<![CDATA[Skaggs was Ty-riffic! Puns! Yay! Also, the Dino Ebel Express rolls to another victory. Clearly Scioscia needs to have more kids graduate college more often.
Run Expectancy Rundown
It isn’t often that Chris Iannetta fails to walk and is still a big offensive contributor, but he went deep for the first time since April 16th. Of course, his homer paled in comparison to C.J. Cron‘s mammoth first career MLB home run (which I predicted, by the way). Let us relive the glory of Cron murdering this baseball:
[mlbvideo id=”32758329″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]
Other than that, the Angels have to be happy that they got enough offense in a game where Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick barely did anything.
Don’t let any of those positive numbers fool you, for eight innings, Tyler Skaggs was baffling the Toronto lineup. The only run they scored prior to the ninth came on an error Skaggs made himself.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Let’s talk about Skaggs some more. While he didn’t rack up big strikeout numbers, his two-seamer was back and better than ever as he pounded the strike zone and produced lots of weak contact. More importantly, he came back so strong after his terrible previous start. The kid has real mental fortitude. Oh, J.A. Happ, right. Yeah, he’s miserable.
Bullpen Battle
Joe Smith had to come in to save the day, but it was notable that he was the one saving the day. I actually don’t blame Ebel for letting Skaggs face the order for the fourth time. It didn’t work out, but they had a big enough cushion and it would’ve been very meaningful to a youngster like him. No harm, no foul.
Game Flow
After Skaggs’ error, the Angels were in a tiny bit of trouble, but it didn’t last long and they quickly ascended into prime winning position. Even the ninth inning threat didn’t really put them in grave danger.
Halo Hero
Shutting down a high-powered offense in such dominating fashion is a one way ticket to Halo Hero land.]]>
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