New rule might affect Angels’ Jered Weaver
Mike Scioscia said the new rule that could prevent Jered Weaver from pitching in the All-Star game arose from concerns of repeating what happened eight years ago, when the National League and American League teams ran out of pitchers and the game was declared a tie after the 11th inning.
“If you pick how many pitchers on a roster and all of a sudden six of them have thrown Sunday and you’re trying to hopefully have 14, 15, 16 innings of pitching just in case, what happened in Milwaukee in ’02 would happen again, that’s tough to do,” the Angels’ manager said.
Scioscia was a member of a committee that recommended any pitcher selected as an All-Star who started on the Sunday before the game would not be eligible to pitch in the game and would be replaced on the roster.
Weaver, who is 7-3 with a 3.01 earned-run average and a major-league-leading 118 strikeouts, is on track to start the Angels’ last game before the All-Star game, July 11 in Oakland. Scioscia said he did not anticipate using a day off Monday to move up each of Weaver’s next three starts and avoid a scenario that would entail his being held out of the All-Star game July 13 at Angel Stadium.
“I think we’re at a stage in the season where that extra rest is something that is important,” Scioscia said, “so it’s not as easy as just flip-flopping and moving forward.”
Weaver did not want to address the possibility of being held out of what would be his first All-Star game — in his home stadium — when approached in the clubhouse.
“I’ve still got three more starts” before the All-Star break, he said. “I’m not worried about that, to tell you the truth.”
Should Weaver be selected but barred from pitching, he would still be recognized as an All-Star and allowed to participate in the festivities and be introduced in uniform.
“It doesn’t mean it should diminish the All-Star experience,” Scioscia said, speaking generally about pitchers who are selected but cannot participate. “He’ll be at the game, he’ll be here, but we would have another pitcher that would take his spot on the roster to pitch in the game. It’s just the way it happens.”
The lowest point?
A day after Scioscia said Brandon Wood was playing at his “absolute worst,” the struggling third baseman openly wondered: Compared with what?
“I don’t know if it’s an absolute low; there hasn’t been anything that’s been a real positive this year,” said Wood, who is hitting .173 with two home runs and eight runs batted in in 150 at-bats.
“Certainly, I’m not sitting here thinking this season is done or my career is over, because I know that I can play this game and I have a lot of baseball in me. Shoot, I’m only 25 and I know I’m going to figure it out.”
That might be tough to do from the bench. With third baseman Kevin Frandsen hitting a team-high .356 before Saturday and shortstop Erick Aybar returning from the hyperextended left knee that had sidelined him since June 14, Wood was out of the lineup and may be relegated to a utility role.
“It’s not something I envisioned at the start of the year,” Wood said. “It’s obviously frustrating that I put myself in a position to where that’s a possibility, but what else can you say when you’re hitting a buck seventy-four going into July?”
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