The first two games in Freeway Series featured legitimate pitching matchup intrigue. Clayton Kershaw is always must-watch (provided you’re a Time Warner customer) and he showed why last night in his evisceration of the Angels. But the other three starting pitchers involved were intriguing in their own way. Angel fans got their first intimate look at Kenta Maeda. Matt Shoemaker is a macabre delight if you hate the Angels. And watching Jered Weaver throw like it’s a beer-league softball game is always interesting.
Now that the series shifts to Anaheim, the pitching matchups become…less attractive. Angels-Dodgers tilts will always be engaging because of the rivalry element, but it’s fair to say neither team will be wearing their formal attire to the final two games of the four-game set. Unless the Dodgers clone Kershaw in the next 24 hours, the Angels might have the starting pitching edge in both games. Which is incredible considering the pitchers involved and the collective payroll of these two teams.
Game 3: Nick Tropeano vs. Mike Bolsinger
Tropeano STILL hasn’t pitched six full innings for the Angels this season. He’s striking out batters at a better clip than expected, which would be great if he also wasn’t walking nearly five batters per nine innings. He is entirely fine and unspectacular.
Bolsinger will make his 2016 debut for the Dodgers tonight. In 21 starts last season he posted a solid 3.62 ERA and ate 109-1/3 innings for the depleted Los Angeles rotation. He is entirely fine and unspectacular.
Game 4: Jhoulys Chacin vs. Ross Stripling
Chacin’s first start for the Angels was his best start in a month. His previous start, against the Mets, saw him allow eight runs in 4-2/3 innings and earn a 18 game score. But that was for the Braves, and expecting any player to give even half a shit for that team would probably cause the Players Association to file a grievance. Now that Chacin is nominally in a playoff race for the first time in his career maybe a fire has been lit and Chacin will deliver on the promise he flashed in his early Colorado days. Probably not, but it’s a nice thought.
You probably know Stripling as the guy who had a no-hitter through 7-1/3 innings in his Major League debut against the Giants earlier this season, only to be removed by Dave Roberts and see his lead evaporate when the bullpen lost the lead. It turns out, he still pitches. Unsurprisingly, that near no-no was the best of his seven starts. Save a solid outing in Toronto two starts ago, he has been mostly terrible this year against a weak schedule. But his last name sounds like a kids menu item at Red Robin, so he’s got that going for him.
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