Angels: Random Ramblings on a Thursday

Welcome Back, Ace!

How hot are the Angels right now? So hot they pick up a half game on the Ranges when they lose. After Sunday’s loss to the Dodgers, the Halos still managed to pick up a half game on the Rangers after Texas lost both games of a doubleheader against Arizona.

And this hot streak could not come at a better time. Last night the Angels got their Ace back and he looks as good as ever. Jered Weaver was perfect through four innings and we were officially on “Weaver Perfect Game Watch 2013” as Victor Rojas and Gubi stopped talking about the lack of Dodger hits or walks during that fourth inning. Man, I love that those guys respect the unwritten rules of the game!

Though the offense did stumble a bit against Hyun-Jin Ryu a couple games ago, you have to give credit where credit is due. Good pitching will always beat good hitting. And that night Ryu was on…

Russel

Ryu

Although it’s entirely possible the Angels hitters were simply confused by Ryu, not his pitching necessarily, but because he bears a very striking resemblance to the character Russel, from the movie Up. Seriously… It’s uncanny!

Even with that shutout, the Angels have averaged over 6 runs per game since May 18^th. And all this with Josh Hamilton still hitting under .220 and Albert Pujols still hitting .250. When those guys really get going, which you think they have to at some point… Look out!

Another interesting note on the Angels offense this month, and yet another very interesting note for Angels baseball messiah Mike Trout, he’s scored 27 runs in the month of May, one run shy of matching the club record for runs scored in May set by Vladimir Guerrero in 2004. Just as interesting… both Trout and Vladdy did it wearing the number 27!!! AND NEITHER PLAYER WAS 27 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME!!!! Spooky… I know. Well, not that spooky. The young Trout has two games to break that team record and I’m betting he gets it done.

And what about that starting rotation? Angels pitching appears to be turning the corner. In fact, if you throw out CJ Wilson’s 5^th inning against the Dodgers last Monday in which he suddenly lost his focus and execution on the mound, shocker, they’ve been very good. In fact, so good that Scioscia will be running with a six man rotation this week and no decision has yet been made as to who’ll be returning to the bullpen next week. Wait, what if the Angels go with a six man rotation for another week? Would that be a bad thing? I’m OK with it as long as a minimum of two of those starts go to Weaver.

In reality… I’d still bet you see Joe Blanton take a turn in the pen, unless Jerome’s next start is a bad one and Blanton does put up another strong start.

Before playing today’s final game of this freeway series with the Dodgers, the Angels are currently sitting 8 ½ back of the Rangers in the West, and 6 ½ back of the last wild card spot. All things considered with the horrible start they had… that’s not so bad.

If they keep this up they’ll be over .500 by next week, and right back in the playoff hunt.

Now if we could just get that damned month of April fixed this team will be tough to beat for years to come.