MVN - Most Valuable Network

When Hot Teams Collide: Angels Drop 1st Game with A’s

The Angels have been impressive to start the season, particularly when you factor in the fact that they are without their two best starters and starting second baseman.  But even more surprising has been the red-hot start of division rival Oakland who entered Monday night’s game in Anaheim tied with the Halos for the top spot.  But in the first game of a three-game showdown between the two rivals the A’s came out on top, trouncing the Angels 14-2 and dispelling the notion among many Angel fans that Oakland’s hot start was a fluke.

I for one did not give the A’s a shot in hell of competing in the AL West this season.  But some great pitching from youngsters as well as lively bats have pushed Oakland to the top of the AL West 1/6 of the way through the season.  That said, am I worried about the Angels’ chances to win another division title in 2008?  Nope.  The A’s are playing out of their minds and the Angels are just getting warmed up.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks the Angels will get John Lackey back and Dustin Moseley will move back to his rightful place in the bullpen.  Jon Garland will not give up 7 runs (as he did last night), Howie Kendrick will return from the DL and the Angels will get back to winning.

Not that they will have to wait two weeks to win, they stand a decent chance tonight with Joe Saunders on the mound (4-0, 2.55 ERA).   They will face young Greg Smith, acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Dan Haren trade.  Smith has made 4 starts and each has been a quality one as the left-hander has gone 2-0 with 2.88 ERA.  He will likely do well tonight as the Angels get their first look at him.  But as happens with just about every young pitcher, his second time around most teams are going to have an answer for him.  No doubt Mike Butcher and the Angel hitters have studied video but there is nothing like the experience of actually facing a pitcher.  The Angels will need to get to the A’s bullpen and Saunders will have to continue his quality pitching if they hope to even up the series tonight.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 8:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.