Boxscore Breakdown Game #39: Ace? – Angels 3, Phillies 0

<![CDATA[He's always had the raw velocity and stuff, but now Garrett Richards has the performance to back it up. After another dominating performance, perhaps it is time to consider Richards as a legitimate ace. Or maybe the Phillies just stink.

Run Expectancy Rundown

Erick Aybar, inexplicably in the five-hole, came though in a big way despite that nonsensical decision. And you know who else did good? Raul Ibanez! Yes, THAT Raul Ibanez. Who knew? On the other side of the Y-axis, Luis Jimenez continues to look over-matched by big league pitching. This would be a much bigger problem if David Freese was going to be out for much longer.

Chase Utley was really the only Phillie to do any damage. Everyone else was just bad across the board, especially Ryan Howard.

Starting Pitcher Scores

Garrett Richards just keeps getting better. Not only did he continue to strike batters out, but this time he didn’t walk anyone. Really, only Chase Utley was able to do anything with him. A.J. Burnett should consider it a great accomplishment that he managed to make it through five full innings after he got off to such a rocky start.

Bullpen Battle

Scioscia’s saber-closer experiment continues as Smith got to work the ninth inning this time, but still was tasked with facing the more dangerous part of the order. Frieri didn’t exactly get an easy section himself, but he pitched well. This crazy (and smart and awesome) idea might just work.

Game Flow

Even with the Angels jumping out to an early lead, it took a long time for the win expectancy to stick above 90%. That’s a bit weird because the Phillies never really got much of a threat going at any point.

Halo Hero

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