Boxscore Breakdown #139: Delaying the inevitable – Angels 3, Dodgers 2

Jane, get me off this crazy thing! Once again the Angels looked as if they were just one more loss from officially being declared dead in the playoff race. Once again, they managed to win instead. Once again, the Rangers managed to have a well-timed loss. Once again, the Angels are 3.5 games out of the Wild Card and “just” 5 games behind the Astros just as they are coming to town. Once again, you can totally twist logic and reason to foresee a scenario in which the Angels can claw their way into a playoff spot.

You know you shouldn’t do it, but you do. You know that this team isn’t going to the playoffs and that their elimination from the playoff race is inevitable. This sweep-avoiding win simply delays it a little bit more once again.

Angels 3, Dodgers 2

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/15y2dvVjyilmdtBQEm6oe5I-lMz74Ko6qM_j0CVjVdeM/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] David Murphy was the only Angel to reach base twice, but David Freese and Taylor Featherston had the biggest contributions. Seriously, Freese and Featherston have both hitting well lately, which is kind of weird, especially for one of those guys. The real big hit, of course, came from Albert Pujols. C.J. Cron had a disastrous performance, probably because he knows I have a half-written article about how he might actually be good now.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/15y2dvVjyilmdtBQEm6oe5I-lMz74Ko6qM_j0CVjVdeM/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Chase Utley had a very nice and very clutch performance, probably just to rub it in that he chose the Dodgers over the Angels (even though the media likes to act as if the Angels simply chose not to acquire him). Justin Turner had a poor game and generally lost his ginger vs. ginger matchup to Kole Calhoun.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/15y2dvVjyilmdtBQEm6oe5I-lMz74Ko6qM_j0CVjVdeM/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Garrett Richards was absolutely dominant right when the Angels needed him to be, well, except for when he was trying to get the final out of the eighth inning. Joe Wieland is definitely not Mat Latos and he pitched well enough except for the part where he departed after four innings and forced the Dodger bullpen to work five innings which is normally a terrible idea.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/15y2dvVjyilmdtBQEm6oe5I-lMz74Ko6qM_j0CVjVdeM/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Jose Alvarez had a huge strikeout of Adrian Gonzalez and Huston Street had a drama-free save. The terrible idea of having the Dodgers bullpen pitch five innings actually worked out just fine. For them to allow just one run in that span is perfectly acceptable except for the part where their offense didn’t help them out.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/15y2dvVjyilmdtBQEm6oe5I-lMz74Ko6qM_j0CVjVdeM/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] The Angels almost had a smooth victory but when the Dodgers tied it up in the eighth, that smooth ride got pretty bumpy. Fortunately the turbulence didn’t last long.

Halo Hero

The Bullet was back on target.