Series Preview: Angels @ White Sox (Last of the rest)

Angels 68-72
White Sox 56-84

This series will mark the last time the Angels play a team that is not in the AL West. We are going to see a lot of familiar faces from Monday to the end of the season. It also starts a streak of 10 games in a row with no off days.

These two teams squared off in July an split the 4 game series. The Angels scored 5 runs combined in the first two games and 23 runs in the third and fourth games. A little bit of balance would be nice, you know?

Both of these teams are 2-3 over their 5 games so far in the month of September. Don’t take the White Sox for granted though - despite being WAY under .500 on the season, they have won 19 of their last 33 games (.576 PCT)

Jose Abreu is out for this series after having “secret” surgery on August 21st to repair a testicular torsion.

Know your foe:

White Sox- who’s hot (last 7 days):

Matt Davidson .429 AVG, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, 3 walks
Kevan Smith .545 AVG, .667 OBP, 4 walks

Weather Forecast

GAME 1

Felix Pena(R) (4.19 ERA) v. Carlos Rodon(L) (2.89 ERA)
Friday, September 7th @ 5:10PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Summary:

Felix Pena started against the White Sox back in July and gave up just 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings fo work. He’s coming off a strong 7 inning start against the Astros with just 1 run allowed.

Pitch Arsenal:

Carlos Rodon has been good for the White Sox this season and he beat the Angels in July when he tossed 7.2 innings of 2 runs ball. He had a tough time in his last start against the Red Sox but through July and August he didn’t allowed more than 3 runs in a game through 9 starts.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: Pena has been pretty impressive but Rodon has a definite edge to start this series.

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GAME 2

Matt Shoemaker(R) (2.53 ERA) v. James Shields(R) (4.39 ERA)
Saturday, September 8th @ 4:10PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Notable Stats

Summary:

There were 5 months between Shoemaker’s first and second start this season. He looked sharp in his return against the Rangers on Monday with just 2 hits and zero runs allowed over 5 innings. Shoemaker threw 62 pitches in his first start back from the DL.

Pitch Arsenal:

James Shields faced a very different Angels lineup last September - a lineup that includes Martin Malonado, CJ Cron, Luis Valbuena, Brandon Phillips, and Kole Calhoun. He hasn’t faced the Angels yet this year. Over his last two starts against the Red Sox and Yankees of all team, Shields allowed just 2 runs on 8 hits over 11.2 innings.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: Shoemaker over Shields easy. Could have some bombs on both sides though with both pitchers a bit home runs prone.

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GAME 3

TBD v. Reynaldo Lopez(R) (4.37 ERA)
Wednesday, September 5th @ 5:05PM

Summary:

The Angels haven’t announced a starts for Sunday’s game. It was supposed to be Ohtani. Sniff, sniff, sob, sob. Perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to see another bullpen game?

Reynaldo Lopez has only allowed 4 runs over his last 3 starts and 19.2 innings. He is not without his flaws, however, giving up 4 or more runs in 11 of his 28 starts this season.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: Hard to say without an Angels starter, but they can certainly beat Lopez if their pitching holds up.

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Overall Verdict: You would think we could sweep a team that’s 28 games under .500 but let’s just hope for a series victory because this has been a better version of the White Sox over the past month.

Current Standings