Boxscore Breakdown #17: Meanwhile, in Anaheim – Angels 3, Rangers 2

While everyone was still processing the pending Josh Hamilton trade back to Texas, a ballgame broke out between the Angels and Rangers. It was a game where it seemed that everything that could go wrong for the Angels would, right up until the bottom of the eighth when everything went oh so right. It gave the Angels the victory on the field over the Rangers and, depending on your point of view, they already got a victory off the field over Texas by getting them to take back Josh Hamilton.

Angels 3, Rangers 2

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YQto-bZ3tQsBMqyU4fnD0efNgjMRqAyKQVbr9-9nJAg/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] David Freese and C.J. Cron finished tied at the top here, but that goes to show that timing is everything. Freese had just the one hit, but it won the game. Cron had three hits, but all they really added up to is more evidence that he should almost exclusively face lefties. They did, however, dispel the growing notion that he should only face pitchers of either hand while playing Triple-A. Albert Pujols and Chris Iannetta were tied at the bottom, but here context was everything. Pujols was victimized by hitting blistering line drives right at a fielder and an umpire with a terrible strike zone. Iannetta was just terrible.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YQto-bZ3tQsBMqyU4fnD0efNgjMRqAyKQVbr9-9nJAg/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Just three hits on the night for Texas, one came via a deflected grounder. They scored two runs in one inning and the ball never left the infield. In other words, Texas was doing a pretty great Angels impression on offense.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YQto-bZ3tQsBMqyU4fnD0efNgjMRqAyKQVbr9-9nJAg/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Somehow Wandy Rodriguez pulled the wool over the Angels’ eyes for five innings. That’s a pretty damning indictment on them. I give Wandy no credit.

Plenty of credit is due to Garrett Richards though. This was about 95% of the Richards we saw in 2014. He struggled a little bit with walks and overthrowing, but once he got that out of his system, it was sheer domination.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YQto-bZ3tQsBMqyU4fnD0efNgjMRqAyKQVbr9-9nJAg/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The Rangers rotation gets a lot of attention for being an injury-riddled mess, but let’s not overlook the fact that, even without injury, their bullpen is a steaming pile of yak crap. The Angels bullpen was solid in this despite a little drama from Huston Street, though I don’t think anyone was really concerned.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YQto-bZ3tQsBMqyU4fnD0efNgjMRqAyKQVbr9-9nJAg/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] So many spikes. The Angels had a number of opportunities to take the lead or tie this game, but they just couldn’t pull it off… until Freese came through and prevented this from being a pretty depressing night.

Halo Hero

It doesn’t get much more heroic than a late-inning, go-ahead homer.