Liveblogging: BOS @ LAA, 7/7/13

This is a different model than the one that drove by me on the 405 today.

As I was driving towards the westside of LA from the Valley this morning, I was startled to see out of my window, fast approaching from the rear, Mike Trout's giant torso. The medium close up of the Angels All-Star outfielder was at least 12' tall, plastered to the side of a party bus, and posed as if he was ready to tee up on the car next to me on the freeway. Yes, the Halo Express was charging full speed down towards Anaheim in The O.C. in preparation for the Angels' big match against the Boston Red Sox. After getting over the initial sense of startledness at the sight of half a giant advancing on me, I didn't fail to notice the irony that a bus supporting a team whose name somehow includes Los Angeles was going about as fast as it could away from Los Angeles. Then I thought it was a sign that I should do one more roster project this weekend for tonight's ESPN Sunday Night Baseball matchup.

Tonight's visiting starter is John Lackey, the former Angel who apparently maintains a friendship with the Angels' projected ace Jered Weaver. Boston's lineup has four discrepancies with its Sports Illustrated projected lineup: Shane Victorino is getting a day off in favor of benchwarmer Mike Carp. Jonny Gomes is out of left field in favor of Daniel Nava, a borderline All-Star snub this year. Will Middlebrooks has been demoted to the minors and Stephen Drew is out with an injury, which takes care of the whole left side of the infield. The Angels have three: Mark Trumbo is out with veteran non-roster invitee Brad Hawpe taking his place at first base. Center fielder Peter Bourjos reinjured himself almost immediately after returning from the DL, and another NRI J.B. Shuck takes his place at the top of the lineup, forcing Trout back to CF.

First Pitch was at 8:05 ET, right at the start of primetime, so let's see how the teams fare. Stay tuned for the lineups.


Middle of the 4th inning (6:19pm PT) - BOS 0, LAA 1

Mike Trout's home run is still the difference in this game as both Weaver and Lackey are pitching well. My gut tells me that Lackey has more command today, but the Boston bats just have to wake up behind him. Angels try to add on as I give you the active roster of the visiting Boston Red Sox:

If there's a primary reason why this team is leading the AL East, it's not their starting staff. Lackey, projected to be the fifth starter, leads all active Red Sox in points and PPG. Of course the real story of this pitching staff is All-Star Clay Buchholz - what you don't see above, since he's on the 15-Day DL, is that Buchholz is running a fantasy line of 1,188 with 99.0 PPG, potentially Cy Young Award caliber. Taking his place is a tenuous combination of bad egg Alfredo Aceves (recalled and optioned start by start) and the team's #4 (MLB) prospect (#49 overall, BA) Allen Webster. Their next-highest ranked prospect, Jose Iglesias (#6 on the team, not in Baseball America's top 100) is currently playing double duty, filing in for the ineffective Will Middlebrooks at 3B injured J.D. Drew at SS - Brock Holt, late of the Pirates, was called up to start at the hot corner tonight.

Holt is the only active piece of the trade that brought the Red Sox their projected closer Joel Hanrahan, who is currently languishing on the 60-Day DL and not part of the team's 40-man roster. Surprisingly though former setup man Koji Uehara is getting more recent save situations than former Rookie of the Year closer Andrew Bailey, but you have to go with who's hot. Speaking of who's hot, this team's offense has two AL All-Stars and one notable snub. David Ortiz has gotten his groove back and will start at DH. Dustin Pedroia has been playing better than Robinson Cano, but will have to be content with a bench spot behind his New York rival. But overall points leader Jacoby Ellsbury was passed up in favor of two sub-1,000-point reserve outfielders: Alex Gordon and Torii Hunter, Detroit's SIXTH All-Star, so it's not like they needed a representative. And can we talk about how the AL is carrying THREE catchers? And Ben Zobrist is on the team over Josh Donaldson (or Evan Longoria, for that matter). I think the Commissioner's Office is stacking this thing for the NL. You heard it here first.

End of the 8th inning (7:50pm PT) - BOS 0, LAA 3

The Angels have tacked on a couple of insurance runs and as we head to the last six outs of the game, it's time to check out their roster:

After the giant free agent contract they awarded Josh Hamilton, the Angels were consensus favorites to run away with the AL West this year. Instead they're languishing in third place, 8.5 games behind the A's. A big part of this disappointment is a cobbled together pitching rotation that hasn't been able to find adequate replacements for Jason Vargas and Tommy Hanson when they went down with injuries. And while Ernesto Frieri has developed into the only competent member of this bullpen, he wasn't even supposed to fill that role, but Ryan Madson just hasn't been able to recover from last year's Tommy John surgery.

Trout is their top player, although not quite living up to his #1 rank. He deserves to be this train wreck of a team's lone All-Star representative, although Howie Kendrick could be considered a snub in some circles. Mark Trumbo is the team's other 1,000 point contributor as the pure power hitter has taken over 1B with Albert Pujols relegated to mostly DH duties with a chronic case of oldness. Two bench roles are occupied by mid-season acquisitions: Brad Hawpe was signed after being released by Pittsburgh, and Collin Cowgill came over in a trade with the Mets, who got him from the A's before the season started.

Well, Frieri has closed it out, giving the Angels a 2-1 series victory. Let's hope this doesn't signal any kind of boost in momentum for the Halos, cuz it would sure be nice if the A's could go into the All-Star break leading the division. In the meantime, watch this space for a very special birthday post tomorrow morning!