Boxscore Breakdown #9: In the lane – Angels 10, Rangers 2

Hey, man, it has gotta be the hair, right? Entering this game, Hector Santiago was a shaky starting pitcher who was going to be pitching in front of a lineup that had yet to really click. Who could imagine that both problems would be solved by Santiago giving himself a stupid haircut?

https://twitter.com/HeyyyBuddd/status/588494949017985027

Hector wanted to remind himself to “stay in his lane,” a device to help him maintain his mechanics. Well, it worked. Santiago had one of his best starts for the Angels and it may have motivated the Angel bats to come alive and score a bunch of runs to back Hector and save him from looking like an idiot in a losing effort.

Angels 10, Rangers 2

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1vEWF7Ugv1FJHBaYTMJLd1NFS7nU-_0HesSLnFw18zPw/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Pretty much every Angel except Efren Navarro got in on the act. Trout and Pujols had good days, but more importantly was that some of the lesser players in the lineup who had been struggling to find their lane really produced. Matt Joyce had a terrific line and Johnny Giavotella picked up another multi-hit game and his first extra-base hit of the year.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1vEWF7Ugv1FJHBaYTMJLd1NFS7nU-_0HesSLnFw18zPw/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] The Rangers never got anything going against Hector Santiago, which is just a weird thing to type. They didn’t have a single inning where they had more than one baserunner. Their offense consisted entirely of two meaningless solo shots from Corporan and Rosales.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1vEWF7Ugv1FJHBaYTMJLd1NFS7nU-_0HesSLnFw18zPw/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] STOP THE PRESSES! Hector Santiago pitched into the seventh inning! Even with as well as he pitched, I just assumed he’d go straight from the mound to the showers at the end of the sixth if only out of habit. I still don’t buy what Hector is selling, but more performances like this might get me to reconsider. Speaking of reconsider, Anthony Ranaudo should reconsider his career choices because he doesn’t appear to be very good at this whole baseball thing.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1vEWF7Ugv1FJHBaYTMJLd1NFS7nU-_0HesSLnFw18zPw/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Adam Wilk got to make his big league debut, which must’ve been a nice moment for him. That being said, we probably don’t need an encore performance. Texas then proved to us that just having a fishy surname does not guarantee success as Anthony Bass got knocked around pretty well by Trout and the rest of the Anglers, errr, Angels.

Defensive Dynamics
Maybe it was just my perception, but I think the Rangers should count their blessings that this game wasn’t worse for them as their defense made several nice plays. Seriously, just flip through the video clips for the game on MLB.com and you’ll see four or five different defensive highlights for the Rangers. They certainly missed some opportunities to make incredible plays and stop the bleeding, but at a point you can only ask so much from your fielders.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1vEWF7Ugv1FJHBaYTMJLd1NFS7nU-_0HesSLnFw18zPw/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] This graph tried its hardest to give the Angels a win probability of greater than 100%.

Halo Hero

This is less of an honor for Hector and more of an honor for Hector’s hair which set such a shining example for the rest of the roster.