Missed Opportunities

With one week remaining in the 2011 season, the Halos hopes to grab a playoff birth are on life support.

The only real chance of October baseball is reliant on a Red Sox meltdown which could allow the Angels to sneak into the wild card.

The Rangers enter play tonight leading the AL West by five games making them a virtual a lock to win the AL West for the second straight year.

Fingers are being pointed at the bullpen for blowing leads, the line up for the lack of production, the back end of the rotation for the 5+ ERA, and Tony Reagins for failing to successfully address said concerns this past off-season… all justified.

And all three of these shortcomings feed into the main reason the Halos are on the outside looking in as the season winds down: Missed opportunities.

Think back to the very beginning of the season. The story of the 2011 Angels season can be summed up in those four days in Kansas City.

On opening day Jered Weaver allowed just four base runners and zero runs over 6 and 1/3 innings en route to his first victory of the season. However, over-shadowed by the “W” was a preview of the bullpen woes to come. Angel relievers allowed nine base runners over the final 2 and 2/3 innings before finally sealing up the victory.

On day two, Dan Haren pitched his tail off (7 IP, 1 ER) to a no-decision as the Halos lineup gave him only one run of support. The game was tied in the bottom of the ninth before Michael Kohn served up a walk-off blast to Kila Ka’aihue.

On day three, Ervin spun a quality start giving the Halos a chance to pick up the win. That is until Kevin Jepsen took a dump on the rubber and surrendered the lead to the Royals who went on to win 5-4.

Then on day four, Scott Kazmir gave up five runs and never got out of the second inning. Despite being put in a huge hole, the Halos battled back to take a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. Fernando Rodney then did what Fernando Rodney does and blew the save. Four extra innings later the Royals walked off, taking three of four from the Halos to start the year.

The Oakland A’s, Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, and Minnesota Twins rounded out the bottom five teams in the American League this season. Entering today, these teams are a combined 325-445 for a .422 winning percentage.

I wasn’t a math major, but I’m pretty sure that means the rest of the league put up a .578 winning percentage against these American League doormats.

Unfortunately, the Halos struggles with bad clubs didn’t end with that first series. The Angels have gone on to a 34-29 (.540) record against those five teams, a winning percentage that is well below the league average of .578.

On the contrary, the division-leading Rangers made the most of their weaker opponents posting a ridiculous 38-17 (.691) mark against the same five teams. The difference makes up for EIGHT games in the standings.

If, in fact, the Rangers do hold onto the division title, one can’t look past these numbers.

Texas took care of business and won the ball games they were supposed to win. The Angels didn’t.