Week 8 Halo Recap - The good, the bad, and the meh

The Angels dropped 4 out of 6 to AL West teams this week, including a series loss to the last place Houston Astros that came in a rough 13 inning loss Sunday. Sunday's loss put the Angels just .5 game ahead of the Astros and A's for last place, and they are now 6 games under .500.  2016 has been a lesson in buttercupping, most recently with the Angels sweeping the Mariners, taking 3 of 4 from the Dodgers, and just when we have a glimmer of hope again, they lose 3 straight series.

THE GOOD

Jett Bandy made his 2016 debut and is hitting .500 in 6 AB.  Not bad a for a farm system that doesn't have much depth.

If you don't count Sunday when he struck out 3 times in much needed clutch situations, Johnny Giavotella had another great week and hit .360 with 3 doubles.

Kole Calhoun had a .333/.417/.571 slash line over the past week, hit a HR, led the team in runs scored (tied with Ortega and Trout) and kept his strikeouts down to 4.

Albert Pujols hit 3HRs last week and led the team with 7 RBIs, but he struck out 5 times.  He also just missed making it through the week without a single GDP until doing so in the 5th inning of Sunday's game.

Angels defense was on point this past week.  Johnny Giavotella, Rafael Ortega, Cliff Pennington, and Gregorio Petit, all made impressive highlight reel plays, with Johnny G making three of them. Ortega showed off his arm, while Petit and Pennington showed off their fine jumping skills.

Matt Shoemaker had an unbelievable start when he struck out 11 over 8.1 IP and gained the win.  Any day you mow down the Astros like that is a good day.

Surprisingly, Joe Smith was the only Angels pitcher last week to not give up a run

THE BAD

Hector Santiago didn't even make it 3 innings for his second straight start.  He gave up 6 runs on  5 hits and 3 walks in just 2.1 IP.

Mike Morin gave up a 3-run homerun to Carlos Correa during the 13th inning on Sunday, and putting the previously tied game out of reach.

Six Angels pitchers had a BAA over .300 last week and 4 of those were over .500

Seven Angels pitchers had an ERA over 4.50.  Four of those had an ERA over 8.00

C.J. Wilson suffered another set back in his recovery and has been shut down due to Biceps Tendonitis with no clear timetable for return.  What is with former Rangers players that just can't stay healthy?

Shane Robinson continues to get playing time despite a .190 AVG on the season and is just 1 for 8 over the past week.

C.J. Cron went just 3 for 25 over the past week, hitting .143

Gregorio Petit has been impressive with his defense but not so great at the plate with a .158 average over the past week.  At least that's better than the .000 Ryan had before he was DFA'd on Saturday.

Rafael Ortega also struggled this past week, hitting only .190 though he did get his first career HR.

THE MEH

Nick Tropeano was good and bad last week. He had a very solid 6.2 inning outing where he allowed just 4 hits and zero runs. But he followed that up with 5 IP where he gave up 4 runs and walked a season high 5.