Angels secure Crucial split with surging Orioles

[Swordsman78]

In a game they had to win, and to avoid another series loss to a .500+ team, the Angels rallied for their (3rd) 1 run win during the month of May, to once again elevate over .500 for the season.   Beating the red hot Orioles is no small task, and the Angels beat them twice in Baltimore.  Another lost series would have been unbearable as the natives were getting restless.

Lots of positives to take back home.  

Great outing by Anderson,

Trout and Ohtani bats coming to life,

Aggressive base running

Situational hitting

Moore and Estevez saving the game.

Defensive gems by Renfroe and Neto.

Nothing better to give both the team and fans some good vibes headed into a tough home stand with AL Central leading Twins, (24-14) Baltimore, (23-21) Marlins, and the Sox.

A winning record in May, series wins vs three teams above .500, coupled with a relatively healthy club, puts the team in a much better spot than last year, and would set things up very well for a successful summer campaign.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Swordsman78

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, Swordsman78 said:

Great outing by Anderson

He was pretty mediocre today.  

5 IP, 3 ER isn't good. His 5.27 ERA isn't good either, but if he can give us an extra inning and notch quality starts here on out I think we'll all be satisfied. 

[Revad]

At least he came close to satisfactory, which was an improvement, and he looked better from what I saw.  We really need him to go at least 6 but now Nevin doesn’t trust him much with good reason so he’ll need to up his game to do what he’s here to do.

19 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

5 IP, 3 ER isn't good. 

We definitely need those ER to be at two more often than not.  

[UndertheHalo]

1 game over .500 isn’t going to be good enough to make the playoffs.  The Angels haven’t been meaningfully better thus far this month.  Still time to get it together but I don’t see any reason to pretend things are looking up.  They look the same.  Which isn’t good enough. 

[Lou]

The O's were 4-4 in their last 8 before the series began. Not quite surging. 

[Swordsman78]

21 minutes ago, Lou said:

The O's were 4-4 in their last 8 before the series began. Not quite surging. 

*Surging in 2023, relative to their .512 finish in 2022.   Thank you for the comment.

[Swordsman78]

28 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

1 game over .500 isn’t going to be good enough to make the playoffs.  The Angels haven’t been meaningfully better thus far this month.  Still time to get it together but I don’t see any reason to pretend things are looking up.  They look the same.  Which isn’t good enough. 

If you look under the top line results, there are some encouraging trends.

Last year through May in 1 run games the Angels were 3-6.  This year so far they are 7-7.   Couple this with the impressive comeback wins is evidence that this years squad has more fight and less quit = more tenacity.  This is a key area to be trending up in.

[Erstad Grit]

Meh

Personally I'm not that excited about a split, nor a 3-4 road trip. Basically this win made the road trip bad instead of a disaster. 

2/3 from Twins and sweep the Red Sox would get me excited. 

[full circle]

31 minutes ago, Swordsman78 said:

If you look under the top line results, there are some encouraging trends.

Last year through May in 1 run games the Angels were 3-6.  This year so far they are 7-7.   Couple this with the impressive comeback wins is evidence that this years squad has more fight and less quit = more tenacity.  This is a key area to be trending up in.

No.  The grit level doesn’t mean shit until the pitching and defense improves, bottom line.  This is clear after getting blown the fuck out in the following game after the good comebacks.  The pitching sucks so far, and no amount of offense can paper over it. 

[Angel Oracle]

Tonight is a very important start for Detmers.   He needs to start building on his 2022 progress.

[Angelsjunky]

I feel a bit better than I did a few years ago, when All Hope Was Lost. The Orioles are a good team (although probably not as good as their record) and the Angels split a series in Baltimore. But it also highlights the frustration we're probably all feeling: this is a team that should be going toe-to-toe with good teams, but they've basically been run over by them. I still believe they have the talent to win 90 games, but haven't (yet) gelled. 

Trout looks like he's coming around and while he might not be the player he was in 2018, he should be good for a 160+ wRC+, which is still great and good enough within an overall strong lineup. I miss Rendon's .400 OBP already, but his fill-ins are adequate and it seems his injury is relatively minor. Lots of solid contributions from the secondary cast of characters.

Ward is a bit more baffling. You just don't hit as well as he did for the first month or two last year and be this mediocre. Every player can have a great game or week, but six weeks? You have to be pretty good to do what he did. I really see him as at least a .280/.350/.500 guy, but he seems lost. 

My biggest concern remains the starting pitching. I think Shohei will figure it out and Sandoval has been solid. I do think Detmers will come around, like he did last year, though I'm not sure why we're basically doing a repeat of 2022. I was hoping to see some development, but he is still young and relatively inexperienced - I still think he can be a good #3, even #2 in peak years. Canning and Anderson are #4-5 guys, so the rotation gets soft real fast. 

To be honest, I'm not sure why people are so high on Silseth. He had that first start which was so impressive for a rookie jumping from AA to the majors, but has been rather unimpressive since. To me he looks like a future reliever -- his fastball is just too flat, and "batting practice-y." Who knows, though. He reminds me a bit of Sandoval when he first came up. It took him a couple partial years to become a solid pitcher; if Silseth can get some spin and movement on that fastball, he should be pretty good.