By Glen McKee, Staff Masochist -
Look: there’s nothing joyous about this. It’s like a bandage on a hairy arm, we just need to rip it off and move on. We’ve been soaking up lots of pain.
The bad... Where do I start and where do I stop? The first part is easy.
- The record. We played seven games last week and lost six of them. We came very close to losing all seven. We were literally (I usually hate when people use that word because they use it wrong, but it is being used correctly here) one game better than if the team hadn’t shown up for every game. The Angels got swept in Yankee stadium without putting up a fight. Pain.
- David Huff. For some reason the Angels picked him up off of the scrap pile and he’s been the least clean peanut ever. In two games started he pitched a total of 5.1 innings, had a WHIP of 2.81, and an ERA of 11.81. For some reason, after his first start in New York after he went 3.2 innings and gave up five earned runs, the Angels decided to send him out there again against a much better offense. He caused the bullpen to be used for 11.2 innings in his two starts. I can’t put much blame on him, though. This one is on the Angels and whoever decided to call him up and then decided to use him again after the first game. OK, enough about Huff. Pain.
- Johnny Giavotella. Somebody get this guy a slumpbuster, stat. Last week he hit 0.80, two hits in 25 AB. He’s as cold as ice and at this point I’m willing to sacrifice him for Petit (more on him in the good section) when Andrelton Simmons returns, which should be any day now. Pain.
- Jhoulys Chacin. I still haven’t learned how to spell his name, but he’s moved to the bad side for this week. In his only start last week, he went 5.1 innings and gave up five earned runs. In his previous start he went five innings and gave up three earned runs. The league is catching up with him. Pain
- Carlos Perez. He must have some great defensive value. He started five of seven games last week and hit a robust .063. One hit in 16 AB. And we thought Mathis was bad at the plate. Sweet fancy Moses this guy is terrible. Batting .194 on the season. Pain.
- Jose Alvarez. That he’s still on the team and still getting innings indicates how horrible our bullpen is. Last week, 3.1 IP in four games, 2.40 WHIP, 10.80 ERA. Pain. Let’s move on and find some good, OK? There’s gotta be some.
The good... With credit to tdawg, looking for a few clean peanuts here.
- Matt Shoemaker. He’s the obvious choice to lead this section. His turnaround this season has been nothing short of amazing. In two starts last week he pitched 15.1 innings, gave up four earned runs (all of them in the Yankees game), struck out 17 and walked one batter. That’s insane for a guy who was on life support a month ago. He’s destined to be trade bait in about a month but damn, is he fun to watch now.
- Jett (whoo ooh ooh ohh oooooh) Bandy. Sure, he only played two games last week but he hit .286 and he’s hitting .294 for the season. When Geovany Soto returns, Bandy should knock Perez back down to the minors.
- Gregorio Petit. Know what this guy is? He’s almost as rare as a unicorn: he’s somebody the Angels picked up off of the scrap pile and he’s actually doing better than his career norms. I know, right? He hit .391 last week. As I mentioned above, he needs to move over to 2b as soon as Simmons gets back.
- Jefry Marte. Where did this guy come from? I had to google it. We traded Kody Eaves to the Tigers for him. He hit .267 last week but had two home runs and has a .771 slugging percentage on the season. In 14 games he has four home runs. For a team ranked 24th in HR, he might be worth keeping around to see how long he can keep doing it.
The rest. Mike Trout is still in a mini-slump. The Angels have an off-day this week (if you guess Thursday, you’re correct!) so that’s at least one day they won’t lose a game. Thanks to the As we’re just barely out of last place, but we play them three times next week, so…you know.
The week ahead. Three at home verus the Twins (only Atlanta is worse than them!) and three in that miserable stadium in Oakland.
My predictions versus last week. I predicted 2-2 in New York and 1-2 against the Indians. Well, I got the last part right! 0-4 versus the Yankees and 1-2 versus the Indians. Cumulative totals: 28-30 predicted versus 25-33 actual.
My predictions for this week. We’re playing two of the teams that are worse than us. In the last ten games, Minnesota is 4-6, and the Angels and As are both 3-7. It’s got to get better at some point (Right? Right?) but this isn’t that point. 1-2 versus the Twins and 1-2 versus the As. Another long week coming up.