Boxscore Breakdown Game #5: Boss Skaggs – Angels 5, Astros 1

This is a really late recap. Sorry. No, not really. This is just the way things are going to be, especially on weekends. But you know what? Tyler Skaggs was awesome, so sometimes being late is totally worth it.

Run Expectancy Rundown

It is safe to say Josh Hamilton had a pretty good game. I could get used to that. Mike Trout, however, didn’t have a good night. They even, oddly, went with the infield shift against him. Houston is a smart team, so I assume that they have the stats to back that up, but my finger-in-the-air assessment says that was probably not that smart. But what do I know?

That’s a pretty rad looking chart. L.J. Hoes was the only Astro on the positive side of the axis, and even then, just barely. Robbie Grossman continues to be the MVP of the series for the Angels.

Starting Pitcher Scores

Tyler Skaggs was on point. His command was strong, he was very efficient with his pitches. I suspect if he was a veteran, he probably would’ve been allowed to go for the complete game. This is the player the Angels were hoping to get. Granted, he was facing the Astros, but this is real cause for excitement.

Bullpen Battle
It was just Joe Smith tonight for the Angels and he was fine. No graph though because it turns out that the graph looks really weird with only one pitcher involved. For what it is worth, Smith’s WPA was 0.017.

Matt Albers saved this game from being another blowout. Chad Qualls is on my fantasy team and therefore a jerk for allowing runs in a non-save situation.

Game Flow

Thanks to elite fielder John McDonald being either too short or too old, the Halos trailed in Win Expectancy for awhile, but that all changed dramatically after Josh Hamilton proved that maybe he can still hit lefties a little bit. It was smooth sailing from there.

Halo Hero

Thanks a million, Kevin Towers! Let’s do it again some time soon. Just give us a call when you decide that Archie Bradley can’t grow a manly enough beard or some other such nonsense. We’ll be happy to take him off your hands for ya.