| Brian Reynolds. 4th May, 2009 - 6:29 pm
 The Los Angeles Angels aren’t just weathering the storm, their surviving the monsoon.
The beginning of the 2009 season has not gone according to plan for the perennial AL West Champions. In fact, it’s hard to imagine if things could have gone any worse. However, there is still plenty of baseball to be played. In further optimism, the Angels have a better record at this point in the year than they did when they won the World Series seven years ago.
With John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar sidelined to start the season, the Angels expectations were not sky high in terms of getting out to a fast start. Rather, their hope was to lurk near the top of the division and then separate themselves when their three horses came back to the rotation.
The plan seemed good enough. But, then tragedy struck the city of Anaheim and just having the strength to take the field at all seemed like a major success. The passing of 22-year old Nick Adenhart put the game of baseball in the back of the players’ minds. It is, after all, just a game, and the loss of one of your own really makes you realize the importance of life. There is no promise of tomorrow.
However, the game does go on and the Angels will play the rest of the year with Nick, represented by a #34 patch over their hearts and his portrait on the center-field wall.
Since the tragedy, the Angels are 7-9, which is not bad at all considering the circumstances and the loss of other key players. Top slugger Vladimir Guerrero has been on the disabled list since April 18th with a torn chest muscle. Another Angels starter, Dustin Moseley, has been out for the same amount of time with irritation in his throwing elbow. That has left Mike Scoscia with a rotation of Joe Saunders, Jered Weaver, Shane Loux, Anthony Ortega, and Matt Palmer. Besides Saunders and Weaver, that’s more like a Triple-A rotation.
The Angels will get a boost in their bullpen with the return of lefty specialist Darren Oliver. Oliver has been an important contributor to the club with his ability to get left handed hitters out. He has been sidelined with a strained left triceps, which he injured during a rare start because Mike Scoscia did not have any other options. Without him, pitching coach Mike Butcher has been forced to use the likes of Kevin Jepsen, Jason Bulger, and Justin Speier in critical points late in ballgames. Oliver should be back in the pen on Monday.
Torii Hunter (.314 AVG, 8 HR, 18 RBI) and Bobby Abreu (.356 AVG, 11 SB, 12 RBI) have helped the Angels stay in the thick of things during this struggling time. Los Angeles is 10-13 overall and just four games behind the surprising Seattle Mariners for the division lead. Kendry Morales has proved to be a nice replacement for Mark Teixeira at first. He is tied with Hunter for the team lead in doubles with seven, and tied for second on the team in home runs with four.
The news should get better for the Angels in the next month. According to the Associated Press, Lackey will make a rehab start on Tuesday. Scoscia said that Lackey will need at least two starts before returning to the rotation, so he is only two to three weeks away. Santana should join the Angels around that same time. He has been sidelined with a strained elbow and is expected to start for Triple-A Salt Lake today on Monday. Escobar will need a little more time, but he is improving. He is expected to return sometime in July.
Those are three quality arms that will help provide a huge emotional boost for a team that has been almost buried with injuries. Guerrero has also showed encouraging signs of late and he should resume baseball activities in the next couple of days.
It surely has not been an ideal start for the Halos, but things should turn around soon for this very proud franchise.
The Angels started 6-14 in 2002 before shocking the world and beating the Giants in seven games in the Fall Classic. Although it may seem that the team is not deep enough to win it this year, don’t count them out. They play in a weak division and once you make the postseason, anything can happen.
After all, they do have an Angel in the outfield with Nick Adenhart.
- Brian Reynolds is a contributing writer from Emory University and can be reached at Brian.Matthew.Reynolds@gmail.com |
