Angels send Garland to hill against former club

Posted: Thu May 15 10:52 AM

(Sports Network) - Jon Garland will face the team that traded him this past offseason when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hurler takes the mound for his new club in tonight's finale of a four-game series with the visiting Chicago White Sox.

Garland spent his first eight major-league seasons in a White Sox uniform and compiled a 92-81 overall record during his tenure with the Pale Hose, including back-to-back 18-win campaigns in 2005 and 2006. The lanky right- hander was traded to the Angels in November, with steady shortstop Orlando Cabrera going to Chicago in return.

The 28-year-old Garland has been solid so far as an Angel, having posted a 4-3 record and a 4.30 earned run average in eight starts. His last two outings have been two of his best, with Garland surrendering just one run over a combined 16 innings in matchups against Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

He held the Orioles to one run and three hits over eight frames to lead Anaheim to a 3-1 home win on May 3, then came through with eight shutout innings in Friday's matchup with the Rays. Garland wound up with a no-decision in that game, which Tampa won by a 2-0 count by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth.

Garland will be attempting to clinch a series win over his former club tonight. The Angels took the first two tests before Chicago rebounded with a 6-1 decision on Wednesday, fueled by Carlos Quentin's eighth-inning grand slam that broke a 1-1 deadlock.

Quentin also delivered an RBI single in his first at-bat to help the White Sox snap a three-game slide. His eighth-inning blast made a winner out of Jose Contreras (4-3), who tossed seven frames of one-run ball and held the Angels to four hits.

Nick Swisher capped the scoring for the Sox with a solo home run in the top of the ninth.

John Lackey made his first start of the season for Anaheim and threw seven strong innings, yielding just one run on six hits in a 99-pitch effort. The Angels ace had missed the first month with a strained triceps.

Scot Shields (2-1) relieved Lackey and allowed Chicago to load the bases before serving up Quentin's go-ahead slam.

The White Sox will try to make it two in a row behind Javier Vazquez, who brings a 4-3 record and 3.63 ERA into this evening's tilt. The veteran righty was a winner his last time out, although he surrendered four runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings in Chicago's 8-4 triumph at Seattle on Saturday.

Vazquez, who comes in tied for third in the American League with 52 strikeouts, has an 0-1 record and a 2.95 ERA over three lifetime starts against the Angels. In his lone career outing at Angel Stadium, the Puerto Rico native threw seven shutout innings but did not receive a decision during the 2004 campaign.

Chicago won five of its nine matchups with the Angels last season and is 12-9 in the series since the start of the 2006 campaign, including wins in eight of its last 12 in Anaheim.