LA Angels Series Preview (7/2/19): Appreciating Life, Baseball, and Tyler Skaggs

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As much as we all want to enjoy the LA Angels rivalry series against the Texas Rangers, a series in which the Angel will be fighting to climb the AL Wild Card standings, it will be difficult to move past the sudden and tragic death of Angels center-piece pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

However, if there is one thing the former 2009 LA Angels draft pick and longtime starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs would want it would be for all of us fans to appreciate and enjoy every little moment within the sport of baseball and life that we possibly can.

Tyler Skaggs will be alongside all of us as we cheer on the Angels while they cope with the terrible loss of Skaggs yesterday afternoon. There is a certain power in knowing that Tyler Skaggs will always be here in spirit and memory with the team and fans alike, especially through a time as tough as this. The strength behind his memory and the amazing things he did for this world and the people in it will carry us all through these tragic times, as hard as these times may be.

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You never really know when you’ll be watching one of your favorite players for the last time. No one could have guessed anything like this happening and the shock of it all has brought a stark sense of mortality to the surface. All we can do now is take the memories and lessons left to us by Tyler Skaggs and apply it in the most positive ways we can.

I know that’s difficult to do so soon after the passing of such a young, vibrant human being; but deep down we all know Skaggs would want us to appreciate all of the finer things in life and baseball and not to get too caught up in the sport as to where you forget these are human beings we are both cheering on and criticizing throughout the seasons.

Tyler Skaggs would want us to remember how to love the sport with the child-like fervor and wonder that we all used too when we were younger. He would want us to appreciate the athletes that make many sacrifices to bring this enjoyment into our lives, no matter how good or bad they may be.

Thank you for your time given not just to the Angels organization, but to all the fans who became glued to the TV with every pitch you threw over the years and to all the young athletes you inspired to follow the same path you did. Thank you for giving us as much of yourself as you could in the short time that you had with us.

Rest in Peace and Love Tyler Skaggs, you will always be remembered.

A Moment of Remembrance

Before the Angels play against the Rangers later this evening there will be a moment of silence held before the game in honor and remembrance of Tyler Skaggs. But it won’t end there, this entire season is going to be played in remembrance of Tyler Skaggs. The memory of Skaggs will stay with this team, the Angels fan base, and all of the baseball world alike for a long time. In time we will have to return to the daily “business-as-usual”. Soon, we’ll have to do so even in this article. Baseball and life move on, and knowing Tyler Skaggs he would want us to move on with as much positivity and happiness as we can muster.

Across his career, Skaggs showed us the power of perseverance as he dealt with injury woes as well as recovery from Tommy John surgery. Despite dealing with injury in 2015 and 2017 Skaggs came back for a nearly complete 2018 season that saw him post career highs in multiple categories, such as innings pitched (125.1), K’s (129) and wins (eight).

Related Story. The LA Angels Family Will Never Forget Tyler Skaggs

Let us take a moment of remembrance for a man who wasn’t just a son, a friend, a husband, and a team-mate ; Tyler Skaggs was an Angel, not just as an athlete, but as a person. Skaggs was, is, and always will be an Angel to every single one of us.

Baseball Moves Forward

As difficult as it seems to be it’s coming to the time where baseball will be moving forward and we will all have to follow suit. That day may not be today, or tomorrow, but it will be here someday soon, probably sooner than any of us would want. The only way to move forward in the healing process is to begin the healing, and that’s something we’re going to work on right now, all of us together.

The Angels are 4.5 games back in the AL Wild Card with the division rival Rangers sitting comfortably in the 2nd Wild Card spot. The Angels will be facing them for a three game set, shortened from 4 games after yesterdays postponement, and will have the opportunity to pull the AL Wild Card closer to home.

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I know it’s a bit frustrating as the Angels are constantly moving forward and backwards within the Wild Card, it seems that as soon as they make progress forward they find themselves slipping backwards. Week by week seems to hold the story of the Angels trying to recover from a slide that took them out of favorable Wild Card positioning.

The Rangers are sitting in the middle of a 2 game losing streak and it will be up to the Angels to kick them while their down. The pitching matchups look as solid as they could be and the offense is strong enough to bring home win after win despite them swinging their bats like wet noodles against the Oakland A’s after dropping three games straight to them.

It will be an uphill battle with the Rangers throwing some hot pitchers on the mound against the Angels, but if they can prevail offensively there is no reason the Angels shouldn’t come out of this series in a better position to snatch a Wild Card berth than they were coming in.

It’s getting real hot in Texas

Mike Minor, the first starting pitcher the Rangers will be throwing at the Angels, has been on a crazy hot streak as of late. His month of June was absolutely nuclear as he threw 37 innings of 1.70 ERA baseball across the month. His last start of the month saw him twirl a complete game against the Tigers with just one run allowed on five hits. Minor has only gotten better and better as the season goes on; his ERA by month stands at 2.88 in March/April, 2.57 ERA in May, and 1.70 in June.

Either he’s going to continue trending this way and end up the best pitcher in baseball for the month of July or the baseball gods will balance out his season with a difficult July. If the baseball gods have it in their favor to bring balance to Minors season it will be done through their Angels. The Angels offense was quiet as could be against the Oakland A’s, but as it is with baseball a new month brings a new story. Hopefully this story involves the Angels offense returning to a more balanced form as well as Mike Minor being humbled in short order.

Los Angeles Angels

Jose Suarez will be going toe to toe against Minor in this first game of the series after his last start, against Toronto, saw him allow 5 runs in just 5 innings. Aside from that start Jose Suarez has been solid, his ERA stood at 4.50 prior to his start against the Blue Jays. Suarez’s issues stem from allowing a multitude of hits alongside a handful of walks in each start.

In order to minimize the damage Suarez is going to have to attack the strike zone with greater force and work on generating weak contact. His strikeout numbers have been solid as he has struck out 6 hitters in 2 of his 4 MLB starts this year, yet this Rangers offense is one that can punish mistakes in the biggest ways. Control and composure will be the name of the game for Suarez in this start, if he can maintain that the Angels will find success in this series.

The second game of the set sees Ariel Jurado looking to stay hot against the Angels and Griffin Canning. Jurado is on a nice pace just as Minor is, throughout the season Jurado has pitched fantastically at home with a 2-2 record with a 3.76 ERA. His last start came in Detroit and saw him pitch 7 shutout innings.

The Angels offense is going to have to get their affairs in order against Minor so they can take some heat into the second game of the series and sweat Jurado out of the game. With Canning on the mound we’re going to see the Angels find many chances to take and maintain the lead, but then again we have seen Angel pitchers struggle immensely while pitching in Texas.

If the Angels don’t give Canning any solid run support early on we may see the Rangers sweat Canning out of the game early. As it tends to be in Texas this series may be a matter of who strikes first.

The story is the same with Lance Lynn as he is coming of a 10 K performance against the Rays in eight innings of work. This is absolutely a series that can change a season; the Angels could come out of this just a game or two out of the Wild Card and wreck the Rangers momentum in the process. Likewise the Angels can very well see themselves slip farther and farther from contention with a poor series.

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We’ve seen the Angels season end in Texas time and time again; this series has all the potential to either boost the Angels in the standings or deflate their playoff hopes even further than they already have.

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