Game Notes:
The Angels and Dodgers matched up for the rubber game of the “Freeway Series” this afternoon at Dodger Stadium in a game that pitted Angels lefty C.J. Wilson against Dodgers righty Nathan Eovaldi. It didn’t take long for the Halos to rebound from the poor offensive showing the night before when they only managed 1 run off of 5 hits. Albert Pujols hit a towering blast in the 1st inning off of Eovaldi.
The home runs didn’t stop there, Mark Trumbo, Ryan Langerhans and Jorge Cantu all homered as well. Back to Trumbo for a second…he wrapped up his spring hitting .328 with 6 home runs and played decent defense at third base. He committed his 4th error today however. It’s obvious there will be growing pains for him this year as he continues to learn a new position but if you are an Angels fan you have to be excited about progress he has made this spring coming back from the ankle injury and learning to play third base.
C.J. Wilson looked good in the Angels last spring training game. He threw his 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs approximately 50% of the time and mixed in his change-up, curveball and slider nicely. Wilson scattered 5 hits over 4 shutout innings while walking 2 and striking out 5. Wilson followed two stellar outings by Dan Haren and Ervin Santana the previous two games making it apparent the starting rotation is primed and ready to go for the 2012 season.
Jason Isringhausen finally pitched a scoreless inning today, problem is he still gave up a hit and walked a batter. It is an improvement no doubt but I wouldn’t say he is “back on track” by any means.He needs to cut down on allowing base runners.
David Carpenter and Rich Thompson both were shaky out of the bullpen today. Kevin Jepsen however continues to look strong, he pitched 1 inning, gave up no hits, walked 1 batter and struck out 1 as well.
Player of the Game:
C.J. Wilson
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
4.0 5 0 0 2 5 0 1.11
Miscellaneous Notes:
Outfielder Kole Calhoun has been assigned to triple-A Salt Lake. If you remember, last season Calhoun played for the Inland Empire 66’ers meaning he performed well enough this spring to skip double-A all together.
Not that it was any secret for those that have been following the games recently and seeing the pitching match-ups but Mike Scioscia officially announced the Angels’ rotation today. Jered Weaver will start on Friday for the Halos, followed by Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and C.J. Wilson. The Angels will not need a 5th starter until April 15th when they play the New York Yankees. Jerome Williams, Garrett Richards and Brad Mills are all competing for the final spot in the rotation.
The Angels announced after Tuesday night's 4-1 loss to the Dodgers that catcher Hank Conger, a former first-round Draft pick, will be reassigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. In 18 games this spring, Conger hit .295 with 1 home run, 4 doubles and 5 RBI's.
According to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, an unnamed Angels’ player says Bobby Abreu is becoming more accepting of his backup role with the team…take it for what it’s worth.
The Angels’ team MVP this spring IS ... well it’s two players actually, Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. It seems that Arte Moreno spent wisely this winter as both Pujols and Wilson looked poised for big seasons. Pujols finished spring training with a .383 batting average, 7 home runs and an even 20 RBI’s. C.J. Wilson went a perfect 4-0 this spring with 21 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched.