With the likelihood all but confirmed that the Angels will be without Garrett Richards for the rest of the season, let's look at the starts that remain that need to be filled by whoever replaces him. Richards was slated to start six or seven more regular season games in 2014. All of these are evening starts. The earliest is a 6:05 PM start on Saturday, September 20. Let's look at each game:
Monday, Aug 25 vs Miami - The Marlins are a .500 team ranked 16th in the major leagues in Runs Per Game with 4.02 (for comparison, the Astros are 15th with 4.03 RPG). Anaheim at night sees home run suppression so the most dominant pitcher in baseball is not probably needed to contend.
Saturday, Aug 30 vs Oakland - While the A's offense technically does lead baseball with 4.82 RPG, we all know they traded away a chunk of offense and have been struggling. Again, it is a start at night in Anaheim, so the marine layer should help suppress the long ball. Do we need Cy Young on the mound to win this game? No.
Friday, Sep 5 @ Minnesota - this is the highest ranked team in RPG (4.23, 11th) besides Oakland that Garrett's replacement will face. And it is the Twins so the Halo bats may have something to add to this affair.
Wednesday, Sep 10 @ Texas - We have been kicking Texas bootie all season, why stop now?
Monday, Sep 15 vs Seattle - This is likely the toughest game besides Oakland for Garrett's replacement, but considering the terrible batting production of the Mariners (19th in the league at 3.97 Runs Per Game, just behind Texas at 3.98) a league average pitcher should be able to keep it close and we can all hope the Halo bats get hot.
Saturday, Sep 20 vs Texas - In Anaheim against the Rangers, just keep it close.
Friday, Sep 26 @ Seattle - The Friday, September 26 game is Game #160 and the Angels will have just finished three games in Oakland. If it is a "must-win" game, whoever fills Garrett's shoes that day will have to have been pitching lights out or you can bet the team will go with some other options with only two to play.
Anything can happen between now and these games but this is looking more and more like an assignment that Wade LeBlanc can handle.