Anaheim Angels

So, The Angels finally seem like they're starting to put things together. The offense is rolling, the starting pitching has been putting together quality starts, and the bullpen (with a few exceptions) has been good enough. The team is currently on a six game winning streak and is looking to extend it against the struggling Royals, who are just 2-8 in their last 10 games. But in terms of making a postseason run, is winning the division (or even a wild card spot) out of reach? On May 26th of last year, the Oakland A's were 22-25 and were in the midst of a 4 game losing streak. In fact, The A's would go on to lose 9 straight games before snapping that streak on June 2nd with a 9-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals. From that point on, Oakland would go 71-38 (33 games over .500), winning the AL West with a record of 94-68, clinching the division in the final game of the season against the Texas Rangers. Now, a hell of a lot had to go right for the A's to win the division, because not only did they have to win as they did, but they had to count on Texas (and The Angels) imploding. However, regardless of them winning the division, they would've nevertheless gained a wild card spot. So, I guess my question for the Angel faithful is this: can our Halo's go on a similar run to that of the 2012 Oakland A's? Even if it's a long shot to win the division, can they still play well enough to get a wild card spot? As of today, the Angels are 21-27. From this point on, they would need to go 73-41 (32 games over .500) to finish with a record of 94-68. Can they do it? Even if they did, does that win them the division, or a wild card spot? So, The Angels finally seem like they're starting to put things together. The offense is rolling, the starting pitching has been putting together quality starts, and the bullpen (with a few exceptions) has been good enough. The team is currently on a six game winning streak and is looking to extend it against the struggling Royals, who are just 2-8 in their last 10 games. But in terms of making a postseason run, is winning the division (or even a wild card spot) out of reach? On May 26th of last year, the Oakland A's were 22-25 and were in the midst of a 4 game losing streak. In fact, The A's would go on to lose 9 straight games before snapping that streak on June 2nd with a 9-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals. From that point on, Oakland would go 71-38 (33 games over .500), winning the AL West with a record of 94-68, clinching the division in the final game of the season against the Texas Rangers. Now, a hell of a lot had to go right for the A's to win the division, because not only did they have to win as they did, but they had to count on Texas (and The Angels) imploding. However, regardless of them winning the division, they would've nevertheless gained a wild card spot. So, I guess my question for the Angel faithful is this: can our Halo's go on a similar run to that of the 2012 Oakland A's? Even if it's a long shot to win the division, can they still play well enough to get a wild card spot? As of today, the Angels are 21-27. From this point on, they would need to go 73-41 (32 games over .500) to finish with a record of 94-68. Can they do it? Even if they did, does that win them the division, or a wild card spot? Poll With 114 games left, can The 2013 Angels go on a run Similar to the 2012 Oakland A's? Yes. Hell Yes. Yes With Some Extra Yes on the Side. Maybe, but Probably Not. Get the Hell Out of Here With Your "Yeses." Hell to the No. I'll Take a "Wait and See" Approach as to Avoid Being Buttercupped. 1 votes | Results

Streaks are strange beasts. Winning or losing is often arbitrary and not always the outcome of the better team playing better. When a team gets on a winning streak, many will attribute it to players feeling more comfortable, or an easier part of the schedule. These factors are surely at play when it comes to the Angels current 6 game winning streak that has seen them now climb to third in the AL west. But as was also the case tonight, luck and good fortune were also large components in keeping the streak alive. Whatever the case may be, winning is a heck of alot better than losing. Angels 5 Royals 2 Game Notes -- The early portion of the this game was dedicated the reutrn of the Anaheim LOBsters. The Angels seemingly left a village on the bases, but as has been the case for a good portion of the season, they could not get the big hit. They ended up leaving 9 men on base through the game and up until the seventh inning it looked like the Halos might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. -- Mike, listen, Erick Aybar cannot bunt to save his life. I know you think he is some sort of bat weilding savant because he likes slap hit like a high school softball player, but every time he is asked to squeeze he swats at the ball like a fly. Enough already with the squeezes. They do not work for you. Got it? Good. -- This whole game turned on yet another blown call by an umpire. I know we all feel Mike Trout can do no wrong and he probably hypnotized the second base ump into calling him safe, but dude was out by like three feet. Not even close. The second baseman tageed him twice. What we have here is an epidemic of horrible umpiring. This whole season is one big #umpshow. -- Nice to see Garrett Richards bounce back with a solid outing. With Madsen still down and Kevin Jepsen sounding like he has reverted back to old tendencies, Garrett is key and he needs to throw stirkes like he did tonight. Halo Hero The more I see Jason Vargas pitch, the more I like him. He throws strikes, doesn't mess around with time on the mound and seemingly give you seven solid innings every time he takes the bump. He is exactly what the Angels need him to be and is delivering on what he promised. Can we get him to teach our other pitchers a few things. Just asking...

Buckner? BILLY Buckner? Neat! He'll be our 21st pitcher used this season. Cool useless stat eh? Now, get the pregaming going. Loading...

Saturday will see the Angel debut of pitcher Billy Buckner starting the game for the Halos in Kansas City. This what you call a "Johnny Allstaff" game. Everyone in the bullpen will be expected to be available and the hope is that the emergency starter can go four innings. Anything keeping the game within reach under those parameters is appreciated. With lowered expectations, Righty Billy Buckner will have the latitude to show that he is major-league ready. He will be the first Angels player to wear jersey #31 since Chuck Finley left the squad after the 1999 season. Seeing as this is the twenty first pitcher who will throw for the team this year the likelihood of Chuckie's number coming up was greatly increased. Add to this the fact that Buckner is already a veteran of four stretches in the big leagues and he cannot be expected to suffer the ignomy of a high number. Anything past 45 is too high for a starting vet, even one whose big league tours seem to be strung together cups of coffee. Buckner was drafted by the Royals in the second round of the 2004 draft - ahead of our own Jason Vargas, taken later in the same round. He was born in August of 1983. He gave up 37 hits in 34 IP in his first callup with the Royals in 2007. That offseason he was traded for ...get ready... Alberto Callaspo! The Diamondbacks had acquired AC from the Angels for reliever Jason Bulger and shipped him to the Royals for a promising starting pitcher. In three season with the Diamondbacks, he amassed -1.4 WAR (that's NEGATIVE Wins Above Replacement). In that third season, 2010, he was traded to Detroit for Dontrelle Willis but never made the big club. In limited exposure this season he seems to have solved what was heretofore his biggest problem - the homerun ball. He gave up about one per game on average and had that down to .6 HR per 9 IP in the high altitude Pacific Coast League. Maybe that is a good sign. In avoiding those big bat bashes, though, his walks were up a tad this season. In 47 IP he allowed 40 BB. If he can get eighteen outs and keep the Angels in the game Saturday it will be all the team could really ever ask of him. Let's hope there is a little magic in Chuckie's jersey number.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – When the Angels were in Oakland at the end of April, Mike Trout was scuffling along with pedestrian numbers that were starting to prompt some questions about the reigning Rookie of the Year. Just then, though, Trout compared some...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Before the Angels had turned their winning streak from five to six on Friday night, Manager Mike Scioscia was asked how much better he felt about the offense having sprung to life. Scioscia immediately turned the tables on the...

Where: Kauffman Stadium TV: Fox Sports West Did you know: Mike Trout became the first player in the majors to reach double figures in homers and stolen bases when he got his 10th of each Thursday night. Numbers game: 10 – Starting pitchers the...

Mike Trout scored multiple runs and had multiple hits for the fourth game in a row - tying a franchise record he already shared with Fred Lynn and Paul Schaal (trivia fact confirmed by Angels media relations intern and top twitterer Jacob Jaffee @Jacob_Jaffe), leading the way to a 5-2 Angels victory over the Royals in Kansas City. And they did despite Howie Kendrick stranding six men on base, Mark Trumbo stranding four and Erick Aybar leaving three out there. Trumbo made up for it with an RBI hit in the seventh and Howie had a run-scoring sac fly that plated a run later that inning. It was the sixth win in a row for the Halos, desperately in need of momentum in light of a double-digit deficit in the American League West. Jason Vargas was masterful for most of his 7+ innings, allowing only one hit through the first four innings - a solo HR to Miguel Tejada - and getting out of a few jams when they presented themselves. He was relieved with one out in the eighth inning by Garrett Richards. In the ninth, Richards allowed a leadoff double before miracle man Mike Trout caught a sinking flyball off the bat of Salvador Perez on the run. Trout had scored the first run of the game by sliding into home on a wild pitch by Luis Mendoza. Perez threw the ball to the pitcher covering home perfectly but Trout slid into home before the tag could be applied. In the seventh inning, Trout stole 2B despite a perfect throw by Perez - replays show 2B Marty Foster blew the call. That break opened the gates as the Angels scored three runs to break the 2-2 tie. The Angels trailed 2-1 at one time but Chris Iannetta hit his second home run in as many games. The solo shot evened things out in the sixth. Richards recorded a five out save, the second of his career and Vargas got his fourth straight win. Poll PANTHER OF THE GAME VARGAS TROUT 80 votes | Results

It’s been a perfect week for the Angels. Seven days after their last loss, the Angels put together another solid game to win their sixth in a row, 5-2 over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night. Left-hander Jason Vargas gave up...

By Joe Haakenson, AngelsWin.com Contributor - MAY 24, 2002 GAME 45 - TWINS AT ANGELS ANAHEIM -- Location, location, location. Angels pitcher Ramon Ortiz can be as dominating as any pitcher in the majors when he is on his game. That means mixing his fastball with his slider and changeup and putting it in the right spot. Ortiz, though, had trouble hitting those spots on Friday, and the result was three more home runs allowed and a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins before 27,494 at Edison Field. It snapped the Angels four-game winning streak and marked only their fourth loss since April 23, a stretch of 25 games. It also ended the Angels' eight-game home winning streak. Ortiz was on the mound for the Angels' last loss, a 10-4 setback to the Chicago White Sox last Saturday. He gave up four homers in that one, meaning he's allowed seven in his past two games for a major league-high 16 homers allowed this season. Like he did last Saturday, Ortiz got the ball up to the wrong hitters at the wrong time, and it cost him. Even though he allowed only seven hits in 7 1/3 innings Friday, the home runs did enough damage to send the Angels to just their second loss in 14 games. ``He made too many mistakes early in the game,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``He did adjust, and that was a good sign. Every pitcher has periods when his command is not as locked in. Right now he's in a stretch where he's not able to get the ball in good locations early in the game and get his feet on the ground. He's paid the price for it.'' On Ortiz's first pitch of the game, the Twins' Jacque Jones ripped a 90-mph fastball into the right field seats for a 1-0 lead. ``I was trying to throw the ball down and away, but it went over the middle,'' said Ortiz (4-5). ``I didn't think he'd be swinging at the first pitch.'' In the third inning, Jones led off with a single and went to second on a single by Cristian Guzman. Ortiz looked like he might get out of it by getting the next two hitters on flyouts. But on his first pitch to the next batter, Torii Hunter crushed an 84-mph slider to center field for a three-run homer and a 4-0 Twins lead. ``A solo shot, it's OK,'' Ortiz said. ``With people on base, that's no good.'' In the fourth inning, it was A.J. Pierzynski's turn, homering to right field for a 5-0 lead. It was Pierzynski's first homer of the season. ``I'm human,'' Ortiz said. ``Everybody's human. Everybody makes mistakes.'' Ortiz, though, would have had to have been nearly perfect for the Angels to win this one, the way Twins starter Rick Reed pitched. Reed (5-2) baffled the Angels hitters all night, allowing only three hits on his way to a complete game. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. Like Ortiz, Reed has had trouble keeping the ball in the park at times. Reed went into the game having allowed 12 homers this season, which ranked behind only Ortiz and Kansas City's Jeff Suppan in the American League. But Reed kept the Angels hitters off balance all night. Darin Erstad singled in the first inning, but the Angels didn't get another hit until the fifth. That's when Brad Fullmer led off with a home run, his fourth of the season. The Angels didn't get their third hit until Bengie Molina singled with two out in the eighth. ``He had great control, great command, nothing overpowering,'' Erstad said. ``He just picks you apart.'' Dealing with a loss is not something the Angels have had to do much lately, so Erstad said it will easy to forget about Friday. ``You expect to win every night, regardless of who you're playing,'' Erstad said. ``When we leave here, it's over. Tomorrow's a new day and you turn the page.'' NOTEBOOK ANAHEIM -- Shortstop Alfredo Amezaga was playing for Salt Lake, the Angels' Triple-A team, in Nashville Thursday night, and in the 10th inning, he got hit by a pitch and we