34-year old righty reliever Scot Shields is pitching some of the worst baseball of his major league career right now. Shields has pitched in 26 games (0 starts) for the Angels this season and he is 0-2 with a 5.13 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP. He has now pitched in 474 games (14 starts) in his 10 years with the Angels and he is 46-43 with 21 saves, a 3.11 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. I have a feeling that Shields is going to get into a groove pretty soon as he’s too good of a pitcher to have the results he has had so far this season.

26-year old righty swinging 2B Howie Kendrick has been pretty solid for the Angels this year. Kendrick has played in 74 games for the Angels this season and he is 82 of 295 (.278 avg, .727 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 7 homers, 48 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Kendrick has been kind of brittle in his career so the Angels have their fingers crossed hoping he can stay healthy this year. In his previous four years with the Angels Kendrick has career highs of 105 games played, 61 runs scored, 10 homers, 61 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Kendrick is on pace to smash all of those numbers as long as he can stay in one piece.

No one thought to much of the signing of 28-year old righty swinging infielder Kevin Frandsen when it happened. But he is swinging a hot bat for the Angels right now. He has played in 20 games for the Angels this year and he is 21 of 57 (.368 avg, .856 OPS) with 11 runs scored and 5 RBIs. Frandsen played in 174 games in his first four seasons in the majors and he was 98 for 408 (.240 avg, .645 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 7 homers, 39 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. With all of the injuries the Angels have suffered in the infield lately it’s important that Frandsen keeps hitting the ball when he’s in the lineup.

The Angels have placed 2B/SS/3B Maicer Izturis on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left forearm and they have designated 32-year old lefty swinging outfielder Michael Ryan for assignment. Izturis’ injury really hurts the Angels as he was going to be the starting SS for a while due to Erick Aybar’s recent injury. Izturis has played in 30 games for the Angels this season and he is 24 of 103 (.233 avg, .691 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers, 15 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Angels have activated Brandon Wood from the D.L. and he started at SS last night for the Angels. They need him to live up to his “ability” this time around or they need to get rid of him. Wood has played in 41 games this season for the Angels and he is 20 of 128 (.156 avg, .379 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 7 RBIs. Wood has whiffed an amazing 37 times this season while only walking 2 times. Michael Ryan played in 22 games for the Angels this season and he was 8 of 39 (.205 avg, .527 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Ryan is a victim of all of the injuries the Angels have suffered in the infield as the Angels called up 1B/3B Rob Quinlan to replace him on the roster. Quinlan has played in 17 games this season for the Angels and he is 4 of 31 (.129 avg, .375 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Quinlan is a much better hitter than he has shown this season and the Angels need him to step up.

When Kendry Morales went down for the season due to ankle surgery it seemed as if the Angels would have to go outside the organization for help. But lo and behold, catcher Mike Napoli moved to 1B and while not looking like a natural there he isn’t hurting the Angels there either. Napoli has played in 56 games for the Angels this season and he is 47 of 185 (.254 avg, .815 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 10 homers, 26 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He is still a hacker (64 whiffs) but as long as he can play decent defense at first and give the Angels a power stick he will likely find a new home for the rest of this year unless the Angels deal for a 1B. With Jeff Mathis near a return to team with Bobby Wilson behind the plate the Angels look o.k. for now.