Anaheim (and nowhere but Anaheim) Angels

It is with great bitterness and personal anguish that I begin to write about the ANAHEIM Angels (who play in Anaheim and not Los Angeles, and whose name, in my mind, should reflect that fact, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb as a blatant attempt to encroach on another team's territory in order to expand their fan base). Maybe it's just that I long for the days when the A's were good enough to rival the Angels, or maybe it's because I think their manager Mike Scioscia is kind of a goof, or maybe it's because I'm sick of their dumb broadcasters, or maybe it's because I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT DARN RALLY MONKEY MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS, but something about the Angels really gets me worked up. So that's my bias, in the interest of full disclosure. That said, I give you the...

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

68-45

AL WEST (1st place out of 4)

LINEUP

3B Chone Figgins
SS Erick Aybar

RF Bobby Abreu
DH Vladimir Guerrero

LF Juan Rivera

1B Kendry Morales

C Mike Napoli

2B Howie Kendrick

CF Gary Matthews, Jr.

BENCH

C Jeff Mathis

IF Maicer Izturis

ROTATION

John Lackey

Ervin Santana

Jered Weaver

Sean O'Sullivan

Matt Palmer / Shane Loux / ???

BULLPEN

Brian Fuentes (CL)

Jason Bulger

Darren Oliver

Kevin Jepsen

Jose Arredondo

Manager: Mike Scioscia

General Manager: Tony Reagins

Owner: Arte Moreno

Payroll: $118,964,000 (6th out of 30)

The story of the 2009 Angels is the story of a perennial contender, purportedly on the decline, who are somehow managing to keep pace with the best teams in the league despite stiff (predicted) competition and many (unpredicted) setbacks.

Let's look at some of the woes their rotation has suffered. Jered Weaver (younger brother of the Dodgers' Jeff Weaver) has been the only consistent starter all year. John Lackey is pitching very well now, but his season didn't start until May 16. Ervin Santana has struggled due to injuries; he missed the first month and a half of the season, spent an additional 20 days on the DL in June, and how sports a whopping 6.38 ERA. Joe Saunders had struggled a little after surprising everyone last year, and is now on the DL to rest his sore shoulder.

Saunders's injury requires Scioscia to juggle the rest of his staff to fill two holes instead of just one. Rookie Sean O'Sullivan has made seven starts, while swingmen Matt Palmer and Shane Loux make occasional starts coming out of the bullpen. Young starter Dustin Moseley was injured after three starts. Kelvim Escobar was slated to recover from his shoulder problems that cost him the entire '08 season, but found himself finished for '09 as well after only one outing. And then of course there was the tragic death of Nick Adenhart in a car crash.

The bullpen hasn't fared much better. After losing Francisco Rodriguez to free agency the year after he broke the single season save record, the Angels signed lefty Brian Fuentes, who has been consistent but not eye-popping (4.23 ERA, 32 Saves, 2.71 Strikeouts per Walk). The two guys who were supposed to be lights out in front of him - arguably the league's best setup man Scot Shields and last year's rookie phenom Jose Arredondo - have succumbed to injuries (Shields underwent knee surgery) and an acute sophomore slump (Arredondo spent some time in the minors before being called back to the big club recently). The current bullpen consists of veteran lefty Darren Oliver, the pleasantly surprising Jason Bulger, and Olympian Kevin Jepsen.

Despite these pitching woes placing the Angels towards the bottom of the league in ERA, they trail only the Yankees and Dodgers in the win column. The predictable reason for this is the Angels' stellar offense: they are first in the league in hits and batting average, second in runs, stolen bases and on base percentage, and third in slugging percentage. This should come as no big surprise - the Angels usually finish in the top half of the league in important offensive categories. What's amazing is that they could put up such numbers this year even with key players Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Howie Kendrick missing significant time with injuries.

The Rangers are (relatively) hot on the Angel's tail - they're 4.5 games back but are right in the thick of the Wild Card race - but I think a playoff spot is pretty well secured for the Halos. If Saunders gets enough "rest" on the DL to come back and pitch effectively, they would have four "proven" starters for the playoffs, performance struggles notwithstanding. If Torii Hunter returns healthy and replaces Gary Matthews* in the lineup - and as long as Mike Scioscia stops giving so much playing time to "Mighty" Maicer Izturis - the Angels will have no problem maintaining their top flight offense.

* A word about Gary Matthews, Jr.: in 2006, Matthews signed a five-year, $50 million deal with the Angels after a career year with Texas. This deal came under a lot of criticism, as there was very little indication that Matthews could repeat those numbers. He hasn't, and is currently the Angels' third highest-paid player while hitting .248 in part time duty since signing the contract. The deal came under some more retroatctive criticism when the Angels signed Torii Hunter to a much more lucrative five-year deal the next year, making him the Angels' number one highest paid player. I guess now that Hunter's down with an injury, it's nice to have Matthews there to back him up, but it would have been a lot nicer if he weren't getting paid $10 million a year.

PREDICTION: If the season ended today, the Angels would be in for a tough playoffs, as they'd have to face Boston as the Wild Card winner, followed by (most likely) the Yankees over the Tigers in the other Division Series. I say with either of those two AL East teams, it'll come down to grit and spunk and who wants it more.