By Jeff Flinn - AngelsWin.com Contributor
Thumbs Up
- Weaver was his usual dominant self on Wednesday evening, striking out a batter in each of the first 8 innings and not walking a batter in pitching his first CG of the season. He has also made history in being 5-0 on the earliest date in MLB history. In 36.2 innings so far, he's allowed just 19 hits and 9 BBs for a ridiculous 0.76 WHIP, .150 OBA, and 1.23 ERA, along with a 39/9 Ks/BBs ratio.
- Palmer came up huge on Tuesday night, throwing just 85 pitches in 6 innings and allowing just 1 run, 3 hits, 1 BB, and had a 10/8 GBs/FBs ratio.
- The back end of the bullpen (Rodney and Walden resting, with Downs ill) got a much needed break in this series.
- Thompson continues to pitch well, as he makes a case for some set up work out of the pen.
- The hitters had a decent series with RISP in going 7 for 27. That's now 18 for the past 62 with RISP.
- Izturis continues to hit well from the leadoff spot, and now has a .984 OPS.
- Kendrick already has 6 HRs, 10 total XBHs, and 9 BBs. He's showing plate awareness for the first time in his MLB career, and it's making his at bats much better. He doesn't chase nearly as many down and out sliders as he once did. His .996 OPS harkens back to the red hot 2nd half of 2009 Howie.
- Wells continues to rebound in going 10 for his past 26, and finally connecting for his first Halos HR on a well hit ball to LF, something sorely missing before tonight.
- Trumbo continues to hit solidly, and makes a case for continued playing time (maybe a DH platoon) when Morales returns.
- Conger only had 1 start, but made the most of it with 2 singles, a BB, and 2 RBI's, and working well with Palmer. He has a 1.054 OPS in 27 plate appearances so far.
- Bourjos continues to play GG CF defense, making a ridiculous play on a long run to the wall on Wednesday night. He also lifted his OPS to .868. The man simply improves as the season progresses at every level he's played at.
- The defense only made 1 error in 3 games (Santana's bad throw), and is on pace for just 81 errors. This is SO MUCH BETTER than a year ago. They not only make the routine plays, but the OF also runs down just about anything hit out there. That is huge, given that the top 3 pitchers in the rotation all allow more fly ball outs than ground outs.
- It was nice to take 2 out of 3 from the defending AL champs in their yard.
Note: AngelsWin.com wishes Brandon Wood good luck in his future baseball career, wherever that may be.
Thumbs down
- There wasn't much of anything to thumbs down from that series, once again.
- Hunter is in a miserable and total funk at the plate, still. He REALLY needs a day off.
- Abreu finally got a day off on Wednesday night after a 1-20 scuffling that included just a pair of walks. Here's to that day off helping him out.
- Santana clearly didn't have his best stuff on Monday night, and only made it through 4 innings. It's his first rough start on the season, hopefully it won't lead to a lot of them like he had back in 2007 and 2009. He needs to show solid pitching for back-to-back seasons, before figuring heavily in the Halos' future plans beyond 2012/2013.
