One Week Down

So the Angels are off to a 5-2 start, which has to be just about the best start they've had in the last few years, and they're a couple of key hits away from being 7-0. Still, the offense has sputtered with runners in scoring position, or at least it sure did against the A's. Only Cleveland, Seattle, and Minnesota have allowed fewer runs to this point, and that's only because Cleveland and Seattle had an entire series postponed, while Minnesota has played two fewer games. The starting pitching has been darn near stellar, and only the Yankees have a better relief ERA to this point.

Offensively, Vlad has been a monster, and the Angels have the fifth best OPS in the league to this point, due in large part to Vlad's 440/483/880, and Casey Kotchman's 375/464/625 line. Howie is off to a slow start at the plate, but he's been downright excellent in the field. Speaking of which, early returns on the defense are mixed. A two error inning on opening day led to a run and a ton of pitches from Lackey, but didn't affect the outcome of the game, and HGHMJ has been pretty solid in the field to this point, save for his one error.

It would have been nice to take three of four from Oakland, but I'll settle for a split. Now the Angels move on to Milwaukee to face the Indians. It's cold here, folks. Too cold for baseball. And I'm not surprised that the morons in charge have Minnesota, a dome team, playing in Chicago (where one game was canceled due to single digit wind-chills), and Seattle (not) playing in Cleveland, where as mentioned above, not one game was completed. Good thinking, schedule makers. With any luck, I'll be able to make it to Milwaukee for one game. It's about a 90 minute drive, but I'm working on making plans for the game.