Page’s Weekly LA Angels Predictions: Week Three

Saturday, April 22 Blue Jays at Angels

Probables: J.A Happ vs. Jesse Chavez

The Angels will be looking to grab hold of their first winning streak in nearly two weeks in the second game of this series. They are supposed to be facing J.A Happ, however, an injury might force Happ to skip this start. Happ is currently listed as day-to-day with elbow discomfort. He is set to undergo an MRI, and the results of that will decide whether or not Happ will pitch. He is 0-3 to start the season, but those three losses do not reflect how well he has been pitching. In three starts, Happ has thrown 16 innings while giving up eight runs. While that does not sound amazing, his 4.50 ERA has kept the team in games, as his first two losses were decided by two runs or less. He had thrown 4.1 innings of shutout baseball on Sunday before being removed because of his elbow.

Happ has been decent against the Angels throughout his career. However, Kole Calhoun has given him problems with a career batting average of .385 against Happ. He has two home runs and a walk to go with that average.

Jesse Chavez will be making his second start of the week against a team he has done rather well against. He has not faced the current Toronto lineup very much in his career, but has found success. Of players with more than two at-bats, only Justin Smoak has a batting average higher than .200. He has hit .273 in his career against Chavez, while also walking once and striking out three times. In seven career at-bats against Chavez, Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista only has one hit to his name against the saavy veteran.

The Angels may be able to find their groove in this weekend series.

Prediction: Angels 4 Blue Jays 3