| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Ryan Garko | .187 | Aaron Laffey | -.606 |
| Andy Marte | .104 | Tom Mastny | -.277 |
| Shin-Soo Choo | .102 | David Dellucci | -.092 |
The Indians caught John Lackey at the right time, scoring six runs off him in five innings. Ryan Garko almost instantaneously figured out how to hit again. Andy Marte continued to contribute, reaching base twice in four plate appearances.
But bad pitching and shoddy bullpen management negated all those nice things. Aaron Laffey through four innings had been just as bad as Lackey, but had the lead. He had given up four hits and three runs in the fourth inning, and didn't look long for the game. But Wedge let him go out for the fifth inning. No matter how tenuous, any lead is enough for Wedge to suspend disbelief when a pitcher's win is involved. Mind you, he's evaluated for team wins, not for the health of the starting picthers' egos.
So Laffey came out for the fifth, and the Angels picked up where they had left off. LA had runners on second and third with nobody out when Eric Wedge finally decided that Laffey needed to be taken out. But not before walking Garrett Anderson to load the bases. That being done, he summoned...Tom Mastny... to get out of the jam. Mastny hadn't been used for ten days, and hasn't been effective even when used. But because his best relievers just had to be saved for the late innings (and remember, tomorrow is an off day), the longman was good enough for the jam.You know what happened next.