Playing Catch-up.... Again.

So it seems that no matter what this team does, the pattern is being notably established.  Six years running now, the Angels have dropped the opening series (0-3 to the Mariners here in 2014, 1-2 to the Reds in 2013, 1-2 to the Royals in 2012, 0-3 to the Royals in 2011, 1-3 to the Twins in 2010, 1-2 to the As in 2009).  You have to go back to 2008 when the Angels swept the Twins in Minnesota to see a winning first series to the season.

So we can maybe say a couple things about these facts:

1. The Angels haven't done much since 2009, in terms of getting to the post-season.  This doesn't bode well, since these opening series, at least the past three years, have left the Angels so far in the dust of the AL West that they couldn't get out of the hole again.
2. At the same time, not all of these seasons were losers.  For example, the Angels were 89-73 in 2012, 86-76 in 2011, and 97-65 in 2009, despite going 1-2, 0-3, and 1-2 in the opening series of each year respectively.
3. It's still only the three games into a 162-game series.  No sense in hitting the panic button yet.  If this three-game sweep had occurred in June, no one would make a fuss of it.

I do have to say though, some really strange things going on in this first series.  Already, two pitchers not happy with the way they were handled on the mound - notably C.J. Wilson's intentional walk to Cano that ended up in Smoak's bases-clearing triple, and Hector Santiago's pulling after 83 pitches.  I know it's early in the season, but for both pitchers to have already voiced some kind of concern to the media like that, it seems like frustrations are already running high.

Guess I should've guest it was coming - the curse - when Don Baylor fell to his knees on the mound when we were at the game on Monday. Scary situation.

There were however, some good things to note. First, Mike Trout seems to not be phased by his contract extension - not that this is surprising in any sense (let's just hope we aren't making him regret it already, three games into 2014).  Second, (pretty much) everyone is healthy - even if they're not being successful right now, they will be, eventually.  Lastly, there were a lot of lucky bloops going on in the games, particularly against our starting pitching, and with Weaver sick on Monday, there's no reason to really believe things will stay this way - and eventually, the luck will turn around for our hitters, too (contact being made will find holes, sooner or later).  

Let's just hope that the mental errors - the base-running hiccups, the fielding errors, etc - minimalize, and the bullpen figures out how not to continually blow it.  A few players have looked okay - new pick up Joe Smith most notably - and there's still a really small sample size right now.  We'll find a rhythm, we'll hit a stride, we'll find some chemistry.  I just don't see this going the way of the last two years - or at least I'm praying it won't.

So some final thoughts:

• If the pitching continues this way - as it has for several years now (and has been getting progressively worse since Bud Black left for the Padres) - I'm not sure how Butcher could possibly keep his job. (I know it's not ALL his fault.  We are still living out the Reagins-era mistakes, specifically the dumping of our entire farm system of pitching in a relatively short time for little return.  However, even our long-term pitchers have started to slip and that's not a good sign, and that IS up to him.)
• I'm still not crazy about the lineup in some sense.  I think Howie Kendrick should be batting higher in the lineup (maybe where Freese is batting).  I know he hasn't had a hit yet in the regular season, but he is our most stable for-average hitter outside of Trout, and it might help to move him - who knows.
• The Astros, unfortunately, have gotten off to a decent start.  This might make it difficult to reverse course, and with the history of last year, even more difficult. But no better time than the present, they say.

Keeping my fingers crossed tonight.