The Good: Where do I begin? Angels’ pitching has been outstanding throughout the entire season. Joe Saunders (12-5, 3.07), Ervin Santana (11-3, 3.34) and Francisco Rodriguez (38 saves) all made the All-Star team because of their superb pitching. Saunders and Santana form one of the best starting duos in the game, and with John Lackey (6-2, 2.46) heading up the rotation, Halos’ starting pitching is among the league’s best. We’ve seen Casey Kotchman, Howie Kendrick and Mike Napoli start to come into their own as regular players. All three of them are hitting well and for power, fielding well and becoming a solid core to build the future around. Most of all, the Angels’ defense is among the best in the game, which is a big improvement upon last year. Kotchman is playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at first and the outfield (especially Guerrero and Hunter) have been solid as well.
The Bad: The Angels have seen few bad things during their record-setting first half, but those things are all centered around the offense. The entire offense has been pretty bad, as the Angels are dwelling in the cellar in most offensive categories. They are 11th is batting average, runs and OPS; 12th in on-base percentage and 10th in slugging. Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr., in particular, have grossly under-performed. Matthews has been so bad that manager Mike Scioscia has finally replaced him with Juan Rivera. Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero are producing, but not at their normal rates. The offense as a whole seems to be dragging its feet. While this hasn’t hindered the Halos’ success as of yet, it may come back to haunt them in the second half.
The Future: The Angels will begin the second half of the season at home, well-rested and ready to go. The rotation looks strong with Lackey, Santana and Saunders at the front, the defense looks tight and the offense looks to turn things around after a much needed five-day break. Management looks like it will once again stand pat at the deadline and take their chances with the current team. While the Angels very capable of and should win the AL West, they will have to be running on all cylinders to win in October. Look for the offense to come around in the coming month, as many of the players generally perform better during the second-half.
Overall Grade: A
(Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports)
Tags: Casey Kotchman, Ervin Santana, Gary Matthews Jr., Howie Kendrick, Joe Saunders, John Lackey, Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero
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