What Happened To The Bullpen?

Ah, the good old days.  When starting pitchers threw 500 innings and were considered pussies if they couldn't finish their games, and the major league saves leader had a season total of nine.  When the primary role of a trainer was to tell a player to "rub some dirt on it" and then give him a shot of bourbon to wash down a greenie.  A team's bullpen was typically made up of washed up veteran starters or rookie "bonus babies".  Gone are the days where a pitcher such as Mike Marshall will pitch 208 innings IN RELIEF, and appear in 106 games.  These days, a team's bullpen has a LOOGY (lefty one out guy), a set-up guy, a 7th inning guy, long relief guy, a mop-up guy, and a closer guy.  That's a lot of specialized guys.  And this is the philosophy of Angels' manager Mike Scioscia.  He uses his bullpen in a systematic way where each pitcher has their role and each guy has their use.  Heading into the play-offs, the Angels suddenly have no one who can pitch out of a jam.  Over the last 8 games, the Angels bullpen has given up 25 hits, 18 earned runs, and 15 walks in 24.2 innings.  They've posted an ERA of 6.57 over those 8 games, but the good news is the Halos have a record of 5-3.  Fortunately the Angels have been playing Oakland, Texas and Seattle, and not Tampa or Boston.  Two pitchers vying for one of the play-off roster spots are Mark Bulger and Kevin Jepsen.  Over the last 7 games, both pitchers have been less than stellar:

With the recent performance of these two players, and the decent week Speier has had, it's looking like Speier will be on the post-season roster unless something changes in the last 5 games.

Daily Notes:

• Second baseman Howie Kendrick is back from his hamstring injury just in time to get in a few games before the play-offs.  Kendrick played 3 innings Monday and 5 innings last night.  He went 2 for 3 with two runs scored last night and appears to be running well.  He'll likely get ton