The bad news is that the Angels’ playoff odds have fallen 66 percentage points—from 89% to 23%—in the last 30 days. The good news, if you can call it such, is that the Halos hit rock bottom over the weekend, meaning the only way to go from here is up. “Up” is a relative term, of course, and in this team’s case might mean as little as not completely embarrassing themselves every time they take the field. We can hope it at least means the offense won’t be shut down when they face Randy freakin’ Wolf on Thursday. If they can’t hit 39-year-old lefty who’s four years removed from being even close to replacement level, why bother showing up?
This series in Detroit isn’t going to make or break the season, but the entirety of the nine-game road trip might. The Angels get nine games against sub-.500 teams before coming home to face the gauntlet of the Rangers, Dodgers, and Astros. If they can’t right the ship between now and then, it’s hard to imagine they’ll have anything left to play for in the season’s final three weeks.
Game 1 – Jered Weaver vs. Alfredo Simon
Considering the official site stance on Jered Weaver just two weeks ago was that he should bow out of the rotation for the betterment of the team, it’s more than a little frightening that he’s now the linchpin of the pitching staff.
Weaver was stellar his last time out, holding the White Sox scoreless for six innings and change, and now owns a 2.08 ERA and 15:2 K/BB ratio in three starts (17.1 IP) since returning from the DL. The 84 mph fastball is still discomfiting to watch, but his curveball and change-up have been so effective that he’s actually managed to freeze a few unsuspecting hitters with his “heater.” Whether that can continue largely depends on Weaver’s ability to maintain his command down the stretch. While he’s been around the plate all year—his walk rate is the best of his career—there have been nights where that hasn’t been an advantage, with pitch after pitch leaking over the heart of the plate. If he can stay on the corners, I don’t see why he can’t keep the good times rolling. That’s a pretty big “if” though—repeating one’s delivery is often the toughest skill for a pitcher to master.
Alfredo Simon is an alleged murderer and an accused rapist. I hope the Angels hit him so hard the Tigers have no choice but to release him and make him sign a pact that he’ll never play baseball ever again. Simon has been about as awful (4.52 ERA) as the rest of the Tigers rotation this season, so my dream of his release and banishment from baseball isn’t too far-fetched. We can hope.
Game 2 – Hector Santiago vs. Justin Verlander
Anyone else notice a kind of orange-y tinge to Santiago’s skin the last time he pitched? Pretty sure he’s turning back into a pumpkin right before our eyes.
The left-hander needed 48 pitches to get through the first inning on Friday, and it all went downhill from there. That repeatability thing I was talking about with regards to Weaver? Santiago is terrible at it, and seems to have no prompt or mechanism in place to re-find his release point within an inning when things go awry. When he’s missing, he continues to miss until he gets off the mound and literally resets at the start of the next inning. Sometimes even that doesn’t help. Like the Jays, the Tigers are a patient team, so Santiago’s going to have to throw strikes if he wants to make it deep into the game.
Justin Verlander is maybe good again? The former Cy Young winner still lacks the elite velocity of his heyday, but may have found a way to pitch without it. He owns a 1.67 ERA in 43 innings over his last six starts, and is again fanning nearly a batter per frame. I have no idea what he’s doing differently, but the Angels have to hope he’ll stop doing whatever it is on Wednesday and go back to being a $200 million albatross, even if for a day.
Game 3 – Mack Tropemaker vs. Randy Wolf
The Angels starter for this game is still to be determined, but it’ll likely be either Nick Tropeano or Matt Shoemaker. If the first two games of the series go poorly, though, I’d just as soon have Randy Wolf pitch for both teams. Give him one of those gross Two Face-looking jerseys and half a mustache and have him throw batting practice for a few hours.
The teams would be hard-pressed to come up with anything remotely as entertaining as that in any real game, and I doubt there’d be more runs scored than if Tropeano or Shoemaker were on the mound. Wolf would naturally become the first pitcher ever to throw a two-hit shutout and allow 20 runs in the same game. You get one guess which team does which.
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