Two words: ERVIN SANTANA. The Angels worst pitcher this year turned a surprise performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night giving up only 1 hit and 1 walk as the Angels won 2-0.
The year had been absolutely atrocious for the right-hander. Santana was leading the league in home runs given up and not giving his team a chance. However, the couple of times he had thrown well, he received zero run support from his team, let's not forget the Angels are still leading the league in being shut out, but last night was something else entirely.
In the second inning, my friend Andrew texts me:
"Ervin is looking sharp tonight."
Keep in mind, this is the same guy that texted me during the 3rd inning of Jered Weaver's no-hitter a few weeks ago:
"Weaver's got a no-no after 3... pray, my friend, pray like you've never prayed before. I wanna see a no no!"
It's crazy to call a no-hitter that early in the game, but Andrew has been nearly spot on both times (and he doesn't even text me all that often). Sure enough, Santana was on fire last night and didn't give up a hit until 2 outs in the 7th inning. The outing reminded me of his no-hitter he threw last season, and I really hope this is the turning point of the year for him.
I wrote a few weeks ago about a couple of ideas to get Santana out of his funk. One of the ideas was to talk to a veteran pitcher to get some advice. Little did we know that advice would come from Arizona pitcher, Joe Saunders. Saunders, who came up through the Angels farm system with Santana, pitched in the same rotation for 4 1/2 years, and made the All Star team together, gave a pep talk to Santana on Friday telling him to keep his head up.
"I talked to him (Friday) and said, `Keep your head up, keep doing your thing," said Saunders, pitching on his 31st birthday. "I guess I had some real good advice. He really had it going."
Whatever Saunders told Santana worked. While I don't know how well Saunders would fit into the current Angels rotations, I'll be the first to admit that I miss the guy. He was always proud to wear the Angels uniform and always gave us his all. Maybe he'll be back again someday before his career is up.
For now, if Ervin continues what he started Saturday night in his next game, the Angels would be back to having one of the most feared rotations in all of baseball.
The year had been absolutely atrocious for the right-hander. Santana was leading the league in home runs given up and not giving his team a chance. However, the couple of times he had thrown well, he received zero run support from his team, let's not forget the Angels are still leading the league in being shut out, but last night was something else entirely.
In the second inning, my friend Andrew texts me:
"Ervin is looking sharp tonight."
Keep in mind, this is the same guy that texted me during the 3rd inning of Jered Weaver's no-hitter a few weeks ago:
"Weaver's got a no-no after 3... pray, my friend, pray like you've never prayed before. I wanna see a no no!"
It's crazy to call a no-hitter that early in the game, but Andrew has been nearly spot on both times (and he doesn't even text me all that often). Sure enough, Santana was on fire last night and didn't give up a hit until 2 outs in the 7th inning. The outing reminded me of his no-hitter he threw last season, and I really hope this is the turning point of the year for him.
I wrote a few weeks ago about a couple of ideas to get Santana out of his funk. One of the ideas was to talk to a veteran pitcher to get some advice. Little did we know that advice would come from Arizona pitcher, Joe Saunders. Saunders, who came up through the Angels farm system with Santana, pitched in the same rotation for 4 1/2 years, and made the All Star team together, gave a pep talk to Santana on Friday telling him to keep his head up.
"I talked to him (Friday) and said, `Keep your head up, keep doing your thing," said Saunders, pitching on his 31st birthday. "I guess I had some real good advice. He really had it going."
Whatever Saunders told Santana worked. While I don't know how well Saunders would fit into the current Angels rotations, I'll be the first to admit that I miss the guy. He was always proud to wear the Angels uniform and always gave us his all. Maybe he'll be back again someday before his career is up.
For now, if Ervin continues what he started Saturday night in his next game, the Angels would be back to having one of the most feared rotations in all of baseball.
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