A Tale of Two Players

It's not the most interesting thing in the world, but lets take a look at some stats, shall we?  (Stats taken from 2011 and first 10 games of 2012)

Player A: .219 Average, 27 Home Runs, 70 RBI, 94 K's, Grounded into 9 Double Plays, Makes $21 Million Dollars Per Year.

Player B: .263 Average, 22 Home Runs, 85 RBI, 136 K's, Grounded into 24 Double Plays, Makes $18 Million Dollars Per Year.

Player A gets booed by the home town fans, gets ripped apart by local and national baseball blogs, and is said to have the worst contract in sports history.

Player B is beloved by the home town fans, fans of other teams, and just about everyone in the sports media.

Now, as many of you have figured out, Player A is Vernon Wells and Player B is Torii Hunter, and yes, while Hunter hits for a higher average and has more RBI's for 3 Million fewer dollars per year, he also strikes out a ton and grounds into more double plays (almost 3 times as many).  I get that a big part of this is that Torii Hunter is an extremely nice and funny guy, who often interacts with the media and fans, while Vernon Wells is more the quiet type, and is much more reserved around the few media outlets he speaks to.

At the same time, both are getting paid like they are top 10 outfielders, while neither is putting up the numbers.  Both have won Gold Gloves for their defense, and while maybe Wells has lost a step or two, Hunter continues to have great success after making the move from Center Field to Right Field.  I do think that over the last 172 games, Hunter has been the more valuable player, and is a super nice and personable guy who deserves all the praise he gets from the fans.... but, Vernon Wells doesn't strike out as much as we think he does, hardly ever grounds into double plays, and is far less of a liability out in Left Field than, say, Bobby Abreu.

Next time you think about booing Vernon Wells when he steps up to the plate (just a few minutes after you cheered for Hunter, who ended up striking out), maybe consider that if a few more balls found some grass (or the marine layer didn't knock down a few balls headed for the seats), that Vernon Wells would have numbers incredibly similar to Hunter, who we pay almost as much to do just as average of a job at the plate.

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-Also, congrats to Jered Weaver for reaching 1000 career strikeouts last night against the Oakland A's.  That is no easy task, especially in the AL, where you don't get to face the opposing pitcher 2-3 times a game.

-Another congrats goes out to Kendrys Morales, who hit his first home run since the Walk-Off Grand Slam (and resulting celebration, which took him out of the game for nearly 2 years).  Got his first 4 RBI's of the season last night in a huge 6-0 win.

-Dan Haren looks to rebound tonight from a rough couple of outings against the same Oakland team.  He will face-off against Tyson Ross, a 24-year-old right-hander who has a career 4.18 ERA in 35 Games.

Jered Weaver: The Greatest American Hero

Jered Weaver is the best, around... nothings gonna ever keep him down. Facing down against a four game losing streak, and potentially falling even further back in the West, Jered Weaver brought his "A" game (no pun intended) for the sixth time this season. Solid Offensive contributions from Howie Kendrick and the gang led to an early 5-0 lead, which was more than enough for Weaver.

After Weaver's complete game shutout, his ERA dropped to 0.99. Silly. If there is anyone who will try to argue that Jered Weaver isn't the best pitcher in baseball right now, they clearly have a massive East Coast Bias, and that person should be ignored anyway.

He also struck out 10, and made most of the A's hitters look downright silly. If Weaver can pitch even close to this level for the rest of the season, he is a lock for the Cy Young Award, and hell, maybe even some MVP consideration. He is easily our most valuable player right now, and without him (and Dan Haren), this would likely be a losing ballclub.

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Brandon Wood Update!

Yesterday in Pittsburgh, Brandon Wood finally got to put on a Pirates uniform and start (at third base) for the first time on another club. Wood looked GOOD. Although he was only 1-4, he looked really good in his at-bats, stretching nearly all of them to 3-2 counts, showing a ton of patience and usually getting good wood on the ball. That one hit though? It was a 2-RBI Double that scored the eventual winning runs for the Pirates.

I know its only a coincidence that we are 2-4 since letting him go, but I'd be an awful fake-journalist if I didn't at least point it out.

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Tyler Chatwood, perhaps our third best pitcher at the moment, takes the mound tonight against the A's. He is facing off against Brandon McCarthy, who is 1-1 with a 2.10 ERA this season. It should be a good matchup, and if the Angels can get the win today, a sweep is likely with Dan Haren on the mound tomorrow.

Big Game Hunter Sends Fans Home Happy

After two innings of leaving the bases loaded, and some questionable managerial decisions, the Angels finally win the game on a walk-off single by Torii Hunter. It was the home finale, and what a way to send off the 2010 home season. Sure, it wasn't a celebration of another western division title, but it was still one hell of a way to go out.

The Angels now find themselves 78-80, and in a one game lead for second place over the A's, whom they swept. The Angels start a four game set in Texas to finish the season tonight. If they can manage to win 3 of 4, they will be a .500 baseball club. If they can somehow sweep the Rangers, they will be a winning baseball team. Thats right, the 2010 Angels would have a winning record.

Its a little silly to get that far ahead of ourselves, but just finishing ahead of the A's would be nice, although they are playing an equally meaningless series against the last place Mariners. Regardless, it would be nice to see the Angels end the season strong, especially for the crop of young talent that have shined over the last month.

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In Angels Nation news, we will be taking an announced hiatus (for a change), as I am getting married over the weekend. We will be back Monday, however, to recap the Rangers series, and take an in depth look at the 2010 Postseason.

Remember, you can follow us on Twitter @angelsnationnet, or on Facebook, where we are simply Angels Nation.

Angels Ride Their Future Into Second Place.

The postseason hopes might be done, but the season is far from over. With a win against Oakland last night, the Angels moved into a tie with the team for second place in the West at 77-80. Bragging rights for the second best team in one of the worst divisions in baseball might not seem like much, but its not so much why we are doing it, but who.

Guys like Peter Bourjos, Hank Conger, Mark Trumbo, Jordan Walden Howie Kendrick, and Jeff Mathis have all played integral parts in the teams first two wins against this Athletics club. This is a great experience for these guys who, while they may not be on the 2011 Opening Day Roster, will play important roles in the Angels quest to reclaim the West Title.

A nice winning streak, a second place finish and a .500 record to end the season will go a long way to establishing confidence in these young players, not to mention the veterans who will be looking forward to the early vacation this year to help rest their bodies and minds.

I'll go further into the 2011 Angels later, but for right now, lets enjoy the last 4 1/2 games of the season (the Angels are currently tied with the A's 1-1 in their last home game of the year), wish our compadres in Texas well, and enjoy baseball while its still around.

Carl Crawford Countdown: 74 Days.

Rangers Can't Shut the Door.

Dallas Braden, who earlier this season pitched a perfect game against another playoff team, the Tampa Bay Rays, threw 8 shutout innings last night, only allowing one hit.

It seems like for the last week and a half, the Rangers magic number to eliminate both the A's and Angels, and clinch the West has been less than 10. However, they lost two-of-three to the Angels earlier in the week, and another two-of-three to the lowly Mariners last weekend.

The Rangers are still in good shape, however. Even if they lose the next three against Oakland, they are still up 4 with 7 to play, and they draw Seattle and the Angels in those final games of the season.

At this rate, however, the Rangers could be the last to clinch a playoff spot in the American League, and that could have a pretty terrible effect on the teams chemistry. If the Rangers had played the last 30 games like they played the first 120, they would have clinched weeks ago, but they have seemingly already shut it down for the postseason, hoping to win enough games to get by.

Unless they can manage to win 8 or 9 of their last 10, I'm not going to expect anything but a first round sweep by whatever AL East team they draw in the first round (right now, that'd be the Yankees). The offense almost looks worse than the Angels, and even Cliff Lee, their three month superstar, couldn't get the job done last night against the A's.

They have Tommy "Big Game" Hunter on the mound tonight against an Oakland rookie. If they can't distance themselves from the AL West pack tonight, its likely just an early sign of things to come in October against far superior opponents.

Angels Refuse to Limp Across Finish Line

Ervin Santana threw a complete-game shutout last night for his career best 17th win of the season.

You know, if not for the injury to Kendry Morales and the Miserable performance from our Bullpen, the Angels would have had a pretty good year.

They still can. With last nights win, the Angels are 75-76 on the season, and still just a game and a half out of second place (and 8.5 out of first?!?!).

While I don't think for one second the Angels will actually complete any kind of monumental comeback (Oakland still has a shot, though, considering they start a four game series against Texas in Oakland tomorrow), I think this little run they are putting on to end the season is a great sign for 2011.

Dan Haren tries to complete the sweep against Texas tonight, he will go up against CJ Wilson, who at one point was the teams best pitcher, but has recently come back down to earth.

Cleveland, Now 100% More Depressing.

Who thought that could even be possible?

Another loss to the last place Indians puts the Angels 11.5 games out in the West, and dwindles their elimination number down to 6. That means as soon as Sunday night, the Angels could be eliminated from postseason contention for the first time since 2006.

For all intents and purposes though, the season is over. Even if the Angels win the rest of their games, the Rangers still have 10 remaining games to win 6 more, and eliminate the Angels. Its not like its going to be difficult, either. All 10 are against either the A's or Mariners, including a 3-game set in Seattle starting tonight. With the Angels in Tampa for 3 against the first place Rays, its very likely the Angels season will be over Sunday night.

Personally, I wont be watching this weekends games. In fact, I probably wont watch another baseball game on TV until the playoffs begin in three weeks. The Angels have been hard to watch, even in victories, and my attention has shifted towards the NFL season, and the upcoming NHL season (Pre-season next week!)

However, that doesn't mean Angels Nation is dead for six months, no sir. Once the season is actually over (somewhere around October 4th) I'll do a 2010 season retrospective, along with the seasons best moments and an in-depth look at the season ahead. Not to mention 2010 Postseason and World Series coverage, and once we get into November, some of the most opinionated Hot Stove coverage on the internet!

I was thinking about using the slogan "Angels Nation: Where Angels Baseball is Always On", but I don't want to get sued by the MLB Network, so I've opted for the much more appropriate "Angels Nation: Carefully Documenting How The Angels Will Suck Next Year, Too"

Angels Elimination Number: 6
Carl Crawford Countdown: 86 Days.

Sloppy Win and Deadline Silence.

So, after looking like the season was over in the second inning last night, down 5-0 to the division leading Rangers, who would have taken a 10 game lead with a win last night, The Angels stormed back with power hitting and aggressive baserunning.

While Ervin Santana had a shaky start (3 unearned runs in the first, 4 more runs scattered through the next 3 innings), he had a dominant 5th and 6th innings, then the Bullpen came in and actually shut the door on one of the best offenses in baseball.

It wasn't a pretty win, in fact, it was downright sloppy, but a win is a win. The Division lead is down to 8, with another "must-win" game tonight.

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Since trading for Dan Haren a week ago, the Angels have been all but silent on the Trade front. With the non-waiver deadline having come and gone, it looks like the Angels are just going to be making do with what they have, unless they can get a waiver deal done.

For those unfamiliar with Waiver trades, they can be much trickier, because any other team can snatch a player from waivers. However, many big names have been able to clear waivers in the past in order to get traded after July 31st. Last year, for example, the Angels were able to trade for Scott Kazmir on August 28th.

What's more likely for this year's Angels, however, is if the club once again finds themselves 9 or more games out of first place, its likely that they will trade away some aging players or expiring contracts.

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Dan Haren gets his second start as an Angel tonight against his former Oakland teammate, Rich Harden. Harden is making his first start since June, coming off the DL with a less than spectacular 5.68 ERA. I'll be lucky enough to be there, and honestly, I cannot wait. Haren's chance to be a division winner comes to fruition tonight.

Watch Out Texas, Here We Come.

Its over. Our weekend dismantling of the Oakland A's has come to a close, and the Angels find themselves two and a half games out of first place, with two games in Texas to start a seven game road trip.

Its not going to be an easy trip, with stops in Texas, Chicago to play the ChiSox, and St. Louis, to play the NL Central leading Cardinals. Also, no travel days, at least all these stops are only a few hours flight. Not like the cross-country fun the Angels had on their last trip.

After a 4-2 home-stand, the Angels improved their record to 18-21, and improved their record against Western Division opponents to 6-3. Even if the Angels aren't one of the best teams in baseball, like they have been in years past, they are still clearly ready to defend their AL West crown.

A Few Thoughts:
- Nice to see Bobby Abreu go yard again. Its been a while
- On the off day last Thursday, I thought Texas had a legitimate shot to run away with the West, I thought wrong.
- Good to see Michael Ryan in the lineup again, even if he didn't do much.

Around the League:
Jeff Francis made his first start for the Rockies today since September of 2008. He missed all of last season with arm surgery. He looked incredible in his first start. Although it was against the Washington Nationals, the Nats are no longer the laughing stock of the National League, and have a pretty damn good team. Good to see someone able to recover from that much time off (If only Kelvim Escobar was so lucky).

This Team is Under Construction.

Wins will not be available during construction. For all your Wins needs, please visit one of our other 29 teams.

It seems like just yesterday, we had won 3 of our last 4, and things were looking up... Because it WAS yesterday.

Now, the Angels have lost 3 of 4, drop an important home series. The Angels have dropped to a dismal 6 games below .500.

Its really hard to find one thing that they did wrong, I mean, other than play average defense. Budde had two passed balls, and the fielders just looked lost out there.

I'm almost positive that Erick Aybar is not an actual player, but a hologram. Jared Weaver had a fantastic game on the mound with 12 k's in 7 innings of work. He only allowed one earned run. Its pretty clear that Budde and Weaver should NEVER be battery mates again this season. I dont really like Napoli behind the plate when Weaver pitches either, but at least he catches balls. You know... like a "Catcher".

A few thoughts:
- I'm too mad to think

Angels Record: 15-21
Outlook: If the Angels cant win the weekend series against Oakland, this place will be one step closer to becoming a Washington Nationals blog.