Angels look for bounce-back season in 2011

By Bud L. Ellis

The mandate is simple for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this season: bounce back.

The Angels are coming off their first sub-.500 campaign since 2003, an 80-82 season in which Los Angeles finished 10 games behind Texas in third place in the American League West.

The Angels missed the playoffs, after making it three consecutive seasons and coming within two wins of the World Series in 2009. Seventeen fewer victories in 2010 were mostly a result of a lackluster offense that scored its lowest total of runs (681) since 1992.

First baseman Kendry Morales, who missed a large portion of the season with a broken leg, is healthy. That should help the offense. The Angels traded for Vernon Wells in the offseason, and a strong pitching staff highlighted by Jered Weaver should have Los Angeles in the hunt again in 2011.

The Angels begin what they hope will be a season of redemption with a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Tampa Bay. Los Angeles opens the home portion of the schedule April 8 against the Blue Jays.

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Friday, March 25, 2011 at 9:42 pm by bud

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