Well, that really put a damped on things, didn’t it? C.J. Wilson not only put an end to the Angels’ winning streak, but pitched so poorly that, once again, his status as a viable starting pitcher in the offseason has been put into question.
Wilson had made some strides in the last few weeks, though he never totally looked like his old self. Still, he had gotten himself to a point where he could at least make it through five innings and give the Angel offense a chance. This time though, he was just plain awful.
He was actually lucky to get through the first inning even. The three outs he recorded came via a leaping catch at the outfield wall and a line drive that was snared and luckily turned into a double play. So, yeah, it actually could’ve been worse.
Having an alarmist reaction to this debacle is certainly merited, but it is worth noting that Houston, for whatever reason, has had C.J.’s number this year. That strikes me as more of a fluke though. In this game at least, it didn’t appear that they did anything special against him. He was the one who couldn’t snap off his breaking ball and kept throwing belt-high fastballs down the center of the plate.
Run Expectancy Rundown
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Not to let C.J. off the hook, but the Angels bats didn’t do much of anything here. Gordon Beckham had a big day as Scioscia continues to ride his current hot streak, but they really didn’t get much going otherwise.
Starting Pitcher Scores
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After this start for Wilson, it seems prudent to point out that the Angels jumbled their rotation to move Wilson earlier in the rotation. The stock reason they gave was to split up their two southpaw starters, but it seems more obvious now that the reason they really did it was so that Wilson would be slotted in as their #4 starter in any prospective playoff series. That was a good call.
Brad Peacock once again had a pretty solid outing against the Halos. He really isn’t all that good, but that’s two starts in a row that the Angels haven’t been able to solve him.
Bullpen Battle
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Good thing the rosters expanded so that Scioscia didn’t have to burn too many quality relievers. It still felt like he could’ve ridden Yoslan Herrera or Wade LeBlanc longer, but I guess this was they are all available in case of another lopsided game. The only real problem among the relievers was Cam Bedrosian getting absolutely battered. Perhaps he has just thrown too many innings this year, which is too bad because he could’ve been useful.
The Astros relievers are normally the kind of crew you can count on to give you a shot of getting back into a game no matter how far behind you are, but they weren’t willing to oblige in this one.
Game Flow
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Yup, those 3-0 holes are pretty hard to dig out of.
Halo A-Hole
Oh boy. Now he’s off the beam again.
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