News
Pitching coach meets with relievers
Butcher discusses struggles behind closed doors
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com
05/31/09 4:05 PM ET
ANAHEIM -- Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher held a closed-door meeting with the club's relief pitchers on Sunday, and it wasn't a feel-good session featuring pats on the collective back.A wakeup call similar to the one created by the day's starting pitcher, Ervin Santana, when he blasted hip-hop over the clubhouse sound system was closer to what transpired.
The Angels have let six leads get away after seven innings in 2009, the same number they had last season when they led the Major Leagues with 100 wins. The bullpen's 6.01 ERA is the highest in the American League, while the starters are tied for lowest at 3.94.
Help could be on the way in the distinguished form of Rudy Seanez. The 40-year-old veteran right-hander worked two innings in his first appearance for Triple-A Salt Lake on Saturday night, yielding one hit, a solo homer.
"Butch feels there are individual issues with every pitcher, which is usually the case," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before his team tried to avert a weekend sweep by the Mariners. "There are some resounding themes we're seeing from some guys that could contribute to their struggles.
"We're behind too many hitters, for sure. Bullpen walks are on the high side. There are little markers you see, such as first-batter efficiency. Some of our guys are really struggling with that."
Falling behind hitters in the count frequently can be traced to confidence issues, with pitchers not trusting their stuff and trying to nibble on the corners rather than coming right after hitters.
"There are some guys who are out of whack and can't repeat a pitch," Scioscia said. "Some guys are trying to be too fine. With some guys, it's pitch selection, bringing [secondary] pitches into it. There are little things that could add up.
"Put all the arms together, and we've been searching quite a while to find the formula."
In recent seasons, there were clearly established roles at the back end of the bullpen. Jose Arredondo's emergence in the seventh inning last season made for a smooth transition to Scot Shields and finally to Francisco Rodriguez, who took advantage of their excellent setup work to notch a record 62 saves.
Brian Fuentes, who assumed K-Rod's closer role, hasn't been dominant, with 13 saves in 16 opportunities, but he has not been the problem, either.
The bigger concern is finding consistency in the innings between the starter and the closer with Shields on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left knee and Arredondo struggling to repeat his sensational rookie performance.
"Darren Oliver is throwing the ball very well," Scioscia said. "He's certainly a guy who is very comfortable in a variety of roles. Brian Fuentes was on a nice roll" before yielding a game-tying three-run homer to Jose Lopez on Saturday night for his third blown save.
"Brian's got 13 saves and probably would have opportunities for more if some things weren't slipping through the cracks in earlier innings. The problem has not been the closer. It's been setting the game up to get in the closer's hand for most of the season.
"Working backwards [from Fuentes], we have guys like Justin Speier [and] Jason Bulger. Arredondo's been struggling. There are some arms there. It's looking for consistency. If you want guys in roles, there's not much shuffling you can do until you have guys pitching well -- and we have not seen that."
Angels opponents have higher on-base and slugging marks than the reigning American League West champs, underscoring the team's mound struggles as much as its inconsistent offense.
Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
