Boxscore Breakdown #52: Moonshots – Angels 7, Rays 3

First the Angels couldn’t score any runs, now they can’t stop hitting homers. They also can’t score runs without hitting homers, so it is kind of the best of one world while still being saddled with the worst of another. That reliance on homers is another topic for another time. I’d really just rather talk about the dingers themselves because DINGERS! And the dingers in this game weren’t your run-of-the-mill longballs either. They were absolute rockets. Bombs. Moonshots.

Albert Pujols hasn’t had the best of seasons, but he’s become some kind of monster homer savant. It is either a groundball right into the teeth of the shift or a gargantuan tater. There is no in-between for Albert. In this game, he heavily favored the rainmaker.

Angels 7, Rays 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1egXNhcDuqPVAqGa-VnNmJzzrXzxaBFMPr1vJhWq45QU/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] The guys who homered obviously had good days, so let’s just take a look further down the axis. Johnny Giavotella is heating up once again, so I guess he’s unregressing? Kirk Nieuwenhuis continues to make a strong early impression and remain undefeated. Matt Joyce cooled off considerably though as he proved incapable of avoiding pulling the ball right to the second baseman playing in shallow right field.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1egXNhcDuqPVAqGa-VnNmJzzrXzxaBFMPr1vJhWq45QU/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] The Rays are one of the few AL teams with a worse offense than the Angels so holding them to three runs on six hits is no great feat. The fact that Nick Franklin was actually able to take Richards deep was though as few people ever do that. Rene Rivera was slightly in the positive RE24 for his offensive work, but he was well into the positive in our hearts for his comically premature slide during a double play.

Classic miscalculation. pic.twitter.com/x60y5GMeUU

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) June 2, 2015

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1egXNhcDuqPVAqGa-VnNmJzzrXzxaBFMPr1vJhWq45QU/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Another “meh” start for Richards. He didn’t get hit hard outside of the homer, but he clearly is struggling with his command right now, leading to some very long innings. Alex Colome had a real rough outing and was probably lucky to survive the six innings that he logged.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1egXNhcDuqPVAqGa-VnNmJzzrXzxaBFMPr1vJhWq45QU/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The four Angel relievers combined for three perfect innings. This was a nice contrast to the return of Ernesto Frieri to Anaheim. He had a little bit of a wobbly inning, but apparently Tampa had seen enough of him and DFA’d him right after the game. Wow, against his old team, too. That’s cold blooded.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1egXNhcDuqPVAqGa-VnNmJzzrXzxaBFMPr1vJhWq45QU/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] This felt like an easy victory, but that Nick Franklin dinger at least made it interesting for a few innings. The second Pujols homer also helped us avoid the uncomfortable situation of Huston Street pitching four days in a row.

Halo Hero

Two homers is a pretty easy way to be the hero. Let’s try it more often, OK?