Boxscore Breakdown #65: Deck Chairs – Angels 4, Diamondbacks 1

As the USS Angels tries to avoid the iceberg that is going to eventually sink their season, Captain Scioscia felt it appropriate to rearrange some deck chairs. He finally made the big move to slide Mike Trout and Albert Pujols down a spot in the order. Without getting too deep into lineup optimization math, this isn’t really a smart move, but you also can’t really blame Scioscia for trying to shake things up to find some extra offense. Why that means still allowing Erick “Where OBP goes to die” Aybar bat leadoff remains to be seen. It is all wrong-headed and misguided, but at least he’s doing something, which is only slightly less futile than doing nothing at all.

Angels 4, Diamondbacks 1

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/104o-7NfDqzI_6Xrbvt7PH_gIy9veJ9XeRwKvptuJxOk/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] The two two-run homers made for two good nights for the two former Cardinals. Kyle Kubitza continued to show that he belongs somewhere in the lineup and Carlos Perez apparently wants me to eat my words from the breakdown yesterday. However, Perez might need to stop catching Richards because he has had a hell of a time blocking Garrett’s pitches each and every start he’s handled him. On the negative side, it might be time for Taylor Featherston to suffer that fake injury we’ve been hearing so much about.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/104o-7NfDqzI_6Xrbvt7PH_gIy9veJ9XeRwKvptuJxOk/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] The Angels avoided getting killed by Goldschmidt and instead took full advantage of Yasmany Tomas

Starting Pitcher Scores

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/104o-7NfDqzI_6Xrbvt7PH_gIy9veJ9XeRwKvptuJxOk/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Garrett Richards really labored early on, but once he settled in he was dominant and efficient. Jeremy Hellickson was made to look good by the meager Angels lineup, like they do.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/104o-7NfDqzI_6Xrbvt7PH_gIy9veJ9XeRwKvptuJxOk/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] I jinxed Joe Smith who surrendered a hit, though that was all the damage there was. The Halos damaged Randall Delgado to get some additional breathing room.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/104o-7NfDqzI_6Xrbvt7PH_gIy9veJ9XeRwKvptuJxOk/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] The Angels had a whole lot of nothing going on until Albert Pujols came along and slugged their win expectancy through the roof.

Halo Hero

Pujols doesn’t always get hits, but when he does, they are usually homers.