LA Angels Series Preview: Taming the Green Monster

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BOSTON, MA – JUNE 27: Andrelton Simmons #2 of the Los Angeles Angels turns a double play over the slide of Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox in the first inning of a game at Fenway Park on June 27, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /

Both the LA Angels and the Red Sox are looking at the end of their seasons after a few weeks of skidding that has taken both teams out of the wild card race.

The LA Angels season isn’t all lost however, there has been a rising wave of youth coming through that are making these last couple of months worth watching. All four games in Boston will feature young starters that may impact in 2020 on the Angels side of the mound.

The Angels will be playing a four game series in Boston that will feature the majority of their youth pitching as starters. Aside from missing out on Griffin Canning in this series we’re going to see another start by Patrick Sandoval after his strong debut against the Cincinnati Reds in which he went 5 innings and struck out 8 while giving up just 2 runs.

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We’ll also be seeing Dillon Peters after he posted the longest start by an Angels starter this season with a 7.2 IP affair in which he allowed just 3 runs against the Indians. Jaime Barria will also be making an appearance this series, though he hasn’t been as strong as the other two starters as he allowed three HRs in 3.2 IP against the Indians in his last outing.

The real question is whether or not the Angels made enough room on the plane for the offense to join the trip. The Angels situational hitting has been practically non-existent within the last few series and if they want to break this 6 game losing streak they’re going to need the Angels offense to light up the Green Monster.

This is a powerful squad so there’s no reason that the Angels can’t find a way to mash the Red Sox around for a decent amount of runs through these four games. This is a lineup that is featuring Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and even Justin Upton (despite his struggles he still hits for good power); there really is no reason we shouldn’t see some big HR’s in this series.

Given our luck though all the big HRs will probably come from the Red Sox off of our young pitching core. Jaime Barria has been a home run machine, allowing 12 HRs in 46.2 IP on the 2019 season so far, which has been a far cry from his 17 HRs allowed in 129.1 IP in 2018.

Will we be seeing the young Barria set himself straight in Boston or will his woes continue deep into the 2019 season? Is there enough pitching talent on this roster to carry them through a four game set in Boston? Will the offense show up and make this series somewhat entertaining for fans?

Most importantly, will Mike Trout finally take the lead in the race for MLB HR King? If he’s going to jump ahead of the HR leaderboard it seems like Boston would be the best place to do so.

Angels @ Red Sox

(8/8) 4:10 PM PT @ FS-W: Dillon Peters (2-0, 3.20 ERA) vs Chris Sale (5-11, 4.68 ERA)

(8/9) 4:10 PM PT @ FS-W: Jaime Barria (4-5, 6.36 ERA) vs David Price (7-5, 4.36 ERA)

(8/10) 1:05 PM PT @ FS-W: TBD vs Rick Porcello (10-8, 5.54 ERA)

(8/11) 10:05 PM PT @ FS-W: Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 3.60 ERA)vs Andrew Cashner (10-7, 4.68 ERA)

Bronx Bombers

The Red Sox pitchers have not had the friendliest season this year; none of the four pitchers the Angels are facing in this series are sporting an ERA under 4, and while that isn’t the worst thing in the world it is a far cry from their season last year. Chris Sale is looking very unlike himself as he’s posted the first season with an ERA over 4 in his entire nine-year career.

We’re seeing Chris Sale put up his worst year at the age of 30, which is something you never want to see, as he’s complied a 4.68 ERA in 132.2 IP. It isn’t all downhill for Sale however as he has posted 193 Ks on the season thus far, but outside of that it has been a season of struggle after struggle. His latest start saw him stumble through 3.2 innings and allow 8 runs on 9 hits against the New York Yankees. He isn’t all that better at home either, in eleven home starts this year Sale has posted a 1-4 record with an overall 4.76 ERA.

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David Price hasn’t had much luck this season and is coming off of his worst start of the season, a start against the Yankees which saw him throw just 2.2 innings and allow 7 runs off of 9 hits. Things may not be so easy against David Price however as he has a knack for both pitching at home and pitching against the Angels. Price holds a 7-7 record against the Angels with an overall 3.34 ERA against the squad while also maintaining an ERA of 3.12 in Fenway. On the season Price has compiled a 4.36 ERA with 126 Ks.

The last two games of the series should be fruitful for the Angels as Andrew Cashner and Rick Porcello are both slogging through season long struggles. As is with the Angels luck, however, they’ll be facing a Rick Porcello that is coming off a six inning start against the Royals in which he allowed just one run.

Cashner, on the other hand, has struggled mightily since joining the Red Sox in a trade earlier this season. Cashner has produced a 7.53 ERA in 28.2 IP with 7 HRs since his trade from Baltimore to Boston back in July. He isn’t striking guys out at a great rate either, as evidenced by his 6.2 K/9 rate on the season, and when you couple that with his severe HR struggles you get a pitcher who is all too reminiscent of the Angels own Trevor Cahill.

The starting pitching hasn’t been all that hot for the Red Sox, but will the Angels offense be able to take advantage and pull in some much needed wins?

Taming the Monster

The Angels offense has not been in the best place as of late, outside of Trout the team is struggling to put up any kind of notable offensive impact. Shohei Ohtani has been hitting .226/.312/.419 over the last two weeks with just 1 HR to show for it.

David Fletcher has had just one month this year in which he’s hit under .300, but August is starting to look a lot like his June where he hit just .233. In the last eleven games Fletcher has slashed .209/.261/.279 and has walked just 3 times in those 46 PA’s. Justin Upton has been plain awful since coming off of the DL, as he’s hit just .171/.247/.343 in his last 20 games, and within the last week he’s done barely a tick better by slashing .167/.313/.417 within the last week.

Los Angeles Angels

At this point it really isn’t enough to have Mike Trout be the lone star of this offensive, even if he has been slashing .300/.404/.750 in his last eleven games. We need to see the power potential in guys like Matt Thaiss, who can shred Fenway with his power stroke, though he has had only 1 hit in his last 5 games (the hit being a 2 RBI double).

Kole Calhoun is one of the better power hitters on this team this season with his 25 bombs, though he too has been struggling lately. Even with the Red Soxs ailing pitchers on the bump across the whole series it seems more likely that their starters would bounce back off the Angels poor offense rather than the Angels offense heat up against the Red Sox poor pitching.

There is no doubt that some of these guys will wake up alongside Mike Trout, Fenway is just too good of a hitters park and the Red Sox pitchers are doing bad enough that you can count on something Angels way. Will it be Matt Thaiss finding his best stretch of offense in his short time with the Angels? Or can Upton finally shed the monkey that’s been riding his back since coming back from injury?

At the very least, even if the Angels offense doesn’t turn it up, we’ll get to see some the Angels future get some reps in one of the biggest stages in the MLB?

The truest test

Is there any test for ones mettle better than the brutal, unforgiving enviroment of Fenway Park? Boston fans are as rowdy as they come and the energy they bring to their stadium is explosive. The Red Sox may not be having the most fulfilling season, but that doesn’t change the fact that a Fenway is one of the few parks in baseball that offer a playoff environment in the regular season. It will be fun to watch the kids like Luis Rengifo or Matt Thaiss perform in front of the Fenway Friendly, but even more exciting will be watching Patrick Sandoval perform in Boston. Sandoval will be making just his second MLB debut after a strong 8 strikeout outing against the Reds that kicked off his Major League career.

Sandoval’s last outing saw him receive little help from the Angels infield as Matt Thaiss commit multiple errors while Luis Rengifo bobbled an easy double play which eventually saw that lead runner score. One of Sandoval’s best skills is ground ball production, so if he can get help from his infield while nabbing some strikeouts there is no doubt he can have a quality outing. Andrelton Simmons is out with injury, so we’ll probably be seeing about the same infield unless David Fletcher is manning the hot corner over Thaiss.

This Angels team is about as close as you can get to what the 2020 squad will look like aside from the starting pitching overhaul that will likely happen in the off-season. The only notable change in the offense may be the absence of Kole Calhoun and the presence of Jo Adell, but that’s really it. There is the chance that Tommy La Stella would come back to the team as a free agent, but that all depends on how he looks when he returns from his injury. The only change this team needs is in the starting staff, but even then we’re seeing pieces for 2020 come together with the potential that Sandoval brings to the table.

After this four game series in Boston the Angels will head back home to face the Pirates.

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