LA Angels Series Preview: Taking the Magic into Houston Series

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It’s still hard not to get stuck in the magic of what happened this past Friday when the LA Angels combined for a no-hitter on the game of Tyler Skaggs memorial celebration.

From that point on everything seemed to be a little extra magical, and while the LA Angels have been winning games in big ways the truest test is just around the corner. The Houston Astros are waiting to test just how real that magic is for the next four games. This is either going to be a brutal 4-game grinder or a confirmation that the Angels are playing with more than just luck on their side.

The Angels are going to head into the series with Griffin Canning taking the mound once more in the first game of the four game set. Canning shoulders the terribly heavy responsibility of filling Tyler Skaggs scheduled start day and had a tough time getting through his start against Texas. It was tough to watch not because of a bad start, but because Canning was obviously beaten down by the pain of his missing friend.

Things may be getting a little bit easier in the clubhouse, especially with the team feeling the power of Skaggs’ presence. Instead of being stuck in grief for their friend they seem to be moving into a place where they feel that they now have a guardian Angel watching above them and it’s starting to show in their demeanor.

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Grief is a tough thing to manage and it’s amazing to see the team rally around each other so intensely throughout the last couple of weeks, especially in the no-hitter thrown for Tyler Skaggs. It seems as if they’re not just rallying together off the field, but on the field as well. They’ve had some great wins in the last few games since returning from the All-Star break, including yesterday’s game which saw the Angels prospect former 1B and now 3B prospect Matt Thaiss club his first homer to break a 3-3 tie and put the Angels up 6-3 in their eventual victory, to complete sweep, over the Seattle Mariners.

Even if the Angels can come out of this series with a split and not lose any ground in the wild-card race it would be considered a win. If they can come out of the Houston series breaking even that will be as big a win as an actual series win.

However, if they could pull off a four-game sweep against one of the best teams in baseball?

Now that would be magic.

Angels @ Astros

(7/15) 7:07 PM PT @ FS-W: Griffin Canning (3-5, 4.43 ERA) vs Josh James (4-0, 4.91 ERA)

(7/16) 7:07 PM PT @ FS-W: TBD vs Andrew Heaney (1-3, 5.18 ERA)

(7/17) 7:07 PM PT @ FS-W: Gerrit Cole (9-5, 3.23 ERA) vs Felix Pena (7-2, 4.32 ERA)

(7/18) 6:07 PM PT @ FS-W: Wade Miley (7-4, 3.32 ERA) vs TBD

Shohei Ohtan hits fifth home run in last nine games for Angels /

Do you believe in magic?

I do, and you should too. We all saw it during that no-hitter the Angels threw just a few nights ago. It doesn’t feel like the magic has ended there as we’ve been seeing some great things from this ball club all around. Aside from a couple of iffy pitching performances we saw a lot of talent all across the diamond for the Angels, even Matt Harvey had himself a nice little game.

Given that this was all against the last-place Seattle Mariners it stands to reason that the low level of competition made this series easier for the Angels. While that may be so all the Angels need to do is carry this momentum into Houston and things may be able to take care of themselves.

This is baseball and anything can happen in this sport; it’s not about who has the best team, but which team is playing the best baseball. Of course no one can be truly perfect, but the Angels have shown strength from top to bottom through the last few games. If they continue to play at this level there is no end to what this team can accomplish.

Mike Trout has been the hottest hitter in baseball in the month of June with the support of young talent like Thaiss, Luis Rengifo, David Fletcher coming together create a very real core for this Angels squad. The Angels core are just “Mike Trout and Friends”, even without Trout this team would still have a strong core and a bright future. The fact that Trout no longer has to really carry the offense is showing big time as he’s having some of the best offensive stretches of his career thanks to the rest of the offense taking pressure off his back. This will be tested in at least the first game of the series as Mike Trout will sit out game one with a strained calf muscle.

The Angels have gone through heavy tragedy recently, but with the way its brought the team together it doesn’t seem to be a fluke that their showing “cohesiveness” that has been missing all season. If they’ve truly found it and are able to carry it through the rest of the season there may be some real magic in store for the Angels in the coming future.

Uphill Battle

The Angels are going to be facing a difficult climb to the Wild Card with the Astros standing in the way for most of this week. The Angels aren’t the worst when it comes to hitting against the Astros so I don’t expect it to be a struggle for the Angels, the problem here is inconsistent pitching that doesn’t go deep into games and allows the bullpen to become overexposed and fatigued. That specific problem seems to be magnified whenever the Angels play Houston, but if by some way the Angels can avoid burning out their pitching in this series there will be a decent chance at success.

It all starts with Griffin Canning, as outstanding as his season has been he still hasn’t had any “lights out” moments. He’s done a great job in many spots, don’t get me wrong, but he hasn’t faced and overcome such a hostile situation as the first game of this set. Canning is in need of a bounce-back start after his emotional outing against the Rangers which saw him give up six runs over 3.2 IP. Asking Canning to fill-in for Tyler Skaggs scheduled start is a tough responsibility to hand to anyone, let alone a fresh-faced young rookie, but he took the assignment like a champion and did his best to push through the game. Even if the results weren’t the best he still showed the gumption of an ace and the heart of a champion.

Everyone on the Angels seems to be sliding into as normal of a baseball mentality as they can at this point in time. The team is playing good baseball and I fully expect Canning to fall into the groove that the Angels are on and play to the best of his ability. I wouldn’t be shocked if Canning has his best game of his young career tonight.

On the other side of the mound is Astros fireballing reliever Josh James who will be opening the game for Framber Valdez, who has a 5.28 ERA in 46 IP.

Guts

The Angels have been playing with guts lately, that much cannot be denied. They’ve been steel-hardy and fierce; the offense has been opportunistic and aggressive and the pitching has been relatively smooth for the most part. The real test comes with the Angels carrying that groove into the series with Houston and keeping it strong throughout the rest of the homestand. The first game of the set shouldn’t be too difficult as long as Canning can find his groove on the mound and the offense continues rolling as it is. The Angels don’t have to do much of anything different and as long as they can maintain the mentality of playing the same baseball they’ve been and not getting in their own ways we will see continued success.

This team has a history of mentally beating themselves, it’s something that shows when we see successful hitters constantly suffering in RISP situations. It hasn’t been the case in the last few games but the 1st half of this season saw the Angels plagued with inability to hit in critical situations. Erasing that nagging mental block is something that can happen with a success series against the Astros full of well-played baseball.

With Andrew Heaney taking the mound in the 2nd game of the set we’re in line to see the definition of guts out on the mound. His first start since the passing of his very close friend Tyler Skaggs was a very solid outing that saw him allow 2 runs in 5 IP against the Astros. As solid as that was we know there is a lot of room to improve; we’ve all had glimpses of Andrew Heaney’s ceiling and he can pitch like a top-of-the-rotation pitcher when he is on his game.

The biggest challenge for the Angels will be Gerrit Cole, who shut the Angels out across 7 IP in his last start against the team. As hot as this series is this may be the most interesting matchup of the set; a hot offense in the Angels taking on an ace-level pitcher with the Angels sending Felix Pena to the mound fresh off his combined no-hitter. Will the Angels offense prevail and put some hurt on Cole? Will the Astros provide the hits that the Mariners couldn’t collect against Pena? Or will he perform with the same strength that he did against the Mariners?

Though there are many questions looming over the first three games of the set the biggest question comes in the last game, namely who will start for the Angels? Matt Harvey has had a difficult season aside from his last outing against the Mariners in which he pitched 5.2 innings of 1 run baseball. He did run into some trouble in that start as he allowed 3 walks and struck out only 3 Mariners with stuff that didn’t seem as sharp as it could have been. It’s hard to see Matt Harvey taking the mound for an extended amount of time against the Astros, maybe two to four innings tops.

If the Angels starting pitching can eat up substantial innings in the first three games they might have the bullpen power they need to power through what will likely be a long day for the pitching staff. The Astros starting pitcher for the day, Wade Miley, is throwing with a hot hand as he is coming off his third quality start in a row. During that span he’s posted a 2.41 ERA.

Next. A letter to Tyler Skaggs

The good news is that even if the Angels have a tough series the Mariners are sitting on the other end waiting to be chewed up by the Halos. With the way the team has been playing in the last few games it’s fairly reasonable to think that the Angels can come away with 3 wins.

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