With an 80-82 record, the Los Angeles Angels finished third in the American League West. At the start of the season they seemed to be on track to win a division title. They went 44-36 through the first three months of the season, but then in July they bottomed out and went just 9-17. They never recovered from that losing stretch even though considering they played their divisional opponents pretty tough. Beyond their 9-10 record against the Texas Rangers, they went 26-12 against the other members of their division. Of course in Major League Baseball it maters when you win those games.
When we start to look at how this team performed on the field we see why they wound up with a losing record. As a team they scored just 681 runs (9th amongst the 14 AL clubs), and did not have one regular starter bat over .300 for the year. The team BA was only .248 tied with Cleveland for 10th best team BA in the AL. They racked up just 1,363 hits, and that explains a lot of their lack of run production. This looks to be a team that could use a power hitter or two.
At the Trading Deadline the pitching staff was the concern, especially the bottom half of the rotation and they added Dan Haren. However he went just 5-4 for the Angels and did not provide the impact this club needed. As a staff they had a 4.04 ERA which was the sixth best AL staff ERA. However, this staff walked 565 batters the third most in the AL, and that is a big reason why they gave up 702 runs on 1,422 hits.
It is hard to find the fix for the Angels. In today’s MLB pitching rules all and they have one of the best in Ervin Santana. Of course Jered Weaver had a down year, and Dan Haren didn’t give them the boost they were hoping for. I would like to see them add a bat, and another starting pitcher.
Related Links:
- Los Angeles Angels news and notes
- The Business of Major League Baseball
- Joshua Lobdell.com
