LHP
Joe Saunders of the
Los Angeles Angels at Disneyland was sent to Class AAA Salt Lake on Saturday, to make room for 2005 Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon, returning from the DL. Saunders was demoted to the minors just one day after pitching six scoreless innings in an 8-4 victory while wearing a
Virginia Tech cap to honor the 32 victims in Monday's shooting spree at the Blacksburg campus.
Saunders was then the only Hokies' alumnus currently in the majors. On last Friday's Hokie Day, he wore his old Va Tech cap that he'd worn his last season there. He wrote "VT" on his cleats and scribbled "Virginia Tech" in the dirt on the mound. Saunders was born in Falls Church, VA and had a 2-0 W-L and 1.96 ERA record in 2007.
"Obviously, it's tough for me to go from a big high from last night to getting sent down, but it's a business," Saunders said. "Bartolo's a proven big league pitcher and he's one of the best, but it's still a surprise. You never want to get sent down. It's just not my time right now. I was hoping they would give me a shot in the bullpen, but they don't see me in the pen -- and basically, I don't, either. So I'll just go down to Triple-A, pitch my butt off down there and let the chips fall where they may."
