Look Poozy, no one is claiming injuries solely to blame for the Angels demise but it is a significant factor. When looking at the number of injuries, time lost to the DL, the significance of the players lost, and the well known lack of depth particularly on the pitching staff, injuries had a large impact. We already knew pitching was not where we needed it to be, especially the pen, even before the season started. Then we added even more pressure on the already weak pen when starters couldn't even pitch through the 5th inning. Those injuries only made it worse. Pitching was awful early forcing the offense to try to make up the difference night in and night out. An offense that wasn't firing on all cylinders but was pressing to score 5+ runs a night to try to win games. That's way too much to put on an offense particularly one that has its prime power hitter playing through a painful injury.
Were injuries the entire problem? No of course not.But under the circumstances, the impact was immense.