winning the Super Bowl and winning the Super Bowl MVP doesn't make me as valueable as I am."  I'm disagreeing with Flacco on that point.  If he doesn't win the Super Bowl and the MVP, Flacco doesn't get this contract...I'm positive on that.

Flacco does have a few accomplishments to back him up.  He tied Joe Montana for the best TD/INT performance in a playoffs with 11 TDs and 0 INTs.  No QB has won a playoff game in his first 5 seasons...except Flacco.  No QB has won more road games in the playoffs (6).  He is tied with Brady with 9 playoff wins in his first five seasons.  He hasn't missed a start and 63 regular season wins is the highest total for any QB over the last 5 years.

On the other hand, Flacco has "only" a 60.2 career completion percentage, never passed for over 4000 yards, and never thrown for more than 25 TDs in a season.  In the current passing era, that doesn't put you in the status of top QBs in the league.  His TD-to-INT numbers are 102/56.  The most surprising thing I saw was that Flacco has never been voted to the Pro Bowl.

Does those last two paragraphs add up to the highest paid NFL player ever?  Not in my book. I like the guy, but he's now going to have to face the pressure of living up to that contract.