Boxscore Breakdown #162: Next – Mariners 4, Angels 1

It’s all over, folks. The regular season is done and the Angels are moving on to the next challenge. Sure, they ended the regular season with a bit of a whimper after getting swept by the Mariners, but that isn’t really irrelevant.

Get worked up about momentum if you want, but the Halos now have three days to rest up, get everyone healthy, line up their roster and get to a confident mental space, if they even need to.  We all know that these last several games have been meaningless to the Angels. The Angels know that too. As long as they know that they are still really good, momentum won’t mean a thing.

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1DJXzGOYgFmXd9nSFe7MzTKsV-sbpqTXN-iRmGMp97XU/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”402″ /] Any time John McDonald leads the team in RE24, it wasn’t a great day for the offense. That being said, it was nice to see him (likely) go out that way. I mean, the odds of someone of his offensive prowess ending his career on an RBI double are pretty small, which makes it that much more special.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1DJXzGOYgFmXd9nSFe7MzTKsV-sbpqTXN-iRmGMp97XU/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Michael Saunders did what he could do be the hero for the Mariners, but the A’s didn’t cooperate and deprived him of his glory. Other than that, all the M’s were able to do was scatter some singles.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1DJXzGOYgFmXd9nSFe7MzTKsV-sbpqTXN-iRmGMp97XU/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Cory Rasmus didn’t have his strongest out, but he wasn’t bad. He also wasn’t able to get past 55 pitches, which is just disappointing as it makes him harder to justify carrying in my hypothetical Rasmus-Santiago piggyback start in Game 4. Felix Hernandez was predictably great. Was there really any question that he would pitch his ass off with a chance to go the postseason?

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1DJXzGOYgFmXd9nSFe7MzTKsV-sbpqTXN-iRmGMp97XU/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Welp, that pretty much sealed the deal for Joe Thatcher, didn’t it? Getting to face Seager, LoMo and Saunders is exactly the kind of thing he’d need to do in the postseason and Joe could only get one of them out. It probably isn’t a coincidence that Scioscia then ran out Hector Santiago and Wade LeBlanc for relief appearance. Part of that was to get them work, but also to get one last look at how each of them perform in a relief role.

The Mariners bullpen was as dominant as ever, save for the RBI double to McDonald. Frankly, I appreciate them coughing that up. As much as I don’t put much stock into momentum, I’m glad the Angels avoided getting shutout.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1DJXzGOYgFmXd9nSFe7MzTKsV-sbpqTXN-iRmGMp97XU/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] With the Angels unable to touch King Felix, this was pretty much a straight slide down until Joe Thatcher pushed them off the cliff to their doom.

Halo Hero

Yes, we are doing a Hero in a loss and yes, the hero is me! Not to get all self-indulgent here, but I’m in minor disbelief that I was actually able to pull off all 162 game recaps all by myself. When I laid off the rest of the MWAH staff, I was really worried about recap coverage, yet somehow I did them all. I though for sure I would miss a handful, but I didn’t. Even better, I think there was only one recap that wasn’t posted the day after the actual game. Great work, me!