BOSTON — When Phil Nevin faces a lineup choice like he did on Monday, the Angels manager flashes back to last June in Seattle.
The Angels were trying to pull themselves out of the hole they had dug with their 14-game losing streak, and they had five games in four days against the Mariners.
Mike Trout played all five games.
The Angels won four of those games, but Nevin believes Trout’s workload during that series contributed to the back injury that cost Trout five weeks in the second half, which was the stretch when Angels playoff hopes truly died.
So on Monday, for a Patriots’ Day game scheduled to start at 11 a.m. local time, Nevin gave both Trout and Anthony Rendon the day off, with Shohei Ohtani on the mound.
“Five games in four days and taking that many swings, his volume when he comes into work is quite high,” Nevin said, recalling last year’s Trout situation. “I don’t think it was any coincidence, a short time after that he had some pain in his back. It was a lot for five days. It’s nobody’s fault. He felt good, wanted to win the games and I listened to him. He’ll listen to me more this year.”
Trout had started all 15 of the Angels games, including one at designated hitter, before Monday.
Nevin said he doesn’t assign any extra urgency to a game in April, regardless of the three-game losing streak, because of how important it is to keep his players healthy for the entire season.
“I have days (off) mapped out for some guys coming up and we’re gonna stick to them regardless of how we’re playing,” Nevin said. “As poorly as we know we’ve played, we’ve talked about it, we’re 7-8 and we’re right there. As quick as it can turn around like it did last year, it can turn around in our favor too. I’m not worried at all about this club.”
Nevin also addressed the idea that he could spread out the days off more, so the team isn’t playing without two key middle-of-the-order hitters on the same day.
He said longtime…
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