Boxscore Breakdown #151: Whatever – Mariners 13, Angels 2

Look, the Angels got throttled. Everyone in the bullpen pitched incredibly poorly. Nobody hit. Even Mike Trout couldn’t field. This was just one of those games. They happen to every team every so often. With so little to play for right now, can you really blame the Angels for taking their eye off the ball (literally and metaphorically) a little bit?

Who knows, maybe this will be a nice little wake up call to remind them that they can’t just take the field and dominate automatically every night.

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1Cd2fUzwYTpXUYfOOqUxIjerOKYgufBjpbrROsAZoXMo/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”402″ /] It was nice to see that Albert Pujols didn’t miss a beat after leaving the last game early with a hamstring cramp. Josh Hamilton, ehhhhhh… not so much. He did have the hit, but he also had a brutal GIDP and, of course, that Willie Mays Hayes-esque slide that resulted in him getting caught stealing.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1Cd2fUzwYTpXUYfOOqUxIjerOKYgufBjpbrROsAZoXMo/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Basically, all the Mariners were great. Two guys weren’t, but whatever. This was just a disaster.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1Cd2fUzwYTpXUYfOOqUxIjerOKYgufBjpbrROsAZoXMo/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Great start for Cory Rasmus! Unfortunately, Scioscia chose not to stretch him out for another inning, but the heat may have been a factor in that decision. Also unfortunately, Roenis Elias hurt himself and exited early. That’s too bad because he was not pitching very well.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1Cd2fUzwYTpXUYfOOqUxIjerOKYgufBjpbrROsAZoXMo/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] What the hell, bullpen? This isn’t even one where you could just blame all the September call-ups either. This was Jason Grilli, Joe Thatcher and Fernando Salas getting touched up. Sure, Michael Roth did too, but that was well after the fact.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1Cd2fUzwYTpXUYfOOqUxIjerOKYgufBjpbrROsAZoXMo/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] Things started so well. This definitely had the makings of another lopsided game for the Angels, only in their favor. Clearly that didn’t prove to be the case.

Halo A-Hole

For a minute there, it looked like the Angels had traded Grilli back to the Pirates for Frieri.