The Jered Weaver Short Rest Experiment went exactly according to plan today, in fact, it couldn’t have gone better. The only problem is that it feels like too little, too late.
The last thing the Halos needed today was Weaver to stumble again on short rest and fall victim to a sweep at the hands of the Orioles. Fortunately, that did not happen. Weaver, while not dominant, had an easy outing and comfortable victory as the Angels finally got some runs early on. The idea then was that the Angels waking up early on the East Coast would put pressure on Texas to win later on the West Coast against the mighty Felix Hernandez.
Sonuvabitch. They did.
Now, the Angels sit 4.5 games behind Texas and have just seven games to make up at least 1.5 games so that the end of season series is actually worth something. Considering that Texas will face off against Oakland and Seattle, that could very well mean the Angels have to win all of those seven games just to be in position to tie the Rangers with a season-ending sweep. If that outlook seems bleak to you, that is because it is.
The only ray of hope (pun intended) is that the Rays defeated Boston today, which actually places Boston closer to the Angels at 4 games out with the Sox facing a considerably tougher schedule to finish their season, including a four-game set with the suddenly frisky Orioles starting tomorrow. I don’t know if the Angels can catch them either, and do so without getting lapped by the Rays, but at least hope remains a little more alive for the Wild Card.
This is going to be a looooooooooooooong week.
Game Notes
- What got into Erick Aybar? That was the offensive game of his life today. With that outburst, he is going to finish the season with a very respectable line despite having a wildly up-and-down season.
- It is huge that Weaver not only performed well on three days rest, but was able to sit down a little early with such a big lead. That should give Jered plenty of time to recover for his next start, which he will need since he was pretty lousy following his last short rest start.
- Go eff yourself, Alfredo Simon. The idea that the O’s needed to retaliate for Ervin Santana hitting some Baltimore batters yesterday is preposterous. Ervin clearly was having command issues yesterday and I seriously doubt he is going to start beaning guys when the Angels badly need wins. Plus, Baltimore got their revenge already (well kind of) by hitting Mathis in the head later in that same game. Intentional or not, they were even, so stop throwing at guys, asshole!
- Vernon Wells seems to be hitting a hot streak. For as horrid as his season has been, getting hot now and putting the Angel lineup on his shoulders would be huge. I just wish I believed it was going to last, especially since the Angels are going to Toronto tomorrow and I have a feeling that he is going to be thrown off by visiting his old stomping grounds.
Halo Hero
Have a day, kid! Now keep it up the rest of the season or we are screwed.
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