Boxscore Breakdown #129: Why? – Indians 8, Angels 3

Why? Someone, please, tell me why. Why do we root for this stupid team? I’m sure this is mostly frustration and recency bias speaking, but I can’t recall an Angels team that I’ve hated more than the 2015 incarnation. OK, well, at least during the Scioscia era, some of those Collins era teams were pretty loathsome. Nonetheless, this team clearly exists on this earth only to torture Angels fans. This is a terribad team that gave us all false hope because they got boiling lava hot for 20 games. They’ve sucked the other 109 game, but that 20-game surge sucked us all in to fool us into thinking this team was capable of something great. Instead, they continue to embarrass themselves and will be playoff race afterthoughts before August even ends.

Indians 8, Angels 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cwiwu-_UagLyFNjZxInhTULU6xbW67H6FfXiP63ew5U/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”343″ /] The Angels exploded for three whole runs! Kole Calhoun and David Murphy smacked homers, but they were both of the solo variety because why would they ever have anyone on base when they hit a homer? Kaleb Cowart chipped in for a solid offensive day, but I still don’t think anyone is buying what he’s selling yet. Grant Green was awful and is now openly inviting Scioscia to waive him this offseason. Meanwhile, Chris Iannetta has taken to just lighting piles of cash on fire because it is a more financial savvy thing to do when compared to what his play the last month is doing to his free agent value.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cwiwu-_UagLyFNjZxInhTULU6xbW67H6FfXiP63ew5U/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Lonnie Chisenhall, of all people, killed the Angels. Oh, and Yan Gomes had one hit but somehow had 5 RBIs. That’s impressive. A bunch of other Indians had hits too, not because they wanted to generate offense, but because they wanted to taunt the Angels.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cwiwu-_UagLyFNjZxInhTULU6xbW67H6FfXiP63ew5U/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] The Angels were given the gift of Garrett Richards looking sharp and outpitching Corey Kluber and then…

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cwiwu-_UagLyFNjZxInhTULU6xbW67H6FfXiP63ew5U/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] …Joe Smith, good ol’ reliable Joe Smith happened. He shat all over the mound, dumped gasoline on it, lit it on fire and that shat on it once more. He couldn’t get a soul out and capped it off by allowing his first homer to a right-handed batter since the George W. Bush administration, probably.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cwiwu-_UagLyFNjZxInhTULU6xbW67H6FfXiP63ew5U/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] Do you see? Do you see what I mean? Why do we put ourselves through this? What’s wrong with us? We all need to seek counseling.

Halo A-Hole

Say it ain’t so, Joe.