Sloppy Angels are 6-10 at Season's Ten Percent Mark

The Major League Baseball Season is 162 games long. The Angels have played 16 games so far. The 2012 MLB season is about ten percent over.

Let's hope that the next nine segments are not this bad. It cannot be emphasized enough that the current 6-10 record came against five teams, four of whom are below mediocre at their very best. Only the New York Yankees are the kind of opponent by which a team can gage itself. Sadly, losing 3 of 4 to the Athletics, and 2 of 3 games to the Royals and Minnesota is the kind of gage that makes you irrationally start to question the spelling of gage and ask if there shouldn't be U in there to make it gauge in order to avoid the cold sobering reality: the Angels are about as good as their record.

Think about it: Could you see this team as they are currently comprised going 72-90. Absolutely. Chirp away that "it is early" but it may have been a case of Arte buying the Turkey for November instead of the contender for October. They have lost three in a row twice and have only won two in a row once. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by Gobble Gobble Gobble.

Well, everyone but four Angels: Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Howie Kendrick and Chris Iannetta. Everyone else has an OPS+ (On-Base% plus slugging, equalized based on all performances across baseball this season with "100" representing the current definition of "league average") below 100. Albert Pujols has spent ten percent of the season performing almost at league average.

You know Vernon Wells is ten percent worse than the average major leaguer, but so is Torii Hunter to start the 2012 season. Mark Trumbo has a stellar OPS+ but is of course the guy getting benched most often. Kendrys for all his pop is average and watching limp around on a pinch-hit double this afternoon gave me zero faith. Peter Bourjos delivered a less-than-Mathis OPS+ of 48 in the first ten percent of the season and the first notions of sending him to Salt Lake in favor of Mike Trout rumbled in the distance like a charging army of opinion hoofbeating its way into our collective heads. Erick Aybar an Alberto Callaspo have been all about the slow start.

The bullpen is flat out miserable, fortunately only pitching 40 of the 141 innings of Angels baseball so far. If we go 11-6 over the 17 gams that comprise the next 5 series we play and hit the 1/3 of the season mark at .500, there is still plenty of hope... The next 17 games feature 6 games against the Twins (3 here, 3 back there), four at home against Toronto and three this coming weekend against Cleveland. Maybe Toronto is the measuring stick in this bunch, but the schedule is super kind early and we have already fumbled this gift from the baseball gods.

The Angels next three, starting Tuesday, are on the road in Tampa starting Tuesday (sweep that seriesand we can turn on the belief buttons). After Rays on the road, Indians on the road, Twins at home, Blue Jays at home, Twins on the road, we have a day off May 10... and start the third ten percent of the 2012 season by heading into Arlington Texas to face the Rangers.