Major League Baseball has a long season and many random results along the way, so you’re bound to have a few eyebrow-raising results. One of them popped up on the West Coast this week: For the second time this year, the Los Angeles Angels swept their crosstown rival Dodgers in a two-game series.
It’s the first time since the teams starting playing in 1998 that the Angels have swept the season series between the teams.
Does it mean anything in the grand scheme of the season? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But it’s worth an examination.
The Angels beat the Dodgers, 3-2. They are 54-49, five games above .500 for the first time all year. They just swept the Dodgers in the season Freeway Series for the first time ever.
Kole Calhoun is raking, and this bullpen can lock down leads.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 25, 2019
Not little brother this time
While the Angels have failed to gain any successful traction over the past 10 years, even as they signed big-time free agents and groomed the game’s best player in Mike Trout, the Dodgers have won six straight NL West titles and are a perennial contender.
But this year, the Angels have saved some of their best performances for the team some would call L.A.’s big brother. The Angels are 4-0 against the Dodgers — who are tied with the Yankees for baseball’s best record — and just 50-49 against everyone else.
This week, several heroes emerged. Mike Trout hit a solo home run and had an outfield assist on Tuesday. Kole Calhoun registered the game-saving assist Tuesday and went 3 for 4 with a homer Wednesday. And a lockdown pitching staff allowed the powerful Dodgers just six runs in two games.
#HaloRecap: @KoleCalhoun goes 3-for-4 with a homer as Angels complete season sweep of Dodgers.
🔗: https://t.co/ZCKYhoRcY1 pic.twitter.com/Ltb0kni5NW
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 25, 2019
Where to now?
Calhoun said after the game that the July 1 death of teammate Tyler Skaggs galvanized his team, which has played good baseball all month and is five games over .500 for the first time.
“It’s something that definitely shook us big-time,” Calhoun said, according to the Associated Press. “You could go one of two directions, and I think everybody chose to really pull together and be there for one another, and that’s shown on the field. We’re playing good ball right now, and we’re pulling for each other. That’s what we decided to do as a ballclub.”
The Angels are still four games out of the second AL wild card spot and would need to pass three teams to get there, but they’re in much better position than three weeks ago. They also have seven home games coming up against the hapless Orioles and Tigers.
As for the Dodgers, the season sweep won’t cost them anything but a little pride. The team still is well on track to have the National League’s best record.
The #Angels completed a season sweep of the Dodgers, for the first time. They are trending up. The Dodgers had two players get hurt and one get ejected. https://t.co/OxzNs2dyCY
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) July 25, 2019
