Sunday, August 07, 2005 |
The Game To Miss: Devil Rays 6, Angels 4
Bootcheck was just plain ugly all night, coughing up ten hits and six earned runs over 3.2 IP; he definitely made me wonder where the guy we saw at Yankee Stadium went, but I expect he was taken over by ghosts that night. I wondered at the time why Scioscia took him out so early, but we have our answer tonight; he's unreliable. Has he used up his quota of major league outs for the year? Whatever the case may be, with Jered Weaver apparently struggling at AA, the decision to re-sign Washburn becomes ever more critical. The question before the house, though, is whether a fairly good lefty with declining strikeout rates and a significant injury history is going to be worth the $30M/3 year contract he will no doubt command in the offseason. Not signing him means the Angels will be sans a southpaw starter in their rotation, maybe something they don't want.
Kevin Gregg, on the other hand, turned in the kind of performance the Angels saw early last year. I have to believe it's the only one he's likely to have in him, but he had a great outing, throwing strikes and generally missing bats.
In the top of the first, Gathright had second base stolen cold, save for his inability to contain his momentum; he skipped past the bag and got called out on the overslide. It was an Omen. The Angels' inability to contain the running game seems to have gotten appreciably worse, and with the modern game moving more to speed than before, this skill will become more important. It certainly helped the D'Rays, who threw out Jeff DaVanon in the ninth.
In the second, Hall's hit was a bloop that should have been caught save for the infielders playing shallow; it was one of those unaccountable decisions that made no sense to me then, nor now.
In the bottom of the seventh, we were treated to a second act, the resurrection of Joe Borowski. Borowski, the Cubs' closer in 2003, fell apart subsequently after shoulder troubles and found himself released. He's back now with the Rays, and still hasn't given up an earned run after 12.1 IP. That's not to say he can't get scary, but he's throwing high 90's heat again (last night showed him touching 97 MPH), and managed a couple scoreless frames.
What is Chone Figgins still doing in the leadoff spot? Oh, yes, very little (.269/.296/.385 over the last week), but what other choices do the Angels have? As his bat goes, so goes the rest of the lineup it seems. Eckstein wasn't necessarily a good hitter, but his .269/.347/.358 line with the Cards looks particularly appealing about now.
The A's are now tied with the Angels, as Richard notes with some trepidation. The Angels could mount a resurgence; there's a few reasons to be optimistic:
- The A's will have several rookie arms crossing the 150 IP mark this year, which frequently presages a late-season breakdown.
- The Angels will get back Dallas McPherson, who can -- sometimes -- hit home runs. When he's healthy. When he doesn't strike out.
- Vlad isn't this bad, unless he's hiding an injury (I think this quite probable).
- Washburn will be back, as will Escobar. Escobar will be in particular a good acquisition, because his arm won't be tired from all those innings he didn't pitch this year.
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