Angels Report Card After 36 Games
Ervin Santana: A+…The preseason #6 starter has been as nails as any Angel in a long, long time.
Joe Saunders: A…He has gone from being on the rotation bubble in the offseason to the dominating Co-Ace. If there is even a flaw with Joe this season it is that he pitches less superiorly with regular rest than he does with an extra day’s worth, for what it is worth.
Scot Shields: A…The return of the king?
Francisco Rodriguez: A…So he raises your blood pressure a little, so what, he gets results.
Erick Aybar: A-…A little more bat and with that glove you are an all star. Leads the majors with a 1.4 web-gem per game average.
Casey Kotchman: A-…Better than advertised? I have been a Kotch believer all along, so not for me, but for a lot of people thinking we needed a vetruhn powah bat – Bill Stoneman keeps on giving to the organization.
Torii Hunter: A-…Walk off grand slam not convincing you? The glove alone is better than advertised and the drama is of the team-lifting type.
Justin Speier: B+…Perhaps what appears to be inconsistency is just a shelf below the perch of greatness that he rests upon?
Darren Oliver: B+…Of late, nails.
Mike Napoli: B+…Great bat, but a bit sloppy behind the dish, especially in the shadow of Mathis.
Jeff Mathis: B…Throwing runners out on the basepaths, nursing the pitching staff ... all tops in the league, really impressive – a little more stick for that 4.0 on this report card.
Chone Figgins: B-…Proved himself a critical cog in the offense and then tweaked a hammy just when he was cooling off from a hot start.
Garret Anderson: C…He can still turn on a fastball. That is all.
Vladimir Guerrero: C…Even as Bad Vlad he is league average, but he ain’t been rakin’ or bakin’, so let’s hope he is not achin’...
Darren O’Day: C…Nice story but nobody should have expected much more.
Jon Garland: C-…Has looked great exactly twice, okay twice and terrible three times.
Gary Matthews, Jr.: C-…Occasional stellar glovework is still just blocking Reggie Willits.
Jered Weaver: C-…High expectations yield lousy grades but, objectively speaking, there are nights when he has it and nights when he doesn’t and he is not tantruming anywhere near as much as his older brother so the thought is that at age 25 he still has time to tweak his numbers upward.
Maicer Izturis: D…22 Games of not much that S-Rod cannot do. Howie Kendrick has half the at-bats as The Miceman and we miss Howie so much more...
Dustin Moseley: D…To be fair, he kept the team in two or three games as the 5th starter, but sucked all along, not that we did not suspect that...
Chris Bootcheck: D…Eminently replaceable by any Salt Lake Bee pitcher.
INCOMPLETE:
Position Players: Matt Brown, Howie Kendrick, Robb Quinlan, Juan Rivera, Sean Rodriguez, Reggie Willits, Bobby Wilson.
Pitchers: Nick Adenhart, Jason Bulger, Chris Bootcheck, Rich Thompson, Alex Serrano
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