Honestly, I was too distracted by the draft to pay this game much attention and I think I was better off for it. Investing myself in a series loss to Houston is more than I can take right now. I’m very emotionally fragile… or something.
Run Expectancy Rundown
You know, I think Mike Trout is going to be fine. Just a hunch. The real problem was that the rest of the top five in the order came up with a big fat nothing. It is awfully hard to win any game when that happens.
The story of this series really should be that Dexter Fowler was just a demon. He hurt the Angels bad in every single game. He has some more help in this one, but Fowler was just terrific in all three games.
Starting Pitcher Scores
To be sure, Skaggs was not sharp in this game, but he also wasn’t as bad as his line suggests. Four of the seven hits he allowed never left the infield. His control was not there in this game, but neither was the defense behind him. Brad Peacock wasn’t all that good on his end, but the Angels just couldn’t take advantage.
Bullpen Battle
It looked like the Angels relievers were going to give them a chance, but then Cam Bedrosian couldn’t find the strike zone and Mike Scioscia made the decision to bring in Fernando Salas. Bad thing happen when Salas comes in with the bases loaded. Sure enough, Salas helped the Astros blow the game open so that when the Angels got to the Astros bullpen, the runs they scored ended up just making a big loss smaller instead of turning a loss into a win.
Game Flow
The Halos gave themselves a small headstart but then allowed the Astros to slowly whittle away at their win expectancy. Things got bad in the fourth, but the Angels battled back to keep thing interesting, for a few innings, at least. After Salas came in with his gas can, the game was almost done, but the Halos made one last threat in the ninth and had a chance to tie it, but the gap was to wide to bridge.
Halo A-Hole
I hate to hang it on the kid, but had he just been able to keep it close, the Angels would have been in position to work their comeback magic.
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