Week 16 Halo recap: The good, the bad, the meh (Turn the Page)

How bad does a closer have to be before they are no longer the closer?  Back in June, the Twins removed Kevin Jepsen from their closer role after he put up a 6.17 ERA in 23.1 innings, with seven saves and three blown saves.  Granted, he doesn't have near the track record of Huston Street, but so far this year, Street has a 6.45 ERA in 22.1 innings with  nine saves and three blown saves. Sound familiar?  Take a look at this chart from last night.  Street couldn't throw a first pitch strike to 5 of the 7 batters he faced (almost 6 out of 7).

But I digress.  I could write a whole lot more about the Street fiasco in 2016, how Scioscia will stand by his side, etc.  It leaves a bitter taste when the Angels were close to a series win agains the Red Sox and close to putting up 5 wins last week.

The Angels also finally admitted defeat with their 2016 planned left field platoon as both original members (Craig Gentry & Daniel Nava) were DFA'd.  Buh bye!!

THE GOOD

The bullpen did a mighty fine job last week unless your name is Street or Alvarez.  Fernando Salas, Cam Bedrosian, Deolis Guerra, Joe Smith, and J.C. Ramirez all held their opponents to zero runs over 14.2 combined innings of relief.

J.C. Ramirez gets special mention for not even allowing a single base runner in his 4 appearances and 3.1 innings.

Tyler Skaggs is back and he is good.  Skaggs threw 12.1 scoreless innings last week and struck out 13 while allowing just 7 hits and 3 walks.  He'd be 2-0 instead of 1-0 if Huston Street didn't crap all over the mound on Sunday.

Jered Weaver was good again.  For now.  He pitched 5.2 innings and only gave up 1 run.  Just 2 strikeouts, but that's not really an issue as Weaver was finding other ways to get people out.  Weaver lost his @#$ when he had to intentionally walk David Ortiz and then was pulled from the game with 2 outs in the 6h.

Johnny Giavotella led the team with a .476 average last week and had the team's only stolen base.

Albert Pujols continues to silence the doubters with a .387/.406/.484 slash last week, along with a team leading 9 RBIs.

It's nice to see Jefry Marte hitting well and he had a .375 average last week.  He definitely needs more playing time than Choi.

Carlos Perez finally out-hit Bandy with a .375 last week and had the other of the team's only 2 home runs.

Yunel Escobar can't run or field worth a crap, but he can get on base.  Yuni hit .367 with a .424 OBP.

Also showing his value is Gregorio Petit with a .462 OBP over the past week and only 1 strikeout.  He also did a fine job in Left Field.

Mike Trout has the team's 7th highest batting average last week, but the highest OBP after Johnny G with a .469.  Trout walked 8 times and still drove in the team's second highest total with 4 RBIs.

THE BAD

Tim Lincecum gave up 4 runs over 5 innings and he walked 6.  At least he lasted 5 innings?  Silver lining?  No, not really.  Lincecum has an 8.49 ERA this year with a 2.2 WHIP.  He's a dream for opposing hitters.

Matt Shoemaker doesn't make the bad list hardly ever anymore, but he had a rough start last week.  Shoey gave up 5 runs over 6 innings of work and only struck out 1.

HUSTON FRICKING STREET has been a complete mess in 2016, and Sunday was no exception.  Street gave up 5 runs over .2 innings of work.  When you walk your first batter it's not a good start, but it's only the save that matters - right Street??

Todd Cunningham and Shane Robinson went 0fer in a combined 5 at bats.  Zero walks.  Zero hits.  Zero anything.

Aren't we glad Ji-Man Choi is back?  The Ji-spot may soon be a thing of the past as he continues to show very little value against big league pitching.  Choi hit .176 last week with zero walks.

Poor Kole Calhoun only hit .192 over the past week and he struck out 8 times.

The Bandy-man Jett had one of his worst weeks and only hit .200 but at least had a .333 OBP.

THE MEH

Hector Santiago had a good July but he walked 10 batters over 10.1 innings last week.  With a 1.84 WHIP, it's amazing he went 2-0 on the week.  Who strikes out 11 and walks 10?  I guess Hector Santiago does.

Jhoulys Chacin gave up 2 runs in 4 relief innings.  He also struck out 5 and only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk.  His task was to mop up from Lincecum's not so great start, but he also received zero run support.

Jose Alvarez was okay I guess. He gave up 2 runs (only 1 earned) over 1.1 innings.  Nothing too noteworthy here.

Daniel Nava hit .273 last week but is now no longer on the team since he was DFA'd with Craig Gentry.

Andrelton Simmons cooled off a bit last week and hit only .250.