I gotta fever (or is it sleep deprivation thanks to this marathon game?) and there is only cure- MORE COWGILL!
Run Expectancy Rundown
David Freese had the dishonor of going 0-for-6 AND grounded into two double plays. So, yeah, not a great day for him and I still don’t think he should be batting fifth. Collin Cowgill though was the real hero of the night and clearly making sure that he will continue to start against most left-handed pitchers.
The Angels shutdown the usual Halo killers in Jaso, Donaldson and Moss but ironically the one guy that hurt them was Nick freaking Punto. Yoenis Cespedes wasn’t held down as much, but he still was responsible for this game going as long as it did thanks to that brilliant throw to gun down Howie Kendrick at the plate. For once, it wasn’t DiSarcina who was responsible for someone getting thrown out. That throw was literally perfect. Anything less and Howie scores.
Starting Pitcher Scores
I’m not about to herald the return of Hector Santiago, but he was pretty terrific in this game. Scioscia clearly wanted to make sure Hector left feeling good and yanked him even though he was only at 98 pitches, but that was probably the right thing to do just to preserve Santiago’s confidence. We’ll have to see Hector do this a few more times before I buy in, but this is a very positive sign. On the other side, Drew Pomeranz was pretty good as well after getting bombed by the Angels just the other week.
Bullpen Battle
Mike Morin got one of his most might leverage opportunities to date, but he blew it. It wasn’t as if he was awful, but you still have to regret any inning in which a Nick Punto double is what hurts you. From there out though, the pen was great. They are going to be completely exhausted for Wednesday, but they were great in this one. The Oakland bullpen was not nearly as good. They tried to have this game end earlier a few times, but the Angels weren’t willing to play along.
Game Flow
This is an awfully jumpy graph for such a low-scoring game. What that tells me is how many chances the Angels had to end this thing but failed to do so. The only time the A’s actually had a shot was in the ninth inning but Joe Smith managed to escape. Then it was free baseball from then on out.
Halo Hero
Honorable mention to Santiago, but the Halo Hero rules mandate that you get to be the Hero if you hit a walk-off homer in extras against the division leader the Angels are trying to chase down.
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