The Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays have both dealt with some adversity to this point in the season, but despite little-to-no expectations for either team, each has managed to hang around to this point, each sitting at .500 entering the four-game series set to take place on Florida’s west coast. It was the Rays that narrowly beat out the Angels for the series last season, winning four of seven games.
This series will be contested from Monday, May 22, 2017 through Thursday, May 25, 2017 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
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Pitching Matchups
The Rays have the better reputation with their starters compared to the Angels, but Los Angeles has gotten more than they could have bargained for given the names they’re trotting out there.
For Monday, we’ll see an interesting matchup of J.C. Ramirez against Jake Odorizzi. The latter of the two has the most experience and he’s, perhaps, the surest thing in the Ray’s rotation. His 3.16 ERA leads the team and though he missed a couple starts with injury, he’s basically picked up where he left off. His 0.892 WHIP is especially impressive as he’s walked just seven batters in 37 innings.
All of that said, Odorizzi has struggled in his career against the Angels, going 0-3 with a 6.98 ERA in four starts.
Ramirez, on the other hand, hasn’t made a start against the Rays as he just transitioned into the rotation, but has tossed a pair of scoreless relief innings against Tampa Bay in the past.
This year, Ramirez has been a huge godsend to this rotation. He’s 3-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 10 games, including seven starts, and has the lowest ERA, best WHIP and best walk rate of any Angels’ starter. He’s the only healthy starter with an ERA+ of 100 or better.
As the series progresses, we’ll see Matt Shoemaker take the hill against Alex Cobb on Tuesday, Ricky Nolasco toe the rubber opposite Erasmo Ramirez on Wednesday and duo of Alex Meyer and Matt Andriese wrap up the series on Thursday.
Cobb was a bit rusty to start the year after missing so much time, but he’s now logged four straight quality starts and is fast returning to his old, border-line ace-like self.
Once Cobb’s change up comes back this will be a dominating pitcher again. Until then, he’s still doing well mixing up his fastball and breaking pitches and his 3.67 ERA and 3.99 FIP are a testimony to that. Shoemaker, on the other hand, is the sure-thing in the Angels’ rotation, but he’s also got a 4.47 ERA and 5.01 FIP.
As the rotation continues, both Nolasco and Meyer each have plenty of warts of their own. Nolasco’s pitched to a 4.01 ERA with some smoke and mirrors. He’s allowed 13 home runs in 51.2 innings and has a FIP well over a run and a quarter higher than his ERA thanks to a depressed BABIP.
Meyer long ago crossed the line from top prospect to bust, but he’s trying to salvage himself as a back-end starter. To this point, that’s looked like a 5.79 ERA in five starts and a hugely inflated 1.629 WHIP driven by 18 walks in 23.1 innings. He simply doesn’t have the command to have success at this point and that’s likely to be a huge issue against a Rays’ team that’s shown the ability to draw the walk and belt the long ball.
Flipping back to the Ray’s final two starters, Ramirez has just slid back into the rotation, but has shown he can handle the role in the past. He’s a solid young veteran who provides quality innings. The same can be said about Matt Andriese who closes out the series on Thursday.
Who's Hot?
The answer is always and forever: Mike Trout.
The reigning MVP has gotten even better, if that’s even possible. He’s hitting .343 for the year with a 1.186 OPS, giving him an OPS+ of 225. He’s more than twice as good as the average Major Leaguer so far this season.
He’s hitting for power, stealing bases, driving in runs and doing it all despite little to no offensive support around him. I know we talk over and over about just how good Trout is, but it’s been so consistent over the last few years, it’s easy to overlook.
The numbers Trout is putting up are ridiculous. It’s a shame there’s nobody around him. Only Martin Malondado and Yunel Escobar are providing even league average production and Escobar is now on the DL.
Fortunately for the Angels, it seems that Cameron Maybin’s bat is heating up. He’s getting on base at a .413 clip in May and at least gives Trout someone to drive in.
Bud Norris is another Angel who is hot right now. It’s hard to predict how long it’ll last, but he’s holding his own in the closer’s role with eight saves and a 2.95 ERA in 20 games spanning 21.1 innings.
It’s hard to believe the failed starter turned reliever can continue to dominant in this way, but the simplified approach has—at least to this point—allowed his stuff to play up.
Flipping the script onto the Rays, Chris Dickerson is raking and has slammed 11 homers just like teammate Logan Morrison.
Generally, the Ray’s offense has been strong thanks to the pop. They have several useful pieces and while most are rather flawed, Kevin Cash has done a good job putting them in positions to succeed. Colby Rasmus has also been a huge boast for this team since coming off the DL. He’s hitting just .245, but has four homers and nine RBIs in 14 games for a .878 OPS.
Who's Not?
Neither of these teams are that great defensively. They rank in the bottom half of the sport in errors allowed and are a bit clunky at a few positions.
For the Rays, Kevin Kiermaier in center is supposed to be the defensive glue, but he’s made a few un-Kiermaier like errors this year. His bat is also not giving the team much. He’s walking enough to be somewhat useful, but is batting just .235.
Kiermaier is one of several Rays players with a low batting average. In fact, only Dickerson, Seven Souza Jr., Evan Longoria and Tim Beckham have an average over .250 with at least 50 at bats. Dickerson and Beckham standalone if you bump that average up to .260.
For the Angels, the fact that they’re even .500 is a shock. This is a rag-tag team other than Trout and with Kole Calhoun and Albert Pujols struggling, it’s a shock that this team can score enough runs to support a starting staff full of back-end starters. Still, the starters are all keeping the team in the game even if not dominating and the bullpen has been a real surprise given the names.
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