Many critics have been saying pessimistically that the Angels (35-29) have only been scoring runs because they have been facing the terrible pitchers in the National League West. It is true the Angels have not face the best the San Diego Padres (28-35) and San Francisco Giants (34-31) have to offer, but I still thought it was something to be excited about because they were averaging 9 runs a game during a 5 game winning streak. We haven’t seen this kind of production at all in past years.

Today, the Angels offense proved its critics wrong by scoring 4 runs against the reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (8in, 3ER 9K). This is not the 9 runs they were averaging, but it was a solid number against arguably the best pitcher in baseball.  Not to mention this was without Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu in the starting line-up.

This offense is for real and is ready to take down the best the National League has to offer, our cross town rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers (43-22).

Notes:

Brian Fuentes (4.43ERA, 24K) nailed down his 18th save of the season as is starting to lock down the back of the rotation for the Angels.  However, I still think I would be more comfortable with Kelvim Escobar (0-1, 3.60ERA) there.

-Tony C