Boxscore Breakdown #156: Unappreciated – Rangers 2, Angels 1

This was supposed to be Fan Appreciation Day, but it didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Not only was it the lowest attended home game of the year for the Angels, but the Halos themselves didn’t do much to show their appreciation.

Oh, sure, there was probably some in-park stuff that the PR team did and showed on the big screen, but the performance on the field left this reviewer cold.

The offense could only must four hits and one unintentional walk against a very poor team. Then they went and had the audacity to have their big ticket acquisition closer go and blow the game, sending the sparse crowd home on a loss. Where’s the appreciation there?

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1JeAdDEmjQgRKCG6LI_8S7Xd0UqzqLs6CC_4xf5HhbvU/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”366″ /] Mike Trout was pretty much the only guy doing anything on offense. Even then, part of that came from him getting hit by a pitch and then stealing a base because he was pissed off about it. It didn’t help that Howie Kendrick left early with some hamstring issues. Let’s hope that was just a precaution.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1JeAdDEmjQgRKCG6LI_8S7Xd0UqzqLs6CC_4xf5HhbvU/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] My favorite thing here is that Ryan Rua hit a game-winning homer and still had a negative RE24. My least favorite thing is that Ryan Rua hit a game-winning homer.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1JeAdDEmjQgRKCG6LI_8S7Xd0UqzqLs6CC_4xf5HhbvU/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Because Texas is so bad, it gets overlooked that Nick Tepesch is actually pretty competent. The big development though is that Cory Rasmus was excellent again AND he got his pitch count up to 59. If they can push him close to 70 in his next outing, they can at least consider using him as a starter in the postseason should Shoemaker not recover or Santiago continue to suck,

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1JeAdDEmjQgRKCG6LI_8S7Xd0UqzqLs6CC_4xf5HhbvU/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The bullpen mostly did their job in the “bullpen game.” Fernando Salas is just a hot mess right now, which isn’t that big of a deal. Huston Street, however, gave us cause for worry. I’m sure he’s fine, but blowing a save right before the playoffs start is always unnerving. As for Texas, their bullpen was pretty much lights out, so they have that going for them, which is nice.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1JeAdDEmjQgRKCG6LI_8S7Xd0UqzqLs6CC_4xf5HhbvU/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] Both sides had their chances and neither did a great job with them. Ultimately, the Rangers were less awful at blowing those chances than the Halos were.

Halo A-Hole

Huston, you better not become a problem.