Time to Replace the Left Side of the Infield.

And 80% of the Bullpen, 2/5ths of our rotation, and the hitting coach.

Brandon Wood does nothing but strikeout and not field well. Erick Aybar does nothing. Brian Stokes, Brian Fuentes, Kevin Jepsen, and Scot "LOL" Shields are all failures in the bullpen.

Joe Saunders and Scott Kazmir look lost on the mound, and I like Mickey Hatcher, but I'll be damned if our hitting is going to be this pedestrian all season long. Hitting was supposed to be our strong point coming into this season. The only offensive piece we lost that produced last season was Figgins, and he isn't exactly lighting up the scoreboard in Seattle. Our hitters are swinging too much, or at the wrong times. The swings look sloppy, and as Hunter said the other day, they are making anyone they face look like Cy Young.

Our terrible pitching is turning around the seasons of guys like Adrian Beltre, JD Drew, and Johnny Damon. Our terrible hitting is turning around the seasons of guys like Bonderman, Lackey and Dice-K.

I hope and pray that when the Angels travel to Seattle, one of the worst hitting teams in the league, the Hitters can scrap together enough runs, and the pitching can be enough to get us at least 2 or 3 wins on this, so far, MISERABLE road trip.

I turned off the game at 11-6. I cant imagine its going to get much better. I've already wasted 3 hours of my day on this awful performance. They arent getting any more from me.

Thoughts:
- At least Jeremy Hermida still has that sweet chin beard. Looks good man.
- I'm happy for Mike Napoli, who finally broke his homer-less streak, but I still have to admit I'm excited for the eventual return of Jeff Mathis.
- Even Boston does the damn Wave? I thought they were REAL baseball fans...

Oh, and on a brighter note, I added a new site banner and my twitter feed. The twitter feed wont always be about baseball, but when I'm at the games, or the games just go too late for me to write a blog that day, it will be a good place to find my thoughts.

Angels Record: 12-18 (I assume)
Outlook: Mad. REAL MAD.

All Hail Our New Savior: Brandon Wood.

Not really. He was decent today, and by decent, I mean he accounted for 100% of our offensive output. He fielded 2 grounders than should have been outs, but turned into hits. He also struck out with the bases loaded, and then again for good measure in the 8th.

Now, I was ready to jump on here and yell for 500 words about how the "Wood Experiment" should be over after he struck out with the bases loaded in the second, then proceeded to give up the first run of the game on what should have been an error. But I have recovered, and since he hit that solo shot, he made up for the run he "gave up".

Todays game was not entirely Wood's fault. In fact, he played out of his mind today, compared to what he has done for the rest of the season. I'm more disappointed with the rest of the lineup. However, I cant really blame them either, because the home plate umpire was giving Lackey that outside pitch all game, even when it wasn't even close. Obvious Boston homer. I'm pretty sure all umpires are.

That being said, I thought today was probably the Angels best 9 innings (technically 8 1/2 innings) of baseball they have played on this road trip. Pineiro had one of his better games of the season. Bulger had a good inning of relief, and Fuentes was up to his usual shenanigans.

It seems like whenever the offense is going, the pitching is serving up batting practice, and whenever the pitching is solid, we look like we are swinging toothpicks out there. This is still a good baseball team, and once we get everything going, the Angels will be a force to be reckoned with.

A few thoughts:
- Jeremy Hermida (Sox Outfielder) has a pretty sweet Chin Beard. Good work, sir.
- Rojas and Gubicza almost seem to have some chemistry going. Only a month in, not bad.
- Matsui played some damn fine Left Field today, damn fine.
- Jason Bulger's performance today actually surprised me. There is hope for our bullpen yet.
- Fuentes, however, was his usual terrible self. Beltre? Really Fuentes, you gave up a home run to Beltre?!
- I HATE the OneWest Bank commercials. That song is getting really old.

Also, I've decided today that I will be signing up for the 2010 All-Star Game Fun-Run (no 5k for me, thank you), and I'd like to encourage all of you to do the same. Everybody hates cancer, lets raise some money against it.

Angels Record: 12-17
Outlook: Strangely Positive.