What’s Wrong With The Angels?!

Nobody, and I mean nobody, saw this coming when the baseball season began for this team on April 6.

But as I write this, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, picked by virtually everyone to be a main contender to be the American League’s representative in the World Series if not THE representative – especially when the team signed future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to a ten year, $240 million deal this past December – is, to say the least, struggling mightily as:

*  They currently stand with a record of seven wins and 15 losses, good (or more accurately, bad) for last place in the American League’s Western Division, a whopping NINE games behind the Texas Rangers.

*  Their team batting average is a dismal .235, while their team earned run average stands at a whopping 4.01, and…

*  They recently finished a six-game road trip to Cleveland and Tampa Bay which saw them lose all but one of those games, two of them consecutively and in walk-off fashion on Friday and Saturday.

Many factors abound to what can safely be termed as a disastrous start to the season for these Angels, but here are some that can be pinpointed:

1. Lack of offensive production

Particularly as far as hitting with runs in scoring position as the Angels batted a pathetic .133 in that situation on the recent road trip, while batting an also pathetic .165 overall, scoring all of nine runs in the six games away from Anaheim this past week.

Mark Trumbo is the only Angel batting over .300 at .304 with three home runs, but as he has had trouble adjusting to his new position at third base, he has only played 15 of the Angels’ 22 games. Torii Hunter is likewise doing OK as he leads the team with a .284 average, but the other Angels are badly struggling, especially this most high-profile one:

2.  Albert Pujols

I do not want anyone to interpret this as me putting the blame for the Angels’ woes solely on this superstar – at all.

But as they say, the numbers don’t lie:

– Only FOUR runs batted in.

– A grand total of ZERO home runs in 88 at bats, the longest Pujols has gone without going yard in his career, and…

– A batting average of .216!

Many fans will say that Pujols is still adjusting to a new league and new pitchers, and that he is pressing to show everyone that he’s worth the $240 million that owner Arte Moreno is paying him. While those factors are most likely true, the fact remains that Pujols is not producing.

And he needs to start doing so ASAP if not now.

Having said that, Pujols has been too outstanding for too long to have this slump continue all season, and I would be most surprised if he doesn’t have his .300 average, 30 homers and 100 RBIs at the end of September.

3.  Pitching Woes

While Jered Weaver, with his 3-0 record and 2.02 ERA, and Scott Downs with his 0.00 ERA in relief, have been good, the same can’t be said for too many of the other Angel hurlers.

Ervin Santana, Kevin Jepsen, Hisanori Takahashi and Jordan Walden all deserve a share of the Charlie Brown award, as they have all pitched like that hapless Peanuts character.

Santana has been like a batting practice machine so far with his 0-5 record and 5.58 ERA, as has Jepsen and Takahashi out of the bullpen, with Takahashi’s ERA at an enormous 9.95 and Jepsen’s ERA even worse at an absolutely awful 10.29!

You read that right, 10.29!!

And don’t get me started on Walden, whose fastball approaches 100 miles an hour but has obviously been too straight to be effective on big league hitters at this point as he’s picked up where he left off last year in blowing saves, including one last Friday in Tampa Bay when pinch hitter Brendon Allen, a recent pick-up from Oakland, took him deep for a two-run homer in the 9th, the Rays beating the Angels 4-3.

Walden’s Charlie Brown-like 8.31 earned run average speaks for itself, I think.

To put this dismalness in perspective, this 7-15 record stands as tied for the worst 22-game start in franchise history with the 1976 Angels.

Angel fans will say that it’s still early, that much is for certain.

Which is true, but as May approaches, it’s ceasing to be “early in the season” with each passing day.

Like Pujols, I’ll be very surprised if this sub-par play continues throughout the year, as this team is too talented.

But I have to say, time will begin to run out before too long; a sense of urgency is needed, or else this red-clad club from Orange County may well find themselves out of the division race by June.

Which is something that no one wants to see happen.