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Monday, April 14, 2003
Posted
10:03 AM
by Sean
Of course, a sweep would be nice, too.
Talk about turning the tables...the Angels' sweep of the A's in Anaheim this weekend was just about the polar opposite of their performance in Oakland a week ago. They were able to both get runners on and get them in, while getting solid pitching performances from nearly everyone they sent to the mound. In easily the most impressive offensive series so far, they hung 26 runs on Hudson, Halama, and Zito, climbing back into a tie for first place.
Individually, the Angels got some reassuring contributions: Eckstein, singled out in this space on Friday for his sub-.100 batting average, not only found the on-ramp but actually found the Mendoza line briefly before grounding out during his last two at-bats Sunday to finish the weekend at .190. Glaus, who by all accounts is playing with a sore hamstring, went 3-for-12 with a home run, Erstad went 5-for-11, Figgins went 4-for-11, Wooten went 3-for-4, and Salmon continued his first-ever hot April by going 4-for-11 with three home runs. Meanwhile, Garret Anderson slacked off with a 3-for-9 performance, dropping his batting average to a paltry .467.
Eric Owens, the only new-for-2003 Angel to be getting significant playing time, provided a couple of bright spots, too, breaking ties on both Saturday and Sunday with two-run singles - a great way to fit in on this team. He has 19 at-bats so far, which projects out to 257 for the season - six fewer than Orlando Palmeiro had last year - and while his .666 OPS so far is lower than OP's in 2002 (which was somewhere around .720), it's early yet, and Owens's 4 stolen bases so far make up for a fair bit of that discrepancy.
Tonight, the Angels come to Texas to start a four-game series with the Rangers - a team that allowed stolen bases to the first eight runners who attempted it. Appier will pitch tonight, meaning I'd better have the family-sized bottle of Xanax ready, and the offense will get another crack at Ismael Valdez, who kept them bottled up pretty effectively on opening day. The Rangers are pretty much in the middle of the AL pack when it comes to drawing walks, and strike out a lot, so hopefully Ape will be able to get away with his corner-nibblin'.
Of course, a sweep would be nice, too.
Talk about turning the tables...the Angels' sweep of the A's in Anaheim this weekend was just about the polar opposite of their performance in Oakland a week ago. They were able to both get runners on and get them in, while getting solid pitching performances from nearly everyone they sent to the mound. In easily the most impressive offensive series so far, they hung 26 runs on Hudson, Halama, and Zito, climbing back into a tie for first place.
Individually, the Angels got some reassuring contributions: Eckstein, singled out in this space on Friday for his sub-.100 batting average, not only found the on-ramp but actually found the Mendoza line briefly before grounding out during his last two at-bats Sunday to finish the weekend at .190. Glaus, who by all accounts is playing with a sore hamstring, went 3-for-12 with a home run, Erstad went 5-for-11, Figgins went 4-for-11, Wooten went 3-for-4, and Salmon continued his first-ever hot April by going 4-for-11 with three home runs. Meanwhile, Garret Anderson slacked off with a 3-for-9 performance, dropping his batting average to a paltry .467.
Eric Owens, the only new-for-2003 Angel to be getting significant playing time, provided a couple of bright spots, too, breaking ties on both Saturday and Sunday with two-run singles - a great way to fit in on this team. He has 19 at-bats so far, which projects out to 257 for the season - six fewer than Orlando Palmeiro had last year - and while his .666 OPS so far is lower than OP's in 2002 (which was somewhere around .720), it's early yet, and Owens's 4 stolen bases so far make up for a fair bit of that discrepancy.
Tonight, the Angels come to Texas to start a four-game series with the Rangers - a team that allowed stolen bases to the first eight runners who attempted it. Appier will pitch tonight, meaning I'd better have the family-sized bottle of Xanax ready, and the offense will get another crack at Ismael Valdez, who kept them bottled up pretty effectively on opening day. The Rangers are pretty much in the middle of the AL pack when it comes to drawing walks, and strike out a lot, so hopefully Ape will be able to get away with his corner-nibblin'.