This seasons Angel team doesn't seem to have an identity. Even more so each of the Stars on this team not named Mike Trout seem to have the same problem. What is causing this identity crisis? The answer is not as clear as some might think, but is not as difficult to find as some might think either.
The Angels start a pivotal 4 game series on the road against the A's tonight. The A's have an 11 game lead on the Angels in the AL West and time is running out for this years Angel team to make a late run at the playoffs. Many people would claim that the Angels are a lost cause and I am about to jump on that ship, but I am giving them one last chance. Given the talent of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton there has to be a way to get them hitting like we all know they can. Hamilton can be an extremely streaky hitter and it just takes one hot streak to bring the Angels back into contention.
This series against the A's will be big in many ways. It is the last series they play against them until very late in the season and therefore at least 3 wins are pretty much needed to make up any ground in the long run. Luckily, for the A's they won't have to face Jered Weaver who seems to have finally recovered from his early season injury and woes. He looked incredible in a 9 strikeout, 8 inning shut out performance on Wednesday.
At 2-13 how has Joe Blanton been in the rotation as long as he was? I would have bumped him about 2 months ago, but maybe the Angels knew something I didn't. Garrett Richards will take his place in the rotation and will hopefully be better than Blanton has been. Richards has the talent to be a top of the rotation guy, but he has yet to prove that he can be a consistently good pitcher the Halos. His next 5 starts or so should tell us if he is ready to be in the rotation long term.
I think it is interesting that Mike Trout has very similar, if not better, stats than he did last year at this time and yet nobody is talking about him for MVP. Just goes to show you how much your teams performance can alter your MVP voting. Trouty has been out-shined by the man, the myth, the legend Miguel Cabrera and an incredible start to the season by Chris Davis. Don't expect Trout to stop playing well either. I think he learned in his first season how to take things a little easier as to avoid fatigue near the end of the season.