The Angels ended their road trip about as well as possible, winning five of seven games against the teams directly in front of them in the Wild Card race. Time is running out for the Halos, though, and each loss puts them closer October tee times. With ten games left and one loss to make up on Houston, 8-2 sounds like a reasonable and essential goal. Much worse and the Angels are counting on two clubsâTwins includedâto collapse over the final stretch. Plus, the Angels no longer have the luxury of upcoming games against Houston or Minnesota. They’ll need outside assistance to qualify for the postseason.
Still, the Angels more or less control their destiny, which is really all we as fans can ask for. Play kick-ass baseball for the next ten games and they’re in the playoffs. Simple as that. With Seattle in town this weekend, the Angels have the opportunity to get rolling with a sub-.500 team.
Game 1: Garrett Richards vs. Vidal Nuno
Which Garrett Richards are we going to get? If Richards continues his roller coaster trajectory then he’s due for a bad start after holding the Twins to two runs in 8⅔ innings last weekend. Curiously, Richards has struggled against the Mariners this season, a team that hasn’t had a scary offense in more than a decade. In his last two starts against Seattle, Richards has thrown only 10⅓ innings and allowed eight runs on 17 hits. Not great, Bob. Richards has two starts left in the regular season; as one of only two reliable-ish starters in the rotation along with Andrew Heaney, Richards needs to shove in both of his outings to give the Angels the best chance of catching Houston.
This will be Nuno’s eighth start this year; in his previous seven he has accumulated minus-0.4 fWAR. That’s what a 20.9% home run-to-fly ball rate will do. Even accounting for some bad homer luck, his 6.20 FIP doesn’t inspire confidence. It’ll be a warm evening at the Big A, ideal for teeing off on Nuno. Felix and Iwakuma come later in this series and with Richards on the bump for the Angels and a shaky starter for the Mariners, this is the kind of game the Angels should and need to win.
Game 2: Andrew Heaney vs. Felix Hernandez
It speaks to how loaded this American League rookie class is that Heaney is getting zero Rookie of the Year buzz. Between Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, and Miguel Sano, there’s simply not enough love to pass on to Heaney, and rightly so. Yet, Heaney has turned into maybe the Angels’s best starting pitcher, and without him in the rotation they wouldn’t be in the pennant race.
This will only be Heaney’s second start against the M’s, his first being seven innings of shut-out ball. Somewhat contrary to what one might assume considering the presence of Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager, the Mariners are better against left-handed pitching (105 wRC+) than right-handed (101). That’s the Nelson Cruz Effect. If Heaney keeps Cruz at bay, the lefty should get through his start relatively unscathed.
Problem being “relatively unscathed” might not be good enough against Hernandez. The King’s throne has been a bit wobbly this year, as his current 3.54 ERA would be his worst since 2007. One has to wonder if the 2,200+ innings on his arm are finally catching up to Hernandez. He has been battling through a stiff elbow and the Angels finally touched him up for four runs last week after he ate the Halos’ lunch for the better part of two years. But the king stay the king, and prior to his outing against the Angels Hernandez threw eight innings in three consecutive starts. He’s still a damn good pitcher that can dominate a lineup on any given night.
On an annoying note, Hernandez was originally scheduled to pitch the series opener against Richards but was pushed back to Saturday. Why is this annoying? Because the Astros head to Seattle at the beginning of next week, and now they avoid Hernandez. Wonderful. In fact, the Astros have only faced Hernandez once this season. ONCE. They’re in the same division now! (It was also Hernandez’ worst outing of the season, eight runs in a third of an inning. But still.) After Saturday the Angels will have faced Hernandez six times in 2015. Baseball is unfair, man.
Game 3: Jered Weaver vs. Hisashi Iwakuma
This is a rematch of their duel in Seattle last week, with a Jesus Montero homer proving to be enough offense for Iwakuma. I don’t particularly believe that past meetings between a batter and a pitcher are a good indicator in future outcomes, but I’m getting close to making a personal exception for Jesus Montero’s own-age of Weaver. Montero will surely be in the lineup on Sunday because Lloyd McClendon is exactly the type of old-school manager that believes in batter/pitcher matchups. Pray the bases are empty.
There was a time for the Angels when facing King Felix was preferential to facing Iwakuma. He’s a good pitcher, but for whatever reason he gave them fits. The curse appeared broken after some poor outings against the Angels last year, and in his first 2015 outing he gave up nine hits and five runs in six innings. Maybe the tide is changing?
Nope. In two subsequent starts against the Angels this season Iwakuma has pitched 14 innings and allowed no runs, seven hits, and two walks. The best course of action may be for Weaver to start a beanball war with the Mariners and plunk Seager in the first inning, thus encouraging Iwakuma to hit an Angel and be ejected.
To be fair to Weaver…look at this. I would want to hit Seager too.
By the way, Seager looks like Nice Guy Eddie.
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