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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Santana's Penultimate Stand: Devil Rays 8, Angels 3

14 hits and 7 runs aren't enough to pull him from the mound. Wow.

Update: Neither the MLB.com recap nor the AP recap nor Mike DiGiovanna of the Times mention Santana actually being sent down to AAA after this game, which more or less jibes with my feeling, namely, that the Angels are going to give Santana until the end of the month to straighten himself out. Luckily for Los Angeles de Anaheim, Baltimore beat the snot out of Seattle 8-3, with Felix Hernandez's quality start ruined by bad outings from the M's generally watertight bullpen. If the Angels get underwater, Santana's goose is cooked, regardless, but I have my doubts about just how much he can learn in just one August in AAA.

Partly, that's because of the Bees' August schedule, in which they play nine of their games in the highest and second-highest parks in the PCL at Albuquerque and Colorado Springs, and 17 of 30 away from home. Maybe it's good practice, but I'll be impressed when and if he returns with some solid away numbers.

As for today's game, I wanted to believe Santana was pitching well early, but in fact he had some very lucky line drive outs into gloves. And Orlando Cabrera's misplay notwithstanding, a pitcher has to be resilient enough to withstand those kinds of troubles. He isn't, not now, anyway, and he needs to go back to AAA. There's some talk that his troubles stem from a stubborn attempt to expand his repertoire past fastball, slider, and change. We know he can be successful; the question now is how to get him back to that success. That trip begins in Salt Lake.

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From the Register:

""Despite his success last season, some self-doubt might have put Santana on the road to his current crisis. Scioscia and Butcher said they feel the root of Santana's inconsistency is an attempt to expand his repertoire beyond the four-seam fastball, hard slider and occasional changeup that won him games last season. It was something Santana wasn't ready for -- nor was necessary -- at this point in his development, they said.

"I think by trying to create some stuff he got away from some other things that are important to him," Scioscia said. "One thing is a consistent breaking ball, the other is the great life he has on his fastball. Maybe he's been trying to mainpulate it too much to force some movement that isn't really where his game is right now."

Don't know why he's trying stuff out in the middle of the season.

Growing pains for Santana
 
In postgame comments, when asked, Scioscia would not confirm that Santana will make his next scheduled start (Sunday).

Sounds like his head may need some straightening out, and none of the Mikes (Scioscia, Butcher, even Napoli) are getting through to him.
 
Just because the team hasn't announced the decision doesn't mean it won't happen.

Scioscia was asked point blank whether Ervin would start on Sunday. He equivocated, and said they'd be looking at things and making a decision.

That's a far cry from, "Yes, Ervin will make his next start as scheduled."

He could have said that, but didn't. His very response indicates that they're considering not starting him. And I don't think they'll keep him on the roster just to take up space.

He might not be sent down this time, but once again, that doesn't mean that he won't be sent down at some point.
 

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