Angels Demote Richards, Keep Jepsen

The Angels ended up needing Kevin Jepsen on Thursday night and the formerly unreliable relief pitcher did remarkably well in a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Starter Garrett Richards was sent to Salt Lake to get work over the All Star break and we are waiting word on who gets called up to the big club before tonight's game. My take on it...

Five relievers pitched one out shy of five innings last night and this is a bullpen that was so gassed prior to last night's contest that Jepsen had been brought back up.

Fortunately for the Angels, C.J. Wilson starts tonight and is a good bet to eat a lot of innings. The freeswinging Orioles offense will probably fall into the trap of dribbling into double plays and Wilson will not have to nibble much at the plate, a mild achilles heel in his overall game appears when very patient lineups conspire with squeezed strike zones to elevate his pitch count. Jered Weaver gets the call on Saturday night and is probably back enough form his back spasm injury that he will be allowed to throw a dozen pitches ten times in the game.

If all goes well with the starters over the next two nights, Johnny McAllStaff may be asked to pitch in Sunday's game. If every reliever is asked to throw thirty pitches it may get the job done. Ervin Santana only threw 58 pitches and could be a force on three days rest (dreamin?) and Salt Lake starter Greg Smith, he long ago of the Matt Holliday to Oakland deal, could be called into action for a spot start on Sunday.