Week 20 Halo Recap: the good, the bad, the meh (Winning ways)

We don't really need to sugar coat it.  The 2016 Angels are bad.  But back to back series wins and some good baseball games makes those low points in the season a tiny bit more tolerable.  How can you not get a little bit excited about taking a series against the Blue Jays and Tigers in the same week?

Maybe 26 runs in 6 games isn't that amazing, but we beat up on the Blue Jays 8-2 and shut out the Tigers on the backs of a great rebound performance by Tyler Skaggs.  Those games were fun to watch and the Angels still have some of those left in 2016.

September call-ups are a mere days away, and Angels fans get to take long(er) looks at some up and coming prospects over the final month.  We don't know who will get the call yet, but 2016 is not going anywhere, so let's look forward, turn the page, and keep 2017 and beyond in mind when we see the new kids next week.

Transactions:

None.  Unless you count AAA player Quintin Berry being released.

THE GOOD

1. Grandpa himself, Albert frickin' Pujols hit .400 last week with 2 more bombs and a 1.065 OPS which was second only to Mike Tout.

2. Speaking of the fish, Mike mother effin' Trout is Mike Trout again and had a ridiculous .519 OBP last week with a homerun and stolen base.

3. Jhoulys Chacin was bumped from his starting spot for Brett Oberholtzer, but he ended up being the 2 in the 1-2 starting pitching punch on Saturday.  Chacin threw 4 scoreless innings in relief and struck out 5.

4. Matt Shoemaker threw another great game and got the win after allowed zero runs and 3 hits in 6 innings.

5. Jose Valdez has been settling down since his call-up and allowed just 2 hits and no runs in 3.1 innings out of the pen.

6. You never know when Jered Weaver is going to surprise you with another great start and he allowed only 1 earned run in 5.2 innings of work last week.

7. The Bandy Man can, and he did.  Jett Bandy was 5 for 15 last week and continues to impress.

8. Andrelton Simmons is a wizard in the field and having a career year at the plate.  Last week he added to the later with a .333 AVG and .400 OBP.

9. C.J. Cron is back and he hit a triple!  He also hit .320 in the past week.

10. Tyler Skaggs gave up 4 runs in his first start last week, but shut out the Tigers over 6 strong innings on Sunday.  Despite his first bad start, Skaggs still had a 3.60 ERA last week with a .182 BAA and he struck out 8 over 10 innings.

11. Kaleb Cowart is making the most of his call-up with a .304 AVG last week and a a homerun.  Not bad for the rookie!

THE MEH

12. Kole Calhoun only hit .240 but he did have a .345 OBP and two doubles.

13. A.J. Achter was alright last week.  He did allow a homerun in relief but otherwise pitched 4 pretty good innings.  He didn't log a single K though.

14. In his first start as an Angel, Brett Oberholtzer did a decent job.  He did allow one run in 3 innings and had a .273 BAA with a 1.67 WHIP.  But it could have been worse and it was a good start with stretching him out for longer stints.

15. J.C. Ramirez was a bit of a punching bag with his .308 BAA and 1.67 WHIP, but at least he only allowed 1 ER in his 3 innings.

16. Fernando Salas wasn't horrible but he did make everyone sweat.  He notched a save and gave up 1 run over 2 innings of work in two games.

17. Deolis Guerra had the dubious honor of the highest BAA among Angels pitchers at .400.  He allowed one run in his 2 innings and didn't strike anyone out.

18. Nick Buss was mostly a bust last week, but congrats to him for hitting his first big league homer!

19. Jefry Marte didn't play much last week but a big part of Sunday's win.  He only hit .200 but also only had 5 AB.  His only hit was a dinger.

20. Gregorio Petit only had 2 at bats and he didn't get a hit in either of them.  He did manage 2 walks though.

THE BAD

21. Ricky Nolasco was not great last week and gave up 4 runs over 6.1 innings.  His BAA was .346 and he had a 1.89 WHIP thanks to giving up 9 hits and 3 walks.

22. Mike Morin had a bad week and allowed 2 runs in 2.2 innings, though that was all in one game.  2016 really hasn't been much of a friend to him.

23. Carlos Perez's struggles at the plate continue and his .143 AVG last week isn't going to help his playing time.