The Los Angeles Angels Are a Mess

The Los Angeles Angels still reside in the basement of the AL West, which is where they are not supposed to be. The Angels have shown a moderate pulse in winning their first two games of the homestand. However, they will not be able to face Minnesota enough times the rest of the year to cure what ills them.

Even with a pair of W's, the Halos still need six more wins straight just to get back to .500, let alone entertain thoughts of competing with Texas in the division. Manager Mike Scioscia undoubtedly knew his team had weaknesses coming out of Tempe in spring training, but he had to believe many of these could be masked by a good starting staff and a potent offense.

The first part has held true, with L.A.'s starters third in the American League with a 3.49 ERA.

The bullpen pitching has been a complete disaster. The Angels' relievers have a 5.08 ERA (12th in the AL) and never have easy innings, with the second lowest strikeouts to innings pitched (68.6%) in the junior circuit.

This collection of relievers has blown six of nine save opportunities (the worst in the AL) and has six defeats with nary a victory. It is incumbent upon former closer Jordan Walden to regain his form (8.31 ERA and 2.08 WHIP), because the rest of the bullpen is aging junk-ballers, save Dan Carpenter and Kevin Jepsen.

Pitchers Scott Downs, LaTroy Hawkins, Jason Isringhausen and Hisanori Takahashi, are all 36 to 39 years old, and to expect great improvement from them would require walking on hot coals with Tony Robbins.

The Halos' offense is wretched. Beyond Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales of late, nobody is taking good swings on this team. L.A. is averaging 3.5 runs per game, which is a very unlucky 13th in the AL. Scioscia prefers to have base-runners playing the first-to-third game, but when you have a team batting average of .238 (13th) and on-base percentage of .293 (12th), you cannot play this style.

The Orange Country players are clearly pressing and trying to convince themselves this is temporary, but when seven of your top 11 everyday players are hitting .250 or less—and you only have 19 balls over the fence (12th)—runs are going to be tough come by.

Trying to find an igniter, Scioscia has moved everyone in the batting order—except for one person: Albert Pujols. The 252-million dollar man is batting .208, has no home runs and has hit third in every game he has played.

You can see Pujols is having a difficult time adjusting to the AL. Despite saying, "I'll just keep doing as I always do, and the hits will come," it really might be time to bat Pujols cleanup or maybe fifth, just to give him a different perspective. This would be a real challenging decision for Scioscia to make, but you cannot keep waiting for Albert to bust loose at such an important position in the lineup.

The red-clad Angels have not responded well to expectations this season. Unless they start to swing the bats and find better relief pitching, this MIGHT be a team that finishes around .500 and deserves the label of most disappointing.