Just a banner night for Hector Santiago who got shelled, nearly got Albert Pujols‘ arm broken, nearly hurt himself and capped it off by showing up his manager. Oh, and the Angels lost… again.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Let’s not sugarcoat it, C.J. Cron was the only hitter that was worth a damn in this game. That’s pretty embarrassing given that they were facing the “mighty” Vidal Nuno. I understand that this lineup is a skeleton crew of sorts, but they can still be better than this. It probably would help had Collin Cowgill not decided to regress to the mean and beyond in one series rather than spreading it out over the month.
What’s up with Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano? Talk about falling asleep on the job, fellas. I’m actually disappointed that the Yanks didn’t put up more early runs. I really wanted to see Ian Stewart on the mound. Oh, well. There’s always Santiago’s next start.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Hector Santiago was just a mess. The defense behind him didn’t help, but he didn’t do himself any favors on the mound either. Judging by his reaction when Scioscia yanked him from the game, he is deeply frustrated and at least some of these struggles are mental. Oh, and this is how he pitches on the normal rest that he was so eager to have.
Bullpen Battle
It is weird to see the Angel bullpen actually making a nice contribution here, but Kevin Jepsen, Michael Kohn and Mike Morin actually did do a fair job of keeping this game from getting out of hand. Then Nick Maronde happened. Cory Rasmus also got to make a token appearances before he gets sent down again, so that was a nice gesture.
Game Flow
By the end of the top of the first inning, the Angels win expectancy was already at 11%. It was just one of those nights. To their credit, they hung in long enough to keep the win expectancy from hitting zero until the eighth inning.
Halo A-Hole
I’m beginning to think I should just pre-load this slot for him on the day’s he pitches.
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