Series Thread: Angels @ Jays|August 21-23

[zilby]

The Los Angeles Angels



Vs.

The Toronto Blue Jays!



Game 1: Friday, August 21st, 2009

7:07 PM, Sportsnet

Sean O'Sullivan Vs. Mark Rzepzcynski

Scouting Report:
Angels: O'Sullivan struggled in his last start, lasting only four innings in a no-decision against the Orioles. The right-hander gave up six earned runs on seven hits but allowed three home runs and issued two walks in the outing.
Blue Jays: Rzepczynski has not notched a win for the Blue Jays since July 18, posting an 0-2 record with a 5.04 ERA in five outings since that start. On the road Sunday against the Rays, the rookie left-hander logged a decent performance against the reigning American League champs. Rzepczynski allowed one run on six hits over six innings and finished with three walks and one strikeout in a no-decision. Rzepczynski has never faced the Angels in his career.

Game 2: Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

1:07 PM, TSN

Ervin Santana Vs. Scott Richmond

Scouting Report:
Angels: Although he wasn't dominant, Santana was effective in his last start, allowing three earned runs over six innings to pick up his sixth win of the season. The right-hander earned five strikeouts and issued four walks in the Angels' 8-5 win over Baltimore
Blue Jays: Due to a handful of schedule off-days this month, Richmond has only made two starts since being activated from the disabled list at the end of July. Over those two outings, the rookie right-hander has gone 0-1 with a 7.00 ERA, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 15 hits with 10 strikeouts and five walks over nine innings. On Aug. 11 at New York, Richmond walked away with a no-decision after giving up three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts and two walks against the Yankees. Richmond has never faced the Angels.

Game 3: Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

1:07 PM, TSN

Trevor Bell Vs. Ricky Romero

Scouting Report:
Angels: It was a struggle, but Bell, a 22-year-old right-hander with a fastball in the 91-93 mph range complemented by a hard slider and changeup, claimed his first Major League win in his second start when he lasted 5 1/3 innings against the Indians in Cleveland on Tuesday night. Bell yielded three runs, working through a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third inning when he was on the ropes. Bell, a former first-round compensation pick who hadn't pitched beyond Class A before this season, has demonstrated poise along with quality stuff, raising hopes that he might be a valuable piece down the stretch. He also pitched capably in his debut against the Rays.
Blue Jays: On Tuesday night in Toronto, Romero's struggles against the Red Sox persisted. In three outings against Boston, the young lefty has gone 0-2 with a 10.50 ERA. Romero is 10-3 with a 3.26 ERA against all other opponents. In his latest effort, Romero allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings -- the shortest outing of his career. Over his last three starts, Romero has gone 0-1 with a 6.89 ERA. That follows a 12-start stretch over which he went 8-2 with a 3.29 ERA. Romero has never faced the Angels.

k so yeah go jays

[tsherkin]

Hopefully this series will be a little better than us getting smoked by the BoSox. Pretty much all of our pitchers got hammered and taken out early (averaging about 4.2 IP, IIRC). Hopefully this time around, we'll get some offensive production and good pitching together.

[Brinbe]

Hill continues to be freakin awesome.

[Schad]

Hill continues to be freakin awesome.

I get on him for not walking enough (he really doesn't), but pitchers just seem to love grooving him fastballs. Perhaps it's his spot in the lineup or the fact that he's 5'9", but they throw him an awful lot of stuff in the zone, far more than they should to a guy top-3 in the league in home runs.

And I might be alone, but I think Zip could end better than Cecil...potentially better than a whole lotta people, for that matter. Groundballs + strikeouts + left-handed is a recipe for success, and his control has been much better of late. If he can get down to 3 BB/9, he'll be a very bad man.

[youngLion]

That reminded me of this.

"When you're not right and you still get hits, that's when you know you are a bad man."

[zilby]

HILL

[zilby]

and wells with a jack???????

[s e n s i]

Bahaha Janssen. Come on now.

[tsherkin]

Offensive production and a win for the Zeppelin. Good night.

[zilby]

success!

[tsherkin]

I like Rzepczynski. Fastball, slider and change (even a deuce now and again, unless that's just mistaking his slider) from a lefty is great stuff. We've had a LOT of luck with young lefties this year between him, Romero and Cecil (whether he's throwing the ball into the dugout or not).

No velocity worth mentioning (but it sinks pretty well) but he's a lefty with movement on his slider and a change; better control will come, I'd think, since he's not overthrowing, but he's looked pretty good in basically all of his starts. Very nice to see. Plus, he's got a cool name.

[canucks22]

man that was close, they caught a break with Abreu grounding out, hes usually better than that with RISP.

[Schad]

I like Rzepczynski. Fastball, slider and change (even a deuce now and again, unless that's just mistaking his slider) from a lefty is great stuff. We've had a LOT of luck with young lefties this year between him, Romero and Cecil (whether he's throwing the ball into the dugout or not).

No velocity worth mentioning (but it sinks pretty well) but he's a lefty with movement on his slider and a change; better control will come, I'd think, since he's not overthrowing, but he's looked pretty good in basically all of his starts. Very nice to see. Plus, he's got a cool name.

The key is the change-up...because of his arm-slot it has a lot of movement, and I marvel at how badly hitters miss it. The delivery also makes the slider that much better; he can bury it in on righties beautifully, which goes quite a way to negate his platoon splits. It's also the reason he misses pretty frequently now...his pitches have a tonne of lateral movement, but when he spots them (and of late, he has) Zip is extremely tough to hit. I can see him as a #2 starter in the league..possibly within the next two years.

[tsherkin]

I'd be comfortable with him establishing himself as a #5 starter; anything he achieves above and beyond that is just wonderful. If he becomes worthy of the #2 slot, then that's frikkin' awesome.

That kind of pitch array is what makes Sabathia and Santana the type of pitchers they are. Naturally, both have greater velocity; Sabathia's got like an extra 6, 7 mph on his heater on average. Santana used to as well, but the last few years he's been hovering 90-92 (declining for three straight years now), so that helps their K rates. Zep has the sinking action, though, so it's not as big a deal, especially with that slider. If he maintains that groundball rate and walks fewer guys, he's going to be nasty with our defense.

Yeah, I'm liking the new guys a lot. Romero's been great, Cecil's been solid, and Zep is a lot of fun.

[Mustard_Tiger]

I like Rzepczynski. Fastball, slider and change (even a deuce now and again, unless that's just mistaking his slider) from a lefty is great stuff. We've had a LOT of luck with young lefties this year between him, Romero and Cecil (whether he's throwing the ball into the dugout or not).

No velocity worth mentioning (but it sinks pretty well) but he's a lefty with movement on his slider and a change; better control will come, I'd think, since he's not overthrowing, but he's looked pretty good in basically all of his starts. Very nice to see. Plus, he's got a cool name.

The key is the change-up...because of his arm-slot it has a lot of movement, and I marvel at how badly hitters miss it. The delivery also makes the slider that much better; he can bury it in on righties beautifully, which goes quite a way to negate his platoon splits. It's also the reason he misses pretty frequently now...his pitches have a tonne of lateral movement, but when he spots them (and of late, he has) Zip is extremely tough to hit. I can see him as a #2 starter in the league..possibly within the next two years.

According to this, it's his slider that is his most effective pitch: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?pl ... position=P

I'm not sure his ceiling is as high as a #2 starter, but the K/GB combination is definitely a recipe for success. He should be able to pitch in this league and pitch well.

[tsherkin]

I think he may mean the change up is a great pitch to set up the batter looking for a fastball and then kill him with the slider; Sabathia does that ALL the time... and even Santana, too.

[Schad]

Yeah, the slider is by far his best strikeout pitch, but the change-up seemed to be what he was pitching off of last night (throwing it quite a bit in 1-1 counts and the like), and the one that hitters looked the most fooled by. I could be wrong, though, as many of the pitches I was interpreting as change-ups could have been sliders that didn't have as much bend and as his back-leg special.

And #2 starter might be a bit generous for a guy that tops out at 90, but -- walks aside -- he definitely has the peripherals of a #2 guy. Right now he sits at an 8.0 K/9, nearly 2:1 GB:FB, under 1 HR/9, and a .220 oppBA; with a good infield defense behind him those numbers should translate to quite a bit of success.

[tsherkin]

You know who else had a crappy fastball? Tom Glavine.

His average fastball velocity TOPPED OUT at 86 between 2002 and 2008, in 2003, and got as low as 82.1. He had an 18-win season with an 85 mph fastball, and averaged about 13 wins a season before his shortened 08 season.

Naturally, he had much better control, but guys like Glavine and Maddux proved that you can have a crap fastball as long as you put it where you want it and have some other pitches that you can spot and throw for strikes or at least misses. Plus, Zep has a sinking fastball, so the velocity isn't as important. Naturally, this is all based off of 9 games. We've seen like 50% more of Cecil than we have of Zep.

But what we have seen is that he's not giving up a lot of runs, not giving up a lot of hits (7.3 H/9), and lots of strikeouts. He needs to improve his control because he's walking a lot of guys and has a middling K/BB ratio, but we've also seen him post 5 quality starts in 9 appearances (7% more than league average) and an average game score of 53, which is 4 points above average. He's giving us basically 5.2 IP per start, which is probably part of it, but he's got a young arm, and Cito's treating him pretty well. Fewer homers than league average, a lot more strikeouts than league average (by percentage), above average groundball-to-flyball ratio (and a noticeably above-average groundout to flyout average)...

He doesn't get a lot of swinging strikes, but he does get way above average in strikes looking (+8%). Sees a few too many 3-0 counts, doesn't throw enough 1st-pitch strikes, standard hallmarks of control problems. But if he can shore that up a bit, yeah, he could maybe be a #2 starter.

Still, #3 or #4 seems more likely, but that's still pretty awesome, and for the moment, we've got enough other starters to make that work anyhow.

[tsherkin]

Not the worst game I've seen. Tallet sucked. Richmond wasn't terrible; striking a lot of guys out, which was good, and a bit surprising given how inconsistent his playing time has been.

[Schad]

Snider's having a nice little game...he's pulled his average by 20 points and tacked on 63 points to his OPS. He has also been taking a lot of fairly close pitches the last couple games, which is a great sign; before being sent down he was digging himself into a lot of holes and seemed to lack the wherewithal to work the count thereafter.