By Glen McKee, Senior No Longer Drug-Free Correspondent -
Last week I was busy. Busy at work, busy at home (planning and executing a birthday party for my now-teenaged daughter) and I didn’t have much as much time to follow the games as I usually do. Hoo boy, talk about a good week to not follow the team! During yesterday’s game I managed to sneak in a score check and the Angels were behind 6-4. Later, I got word that they had pulled off the victory. Huzzahs for all! Let’s poke through the wreckage that was last week.
The bad. Obviously, the record: 1-6. Another awful week in what thus far has been a horrible month. 8-16 for June and even if the Angels somehow managed to sweep the Astros to finish the month they’d still only be 11-16. This team, to quote Charles Barkley, is turrible.
- Jhoulys Chacin. Hopefully I won’t have to remember how to spell his first name for much longer. 2 games started, 6.2 IP (that’s a 3.1 IP per game, for those who can’t math), 3.15 WHIP and 12.15 ERA. Remember those two good starts he had? Yeah, me either. Anyway, enough about him and his rotten pitching. Here’s another picture of him to ease the pain:
- Fernando Salas. His ERA seems to be inversely proportional to Donald Trump’s poll numbers. 3.1 IP last week, 3 ER, 1.20 WHIP (you’d think it would be higher), 8.10 ERA. He’s just a symptom of the disease that is this team. Bad starting pitching has led to an overused bullpen, which exposes just how bad the bullpen is.
- Huston Street. This is his first appearance on the naughty list. All it took was one bad appearance, and wow, was it bad. It set the tone for the rest of the games last week. On Tuesday Hector Santiago had a rare good game and the Angels went into the ninth with a 2-1 lead. Street didn’t even get an out before the Astros walked off. Street open. Street bounced back in his next two appearances, including getting the only Angels win this week.
- Carlos Perez. Perez is the new Mathis, but it appears that Scioscia is finally getting the message. 3 games started last week, 10 AB, 1 hit (you do the math, that one is easy). I get that Scioscia values catchers primarily for their defense but damn, that bat is killing us.
- Jefry Marte. He’s been getting more starts lately, and yep, he’s been sucking. 22 AB, 3 hits, .136 average. Looks like the Marte party is losing steam.
- Tim Lincecum. Remember his good first start? Yeah, me either. In his second start, against Oakland last week: 3 IP, 7 hits, 2 BB, 4 ER. He has a start against resurgent Houston next. Pray to your gods.
- Hector Santiago. He had a very good start against Houston, and then shit the bed against Oakland, 6 IP, 6 ER. You could say that while he’s mostly been cold this year, he’s been hot and then cold. What? Hot and cold, you say?
- Jered Weaver. He followed up his Father’s Day shutout in Oakland by facing the same team at home and pitching 4.2 innings and giving up four ER, 8 hits, 1 BB. I guess you could say that he’s hot and cold.
The good. That’s enough of the bad; let’s take a look at some of the good that happened during the miserable week.
- Mike Trout. Welcome back to the good list, Mike! We’ve missed you here. .414 for the week, 2 HR, 5 RBI. Glad to have you back.
- Albert Pujols. What? That’s right, Pujols is on the good list. .318, 2 HR, 4 RBI, up to a .239 average for the season. Keep it up, Pujols!
- Cam Bedrosian. Just to show you that the bullpen wasn’t complete garbage. 3.2 IP, 0 ER. Hopefully he can mature into the closer he was pegged to be.
- Shane Robinson. What? One of our outfield platoon guys actually played well? Indeed he did. .400 average, and for our LF that’s something special. No whammy, no whammy.
- Jett Bandy. He got four starts last week and responded by hitting .353, 1 HR, 3 RBI. He’s the new Mike Napoli, except Jett doesn’t seem to be an asshole, his mom hasn’t flashed her boobs, and he has a kickass first name. Jett is all upside. The bad news? Soto should be starting his rehab assignment this week, which means he’ll be back soon, which means that there will be a choice about who to send down when Soto is reactivated, Bandy or Perez. I think the answer is obvious but the Angels are sometimes masters of missing the obvious.
The rest. Kole Calhoun had a good week, as did Johnny G. Cron is cooling off again. On Friday night, the Angels gave away these god-awfully ugly Ugly Sweater caps:
If anybody has one they want to get rid of, seriously, PM me. I want that cap. It’s so ugly it has transcended ugliness and become beautiful. I’d love to see Mike Trout wearing one.
The week ahead. Three at home versus the Astros, a day off, and then three at home versus the Red Sox. Eff the chowds.
My predictions versus last week. Brutal. Just when I had almost perfectly aligned my prediction numbers with the actual numbers, I got optimistic. I predicted 2-1 versus the Astros and 3-1 versus the As. Actual results: 0-3 versus the Astros and 1-3 versus the As. Season totals: 35-36 predicted versus 30-41 total. This week may have killed my chances for the rest of the year.
My predictions for this week. Aye carumba. 1-2 versus the Astros because I’m still a bit of a cockeyed optimist. Actual file photo of me:
I’ll go with 1-2 versus the Sox. Boston has been cooling off a bit lately so they are fruit ripe for the picking, but the Angels have short arms and can’t reach where the fruit is hanging. Another dismal week with a few splotches of brightness.