Recently over at Halos Heaven I brought up the question of, Do we go with a 3 Man or 4 man rotation in the Playoffs. The shape and color of the playoffs look like the Red Sox will win the Wildcard, which sets up New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers in the First Round. And the Angels taking on the familiar Red Sox in the opposite side of the bracket. If our first round match up is Boston, we have to consider what our staff has done against Boston. Last night John Lackey gave the Angels a pretty good outing in Fenway, where he's been known to struggle. Saunders gets a start in Fenway tonight and he has won his last 4 Starts. And Kazmir is reported as pitching well in Boston. Obviously our pitching staff has been getting better and better. In the playoffs are we better using a three man rotation or four? And who starts and who goes to the bullpen.
With home-field advantage going to the Angels, obviously match-ups should play a greater role. But with 4-5 above average pitchers, who goes where?
The Angels need a pitching staff who doesn't have the same demons of our past. A pitching staff who will show no fear against the hated ones. Our starting 4 Man rotation should be Kamir, Saunders, Weaver, Lackey and send Ervin Santana in as a late inning reliever. I would also suggest giving Lackey the more favorable starts in Anaheim as opposed to Fenway. Lackey hasn't performed well against Boston. 3 Wins, 7 Losses, and an ERA of 5.25. Kazmir is 8-7 against the Red Sox and has an ERA of 3.59. Saunders has had 4 Wins, 1 Loss and an ERA of 3.25. Ervin Santana vs. Boston is 1-2 and has an ERA of 5.67. Weaver's career is 2-2 against Boston and has a cool 3.99 ERA. Kazmir is unaffected by the Green Monster mystique. He's also had post season success against the Red Sox, by shutting out the Sox for 6 Innings at Fenway. Weaver who has pitch his best year thus far defeated the Red Sox in Fenway, coming out of the Bullpen. Weaver and Kazmir would be my choices for match ups in Fenway. Depending on Saunders next two starts can help shape where he goes in our rotation.
In a Best of 5 Series I'd go
Game 1 of the ALDS in Anaheim
Jered Weaver
Game 2 of the ALDS in Anaheim
John Lackey
Game 3 of the ALDS in Boston
Scott Kazmir
Game 4 of the ALDS in Boston
Joe Saunders
Game 5 of the ALDS in Anaheim
Jered Weaver
With home-field advantage going to the Angels, obviously match-ups should play a greater role. But with 4-5 above average pitchers, who goes where?
The Angels need a pitching staff who doesn't have the same demons of our past. A pitching staff who will show no fear against the hated ones. Our starting 4 Man rotation should be Kamir, Saunders, Weaver, Lackey and send Ervin Santana in as a late inning reliever. I would also suggest giving Lackey the more favorable starts in Anaheim as opposed to Fenway. Lackey hasn't performed well against Boston. 3 Wins, 7 Losses, and an ERA of 5.25. Kazmir is 8-7 against the Red Sox and has an ERA of 3.59. Saunders has had 4 Wins, 1 Loss and an ERA of 3.25. Ervin Santana vs. Boston is 1-2 and has an ERA of 5.67. Weaver's career is 2-2 against Boston and has a cool 3.99 ERA. Kazmir is unaffected by the Green Monster mystique. He's also had post season success against the Red Sox, by shutting out the Sox for 6 Innings at Fenway. Weaver who has pitch his best year thus far defeated the Red Sox in Fenway, coming out of the Bullpen. Weaver and Kazmir would be my choices for match ups in Fenway. Depending on Saunders next two starts can help shape where he goes in our rotation.
In a Best of 5 Series I'd go
Game 1 of the ALDS in Anaheim
Jered Weaver
Game 2 of the ALDS in Anaheim
John Lackey
Game 3 of the ALDS in Boston
Scott Kazmir
Game 4 of the ALDS in Boston
Joe Saunders
Game 5 of the ALDS in Anaheim
Jered Weaver
0 comments:
Post a Comment