Another night, another Angel win and another Trumbo-mb! Maybe it is time Scioscia finally recognizes what he has in his slugging rookie first baseman and moves him into a more prominent position in the lineup?
I’ve remained skeptical on Trumbo most of the season, but after his second big homer of the week, I’m finally coming around. He’s not a great situational hitter. He strikes out a lot and he doesn’t walk much, but when he is hot, I can’t imagine any sane person wanting to pitch to him. Power alone shouldn’t make him the Halos’ cleanup hitter, as it never did for Mike Napoli, but if with the other options on the roster, why wouldn’t he bat fourth?
Compare Trumbo to Vernon Wells and what doe Vernon actually do better than Trumbo? His average is much worse. He walks at the same poor rate, but he does strike out a bit less. He is maybe a marginally better situational hitter and his power, while good, pales in comparison to the Trumbotron. As far as I can tell, the only reason Wells is batting fourth is because, well, he is a veteran. Oh, Scioscia, will you ever learn?
Game Notes
- Alberto Callapso in the two-hole? Doth my eyes deceive me? I can’t believe it took so long for Sosh to finally put the guy with the second-highest OBP on the team into the second spot in the lineup. It isn’t like we are talking about advance metric here either.
- If Howie Kendrick really wants to bitch and moan about having to sit once or twice a week, he might want to consider not striking out with runners in scoring position.
- Jeff Mathis seldom gets hits and he almost never draws walks, yet he did both tonight (which was actually the third time it has happened this season) and somehow the universe did not implode on itself. I consider this a minor miracle.
Halo Hero
Oh, right, Dan Haren was awesome again… yawn.