An important part of fantasy sports leagues is how it brings a fan improved awareness of the players — particularly those on his or her team. Some “owners” even do a sort of scouting of players — just like the professionals!
Huston Street of the Los Angeles Angels was the third of four relief pitchers I drafted, back in March, using the 91st pick — a fairly high pick in our league, which features 324 players.
Street muddled through most of April — OK, but not overpowering, and then he got an oblique injury and was out five weeks.
Since he returned, on May 31, he has been a fairly significant problem, the sort of performer you begin to worry about.
Such as last night, when I felt doom closing in on him … and me … and the Angels. And I communicated that angst to another league owner.
And here it is … as it happened today.
It starts in the bottom of the fifth inning in the Angels’ home game with the Boston Red Sox. The Angels have just scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead behind Tyler Skaggs, who also is a pitcher on my team.
Here we go:
Subject line, 3:10 p.m. PDT: “I live in terror …”
Text: “… that the Angels will take this 3-0 lead into the ninth and 1) Huston Street will pitch and get thrashed and 2) cost Tyler Skaggs a key win for me as well as the Angels.”
(Skaggs struck out David Ortiz to start the sixth, and then two relievers nursed the lead through eight outs.
(Angels hitters could have helped matters by scoring another run, making it a non-save situation — giving Angels manager Mike Scioscia cover to use another pitcher. But it remained 3-0 and the game went to the ninth.)
Subject line, 3:43 p.m.: “Crikey!”
Text: “Showtime for Street, unless Sosh decides Street throwing one inning the night before disqualifies Street from throwing. But this is one of those “cowardly manager” moments, isn’t it? ‘You gave me this washed-up piece of shite to close and, by God, he’s gonna get a chance to close.’ Or maybe some other team is crazy enough to trade for him, and the Angels are praying he stumbles through the inning.
“If he can get through the ninth, and the bottom of the Bosox order, my won-loss goes to 4-2 and my saves to, I think, seven. Big ugly blown save … makes me 3-3, with six saves and worse ERA, etc.”
Subject line, 3:47 p.m.: “The horror”
Text: “Street walks Bradley to open the inning. Got him to foul a pitch on a 3-and-2 count, but he can’t throw strikes reliably anymore, so he walked him on seven pitches. You never, ever walk the opening batter.”
Subject line, 3:50 p.m.: “Second batter”
Text: “Aaron Hill singles to center after Street opened by throwing him three balls. First and second, no outs … Sosh HAS to go get him. Has to. Street has nothing. And now the Angels are gonna have to face Betts, etc. They will lose their lead in the next 10 minutes, if Street stays in.”
Subject line, 3:53 p.m.: “Heater”
Text: “Street’s ‘hard’ stuff is coming in at 88, 89 mph. He threw one at 84 and they had the temerity to say it was a change-up. Ha. It was just a super slow fastball.”
Subject line, 3:57 p.m.: “Halfway there”
Text: “So, walk and single to open the inning … HStreet whiffs (!) Hanigan and Holt, gets out in front 0-2 to Betts, throws two 84-mph sliders for balls, then a single to right, scoring one, putting the tying run at first and the go-ahead run at the plate in the person of Pedroia.
“Did I call this, or what????”
Subject line, 4 p.m.: “It happened”
Text: “Pedroia, hitless for the day, with three whiffs in his first four at-bats, takes a ball, then hits the second pitch over the wall in left-center. Skaggs’s win down the drain. Four earned by Street, now in line for the loss.
“I saw it coming in the fifth effing inning. Scioscia probably did, too, but he didn’t do anything about it.
“All Street has to do is make the lead-off guy put the ball in play, but he walked him … and then he couldn’t punch out Betts at 0-2 with two outs.
“The up side is, this probably ends Street’s career as Angels closer. He’s horrible. Awful. Pathetic.”
Subject line, 4:02 p.m.: “It gets better”
Text: “Street gives up a solo shot to Bogaerts. Papi with a chance to punish him now, unless Sosh goes and gets that punch-bowl defiling loser.”
Subject line, 4:08 p.m. “Barn door, horse”
Text: “After Street gave up FIVE to take his ERA over 6.00 … Sosh finally gets some kid out of the bullpen, who gets Papi to fly out.
“Barring a miracle Angels rally, my won-loss is 3-3, my ERA just went up about a run and a half, and I lose a batch of games.
“Huston Street … curse you.”
The Angels didn’t score in the bottom of the inning, and it ended 5-3. A brutal loss for Street and the Angels, a complete failure of a veteran closer to do his job.
Thing is, Street has been rocky for months.
Since returning from injury, on May 31, he has given up 15 runs and 27 hits in 16 appearances covering 14.2 innings, with two defeats and three blown saves.
His ERA is 6.45 this season, with nine saves and a catastrophic “whip” of 1.93.
The opposition is hitting .410 against him with a superstar-level OPS of .975.
And he has nothing. Can’t crack 90 on the radar and has struck out only 14 of 105 batters to face him this season.
After the game, Scioscia was asked if he would take away the closer’s job from Street and give it to Cam Bedrosian, unscored upon in 24 appearances. Scioscia said: “Not right now. Cam has already worked his way to the back of our bullpen. We need depth back there. For sure, we need a guy in the ninth inning who’s going to hold leads, and that’s where Huston comes in.”
Well, not so much, anymore.
Street has had a fine career, with 324 saves, going back to 2005. At age 32, he shouldn’t be done, but it is beginning to look as if he is.
Of this we can be sure: When he is warming up in the bullpen with the game on the line, those who have been paying attention cringe.
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