Sunday, September 09, 2007 |
Limitations: Indians 6, Angels 1
So his recent increase in whiffs isn't an illusion. Willits may be an interesting player, but we're getting to see the underside of his shining early season. With Figgy's recent injury, he's getting more playing time than he should, and while it's only fair to adjust our expectations against a tough lefty, Willits nonetheless isn't showing a lot of signs of coming out of his slump.Half AB SO %SO ================= 1st 241 39 17% 2nd 149 39 26%
That said, the Angels' failure wasn't his alone; the 1-4 batters went 0-for-15 against C.C. Sabathia, who was just locked in yesterday, pitching a complete game whose only run scored in the seventh on a Juan Rivera single, his first hit of the year. Rivera's another case who I have strong reservations about; with the severity of the injury and the amount of time it took for him to recover, his value to the team might actually be negative until next season. He's handicapped by his slow running speed, so grounders that he might have legged into an infield single become outs, and similarly is his outfield defense suspect. Robb Quinlan, the designated lefty-hitter, had another 0-fer game, leading to another round of questioning why the Angels feel obliged to keep Casey Kotchman out of the lineup on such occasions.
Kendry Morales and Garret Anderson — both in that group of 0-fer layabouts in the top of the order — both saw hitting streaks come to an end.
But not to let this end without seeing the daisies on the hill: Ervin Santana came within an out of pitching a quality start. As it was, his ERA went under 6.00 for the first time since his disastrous August 28 start at Seattle in which he only lasted an inning and gave up five runs. Call it guarded progress.
Labels: angels, indians, recaps
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