Oakland Athletics (77-52) @ Seattle Mariners (68-63)
Starters: LAA – Joe Saunders (10-7, 5.27 ERA) SEA – Luke French (4-3, 3.91 ERA)
Game Info: 7:10 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
I hate to break it to you, Joe Saunders, but you are henceforth going to be known as the “other” lefty on the Angels. The arrival of Scott Kazmir has officially knocked Joe down to the bottom of the Angel starter totem pole.
Not only has Kazmir relegated Saunders to the lesser thought of southpaw in the rotation, but Saunders has been relegated to fifth starter status as well. While the Angels have to be happy to have a former All-Star filling out the back of their rotation and consider it bonus, Saunders needs to take this as a negative for his personal career.
It isn’t just that Saunders is saddled with the fairly meaningless and arbitrary title of fifth starter or “other” lefty, it is what those labels represent for his career. Though Scott Kazmir was acquired for a number of reasons, one of them was that Joe Saunders just can’t be trusted to perform consistently right now. Last year, such a thought was positively laughable. So was the thought of not having Joe Saunders be part of the playoff rotation, but that seems to be a virtual certainty barring an injury or implosion from one of the other starters. And since Saundo doesn’t profile well as a reliever, he might very well be left off the Angels’ post-season roster altogether, especially if he struggles down the stretch.
That’s a mighty big fall for a guy once thought to be an ace in the making. But the good news is that Saunders has time yet to salvage his reputation and his role, but it starts tonight against the Mariners, so he best step up his game.
THREE Questions:
- Can the Angels finally take care of business against an AL West competitor for once?
- Could there be a better opponent for Joe Saunders to get back on track against? Saundo historically owns the Mariners (6-1, 3.60 ERA) as it is, and then add in the fact that the Mariners are the lowest-scoring team in the AL and Joe should be primed for success tonight.
- Will the Angels make any last minute bullpen upgrades? They have until midnight to swing a deal and have the player be post-season eligible. I normally wouldn’t have expected any movement from Tony Reagins, but the late trade for Scott Kazmir shows that Tony is breaking from the norm this year (Scott Linebrink, anyone?).
TWO Predictions:
- Kendry Morales drives in four runs to tie the club record for RBIs in a month. K-Mo is so hot right now that he is being looked at as a possible cause of the Station Fire in La Canada Flintridge, I wouldn’t put anything beyond him right now.
- With Bulger ailing and Jose Arredondo a total gas fire, Matt Palmer picks up his first career hold tonight.
ONE Wish:
- I just realized my prediction is contingent on Mike Scioscia not platooning Morales with Quinlan tonight, so clearly I wish for that sill charade to end and would be doing so even if I hadn’t made that prediction.
ZERO Tolerance for… Hud making a bad Mr. French/Family Affair joke just because Luke French is starting tonight. I’m not sure Rex actually is aware of that old show, but if he is, I don’t doubt he has already cooked up a lame reference that he will force into the game in ham-handed manner.
Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or wishes as a comment or just hang out with us during the game or even chat with us on twitter (@MonkeyWithAHalo).
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