Boxscore Breakdown #142: All the run support – Angels 14, Twins 4

A good old fashioned butt-whooping. That’s just what the Angels needed to inspire a little confidence in the offense. Also, they probably needed 14 runs just to be sure they had enough run support to actually win a C.J. Wilson start.

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/16n3fd6arOeUnKHvvDorlkH5dV5Lz8CozoIQRKyUKIAo/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”410″ /] First off, that’s just way too many players in this game. I actually had to resize the chart just to fit everyone on. Howie Kendrick had another huge day and dwarfed the production of everyone else, which is actually pretty impressive considering how prolific the offense was in this game.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/16n3fd6arOeUnKHvvDorlkH5dV5Lz8CozoIQRKyUKIAo/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Aaron Hicks had the one big hit for the Twins while the rest of their production largely came from guys not swinging at Wilson’s pitches.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/16n3fd6arOeUnKHvvDorlkH5dV5Lz8CozoIQRKyUKIAo/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] C.J. Wilson got off to such a terrible start that it looked like another game where he might not survive past the third inning. To his credit, he managed to pull it together, even before he was staked to a huge lead. All in all, it was a step forward, if not a very small one.

Logan Darnell, whatever that is, was not very good.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/16n3fd6arOeUnKHvvDorlkH5dV5Lz8CozoIQRKyUKIAo/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The Angels bullpen really had an easy task in front of them, so no sense worrying about them. At least their best arms got the day off and Scioscia didn’t have to make the decision on using Street or Smith on four straight days.

The Twins bullpen, primarily A.J. Achter, was just a disaster and poured gasoline all over the mess they inherited from Darnell.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/16n3fd6arOeUnKHvvDorlkH5dV5Lz8CozoIQRKyUKIAo/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] The crazy thing about this game is that the Angels were actually down to a 25% win expectancy at one point.

Halo Hero

Howie is really going to be sad to see the Twins go.