Boxscore Breakdown #20: First offense – Athletics 6, Angels 2

Why even bother playing the other eight innings? The Angels blew their wad in the first inning against Sonny Gray only to have Jered Weaver just plain blow in his half of the first to gift the game back to A’s. After that? Crickets.

The way the Angels are hitting right now, if you drop a five-spot on them, it is curtains for them. There is no coming back from this lineup, not right now and certainly not against Sonny Gray. Even with Weaver valiantly pulling his shit together to only allow one more run and two more hits over the following six innings, it was done solely to build his own confidence, because the lineup just isn’t up for rewarding Weaver for keeping the game close.

Athletics 6, Angels 2

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hCZitIe3XFXVmImVkFldzC3DI8FHjOdoHdLazurgfQo/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Well, it started in promising fashion, but there wasn’t a whole lot after the early output by David Freese. Matt Joyce actually got a hit in this one, but he completely negated it by getting caught stealing and grounding into a double play. It was also another game in which the Angels shot themselves in the foot with poor baserunning. They just can’t buy momentum. Finally, don’t look now, but Mike Trout‘s whiff rate is starting to climb again.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hCZitIe3XFXVmImVkFldzC3DI8FHjOdoHdLazurgfQo/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Brett Lawrie had the big blast and that was all Oakland needed. Josh Reddick had himself a fine night as well, which is why I take no solace in Weaver actually quieting Sam Fuld and Billy Butler, the Angel killers from the last three-game set.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hCZitIe3XFXVmImVkFldzC3DI8FHjOdoHdLazurgfQo/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] I suppose I should be encouraged that Jered was able to settle down and get through the other six innings of his day relatively unscathed, but I’m not. He still only managed one strike out and one of the two hits he allowed after the first was yet another homer. Of more concern is that even Weaver looks lost out there. He’s giving up homers and not screaming into his glove like he used to, but rather almost sulking.

Sonny Gray had another terrific line, but for the second time in a week, the Angels had Gray on the ropes early and let him off. You just can’t keep doing that.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hCZitIe3XFXVmImVkFldzC3DI8FHjOdoHdLazurgfQo/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] There was no battle here. Cam Bedrosian battled his command as usual, but he got through his inning. The Angels didn’t battle Evan Scribner at all as he dusted the heart of the lineup without any resistance to close the game out.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1hCZitIe3XFXVmImVkFldzC3DI8FHjOdoHdLazurgfQo/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] See? Nothing happened after the first inning worth caring about. If you watched the other eight innings, you wasted two hours of your life.

Halo A-Hole

Bring back our absurdly over-competitive, f-bomb dropping Weaver back. If you can find some extra MPHs for his fastball, that would be great too.