ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Scioscia says he saw a team during spring training that worked as hard as any club he'd ever been around. He was talking about his Angels.
That's saying something for the manager who owns three World Series rings -- two as a player and one as a manager.
In spring training he believed his club had the makeup of being a good team and he's starting to see that come together.
Wednesday, the pieces continued to come together with a 7-1 win over Cleveland to complete a three-game sweep of the Indians.
With the win, the Angels climbed over the .500 mark for the first time since Opening Day 2013.
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The bats are alive and well. Hank Conger further proved that, blasting his second home run of the season in the second inning, the team's MLB-leading 38th homer of the season, and giving the Angels a 2-1 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Mike Trout came about a foot short of hitting one out as well, but it went off of the top of the wall in right centerfield. The ball was kept in by heavy winds, which were calculated at 27 miles per hour at first pitch.
"I hit that ball pretty good," Trout said.
He'd have to settle for a two-RBI double.
Knowing fully what his lineup is capable of, it's been the starting rotation Scioscia says that has attributed to a much better start to the season than April's of the past.
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"Something that's flown a little bit under the radar has been our starting pitching," Scioscia said. "Our starting pitching has been terrific."
C.J. Wilson took the mound Wednesday and went eight strong innings while giving up just two hits, one earned run, walked one and struck out eight to improve to 4-2 on the season.
An April that began with the club on the wrong end of a three-game sweep at home versus the Mariners ends with the Angels sweeping Cleveland out of town and winning six of their last nine games.
"One month down, five to go," Wilson said. "We got to, obviously, do better than one game over .500. That's not really going to cut it."
