6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Lather, Rinse, Re-Bart: Astros 9, Angels 5

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Lather, Rinse, Re-Bart: Astros 9, Angels 5

Bad enough that the Angels let Bart give up five runs through four, they had to see if he could really bury it in the sixth after pitching out of trouble in the fifth. Honestly, there was no justification for letting him stay in there, other than trying to save the bullpen some, and perhaps verifying (as if anyone couldn't tell) that he was having command problems. He threw hard well enough, ticking in at around 94-95, but he left some fat pitches in the middle of the plate, and the Astros weren't going to miss those opportunities. It's six straight bad starts for Colon, and while I'd love to suggest that DL time is nearby, the Angels have tended to give their starters too many chances (c.f. Jeff Weaver 2006, Kevin Appier 2003, or Bart this year), and so I imagine they'll keep on hoping for better things up through the All-Star break.

Two bad starts in a row don't make for a teamwide pitching collapse, of course, but it is frustrating to watch the Angels pitch themselves out of a game while (presumably) better options exist in Salt Lake. I do wonder, though, just how much better Joe Saunders might really be; he's currently got a 5.22 ERA for Salt Lake, about double his 2006 record. Worse, his GO/AO rate seems to be declining (1.30 vs. 1.86 last year). I'm not saying he'd be bad, but he may not be that much of an improvement if the Angels elect to ship Bart down Rehab Road.

That said, the bats continue to operate pretty well, with Howie Kendrick (2-for-4), Reggie Willits (3-for-4), and Chone Figgins (2-for-4) collecting multi-hit nights. The only Angel with an 0-fer was Jose Molina, who's actually swung the bat fairly well of late.

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