Boxscore Breakdown #134: Cron Job – Angels 5, Rangers 2

Wait, someone on the team is capable of carrying the offense all by himself and he isn’t named Mike Trout? Is that even legal?

/checks the MLB rulebook

/checks state and local regulations

/enrolls in law school, graduates, passes the bar, reviews all federal case law

Yep, turns out it is. Who knew? C.J. Cron, that’s who. Maybe even Mike Scioscia too because he finally embraced the strong performance of Cron since his recall and recently began putting him behind Albert Pujols in the lineup. That worked out well in this game because Cron did all the cleaning up that gimpy Uncle Albert hasn’t been able to do. If this is the beginning of another hot streak for C.J., it would be very well timed as the Halos make this final, desperate push to remain in the Wild Card hunt.

Editor’s Note: Apologies for this being a day late. I live on an island in the Puget Sound and we tend to lose power during storms, so I’ve been without power for the 24 hours or so. This is a very first world problem, so don’t complain.

Angels 5, Rangers 2

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aE5FDZmc2fQAwbYsHmjAM1UrqIU4BuHSgKJ5f1IcVQ0/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Cron wasn’t the entire offense, but he was pretty close. Trout and Pujols did a solid job of setting the table for him. There wasn’t a whole heck of a lot else otherwise.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aE5FDZmc2fQAwbYsHmjAM1UrqIU4BuHSgKJ5f1IcVQ0/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Shin-Soo Choo was a real problem and the Angels clearly wanted no part of Prince Fielder. Fortunately, Adrian Beltre remains a man in decline and Delino DeShields Jr. picked a very good timing to hit into his first two double plays of the season.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aE5FDZmc2fQAwbYsHmjAM1UrqIU4BuHSgKJ5f1IcVQ0/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Neither Garrett Richards nor Martin Perez had an easy time as they both walked a lot of batters. A big part of that was Mark Wegner’s pinhole-sized strike zone, but Richards also couldn’t find the release point on his slider, so he could neither throw it for a strike nor throw it close enough to the zone for anyone to chase it.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aE5FDZmc2fQAwbYsHmjAM1UrqIU4BuHSgKJ5f1IcVQ0/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Despite more walks, the Angels bullpen managed to hold on. The Halos had breathing room though because of Luke Jackson and his stupid, stupid hair.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1aE5FDZmc2fQAwbYsHmjAM1UrqIU4BuHSgKJ5f1IcVQ0/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] The Angels stepped it up in this one with the only real scary moment coming the seventh inning.

Halo Hero

It’s all you, C.J..