The Anaheim Angels ended their dismal 2016 campaign on a very high note and took 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros. Led by Jhoulys Chacín’s performance on the mound, Mike Trout’s patience in the batter’s box, and Rafael Ortega and Carlos Pérez’s 2-hit performance, the Angels’ offense once again came in bunches and making sure that they would never give the Astros any life of scoring more runs. The Astros finished limping to the finish line in 3rd place, while the Angels finished strong in 4th place [see the final official standings and notes].
#TeamShutDown: Chacín gets his 6th win of the season, versus his 8 losses, by striking out 7 Astros while allowing just 4 hits and 1 to reach base on balls. He dialed in Team Shut Down and received 7 strong innings of no-run ball to bring his overall ERA for this season to 4.81, ending his stint in Anaheim w/ a 5-6 record; his 8-year career — which includes the Braves, the Diamondbacks, and his 6-year stint w/ the Rockies — is now at 46 wins and 57 losses, w/ a 3.94 career ERA.
#PowerfulOffense: The Angels strike first blood in the 2nd inning, thanks to their offense from the middle lineup on. Marté started the Parté w/ a walk, but the Astros’ Brady Rodgers’ sky was falling down, as he gave 4 earned runs on five hits and surrendered 3 bases on balls. Rodgers’ ERA in his 5 games this season is an eye-opening 15.12 – that’s not a typo. Meanwhile, Ortega and Pérez contribute the offense by collecting a total of 4 hits in their 8 at-bats, a total of 3 of the 8 Angel runs, and 3 RBI’s.
Angels score 3 more in the 6th inning, thanks in part to Calhoun’s 35th double of the season and Trout’s single to right field for Nick Buss to score. In the following inning, after stretching and singing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”, the Angels score one more to go on top 8-love, thanks to Marté, who flexed his muscles and take the ball out of the yard for the fifteenth time this season. The Angels would finish the game w/ an 8-1 victory.
Major Accomplishments From The Best In Baseball: Jose Altuve captures his second batting title for the American League, w/ a .338 [216/640] for 2016, and in his 6-year career, he has 1048 hits in his 3361 career at-bats [.311 batting average].
Meanwhile, the Millville Meteor himself got a stolen base in the first inning following a walk in his first at-bat, which gives him 30 stolen bases — that’s his 3rd season to do so and the first since 2013; in 2015, he had just 11. Trout also earned 1 more RBI, which is all he needed to get the 100 RBI plateau for the second time in his career; last season, he got 90. In his 6-year career, Trout has a .306 [917/2997] batting average, 168 home runs, and 497 RBI’s; he also has exactly 600 runs scored.
And the 2016 season draws to a close. With only 2 games that was canceled due to inclement weather and the first tie in 11 seasons, here are the final standings of the regular season division races, wild card races, and the notes from the teams that clinched a postseason birth and the number 1 overall draft.
AL East:
Red Sox: 93-69 (.574) ✔
Orioles: 89-73 (.549) – 4.0 GB ✓
Blue Jays: 89-73 (.549) – 4.0 GB ✓
Yankees: 84-78 (.519) – 9.0 GB
Rays: 68-94 (.420) – 25.0 GB
**Twins will have the #1 overall pick for the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft