Week ahead for Angels: Final two home series of regular season
The week ahead
With Monday brings game seven of 19 consecutive games for the Angels against American Leage West opponents to end the 2014 regular season. The Mariners will be in town for four at the beginning of the week followed by the Rangers visiting Angel Stadium for a weekend series. The series finale with the Rangers will conclude the Halos' final homestand of the season. All games this week can be seen on FOX Sports West.
The week behind
While Houston starter Dallas Keuchel took a perfect game into the sixth inning Sunday, Angels starter Hector Santiago looked more like the Santiago who started the season as opposed to the version of himself who's been steady in the Angels rotation during the summer. Still, the loss was just the second for the club in nearly two weeks. The Angels' 6-1 loss Sunday snapped a 10-game win streak. Before Sunday, it was a week that saw the Angels score five or more runs in every game and three times posted double-digit scoring outputs.
Record and standings
There is just one club in all of baseball that has reached 90 wins on the season and that team resides in Anaheim. The squad continues to own the best record in the majors, 93-56, entering Monday. The Angels' lead in the AL West is now 10 games as they wait for the Mariners to come into town.
Thumb's up
Gallery: Angels' win streak ends
Jered Weaver got a lot done last week. He picked up his 16th and 17th wins of the season, which is tops in the American League. On Saturday night, he made a visit to the time machine with a 12-strikeout performance in a win against the Astros. The 12 Ks were the most he recorded in a game since 2011. Weaver's previous high this season was nine strikeouts against the White Sox in early June.
Postseason watch
The Angels have a 100 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to sportsclubstats.com. As owners of the best record in the American League, the Angels would host the winner of the Oakland and Kansas City wild card playoff if the season ended today. The Angels split the season series with the Royals and A's. However, the top two teams in the AL West will meet three more times in Oakland before the regular season is over.
Thumb's down
Santiago lasted just two-plus innings on Sunday in the streak snapping loss for the Angels -- the shortest start of Santiago's career. On May 7 against the Yankees, Santiago went just 2.1 innings. He was sent to the Angels bullpen and then to Triple-A Salt Lake following that outing -- he was 0-6 at that time. Since being recalled, Santiago's won five of seven decisions with a 2.98 ERA.
Stat to watch
4. The magic number for the Angels to clinch the AL West entering Monday.
Quotable
"I don't think I've seen Weave throw like this for five years." -- Angels manager Mike Scioscia after Jered Weaver's seven-inning, 12-strikeout performance last Saturday against the Astros.
