Angels Blank D-Backs for 2nd Straight Day (32/81)

Garrett Richards continued to pitch like a major league starter Sunday as the Angels shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 for the second time in as many days.

Richards delivered a worthy follow up to Ervin Santana's 1-hitter, pitching 8 innings and giving up only 4 hits. Ernesto Frieri came in to shut the door in the 9th and picked up his 7th save as an Angel.

With Angels starting pitchers throwing as well as they have been lately, one has to wonder what's going to happen once Jered Weaver (back) comes back to the rotation next week.

The Angels have 6 guys who deserve to be on any rotation in the majors. Obviously Richards is the youngest, least experienced, and would be the first option to go. However, the guy has been lights out since his first start and has found the comfort level that he sorely lacked last season. Taking a starter out of the rotation who is throwing so well and sending him back to Triple A could backfire on the Angels future plans for Richards. The move may stump his development or it could have no effect at all.

The next and only other possibility to get sent down would be Santana, but he earned himself a couple more starters, at least, after his 1-hitter against the D-Backs last night. They're not sending Santana down unless he gives them no choice by falling flat on his face in his next few starts, and I don't see that happening.

Another unpopular, unconventional option would be to go to a 6-man rotation (something the Washington Nationals are considering to do to limit their ace, Stephen Strasburg's inning limit). I'm not a fan of the inning limit because it gives starters too long a rest between starts, which could be detrimental to a pitcher's rhythm.

The last thing would be to move Santana or Richards to the bullpen (something I strongly disagree with) and send a guy like Bobby Cassevah down.

If you were the Angels, what would you do to Garrett Richards when Jered Weaver returns?

Trout Wrecks the Rangers (24/81)

Jerome Williams pitched yet another quality start and Mike Trout turned into a one-man-wrecking crew as the Angels came back to beat the rival Texas Rangers 4-2 in Anaheim.

Angels entered Friday night trailing the Rangers by 6 1/2 games in the AL West despite winning 8 out of their last 10 games. Knowing how important this series was, its not surprise that guys stepped up.

Down 2-0 in the 6th, Trout hit a long fly ball off the wall that scored catcher, John Hester, and then scored himself on Albert Pujols fly ball to right field. Just like that, the Angels, who had not been able to figure out Ranger's starter, Colby Lewis, had a fresh ball game.

Angels found their luck when they got the bases loaded in the 7th thanks to a hit batter and an error by Ranger's second baseman, Ian Kinsler. Trout stepped up to the plate yet again, and drove in two go-ahead runs that turned out to be the winning runs with a single to right field.

One of the biggest factors to the Angel's revival of their season has not just been their new found offense, but the restructuring of their bullpen. It seems that Mike Scioscia has finally found the perfect combination with Jordan Walden in the 7th, Scott Downs in the setup role in the 8th, and newcomer Ernesto Frieri (above) closing out the games. Not only does this work, but with Downs and Frieri throwing unhittable pitches, Scioscia has been able to interchange them in the 9th inning in respect to left-handed and right-handed batters. It has worked more beautifully for the Angels the past two weeks than I've ever seen for another team that utilizes the "closer-by-committee" concept. However, Scioscia is looking for a guy to "fill the role," as he states, and is most likely looking at Walden, Downs, Frieri (in that order) to finish games when the Angels have the lead.