The Angels are 4-5 since the break, and while that’s not downright horrible, you have to consider that six of those nine games were against the Rangers and the Devil Rays. The offense has struggled and the Mariners aren’t going away and I’d be very interested to see what kind of move that the Angels make here as the trade deadline gets closer and closer.
Joe Saunders got the job done yesterday and that helped the Angels avoid a sweep at the hands of the Twins. He’s now 4-0 and he’s 11-3 in his short career over 21 starts. Still an impressive record and having a guy like this in your back pocket has been huge for the Angels. It’s probably even more strange that he struggled down at Triple A this year but you have to give some kudos to the front office for recognizing who the best guy is to win the Angels some ball games.
Vlad hasn’t hit a homerun since June 23. We’re talking about a month now and in that time, his OPS has dropped around 70 points. If the Angels are going to walk home with the AL West crown, Vlad is the guy who’s going to have to heat up and get them their. Yeah, he’s still hitting around .320, but we need that punch.
John Lackey, while he’s won five of his last ten starts, is starting to get rocked on occassion. He gave up seven runs in his last start and he has just as many five’s and six’s in the earned run column of his game log recently as he does one’s and two’s. The end result is an increase of close to run his ERA and the last time he had a month with an ERA under 4.00 was way back in May.
Kelvim Escobar, on the other hand, has been lights out and he’s been the stopper of late. He’s won his last five decisions and in four of his last five starts, he’s given up a run or less. He’s also supplanted Lackey as the team leader with a 2.85 ERA. Good stuff and he’s already matched last season’s win total of eleven.
The Angels start a three game series with the A’s beginning tonight. Bartolo Colon gets the start and the Angels’ hitters will see Chad Gaudin. The A’s are pretty much done and a good series this week will bury them even further.
