Saunders Thrown Into a Tight Spot

Rookie left-hander Joe Saunders knows he’ll be a little nervous today when he starts in place of the injured Jarrod Washburn in the thick of a heated pennant race, when every game, in Saunders’ words, “means the world to us.”

But it can’t be any more nerve-racking than Saturday in Chicago, where Saunders was on call in case Bartolo Colon’s injured lower back prevented him from pitching against the White Sox.

“That was weird,” Saunders said. “My mom flew in [from Virginia] and was all excited. I stretched and did my normal pregame routine. I was on pins and needles. Then Bart started, but I was still on pins and needles in the bullpen. It’s much easier when you know exactly when you’re going to pitch because you can get focused.”

The Angels are confident Saunders can handle pressure. The 2002 first-round pick made an emergency start Aug. 16, limiting Toronto to two runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings in his big league debut.

“From everything we’ve heard from our minor league people, he’s very confident and self-assured,” pitching coach Bud Black said. “He has the poise. He loves to compete.”

But unlike his August game, which came four days after a minor league start, Saunders will be working today on two weeks’ rest, and there is a concern his arm will be so strong he’ll have difficulty keeping his pitches down.

“I threw in the bullpen a couple times and did some flat-ground work to stay sharp, but I might be a little strong,” Saunders said. “I’ve got to focus on commanding the ball down.”

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Washburn, scratched because of forearm tendinitis, would seem to be in an awkward position today. He needs Saunders to pitch well to help the Angels’ playoff chances, but the better Saunders pitches, the more likely the Angels might be to let Washburn go as a free agent after this season.

Washburn doesn’t see it that way, though.

“How he pitches [today] isn’t going to dictate at all what they do with me in the off-season,” Washburn said. “If they plan on doing something with me this off-season, their minds are already made up.”

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Rookie Ervin Santana has thrown 166 1/3 innings this season -- 107 for the Angels and 59 1/3 in the minor leagues -- more than three times the 43 2/3 innings he threw in 2004. There is a concern the rookie right-hander, who has been hit hard in three of his last four starts, is fatigued.

“We’re monitoring his innings, watching his bullpen workouts and making sure there are no signs of weariness,” Black said. “[Tuesday] night his stuff looked fine, but his command was off. That’s sometimes a sign a guy’s getting tired.”