The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, formerly the Anaheim Angels, are having a trying season and it has nothing to do with their on-the-field play.  

On April 9th, 22-year-old rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a traffic accident after a drunk driver ran a red light.  The loss of Adenhart, who was well liked, hit the Angels very hard.  

Tragedies like Adenhart’s untimely death remind us what’s really important in life and it’s not sports.  Unfortunately the Angels don’t have the option of taking a break and getting away from  baseball for a while.  Adenhart’s death did force the team to postpone a game, but ultimately the show must go on and the Angels must find a way to win.

In the first couple of weeks of the 2009 season, the Angels haven’t done a lot of winning; they’ve lost five of their first nine and hit just 15-for-75 with runners in scoring position.  Despite the sluggish beginning, this Angels team does have the talent to turn their fortunes around, but first they must get healthy.  

Vladimir Guerrero will be out of the lineup for a while with a sore chest muscle.  He had been serving as the team’s DH.  Pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar all started the season on the disabled list.  And of course the death of Adenhart removed another pitcher from their bullpen.

Angels will need mental toughness to get through this season and good news for them, they have it.  In fact, their fortitude was on display during a recent game against the Boston Red Sox.  

After Red Sox Pitcher Josh Beckett spent 11 seconds in the set position, Angels batter Bobby Abreu asked for, and was granted, time.  Beckett threw the pitch anyway, hurling the ball at Abreu’s head.

Needless to say the benches cleared and when it was all over, four Angels were tossed out of the game.  Still, the Halos found a way to rally and eventually defeated the Red Sox 5-4.

The Angels will be okay.

The Oakland Athletics are facing a very difficult part of their schedule.  They have road games in Toronto and New York (Jason Giambi’s first series against his former team).  Then they are back home for a quick series against the Tampa Bay Rays.  After that it’s back on the road to battle division foes the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners.

Oakland’s season may hinge on how their aging infielders survive this grueling stretch of games.  First baseman Giambi (38) is battling sore legs, third baseman Eric Chavez (31) has shoulder problems and utility man Nomar Garciaparra (35) missed a game with tightness in his calf.

The other two infielders are fine but getting up there in age, short stop Orlando Cabrera is 35 and second baseman Mark Ellis is 31.

Their biggest offseason addition, former Colorado Rockies Matt Holiday, has had a rather pedestrian start.  He’s 9 for 31 with 7 RBI’s and no home runs. 

There's plenty of concern surrounding Holiday as critics wonder if he can be productive away from Coors Field.  Currently he’s batting .290 but that’s down from his career average of .319.  The good news, Holiday reached base in eight of his first nine games he played for the Oakland.

The Athletics started this season with a severe lack of power.  In the first week of the season, they hit a grand total of one home run, obviosuly the worse in the MLB.

The A’s young starting rotation, the oldest pitcher is 25, has had a mediocre start to the season.   Dallas Braden is the only starter to notch a win and the staff’s combined ERA is 4.01.

While the upcoming part of the schedule will test the health of their veteran players, it will also test the mettle of their young pitching staff.  If Oakland can survive these next 15 games they should be in position to vie for the division title.