Trout Swims Upstream (15/81)

Not quite as catchy as "Salmon," but it'll do.

The 20-year-old speedster hit his first home run of the season (the first for an Angels leadoff hitter) and stretched, what would've been a single for a lesser man, into a double as the Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 at home last night.

When Mike Trout got called up after the release of Bobby Abreu, he was destroying minor league pitching with a .403 batting average. It's easy to say expectations for the rookie have been pretty high. While he hasn't been playing terribly, tonight was a great start to showcase what he's capable of for the year.

This isn't Trout's first time up in the majors, as he was called up last season and managed to hit 5 home runs in 123 at-bats (that's 5 more home runs in close to the same amount of at-bats as slugger Albert Pujols has had this year), but only managed a .220 batting average.

Mike Scioscia noticed tonight's, as well as last night's two hit performance.

"It's coming," said Scioscia. "He's getting more comfortable up here, playing every day. He gave us a big lift tonight."

CJK

C.J. Wilson got the start tonight and went 8 innings while striking out nine. He is now second on the team in strikeouts with 39 behind Jered Weaver's 45.  Of the two major off-season acquisitions by the Angels, Wilson is definitely carrying his own weight with a 2.61 ERA and 4 wins. Every single one of Wilson's starts has been a quality start for the Angels this year (min. 6 innings pitched giving up 3 earned runs or less).

An Angels 1st Baseman Homers!

But it wasn't Pujols. Mark Trumbo hit his fourth home run of the year after getting the start at first base with Pujols getting the day off. Trumbo has been hitting great this year and continues to give Scioscia reasons to play him every day.

Pujols' Day Off

After 27 games of struggling, Albert Pujols received his first breather. I've been saying it for awhile now, and Scioscia took the words right out of my mouth.

“I’m just going to give him a little breather,…” Scioscia said. “Sometimes when you’re trying to find something and you’re pounding your head against the wall,… if you take that half-step back and take that half-step to the right, there’s that huge door.”

Here's hoping Pujols cleared his head, maybe went to Disneyland or watched the Avengers, and comes back refreshed today.

Btw, the Angels are now 1-0 without Pujols.