Despite their previous 3 game win streak, the Angels are just 7-7 since Maicer Izturis landed on the DL with a torn
ligament in his left thumb. In the month prior to Izturis' injury, the Halos were a scorching 19-7. Do the Angels miss him? The obvious answer is "yes", but why? And how much? Izturis' slash stats were an un-spectacular .269/.329/.362 as he was playing in more than half of the Angels' games, splitting time with Erick Aybar at short and 20 games at 2B while Howie Kendrick was on the DL. Here's some quick numbers.
Pitcher groundball to flyball ratio for the 5 Angels' starters:
| Pitcher | Groundballs | Flayballs | Ratio |
| Garland | 290 | 176 | 1.65 |
| Lackey | 191 | 130 | 1.47 |
| Saunders | 255 | 192 | 1.33 |
| Santana | 197 | 216 | 0.91 |
| Weaver | 154 | 210 | 0.73 |
Garland, Lackey and Saunders are the Angels' groundball pitchers, while Santana and Saunders are flyball pitchers.
Games when Aybar played shortstop
Pitcher's record
(Record/games started are the decisions for each pitcher in the games they started, overall record is the Angels' results in games started by each pitcher.)
| Flyball pitchers | Record/Games Started | Overall Record |
| Santana | 7-2 | 8-6 |
| Weaver | 5-7 | 6-10 |
| Groundball pitchers | ||
| Lackey | 4-0 | 5-3 |
| Saunders | 9-5 | 11-6 |
| Garland | 7-6 | 9-8 |
Games when Izturis played shortstop
Pitcher's record
| Flyball pitchers | Record/Games Started | Overall Record |
| Santana | 6-3 | 7-5 |
| Weaver | 4-2 | 5-3 |
| Groundball pitchers | ||
| Lackey | 5-2 | 7-2 |
| Saunders | 5-2 | 6-3 |
| Garland | 4-2 | 7-2 |
Comparison
| Aybar | Izturis | |||
| Record | 39-33 | .542 | 32-15 | .681 |
| Flyball pitchers | 14-16 | .467 | 12-8 | .600 |
| Groundball pitchers | 25-17 | .595 | 20-7 | .741 |
According to these numbers, all of the pitchers had a better chance of winning when Izturis is in the game, with groundball pitchers having an even better opportunity than flyball pitchers. Izturis' injury had made all of this moot, as he had season-ending surgery on his thumb and won't be returning to the Angels' line-up. These number do show Maicer was an important part of the Angels' "chemistry".
Jim: I just found your blog today, following Tim over from MLBTR. Really, just excellent stuff here.
I'm an Angels fan going back to 1979. I watch about 120 games a year or so. It would be more but I'm blacked out for A's games, a situation which infuriates.
I look forward to keeping up with you here as we cruise into the post-season and push for a title with the best Angels team I've ever seen.
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