Boxscore Breakdown #71: $#@&*! – Indians 5, Angels 3

After getting rained out the day before, the Angels fans may feel like it might never stop raining after this disaster. This was a hard-fought game that should’ve left everyone feeling good about themselves, instead, through one epic managerial blunder, it feels like the sky is falling and all the fans hope it lands on Scioscia’s head.

Run Expectancy Rundown

The story of this game should’ve been that Albert Pujols came through in the clutch… FINALLY. You could even tell by his reaction that this was a huge moment for him as he had failed so many times before earlier in the season. This really was his game, too. He and Trout were the only positive offensive players, though Raul Ibanez did actually hit a deep double, continuing his (incredibly, painfully) slow return from the dead.

Ugh, I hate Nick Swisher. Ever since his days with the A’s, he just seems like the broiest bro that ever bro’d. Just an epic douchebag. So, naturally, he is the one that hits the walk-off grannie. Just shoot me.

Starting Pitcher Scores

The other story of the game could have been the quality pitching duel between C.J. Wilson and Justin Masterson. NOPE! Nobody cares because of what happened in the tenth inning.

Bullpen Battle

This is just depressing. Look, I wrote about 1000 words on this in Second-guessing Scioscia later today, so I won’t belabor it here. The main point is that Scioscia legitimately feared to use Ernesto Frieri in this game, turns out he was right to have the fear. What wasn’t right was for him to turn to Bedrosian who has been not good at all in the majors. Scioscia was basically just listening to his gut, but his gut is stupid and should have its tongue cut out so that it can never say anything to Scioscia ever again.

Game Flow

It was a classic back-and-forth game through nine innings but then things went crazy in the tenth. The Angels jumped out to near victory then fell off a cliff, metaphorically, but some of us were tempted to follow suit literally.

Halo Hero

IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!