This was an odd game because basically nobody cared about it after the fifth inning. Scioscia called it an early night for Trout and his supposedly trivial hamstring issue and both Aybar and Pujols were yanked from the game as well by the end of the seventh. I called it an early night myself, heading to bed before the game was over, but that is mostly because the game took so damn long thanks to the human rain delay that is Scott Feldman.
Run Expectancy Rundown
David Freese is back! Who knows if it will last, but I’m sure there was a lot of apprehension from all sides that Freese might struggle out of the gate like he did to start the year. Mike Trout having a nice game is also pretty relieving, though learning about his minor hamstring issue is less relieving. Raul Ibanez got a hit tonight, that’s new for him. Good job, old man! On an non-RE24 note, can we just point out how great Efren Navarro looked in right field tonight? I never liked him because his bat didn’t play at first, but it certainly could as a back-up outfielder.
Holy hell, Matt Dominguez. He Astro’d all over the place last night. Jose Altuve continues to be a menace. A tiny, cute, adorable menace.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Tyler Skaggs did exactly what one would expect most pitchers to do against the weak Houston lineup. It’s a step forward from his recent struggles, but I’m not about to throw a party due to the degree of difficulty involved. Scott Feldman terrible. Scott Feldman was slow. Scott Feldman was slowly terrible and terribly slow.
Bullpen Battle
The only noteworthy development from the combined bullpen work is that someone broke Michael Kohn who gave up more runs and couldn’t even get through an inning. This is worth watching because it is kind of what Kohn does. He starts off great, but after a month or two he just goes completely into the tank.
Game Flow
This one was over quickly, at least in terms of inning number, not actual time elapsed, with the Angels rocketing over 80%. They had a brief dip down when Houston scored their first run, but it was quickly erased with the Halos coasting at the 97%+ win expectancy starting in the fifth inning.
Halo Hero
You can’t ask for a much better return than Freese had, especially considering the circumstances he was under when he left us.
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