Tampa Bay Rays (61-52) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (67-44)
Starters: TB – Jeff Niemann (10-5, 3.73 ERA) LAA – Trevor Bell (0-0, -.– ERA)
Game Info: 12:35 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
We now officially live in a world where Bozo the Clown’s grandson is a major league pitcher and I must admit I am mildly frightened at that development and that is only partly due to a sudden onset of coulrophobia.
How scared would opposing batters be if Bell came out dressed like this? Man, clowns are creepy!
Bell is just the latest in an increasingly long line of Angel rookie pitchers making his MLB debut this year. Once the Angels’ top pick in the 2005 draft, Bell looked like a bust of a draft pick after failing to get out of Single-A his first four years in the minors, including an embarrassing demotion from high-A to low-A just last year. But something must have clicked for Bell this year as he rocketed all the way up from to Triple-A Salt Lake a few weeks ago after starting the season in Double-A Arkansas. The Angels are banking that he can still harness that lightning in a bottle and continue his success in the majors for at least one day. If he can’t, then it is the Angels who are going to be looking like clowns for starting such an unproven commodity in the middle of a pennant race.
THREE Questions:
- How badly must the Angels not trust Matt Palmer in the rotation anymore? Bell is a total unknown and Palmer has had some success in the rotation but still get passed over. I know they like how he has been pitching out of the pen, but why keep taking chances on less proven guys when Palmer has yet to prove he doesn’t deserve a rotation spot?
- Can Howie Kendrick take advantage of Maicer Izturis’s brief absence and force his way into more regular playing time, starting tonight?
- Will the Angels miss recently released Justin Speier? Umm, yeah, probably not even a little bit.
TWO Predictions:
- The Rays will make Bell look like a clown and have him hitting the showers before the end of the third inning.
- The Angels pull off another stellar comeback to complete the sweep.
ONE Wish:
- I wish that the Angels find a way to keep the slugging Rays in the park even though the ball traditionally flies out of the Big A during day games.
ZERO Tolerance for… anymore rookie call-ups. For all I know Bell will be the second coming of Nolan Ryan, but how many rookies can a contending team really count on. But if Bell doesn’t pan out can we get some sort of promise that the Angels will FINALLY trade for some rotation help before they start calling up guys from the Domincan Winter League to make starts for them?
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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