Screw Tacos, Angels Want to Take Back The West (56/81)

The Angels came one run short of giving all fans in attendance a free taco from Chronic Tacos with their 9-6 win over the Cleveland Indians last night. When the Angels score 10 runs or more and win, all fans in attendance receive a free taco if they present their game ticket at Chronic Tacos within a week of the game. As much as I'm sure the Angels want to score 10 or more runs every game, I think they're just fine with knocking off a game from Texas and Oakland last night.

The Angels celebrated the 10th Anniversary of their World Series win in 2002 last night. All fans in attendance received a replica World Series ring figurine (above) and former closer, Troy Percival, threw out the first pitch. Percy looks to be pushing the waistband a little more than in his pitching days, but it was a great moment to be at the game last night to witness him back on the field. It feels like yesterday when the Angels beat the Giants in an electrifying 7-game series to win their first title.

Back to the game: The Angels jumped on Indian's starter Ubaldo Jimenez early and never looked back. After the first five batters the Angels sent to the plate, they were up 3-0 with no outs. By the time the first inning ended, the Angels were up 4-0 and had batted around the order.

Good thing those bats didn't cool off though because despite home runs from Albert Pujols and the hot-hitting Erick Aybar, the Angels bullpen started feeling shaky again. Once Indians, and former Angels, first baseman Casey Kotchman hit a 2-run bomb to right field off of LaTroy Hawkins, Mike Scioscia didn't mess around and went immediately to Kevin Jepsen despite there already being two outs.

Ernesto Frieri was able to close the door on this one to earn his 14th save of the season and give Zack Greinke his first win as an Angel. With as shaky as the bullpen has been this month, I can't wait until Scott Downs and Jordan Walden show up, and it better be soon.

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.

Do Angels Have the Best Rotation in Baseball? (49/81)

On Friday, July 28, 2012, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made a move that shocked baseball and grabbed headlines when they acquired starting pitcher, Zack Greinke, from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura, and Double-A pitchers Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg. Armed with arguably the best rotation in all of baseball in the last 10 years, the Angels are mustering all they can to win their second World Series ring 10 years after winning their first one in 2002.

After bouncing back from his firs DL stint in his career due to a bad back, Dan Haren showed, once again, why the Angels have one of the best rotations in baseball. He stifled the visiting Tampa Bay Rays by throwing 6 innings on 5 hits, 1 run and 6 strikeouts on the Angel's way to a 3-1 win.

With the acquisition of Greinke, the Angels rotation looks like this: Jered Weaver, CJ Wislon, Greinke, Haren, and Garrett Richards/Jerome Williams/Ervin Santana. Even if not one person in that final group of 3 shows some consistency to work as a fifth starter, that's still a scary rotation, and rivaled only by one rotation (on paper) in all of baseball and that's the last place Philadelphia Phillies.

When the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee via free agency, the rest of baseball didn't know what to do. How was it possible for three aces on any other staff on baseball to be on the same team. The 2011 Phillies were anchored by Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, one of the best combinations of any pitching staff I have ever seen until the Angels current rotation. Obviously the Phillies current rotation has not won them any World Series rings and, due to injuries and bad luck, they are currently the worst team in the NL East.

We'll have to wait until Sunday's game versus the Rays when Greinke makes his first start wearing Angels red to argue if the Angels have the best rotation, but my gut tells me they do. Expect to see an in depth look at pitching stats versus other major league teams following Sundays game right here at the Hometown Halo.

Leave a comment below telling me which team you think has the best rotation in baseball, or the best rotation EVER, or follow me on Twitter @SteveonSports to tell me what you think.