ALDS Game 1 Boxscore Breakdown: Margins – Royals 3, Angels 2

EDITOR’S NOTE: Baseball-Reference doesn’t have their usual boxscore for this game for some reason, so I couldn’t put the charts together. Sorry. If/when they fix it, I’ll come back and put the graphs in… probably.

Well done, Angels, you now have no margin for error. In a series where people won’t stop talking about the poor rotation, the Halos just wasted a very good start from their best pitcher by failing to generate much offense against Kansas City’s worst pitcher. That leaves them now having to hope that Matt Shoemaker isn’t at all rusty, that C.J. Wilson isn’t at all C.J. Wilson-ish and that Jered Weaver isn’t all diminished when he starts on short rest. Those are all certain to happen, right?

Despite all the talk about the Angels rotation, the big gap between the offense and the Royals running game, this game was ultimately decided by defense. Lorenzo Cain made to superb plays to prevent the Angels from getting anything going in the early innings and Nori Aoki made two “oh, come on, how did he catch that?” plays to save the game for Kansas City. On the Angels side, they made three misplays all night (and one could argue whether or not any of those plays were actually makeable) and all three came back to haunt them.

This is why the playoffs are a total crap shoot. Aoki makes a no-look catch while Trout loses a ball in the lights and the Royals win as a result.

Run Expectancy Rundown
Chris Iannetta and David Freese had the big hits, but Kole Calhoun arguably had the best day. He had two singles and would’ve had a double if Lorenzo Cain didn’t have a 40-inch vertical leap. He might have even reached base one more time if not for that stupid f—ing bunt decision by Scioscia. Not that I’m still bitter about it.

No Royal batter reached base more than once and the 3-4-5 hitters went hitless (just like the Angels!). Their running game didn’t produce much either outside of the Gore stolen base. No, it was two big hits by Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas, two of the least fearsome batters in the lineup, that were the Angels’ undoing.

Starting Pitcher Scores
The Angels really couldn’t have hoped for much more out of Jered Weaver than he gave them. He worked seven innings and actually generated a fair amount of whiffs against a team that’s hard to strikeout. He gave up two runs, but that hanging curve to Escobar was really the only bad pitch he made all night.

As good as Weaver was, Jason Vargas was almost as good. He made a few more mistakes than Jered, but thanks to Lorenzo Cain and Nori Aoki, he only paid for two out of the four.

On the bright side, both pitchers performed well and neither got the decision, so Weaver and Vargas should still be able go on vacation this offseason without it being awkward.

Bullpen Battle
You could actually make the case that the Angels bullpen outpitched the Royals bullpen. Wade Davis barely survived his appearance, Herrera obviously had problems and Duffy got in a little trouble, too. The only real blemish by the Halos was the solo homer, which is kind of a big deal, obviously.

To that point, some have complained about Fernando Salas being in the game instead of maybe Grilli. The outcome obviously has a lot to do with that, but Salas was the better choice there. He is very good against lefties, so he should have been well-suited to get Moustakas out. Then he would’ve been left to face slap-hitters Infante, Escobar, and if someone got on, Aoki. That’s important because Salas has a little bit of trouble with the longball, as we found out. Facing that part of the lineup is much better for him and preserver Grilli, the superior overall pitcher, to face the heart of the Royals order where what little power they have actually resides.

Halo A-Hole

Yeah, this could go to Salas, but Scioscia really butchered this game, as we discussed at length last night.