Can Angels contend? No

It's tough to say some baseball team can forget about going to the playoffs so early in June. But the Angels are so far down after botching last week's home stand that they have no remaining realistic chance of climbing into the 2013 playoff hunt.

There's still a lot of baseball to be played this year at Angel Stadium, but none of it will include a playoff race (Brandon Fick/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Share Alike license).


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

One hates to put a tombstone over a baseball team so near to Memorial Day, but it's hard to be hopeful for the Angels after the home stand they botched lately against three clubs they should have defeated.

Now, we're coming to roughly the last 100 games of the season across big league baseball, and it's hard to miss what the Angels have become. Far from joining the contending class, the Angels are 27-36, firmly joined to the American League's mediocracy of nobodies. For the Angels to jump back into the playoff race ... forget it. They would now have to win right around 63 percent of their remaining games, which would put them right at 90-72, and they still would likely finish a couple games behind the second wild card.

Unless the mediocracy rises en masse against the aristocracy, which is the seven clubs now competing for five AL playoff spots, there is no chance for any team in the mediocracy to last into October. The gap is simply too large.

Just to refresh ourselves about the players, the AL aristocracy is the cream, and the mediocracy is not even the dream.

Within the cream, we find the three division leaders -- the Boston Red Sox in the AL East, the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central and the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The Red Sox are the surprise here, leading the AL with 336 runs through June 9 after all but throwing in the towel on 2013 with their fire sale trade to the Dodgers last August. The Red Sox have thrived because of unexpected hitting from unexpected sources like Mike Carp and Jose Iglesias, along with, if we want to count him as such, designated hitter David Ortiz, who only lasted for half of last year. Of course, Detroit and Texas as division leaders surprise no one.

The wild card contenders are mostly the clubs chasing Boston in the AL East. Tops among them are the New York Yankees, who, like the Red Sox, were supposed to regress this year. The Red Sox were supposed to suffer from depletions and the Yankees were supposed to suffer from injuries. Instead, they are right where we are used to seeing them, first and second, in some order, in the AL East. The scrum in that division also includes the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays. Over in the AL West, the Oakland Athletics are in wild card position. All of these clubs either are in playoff position, or they're within 2 1/2 games of it. Over in the AL Central, no one.

The AL Central is this year's lonely boulevard of broken dreams. General managers from Cleveland to Kansas City figured they might be just a player or two away from beating on their weak brethren to sneak into a wild card position this year. And it is true that their AL Central brethren are weak. But so are they. Every team in the AL Central, except Detroit, is below .500.

Which puts the Royals and Indians, along with the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, into the same blender with the Angels, the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays as the AL mediocrities.

For a moment there, it appeared that the Angels would become something -- if not a contender, then, at least, a treacherous wannabe. They won eight games in a row during one stretch of May, lifting themselves from 15-27 to 23-27, cutting 3 1/2 games off their deficit to the Rangers and reducing it, eventually to 8 1/2 games. Many playoff teams have started worse, and the Angels apparently had at least stabilized.

But the winning streak turned out to be an illusion, an outcome of poor competition. The vanquished along the way were the White Sox, the Mariners and the Royals, who all were in last place, or next to it. The last six of those wins came on the road, so there was something to it. But the road took a familiar turn at the end of May in, of all places, Los Angeles, where the Angels faced another last place team, the Dodgers.

In the first game, the Angels quickly availed themselves of the Dodgers' disoriented interior defense, which is frequently offered to the guests at Dodger Stadium. Winners of eight in a row already, the Angels scored two runs in the first on a strikeout. But the good times ended soon. The Angels blew a 6-1 lead in the middle innings on their way to an 8-7 loss. Next night, the Angels were quieted by Dodgers left hander Hyun-jin Ryu in another loss.

Back in Anaheim for the last two games of this year's Freeway Series, the Angels apparently righted themselves with two straight wins against the Dodgers. They were 25-29, just about to right their season. The worst team in the American League, the Houston Astros, was on its way in for a four-game series.

The AL West contenders this year received a gift, the Astros in their division. In the last two full seasons, the Astros won 56 and 55 games, barely more than one-third of their games. This year, through Sunday, the Astros were 22-42, winning barely more than one-third of their games. The 20 Astros games added to the schedules for the AL West clubs stood to be easier to win than the games they replaced against other AL clubs. The Astros were a gift to the Rangers, the Oakland Athletics and the Angels.

The Rangers and Athletics have availed themselves of that gift. The Rangers are 5-1 against the Astros and the Athletics are 9-0.

The Angels have not availed themselves of that gift. They are 3-7 this year against the Astros after the Houstonians swept four from the Halos at the Big A from May 31 through June 3. Right off of that disaster, the Angels split two at home against the rebuilding Chicago Cubs. The Angels then went back on the road and lost two of three at Boston heading to a three-game series starting tonight in Baltimore.

A year ago at this point, the Angels were 33-30, second place in the AL West, 3 1/2 games behind Texas in the division and three games down to the second wild card. Right now, they are a full seven games worse than that, not only in terms of their record, but their deficit in both playoff races.

Might as well call it off now. From this point last year, the Angels were 56-43. If they do that again, they will finish barely better than .500. To do better than that, they would have to be better than they were last year.

And they're not.

Angels hits, missing in April, showing up now

Weeks ago, the Angels couldn't hit, and they lost more than they should. Now, the Angels can't pitch, and they win more than they should. What happened to all those hits the Angels didn't get in April? They are getting them now.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

For sheer versatility in a baseball team, you can't beat the Angels. About six weeks ago, it seemed every game they were in was a pitchers duel, and the Angels lost more than they should. Now, every game they're in is a slugfest, and the Angels win more than they should.

It's not the optimum situation for the Angels, who will fight with the Baltimore Orioles three more times at the Big A this weekend before taking a breather for the All-Star break. They would like more security about their starting rotation, which used to be about 80 percent reliable and now is more like 50 percent reliable. One figures that Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson will succeed in their turns, but the rest has become trouble.

Dan Haren finally had to give in and go to the disabled list with back trouble that has plagued him all season. His effectiveness has been limited to 6-8, 4.79. Ervin Santana's effectiveness has been even more limited, to 4-9 and 5.75. The bad news there, perhaps, is that Santana's trouble doesn't have a physical explanation, so far as we know. Haren and Santana have, between them, pitched 207 innings of the 735 1/3 innings logged so far by the staff, about 28 percent of the innings. But they have combined to give up 36 homers, nearly half of the 75 home runs allowed by the entire staff.

Further into the rotation, we find Garrett Richards, a young right hander who is going to struggle from time to time. And the Angels still don't know when their No. 5 starter, Jerome Williams, is coming off the disabled list.

But the Angels still won the first of four with the Orioles Thursday night, 9-7. Finally, the Angels' offense is paying them back for all those misfires at the start of the season. They weren't as poor of a hitting club as they appeared when they were losing 3-2 all the time, and now they're not as good of a hitting team as they appear while they win 9-7.

Angels pitchers have allowed 60 runs in their last eight games. In the general run of baseball, that's an eight-game losing streak. At best, one would expect six losses in those eight games. But the Angels actually have won four of them, even though they scored only 46 runs.

Though the Angels began the year with starting pitching as their strongest component, the bats are carrying them through this most victorious stretch of the season. In the last four weeks, June 8-July 5, the Angels are batting .308. In those 25 games, of which the Angels won 17, they have flashed a well rounded offense with 33 homers and 26 steals in 31 attempts. The only downside to their offense is an average of 2.7 walks per game, which is up very slightly from the 2.4 walks per game they were averaging when they fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher in mid-May.

This surge in the Angels' offense coincides with the installation of Torii Hunter as the No. 2 hitter in Colorado on June 8. A month earlier, of course, along came Mike Trout, the closest thing we have in the game to Rickey Henderson right now, and he took over the leadoff position. Then, Albert Pujols began to hit in the No. 3 hole. And then it became a really sharp idea to slide Hunter into the No. 2 position, because he doesn't just hit the ball to right field, but he hits the ball hard to right field.

Now, with Kendrys Morales hitting cleanup and Mark Trumbo in the No. 5 position, this top half of the Angels batting order can produce with anybody. Behold the numbers for Trout through Trumbo, one through five, from June 8 until now:

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip
Trout	104	29	39	6	0	5	16	10	0	24	1	0	2	0	17	0	.375	.427	.577	1.004	.442
Hunter	94	18	29	1	0	4	18	5	0	21	1	0	1	4	2	0	.309	.347	.447	.793	.357
Pujols	94	18	32	8	0	5	18	11	4	9	2	0	2	3	3	0	.340	.413	.585	.998	.329
Morales	71	6	21	5	0	1	9	3	0	18	2	0	0	2	0	0	.296	.342	.408	.751	.385
Trumbo	100	13	25	1	2	8	24	6	2	20	1	0	0	3	0	1	.250	.299	.540	.839	.236

On the question of whether replacing Hatcher with Jim Eppel has made a material difference in the club's offense, we offer no answers. However, at least coincidentally, the Angels are a much different and better offensive team in the seven weeks since the change. Take a look at this table showing the Angels' per-game averages and rate stats in games through May 15, when Hatcher was fired, along with the same numbers for the games since then:

Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Through May 15	33.4	3.6	8.4	1.6	0.1	0.9	3.4	2.4	0.1	6.7	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.8	0.5	0.1	.250	.301	.379	.680
Since May 15	34.6	5.1	9.9	1.7	0.2	1.2	4.8	2.9	0.2	6.3	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.8	1.0	0.3	.287	.344	.451	.795

Between hits and walks, the Angels are putting two more men on base every day, and now they're hitting an extra home run for every three they used to hit. If one or two of those extra runners is on when one of those extra homers comes up, it changes a game. Notice also that the Angels are way up in their base stealing efforts, which is getting them over, and their sacrifice flies, which is getting them in.

Of course, Hatcher and Eppel have less to do with this than Trout, Hunter, Pujols and company. If you were ever worried that the Angels would get back those hits they didn't get in April, they're getting them back now. And just when they need them.

A brief comparison of the Dodgers and Angels

The Angels and Dodgers finally meet Monday through Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. Both clubs are hot and in the hunt. They also have common opponents and circumstances, enough so that we can all-but-directly compare them a bit before they step on the same field.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

In this corner, it's harder to live with interleague play between the two leagues than with the designated hitter within one. But we must live with interleague play, so you shall here witness one man's desperate effort to make a virtue of a necessity.

The Angels and Dodgers will meet for three this week at Dodger Stadium and three more next week at Angel Stadium with a real question before us right now about which club is better. Both are in the tie on top of the major leagues at 19-11 in their last 30 games. The Dodgers have maintained the best record in baseball without Matt Kemp. The Angels are actually hotter than that, 14-4 as they've surged to within three games of the Texas Rangers in the American League West.

These games should draw considerable interest across the baseball world, as they involve two of the game's sharpest clubs. We could just argue about which one is better, but now we'll have them play a few games first, then pick up the argument later.

Entering the series, due to the interleague play that makes it possible, we already have an interesting basis for comparing the two clubs, because they have played two of the same opponents under similar conditions in the last ten days. Both have played the Seattle Mariners with the designated hitter in pitchers parks, while both have played the Colorado Rockies without the designated hitter in the ultimate hitter's park, Coors Field.

We present, then, a few tables, just for the purpose of momentary compare and contrast, maybe to give us some clues about what to expect when the Dodgers and Angels meet. There's nothing of an evergreen nature to be learned here. They're just snapshots of the two teams in pretty nearly the same conditions at the same time.

The Dodgers played in Colorado June 1-3. The Angels played Seattle at Angel Stadium June 4-6. Then, June 8-10, the Angels played three in Colorado and the Dodgers played three at Seattle. The Angels have a slight advantage in playing Seattle at home. Checking the park factors, where 100 is average and the higher number favors hitters, Safeco Field's multi-year number for pitchers is 93, Angel Stadium's number for pitchers is 95, and Colorado's number for hitters is 117.

The uncommon opponents in the last ten days: The Angels played three at home against Texas June 1-3, while the Dodgers played four in Philadelphia June 4-7. Both teams were successful in those endeavors. The Angels won two of three to push their case with the Rangers, and the Dodgers swept the depleted Phillies.

So, just taking together the six games the Angels and Dodgers each played against Seattle and Colorado, here is how they hit.

Team	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels	218	46	75	12	21	43	3	7	7	.344	.402	.569	.971	44
Dodgers	199	27	48	4	24	39	8	9	2	.241	.320	.367	.687	38

Doesn't seem to be much of a contest. The Angels are bashing the ball and the Dodgers are struggling offensively. Note the walk and strikeout totals. The Dodgers are supposed to be the club working the approach of Joe Torre's Yankees, taking the deep count and the walk get into the bullpen, while the Angels are supposed to be about working the good count to put the ball in play and making the game move. But, here, the Angels are close to the Dodgers in both of those categories, walks and strikeouts, and look at what they are doing offensively.

Cleveland leads the major leagues in walks per game at 3.81, followed by the New York Mets (3.68), Tampa Bay (3.62), Arizona (3.58) and the Dodgers (3.52). Pittsburgh (2.22) is the worst walking team, followed by Philadelphia (2.38), the Chicago White Sox (2.52), Kansas City (2.57), and the Angels (2.69). But here we see the Angels walking about like the Dodgers for the last week, and hitting better than the Dodgers have hit all year.

Breaking it down a tiny bit further, here is how both clubs hit against the Mariners in pitchers parks. Bear in mind that Safeco Field (multi-year park factor of 95 for pitchers) is, like Angel Stadium, a pitchers park.

Team and opponent	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels vs. Mariners	102	18	33	6	11	21	4	1	1	.324	.385	.569	.953	22
Dodgers vs. Mariners	98	16	25	2	10	20	6	4	2	.255	.321	.357	.678	13

Clearly, the Angels hit much more in their games with the Mariners. Mix in a futile night for the Dodgers, who were no-hit by six Seattle pitchers on June 8. Yet, for the three games in total for each team against the Mariners, the Angels scored only two more runs. The Angels did not score as much as they could have for as much as they hit. Though they hit six homers in the three games, they only scored 18 and left 22 on base. The Dodgers homered only twice, but they scored 16 and left 13. The Dodgers' two homers were early daggers -- Andre Ethier's second inning grand slam on Sunday, and Jerry's Hairston's three-run blast in the first inning the day before then. For all that general advantage in hitting, the Angels lost two of their three to Seattle, against which the Dodgers won two of their three.

Perhaps how both of these teams batted at Coors Field gives us some idea of where these teams are at offensively. Or maybe not.

Team and opponent	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels at Colorado	116	28	42	6	10	22	3	6	2	.362	.419	.569	.988	22
Dodgers at Colorado	101	11	23	2	14	19	2	5	0	.228	.319	.376	.695	25

Has anyone ever heard of a club going into Coors Field and stinking up the place offensively like the Dodgers in that series? That is embarrassing. Two home runs in three games at Coors Field? The Dodgers did a fine job of walking and not striking out, but they hit so little that they only scored 11 and left 25 stranded. The Dodgers were on such an emotional low, having just been swept four at home by Milwaukee, losing the cushion they built during a well-played run at home and learning that Kemp was going back on the disabled list. Not even Coors Field could cure their hitters. Just 11 runs in three games. And they still won one of them.

The Angels are just killing the ball, slugging .569 wherever they go. Torii Hunter might want to consider Colorado as his free agency destination this winter. He finished his Coors Field engagement nine for 15 (.600) with eight runs, three homers and nine RBI. Subtracting his homers so they aren't counted twice, Hunter scored or drove in more runs (14) in his three games at Coors Field than the Dodgers (11). By that measure, also, Hunter was half of the Angels offense in the Colorado series, a three-game sweep for the Angels concluded on Sunday.

So, that's the hitting in these six common games for each team. The Dodgers won three of theirs despite not hitting a lick, while the Angels lost two of theirs despite hitting like a lineup of Hall of Famers. Maybe the pitching has something to do with those outcomes. So, here is the composite pitching for both teams in the six common games.

Team	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels	54.0	60	32	30	18	43	10	5.00	6	33%	2	1	3
Dodgers	51	44	24	19	25	51	5	3.35	10	10%	5	2	3

That line for the Angels looks like it belong to a pitching staff that just did six of six games at Coors Field, rather than three of six. The pitching line for the Dodgers looks like it belongs to a staff that just did zero of six games at Coors Field, rather than three of six. What's funny about it is that these two pitching staffs did nearly the same at Coors Field.

Team and opponent	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels at Colorado	27.0	33	15	15	5	23	7	5.00	1	0%	1	0	3
Dodgers at Colorado	25.0	27	18	13	14	18	3	4.68	6	17%	4	1	3

For all major league teams this year, the combined earned run average at Coors Field is 5.79, nearly two runs higher than the era of 3.98 for all big league games at all parks. So, that 4.68 for the Dodgers is looking pretty good, and that 5.00 for the Angels isn't bad, either. Of course, both clubs have better than average pitching. The Dodgers stayed away from throwing the home run ball pretty well, apparently by staying away from throwing strikes. The Dodgers gave away an awful lot in their series at Coors Field. We already saw it with the hitting, and now we see it in their pitching and defense -- four stolen bases, just less than five walks per game and five unearned runs in the three games, of which they lost two.

Perhaps more than any other factor entering this week's games between the Angels and Dodgers, we look to the Angels pitching staff, which has been in a blue funk for the last week, ever since they completed their series with the Rangers. One might look at these Coors Field numbers for the Angels and say, "Well, that's Coors Field." However, just as the Dodgers and Angels have very similar pitching numbers at Coors Field this month, the Angels have very similar pitching numbers at Coors Field and their own home park this week. Here are the pitching numbers for the Angels and Dodgers during the last week against Seattle. The Angels played these games at home, while the Dodgers played them in Seattle.

Team and opponent	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels vs. Seattle	27.0	27	17	15	13	20	3	5.00	5	40%	1	1	0
Dodgers vs. Seattle	26.0	17	6	6	11	33	2	2.08	4	0%	1	1	0

Such a peculiar week it's been for the Dodgers. They began their road trip looking dead in Colorado because they didn't hit. But their pitching there, on the whole, was very effective. Then, the Dodgers received, perhaps, exactly what they needed. It seems like they've been playing the same teams and in the same places for two months. Suddenly, they fly across the country to Philadelphia and sweep four games, taking three of them by one run and allowing a total of 12 runs in the series. Next, they fly back across the country to Seattle and play the very next day. So, the Mariners threw a no-hitter at them. But the Angels, who had just played Seattle, beat into the Mariners bullpen a little bit. When the Mariners needed five relievers to protect a 1-0 win in the no-hitter, their pen had little left for the next two games against the Dodgers, who scored eight runs in each of them. In the first of those games, the Dodgers smashed left hander Jason Vargas for five runs in six innings using a lineup that alternated left- and right-handed hitters throughout. The same general lineup enabled the Dodgers to chase Philadelphia lefty Cole Hamels in an 8-3 win two days earlier. So, in the midst of their travels, the Dodgers might have discovered a lineup mix that can solve their troubles against left handers.

Meanwhile, pitching at home against a fairly light hitting Seattle club in a pitchers park, the Angels racked up a 5.00 ERA as they lost two of three to the last-place team in their own division. When the Angels were going badly, we were able to credit their pitching for keeping them in games. Now that they're going well, though, their hitting is terrific and their pitching takes them out of games. In this mix of Seattle games, the Angels got one dreadful start from Ervin Santana and a bad start from Jerome Williams. Despite scoring 21 runs in the three games, the Angels lost two of them.

Playing Monday through Wednesday at pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, the Angels do not have hot pitching, but the Dodgers do. However, the Angels have hot hitting and the Dodgers don't. They say that good pitching beats good hitting. How does hot pitching do against hot hitting? Maybe, we're about to find out.

The Rangers are coming ... but so are the Angels

When last the Angels faced the Texas Rangers, they lost two of three while the Rangers scored 25 runs. The Angels left Arlington eight games down in the AL West. Now, the Rangers are in Anaheim this weekend. The Angels, 11-6 since they left Arlington, are presented a serious opportunity to put themselves into the divisional race.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Man, we were really weepin' and wailin' back in middle May, when the Angels left Arlington, TX, at the end of a very frustrating encounter with the defending American League champions.

The Angels lost two of three to the Texas Rangers, who were so locked in at the moment that they seemed unstoppable. Their 13-6 win to close out the Angels series was their fourth trip to double-digit scoring in seven games. Scheduled early against some of their more serious rivals, the Rangers beat most of them to a pulp. A very for real ball club.

That final loss in Arlington intensified the sense that maybe the Angels are up against a little too much this year. Though the Rangers won it by a touchdown and the extra point, the game had a “just missed" feeling about if for the Angels. They had their ace, Jered Weaver, pitching for a chance to win the series, and Weaver continuously worked ahead of the Texas hitters. But the Rangers were so focused that they consistently turned 0-2 into long at-bats ending with singles and doubles. Weaver left the mound in the fourth inning talking to himself.

The loss left the Angels at 15-20. Maybe it was going to be that kind of year. And, maybe, the Rangers are just too good, anyway.

Since then, the Angels are 11-6. The Rangers are 8-8. And the Rangers are in Anaheim this weekend, starting with a game Friday night at Angel Stadium. The Angels are doing much better now. They might even be favored to pass this weekend’s audition for Pennant Race Theater.

Since the Angels left Arlington, they have picked up 2 1/2 games and now they are down 5 1/2 games to the Rangers in the American League West, where they now are the second-place team instead of the last-place team. The Angels have picked up ground within the division, going 7-2 against Oakland and Seattle since they left Arlington. During that same period, the Rangers are 3-5 against Oakland and Seattle.

Returning home on May 14, the Angels split two games with Oakland. The A's then moved straight on to Texas and split two games with the Rangers in Arlington. The Rangers went to Seattle May 21-23 and lost two of three to the Mariners. The Angels immediately followed the Rangers into Seattle and swept four games.

That's sort of the head-to-head picture, within the division, at this moment. Which club is better, right now? You decide. Or, we can just see what happens when they play.

Friday night, the Angels send Jerome Williams (5-2, 3.81) against Colby Lewis (4-3, 3.58) for the Rangers. The Texas hitters are 12 for 19 with four homers and eight RBI against Williams. The bulk of that came on May 12, when Williams came in for C.J. Wilson after a rain delay in Arlington. See what Williams does when he pitches against the Rangers on his own night. Mark Trumbo is four for ten and Peter Bourjos is five for 16 against Lewis, but the Angels hitters are otherwise undistinguished against the Texas right hander.

The middle game on Saturday will feature a rematch of Wilson (6-4, 2.77) and Texas right hander Yu Darvish (7-2, 3.25), for whom Wilson was essentially shown the door by the Rangers at the end of last season. They were the pairing on that night of the rain delay. Let's just say that Darvish received more accolades for coming back out after the rain than Wilson received for starting the next day. Saturday, they might actually pitch a full game against each other.

Sunday, the series closes with a mystery pitcher for the Angels. It's Weaver's turn, but the ace is out with back trouble. The Angels haven't announced rookie right hander Garrett Richards (0-0, 0.00) as the starter, but he seems the likely pick. Richards, 24, was the Angels' No. 1 pick in 2009 out of the University of Oklahoma. He has come quickly, covering all levels of minor league baseball with a 32-10 record and a 3.31 ERA in less than three years. The Rangers will counter with lefty Matt Harrison (6-3, 4.41).

Ending that series in Arlington early last month, we saw nothing to make us believe the Angels could become a going concern in the American League West. They were eight games behind already and trending downward, while the Rangers trended upward. Seeing no hitting, we saw no resilience. After all, you can’t be resilient if you can’t hit back.

But now the Angels are able to hit back, and that has enabled them to bounce back. And if they can summon a sweep of the Rangers this weekend, they will have bounced back to within 2 ½ games of the AL West lead.

Angels unlikely win sets scene for more

On a night when the Angels certainly needed their ace pitcher, Jered Weaver's back gave out after throwing 12 pitches to the New York Yankees. But there was something a little different about the Angels Monday night at the Big A. It's called hitting. The Angels finally did a bit of it, and they suddenly looked like a different team.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in LA

At the Big A Monday night, the first inning alone contained enough twists and turns for an entire baseball game. But they played the other eight innings, anyway, and the game was never any worse for it.

The Angels blew down so many doors with their 9-8 win against the New York Yankees that they almost don't look like the same team in its wake. For the moment, at least, they aren't a losing team, climbing to 25-25 with their seventh straight win.

Beating the Yankees in a slugfest is never a small achievement. Winning the slugfest after joining it reluctantly is even more to be esteemed. But that's what the Angels were up against when Jered Weaver's back gave out just 12 pitches into his much anticipated start against the Yankees Monday night. Pitching at Angel Stadium for the first time since no-hitting the Minnesota Twins on May 2, Weaver lasted only three hitters against the Yankees and left the field with audible signs of outrage.

Weaver's departure looked too much like the wrong kind of ding at the wrong time for a club that was just finding traction. Weaver, being the guy you trust to shut down the best offenses, had to be wanting this one after a difficult outing at Texas on May 13. Now, he goes down after not getting an out in the very first of three games against the Yankees, who are already going to tax your pitching staff. The Angels were down, 3-0, before they even went to bat.

But then we saw true fight in the Angels, and the cloud passed over the immediate situation while they scored four runs in their half of the first inning to take the lead. Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Kendrys Morales, Mark Trumbo are all guys who you think are going to hit, and they all hit in the rally. Quite refreshing for a team that scored a total of five runs in three straight losses about a week earlier.

Whether because they were momentarily called to excellence or because they were facing Yankee starter Phil Hughes, the Angels made contact like we haven't seen this year. Even as the Yankees hacked away at the Angels bullpen, inning by inning, the Angels remained in strong position all night because of their hitting. So, the Angels won one against a contender by hitting. It almost hadn't seemed possible.

But it was always possible, largely because of one guy who kept producing for the Angels through the bad times, the same player the Angels sort of nudged aside when they signed Pujols. A lot of clubs would have looked at Mark Trumbo at the end of last year and said, "Hey, we have a 25-year-old right-handed hitting first baseman who just hit 29 bombs his first year in the big leagues. Maybe we have that part of the equation solved and we can address some other areas of need on our ball club." But the Angels made the entertainment decision and signed Pujols with hopes for a marketing payback.

Not saying at all that the signing Pujols is a poor baseball decision. Anyone with the bucks would have made it, and we're seeing lately the difference it makes when Pujols trades those 385-foot fly balls for 120-foot line drives. He starts receiving 420-foot home runs as a kickback. However, the Angels were not compelled by their baseball circumstances to sign Pujols, and the signing did, in fact, present the Angels with the new problem of fitting Trumbo's bat into the lineup.

The fairy tale wish had it that Trumbo would graduate after six weeks at Geppetto's workshop in Tempe, AZ, as a passable big league third baseman. After Trumbo made three errors at third during the first two games of the season, the Angels backed off. Meanwhile, the tepid state of the Angels offense made it urgent to put Trumbo in the lineup. Trumbo has taken starts at five positions -- third base, first base, designated hitter, left field and right field. With Torii Hunter coming back now from his family leave, Angels manager Mike Scioscia told radio announcer Terry Smith the other day that we can expect to see a lot of Trumbo in left field, with Trout in center and Hunter in right.

All night Monday, when the Angels needed star hitting, one of the least expensive players on their roster provided it. In the first inning, Trumbo hit a ground-rule double to drive in a run. In the third, he led off with a triple and scored on Kendrick's sacrifice fly.

And leading off the bottom of the ninth, of course, we saw what happened. Yankee reliever Cory Wade threw a 1-1 changeup that drifted in to Trumbo, who crushed it into the left field seats to end the game as a 9-8 Angels victory.

It was a win on a night when winning seemed momentous and impossible for the Angels. Now, they get to go out for another one.

The Yankees are coming back Tuesday night with 40-year-old left hander Andy Pettitte, who is making his fourth start since taking a year of retirement. Pettitte (2-1, 2.53) has whiffed 17 batters in his last 15 innings. The Angels, who can pitch with anyone in the American League, will counter with Dan Haren (2-5, 3.76). The road has not been smooth this year for Haren, but he might have gotten well with a 14-strikeout performance last Thursday in Seattle.

A win for the Angels Tuesday night would give them a winning record for the first time this season. And it would place them within one game of the Yankees for the league's final playoff spot with barely more than 110 games remaining for each team.

As Pujols struggles, Angels sink quickly in AL West

We all said, before the 2012 season started, that no park could hold Albert Pujols. It turns out, so far, that they every park can hold him.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in LA

Albert Pujols had never batted at Angel Stadium when the Angels signed him last winter for ten years and $240 million, knowing he would play half his games there. It never occurred to anyone that it should make a difference. We all said no park could hold Pujols, and many went so far as to suggest that the addition of Pujols would paper over all the club’s other ills and produce a pennant.

The Angels ended a 2-4 home stand against Oakland and Baltimore on April 22. Opening the season, the Angels lost two of three at home to Kansas City. While the Angels struggled at home against mediocre competition, their prize acquisition went homerless in 70 plate appearances at his new home park.

Balls that flew out of Busch Stadium went to die in front of the 387-feet sign marking left-center field at the Big A. The only deeper mark in straight left center is Coors Field, situated in Denver's thin air. A mile above sea level, the hitter must reach all the way out to 390 feet in that direction.

The right-handed hitter's power field in Anaheim not only is all but the most spacious in the game, but it is also the thickest. The ocean cools a surface layer of air over the coast at night and kills fly balls. Torii Hunter said the marine layer was going to get Albert a time or two, and it has.

But it's not just the marine layer keeping Pujols in the park. Pujols also has played this year at Target Field, Yankee Stadium and Tropicana Field without homering in any of them. Pujols is homerless in his first 19 games with the Angels, and now his power outage has become a general slump, one-for-22 since a three-hit night against Oakland on April 19. He’s batting .224 with one go-ahead hit all year.

He'll try to break out of it tonight in Cleveland. The Indians have been terrible at home, 2-6 and down more than two runs per game. The head-to-head results tell us that the Tribe has squeaked a few out against Kansas City, Oakland and Seattle, but is not on equal terms with the Chicago White Sox, and certainly not with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 9-8 Indians are tied with Detroit and Chicago on top of the AL Central. Of those teams, Detroit has been most weighted down by a heavy schedule, going 6-4 against Boston, Tampa Bay and Texas.

But the Tigers are reeling right now, losing six of their last seven. They were a fat and happy 9-3 after sweeping three at Kansas City. Then they went home and ran into a club that really means business, the Texas Rangers, who immediately dealt them 10-3 and 10-4 drubbings. The Tigers and Rangers split a pair of 3-2 games to finish the series, but Detroit's damage carried over to a visit from the light-hitting Seattle Mariners, who outscored the home club 21-9 in a three-game sweep.

The Angels were supposed to be better than all those clubs, including, perhaps, Detroit. Instead, they're 6-13 with their only series win coming against Baltimore at home. Just now, Tampa Bay pitched all over the Angels at Tropicana Field, holding them to five runs in three games. The Angels' only good hitter right now is their man without a position, Mark Trumbo. Except for Jared Weaver and C.J. Wilson, the pitching staff has been disappointing.

The Rangers are the team the Angels need to beat in the AL West, but it seems now that no team can beat the Rangers, who are 15-4 overall and 7-2 in games against the Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers. The Rangers have won every series they have played, and they have won them all decisively. They're blowing teams out -- 5-0 in games decided by five or more runs. The Rangers are at home this weekend against 12-7 Tampa Bay, the best of the AL East power trio so far.

After the Tampa Bay series, the Rangers go on a ten-game trip through Toronto, Cleveland and Baltimore before meeting with the Angels for three games in Arlington May 11-13. The road is long, but the Rangers should be good for at least a break-even trip against the league’s bottom half before seeing the Halos.

After leaving Cleveland, the Angels will play ten games against the Twins and Blue Jays before meeting Texas. Already down nine games to the Rangers in the AL West, the Angels need to accomplish a lot in these next 13 games before their dates in Arlington. They need to win nine of them, hoping to pick up a couple games on the Rangers before they play each other. Then, if the Angels can capture some kind of mastery over their rivals, perhaps with a sweep, they would be finally over .500, they would have announced to the Rangers that they're still around and they would be within shouting distance. This season would start to look a lot more like it was supposed to look.

That’s a long way for the Angels to get back even close to where they started. But if the Angels can’t cover it quickly, then it will turn out that their great hope for 2012 is not the addition of Pujols, but the addition of a fifth wild card berth for the playoffs.