Daniel's Huge American League Midseason Report Card

Los Angeles Angels
Record: 46-35
Grade: B+

Season In Review (Grades)

Management: A
Can you expect anything else from Mike Scioscia? The Angels started off poorly, once being five games under .500. They had to deal with a very crippled starting pitching staff and injuries to perhaps their future Hall of Famer, Vladimir Guerrero. Not to mention the pain this team had to go through when Nick Adenhart was killed. The Angels have been resilient.

Defense: B+
The Angels are one of the better defensive teams in the league, having only committed 42 errors as a team. The bulk of the errors have come from Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar, but they have saved a lot more runs than they have cost the Angels. They also have a gold glove center fielder in Torii Hunter and great play from Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera. Jeff Napoli (24 percent) doesn't catch enough thefts.

Starting Pitching: D+
The team's starting rotation (4.51 ERA) has been severely injured and mitigated by the loss of Adehart. Jered Weaver (9-3, 3.15 ERA) has been phenomenal and was snubbed for the All-Star game. John Lackey (3-3, 4.70 ERA) is trying to get back into his usual groove. Matt Palmer (7-1, 4.86 ERA) has been effective, but not great. Joe Saunders (8-5, 4.44 ERA) has been too inconsistent, especially compared to last year's great performances. Off of the disabled list, Ervin Santana (1-4, 7.43 ERA, 1.90 WHIP) has been awful. Kelvim Escobar has been placed back on the disabled list, which is another blow to this pitching staff.

Bullpen: F
The Angels have the worst bullpen in the American League (5.06 ERA, 11 blown saves, 1.52 WHIP). Scott Shields and Jose Arredondo going down with injury didn't help things. Justin Speier (4.31 ERA), Jason Bulger (4.37 ERA), Rich Thompson (4.40 ERA), and Kevin Jepsen (9.39 ERA, 2.15 WHIP) have all given up too many runs. Darren Oliver (8 H, 2.72 ERA) has been great and Brian Fuentes (24 saves, 3.38 ERA) leads the league in saves.

Offense: B+
The Angels have an effective offense, and in fact lead the American League in batting average (.281). Torii Hunter is putting up MVP numbers in all categories. Chone Figgins and Juan Rivera are .300+ batters putting up All-Star caliber numbers. Bobby Abreu has been great (.300+ average) while Vladimir Guerrero is finally starting to get his groove back. There's also even a .300+ batter in Maicer Izturis. Erick Aybar has also been consistent. Their bench isn't great (Gary Matthews, Howie Kendrick, Robb Qunilan, and Jeff Mathis).

Team Thoughts

Los Angeles's most valuable player has been Torii Hunter. He also might be MVP of the American League. Hunter is batting .307 with 17 home runs and 65 RBI. He also has 13 stolen bases and 37 extra base hits. He plays gold glove defense and comes up big when it matters.

Los Angeles's least valuable player has been Howie Kendrick. He was demoted and then promoted again. Kendrick is batting .227 with 22 RBI. His on-base percentage is an awful .275. With runners in scoring position, Howie is only batting .226. He might be going back to the minors soon.

Los Angeles's best moment came on May 14. The Angels were up 4-3 to the Red Sox going into the eighth inning. The Red Sox then tied the game. The Red Sox would proceed to win in the twelfth off a Jeff Mathis single. The impressive thing was they didn't let David Ortiz deliver, when he had three opportunities with the bases loaded.

Los Angeles's worst moment came on May 30. The Angels were beating the Mariners 3-0 going into the ninth inning. Brian Fuentes came in to save the game, but gave up a two-out, three-run home run to Jose Lopez. The Mariners would win on a walkoff sac fly in the tenth.

Power Rankings

Los Angeles's highest ranking was 4.
Los Angeles's lowest ranking was 28.
Los Angeles's average ranking is 13.62.

Playoff Potential

The Angels have a strong chance to make the playoffs. It depends a lot on how the play against the Rangers and the Mariners. The Wild Card will likely be from the AL East, so the division is their best hope.

Minnesota Twins
Record: 43-40
Grade: B

Season In Review (Grades)

Management: B
The Twins have been playing well, but not up to their potential. They went from being the piranhas, to being a team that depends on the three left-handed batters in the lineup. Despite that, they're still playing over .500 ball and are still in the thick of things for the AL Central crown. Gardenhire can manage the game well.

Defense: A
The Twins are the second best fielding team in the American League, having only committed a combined 32 errors. Justin Morneau is underrated at first base, and Joe Crede has a great glove and has reduced his errors by a lot. The bulk of the errors (ten) have come from the shortstop position. Mauer is effective, catching 32 percent stealing.

Starting Pitching: B-
No American League starting rotation has thrown more quality starts (46) than the Twins rotation. However, their batting average against is .270 and their ERA is 4.44. Nick Blackburn (7-4, 2.94 ERA) continues his underrated pitching. Out of 17 starts, 13 of them were quality. Glen Perkins (4-4, 4.38 ERA). has been good and consistent as of late. Kevin Slowey (10-3, 4.86 ERA) has lots of wins, but is way too inconsistent. It won't help that he's on the disabled list. The inconsistency part also applies to Scott Baker (6-6, 4.99 ERA) and Francisco Liriano (4-8, 5.49 ERA). Anthony Swarzak has been called back up, and has looked promising before.

Bullpen: A-
The Twins have a reliable and consistent bullpen (3.76 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 8 blown saves). Matt Guerrier (16 H, 2.58 ERA), Jose Mijares (11 H, 2.16 ERA), and RA Dickey (2.96 ERA) have all been effective. Bobby Keppel and Brian Duensing also look very promising. This bullpen also has the best closer in the game, Joe Nathan (22 saves, 1.35 ERA, 0.75 WHIP).

Offense: C+
Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Jason Kubel are basically the crux of this average offense. Justin Morneau is having another MVP-type season, batting .300+ with an 1.000+ OPS and 60+ RBI. Same applies to Joe Mauer, who is chasing .400. Jason Kubel has also been fantastic, batting .300+ with 42 RBI. Michael Cuddyer has also been a run producer, to a lesser extent. Denard Span has been effective, but more production is needed from Delmon Young and Joe Crede. The bench (Carlos Gomez, Matt Tolbert, Brian Buscher, Mike Redmond) is very weak.

Team Thoughts

Minnesota's most valuable player has been Justin Morneau. He's qualified to be leading every category on the team with a .323 batting average, 69 RBI, 21 home runs, and a 1.000 OPS. He also has a great glove and is batting with runners in scoring position.

Minnesota's least valuable player has been Delmon Young. They should regret the trade they made for him. Young is batting .269 but has a .296 on-base percentage. He only has 25 RBI while his K:BB ratio is an awful 57/6.

Minnesota's best moment came on May 1. It wasn't that they beat Kansas City 7-5. It was that Joe Mauer returned and that got the team over .500. Joe Mauer homered in his first at-bat and sent a signal to the baseball world. Mauer power is here and he's chasing history.

Minnesota's worst moment came on May 17. The Twins had lost the previous two nights on walkoff hits by the Yankees. Would it happen a third night in a row for the sweep? Yes. Johnny Damon hit a home run in the bottom of the tenth and it was the third straight time the Twins couldn't sustain a lead.

Power Rankings

Minnesota's highest ranking was 13.
Minnesota's lowest ranking was 22.
Minnesota's average ranking is 16.54.

Playoff Potential

The Twins are in a tight AL Central race with the Tigers and lurking White Sox. I think the Twins will win the race with their pitching, M&M Boys, and management, but I'm giving them a 7/10 on the playoff meter now.

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