Boston Has Our Number

The 2011 season has proven to be yet another heartbreaking chapter in the “Red Sox own the Angels” saga; six games played, six games won… all by Boston.

The Angels have just not been able to figure out the secret of the Sox. Is it their pitching? Their lineup? Is it the fact that there have been more Boston fans than Angel fans at all six of these games? Yes, even the ones played in Anaheim! I’d like to shed a bit of light on what I think may be contributing to the Angels woes with the Red Sox this season…

It is a very simple concept; the more runs you score, the better your chances of winning. This is nothing more than common sense, and is no more common than in the halos battles with the boys from Beantown.

The key to the Angels turning the tides on the Red Sox is simple… score more runs. Regardless of who they throw at them, the Halos can’t ever seem to silence the Boston bats, leaving them no choice but to outhit them.

In 30 games so far this season, the Halos are 16-14 (tied for first place), and in each game that the offense showed signs of life the Angels won. When their bats seemed to go to sleep, they dreamt their way to a loss. In matchups where the Angels have scored four runs or better (and they currently are averaging 4.07 per game) they have a record of 14-3. When they fail to score more than three however, their record is 2-11. It really is that simple… the more they score the more they win.

You may think that simply conceding eight games to
Boston this year and getting on with our season is no big deal, given that the Halos are currently atop the AL West, and that’s is all that most fans care about.

But when the postseason arrives and the Angels are again faced with a team who clearly has their number, these numbers may mean a bit more. In six games, only six games… 56 innings… the Angels have been outscored by Boston 36-13 (68-36 in 2010). If they had played 12 games and lost every game by a score of 3 to 1, it may not sound so scary.

But only having played six games, Mike Scioscia’s boys have been losing 6 to 2 on average. In fact, in only one of these six games have the Halos scored more than 3 runs. If this trend is going to continue and the Angels can’t wake up their offense, they will NOT beat Boston. You can absolutely count on the Red Sox putting up at least four runs each game… they have done so thus far!

Public enemy number one for the Halos has been timing. The Angels have had 45 opportunities in 56 innings to get a runner across the plate from scoring position against Boston. 45 times… roughly seven times per 9 innings to get the runner in from second or third base… and the Angels have done it only 5. 11% of the time with RISP, the Halos have been able to capitalize against Boston … the other 40 chances, they failed miserably.

With the Angels two aces already down for the count in this series, the team’s last two regular season games with Boston will not be decided by pitching. It is going to have to be the bats that carry this Angels team to victory and get them out of Beantown with a W. We need more bombs from Trumbo, more Hammerin Hank, more of Bourjos on the bases… and of course the veteran bats of Bobby, Torii, and Mr. 126 million! Let’s end the “Curse of Lackey” once and for all.

That’s just how I see things.