Fuentes Becomes Devil Of Problem For Angels
Last night's loss in Boston wasn't the ump's fault, it was another blown chance by the closer Brian Fuentes.
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Can Fuentes be trusted in the playoffs?
The Angels are going to the playoffs because of their bats, not because of the arms on their pitching staff. That’s not news.
Still, if there was one thing the Angels could count on, it was if they got a lead to their closer Brian Fuentes, he shut the door. For the first half of the season, he had fans saying “K-Rod Who?” He was the only steady guy coming out of the bullpen in Anaheim.
No more. Now every time Fuentes goes to the mound has become like a ride on the Matterhorn — and if Angles fans wanted that they would walk across the street to Disneyland.
The latest meltdown came Wednesday in Boston. Fuentes came in with a one-run lead in the ninth and got the first two batters out easily. Then he walked David Ortiz. Then came a couple of infield singles. Then came the ugly at bat to Nick Green, where a couple of borderline calls — a check swing that may have gone around and a pitch at the knees — went against the Angels leaving even the normally calm Mike Scioscia losing his cool. One more hit followed and the Red Sox had dramatic win.
The Angels may want to blame the umpire, but the bottom line is if you have a lead with two outs in the ninth inning and nobody on base it is on you to close that out. The ump was only involved because three others reached base — because Fuentes gave the Red Sox a chance.
That stings now. When the playoffs start in three weeks — and the Angels may well face these Red Sox — the consequences will be more dire.
Things have gotten so bad that Mike Scioscia is now sharing the closer role between Fuentes and Kevin Jepsen — and he has been great for Scioscia of late. Well, until a big left-handed bat comes to the plate because those guys have killed Jensen (opposing lefties are hitting .355 against him).
Rotating two closers usually works about as well as rotating two quarterbacks on a college football team. It is an invitation for disaster. But Scioscia has no choice. Pitching was going to be an issue in the playoffs for the Angels, but if they don’t figure out the closer situation they won’t have to worry about the rest of the staff for long.
