Apparently the baseball gods aren’t done sucking the air out of this team. Andrelton Simmons became the latest Angels franchise player felled by an injury, jamming his left thumb while ranging for a ground ball to his right in the third on Sunday. While the severity of the injury isn’t known at this point, anything less than a month on the sidelines would be a miracle the way things have been going in Anaheim.
The offense seemingly saw the writing on the wall when Simmons went down, rolling over in spectacular fashion for the remainder of the game. They tallied as many hits (3) as GIDPs over the final seven frames, increasing their league-worst total in the latter to 36. If this isn’t as bad as it gets, it’s gotta be close.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YzXch5lGitvA027ttl3R1Qmp8285dctSgUXaBOsMuGw/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]The top three hitters in the order—Yunel Escobar, Kole Calhoun, and Mike Trout—all reached base twice each, but only one of them (Calhoun) ever came around to score. C.J. Cron continued his underwhelming renaissance as a singles hitter, tallying a hit in four trips. Albert Pujols had by far the worst night at the plate, hitting into a double play in the sixth and pimping a warning track fly ball in the first.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YzXch5lGitvA027ttl3R1Qmp8285dctSgUXaBOsMuGw/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Brad Miller went all-or-nothing on Sunday, striking out thrice and blasting a two-run, game-changing home run. Curt Casali had the best day at the plate, doubling (and scoring) in the third and homering in the fifth.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YzXch5lGitvA027ttl3R1Qmp8285dctSgUXaBOsMuGw/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Nick Tropeano tallied a season-high with 10 strikeouts Sunday afternoon, but was again undone by the long ball. He allowed two homers in 5⅓, forcing him to fall shy of six full innings for the sixth time in six starts this year. He’s now allowed six dingers in his last three starts after allowing none in his first four.
Matt Andriese had a heck of a 2016 debut, scattering four hits and just one run over seven efficient innings.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YzXch5lGitvA027ttl3R1Qmp8285dctSgUXaBOsMuGw/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Mike Morin‘s streak of no baserunner-free appearances ended at nine, but he still kept the Rays off the board. Jose Alvarez, Javy Guerra, and Fernando Salas all turned in scoreless outings as well, helping lower the ‘pen ERA to 2.68. It’s like they haven’t got the message the rest of the team is hopeless.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1YzXch5lGitvA027ttl3R1Qmp8285dctSgUXaBOsMuGw/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /]This is what a win-expectancy chart looks like when three runs somehow become an insurmountable.
Angel Antagonist
Remember that 0-for-26 stretch a few weeks back? Well, Albert is presently following it up with a 1-for-13 kick, including no hits in his last seven ABs. He was over the Mendoza Line for a minute, but no more.
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