Under ordinary circumstances, Ervin Santana might not have done enough Monday night to keep his job in the Angels pitching rotation. But these aren't ordinary circumstances.
In the world of the Angels, everything is decided day to day. On a hot evening in Arlington, Texas, they won big, crushing the Rangers 15-8. Santana was the pitcher of record. Switch-hitter Kendrys Morales enjoyed a historic night at the plate, becoming the third player in major league history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning.
Suddenly, all is well. That means Santana will probably make his next scheduled start Saturday in Chicago against the White Sox.
It didn't much matter that his five-inning stint against the Rangers was mediocre at best, or that he twice gave up leads. He won for the first time since June 16 and went as many as five innings for only the second time in July.
That's probably still good enough.
Although manager Mike Scioscia didn't say so, the presumption is that the Angels will continue to give Santana opportunities to figure out his troubles between starts and on the mound. He got neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down from the manager.
"I don't know if he was as crisp as we had hoped, but there were definitely times when he bent a little bit but didn't break," Scioscia told FOX Sports West. "He came back and made some pitches, located his fastball better and showed signs of a better breaking pitch. Ultimately it's a step forward, but not quite where we know he can be. We're going to keep hammering away until he gets there."
Santana had two good innings, the first and the third, when he retired the side in order. He also had two not-so-good innings, the second and fourth, when he failed to hold one-run leads. Josh Hamilton's homer in the fourth was the 25th given up by Santana this season, and it put the Rangers up 3-2.
Scioscia is loyal to his veteran players, so Monday's performance probably was just good enough to earn Santana another start. But he probably would have stayed in the rotation anyway after the pregame news that right-hander Dan Haren is suffering from more tightness in his back, this time higher up than the stiffness that put him on the disabled list earlier this month.
Haren, who has won both of his starts since coming off the DL, took part in long toss before the game and will have his usual bullpen session Tuesday. But if he has to be scratched, Garrett Richards will take his spot against the Rangers.
It's possible this is what Scioscia was talking about the past few days when he said the rotation would settle itself. He expressed mild concern about Haren, and perhaps that's why he kept Richards and sent left-hander Hisanori Takahashi to the minors when newly acquired starter Zack Greinke was added to the roster.
Or it could be that Scioscia wanted to see how Sananta pitched against the Rangers. The 15-out limit was intended to make Santana aggressive from the start, and it seemed to work. But when pitchers get leads, they need to hold them – and Santana didn't.
By the end of the night, Santana was pretty much a footnote to a smashing offensive game for the Angels, who were shut out in back-to-back games by the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend. But they rebounded with 16 hits, including six RBI from Morales and four from Trout. Unbelievably, the Angels' most fearsome hitter, Mark Trumbo, sat out the game with back spasms.
Trumbo expects to be in the lineup Tuesday, and Santana will likely be on the mound Saturday. But with the Angels, things can change. It seems like they always do.
