Skip to main content

The Los Angeles Angels have two of the best baseball players ever headlining their batting lineup and that immediately strikes fear into any opposing defense they face. However, there are just certain performances the team puts forth that makes their opponents believe they just need to shut down Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in order to win.

Look no further than the team's 2023 home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays for a prime example. They lost 4-3 but the most embarrassing part of this was that nobody outside of that duo on the Halos even recorded a hit. But then you look at the seven games they have been able to win so far and it looks pretty good.

Gio Urshela, Taylor Ward, and Hunter Renfroe have all been at the top of batting statistics for LA alongside Trout and Ohtani. All three of them have recorded at least eight runs and are in the double digits when it comes to hits on the year.

Brett Phillips finally got to start in the outfield in Wednesday's win against the Washington Nationals thanks to Trout playing DH. He stepped up to the challenge and helped the Halos score numerous runs and made one of the biggest catches of their season.

He spoke to the OC Register after the game and detailed how he views his role within LA's lineup, which he believes is better than every other teams' in the league.

“Me being behind, in my opinion, All-Stars Wardo, Trout, Renfroe, they’re all freaking unbelievable outfielders,” said Philips. “When it’s my turn to play, things can’t skip a beat. We got the best lineup in the game. So for myself, it’s just a matter of putting together good ABs, taking some walks, not trying to do too much. I feel like I had a really good plan today against the lefties so it was good.”

This is the type of confidence we love to see from our guys and hopefully it rubs off on everybody else.

Tags
terms: