2 Games out!

Great game by the Magic man today. Ervin Santana has had, so far in his short career, insane home/road splits. It goes back to his first career start, where he gave up a cycle to the first 4 batters he faced in Cleveland, and his second, where he shut down the White Sox in the big A.

I don't know what it is, but Ervin may have finally found his comfort level on the road. He's won his last 6 decisions, including 4 on the road, and this week he gets 2 big wins on the road. He's got quality starts or better in 8 of his last 9, and the one where he didn't is quality in my book. Sure, he gave up 6 runs to the Mariners, but he also pitched 8 innings, allowed fewer baserunners than innings (helps my ratio), and most importantly, won the game.

The Angel starting 5 looks pretty exciting right about now as Lackey has become one of the most dominant pitchers in the league, and Bartolo appears to be back.

I'm not 100% sold on Bartolo yet, his last start he struck out only 2, and he's not throwing mid 90's heat. That's nitpicking, though, as you should never complain about a CG shutout that only takes 91 pitches. If the Mariners hadn't used a Mickey Hatcher strategy of putting the first ball into play at all costs, Bartolo would have gotten ahead of hitters and rung up a few more K's, thrown more pitches, and probably not finished the game. But the Mariners chose to give our bullpen a rest heading into Oakland and who am I to complain about that?