Chicago White Sox (21-24) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (23-22)
Starters: CWS – Gavin Floyd (3-4, 6.54 ERA) LAA – Jered Weaver (3-2, 2.52 ERA)
Game Info: 7:05 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
The Angels are on the verge of being swept by the Chicago Cheater Sox and the offense is barely showing any life. Something must be done to get it started.
NO! NOOOO! Not that song! That’s not what I meant.
The Angels just need to take matters into their own hands at the plate and put the pressure on the opposition. That starts with their general approach.
As is always the case whenever the Angel bats go into a funk, too many Angel hitters are swinging at too many pitcher’s pitches. It is almost as if the return of Vlad and his free-swinging ways has overwritten any of the lessons the other Halos learned from the uber-patient Bobby Abreu. If they can’t find away to draw some walks from control-challenged Gavin Floyd (25 BBs in 52.1 IP), then the Angels could be headed for a drought bad enough to dry up the Amazon.
Questions of the Night:
- Was the Abreu homer a fluke? We all know that Bobby having just one long ball to his credit this season is probably more of a fluke, but what I am talking about is whether or not Abreu will really see better pitches to hit now that Vlad is protecting him. That is how it should work in theory, but the jury is still out on whether or not the American League still fears Vlad the Impaler.
- Why can’t Weaver win? His ERA is 2.52 and he receives 6.23 worth of run support, yet he has just three wins. What gives? Oh, right, the bullpen keeps giving away his victories, forget I asked.
- Can Jayson Nix be contained? His unexpected power display has earned Nix another start tonight, this time at third. Hopefully Weaver can limit him to just one homer tonight.