Matt Shoemaker once again proves to be a giant killer. He’s beaten aces before, but that was mostly because of good run support. This time though, Shoemaker legitimately outpitched Yu Darvish. He was unequivocally better. In so doing, it looks like he has given the Angels no other choice but to keep him in the rotation.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Kole Calhoun had himself a day. He may have fanned twice, but he also drew a walk and took Darvish deep. Hank Conger did a lot of damage via the walk himself and, of course, C.J. Cron went yard in his neverending quest to prove that the Angels should’ve released Raul Ibanez a month ago. Josh Hamilton, however, gave bitter Ranger fans a bit of solace by whiffing three times.
The Texas batting order was pretty well limited. Shin-Soo Choo did not choose good pitches to swing at and Michael Choice made poor choices at the plate. Puns. Yay.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Shoemaker and his split-change owned the day. Darvish had good stuff as his strikeout total shows, but the walks and homers show that his command just wasn’t there.
Bullpen Battle
In what could be a sign of things to come, Hector Santiago made a relief cameo to bail Shoemaker out in the eighth inning and Joe Smith made a closer-ish appearance in another non-save situation.
Game Flow
Rather than focus on the whole chart, I just want to talk about that play at the plate in the first inning that gave the Angels an early advantage. Obviously the call benefited the Angels, but what a disaster it was. This is where the letter of the law and the spirit of the law come into conflict. Yes, technically, the catcher was partially blocking the plate because he had the audacity to want to be near the plate when catching the ball. He wasn’t blocking the plate though. He didn’t drop the leg and block it off, he even tried to avoid the collision when Calhoun slid in. Nothing the catcher did cause Calhoun to be out. The correct call was made according to the letter of the law, but not the spirit. That gave the Angels an early edge on the scoreboard and mentally. I’m not complaining, but it was as stupid call.
Halo Hero
I guess you could say (puts on sunglasses) the Shoe fits. (YEAHHHHHHH!!!!)
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