Wednesday, June 07, 2006 |
Tough Decision: Angels 6, Devil Rays 2
"If [I'm sent down to Salt Lake], that is the way it goes. It is a Cy Young winner coming back," said Weaver, who improved to 3-0 on Wednesday. "My job is to make it tough on the coaching staff and I think I've done that. I'll work hard to get right back up here."The last word from Jered Weaver on the matter of his indentured servitude in AAA Salt Lake ended with a groundout to second, the only groundout Weaver got all day; his four strikeouts, unusually low considering the number of innings and the opponent. He also gave up a pair of homers, a worrying tendency whose likelihood seems amplified by his flyball proclivities. But no matter: Weaver got the win. Given Bartolo Colón's decreased velocity, Weaver just made the job of the Angels' braintrust difficult, about as tough as can be imagined. Three quality starts — and more — and all three translated into much-needed wins.
Mike Napoli continues to confound by hitting for average, power, and getting on base; the Angels' young catcher is putting up simply amazing numbers, including a three-run homer today that was part of another school in his three-true-outcomesness: he homered, struck out, and walked in the same game. Yet, Dallas McPherson contributed as well, by singling to get on base ahead of Napoli; his 2-4 night with a walk helped to mask a 0-5 outing by Vlad. Juan Rivera also got a well-timed single ahead of Napoli's homer, and Kendry Morales' solo shot, his third, helped cement another Angels victory.
Something else needs mentioning: assuming Molina gets roughly every third start, that means some time during the Arizona series, Napoli will take the lead from Jose Molina in number of games started. That's a good thing.
I don't think they're ready to cast off J.C. Romero just yet, nor should they. If he gets his, er, stuff together, he can be useful.
In any event, I expect that his stay at SLC will be fairly brief.
I suspect that once Napoli has been around the league, pitchers will start to figure him out and his average will drop. But the HR and BB should remain.
: 6/08/2006 12:13:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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