Playoff Atmosphere at the Big A (65/81)

As slim as the Angels chances are of making the postseason thanks to Oakland, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay all playing out of their minds right now, the Angels increased their chances astronomically with a walk-off, two-out single by Alberto Callaspo to beat the Detroit Tigers in a game that might as well have been the one game Wild Card playoff.

The Detroit Tigers, with their nightmare-inducing lineup and their flame-throwing starting pitchers, are THE scariest matchup in baseball right now. You never know when their team will explode for 10 runs a game (one of the biggest reasons their still in the Wild Card race), and it takes some skilled pitching to navigate those treacherous waters. Then Ervin Santana gave up 2 home runs.

Santana, who gave up solo home runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings, had Angels fans throwing up expletives early as Santana had blown an early 2-run lead. After that second home run though, Santana became a different person.

Santana kept the ball low, zeroed in on batters, then proceeded to tame the Tigers by striking out 10 batters in 6 2/3 innings. Despite giving up 34 long balls in the season, Santana has been throwing terrific in the last 8 games as he tries to carry his Angels team to the playoffs and earn himself a new contract in the process. In the last 8 games, Santana is 7-1 and has given up no more than 5 hits a game. Yeah, the guy has still given up home runs (11), but he's lowered his ERA from an ugly 6.00 to a less ugly, but still ugly 5.20 in the process. It shows improvement and the Angels are going to need improvement from every one of their starting pitchers down the stretch, especially with Jered Weaver going down for an undisclosed amount of time with shoulder tendinitis.

Every game from here on out is going to have a playoff atmosphere around it. Scioscia showed it last night by using 4 pitchers in 4 batters to face the matchups despite having a tie game. Angels have to do everything they can to win, and over the past two weeks, they've sure been living up to that.

Angels sWEPT (59, 60, 61/81)

Like most Angels fans, I spent the whole weekend in denial and trying to figure out what is wrong with the Angels. How could a team with so much talent fall into such a deep spiral?

The Angels got swept in four games by the Tampa Bay Rays this past weekend, a team that the Angels are racing against for the second AL Wild Card spot. The thing that has been so frustrating about their 7-13 run through August is that there is no excuses. Angels no longer have anyone on the disabled list and no one on the team seems to be going under a prolonged slump, so what's wrong?

The Angels have averaged 5.25 runs a game for the month of August, but Angels pitchers have also given up 6.85 runs per game during that same period. August has easily been the Angel's worst month, but compared to May (their best month when they went 18-11) they only averaged 3.75 runs per game, but pitchers only gave up 3.34 runs per game. The pattern here seems to be that good early season pitching was able to carry a struggling offense, but a good offense at the end of the season has done nothing to make up for the pitcher's failures.

I think everyone is asking at this point, what is wrong with the pitchers? They're healthy, but lacking confidence. They're trying to do too much and over-thinking their pitches. The past month has resulted in too many walks and too many balls left over the plate that have turned into home runs. For crying out loud, the Angel's most consistent pitcher over the last few weeks has been none other than fat face, Ervin Santana, although he might have an explanation for that. What is different with the pitchers now that wasn't there back in May and June? I don't think anyone outside of the Angels clubhouse can answer that one, and I would bet money that they can't answer it either.

What the Hell Happened to Ervin Santana's Face? (57/81)

Throughout his season long struggle, Ervin Santana has faced his share of problems. The dude went from being the number 2 starter on the team only 2 seasons ago to barely hanging onto his rotation spot by the fringe of his fingers. Something was brought to my attention last night that shattered my world forever. My pops asked me, "Is it me or does Santana's face look bigger than normal?"

I never really thought about it until my dad mentioned it, but oh my gawd! What the heck happened to Ervin? He really let himself go lately.

Santana looks like he got stung in the face with a buttload of bees. It's something I never noticed before, but I'll give a few theories on what I think happened to the Dominican right hander.

1. His recent struggles have put him on the breakup diet

Ladies, you know what the breakup diet is. When you get depressed that your man broke up with you, you get out that tub of ice cream and hold onto it with a vice grip tighter than the one you get during child birth. I've felt that grip; it's deadly. Men can also fall into the breakup diet when the reach a state of depression and start to not care about their appearance. Santana might've got so fed up with his struggles that he started to feed up his belly.

2. Maybe Dominicans gain weight easier than everyone else

When you look at guys like Bartolo Colon, David Ortiz and Juan Uribe, this idea doesn't seem so farfetched. Colon always had trouble keeping his weight down when he was with the Angels and Ortiz is just a big guy in general. Santana went from skinny jeans to puffy cheeks in a matter or weeks/months, but being Dominican won't explain that.

3. Maybe he had an allergic reaction

To bees or a certain medication that caused his face to swell up. This one seems most plausible because Santana doesn't look like he's rocking a big gut. His face just seems swollen and round.

4. Juicing?

With the way the league sets up their random drug tests and how damaging being caught can be to your career (right, Ryan Braun? Oh wait...) you'd have to be a fool to rock the steroids in this era. Well, we found our fool. Fellow Dominican Melky Cabrera was recently popped for having an illegal amount of testosterone in his system. The pressures of being a major league player and making millions of dollars can be too much for some people, and Santana could fall into that category.

Santana is in his contract year and Angels are unlikely to resign him after the inconsistency he's shown this season. Steroids are proven to cause your head to swell and your balls to shrink. I sure hope this isn't the case for Santana, but if he's got raisin testicles, he's gonna be out of a job for more than just the offseason. Let's just hope I'm wrong about all this stuff, and he just happened to get back in line one too many times at the seafood buffet.

Angels Rotation Gets Upgrade (51/81)

Zack Greinke made his first start in Angels red on a warm Sunday afternoon, and pitched brilliantly. Unfortunately, he received zero run support, but he showed why the Angels gave up 3 of their top prospects in order to land the "rental" player.

In 2009, Greinke won the Cy Young award with the Kansas City, so he's no stranger to the American League, but whenever a pitcher is traded to a new team, there's this apprehension with fans wondering how it's going to work out. On Sunday, Greinke eased our worries by throwing 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 8. The two runs he gave up were, in my opinion easily avoidable. One runner reached base when Mark Trumbo lost a ball in the sun, and another when Maicer Izturis wasn't able to reach a ball Erick Aybar would have had an easy time with.

The Angels rotation now includes four former aces, and every pitcher is 31 or younger and in their prime. Ervin Santana, the one anomaly with his inconsistency, has the potential to turn things around a fill out a rotation of 1-2 pitchers who can work deep into games and rack up strikeouts.

Let me humor you and pretend Santana turns things around. The career stats of these 5 men at so young is impressive:

Jered Weaver: 2011 Cy Young runner-up, 3.21 career ERA, 1066 strikeouts, and a 95-48 record racked up in 1247.1 innings.

C.J. Wilson: 2011 Rangers pitcher of the year, 3.48 career ERA, 752 strikeouts, and a 52-42 record racked up in 845.2 innings pitched. Keep in mind Wilson served as a relief pitcher for much of his career before being introduced to the Rangers rotation over a year ago.

Dan Haren: 3-time All Star and former Arizona Diamondback's ace, 3.65 career ERA, 1538 strikeouts, and a 115-92 record racked up in 1815.2 innings.

Zack Greinke: 2009 Cy Young winner, 3.78 career ERA, 1262 strikeouts, and a 85-77 record in 1409.2 innings pitched.

Ervin Santana: threw a no-hitter in 2011, 4.36 career ERA, 1109 strikeouts, and a 91-77 record in 1408.2 innings pitched.

As you can see, the Angels rotation is made up of guys who have shown that they can miss bats in their careers. Certain numbers average out during down stretches because very few pitchers are ALWAYS on throughout their careers, but the current Angels staff has shown consistency throughout their careers to give the Angels a very deep playoff run. The addition of Greinke also gives the Angels another option other than Weaver to start if they end up in a one-game playoff for the final Wild Card spot. No team is going to walk into Angel Stadium predicting a cake walk, even against Santana, and that's a good thing to have in a drawn out playoff series.

Santana Can't Figure It Out (44/81)

Was yesterday's 9-2 loss versus the first place Texas Rangers the last straw for Ervin Santana? If you took to Twitter yesterday through Santana's 1 2/3 innings pitched, you'd certainly think so.

"When did Santana get on the #Rangers payroll? Talk about serving it up on a tee. He needs to go. He stinks. #Angels" -@snelz04

"Call up Mills and send Santana packing!" -@Halomich2

"I'm sure he's a swell guy but it's time to take Ervin Santana to the glue factory." -@MnkysThrwngDrts

Those Tweets were a couple of the nicer ones. Angels fans are upset with Santana. In a season filled with high expectations, Santana has been consistently inconsistent, and it's frustrating. When asked about what has been his problem, Santana turned to the reporter and said, "If you told me, I'd probably make the adjustment."

I wrote in an earlier blogs about things Santana should do to get back into his groove and how Joe Saunder's pep talk sparked Santana. What's most likely to happen now is that Santana will move to the bullpen to provide pitching depth the Angels need there while GM Jerry Dipoto scours the trade market for an arm that can help the Angel's postseason push.

However, manager Mike Scioscia is not ready to move Santana to the pen just yet. He told reporters today that Santana will be put on a 15 out limit to get him aggressive. Silly Scioscia sited former pitchers like Aaron Sele and Scott Kazmir as previous pitchers who the Angels have tried this approach with.

The problem is that 15 outs is more of a goal than a limit. Santana couldn't even manage to get 6 outs before being yanked yesterday, and siting too of the most failed arms in the Angels rotation not named Kelvim Escobar is not the best way to gain fan confidence in this new approach. Be prepared Angels fans, the future looks uncertain.

What do you think the Angels should do with Santana? Leave a comment below.

Santana Throws Gem, Angels Stop and Stare (37/81)

Angels starter, Ervin Santana, struck out 10 and walked none but managed to take the loss thanks to some mental errors by the guys behind him and a lack of offensive production as the Angels lost to the Dodgers 3-1 on Saturday night.

Santana is in the process of turning his season around, throwing great in back-to-back games. The Angels just couldn't find ways to score yesterday, going 1-10 with runners in scoring position. The Angels also seemed to be making bad decisions and mental errors out on the field. It was a poor followup to the 8-5 win from the previous day.

If Santana keeps this up, he may very well solidify his spot back in the rotation before Jerome Williams, who's on the mend, comes back. Garrett Richards, who's pitching today for the Angels, is also fighting for a spot in the rotation and is throwing very well.

Angels Blank D-Backs for 2nd Straight Day (32/81)

Garrett Richards continued to pitch like a major league starter Sunday as the Angels shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 for the second time in as many days.

Richards delivered a worthy follow up to Ervin Santana's 1-hitter, pitching 8 innings and giving up only 4 hits. Ernesto Frieri came in to shut the door in the 9th and picked up his 7th save as an Angel.

With Angels starting pitchers throwing as well as they have been lately, one has to wonder what's going to happen once Jered Weaver (back) comes back to the rotation next week.

The Angels have 6 guys who deserve to be on any rotation in the majors. Obviously Richards is the youngest, least experienced, and would be the first option to go. However, the guy has been lights out since his first start and has found the comfort level that he sorely lacked last season. Taking a starter out of the rotation who is throwing so well and sending him back to Triple A could backfire on the Angels future plans for Richards. The move may stump his development or it could have no effect at all.

The next and only other possibility to get sent down would be Santana, but he earned himself a couple more starters, at least, after his 1-hitter against the D-Backs last night. They're not sending Santana down unless he gives them no choice by falling flat on his face in his next few starts, and I don't see that happening.

Another unpopular, unconventional option would be to go to a 6-man rotation (something the Washington Nationals are considering to do to limit their ace, Stephen Strasburg's inning limit). I'm not a fan of the inning limit because it gives starters too long a rest between starts, which could be detrimental to a pitcher's rhythm.

The last thing would be to move Santana or Richards to the bullpen (something I strongly disagree with) and send a guy like Bobby Cassevah down.

If you were the Angels, what would you do to Garrett Richards when Jered Weaver returns?

Santana 1-Hits D-Backs (31/81)

Two words: ERVIN SANTANA. The Angels worst pitcher this year turned a surprise performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night giving up only 1 hit and 1 walk as the Angels won 2-0.

The year had been absolutely atrocious for the right-hander. Santana was leading the league in home runs given up and not giving his team a chance. However, the couple of times he had thrown well, he received zero run support from his team, let's not forget the Angels are still leading the league in being shut out, but last night was something else entirely.

In the second inning, my friend Andrew texts me:

"Ervin is looking sharp tonight."

Keep in mind, this is the same guy that texted me during the 3rd inning of Jered Weaver's no-hitter a few weeks ago:

"Weaver's got a no-no after 3... pray, my friend, pray like you've never prayed before.  I wanna see a no no!"

It's crazy to call a no-hitter that early in the game, but Andrew has been nearly spot on both times (and he doesn't even text me all that often). Sure enough, Santana was on fire last night and didn't give up a hit until 2 outs in the 7th inning. The outing reminded me of his no-hitter he threw last season, and I really hope this is the turning point of the year for him.

I wrote a few weeks ago about a couple of ideas to get Santana out of his funk. One of the ideas was to talk to a veteran pitcher to get some advice. Little did we know that advice would come from Arizona pitcher, Joe Saunders. Saunders, who came up through the Angels farm system with Santana, pitched in the same rotation for 4 1/2 years, and made the All Star team together, gave a pep talk to Santana on Friday telling him to keep his head up.

"I talked to him (Friday) and said, `Keep your head up, keep doing your thing," said Saunders, pitching on his 31st birthday. "I guess I had some real good advice. He really had it going."

Whatever Saunders told Santana worked. While I don't know how well Saunders would fit into the current Angels rotations, I'll be the first to admit that I miss the guy. He was always proud to wear the Angels uniform and always gave us his all. Maybe he'll be back again someday before his career is up.

For now, if Ervin continues what he started Saturday night in his next game, the Angels would be back to having one of the most feared rotations in all of baseball.

3 Things Santana Should Do To Get His Confidence Back (27/81)

Ervin Santana got shelled for what seems like every time this season, and the Angels couldn't overcome an early deficit as they lost to the Seattle Mariners 8-6.

Mike Trout had four hits, 2 RBIs and a run scored but it wasn't enough to erase the 7 runs Santana gave up in the first 5 innings.

Santana has not been right this year. Whether it's control or focus, he has not been able to miss bats very often. Santana has had the rap of a good year/bad year type of player. He would always follow up a good season with a bad to mediocre season. Last year was the first time he had back-to-back stellar years, and it made us forget about the whole Jekyll and Hyde persona. However, Mr. Hyde has reared his ugly head and, like Bruce Banner and the Hulk in The Avengers, Santana needs to find a way to get it under control.

A couple of solutions that might help the struggling righty:

1. Skip a start:

Give the guy a break, skip his next start and see if he comes back with a fresh look. We often hear about streaks and slumps that a batter can get into, but the same thing happens for pitchers too. If you're beating yourself up, you're going to continue to do so until something messes up your habits.

2. Send Santana to work with a veteran pitcher:

Guys like Chuck Finley or even Clyde Wright, who works right down the street, immediately come to mind. Just like Mickey Hatcher and the Angels offense, whatever Mike Butcher is saying to Santana is clearly not working. He needs to hear something different from someone else, a fresh perspective, to get him out of his own head and maybe fine tune his mechanics some more.

3. Send Santana down to Triple A to get his confidence back:

This one is the one least likely to happen as Santana has been a fixture in the Angels rotation for a few years now, and the Angels don't have any depth at the starter position with Jered Weaver out, but sometimes all you need to do is beat up on someone lesser than you to feel better about yourself.

Trumbomb But No Sweep (23/81)

The Yankees ran away with the final game of the series and beat the Angels 6-5 Wednesday night.

Mark Trumbo hit his 4th home run in as many games, Mike Trout hit a 2-run double, but it wasn't enough to overcome an early hole set by the home run king, Ervin Santana.

Ervin Santana now leads the league in most home runs given up this season with 15. He and Scioscia tried to argue that its because Santana is aggressive and throws the ball hard. Yeah, it's okay to be aggressive, but creativity is more important when you're not missing bats. Santana needs to start pitching smarter. End of discussion.

Bullpen woes have all but disappeared during the 8 game win streak, but they came back in the form of Hisanori Takahashi. The middle-reliever came in to shut down the Yankees, but instead gave up a triple and a sacrifice fly to put the Angels down in the whole again. That's just devastating after you've been battling back from a 5-1 deficit, but hey, it happens.

Angels will face the Texas Rangers this weekend, and you can bet that I'll be there. Texas is coming off a couple of embarrassing losses to the Seattle Mariners, so you know they're coming to town with something to prove.

Angels Avenge Their Shut Out With a Guy Named Mike (18/81)

Mike Trout had a home run, scored three runs, and stole a base (pictured below) as the Angels avenged their shut out loss from last night against the Oakland Athletics 4-0.

Looks like Angels have found their lead-off hitter, and Trout can do it all. The 20-year-old rookie showed again today why his name has always been included in the top 3 prospects since he entered the minors. With blazing speed and 30+ home run potential, he's the kind of guy that can make things happen all on his own. And that's exactly what you need from a lead-off hitter: a guy who can make things happen.

Could Trout eventually make it to the level of Dodger's sensational slugger, Matt Kemp, who is on a personal quest to reach the unprecedented 50/50 plateau (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases)? Only time will tell, but for now Trout is living up to the hype.

I'm trying to shorten my blogs and go with one theme now. What do you guys think? Leave a COMMENT in the comments section below.

Angesl Get Blanked...Again (14/81)

After scoring 9 runs Wednesday, the Angels have fallen back down to earth over the past two games. When I say fallen back down to earth, they literally hit the ground hard.

Same story as Thursday, but with a different pitcher. The Angels got shut out for the second game in a row by Henderson Alvarez (above) of the Toronto Blue Jays, losing 4-0 to fall 10-17 in the season after the 4th consecutive shutout at Angel Stadium.

I've never heard of Alvarez, but it's no surprise to see a pitcher baffle the Angels offense this season. Over the past two games, the Angels have managed just 9 hits, and their defense hasn't been helping very much either.

Poor Ervin

Ervin Santana turned his second quality start in a row, but once again failed to get the win. Santana has given up the most home runs in Major League Baseball and is the owner of a 0-6 record (the first pitcher in franchise history to lose his first six starts, but its not entirely his fault.

In six starts this season, the Angels have provided Santana with only 3 runs for support, and that all came in the first game. The Angels have been shut out each time over the past five Santana starts. It is statistically impossible for a pitcher to receive a win when his own team can't score any runs, so you've got to have some sympathy for a guy who can't keep the baseball in the park.

 Angels Offense

What's there to write here? They haven't done anything for the last two days.

Santana Gets Rocked (3/81)

Happy Easter! Hope you had a good one because the Angels sure didn't.



Ervin Santana made his first start of the season, and like Dan Haren yesterday, his best stuff just wasn't there. Santana gave up 6 runs to the Kansas City Royals on 7 hits and 2 walks in 5 and 2/3 innings. Three of the 6 runs he gave up came in the first inning, putting the Angels in an early hole.

As a former baseball player, it's hard playing catch-up baseball before you've even had your first at-bats. Rather than going up there relaxed, looking for a pitch to hit, you start with the pressure that if you don't score X-amount of runs, you aren't going to win the game.

Even with the added pressure, the Angels always threatened. Despite the final score being 7-3 the Angels had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game, but they couldn't string enough hits together. The Angels finished the game 0-13 with runners in scoring position.

The 3rd Base Experiment

Even with Mark Trumbo's superior batting in the lineup, manager Mike Soscia is going to have to make an important decision very soon regarding the fate of his 3rd baseman. Trumbo committed his third error at 3rd base today in only his second game. The error led to a run scored, and one has to wonder, how many early games are worth sacrificing before Trumbo begins to feel comfortable at the position? The problem here is not lack of skill (Trumbo was more than an adequate 1st baseman last year), but more of a lack of confidence. After Friday's Opening Day game in which Trumbo made two errors, he was beating himself up after the game. He needs to go back and talk to his Little League coach from when he was a kid. He needs to be reminded that mistakes are unavoidable, but you have to do your best to move on from them and limit them in the future. Here's hoping he gets enough time to figure it out, or a move to the outfield might end up in the biggest traffic jam this side of the I-5 freeway.

Lineup Management

Kendrys Morales needs to bat fourth! The switching-hitting, comeback kid needs to be in the batting order right behind the million dollar man, Albert Pujols. Soscia, we don't want to hear it that you're playing matchups based on left-handed pitching. You have the most powerful lineup for the first time in your managerial career since the days of Troy Glaus, Tim Salmon, and Garrett Anderson. The speed is good. The speed is the Angel's identity, but not protecting your best hitter with the second bast bat on your team is just foolish.

The lineup could not put together a string of hits today, and I partially blame Soscia for this mess. The 1-2-3 spots in the lineup batted a combined total of 7 for 13 the Angel's best hitter from the first two games, Morales, dropped to sixth in the lineup followed by Trumbo batting seventh. We get it Mike, you've got a deep team, with Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells completely competent cleanup and number five hitters, but that doesn't mean you need to bat them there when you have better options. Let's accept that we're going to have to deal with lineup tinkering for at least the first month or so, but in Soscia's case, it will probably last the whole season.

That's it for today. Hope your day was filled with love, family, and an abundance of chocolate. I'll be back Monday, April 16th when the Angels host the Oakland A's for their next home game. I'm going to try to make it to Pujols Bobblehead night on the 17th, so wish me luck. As always, follow me on Twitter for my daily thoughts on sports and relevant links and retweets from across the NBA, NFL, and MLB.