Santana, Weaver may pitch on short rest against Rangers

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Neither Ervin Santana nor Jered Weaver has started a big league game on three days’ rest, and in Santana’s last two starts, he threw a career-high 129 pitches against Texas on Aug. 17 and 115 pitches against the White Sox on Tuesday night.

Weaver ranked fourth in the major leagues in pitches thrown (2,990) and seventh in innings pitched (188 1/3) entering Wednesday night’s start against the Chicago White Sox.

But Manager Mike Scioscia said he is still considering bringing both right-handers back on short rest to pitch against the American League West-leading Texas Rangers this weekend.

That would enable the Angels to start their three best pitchers in the key series at Texas -- Dan Haren on Friday night, Santana on Saturday night and Weaver on Sunday night.

The Angels started a pair of rookie right-handers, Tyler Chatwood and Garrett Richards, in the first two games of a four-game series against the Rangers last week, and they lost both games.

“It will be contingent on how they feel coming out of their starts, how they play long toss in between,” Scioscia said of Weaver and Santana. “We’ll monitor them over the next day or two and make a decision.”

The fact that neither has started on short rest “shouldn’t be an issue, because this would be a one-time deal,” Scioscia said. “If we were going to a four-man rotation three or four times through the rotation, some guys might unravel.”

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-- Mike DiGiovanna