I miss when the Angels used to light up the Halo.

This is what my Facebook status currently says    

 

I hate feeling this way. I never usually feel this way. Even when the Angels are struggling, I feel like they can always turn it around. When they slumped last season after the death of Nick Adenhart, I thought "okay, they're scuffling, but they can turn this around." In 2006, when they got off to that terrible start, I thought, "this team has the talent and the fight to turn it around." But this season, I don't feel that way. In fact, I haven't at all. The Angels have been extremely inconsistent this season. When they get good pitching, they can't hit. When they hit, the pitching is terrible. Even on that five game win-streak, I kept thinking "this team just doesn't have it." I've thought long and hard over why I feel that way. I've come up with a few reasons. Here they are.

Number One: The pitching staff (especially the bullpen) is really, really bad.

I forced myself to believe that the Angels could absorb the departure of John Lackey. I thought surely either Scott Kazmir, Ervin Santana or Jered Weaver (in that order) would step into Lackey's "ace" role and deal. Weaver has been good and leads the AL in strikeouts, and Santana seems to be coming around (Kazmir, for the record, has been atrocious at times). However, both lack that fire and intensity that Lackey brought to the mound. Neither can make me feel like they can give us that win to stop a losing streak, like the seven game slide the Angels are currently in (although Santana sure has hell pitched well enough to win Tuesday night, but we'll get there). The loss I was more worried about, however, was Darrin Oliver. Oliver was the most reliable reliever the Angels had last year in a shaky bullpen. This year's pen makes last year's look historical. Here's a look at the Angels pitching staff, and their ERA's.

(from lowest to highest) *indicates starting pitcher

F. Rodney - 2.63   J. Weaver - 3.19*   E. Santana - 4.02*   K. Jepsen - 4.63   B. Fuentes - 4.76 J. Pineiro - 5.30*   J. Bulger - 5.73    B. Stokes - 6.14    M. Palmer - 6.26   J. Saunders - 7.04* S. Kazmir - 7.11*   S. Shields - 9.39   ANGELS TEAM ERA - 5.15

Joe Saunders has maybe been the worst pitcher in baseball this season. Kazmir isn't far behind. It's worth noting that Joel Pineiro, signed to replace Lackey, has pitched much better then his 5.30 ERA would indicate. He had one terrible outing, but for the most part has been dependable. Scot Shields, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, looks like a shell of himself. Matt Palmer and Brian Stokes, acquired straight up for Gary Matthews Jr. are playing a game of "who want's to get sent to AAA-Salt Lake first" and are both winning. Fernando Rodney has been a pleasant surprise.

The Angels pitching has been terrible. Worst in baseball, according to team ERA, actually. That isn't going to get it done. The Angels can't win games if their pitching is this bad, no matter how many runs their offense is putting up. Which leads to reason number two.

Number Two: The Angels can't hit with runners in scoring position. 

The Angels are hitting .254 with runners in scoring position. Worse, with the bases loaded, the Halos are hitting just .250. Bobby Abreu grounded into a double play in Tuesday's ballgame at an opportune time for the Angels to take the lead and seize some momentum. And Brandon Wood, against John Lackey Wednesday struck out with the bases loaded to end the second. He would hit a solo home run later on in the game. That perfectly reflects both Wood and the Angels this season. In case you were wondering, last season they hit .297  and .301 respectively. Of the nine regulars the Angels field, only Juan Rivera (.316) and Torii Hunter (.308) are hitting over .300. Kendry Morales, (.231), Mike Napoli (.231) Hideki Matsui (.212) Erick Aybar (.211), Abreu (.200) and Wood (.200) are all hitting under .250 with RISP. Although, as a team, the Angels are hitting just .254 overall, with Morales.(.308) the only Angel hitting over .300 (not counting the injured Jeff Mathis). Morales is also the only Angel with more than 15 RBI's (18), and five home runs (6). The next closest Angel is Torii Hunter, who's hitting .290. Matsui, Rivera, Aybar, Napoli, and Wood are all hitting under .250, with Wood hitting a paltry .185. Aybar, the team's leadoff hitter, is hitting just .236 with a .314 on-base percentage and has to lead the world in called third strikes. Matsui, who started off red hot for the Halos had tailed off. He needs a day off, but remains the only Angel who has played every game. Which leads me to my third and reason:

Number Three: Mike Scioscia is too loyal, and won't make the move he needs to make.

Brandon Wood has just five RBI's and three extra base hits in 81 at bats. By comparison, Maicer Izturis has 10 RBI's and three extra base hits in just 39 at-bats. Yet guess who is getting the playing time. Now, I understand Izturis is hurt, and may be DL-bound, but this was discovered Wednesday. Wood continues to get playing time. Matsui is pressing. He needs a day off. Scioscia still puts him in the lineup. But worse is his handling of the pitching staff. Saunders should have never sniffed even the fourth inning of Monday's 18-7 Boston beatdown the Red Sox handed the Halos. He had given up five earned runs in the first three, and labored through the second and the third innings. The Angels score three in the top of the fourth, and had Red Sox starter Clay Bucholtz on the ropes. What happens? Scioscia sends Saunders back out, and he proceeds to give up two more runs and effectively kill any momentum the Angels had. Then on Tuesday, after a great start by Santana, Scioscia handed the ball to Jepsen in the eighth. This was a curious move as both Fuentes and Rodney hadn't pitched in a couple days. But Jepsen had been solid, so the logic at least made some sense. Except, from the get go it was apparent Jepsen didn't have it. He walked two before giving up a single to J.D. Drew to load the bases. Jepsen got lucky and got David Ortiz to ground into a home-to-first double play, keeping the game tied. Jepsen then walked Adrian Beltre to again load the bases. That's three walks in five batters. Why is Jepsen still in the game? Why won't he play the match-ups? Rodney, Bulger, Fuentes, ANYONE ELSE! What happened next? Jeremy Hermida hit a ball into the left field corner that cleared the bases, game over, Scioscia  then made a pitching change. Too little, too late. Although we might not be talking about this had Rivera actually tried and made the catch, instead of whatever the hell he was doing. Which leads into the last and final point:

Number Four: The Angels have no heart.

Last year, they played with heavy hearts after the Adenhart tragedy. Had they rolled over and phoned in the season, nobody would have blamed them. But they didn't, and won 97 games and the AL West. This year, there's no heart what-so-ever. I don't know if the "heart" left with Lackey, Chone Figgins and Vladimir Guerrero, but all Angel fans can agree there's no heart or fight in this Angel team. Hunter seems lackadaisical out in center and at the plate. Rivera's shoddy play in left and at the plate has caught the ire of Halo Nation. Scioscia's indifference has infuriated each and every Angel fan out there. With all the off season losses and  the sense that the Angels have phoned in several games this season, it actually leave's me wondering if I should even care about this year's club?

You know what's kind of funny. The only reason I keep getting sucked back in, the only passion I've seen from the Angels this season were from Brian Fuentes after blowing a save and Joe Saunders screaming the f-word into his glove while walking off the mound Monday. At least I know they give a shit, even if they are struggling.

I want to believe this Angel team has it in them to turn the ship around. I really do. And I'm not saying they can't. They are a very talented team capable of winning 95 games. Unfortunately I don't think they will. God, I hope they prove me wrong.