Jason Bulger was pulled early from Saturday's game when he complained of a Shoulder tightness to Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher. There is no word on whether or not he will be added to the postseason roster.
The Bullpen is easily the Angels biggest question mark headed into the postseason. Bulger was an integral part of the late inning relief corps.
Without Bulger, the Angels Bullpen Depth looks lke this:
Brian Fuentes: Closer
Kevin Jepsen: 8th / 9th
Darren Oliver: 7th / 8th / Lefty Situational
And then the ambiguities form: Ervin Santana will be called in if a starting pitcher falters, traditionally the role of Matt Palmer this season. Palmer may get a more important role and his 2 shutout innings on Saturday illustrate his effectiveness. Sean O'Sullivan could be a possibility and threw out of the pen the other day quite effectively.
A four man rotation and the six pitchers listed here leave room for other relievers, none of whom should get you too excited: Jose Arredondo, Trevor Bell, Rafael Rodriguez and Rich Thompson should only get the ball in the postseason with ten-run leads or 8-run deficits.
0 recs | 17 comments
Up 4-3 in the 7th inning, bullpen coming in...
I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch the rest of the game. Our bullpen is ridiculously shaky. It’s not like Oliver-Bulger-Jepsen-Fuentes was ever going to be mistaken for an elite bullpen, but it had been working. Now Bulger is hurt, Jepsen has forgotten how to throw his slider for strikes, and Fuentes looks scared all the time.
10 years are going to be taken off my life next week.
Gorbachav5 - October 3, 2009
maybe we will have 6-0 leads with our starters going deep
(a guy can dream, can’t he?)
Rev Halofan - October 3, 2009
And Cousin Oliver has not always been good for a second inning recently.
opiejeanne - October 3, 2009
If that's really all it is with Bulger, a few days rest and some therapy, he should be fine and ready when the playoffs start.
44FAN - October 3, 2009
Speaking of managing the bullpen...
Kinda old, but has anyone seen this?
ChinoM01 - October 3, 2009
Crap.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/09/thursdays-poll-who-is-the-better-manager-mike-scioscia-or-joe-torre.html
ChinoM01 - October 3, 2009
Torre always gasses his bullpens
hauldog - October 5, 2009
"Black" Magic Ervin Santana
HAHAHAHAHAHA
That made me laugh something furious.
But I think Magic Matt Palmer would be the best choice because if the game goes into extras, then we would have Ervin.
TheAntiSox - October 3, 2009
Oliver/Matty...
Use them situationally and cross your fingers.
From pure spectator observations, it seems Erv needs an inning or two to get into his black magic “groove”. That being said, I question his effectiveness out of the pen. Who knows though.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - October 3, 2009
Depends on who is coming to bat for the Sawx
Leave Oliver in if a lefty is leading off; re-evaluate after the first batter. Have Palmer warmed up, though!
Brew Angel - October 4, 2009
Funke5ive - October 4, 2009
slump busters...............
Fatties
For The Win.
norcaliangelsfan - October 4, 2009
Lately
The bullpen hasn’t mattered much in the playoffs for this team. Sure, they ate 2 losses last year, but they never had a lead to work with.
I hope the offense shows up and that we can get an actual elite game pitched by a starter.
Feel free to throw up 6 or 7 innings of zeroes starters! Or, if you get a lead, don’t serve up 3 run homers.
I’m not going to blame the pen unless they blow a lead or walk in runs to break a tie game. If the pen of the last two years couldn’t preserve a tie game indefinitely, why should I expect anything more out of this pen?
John Lester’s strike zone will be more of an issue than the bullpen this series.
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - October 4, 2009
Good thing we didn't upgrade our bullpen ( ala Sherrill, Betancourt,). Not.
How about Ervin as a setup guy, not as a long man?
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - October 4, 2009
Re: Poll Question about bullpen
It would depend partially about how the batters coming up have fared in the past against Darren Oliver, how many pitches Darren Oliver threw in his inning, how the batters fared in the past against the other pitchers I’ve considered using and whether it was a high scoring game or a low scoring game. Not having those numbers, I would use either Darren Oliver another inning or go to Jose Arredondo. I haven’t given up on him even though he has had a poor year so far. I certainly consider Matt Palmer as well since has had some effectiveness in the bullpen. Erwin Santana hasn’t pitched much out of the bullpen to my knowledge so I’m not sure a one-run lead is the best time to find out if he can adjsut to the role.
Kind67 - October 4, 2009
Lackey scares me
He starts off strong against good teams but shakes up around 5th and/or 6th innings. Game 1, I think Santana relieves the guy.
If it’s close to clinching time or high pressure, I think Weaver (if available) should relieve like he did last post season. That cat had a killer instinct last time.
Relief for Kazmir is kinda iffy too because the guy has amazing stuff on his own but relieving him makes me nervous. In his game, I’m afraid of it it going from A+ pitching to B. Santana to relieve Kazmir? Maybe Palmer?
Vlad Dracul - October 4, 2009
Give me Matt Palmer and his inexplicable yet utterly badass 2.74 ERA
as a reliever.
TheOptimist - October 4, 2009
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