Ben Sheets, Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez and Vin Mazzaro will start to tear through the league, as everyday position players start to feel the grind in their wrists, shoulders, legs, knees and ankles. So far, Ben Sheets has been a control pitcher with poor control. Trevor Cahill has been a sinkerballer whose pitches have remained up in the zone, Gio Gonzalez is a strikeout pitcher that can't put people away and Vin Mazzaro is a dominant starter who has been dominated. But all are making great strides.
Sheets looked great in his last start. For the first time he was around the zone in the entire game, and hitters looked off-balance. The only problem was that the strike zone was so ridiculously inconsistent that I can think of at least seven pitches that should have been called strikes that weren't and affected the outcome of the game considerably. Nonetheless, he threw sixty-six of his ninety-seven pitches for strikes.
Vin Mazzaro has looked shaky, but he, too, looked better in his last start in Boston--and earned a win. And he deserves a lot of credit for coming in at Arlington a couple weeks ago, giving up a hit and then a home run, but settling in and pitching five innings and not allowing much of anything else. Once he turns that corner, and starts to believe that he can duplicate at the major league level the dominance he has experienced probably since he was in little league, he'll be hard to catch--especially as hitters start to feel the broad, wide middle of the major league schedule.
Dallas Braden has been consistent. In the top ten in innings pitched, walks per nine and WHIP, the one thing he has not been the benefactor of since his perfect game is run support. He's given up some runs in his last few starts, to be sure, but he hasn't let one of those games get out of hand, and he's been playing through injuries, illnesses, and a giant target on his back. His last start against Minnesota, the only real mistake was getting torched by the best hitter in all of baseball.
Gio Gonzalez is the weakest link, and he's been excellent at times. His problem is getting the last out of an inning. So many times he gets a quick two outs and then can't seem to get the last one. The numbers don't lie, however. Statistically, your chances of scoring without a runner in scoring position with two outs is very small; statistical anomalies almost always work out in favor of the averages. The third out of an inning will come when Gio Gonzalez starts throwing to contact with two outs instead of trying to be too fine and walking the batter.
And this rotation is set, after the Angels, to face the Giants, Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Pirates, Orioles and Indians--twenty-one games against teams (with the exception of the Pirates) that have trouble scoring runs. The one that doesn't can't pitch. Of course, there could be another injury to the rotation; Vin Mazzaro, Trevor Cahill or Gio Gonzalez could take a step back instead of forward. But when you look at the chances that those offenses are going to do much damage against this rotation, you definitely got to bet on the rotation.
As for the upcoming series against the Angels, well, a split would be a major moral victory; winning the series would be incredible; sweeping unthinkable. I wouldn't think of it as proving that you're better than the Angels, but managing to survive an Angels hot streak without getting buried in the division. If they can make it out of the series no more than two games out of first place--even if that team that's in first place is the Angels--then you've survived. A win tonight guarantees that after the series the Angels can be no more than 2 1/2 games ahead of the A's in the standings after the series.
But either way, this rotation can get hot.
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