Boxscore Breakdown #13: The Force does not awaken – Athletics 6, Angels 3

The Force did not awaken for the Angels on Star Wars night.  An early offensive outburst gave the Halos a new hope, but nothing really came of it. The offense continues to remain on the dark side. It is too early in the season to condemn the current roster, but the early returns for JeDi have to make him think that maybe these aren’t the droids he’s looking for. Save us, Mike Trout, you’re our only hope.

Athletics 6, Angels 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aVFQvDX4dri2RkLYbvjE-pFvBHCOnFjzzagfjzGXfhA/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] I guess we can take some solace that Erick Aybar found a bit of life in this game. It sure would be nice if someone else would produce on offense besides Trout. Albert Pujols stepped up a bit too, bu it seems like he does that every four game and then nothing else comes of it. Kole Calhoun‘s three strikeouts were particularly disappointing since he had been another guy on the verge of breaking through. Probably the most damning thing I can say about the lineup right now is that I was actually looking forward to Johnny Giavotella coming up in a high leverage situation.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aVFQvDX4dri2RkLYbvjE-pFvBHCOnFjzzagfjzGXfhA/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Stephen Vogt had the big blast, but it was Super Sam Fuld who was the real thorn in the side for the Halos. He started all the trouble on offense and saved the A’s a few runs on defense too. It really wasn’t a big showing otherwise for the A’s, but they made the most of their opportunities against Shoemaker.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aVFQvDX4dri2RkLYbvjE-pFvBHCOnFjzzagfjzGXfhA/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Let’s be honest, Matt Shoemaker was just terrible. This is a guy that walked 20 batters last year and walked three in three-plus innings of this game. He just had no idea where the ball was going when it left his hand. Kendall Graveman wasn’t much better, but the Halos offense also let him off the hook a bit.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aVFQvDX4dri2RkLYbvjE-pFvBHCOnFjzzagfjzGXfhA/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The real hero of this game for Oakland was Dan Otero who continues his odd mastery over the Angels. Tyler Clippard almost let the Angels back in the game, but that would require the Angel bats to actually work. Nearly matching Otero was Jose Alvarez who had a spectacular long relief outing of his own. Fernando Salas had a small hiccup in his second inning of work, but generally looked better than he did the first week or so of the season.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aVFQvDX4dri2RkLYbvjE-pFvBHCOnFjzzagfjzGXfhA/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] It was a see saw early in the game, but once the Oakland bullpen entered the game, the Angels just slowly bled to death.

Halo A-Hole

Shoe-bacca? More like Jar Jar Binks, amirite?