Jon Garland Made His Manager's Life Easier

Since the Angels have had the AL West in hand for a while now, manager Mike Scioscia has been able to use the last few weeks to start figuring out what he wants to do for the playoffs. Aside from making sure he gets players some rest, the biggest decision facing Mike was how he was going to set up his starting rotation come playoff time.

Teams usually ditch their five-man rotation in favor of a four-man rotation in the playoffs, which meant that Scioscia had to figure out which one of his starters he was going to be delivering some bad news too. Luckily for Mike, Jon Garland just about made the decision for him.

"If it was my decision, I wouldn't be a starter, not with what I've seen from Ervin Santana, John Lackey, Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver," Garland said before [Thursday's] game against Seattle.

"Whatever Mike wants me to do, I will do. I'm not going to complain. I'll do whatever he wants me to do, the best that I can."

Now, to be fair, Garland was probably going to be the odd man out anyway. Of the Angels five starters, he's been the "worst." While he's second on the team with 14 wins in 2008, he's also had ten more starts than John Lackey, and Garland's ERA is .57 points higher (4.90) than any other starter in the rotation and he has the highest WHIP of the five.

He'll likely be used as a long man out of the bullpen should any of the other four struggle early.