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What caused Angels’ latest turnaround?
June 17th, 2009, 7:00 am · 4 Comments · posted by Al Balderas, staff writer
Five in a row, huh?
That’s five wins in a row. Five since the now infamous Scioscia scolding last week in Tampa.
Was the manager’s tirade the answer?
Or was it just crappy pitching?
Taking at look at the last five pitchers who faced the Angels as starters, you have to conclude one thing. The Angels’ offense came to life against pitchers who look like they have dead arms.
Friday night vs. San Diego: Angels beat Padres starter Chad Gaudin, who left Angel Stadium that night with a 2-5 record and 6.16 ERA.
Saturday night vs. San Diego: Jake Peavy can’t go so the Padres send Josh Geer to the mound. Geer falls to 1-2 with a loss and his ERA balloons to 6.14.
Sunday afternoon vs. San Diego: Chris Young looks old. The loss is his sixth in 10 decisions this season, while his ERA climbs to 5.21.
Monday night at San Francisco: Barry Zito was good as an AL pitcher but isn’t the same in the NL. He loses (again), his record falls to 3-7, and his ERA is now 4.72.
Tuesday night at San Francisco: Jonathan Sanchez has no answers after losing to the Angels. His record plummets to 2-7 while his ERA moves in the opposite direction (5.43).
Crappy pitching.
If the Angels want to impress somebody, let’s see them beat Tim Lincecum, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. His only loss came on April 12, in his second start of the season.
I’m not saying that the Angels won’t win. I’m just thinking that it will mean more if they’re able to beat a pitcher of Lincecum’s caliber.
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Agreed. However, the Angels have also made nobody pitchers look like Cy Young with their crappy hitting this year. So its nice that we have actually capitalized on facing not-so-great hurlers.
Tirade was in Tampa though…Not Toronto.
Toronto…Tampa whatever. The tirade sometimes is the answer. I know people like to down play it, but sometimes something like that give a team an us against them mentality. It means that balls get pushed to the right side to move the guy on second rather than trying to be a hero. They’re getting it together here and this division is still a cluster you know what
Pitching is still pitching, the Angels can beat up teams for five games straight I’ll take it. Finally the batters are squaring up some balls.
Saw an interesting piece on MLB network that some pitchers are complaining that game balls in the last few weeks appear to be harder than earlier in the season. Any chance one of the professional bloggers could ask a pitcher or coach for a reaction at the next home game?
Al, if the Angels beat Lincecum, will it count for in the standings than any of the past five victories, regardless who pitched against them?
I didn’t think so.