Angels End 2010 Campaign with a W.

In what was likely his final game as an Angel, Hideki Matsui hit a homerun, part of 6 runs that helped propel the Angels past the Rangers for their 80th win of the season. It was his 21st of the season, and his 83rd and 84th RBI's on the season. Sure, those are slightly down from his season last year which culminated in a World Series MVP award, but much better than I would have thought back in May, when he was struggling at the plate and losing AB's to Juan Rivera.

Mark Trumbo finally got his first big league hit yesterday on an RBI-Single. Its highly unlikely he will start the season anywhere but Salt Lake, but the the kind of promise he showed (even going hit-less until yesterday), I doubt he will stay there long.

Dan Haren got his 12th win of the season yesterday, and his 5th as an Angel. In his 14 games as an Angel, Haren posted a 2.87 ERA, going 5-4 with 75 K's to just 25 Walks. His strikeout pace fell a bit, but he continued to get guys out and put the Angels in a position to win.

It was a competitive weekend series with the Rangers, and the Angels were able to hold their own with the West Champs (who begin their Postseason run in Tampa on Wednesday, which we will cover more tomorrow.) As a fan, I'm looking forward to 2011. With Kendry Morales back in the lineup, and a sturdier Bullpen, the Angels could make a deep October run.

Three Games, One Run, No Wins.

Its a really good thing the Angels Front Office (finally) waived the white flag on the 2010 season on Friday, by trading Brian Fuentes to the Twins for a player to be named later, because the Angels players waived an even bigger white flag by laying an absolute egg this weekend against the last place Baltimore Orioles.

After scoring on a Balk in the first inning of Friday's game, they failed to produce another run all weekend. Its a good thing the rest of the 40-Man Roster is here on Wednesday, because the current 25 stink.

There is no possible way the 15 players (mostly prospects) coming up from Salt Lake can do any worse than Hunter, Abreu and Co. have done the last week and a half.

Other than a 12 run explosion on Wendesday afternoon, the Angels have scored 7 total runs in the last week. They have been shutout three times, once by Minnesota, and TWICE by the LAST PLACE Orioles.

The Angels have a favorable schedule in September, so at this point, my goal for the 2010 Angels is to finish with 82 wins for a winning season.

Rangers Magic Number (To Eliminate Angels): 26 (22)
Carl Crawford Countdown: 104