Hey all you naysayers, that Yogi-ism it ain’t over ’til it’s over seems to be more true than ever 146 games into this season. After twisting on the vine of mediocrity pretty much all season long, the Angels look like they have a legitimate shot at squeaking into the playoffs. With sixteen games left to play, the Halos are just two and a half games behind the crumbling Houston Astros and one game behind the Minnesota Twins for that second wild card slot, and with three games left to play against each of the only two teams ahead of them in the wild card standings, the Angels could actually pull this off and win a ticket to this year’s post season tournament.
Run Expectancy Rundown
You get a long red bar in the positive direction on a graph like this when you have five RBI and score three runs like Trout did for this game. Is Trout about to go all Vladimir Guerrero and carry this team into the playoffs? It’s funny how, for this game, the next three productive hitters after Trout are the three Angels fans are most willing to cut ties with. Albert is swooning. He has gone 0-for-19 in his last five games with just one walk.
Our old friend Torii Hunter had a big game last night crushing a huge three-run blast in the first inning off of Hector Santiago, getting a single and scoring a run in the third, and then making a terrific catch on a Pujols foul ball. Joe Mauer, the third batter in the Twins’ order and former super hero with the bat, was reduced to attempting to bunt in a close, meaningful game with a runner on base. That’s what having a .269 batting average and only eight home runs will do to you. Angel pitchers did a good job with the Twins’ clean up hitter, Miguel Sano, only allowing him one hit, a bases empty double in the fourth.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Hector Santiago had a CJ-Wilson-in-the-playoffs type of a start and was out of the game in the first inning after facing just eight batters. After the first five batters, Mike Butcher made a visit to the mound, which usually means Angel fans should change the channel for a few minutes to avoid the carnage, and the next three batters Santiago faced hit a mammoth home run, a triple off of the wall, and a double. At least Santiago has that Roberto Clemente Award nomination and the benefit of being well-rested before his next start.
Bullpen Battle
After Santiago’s early hook, it was up to the bullpen to get through the next 8.1 innings. Scioscia employed eight different relievers to get this job done, and three of them performed admirably: Cam Bedrosian pitched an inning and had two strikeouts, Trevor Gott pitched two innings and gave up just one hit and no walks, and Huston Street faced the minimum three batters to record his 36th save. Hopefully the Angel hitters can continue to batter the Twin relievers through out this series like they did in this game when they lit up Minnesota’s bullpen for six runs in 7.2 innings.
Game Flow
The win expectancy algorithm left the Angels with barely a pulse after the Twins were done batting in the first, but a Mike Trout grand slam in the second inning resuscitated the team and the Angel bullpen slowly lifted the Halos to their 74th win of the season.
Halo Hero
Trout had his Superman cape on for this game, hitting two home runs, driving in five runs, scoring three runs, and making a terrific running catch in the third inning with two men on base that only a handful of other MLB outfielders would have been fast enough to make.
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