Boxscore Breakdown #49: No explanation required – Angels 2, Tigers 0

Hector Santiago just shut down one of the top offenses in the American League, one loaded with several dangerous right-handed hitters. He didn’t struggle with them one bit. Now he leads the Angels in ERA, is top 15 in all of baseball and only seems to be getting better. How did this happen? I don’t know and I don’t think I want to know. As soon as I find out, it might blow up, so I’ll just be over here with my head in the sand.

Angels 2, Tigers 0

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11SYhcqsXbSb2fTOnvmitCOnNGYQzzX_t1ZASKQOBFSo/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Welp, so much for the Chris Iannetta breakout. Matt Joyce deserves a special “welp” as well since he tried to hit into the double play that Iannetta hit into. He just didn’t count on Kinsler botching the entire play. The real big winner was Albert Pujols who hit another homer, bumped his OBP over .300 and his average in the realm of semi-respectable.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11SYhcqsXbSb2fTOnvmitCOnNGYQzzX_t1ZASKQOBFSo/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Miguel Cabrera was the only positive RE24 Tiger entirely on the virtue of the Angels not wanting to pitch to him, which probably isn’t the wrong sentiment. Yoenis Cespedes was the dog of the game, which seems unnatural given how much he has haunted the Halos the last few years.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11SYhcqsXbSb2fTOnvmitCOnNGYQzzX_t1ZASKQOBFSo/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Hector Santiago is a golden god. I give up trying to understand why. He’s just stellar now and we shouldn’t bother questioning it. Anibal Sanchez did a good job getting his season back on track, which is what the Angels are for if we really think about it.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11SYhcqsXbSb2fTOnvmitCOnNGYQzzX_t1ZASKQOBFSo/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] The bullpen work was uneventful overall other than everyone freaking out when Cam Bedrosian came on as the setup man without any explanation. We eventually learned that Joe Smith was out with a stiff neck, which is a much better explanation than Scioscia losing his mind like we all thought.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/11SYhcqsXbSb2fTOnvmitCOnNGYQzzX_t1ZASKQOBFSo/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] The Angels had a few scares in the later innings but nothing too bad.

Halo Hero

Don’t question it. Just accept it.