Nice to see the Angels steal one in New York. I tuned in just as Andy Pettitte was finishing his self-destruct sequence. Stuck around just long enough to see Derek Jeter knock one out against Kevin Appier. Figured that was the beginning of the end, didn’t bother to watch the rest. Saw the highlights, though. Did Troy Glaus pick the right time to get hot, or what?

Anyway, Mike Scioscia has been taking a lot of heat for bringing in the likes of Brendan Donnelly and Ben Weber the past couple nights instead of Troy Percival. The theory is that Percival is the Angels’ best reliever and that managers are somehow stuck on reserving their closers to work only the ninth. But check this out:

             IP  H HR BB SO  ERA
Pitcher A  49.2 32  2 19 54 2.17
Pitcher B  78.0 70  4 22 43 2.54
Pitcher C  56.1 38  5 25 68 1.92

Okay, that’s Donnelly, Weber, and Percival, respectively. So, yeah, Percival has the best numbers of the three, but not by a wide margin. And consider this: Donnelly has been brought in to face guys like Bernie Williams and John VanderWal, left-handed hitters. How has he fared against lefties this season? How about Percy?

Donnelly: .242/.316/.379
Percival: .247/.366/.441

All five of Percival’s home runs allowed were to left-handers, in just 93 at-bats. Interestingly, both homers against Donnelly were by lefties, in 66 at-bats. The point is that maybe Scioscia isn’t an idiot for not bringing in Percival. There are many reasons the Angels made it to the playoffs this year, not the least of which is a deep bullpen. If you can’t ride the guys who got you there, then why even play the games? You’ve already admitted defeat. Sure, Percival is a terrific reliever, but Donnelly and Weber have been pretty darned good this year, too. And nobody knows that better than Scioscia.

Actually, Jayson Stark has a good piece on this very subject over at ESPN.

Padres in the AFL

Vince Faison, playing left field and batting second, was hitless in four at-bats; he also walked once and struck out once. Tagg Bozied, playing first base and again hitting cleanup, homered in five trips to the plate. Ben Risinger got the start at DH; batting eighth, he struck out twice in four at-bats.

. . .

I leave you with this interesting site: Mike’s Baseball Rants.