The Angels won a series! Against the Astros, no less. They finally broke their curse of… not being able to beat a horrible team. Perhaps it wasn’t the most high profile curse, but you have to take your victories where you can find them.
Run Expectancy Rundown
There are almost too many positive contributors to mention. Josh Hamilton once again led the way. Even Albert Pujols got in on the act. It is almost as if he was just going through a small slump and probably not in need of being busted down to seventh in the lineup. Chris Iannetta brought up the rear, so I can’t help but wonder how much longer we will continue to see him get the lion’s share of playing time, at least against right-handed starters.
That’s a whole lot of negative right there, although Carlos Corporan did ruin the fun with his solo homer. All in all, the Astros were good for the Angels’ pitching soul, with the exception of Weaver. Wait, does that mean he doesn’t have a soul?
Starting Pitcher Scores
C.J. Wilson was pretty great, though I hope that Game Score punished him for trying to sneak in that one knuckleball. Cosart probably deserved better seeing how he only allowed three hits, but those walks really came back to bite him.
Bullpen Battle
I’m going to need to re-think this section. One reliever games are more common than I realized and those graphs just aren’t that interesting. The bullpens really didn’t even factor into this one much. Sure, Brad Peacock got knocked around, but the game was well in hand for the Angels by that point. Ernesto Frieri got some meaningless work and didn’t allow a homer, which is a real step forward for him.
Game Flow
This one was over pretty fast. Kendrick’s two run single pushed the Angels way up the Win Expectancy curve and they barely ever ticked back down. The game was over by the time Cosart got the hook.
Halo Hero
Great game, C.J., but quit screwing around with the knuckleball. Nobody needs that.
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