By James Bailey
Brad Penny vs Ervin Santana
Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels
May 14, 2009
The Angels’ real season starts now. The first six weeks were just a disappointing, heart-breaking prelude to what should be their run to the AL West title. With Santana making his first start of the season this afternoon, and righthander John Lackey due back Saturday, LA’s rotation will finally take on the intimidating look of a frontrunner. Penny’s line is anything but intimidating, though his numbers are inflated by a couple of brutal April starts. He’s been effective in his other outings.
Penny returns today to the city he called home for more than four years while pitching in the NL with the Dodgers. The righthander won 16 games in back-to-back seasons in 2006-07, before shoulder problems led to a 6-9 record and 6.27 ERA last year. He signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Red Sox this January and is still working his way into form. Through six starts he’s 3-1 with a 6.90 ERA, though he’s been a little better than that number would suggest. Four of his outings have been quality starts, including his last two, which he split with Tampa Bay. Fortunately for Penny, his offense let him off the hook in his two blowouts, as he received no-decisions despite surrendering eight and seven runs to the Orioles and Indians, respectively. Never a huge strikeout guy, Penny has just 16 against 15 walks through his first 30 innings. When he’s been able to command his fastball with some precision he’s been successful. In his four quality starts he’s walked two or fewer. Penny, 30, faced the Angels on April 11, winning in his first start of the season. He allowed three runs on five hits in six innings as the Sox won 5-4.
The Angels have sorely missed Santana as he’s worked his way back from a sprained elbow ligament. In his final minor league rehab start for Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday, he allowed two runs on three hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one as he earned the win against Portland (Padres). Santana was one of the top pitchers in the AL last year, going 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA and finishing second in the league with 214 strikeouts. The 26-year-old righthander owns a 51-37 record in four major league seasons. He and the club avoided an arbitration hearing in February by agreeing to a four-year, $30 million deal, with a $13 million option for the 2013 season. Shortly thereafter his elbow came up sore in spring training. The Angels were originally optimistic that he’d be out only a few days, but in the end the injury cost him all of spring training and a good chunk of the season. He was limited to 79 pitches in his start Saturday, so don’t look for him to go more than five or six innings against the Red Sox. Still, it’s a huge lift for the team to get him and Lackey back, with the possibility of Kelvim Escobar returning in early June.
