LA Angels await home debut of the “Freak” Thursday

The LA Angels come home to Anaheim reeling after being swept in a three-game series in Houston. In three of the four games they were tied or leading in the late innings. One bit of good news is Tim Lincecum.

On the LA Angels road trip there was not a lot of good news winning only two of six games.  However, one of those victories was the LA Angels debut of Tim Lincecum, A.K.A. “The Freak”.  Lincecum pitched six strong innings last Saturday against the Oakland A’s he only gave up one run on four hits to get his first win as an Angel.

Now as the Angels come back home Lincecum will make his home debut Thursday night against the same Oakland A’s hoping to break the Angels three-game losing streak.  Not only that, it will hopefully give the team some much needed momentum going forward.

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Lincecum, who was signed by the Angels out of necessity in late May to help lessen the blow of having two starting pitchers go down with serious arm injuries, will try to again shutdown the last place A’s.

Lincecum saw his velocity hit 93 on a couple of occasions in his debut, and averaged right around 90 MPH.  Lincecum will be opposed by Oakland’s Kendall Graveman who is 2-6 with a 4.87 ERA. Graveman held the Angels to one run in seven innings with four hits, but did not get a decision.

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If the LA Angels are to get back in the race for a playoff spot they need to have a strong home stand as they play the next seven games against the A’s and Astros both divisional rivals.  Lincecum can set the tone of the home stand with a strong performance and hopefully get a victory.

This would be a lot to ask to an ordinary pitcher, but Lincecum has always seem to relish big moments and so the LA Angels are in good hands.

Rest of the Series

After Lincecum starts Thursday, Jered Weaver will pitch Friday in hopes of a strong follow-up performance to his three-hit shutout against the A’s last Sunday. Weaver is hoping to again prove himself worthy of keeping his 5th starter spot when Nick Tropeano comes back next week.

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In Saturday’s game Jhoulys Chacin may be making his final start for a while as he is also in that mix of pitchers trying to keep their spot in the rotation after a series of sub-par outings.  Chacin will try to get his first win in June in hopes of holding on to not only his starting spot, but his roster spot as well.  If Chacin is taken out of the rotation he could be sent packing.

In the series finale Hector Santiago will hopefully continue his hot performance in his last two starts where he has given up two runs in 12.1 innings after a stretch of seven starts with where he had an ERA over nine.  Santiago was also in danger of possibly losing his rotation spot, but his last two starts should help him keep his spot.

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So with all of this said the most important thing is for the Angels to be successful and get back in this race.  If the pitching is strong it will go a long way in to ensuring success against the A’s and on the home stand. One can only hope…