Weaver Does Well, But Runs Are Still Scarce

As I was driving home from work last night, I was thinking about what I was going to write about for this blog.  I was thinking when the Angels win they'll have a nice little 3-game win streak going and hopefully that'll be a sign of the team finally waking up from their run scoring slump.  After all, they were playing Oakland.  A team ranked last in the league in runs scored, last in hits, last in batting average, last in on-base percentage...you get the idea.  Oakland proved worthy of their offensive stats by getting only 4 hits and scoring just 2 runs, but two runs ended up being one more than the Halos could manufacture as the Angels lost the opening game of their 3 game series to the A's 2-1.  I failed to realize that Oakland does have the third best ERA in the league and the Angels haven't been scoring runs like they're capable of doing.  I know, the Angels still lead the AL West by 16 games and have a magic number of 16 to clinch the division title, but a division title will not be good enough with this team.  If the hitting woes continue into or reappear in October, the post season is going to be very short.  Last night's line-up was without the regular 4 and 5 hitters as both Vlad Guerrero and Garrett Anderson sat out.  Guerrero was given the night off to rest his knees and Anderson is battling knee problems of his own.  According to the L.A. Times, Mike Scioscia was quoted saying Guerrero will be given 2, if not 3 days off to "re-charge".  This is probably a good move as Guerrero is an important piece of the Angels' offense.  Resting him now makes sense in order to have him healthy and fresh later.  Anderson had an MRI on his left knee which he hurt during Sunday's game, but according to the same Times article, Anderson said it was feeling better.  With the huge division lead, Scoiscia has the luxury of resting some of his players, especially to avoid future injuries and to push deep into the post season.

Daily Notes:

• The Angels sent Kendry Morales back down to AAA and added right-handed reliever Jason Bulger to the pen.  Bulger had a brief appearance earlier this season, but didn't do well as he gave up 5 runs in just 5.2 innings.  While at AAA Salt Lake, Bulger was having a fantastic season where he struck out 72 in just 41 innings while compiling a 0.66 ERA.  Bulger could be a very useful addition to the Halos' shaky bullpen if he's able to translate his minor league stats into major league results.  Working the 9th inning last night, Bulger retired Oakland in order on his first day back with the big club.
• Jered Weaver's good outing was wasted last night.  Weaver gave up only 2 runs on 3 hits over 7 strong innings, but failed to get the win as the Angels' bats were silent.  Winless over his last 3 starts, Weaver has pitched well giving up just 13 hits over his last 18.1 innings while striking out 23.
• Magic Number: 16 with 32 games remaining.