Two hits, two walks, two runs, two-thirds of an inning, and one big question: should Brian Fuentes remain the Halos’ closer? We haven’t yet made it out of April, and the clamoring has already begun. Many Angel fans had seen enough from Fuentes last year to lose confidence, as he faltered in a number of key situations down the stretch, the biggest being a huge blown save against A-Rod and the Yankees in the ALCS. After already enduring a DL stint in the early season, Fuentes’ Wednesday night outing did little to soothe Angel fans’ concerns about the left hander.

Complicating matters is the shiny, off-season acquisition in fireballer Fernando Rodney. In Fuentes’ absence, Rodney was a stellar five for five in save opportunities, allowing only one hit and no walks, while striking out four. It’s not just the stats that have many Angel fans buzzing. It’s the old fashioned eye-test cliché that’s at work here. Rodney just looks a lot more like a closer. Maybe it’s the glove-snapping fastball that consistently reaches the mid to upper 90’s. Perhaps it is the devastating change-up, a pitch that Trevor Hoffman has ridden all the way to Cooperstown (eventually). Or it could just be Rodney’s presence and intensity. Regardless, Rodney surely seems to have all the tools.

Yes, Fuentes saved 48 games for the Halos in 2009, tops in the majors. But at times Fuentes seemed to lack confidence and command, bad things to be missing when your fastball maxes out at 90mph. When you rely on deception and pin-point control to be successful, it leaves little wiggle room to excel when one of your weapons is amiss. It’s a basic enough concept. When you miss your spot with a 97mph fastball, there is still a pretty fair chance that a batter won’t catch up to it. When you miss location with an 89-mph fastball, the percentage that the hitter misses it drops drastically. Simply put, the better the stuff, the more room for error.

Angel fans should understand this concept better than anybody. After watching Francisco Rodriguez get himself into and out of jams religiously for six years, you realized the importance of a devastating arsenal of pitches. Even when he was not at the top of his game, K-Rod continuously found a way to close the door by way of filthy pitches. It seems often enough that when Fuentes isn’t at the top of his game, the Angels usually lose theirs. In ’09, Fuentes ERA (3.93) and WHIP (1.40) were his highest since 2004, and while it may be too early to tell, it at least looks like a continuing trend so far.

Mike Scioscia is a loyal manager, and it seems that he’s going to give Fuentes an opportunity to determine the fate of the team’s closer role. But if Rodney continues to thrive and shut down the opponent while Fuentes struggles, it will be interesting to see how long Scioscia sticks with loyalty over straight nasty stuff.

- Blake Warren