Well, it was nice to be over .500 for one minute at least. Now the Angels are back at .500 and back to losing division foes. Feels like old times.
Run Expectancy Rundown
In a great twist of irony, J.B. Shuck led the Angels in RE24 for the night. That feat earned him a plane ticket to Salt Lake City. David Freese came in second and his consolation prize was a trip to the disabled list. This is the worst game show ever. Everyone else was mostly terrible, with Erick Aybar and Raul Ibanez bringing up the rear.
Shin-Soo Choo was just an animal in this one. So much for having the lefty-heavy rotation to help neutralize him. The only positive takeaway here is that J.P Arenicibia and his overall awfulness has given me a newfound appreciation for Jeff Mathis. I now realize things could’ve been much worse.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Hector Santiago continues to pitch poorly. I don’t know what is excuse will be this time. I’d say his rotation spot might be in jeopardy, but the Angels don’t have anyone worth calling up to take his place. Colby Lewis wasn’t much better, frankly, he was just more adept at working out of trouble.
Bullpen Battle
Kevin Jepsen did what Angels relievers do and allowed his inherited runners to score. Other than that, the bullpen was pretty solid. Mike Morin looked especially good and could well be on his way to earning a big role. The Texas bullpen was quite excellent, never really giving the Angels much of a chance to mount a comeback.
Game Flow
No sense breaking this down in detail. Santiago had one particularly bad inning and the game just went straight to hell.
Halo A-Hole
I’m really tired of the Angel reporters and broadcasters talking about how Santiago has just been unlucky. He hasn’t. He has been genuinely bad. There are flashes of goodness there, so I wouldn’t write him off, but don’t just chalk everything up to him walking under a ladder.
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