Jered Weaver and Roy Halladay are both going to the disabled list and both pitch for teams chasing after division leaders. Although both pitchers leave huge vacancies to fill, the Los Angeles Angels are in a better situation than the Philadelphia Phillies.
Whenever a team has the best hitter on the planet, you have to like their chances of getting through major injuries in the team. With Alberto Pujols heating up, the Angels should not be in bad shape.
They are 5.5 games out of first place behind a Texas Rangers team that has the hottest hitter on the planet, Josh Hamilton. He has not stopped hitting homeruns so far in 2012 and is leading the Majors with 21.
The Angels have won 8 of their last 10 games and are one game above the .500 mark. After Weaver exited the game Monday, the Angels were able to tally up runs against the New York Yankees, escaping with a 9-8 win.
Their offseason acquisition of C.J. Wilson has proved more clutch than ever. So far in the season, Wilson is 6-4 with a 2.77 ERA. As a team, their pitching is sixth in the Majors with a 3.40 ERA.
Now the Phillies on the other hand, they do not have offense as their main hitters recovering from injuries. Somehow, they have managed to stay around .500 and only find themselves four games out of first place.
Their hitting is doing just enough to keep them in the race. Even though they are 18th in homeruns and 16th in RBI as a team, they are collectively hitting .265, good for 6th in the Majors.
Their pitching is supposed to be one of the strongest in baseball. Originally, before the Halladay injury, they had Halladay, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee anchoring their pitching staff. Now Vance Whorley will have to step up big. He had a breakout 2011 season after going 11-3 in 21 starts.
The Phillies are 14th in the Majors in wins and ERA as a team, which will not be enough for them to compete against the rest of their division.
Barring a great season from every single one of their starting pitchers, a sudden stop to the success of the Washington Nationals or Miami Marlins, who have been great as of late, and hot return from Halladay, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, it looks like the Philadelphia Phillies are going to miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2007.