Chicago's Carlos Quentin, who leads the majors with seven home runs, was 0-for-3 in his bid to homer in a fourth straight game.
You don't need a scorecard to discover what ails the Angels. Just walk through the front gate of Angel Stadium and into the main concourse, where the Angels have wrapped pillars with larger-than-life portraits of their best players.
There's Vladimir Guerrero, right in front of you. He's on the disabled list.
Take two steps to the right, and there's John Lackey. He's on the disabled list too.
Take two more steps, and there's Ervin Santana. Disabled list.
It's tough enough to win when you lose your best hitter and your two best pitchers, tougher still when you have eight active pitchers wearing uniform numbers higher than 50.
Yet, the Angels appear intent on making their challenge even tougher.
They desperately need power, but they won't play Brandon Wood. Their bullpen is in tatters because they have replaced four starters on the disabled list with what should be their corps of middle relievers, but they aren't aggressively pursuing any of the available free-agent starters.
"We don't believe we've exhausted our in-house options," General Manager Tony Reagins said.
The Angels have long prided themselves on minimizing the use of journeymen fillers in triple A, but four of their five triple-A starters qualify as journeymen fillers. You'll see one of them this week in Anaheim, maybe two.
By the end of the week, the Angels will have used eight starters, with five months to go. In the Angels' five playoff seasons under Manager Mike Scioscia, they never have used more than eight starters.
The Angels' bullpen began play Tuesday with an 8.31 earned-run average, the highest in the major leagues. The relievers include four rookies, two in their first week in the majors.
