Orange County Register

Steve Bisheff thinks he knows why Mike Scioscia left Joe Saunders in to face Alex Rodriguez:

His option was young Kevin Jepsen, who a) has had his share of problems in the series so far, and b) throws a 97 mph fastball as his out pitch.

Rodriguez usually kills 97 mph fastballs, so Scisocia thought he’d have a better shot with the more experienced Saunders, who can throw a variety of pitches, including a sinker that can induce double plays. As it turned out, Saunders threw a borderline inside fastball that was called ball four. The walk brought in another run to make it 3-1.

Well, since neither of us have spoken to Scioscia yet, I don’t feel bad saying that can’t possible be what Scioscia was thinking. After all, he had Jepsen warming up. Jepsen absolutely can’t get lefties out — an .881 OPS against them this year, and a brutal stretch in game 3 where he allowed four of five to reach base — and there weren’t any righties coming up before or after Alex Rodriguez. So Scioscia could only have been warming him up to face Alex Rodriguez.  And Jepsen has retired Rodriguez both times he has faced him this series.

And, no, I don’t have an alternate explanation. Because, seriously, what?

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