Weird day today, for all three of my teams. The Rockies, who have become my chief favorites, lost a tough game yesterday 2-1, playing the Red Sox hard for nine innings, but being too bamboozled by the dancing Tim Wakefield knuckler to back up a sterling start by Aaron Cook. Then today, they had what looked like a wildly unfair matchup on paper: Josh Fogg vs. Curt Schilling. I'd been dreading this game ever since I heard about it, but instead, the Rockies went out and engineered a 12-2 drubbing of baseball's best team. Schilling was responsible for half the tally, while the Sawx pen coughed up the rest, and every starter except Ryan Spilborghs chipped in at least one hit. Atkins had an RBI double, Hawpe had the big three-run blast to break the game open, and Helton got out of his funk with 4 RBI, including a bases-clearing double against ex-mate Javier Lopez. Fogg weebled and wobbled his way through five eventually serviceable innings, managed not to get burned by a dangerous Sox lineup, and handed off to the bullpen, who contributed four shutout innings -- two by Taylor Buchholz and one apiece by Jorge Julio (!) and LaTroy Hawkins (!!). In other words, it feels very nice to come into Fenway and deliver a merciless ass-kicking to its annoying incumbents. Jeff Francis goes tomorrow against hitherto-undefeated Josh Beckett in an attempt to secure yet another series win. Miraculously, the Rockies haven't lost a set since the Series That Shall Not Be Named, taking two of three and splitting with the Cards. They're actually doing... well, and are one game north of .500 on the road and one game south overall. Go Rockies...!
The A's also won today, helped by something that only happens once in a blue moon: Jason Kendall hit a home run, his second in about three years on the team. Despite the fact that the A's are in Houston, and the skewed dimensions of Minute Maid Park are ridiculous, it even wasn't a cheap shot. Also, after falling behind 4-3, they staged a five-run uprising in the top of the eighth, aided by a Mark Kotsay double, a Mark Ellis double, and a 2-run single from Eric Chavez. It's June and the A's are accordingly playing well, eating through a tough part of their schedule and hanging L's on a seemingly never-ending succession of top-flight starters. They managed to avoid their May swoon, so they're in striking distance, but unfortunately I was right and there isn't much catching the Angels at the top of the West this year. Maybe they can climb ahead of the Tigers for the wild card and keep getting stellar pitching, which they have a knack for doing -- Dan Haren and Chad Gaudin are a terrible twosome, with a combined record of 15-3 and a 2.00 ERA. This is the season that Haren becomes an ace while Harden sits out yet again, and he's sporting a 1.58 mark two and some-odd months into the season... and will probably end up losing the Cy to Beckett. Grr.
Lenny DiNardo has also done very well, throwing six innings of shutout ball in his last start and lowering his ERA to 1.22. The A's pitching staff leads the majors with an overall 3.16 ERA and this without Duchscherer, Street, and Harden.... wow. As for Harden, I've decided he's a nice asset in theory, but he will never be healthy and I'll stop thinking he will be. He'll come back, pitch four or five games, and go down again, so it's a good thing that Haren, Gaudin, and DiNardo can manage without him. Even the Fat Joes, Blanton and Kennedy, have been decent. Go figure. And go A's!
Adam Wainwright, who is still near and dear to my heart despite his lack of recent airtime on this blog (blame the Rockies for nestling into that spot at the top of my affections) has also recently completed a very nice turnaround, allowing 2 runs or less in his past few starts and turning in a sparkling effort tonight: 8 shutout innings, with only one hit permitted, against the Royals. Lest you sneeze at this, it should be noted that the Royals are capable of being monstrous pests (they were the authors of the Series That Shall Not Be Named) and whitewashed the Cards 8-1 last night, so Adam's effort against them tonight was both stellar and deeply appreciated. He's shaping into the starter the Cards thought they were getting when they converted him in the first place, which has come as a relief to Redbird Nation. Chris Carpenter is also ahead of schedule, and may be back on the mound by the end of July. With the Brew Crew languishing badly, the Cards have climbed into a tie for second place in a weak division and maybe, maybe can get things to break right. It would take a lot to overcome their season-long shitaceous play, but who knows? The NL West is no longer the NL Worst -- in fact, it's one of the tougher divisions in baseball -- so the NL Central takes the cake for crappitude. Go Cards!
On a final note, the bloody Yankees have won 11 of 13, and everybody keeps talking about 1978. My hatred for the Yankees is unmatched -- I was rooting for the Red Sox to beat them, and I still hate the Sox, albeit not quite as much since they lost douchebags such as Lowe, Damon, and Millar. I loathe them with a fiery, burning, completely unmatched raw passion, and if I have to hear one more time that they're coming to Coors next week, I'll flip a wig. I frigging know. I don't care if the rotation lines up so the Rox face Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens, as it seems they might. I want the Rockies to destroy them and make everyone shut up about the goddamn Kings of Overexposure. I like Pettitte, but I still want him to suck. And yes, I may need help, but we knew that. Yuck the Fankees. Living in New York, and even going to (and enjoying) a game at the Stadium hasn't changed my opinion of them. Hate them and their completely overhyped and overpaid aging team of self-important egoistic prima-donnas.
Okay. I'm better now. Really.
Showing posts with label Oakland A's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oakland A's. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Great Success!
No analysis, questions, nitpicking, scenarios, or solutions here. I'd just like to put all of my endless speculating (and bitching) aside for one night and give a pat on the back to all my boys. The Cardinals won their second straight over the Pirates 5-3 on the back of Kip Wells' first good outing in forever (7 innings, 2 runs) a five-out save from a rejuvenated Isringhausen, and home runs from Chris Duncan (well, of course, he's the team leader) Jim Edmonds (!) and David Eckstein (!!). The Birdies try to sweep the Buccos tomorrow with Tom Gorzelanny vs. Braden Looper, who believe it or not has started off quite well this year. Go Cards!
The Rockies also won their second straight, clinching a road series win over the D-backs. Jeff Francis continued his recent run of brilliant pitching, going 7 shutout innings and NOT getting yanked by Hurdle (what a thought). Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes did their thing, and Ryan Spilborghs, in his first start of the season, made the most of it, knocking in both Rockies runs for a 2-0 final. Sad (and illuminating) fact: In 5 at-bats this year, Spilborghs has 3 RBI, and this is more than Steve Finley has all season. And we're not giving the grizzled veteran (translation: should have retired two years ago) his walking papers why?
Ah, no complaining. I'm happy. The Rockies next head into a weekend series with the resurgent Giants, where they will have to face Matt Cain, Matt Morris, and Noah Lowry, three straight tough assignments; only Cain has an ERA over 3 and even then by not a great margin. The Rockies really will have to discover the thunder in their bats to win a second straight road series before coming home for 10 to face the Cards, Reds, and Astros. They'll also have to start playing better at Coors, where they are 10-13. Hopefully they can finally get something going, as that would be fun. It's painful to be addicted to this team, but I really am. Go Rockies!
The A's managed to avoid the sweep after inadvertently waking the sleeping dragon known as the White Sox offense and getting their behinds served to them on platters the past two games. Hiram Bocachica (!) hit a two-run homer to back a stellar start from Chad Gaudin (7.1 shutout innings) and the bullpen didn't crumble when faced with a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the eighth. The A's nipped the Sox 4-0 and head to Baltimore next, where they'll open a series with the Orioles on Friday. AL ERA leader and staff ace Danny Haren faces off against Baltimore ace Erik Bedard. Baltimore has scuffled this year, posting a 21-25 record, but the A's have been playing a season-long game of tag with .500, currently sitting on a 23-23 record. The [censored] Angels will just not lose (although they did tonight despite Jose Mesa's best efforts to the contrary. How does that man still have a job? Honestly). Half the A's are on the DL, no exaggeration, so by the time they get their A-team back (pun intended) it may be too late... Oh well. No bitching in this post. Go A's!
The Rockies also won their second straight, clinching a road series win over the D-backs. Jeff Francis continued his recent run of brilliant pitching, going 7 shutout innings and NOT getting yanked by Hurdle (what a thought). Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes did their thing, and Ryan Spilborghs, in his first start of the season, made the most of it, knocking in both Rockies runs for a 2-0 final. Sad (and illuminating) fact: In 5 at-bats this year, Spilborghs has 3 RBI, and this is more than Steve Finley has all season. And we're not giving the grizzled veteran (translation: should have retired two years ago) his walking papers why?
Ah, no complaining. I'm happy. The Rockies next head into a weekend series with the resurgent Giants, where they will have to face Matt Cain, Matt Morris, and Noah Lowry, three straight tough assignments; only Cain has an ERA over 3 and even then by not a great margin. The Rockies really will have to discover the thunder in their bats to win a second straight road series before coming home for 10 to face the Cards, Reds, and Astros. They'll also have to start playing better at Coors, where they are 10-13. Hopefully they can finally get something going, as that would be fun. It's painful to be addicted to this team, but I really am. Go Rockies!
The A's managed to avoid the sweep after inadvertently waking the sleeping dragon known as the White Sox offense and getting their behinds served to them on platters the past two games. Hiram Bocachica (!) hit a two-run homer to back a stellar start from Chad Gaudin (7.1 shutout innings) and the bullpen didn't crumble when faced with a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the eighth. The A's nipped the Sox 4-0 and head to Baltimore next, where they'll open a series with the Orioles on Friday. AL ERA leader and staff ace Danny Haren faces off against Baltimore ace Erik Bedard. Baltimore has scuffled this year, posting a 21-25 record, but the A's have been playing a season-long game of tag with .500, currently sitting on a 23-23 record. The [censored] Angels will just not lose (although they did tonight despite Jose Mesa's best efforts to the contrary. How does that man still have a job? Honestly). Half the A's are on the DL, no exaggeration, so by the time they get their A-team back (pun intended) it may be too late... Oh well. No bitching in this post. Go A's!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
I Told You So
Huston Street is now on the DL. A struggling and ineffective Justin Duchscherer may follow him. Travis Buck's wrist is too sore for him to play, ditto with Milton Bradley's hamstring and Chris Snelling's knee. Street has an ulnar nerve irritation which may eventually require surgery and keep him out until the '08 break. The A's are a young team and Larry Davis cannot keep them healthy. One of these days, and I am deadly serious, they are either going to have to forfeit or call up the entire River Cats roster. Neither scenario is one I find appealing. Not to mention that tonight with Street sidelined, Alan Embree and Jay Witasick were inexplicably brought in for the ninth and managed to cough up a 4-1 lead to the Royals.
It's going to be a long season.
Adam Wainwright was shelled for 8 runs in 2.2 innings, Cardinals lose 9-7. (I told you they were gonna do that). Cardinals drop to 16-21 and end their 10-game winning streak over the Dodgers.
It's really going to be a long season.
Jason Hirsh turns in yet another strong start -- 3 runs in 8 innings -- and loses since the Colorado bats get shut out by a suddenly resurgent Randy Johnson with a little help from his friends Tony Pena and Jose Valverde. The Diamondbacks pitching staff faces exactly one batter over the minimum and Steve Finley and John Mabry, aka Out #1 and Out #2, bat back-to-back in the ninth inning. By the time Brad Hawpe is called out on a questionable "swing" (he held up) it is too late. Rockies lose and are now 16-23.
Oh boy, is this ever going to be a long season.
It's going to be a long season.
Adam Wainwright was shelled for 8 runs in 2.2 innings, Cardinals lose 9-7. (I told you they were gonna do that). Cardinals drop to 16-21 and end their 10-game winning streak over the Dodgers.
It's really going to be a long season.
Jason Hirsh turns in yet another strong start -- 3 runs in 8 innings -- and loses since the Colorado bats get shut out by a suddenly resurgent Randy Johnson with a little help from his friends Tony Pena and Jose Valverde. The Diamondbacks pitching staff faces exactly one batter over the minimum and Steve Finley and John Mabry, aka Out #1 and Out #2, bat back-to-back in the ninth inning. By the time Brad Hawpe is called out on a questionable "swing" (he held up) it is too late. Rockies lose and are now 16-23.
Oh boy, is this ever going to be a long season.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Hollow Men Wore Green and Gold
So I noticed that Seattle gets Felix Hernandez back today. Will the A's ever get Rich Harden back? Of course not. It's practically criminal the way Oakland mismanages its health and fitness department. Harden himself doesn't seem like a particularly bright guy, as he got his latest injury while attempting to field a comebacker barehanded -- after doing so last year and getting injured. (His impressive repertoire also includes an elbow strain incurred while turning off an alarm clock). He has an "impingement of the shoulder," which I defined earlier in regards to Carp's injury. This is not a reassuring prospect. Next thing I know Harden will be out for the year too, even though the A's starting rotation seems to be chugging along gamely without him. I'm starting to agree that if he could come back healthy for two weeks (which may or may not happen) then the A's should flip him for all the young talent Billy Beane can rape from an unsuspecting GM. (Then, of course, Harden would go somewhere where he wouldn't be under the care of the incompetent Oakland medical staff, and promptly win 20 zillion games and the Cy Young. That would be hard to swallow).
Center field has become the hole of death for the A's, as just about anyone who plays that position ends up on the DL shortly thereafter. So, although I wrote this poem a few weeks ago, it remains relevant, also making references to the A's offense, which is either sink or swim - nine runs or no runs, pretty much. Example A: Yesterday Danny Haren pitches eight shutout innings, allowing four hits and recording seven strikeouts, to lower his AL-best ERA to 1.64. He ends up getting a no-decision because the offense doesn't score until the bottom of the ninth, after normally reliable Justin Duchscherer allows two runs in the top half. 2-1 Kansas City (yes, oy) is your final, and yet again, Haren doesn't get a win. The A's offense just can't find that middle ground, and so it is harkened to here along with my frustration at the endless parade of injuries. With apologies to T.S. Eliot.
I.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Baseball hats filled with hair.
Alas! Our torn tendons, when
We agonize together
Are painful and multitudinous
As our GM on the phones
Or glossing over broken bones
On our long DL.
Talent without form, shape without ability,
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to health’s other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
II.
Injuries I dare not look up
In Davis’s trainer room
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Gazing on a broken back
There, is Crosby swinging
And players are
In Larry Davis’s clutches
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be nearer
To the dream kingdom of wins
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Green and gold, hat, jersey
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --
Not that final meeting
In the championship series
III.
This is the dead land
This is the AL West and
Here the pleas to Beane
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In the healthy kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with hope
Lips that promise anything
Form prayers to replacement-level success.
IV.
The hopes are not here
There are no hopes here
In this valley of mounting injuries
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost players
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this internet haven
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
The waiver wire
Sacramento River Cats
The hope only
Of empty men.
V .
Here we go round the blame game
Blame game blame game
Here we go round the blame game
At seven o’clock Pacific time.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thou art Larry Davis
Between the promise
And the playing
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
The DL is very long
Between the strain
And the spasm
Between the pain
And the oblique
Between the injury
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the rally ends
This is the way the rally ends
This is the way the rally ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Center field has become the hole of death for the A's, as just about anyone who plays that position ends up on the DL shortly thereafter. So, although I wrote this poem a few weeks ago, it remains relevant, also making references to the A's offense, which is either sink or swim - nine runs or no runs, pretty much. Example A: Yesterday Danny Haren pitches eight shutout innings, allowing four hits and recording seven strikeouts, to lower his AL-best ERA to 1.64. He ends up getting a no-decision because the offense doesn't score until the bottom of the ninth, after normally reliable Justin Duchscherer allows two runs in the top half. 2-1 Kansas City (yes, oy) is your final, and yet again, Haren doesn't get a win. The A's offense just can't find that middle ground, and so it is harkened to here along with my frustration at the endless parade of injuries. With apologies to T.S. Eliot.
I.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Baseball hats filled with hair.
Alas! Our torn tendons, when
We agonize together
Are painful and multitudinous
As our GM on the phones
Or glossing over broken bones
On our long DL.
Talent without form, shape without ability,
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to health’s other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
II.
Injuries I dare not look up
In Davis’s trainer room
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Gazing on a broken back
There, is Crosby swinging
And players are
In Larry Davis’s clutches
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be nearer
To the dream kingdom of wins
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Green and gold, hat, jersey
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --
Not that final meeting
In the championship series
III.
This is the dead land
This is the AL West and
Here the pleas to Beane
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In the healthy kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with hope
Lips that promise anything
Form prayers to replacement-level success.
IV.
The hopes are not here
There are no hopes here
In this valley of mounting injuries
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost players
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this internet haven
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
The waiver wire
Sacramento River Cats
The hope only
Of empty men.
V .
Here we go round the blame game
Blame game blame game
Here we go round the blame game
At seven o’clock Pacific time.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thou art Larry Davis
Between the promise
And the playing
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
The DL is very long
Between the strain
And the spasm
Between the pain
And the oblique
Between the injury
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the rally ends
This is the way the rally ends
This is the way the rally ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Little Drops of Poison
[warning -- I get a little heated below]
The Terrific Trifecta occurred last night the first time all year, or, in other words, all three of my teams won on the same day. Adam managed to bail out the Cards with a little help from his friends -- six innings, seven hits, two runs, an economic 88 pitches for Wainwright, a clutch two-run double from Pujols, and an inning and a third of stellar relief work from Isringhausen all added up to a 3-2 win for the Redbirds. However, they're already behind 7-0 to the Astros today after Kip Wells got bombed, and it's really looking more and more as if the Dave Duncan magic touch has not been able to resuscitate him from his Pirates suckitude -- he had one or two serviceable starts and then slid down the crapper. The Cardinals are lurching and stuttering along, trying to find just enough offense to win, but the bats with the exception of Albert's have gone quiet again and the rotation is suspect. While I did enjoy their win yesterday, I'm trying to fight off a feeling that those may be few and far between. All I can say for them is that they're going to have to find some way to figure this out before they disappear in the Central for the rest of '07.
And.... oh.... FUCKING. HELL. My worst-case scenario has officially come true. It was just announced that Carpenter needs surgery to remove the bone chips in his elbow and will be out up to three months. There were murmurings that he was about to come back, too. I don't know what to say, but this absolutely sucks. I think I'm going to call the division for someone else right now -- I don't know who, the Brewers could be a smoke-and-mirrors outfit, I doubt very much the Cubs will do it, the Astros are pretty feeble as well -- but as much as it pains me to say it, these Cardinals are absolutely lifeless. It's a terrible way to follow up a world championship season, but with your ace out until after the All-Star break, your offense dead in the water, and your morale already crushed, I think this team is about to take a nosedive. Maybe it will convince the front-office brass that they need to address the flaws of a team that did, in fact, only win 83 games last year, and may not even break even this year. I think that loyalty to their scrappy underdogs prevented them from really shaking up the status quo, but they need to be rebuilt. This Cardinals dynasty is done for, now let's ship out the most glaring holes (Taguchi, Wilson, Miles come to mind -- also, Jimmy Edmonds, although a fan favorite and a hardcore gamer, is really on the decline) and wait for '08 with a healthy Carpenter, a more adjusted Wainwright, and Pujols, of course. I'll wait them out, and next year should be better than this one, but.... oy. Oy vey. I think I'll just have to enjoy their wins individually, since they're doing a fine job of wrecking my prediction that they'd be strong enough to repeat.
Gaaah... well, that news just ruined my Saturday. Let's try to move on...
The A's also managed to eke out a win in what is traditionally a terrible month for them, against some antagonists who traditionally, and surprisingly, do bad things to them. The month is May, the team is the Devil Rays, and last night the A's beat both of them on the back of a three-run, ninth-inning, tiebreaking jack from Nick Swisher, who thankfully returned from injury quickly to hoist the A's to victory. Danny Haren turned in another stellar start -- the hairy prodigy leads the AL in ERA at 1.75, his next closest competitor is Tim Wakefield at 2.11 -- but naturally didn't get the win, as he was out of the game by the time Swisher did his thing. Huston Street, who thankfully has regained his freshman-year form and sports a shiny 2.40 ERA, whipped through a tidy ninth inning to seal the deal for the Elephants, 5-2.
Now, a few observations about the A's. For some reason, they're all made of china, and break when the wind blows hard, but this year more so than ever. They got good news yesterday when Mark Kotsay, expected to be out until close to the All-Star break, could instead return to the team around the middle of May, but for every one that stays healthy, three go down, until it's pretty much become an actual curse if you play outfield for Oakland. Ryan Langerhans, Chris Snelling, and Jack Cust are some of the names floating around as Billy Beane desperately attempts to patch the hole in the Titanic. The former two were traded for each other (Snelling being the current representative) and Cust's chief claim to fame is falling down while trying to score the tying run in a Yankees/Orioles game, crawling toward home plate, and being tagged out by Aaron Boone. Uhhhhyeah. The DL is long and getting longer, and A's fans have long suspected that the training staff has to bear some of the blame for this. The Yankees fired their conditioning coach after a rash of injuries, but the A's keep the same one and keep getting injured.
The A's also have one problem with the guys that are healthy enough to stagger onto the field and re-wind their bandages in between innings: they can't hit. You might say that this is an unfair thing to expect of invalids, but at least some of them have all their limbs in functional order and they still can't do it. Eric Chavez, for example, still plays great defense, but he's only hitting .240 and can't for the life of him produce in important situations (although he did have a two-out RBI single yesterday, that is the exception, not the rule). For other teams, having runners on first and second and less than two outs might mean that they would score, but not so the A's; they'll ground into a double play or otherwise squander it. Chavez seems to do his best hitting when the A's are already significantly behind or ahead, and I do like the guy, but I too am starting to wonder about his mental makeup. We don't need our very own A-Rod on this team (although A-Rod's defense doesn't even compare to Chavez's).
Also, one of the other chief offenders is Bobby Crosby. I am really getting sick of him, as is a great portion of Athletics Nation. His defense is still cringe-inducing -- he looks awkward in the field and it's still a fifty-fifty proposition as to whether his throws will make it to first. Not to mention his crazy, all-out swing, which is mainly good for racking up strikeouts in important situations. Crosby says that the swing has "worked'' for him since high school and he doesn't want to change it now. You know what that means, Crosby? It means you're lazy. If you want to get better, if you want to perform at a major league level, you will put in all the long hours of work now that you did then. Getting to the major leagues is not carte blanche to slack off, drive fast in nice cars, hang out with blonde girls, and drink, as I'm well aware you like to do. They may be nice perks, but you came to Oakland to play, now play, goddammit. We didn't re-sign Tejada for you, since you were supposed to step into those shoes and perform at a consistently high level. All these times you've been injured, we've waited for you to get back, we've said you'll do better, but you haven't, and right now, you're barely even replacement-level. So put in the goddamn work and act like you want to be here, instead of phoning it in.
Whew. Okay. Blew off a little steam there. That's healthy, we all have to do that, this is my blog and I can say what I want.... Now then. The last proposition for the day is the Rockies, and I have a bit of vitriol for them too, more specifically Clint Hurdle, as always. The Rockies won yesterday in Great American Ball Park, which is a house of horrors for them (3-11) but that doesn't mean they're exempt from my wrath, now that I've got it going. I am going to make a bold claim, which is: The Rockies would be at least in second place in the division right now if they fired Clint Effing Hurdle.
When the Rockies win, it's usually because someone (such as Matt Holliday, blossoming into a true superstar) steps up, puts them on his back, and plays hard. The 9-7 win against the Giants exemplified that. Holliday had a moonshot homer, a bases-clearing double, and a fully extended diving catch on a sinking liner, and all this after cracking the walkoff for the Rockies against the Braves. They do not win because Hurdle makes smart decisions. Take yesterday. Tie game, top tenth, two runners on, no outs, Brad Hawpe at the plate. Hurdle wants him to bunt. I do not think the idiocy of this can be overstated. Coming up after Hawpe are Yorvit Torrealba and Omar Quintanilla, who, shall we say, are not going to win any batting titles in the near future. Hawpe is the last guy up who has the ability to put it over the fence -- not to mention that he's never successfully bunted before in his career. This was maybe his third attempt to lay down a sacrifice, and it doesn't work; he strikes out on the foul bunts. Torrealba grounds into a double play for the second time that game and the inning ends. The Rockies end up winning because Willy Taveras, of all people, gets his second extra-base hit (out of 26) and Troy Tulowitzki, who's on a tear, puts him in with an opposite-field single.
Hurdle's comments after the game went to the effect of, "Well, Hawpe needs to know how to bunt." No, you bleeding moron, he doesn't. That's the pitcher's job. Let Hawpe swing away and lay down a bunt with Torrealba if you have to satisfy your bunting fetish -- try a squeeze play, something. Arrrgggh. To add to his ledger of questionable decisions, Hurdle pulled Todd Helton late in the game -- Helton has an on-base percentage over .500 and is hitting in the .380s -- for Jamey Carroll, who's hitting well under .200. At least that one didn't come back to bite us, but if the game had gone any longer, it would have been Carroll's task to protect Matt Holliday in the twelfth inning. How do you think that would have gone? Carroll also made a slick play at third (I was quite pleased to see Garrett Atkins playing first, which is actually his original position) but if the game had gone any longer and we'd needed a hitter, we would have been screwed.
This latest mind-bogglingly stupid Hurdle decision comes after he used Steve Finley and John Mabry to pinch-hit back to back in the ninth inning of a two-run game. His comments about the Mets/Rockies game last week (the one I didn't go to) where El Duque and Aaron Cook traded zeros for most of the game and then the Mets won on the flukey drag bunt in extras? "I enjoyed watching the pitchers duel." You know what, Clint? If you like watching baseball, retire and buy season tickets to a team you like. Don't sit in the dugout and amiably watch the team you are in charge of lose, or worse, make stupid decisions that push them closer to losing. The guy has absolutely no winning mentality whatsoever. Win-at-all-costs bulldogs can be harsh, but at least they know how to push their guys farther. With the talent the Rockies have right now (with the exception of their shitaceous bullpen) there is no reason in the world they shouldn't be competing for the NL West title, except for one: Clint Effing Hurdle.
Okay. All those diatribes delivered, I suppose I should say that surprisingly, out of all my teams right now, I'm having the most fun watching the Rockies. The A's have the best record (14-14) but I'm still afraid something bad is going to happen to them in May, and I'm so tired of their injuries and lack of RISP hits that I think I need to take a short break and check back with them in June, traditionally a great month for the green and gold. The Cardinals are honestly depressing right now, so it falls to the Rockies to save my enthusiasm. I love their guys, and can just watch inning by inning and not care about competing -- the A's and Cards were projected to compete, the A's probably will -- but with the Rockies, I can just watch. Not to say that the losing doesn't bother me -- as you can see above, it does. It really does. Still, my love for the guys is enough to keep me watching, the wins are nice, and then there's the thought that on Wednesday, May 16, I'll be back at Coors in my Rockies stuff and watching my first home game of the year. That is a cheerful thought.
In the meantime, I am (OH so) close to finishing my work, a very cheering thought. I also get to go to a game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday with one of my good friends on the softball team, which will be fun -- I'll enjoy seeing the place and watching a game, and if the Yankees should happen to lose, so much the better. But psst... you didn't hear me say that. And on Friday I fly home for the start of summer, which is a very happy thought. Okay. Hope I didn't scare anybody off. I get mad at them because I love them so much.
The Terrific Trifecta occurred last night the first time all year, or, in other words, all three of my teams won on the same day. Adam managed to bail out the Cards with a little help from his friends -- six innings, seven hits, two runs, an economic 88 pitches for Wainwright, a clutch two-run double from Pujols, and an inning and a third of stellar relief work from Isringhausen all added up to a 3-2 win for the Redbirds. However, they're already behind 7-0 to the Astros today after Kip Wells got bombed, and it's really looking more and more as if the Dave Duncan magic touch has not been able to resuscitate him from his Pirates suckitude -- he had one or two serviceable starts and then slid down the crapper. The Cardinals are lurching and stuttering along, trying to find just enough offense to win, but the bats with the exception of Albert's have gone quiet again and the rotation is suspect. While I did enjoy their win yesterday, I'm trying to fight off a feeling that those may be few and far between. All I can say for them is that they're going to have to find some way to figure this out before they disappear in the Central for the rest of '07.
And.... oh.... FUCKING. HELL. My worst-case scenario has officially come true. It was just announced that Carpenter needs surgery to remove the bone chips in his elbow and will be out up to three months. There were murmurings that he was about to come back, too. I don't know what to say, but this absolutely sucks. I think I'm going to call the division for someone else right now -- I don't know who, the Brewers could be a smoke-and-mirrors outfit, I doubt very much the Cubs will do it, the Astros are pretty feeble as well -- but as much as it pains me to say it, these Cardinals are absolutely lifeless. It's a terrible way to follow up a world championship season, but with your ace out until after the All-Star break, your offense dead in the water, and your morale already crushed, I think this team is about to take a nosedive. Maybe it will convince the front-office brass that they need to address the flaws of a team that did, in fact, only win 83 games last year, and may not even break even this year. I think that loyalty to their scrappy underdogs prevented them from really shaking up the status quo, but they need to be rebuilt. This Cardinals dynasty is done for, now let's ship out the most glaring holes (Taguchi, Wilson, Miles come to mind -- also, Jimmy Edmonds, although a fan favorite and a hardcore gamer, is really on the decline) and wait for '08 with a healthy Carpenter, a more adjusted Wainwright, and Pujols, of course. I'll wait them out, and next year should be better than this one, but.... oy. Oy vey. I think I'll just have to enjoy their wins individually, since they're doing a fine job of wrecking my prediction that they'd be strong enough to repeat.
Gaaah... well, that news just ruined my Saturday. Let's try to move on...
The A's also managed to eke out a win in what is traditionally a terrible month for them, against some antagonists who traditionally, and surprisingly, do bad things to them. The month is May, the team is the Devil Rays, and last night the A's beat both of them on the back of a three-run, ninth-inning, tiebreaking jack from Nick Swisher, who thankfully returned from injury quickly to hoist the A's to victory. Danny Haren turned in another stellar start -- the hairy prodigy leads the AL in ERA at 1.75, his next closest competitor is Tim Wakefield at 2.11 -- but naturally didn't get the win, as he was out of the game by the time Swisher did his thing. Huston Street, who thankfully has regained his freshman-year form and sports a shiny 2.40 ERA, whipped through a tidy ninth inning to seal the deal for the Elephants, 5-2.
Now, a few observations about the A's. For some reason, they're all made of china, and break when the wind blows hard, but this year more so than ever. They got good news yesterday when Mark Kotsay, expected to be out until close to the All-Star break, could instead return to the team around the middle of May, but for every one that stays healthy, three go down, until it's pretty much become an actual curse if you play outfield for Oakland. Ryan Langerhans, Chris Snelling, and Jack Cust are some of the names floating around as Billy Beane desperately attempts to patch the hole in the Titanic. The former two were traded for each other (Snelling being the current representative) and Cust's chief claim to fame is falling down while trying to score the tying run in a Yankees/Orioles game, crawling toward home plate, and being tagged out by Aaron Boone. Uhhhhyeah. The DL is long and getting longer, and A's fans have long suspected that the training staff has to bear some of the blame for this. The Yankees fired their conditioning coach after a rash of injuries, but the A's keep the same one and keep getting injured.
The A's also have one problem with the guys that are healthy enough to stagger onto the field and re-wind their bandages in between innings: they can't hit. You might say that this is an unfair thing to expect of invalids, but at least some of them have all their limbs in functional order and they still can't do it. Eric Chavez, for example, still plays great defense, but he's only hitting .240 and can't for the life of him produce in important situations (although he did have a two-out RBI single yesterday, that is the exception, not the rule). For other teams, having runners on first and second and less than two outs might mean that they would score, but not so the A's; they'll ground into a double play or otherwise squander it. Chavez seems to do his best hitting when the A's are already significantly behind or ahead, and I do like the guy, but I too am starting to wonder about his mental makeup. We don't need our very own A-Rod on this team (although A-Rod's defense doesn't even compare to Chavez's).
Also, one of the other chief offenders is Bobby Crosby. I am really getting sick of him, as is a great portion of Athletics Nation. His defense is still cringe-inducing -- he looks awkward in the field and it's still a fifty-fifty proposition as to whether his throws will make it to first. Not to mention his crazy, all-out swing, which is mainly good for racking up strikeouts in important situations. Crosby says that the swing has "worked'' for him since high school and he doesn't want to change it now. You know what that means, Crosby? It means you're lazy. If you want to get better, if you want to perform at a major league level, you will put in all the long hours of work now that you did then. Getting to the major leagues is not carte blanche to slack off, drive fast in nice cars, hang out with blonde girls, and drink, as I'm well aware you like to do. They may be nice perks, but you came to Oakland to play, now play, goddammit. We didn't re-sign Tejada for you, since you were supposed to step into those shoes and perform at a consistently high level. All these times you've been injured, we've waited for you to get back, we've said you'll do better, but you haven't, and right now, you're barely even replacement-level. So put in the goddamn work and act like you want to be here, instead of phoning it in.
Whew. Okay. Blew off a little steam there. That's healthy, we all have to do that, this is my blog and I can say what I want.... Now then. The last proposition for the day is the Rockies, and I have a bit of vitriol for them too, more specifically Clint Hurdle, as always. The Rockies won yesterday in Great American Ball Park, which is a house of horrors for them (3-11) but that doesn't mean they're exempt from my wrath, now that I've got it going. I am going to make a bold claim, which is: The Rockies would be at least in second place in the division right now if they fired Clint Effing Hurdle.
When the Rockies win, it's usually because someone (such as Matt Holliday, blossoming into a true superstar) steps up, puts them on his back, and plays hard. The 9-7 win against the Giants exemplified that. Holliday had a moonshot homer, a bases-clearing double, and a fully extended diving catch on a sinking liner, and all this after cracking the walkoff for the Rockies against the Braves. They do not win because Hurdle makes smart decisions. Take yesterday. Tie game, top tenth, two runners on, no outs, Brad Hawpe at the plate. Hurdle wants him to bunt. I do not think the idiocy of this can be overstated. Coming up after Hawpe are Yorvit Torrealba and Omar Quintanilla, who, shall we say, are not going to win any batting titles in the near future. Hawpe is the last guy up who has the ability to put it over the fence -- not to mention that he's never successfully bunted before in his career. This was maybe his third attempt to lay down a sacrifice, and it doesn't work; he strikes out on the foul bunts. Torrealba grounds into a double play for the second time that game and the inning ends. The Rockies end up winning because Willy Taveras, of all people, gets his second extra-base hit (out of 26) and Troy Tulowitzki, who's on a tear, puts him in with an opposite-field single.
Hurdle's comments after the game went to the effect of, "Well, Hawpe needs to know how to bunt." No, you bleeding moron, he doesn't. That's the pitcher's job. Let Hawpe swing away and lay down a bunt with Torrealba if you have to satisfy your bunting fetish -- try a squeeze play, something. Arrrgggh. To add to his ledger of questionable decisions, Hurdle pulled Todd Helton late in the game -- Helton has an on-base percentage over .500 and is hitting in the .380s -- for Jamey Carroll, who's hitting well under .200. At least that one didn't come back to bite us, but if the game had gone any longer, it would have been Carroll's task to protect Matt Holliday in the twelfth inning. How do you think that would have gone? Carroll also made a slick play at third (I was quite pleased to see Garrett Atkins playing first, which is actually his original position) but if the game had gone any longer and we'd needed a hitter, we would have been screwed.
This latest mind-bogglingly stupid Hurdle decision comes after he used Steve Finley and John Mabry to pinch-hit back to back in the ninth inning of a two-run game. His comments about the Mets/Rockies game last week (the one I didn't go to) where El Duque and Aaron Cook traded zeros for most of the game and then the Mets won on the flukey drag bunt in extras? "I enjoyed watching the pitchers duel." You know what, Clint? If you like watching baseball, retire and buy season tickets to a team you like. Don't sit in the dugout and amiably watch the team you are in charge of lose, or worse, make stupid decisions that push them closer to losing. The guy has absolutely no winning mentality whatsoever. Win-at-all-costs bulldogs can be harsh, but at least they know how to push their guys farther. With the talent the Rockies have right now (with the exception of their shitaceous bullpen) there is no reason in the world they shouldn't be competing for the NL West title, except for one: Clint Effing Hurdle.
Okay. All those diatribes delivered, I suppose I should say that surprisingly, out of all my teams right now, I'm having the most fun watching the Rockies. The A's have the best record (14-14) but I'm still afraid something bad is going to happen to them in May, and I'm so tired of their injuries and lack of RISP hits that I think I need to take a short break and check back with them in June, traditionally a great month for the green and gold. The Cardinals are honestly depressing right now, so it falls to the Rockies to save my enthusiasm. I love their guys, and can just watch inning by inning and not care about competing -- the A's and Cards were projected to compete, the A's probably will -- but with the Rockies, I can just watch. Not to say that the losing doesn't bother me -- as you can see above, it does. It really does. Still, my love for the guys is enough to keep me watching, the wins are nice, and then there's the thought that on Wednesday, May 16, I'll be back at Coors in my Rockies stuff and watching my first home game of the year. That is a cheerful thought.
In the meantime, I am (OH so) close to finishing my work, a very cheering thought. I also get to go to a game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday with one of my good friends on the softball team, which will be fun -- I'll enjoy seeing the place and watching a game, and if the Yankees should happen to lose, so much the better. But psst... you didn't hear me say that. And on Friday I fly home for the start of summer, which is a very happy thought. Okay. Hope I didn't scare anybody off. I get mad at them because I love them so much.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
She Is Not Dead Yet
...but she may be soon. Honestly, this end-of-semester grind is killing me. I have one more research paper to finish (I still need to write half of it) and I also need to finish my writing project, which at least is closer to completion. Not to mention write another philosophy essay, a short piece for literature, keep on top of all the stories and essays I need to read, and worry about possibly changing my airline ticket home if the screwy college storage schedules don't align... you know, stuff like that. I wake up feeling as exhausted as when I go to sleep and I've barely had a free moment to (gasp) have FUN for practically two weeks. Until today. Today was lovely. I went to bed at midnight last night (unfathomably early for a college student such as myself) woke up at noon, had brunch, then went out into a gorgeous, glorious, summer-like day with all the trees in bloom, swinging and listening to music, fixing my bike, walking into Bronxville, eating frozen yogurt, and finally swinging again in bare feet, watching the long evening settle over campus. It was the first day in forever that I didn't do any schoolwork, which I am now compensating for by editing my research paper. And watching baseball. I think that's a reason it takes me so long to get anything done in the evenings.
What have I missed in the land of baseball? The Cardinals got swept in an abbreviated two-game set by the GIANTS (ouch...) won the first game against the Cubs by a score of 2-1 (winning margin helpfully provided by Preston Wilson, of all people, which means he'll now go hide again with the rest of the Cards' bats). Today... ouch, well, let's just say they got shut out by Jason Marquis. Jason Marquis. Yes, the same Bipolar Betty who I said would force me to commit some form of impressive suicide if he shut the Cards down. Things are bad in Redbird Land. Nobody can hit to save their lives and the starting pitching is starting to crumble, led by Anthony Reyes, who is looking more and more as if he may not pan out after all in the majors. This team needs Albert Pujols to start hitting like they need a right arm, specifically Chris Carpenter's, and they need it before they sink. At least the Cubs are still bad, but if the Cards keep up with this free-fall much longer, they are going to be inhabiting some pretty miserable climates for a defending world series champion -- I can't remember how long it's been since the champs started off this poorly, but it's been a while.
Out of all three teams, the A's, surprisingly, are playing the best. They annihilated the Rangers 16-4 last night and are alone in first place (like that means squat this early in the season) with a 9-7 record. I'm bracing for May, which is invariably devastating to them, but at this point, it's nice to see at least one of my teams doing well. Joe Kennedy (yes, Joe Kennedy, spoken in the same tone of dread as Marquis) is starting tonight against the Rangers.
The Rockies... ah, well. They have to start having some better luck, and they manage to intersperse their bad games with one or two where they look quite good, so it's enough to keep me watching them, aside from the fact that I'm totally addicted to their young guns (love those guys -- particularly Atkins, Holliday, and Hawpe -- to death). The Rockies are bad, have been bad for a while, and yet still have a faint hope of snapping out of it. But not as long as Clint Hurdle is the manager. The man is so clueless that it ceased to be funny quite a while ago. The Rockies got blown out 11-1 by the Padres last night, and currently trail 5-1 in the top of the fourth after Josh Fogg and Jeff Francis got shelled on back-to-back nights. The one thing that was carrying the team -- the starting pitching -- has started to evaporate, and the offense, although not quite as bad as the Cards', isn't doing them too many favors. The Purple Pitcher Eaters, i.e. Atkins, Helton, Holliday, and Hawpe, are all hitting to some degree, but the rest of the team, and particularly the black holes in center field, can't help them out to save their lives. Le sigh.
However... the Rockies are coming to NY Monday-Wednesday next week to play the Mets, and I shall be attending two of the games (April 23 and 25). Have to admit that despite the high likelihood of the Mets clobbering them, I am SO excited for the series that I can't bear it. A friend and I planned this several months ago, and I just want to go to my first ballgame of the year, wear my colors, cheer for my boys, and get some pictures and hopefully some autographs. (My theory: How many Rockies fans will there be in April at Shea? Honestly. My plan is to sit on the sidelines and look cute and forlorn all by myself until the guys take pity on me and come over). Hopefully the ushers at Shea will allow me to be down by the dugout during batting practice -- it also helps that I know the Rockies to an alarming degree and can call them over by name, which may or may not be helpful. I'll be glad for anyone I can get, unless it's LaTroy Hawkins, at which point I shall cast holy water on him and yell, "Back! Back!"
Just kidding. Maybe.
And now for a couple links:
This story is amazing and sad and makes me love baseball even more. It's wonderful that the VT community can come together to support their team in light of the terrible tragedy.
This story, on the other hand, is amazing and cute and makes me grin like a crazy person.
What have I missed in the land of baseball? The Cardinals got swept in an abbreviated two-game set by the GIANTS (ouch...) won the first game against the Cubs by a score of 2-1 (winning margin helpfully provided by Preston Wilson, of all people, which means he'll now go hide again with the rest of the Cards' bats). Today... ouch, well, let's just say they got shut out by Jason Marquis. Jason Marquis. Yes, the same Bipolar Betty who I said would force me to commit some form of impressive suicide if he shut the Cards down. Things are bad in Redbird Land. Nobody can hit to save their lives and the starting pitching is starting to crumble, led by Anthony Reyes, who is looking more and more as if he may not pan out after all in the majors. This team needs Albert Pujols to start hitting like they need a right arm, specifically Chris Carpenter's, and they need it before they sink. At least the Cubs are still bad, but if the Cards keep up with this free-fall much longer, they are going to be inhabiting some pretty miserable climates for a defending world series champion -- I can't remember how long it's been since the champs started off this poorly, but it's been a while.
Out of all three teams, the A's, surprisingly, are playing the best. They annihilated the Rangers 16-4 last night and are alone in first place (like that means squat this early in the season) with a 9-7 record. I'm bracing for May, which is invariably devastating to them, but at this point, it's nice to see at least one of my teams doing well. Joe Kennedy (yes, Joe Kennedy, spoken in the same tone of dread as Marquis) is starting tonight against the Rangers.
The Rockies... ah, well. They have to start having some better luck, and they manage to intersperse their bad games with one or two where they look quite good, so it's enough to keep me watching them, aside from the fact that I'm totally addicted to their young guns (love those guys -- particularly Atkins, Holliday, and Hawpe -- to death). The Rockies are bad, have been bad for a while, and yet still have a faint hope of snapping out of it. But not as long as Clint Hurdle is the manager. The man is so clueless that it ceased to be funny quite a while ago. The Rockies got blown out 11-1 by the Padres last night, and currently trail 5-1 in the top of the fourth after Josh Fogg and Jeff Francis got shelled on back-to-back nights. The one thing that was carrying the team -- the starting pitching -- has started to evaporate, and the offense, although not quite as bad as the Cards', isn't doing them too many favors. The Purple Pitcher Eaters, i.e. Atkins, Helton, Holliday, and Hawpe, are all hitting to some degree, but the rest of the team, and particularly the black holes in center field, can't help them out to save their lives. Le sigh.
However... the Rockies are coming to NY Monday-Wednesday next week to play the Mets, and I shall be attending two of the games (April 23 and 25). Have to admit that despite the high likelihood of the Mets clobbering them, I am SO excited for the series that I can't bear it. A friend and I planned this several months ago, and I just want to go to my first ballgame of the year, wear my colors, cheer for my boys, and get some pictures and hopefully some autographs. (My theory: How many Rockies fans will there be in April at Shea? Honestly. My plan is to sit on the sidelines and look cute and forlorn all by myself until the guys take pity on me and come over). Hopefully the ushers at Shea will allow me to be down by the dugout during batting practice -- it also helps that I know the Rockies to an alarming degree and can call them over by name, which may or may not be helpful. I'll be glad for anyone I can get, unless it's LaTroy Hawkins, at which point I shall cast holy water on him and yell, "Back! Back!"
Just kidding. Maybe.
And now for a couple links:
This story is amazing and sad and makes me love baseball even more. It's wonderful that the VT community can come together to support their team in light of the terrible tragedy.
This story, on the other hand, is amazing and cute and makes me grin like a crazy person.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Dungeons and Diamonds
No, it isn't a new fantasy role-playing game, but it's the most accurate way to sum up the past few days. All three of my teams were felled on Friday the 13th in a variety of very inventive ways, ranging from the usual not-enough-offense (Cardinals dropped by Brewers 3-2) to terrible managing (Hurdle pinch-hitting John Mabry instead of Jeff Baker with the Rockies within a run and two aboard in the ninth; Rockies lose to D-backs 5-4) to the homer in extras (Jason Giambi breaks a 3-3 tie in the 13th inning.... spookily enough... to take the Yanks over the A's 4-3), completing the Terrible Trifecta day in which all of my teams lose. That is not fun. Fortunately, there were both good and bad results to be found today.
The Cardinals completed their Sunday blowout -- last week it was to eradicate the Astros 10-1 and this week it was to do basically the same thing to the Brewers, except Braden Looper allowed an extra run as the Redbirds took it by a score of 10-2. Encouragingly, five RBIs were provided by Albert Pujols, who is scuffling to start the season, but more than doubled his total numbers to date with two line-drive home runs and a groundout. He's not out of the woods just yet, as the first home run came on a batting-practice fastball and the second came on a curve, or at least a pitch that was supposed to be a curve and floated in his wheelhouse, and I'm not ready to pronounce him rehabilitated until he can do it more than once a week. Still, both times that Albert has had a big outing, the Cards offense has scored a heap of runs -- once he can get it going on a consistent basis, maybe they'll finally average more than two or three runs per game. The pitching has been exemplary, even my personal favorite whipping boy Looper, and this is by no means a bad team despite all snide predictions to the contrary. The Cubs, for example, are 4-7 and got shut out 1-0 at home today on the back of a brilliant performance by the Reds' Kyle Lohse - 8 shutout innings and 12 Ks. Yes, the Kyle Lohse who got cut by Minnesota for being terrible. You might say that $300 million is not having the immediate wished-for results.
About the A's... man, today was an emotional roller coaster. Rich Harden had a great start, tried to barehand a Melky Cabrera chopper in the third, and got examined by the med staff. He seemed to be okay until the start of the seventh, where he was looked at again, gave up an A-Rod double, and then got pulled with what the A's notoriously evasive medical staff is calling "tightness" in his throwing shoulder. Harden is brilliantly untouchable and Cy Young-like when he's on, but blow on him the wrong way and he breaks. It's extremely aggravating. A's fans everywhere must pray that it's nothing serious, but I in no way trust the A's medical team to properly manage this injury. It could mean anything from "his next start is pushed back a few days" to "his career is over," and although I salivate over Harden's potential, his complete and utter inability to stay healthy is maddening. Losing Carpenter and Harden off two of my teams is awful, and I'm dearly hoping that it'll be nothing serious. Harden's spot in the rotation makes only one start before April 25, due to the conjunction of off-days, so it's possible the A's could survive if it was just a short-term thing, but with Harden's extremely checkered medical past, nothing is certain. Here's where the loss of Zito hurts (although he's not doing much impressing with the Giants). If the A's have to run out a rotation of Danny Haren, Joe Blanton, Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy, and who? Brad Halsey?, they are, pardon my French, fucked. If Harden goes down, it's going to be very, very tough going for the A's. And frankly, I'm getting a little frustrated with Rich. How in the hell can one ballplayer be injured so much? Is it weight training too much? Simple physical fragility? The nasty whispers that steroids have weakened the muscles? Who knows, and if the baseball gods have any heart at all, they will not allow him to go down yet -- freaking -- again.
The other injury risk who could actually benefit the A's by going down right now is starting shortstop Bobby Crosby. To start with, his defense is atrocious right now -- it's maybe a 50% chance that he'll make a routine play. He bobbles DP balls, overthrows the first baseman, can't hang onto hard hoppers, and generally makes you wince every time it's hit in his direction -- his defense was directly responsible for the A's Opening Day defeat in Seattle. And his hitting is abominable. Twice in the past two games, Eric Chavez got aboard and into scoring position -- once by a triple, once by a walk and a stolen base -- and twice, Crosby left him there with some of the weakest situational hitting one could imagine, pulling a pitch feebly onto the ground once and striking out on three the other time. Some people are saying that he's still in Spring Training since his balky back held him out of the majority of Cactus League action, but the truth is that Crosby is criminally overrated and has been for a while. Even in his 2004 Rookie of the Year season, he hit only .239, and although A's fans have been clamoring for him to be healthy and show his potential, now that he's playing, there doesn't appear to be any. Even the most talented college players can be busts in the big leagues, and this isn't a case of 12 games in April, it's a case of Crosby's short and unfortunate career to date. I'll give him some more leeway, but not a lot.
And besides, there may be another option....this brings me to today's happy A's news. Despite all the crap that went on otherwise, and Harden leaving before Joe Kennedy was brought in to cough up three runs to the Yankees (now HE is bad and always will be) the A's actually won. Yes, and they did it in an amazing and heartstopping fashion. The Yankees were up 4-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth, and they put in Superman closer Mariano Rivera, who almost always gets the job done and is one of the few relievers that is a lock for the Hall of Fame. He got two quick outs, and this is where (to my later chagrin) I left the proceedings, unable to bear the A's offensive ineptitude. Then I came back later, saw that the box read "NYY 4 -- OAK 5" and stared at it, incomprehending. Then I saw what had happened and began to freak out, laughing, rocking, giggling, cheering, and generally making it a good thing that I was alone in my dorm room.
Here's what unfolded with two outs and no one on:
Todd Walker lined a first-pitch single into left field.
Jason Kendall took 9 pitches, fighting and fouling off, to work a walk.
Marco Scutaro, possibly the most amazing little man known to baseball, takes a called strike and then fouls off another to quickly put himself into an 0-2 hole. Against Rivera. Two outs. Two on. And on the third pitch - BOOM. A screaming line drive that bangs into the left-field foul pole. Three-run homer. Walkoff. Delirium. My friend who was at the game called me about twenty minutes afterwards, and all he could say, over and over, was, "Oh my God." It was hard to hear since the A's fans were still so happy, and he held up the phone so I could hear a raucous chant of "YANKEES SUCK!" in the background. Aaaaaahh.
As for the last game of the day, the Rockies lost, finishing out a disappointing 3-6 road trip in which they won the first game in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix before losing the next two, and preventing a three-win day from happening for the first time this season. The big bats -- Atkins, Helton, Holliday, and Hawpe -- all contributed for the latter two games, turning in a homer, an RBI double, a single (Atkins) a double and a homer (Helton) 4 hits overall (Holliday) and a screaming 2-RBI double (Hawpe), but LaTroy Hawkins the Doominator and Hurdle the functional retard, along with Byung-Hyun Kim's terrible start, conspired to screw them out of any series victories. The Rockies head back to Denver to open a seven-game homestand, starting with the Geriatrics and Barry Zito vs. Jeff Francis. Not winning on the road really killed them last year, so they're going to have to fix that pronto to have any hope of competing. Fortunately, the Giants have a terrible offense, so hopefully the Rockies can get some momentum going at Coors before coming out East to play the Mets (and I'm going!!!!! :D) in a week and a half.
That's it for now. I still have a backbreaking workload and need to do some more, so the blog may not get updated every day. Still, I'll do my best to bring you any and all news, interesting happenings, dramatic wins, gut-wrenching losses, shoddy analysis, euphoria, despair, heroes, goats, and fictitious interviews. See ya around.
The Cardinals completed their Sunday blowout -- last week it was to eradicate the Astros 10-1 and this week it was to do basically the same thing to the Brewers, except Braden Looper allowed an extra run as the Redbirds took it by a score of 10-2. Encouragingly, five RBIs were provided by Albert Pujols, who is scuffling to start the season, but more than doubled his total numbers to date with two line-drive home runs and a groundout. He's not out of the woods just yet, as the first home run came on a batting-practice fastball and the second came on a curve, or at least a pitch that was supposed to be a curve and floated in his wheelhouse, and I'm not ready to pronounce him rehabilitated until he can do it more than once a week. Still, both times that Albert has had a big outing, the Cards offense has scored a heap of runs -- once he can get it going on a consistent basis, maybe they'll finally average more than two or three runs per game. The pitching has been exemplary, even my personal favorite whipping boy Looper, and this is by no means a bad team despite all snide predictions to the contrary. The Cubs, for example, are 4-7 and got shut out 1-0 at home today on the back of a brilliant performance by the Reds' Kyle Lohse - 8 shutout innings and 12 Ks. Yes, the Kyle Lohse who got cut by Minnesota for being terrible. You might say that $300 million is not having the immediate wished-for results.
About the A's... man, today was an emotional roller coaster. Rich Harden had a great start, tried to barehand a Melky Cabrera chopper in the third, and got examined by the med staff. He seemed to be okay until the start of the seventh, where he was looked at again, gave up an A-Rod double, and then got pulled with what the A's notoriously evasive medical staff is calling "tightness" in his throwing shoulder. Harden is brilliantly untouchable and Cy Young-like when he's on, but blow on him the wrong way and he breaks. It's extremely aggravating. A's fans everywhere must pray that it's nothing serious, but I in no way trust the A's medical team to properly manage this injury. It could mean anything from "his next start is pushed back a few days" to "his career is over," and although I salivate over Harden's potential, his complete and utter inability to stay healthy is maddening. Losing Carpenter and Harden off two of my teams is awful, and I'm dearly hoping that it'll be nothing serious. Harden's spot in the rotation makes only one start before April 25, due to the conjunction of off-days, so it's possible the A's could survive if it was just a short-term thing, but with Harden's extremely checkered medical past, nothing is certain. Here's where the loss of Zito hurts (although he's not doing much impressing with the Giants). If the A's have to run out a rotation of Danny Haren, Joe Blanton, Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy, and who? Brad Halsey?, they are, pardon my French, fucked. If Harden goes down, it's going to be very, very tough going for the A's. And frankly, I'm getting a little frustrated with Rich. How in the hell can one ballplayer be injured so much? Is it weight training too much? Simple physical fragility? The nasty whispers that steroids have weakened the muscles? Who knows, and if the baseball gods have any heart at all, they will not allow him to go down yet -- freaking -- again.
The other injury risk who could actually benefit the A's by going down right now is starting shortstop Bobby Crosby. To start with, his defense is atrocious right now -- it's maybe a 50% chance that he'll make a routine play. He bobbles DP balls, overthrows the first baseman, can't hang onto hard hoppers, and generally makes you wince every time it's hit in his direction -- his defense was directly responsible for the A's Opening Day defeat in Seattle. And his hitting is abominable. Twice in the past two games, Eric Chavez got aboard and into scoring position -- once by a triple, once by a walk and a stolen base -- and twice, Crosby left him there with some of the weakest situational hitting one could imagine, pulling a pitch feebly onto the ground once and striking out on three the other time. Some people are saying that he's still in Spring Training since his balky back held him out of the majority of Cactus League action, but the truth is that Crosby is criminally overrated and has been for a while. Even in his 2004 Rookie of the Year season, he hit only .239, and although A's fans have been clamoring for him to be healthy and show his potential, now that he's playing, there doesn't appear to be any. Even the most talented college players can be busts in the big leagues, and this isn't a case of 12 games in April, it's a case of Crosby's short and unfortunate career to date. I'll give him some more leeway, but not a lot.
And besides, there may be another option....this brings me to today's happy A's news. Despite all the crap that went on otherwise, and Harden leaving before Joe Kennedy was brought in to cough up three runs to the Yankees (now HE is bad and always will be) the A's actually won. Yes, and they did it in an amazing and heartstopping fashion. The Yankees were up 4-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth, and they put in Superman closer Mariano Rivera, who almost always gets the job done and is one of the few relievers that is a lock for the Hall of Fame. He got two quick outs, and this is where (to my later chagrin) I left the proceedings, unable to bear the A's offensive ineptitude. Then I came back later, saw that the box read "NYY 4 -- OAK 5" and stared at it, incomprehending. Then I saw what had happened and began to freak out, laughing, rocking, giggling, cheering, and generally making it a good thing that I was alone in my dorm room.
Here's what unfolded with two outs and no one on:
Todd Walker lined a first-pitch single into left field.
Jason Kendall took 9 pitches, fighting and fouling off, to work a walk.
Marco Scutaro, possibly the most amazing little man known to baseball, takes a called strike and then fouls off another to quickly put himself into an 0-2 hole. Against Rivera. Two outs. Two on. And on the third pitch - BOOM. A screaming line drive that bangs into the left-field foul pole. Three-run homer. Walkoff. Delirium. My friend who was at the game called me about twenty minutes afterwards, and all he could say, over and over, was, "Oh my God." It was hard to hear since the A's fans were still so happy, and he held up the phone so I could hear a raucous chant of "YANKEES SUCK!" in the background. Aaaaaahh.
As for the last game of the day, the Rockies lost, finishing out a disappointing 3-6 road trip in which they won the first game in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix before losing the next two, and preventing a three-win day from happening for the first time this season. The big bats -- Atkins, Helton, Holliday, and Hawpe -- all contributed for the latter two games, turning in a homer, an RBI double, a single (Atkins) a double and a homer (Helton) 4 hits overall (Holliday) and a screaming 2-RBI double (Hawpe), but LaTroy Hawkins the Doominator and Hurdle the functional retard, along with Byung-Hyun Kim's terrible start, conspired to screw them out of any series victories. The Rockies head back to Denver to open a seven-game homestand, starting with the Geriatrics and Barry Zito vs. Jeff Francis. Not winning on the road really killed them last year, so they're going to have to fix that pronto to have any hope of competing. Fortunately, the Giants have a terrible offense, so hopefully the Rockies can get some momentum going at Coors before coming out East to play the Mets (and I'm going!!!!! :D) in a week and a half.
That's it for now. I still have a backbreaking workload and need to do some more, so the blog may not get updated every day. Still, I'll do my best to bring you any and all news, interesting happenings, dramatic wins, gut-wrenching losses, shoddy analysis, euphoria, despair, heroes, goats, and fictitious interviews. See ya around.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Somebody Do A Slumpbuster
Short post today because I'm still absolutely snowed under with work and getting to the point where I wake up in the morning feeling just as tired as when I went to sleep. Unfortunately, my habit of staying up to watch my teams on the West Coast may have something to do with this, but what hey! Baseball above mental function! What the hell.
Here are the three scores from my teams last night: 3-2, 2-1, 2-1. Everybody appears to be having the exact same problem, and I really mean the exact same: Their starting pitching shines for six or seven innings, permitting barely any runs or even hits and walks, but the offense goes dead in the water and can't help them out. Even the high-octane Rockies "Purple Pitcher Eaters" are a little lackadaisical on the job. Somebody needs to track down a slumpbuster, carefully avoid telling any wives in question, and get with the program -- this stellar starting pitching isn't going to last forever. Besides, every one of my teams has what I like to call the "ulp-factor" guy, someone who makes you cover your eyes whenever he comes in close and late because you're pretty much dead certain that he's going to give up the ghost.
It's worth noting that the Cards (3-2) and the A's (2-1) actually won their games. The Cards tied it up on a two-run ninth inning single from Scott Spiezio, who wasn't even playing the previous day to a case of food poisoning, and won it on a shallow sac fly from Skip Schumaker in the twelfth, benefiting from suspect defense from Jason Bay. Interestingly, the exact same thing happened with the A's, except they didn't go into extras; they tied and won it in the ninth when Mark Ellis's game-winning single bonked Scott Podsednik on the head. (I've got to find a video of that). I'm starting to wonder if these guys are symbiotically bonded or something. It makes you wonder.
The Rox almost got no-hit by Brett Tomko, of all people (Holliday doubled to avoid such ignominy) and tied it up in the seventh, but squandered a golden opportunity in the eighth, when, with the bases loaded, Holliday grounded into a double play on the first pitch. It is worth noting that he was substantially ticked afterwards, and that for a sweet, nice, down-home country boy, Matt has a surprisingly hot temper. He was giving the ump in San Diego an earful after he was clearly safe on a ninth-inning ground ball and got called out, in a game the Rox later lost, but he needs to shift that anger into helping the offense pick it up. The Rockies' starting rotation has been the biggest surprise of the season to date, but it won't be that way forever. Even Rodrigo Lopez turned in a second consecutive quality start, and the offense has been anemic as the pitching has been good. That won't last forever, however, so the trick is getting the timing of the trade-offs to coincide.
As a final note, my beloved Adam goes trying to nail down a sweep of the Buccos today. If they succeed, they will have recovered nicely from being swept by the Mets -- they won two of three against the Astros and will have done so against the Pirates even if they lose today. I am hoping they won't. Naturally.
Ta-ta for now. The grim prospect of a philosophy research paper awaits.
Here are the three scores from my teams last night: 3-2, 2-1, 2-1. Everybody appears to be having the exact same problem, and I really mean the exact same: Their starting pitching shines for six or seven innings, permitting barely any runs or even hits and walks, but the offense goes dead in the water and can't help them out. Even the high-octane Rockies "Purple Pitcher Eaters" are a little lackadaisical on the job. Somebody needs to track down a slumpbuster, carefully avoid telling any wives in question, and get with the program -- this stellar starting pitching isn't going to last forever. Besides, every one of my teams has what I like to call the "ulp-factor" guy, someone who makes you cover your eyes whenever he comes in close and late because you're pretty much dead certain that he's going to give up the ghost.
It's worth noting that the Cards (3-2) and the A's (2-1) actually won their games. The Cards tied it up on a two-run ninth inning single from Scott Spiezio, who wasn't even playing the previous day to a case of food poisoning, and won it on a shallow sac fly from Skip Schumaker in the twelfth, benefiting from suspect defense from Jason Bay. Interestingly, the exact same thing happened with the A's, except they didn't go into extras; they tied and won it in the ninth when Mark Ellis's game-winning single bonked Scott Podsednik on the head. (I've got to find a video of that). I'm starting to wonder if these guys are symbiotically bonded or something. It makes you wonder.
The Rox almost got no-hit by Brett Tomko, of all people (Holliday doubled to avoid such ignominy) and tied it up in the seventh, but squandered a golden opportunity in the eighth, when, with the bases loaded, Holliday grounded into a double play on the first pitch. It is worth noting that he was substantially ticked afterwards, and that for a sweet, nice, down-home country boy, Matt has a surprisingly hot temper. He was giving the ump in San Diego an earful after he was clearly safe on a ninth-inning ground ball and got called out, in a game the Rox later lost, but he needs to shift that anger into helping the offense pick it up. The Rockies' starting rotation has been the biggest surprise of the season to date, but it won't be that way forever. Even Rodrigo Lopez turned in a second consecutive quality start, and the offense has been anemic as the pitching has been good. That won't last forever, however, so the trick is getting the timing of the trade-offs to coincide.
As a final note, my beloved Adam goes trying to nail down a sweep of the Buccos today. If they succeed, they will have recovered nicely from being swept by the Mets -- they won two of three against the Astros and will have done so against the Pirates even if they lose today. I am hoping they won't. Naturally.
Ta-ta for now. The grim prospect of a philosophy research paper awaits.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Piazza Delivery Man
Mike Piazza, the A's most recent rent-a-player/offense-injecting scheme, finally came to life last night, notching a double, a single, and most importantly, a two-out solo jack in the top of the ninth off monstrously irritating considerably talented Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to break a 3-3 tie and secure a win for the A's. To further juicify the picture, Jason Kendall, he of the noodle arm only surpassed by Piazza himself, ended the game by nailing a thieving Erick Aybar with a perfect throw at second. The A's drew their record even at 2-2 and continue to battle the O.C. Bitches tonight, with Joe Kennedy (gulp) trying to prove that he's able to start at a major-league level. The answer, if you watched him with the D-Rays and Rockies, is a resounding no. But at the moment, the A's really have their hands tied, as their starting rotation is stretched as thin as chewing gum anyway. Esteban Loaiza went on the DL with yet another early-season shoulder issue, but deactivating him is FAR preferable to running him out there and making him pitch anyway, as management tried to do last year with gory results.
Both the Cards and the Rockies had an off-day, where they traveled to Houston and San Diego, respectively. The Cards' game is over, and they won (hallelujah) thanks in large part to a certain dashing Mr. Wainwright. Sparks of Dementia will track him down and get the inside scoop, so you know what that means. ;) In addition to contributing the Cardinals' first stellar start of the season (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 BB, 4 K, and notching his first win as a starter) Adam continued to prove that his success with the bat is no fluke. He ripped a two-run double in the exhibition Civil Rights Game before the start of the season, and helped himself out again tonight with an RBI double to start the scoring, the Cards' first run since Scott Rolen's homer in Game 2 against the Mets, and subsequently scoring on a Chris Duncan jack. Honestly, when he's pitching, the number-nine hole for the Cards has legitimate kick, and I love it. :)
At the moment, Joe Kennedy is slowly beginning the process of implosion, as it's already 2-0 Angels with men on second and third and only one out. Seeing as he's 0-8 with a 6.31 ERA against the O.C. Bitches anyway, throwing him anyway seems to fit neatly under the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results. But as mentioned, the A's are shockingly short on options. Brad Halsey is just as bad, Shane Komine and Jason Windsor are in Triple-A Sacramento and haven't proved that they're ready to compete on a Major League level, and the A's only viable other choice is lefty long man Lenny DiNardo, who would need to be stretched out and is unlikely to be at this point. I developed a confoundedly deep affection for Lenny despite the fact that he used to be a Red Sock, and I'm happy that he made the team.
One more thing - the humorous TV spots for both the A's and the San Diego Padres are on the air now. I love these things -- the Mariners started them and they've been a huge hit for a number of teams since. I highly recommend that if you find yourself with a spare moment, you go to their official sites, click "Multimedia" (or "Fan Forum") and indulge yourself in some comic genius. The M's older ads are particularly hysterical.
More later once I find Adam and get the goods for you. ;)
Both the Cards and the Rockies had an off-day, where they traveled to Houston and San Diego, respectively. The Cards' game is over, and they won (hallelujah) thanks in large part to a certain dashing Mr. Wainwright. Sparks of Dementia will track him down and get the inside scoop, so you know what that means. ;) In addition to contributing the Cardinals' first stellar start of the season (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 BB, 4 K, and notching his first win as a starter) Adam continued to prove that his success with the bat is no fluke. He ripped a two-run double in the exhibition Civil Rights Game before the start of the season, and helped himself out again tonight with an RBI double to start the scoring, the Cards' first run since Scott Rolen's homer in Game 2 against the Mets, and subsequently scoring on a Chris Duncan jack. Honestly, when he's pitching, the number-nine hole for the Cards has legitimate kick, and I love it. :)
At the moment, Joe Kennedy is slowly beginning the process of implosion, as it's already 2-0 Angels with men on second and third and only one out. Seeing as he's 0-8 with a 6.31 ERA against the O.C. Bitches anyway, throwing him anyway seems to fit neatly under the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting different results. But as mentioned, the A's are shockingly short on options. Brad Halsey is just as bad, Shane Komine and Jason Windsor are in Triple-A Sacramento and haven't proved that they're ready to compete on a Major League level, and the A's only viable other choice is lefty long man Lenny DiNardo, who would need to be stretched out and is unlikely to be at this point. I developed a confoundedly deep affection for Lenny despite the fact that he used to be a Red Sock, and I'm happy that he made the team.
One more thing - the humorous TV spots for both the A's and the San Diego Padres are on the air now. I love these things -- the Mariners started them and they've been a huge hit for a number of teams since. I highly recommend that if you find yourself with a spare moment, you go to their official sites, click "Multimedia" (or "Fan Forum") and indulge yourself in some comic genius. The M's older ads are particularly hysterical.
More later once I find Adam and get the goods for you. ;)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Batting Averages: .333 Last Night, .167 Overall
Well, the second day of the season went better for some, less so for others. The Cards haven't returned from the sun-soaked idylls of Spring Training, evidently, as not even their ring ceremony could spur them to pull out a win over the Mets. New acquisition Kip Wells did well until the sixth inning, when the wheels fell off and culminated with him yielding a two-run double to the possible android El Duque, who never seems to get any older. Unfortunately, the Cards' bats couldn't chip back, with the exception of a solo homer by Scottie Rolen - the first dinger hit at Busch in '07 and the first for the team in general. The Cards had a great opportunity with Pujols up, two on, and two out in the bottom of the eighth, but Pujols couldn't produce - he had been hitting the ball hard all game, as most of the Cards were, but they just weren't finding holes. The Cards also didn't help their case last night with three double plays - no sooner did the leadoff man get on than they would be erased by a twin killing. Still, the last time the Cards got off to an 0-2 start was in 2004, when they won 105 games and steamrolled everybody (albeit not in the World Series) so there's hope. Everyone's three years older and a little worse, now, so things in Redbird Nation will bear careful watching.
I'm not that worried about the Cards, at least not offensively - their luck has to start changing and balls have to start finding holes eventually. At least they're all making solid contact and there have been very few strikeouts. However, I am worried about the mutterings surrounding Chris Carpenter and his prized right arm. Apparently it stiffened up on him after his start, to the point that he couldn't touch his right shoulder with his right hand, and he's being held out of his scheduled Friday start as a precautionary measure. At least it's not his shoulder, which has a much more checkered history, but there's never a good time for Carp to go down. At least it's at the very beginning of the season and not in the stretch drive, but it goes without saying that if the ace is decommissioned for any substantial length of time (and no, he's not on the DL... the consensus seems to be that it's very minor) then the Cards are going to lose a lot of ground in terms of divisional advantage. Carp is the anchor of the rotation and they need him back as quickly as possible. The medical staff has taken every opportunity to reassure the fans that it won't be serious, but they, like the A's, are rarely known for being upfront about the health of players. Time will tell, and cross your fingers.
Speaking of the A's, they also fell victim to some bad luck last night. Joe Blanton had a rocky outing against the Mariners, a team that he usually dominates, and Richie Sexson hit his second homer in two days - if he's fixed the many holes in his swing and become more of a contact hitter, he's going to be incredibly dangerous. The man has the size to send it a long way and if he's shed his propensity to strike out, he could be one of the best hitters in the AL. But it's still much too early to be making such calls -- we'll have to see.
The A's did manage to scrap back and tie the game at four apiece in the top of the seventh, but usually lights-out relievers Kiko Calero and Justin Duchscherer combined to give up four more to the Mariners in the bottom half of the frame for an eventual 8-4 final. There's nothing you can do about it when your go-to bullpen guys don't have it -- more bad luck that should be corrected in the karmic wave after the fashion of the Baseball Gods. Still, though, these Mariners have a lot more punch, at least against the A's, then they did last year. There's no way that it could be expected that the A's would go 16-1 against them like they did in 2006, but the playing field, literally, is a lot more level between them than it was. But yet again -- isn't it maddening that you want to extrapolate, theorize, make up stuff, and know that it's really too early to have any sense at all of which way things are going to turn out? Hopefully the ball starts breaking in the Cards' and A's favor very soon. That would be good for my mental health.
Thus far, the only win in six games played by my teams has been scored by the Rockies, who managed to do so in eleven innings last night despite Byung-Hyun Kim's concentrated efforts to blow it earlier. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins both got off the schneid, as Holliday had two hits including an RBI and one in the decisive bottom of the eleventh. Atkins made good contact and finally was rewarded for it with a ringing double in the eighth, but was thrown out at the plate on a hit by Hawpe, which preserved the 2-2 tie and eventually sent the game to extras. As for Hawpe, he continues to look very strong at the plate, consistently making the pitcher work to six or seven pitches and coming up with timely hits. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double play in the eleventh that very nearly killed the rally then, but Troy Tulowitzki doubled to tie the game and Chris Iannetta hit a hard shot that D-backs third baseman Alberto Callaspo couldn't handle, bringing home Tulo with the winning run. It's great to see the kids come through - I'm getting honestly excited about the Rockies' chances this year. There isn't a power in the NL West, hasn't been for a while, and mainly consists of people getting lucky at the right time. With the roaring thunder of that Colorado lineup, all they need is some decent starting pitching and quality bullpen work. They also require a new manager. Coincidence that the Rox won on the night that Hurdle was suspended? ;) I think not. Then again, it was a really bone-headed move to put Kim in, as he's said he doesn't like bullpen work and I honestly don't put it past him to sabotage the team in that role so they trade him to some place where he can start. Not professional, but he's never really struck me as an overtly professional and courteous guy.
They also need a different eighth-inning guy. I nearly had a heart attack when they put in LaTroy Hawkins for a second consecutive night after blowing it on Opening Day, but he managed to induce a double play and escape with a scoreless inning. The seventh inning appears locked down by talented young fireballer Manny Corpas, but there is a big hole in the eighth before they can get it to Brian Fuentes in the ninth. Plugging Jose Mesa into this spot last year had bad results, and they'll lose just as many games this year if they can't, for the love of Christ, just get a reliable set-up man - one of the more underrated positions in baseball, if you ask me. I suggest they use Ramon Ramirez instead, as he can actually pitch. In my preseason preview of the Rockies, I noted that Hawkins has maintained a consistent level of suck for a number of previous employers, and that there's no reason to think that that'll change in Coors.
I'm still happy that baseball's back, but early-season wins would, as always, make it go down sweeter. Braden Looper is pitching tonight for the Cards against the Mets.... eeeerp, a season-opening sweep at the hands of the team they beat to get to the World Series would suck, but there may be no choices - they'd just have to go into Houston and take care of the Astros, another usual pest. Things look better for the A's, as they're throwing young Rich Harden against Miguel Batista. The only problem will be getting Harden through the game with no injuries. The A's showed some resiliency by tying things in the seventh yesterday, so it's possible that they can escape Seattle with a win before heading to SoCal to tackle their chief rivals, the Angels.
The Rockies throw Rodrigo Lopez against new Diamondback (and former Brewer) Doug Davis in a match-up of mediocre-to-bad pitchers in the finale of the season-opening set at Coors. More later (possibly tomorrow) on that, and a fun little feature that I'll probably start soon. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading...
I'm not that worried about the Cards, at least not offensively - their luck has to start changing and balls have to start finding holes eventually. At least they're all making solid contact and there have been very few strikeouts. However, I am worried about the mutterings surrounding Chris Carpenter and his prized right arm. Apparently it stiffened up on him after his start, to the point that he couldn't touch his right shoulder with his right hand, and he's being held out of his scheduled Friday start as a precautionary measure. At least it's not his shoulder, which has a much more checkered history, but there's never a good time for Carp to go down. At least it's at the very beginning of the season and not in the stretch drive, but it goes without saying that if the ace is decommissioned for any substantial length of time (and no, he's not on the DL... the consensus seems to be that it's very minor) then the Cards are going to lose a lot of ground in terms of divisional advantage. Carp is the anchor of the rotation and they need him back as quickly as possible. The medical staff has taken every opportunity to reassure the fans that it won't be serious, but they, like the A's, are rarely known for being upfront about the health of players. Time will tell, and cross your fingers.
Speaking of the A's, they also fell victim to some bad luck last night. Joe Blanton had a rocky outing against the Mariners, a team that he usually dominates, and Richie Sexson hit his second homer in two days - if he's fixed the many holes in his swing and become more of a contact hitter, he's going to be incredibly dangerous. The man has the size to send it a long way and if he's shed his propensity to strike out, he could be one of the best hitters in the AL. But it's still much too early to be making such calls -- we'll have to see.
The A's did manage to scrap back and tie the game at four apiece in the top of the seventh, but usually lights-out relievers Kiko Calero and Justin Duchscherer combined to give up four more to the Mariners in the bottom half of the frame for an eventual 8-4 final. There's nothing you can do about it when your go-to bullpen guys don't have it -- more bad luck that should be corrected in the karmic wave after the fashion of the Baseball Gods. Still, though, these Mariners have a lot more punch, at least against the A's, then they did last year. There's no way that it could be expected that the A's would go 16-1 against them like they did in 2006, but the playing field, literally, is a lot more level between them than it was. But yet again -- isn't it maddening that you want to extrapolate, theorize, make up stuff, and know that it's really too early to have any sense at all of which way things are going to turn out? Hopefully the ball starts breaking in the Cards' and A's favor very soon. That would be good for my mental health.
Thus far, the only win in six games played by my teams has been scored by the Rockies, who managed to do so in eleven innings last night despite Byung-Hyun Kim's concentrated efforts to blow it earlier. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins both got off the schneid, as Holliday had two hits including an RBI and one in the decisive bottom of the eleventh. Atkins made good contact and finally was rewarded for it with a ringing double in the eighth, but was thrown out at the plate on a hit by Hawpe, which preserved the 2-2 tie and eventually sent the game to extras. As for Hawpe, he continues to look very strong at the plate, consistently making the pitcher work to six or seven pitches and coming up with timely hits. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double play in the eleventh that very nearly killed the rally then, but Troy Tulowitzki doubled to tie the game and Chris Iannetta hit a hard shot that D-backs third baseman Alberto Callaspo couldn't handle, bringing home Tulo with the winning run. It's great to see the kids come through - I'm getting honestly excited about the Rockies' chances this year. There isn't a power in the NL West, hasn't been for a while, and mainly consists of people getting lucky at the right time. With the roaring thunder of that Colorado lineup, all they need is some decent starting pitching and quality bullpen work. They also require a new manager. Coincidence that the Rox won on the night that Hurdle was suspended? ;) I think not. Then again, it was a really bone-headed move to put Kim in, as he's said he doesn't like bullpen work and I honestly don't put it past him to sabotage the team in that role so they trade him to some place where he can start. Not professional, but he's never really struck me as an overtly professional and courteous guy.
They also need a different eighth-inning guy. I nearly had a heart attack when they put in LaTroy Hawkins for a second consecutive night after blowing it on Opening Day, but he managed to induce a double play and escape with a scoreless inning. The seventh inning appears locked down by talented young fireballer Manny Corpas, but there is a big hole in the eighth before they can get it to Brian Fuentes in the ninth. Plugging Jose Mesa into this spot last year had bad results, and they'll lose just as many games this year if they can't, for the love of Christ, just get a reliable set-up man - one of the more underrated positions in baseball, if you ask me. I suggest they use Ramon Ramirez instead, as he can actually pitch. In my preseason preview of the Rockies, I noted that Hawkins has maintained a consistent level of suck for a number of previous employers, and that there's no reason to think that that'll change in Coors.
I'm still happy that baseball's back, but early-season wins would, as always, make it go down sweeter. Braden Looper is pitching tonight for the Cards against the Mets.... eeeerp, a season-opening sweep at the hands of the team they beat to get to the World Series would suck, but there may be no choices - they'd just have to go into Houston and take care of the Astros, another usual pest. Things look better for the A's, as they're throwing young Rich Harden against Miguel Batista. The only problem will be getting Harden through the game with no injuries.
The Rockies throw Rodrigo Lopez against new Diamondback (and former Brewer) Doug Davis in a match-up of mediocre-to-bad pitchers in the finale of the season-opening set at Coors. More later (possibly tomorrow) on that, and a fun little feature that I'll probably start soon. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading...
Monday, April 02, 2007
Welcome Back to the Grind
Remember that nice, long, sweet, sentimental post I wrote a couple scrolls down, exhorting the beauty of baseball and the way you care no matter what? Yeah, you remember it? Okay, well, take a pen and write on your computer screen, "AND THEN THEY ALL SUCK ON OPENING DAY AND LOSE AND ARE SCREWED FOR THE SEASON AND YOU ARE A FRICKING IDIOT FOR CARING."
Just kidding, of course. But it's been a rough intro to '07, as the Cards lost last night, the Rockies lost earlier today, and now the A's are down 4-0 in the top of the seventh after Bobby Crosby's second error of the game opened the way for a Richie Sexson bomb. Absolutely bug-crap can be prognosticated from the outcome for the first game, but it's always nice to start on a high note. The Cardinals had their chances, but Carp couldn't locate his stuff and they failed to produce in run-scoring situations, along with the fact that it seemed a number of balls bounced through for the Mets. Carpenter didn't give up an extra-base hit aside from the big early blow, Delgado's two-run double, but he was struggling with the zone all night and his curveball wasn't working for him - a depressing way to come out in their first showing as the defending champs, especially after all the hoopla at Busch earlier. Hopefully the ring ceremony on Tuesday night will light a fire under some collective rear ends and they'll win. They'd better, because Looper is up next and his former team hits him like a pinata. Then it's off to the oh-so-cozy confines of the Juice Box in Houston - none of my teams are opening on an easy schedule. Oh, April.
The A's head to Anaheim after their three-game stint in Seattle, and don't get home until April 9th to open against the White Sox - no easy going here. Danny Haren pitched very well until the sixth inning, when the wheels came off, Bobby Crosby mishandled a force-out for his second error of the game, and the Mariners ended up totaling four runs, earning Crosby the deep and easily ignited ire of A's Nation. With a flamethrowing Felix Hernandez on the mound for Seattle, it's looking grim for the A's, who usually start anemically for some perplexing reason. Trust me, it's hard to be an A's fan in April and May. In fact, I'm terrified of May, in which the A's went 7-20 in 2005 and did scarcely better in 2006 at 12-17. In other words, A's fans, fasten your crash helmets. I don't know why this team looks like it can barely hit, pitch, or field for two months before taking fire in the summertime, but that's always the case. Hang on.
The Rockies, in a game which my sister and father attended and had a grand old time, played with fire and resiliency, and generally looked good until the eighth inning, when LaTroy Hawkins, Jose Mesa v. 2.0, came in and promptly blew it, giving up 3 runs for an 8-6 Snakey Snake lead. Brad Hawpe came out of the gate on fire, finishing with a 3-for-5 day and two RBI, which came on a clutch bases-loaded, two-out single in the bottom of the first. Todd Helton also looked more like himself than the injured, ill 2006 version. Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday, however... a pair of MVP candidates last year, they will undoubtedly be so again this year, but they made a miserable first impression by going 0-for-5 apiece with suspect defense. Holliday mishandled a ball in left and Atkins airmailed a throw past first into the outfield, also bobbling a potential double-play ball. They live together in Spring Training, but if they also live together in the regular season, time to separate those two and get their swings back.
Aaron Cook started the game and kept putting his sinker up too high, so it would break at the belt instead of the knees. He kept loading the bases and managed to escape, but all his theatrics left him tagged with five runs through five. I'll attribute it to nerves and a league-wide malaise, as only Tom Glavine, Ben Sheets, and Aaron Harang have had stellar debuts thus far. Even the cyborg Santana's yielded three runs to the light-hitting Orioles through four. Even the Royals, in one of the shockers of the season, captured a Gil Meche vs. Curt Schilling contest 7-1, and it was Schilling who took the loss, not Meche. In other words, it IS completely impossible to predict anything from Opening Day. Everyone just wishes their team would start better.
As Athletics Nation likes to say: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!"
Well, boys, carry on. 1 down, 161 to go. You've got a lot of grinding to do, so get with the program.
Just kidding, of course. But it's been a rough intro to '07, as the Cards lost last night, the Rockies lost earlier today, and now the A's are down 4-0 in the top of the seventh after Bobby Crosby's second error of the game opened the way for a Richie Sexson bomb. Absolutely bug-crap can be prognosticated from the outcome for the first game, but it's always nice to start on a high note. The Cardinals had their chances, but Carp couldn't locate his stuff and they failed to produce in run-scoring situations, along with the fact that it seemed a number of balls bounced through for the Mets. Carpenter didn't give up an extra-base hit aside from the big early blow, Delgado's two-run double, but he was struggling with the zone all night and his curveball wasn't working for him - a depressing way to come out in their first showing as the defending champs, especially after all the hoopla at Busch earlier. Hopefully the ring ceremony on Tuesday night will light a fire under some collective rear ends and they'll win. They'd better, because Looper is up next and his former team hits him like a pinata. Then it's off to the oh-so-cozy confines of the Juice Box in Houston - none of my teams are opening on an easy schedule. Oh, April.
The A's head to Anaheim after their three-game stint in Seattle, and don't get home until April 9th to open against the White Sox - no easy going here. Danny Haren pitched very well until the sixth inning, when the wheels came off, Bobby Crosby mishandled a force-out for his second error of the game, and the Mariners ended up totaling four runs, earning Crosby the deep and easily ignited ire of A's Nation. With a flamethrowing Felix Hernandez on the mound for Seattle, it's looking grim for the A's, who usually start anemically for some perplexing reason. Trust me, it's hard to be an A's fan in April and May. In fact, I'm terrified of May, in which the A's went 7-20 in 2005 and did scarcely better in 2006 at 12-17. In other words, A's fans, fasten your crash helmets. I don't know why this team looks like it can barely hit, pitch, or field for two months before taking fire in the summertime, but that's always the case. Hang on.
The Rockies, in a game which my sister and father attended and had a grand old time, played with fire and resiliency, and generally looked good until the eighth inning, when LaTroy Hawkins, Jose Mesa v. 2.0, came in and promptly blew it, giving up 3 runs for an 8-6 Snakey Snake lead. Brad Hawpe came out of the gate on fire, finishing with a 3-for-5 day and two RBI, which came on a clutch bases-loaded, two-out single in the bottom of the first. Todd Helton also looked more like himself than the injured, ill 2006 version. Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday, however... a pair of MVP candidates last year, they will undoubtedly be so again this year, but they made a miserable first impression by going 0-for-5 apiece with suspect defense. Holliday mishandled a ball in left and Atkins airmailed a throw past first into the outfield, also bobbling a potential double-play ball. They live together in Spring Training, but if they also live together in the regular season, time to separate those two and get their swings back.
Aaron Cook started the game and kept putting his sinker up too high, so it would break at the belt instead of the knees. He kept loading the bases and managed to escape, but all his theatrics left him tagged with five runs through five. I'll attribute it to nerves and a league-wide malaise, as only Tom Glavine, Ben Sheets, and Aaron Harang have had stellar debuts thus far. Even the cyborg Santana's yielded three runs to the light-hitting Orioles through four. Even the Royals, in one of the shockers of the season, captured a Gil Meche vs. Curt Schilling contest 7-1, and it was Schilling who took the loss, not Meche. In other words, it IS completely impossible to predict anything from Opening Day. Everyone just wishes their team would start better.
As Athletics Nation likes to say: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!"
Well, boys, carry on. 1 down, 161 to go. You've got a lot of grinding to do, so get with the program.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Preseason Preview: Athletics
So it's Tuesday night and I should be reading the latest dense section of John Locke's An Essay on Human Understanding in preparation for my philosophy class tomorrow, which I like because it falls on the only day of the week, aside from Monday, that I don't have to get up at 8:45, which is anathemically early to a college student such as myself who prizes sleep highly. So what am I doing instead? Two things. Working on my collection of stories for my second-semester writing project, and attempting to tackle the issue of constructing a coherent preview for the A's ala the one the Cards received the last time. I was planning to do this yesterday, but you have to be in a certain mood to crunch all the numbers, and besides, I had a lot of homework. However, seeing as I have a good two hours before I need to read more philosophy, I thought I'd get it done for the green and gold. Off we go.
The
PITCHING
Starters
Who's Gone? Most importantly, Barry Zito, staff leader. The veteran of
Who's Here? Any question involving the A's starting rotation, of which many have been floating about this offseason with good reason, come down to one inescapable caveat emptor - will Rich Harden be healthy? Classic case of buyer beware, as A's fans really want to get excited about their young potential ace with the sweet smile and the 100-mph heat, but constant injury woes the past few seasons have besieged him and he's never topped 200 innings pitched - the closest he came was in'04, when he logged 189.2 IP with an 11-7 mark and a 3.99 ERA. Not bad, but there's room for improvement, especially for someone with as meteoric a talent as Harden. With Zito gone, he's looked to as a bona-fide ace, but will the 25-year-old Canadian be able to shake off his recent problems, ranging from a shoulder strain incurred while turning off an alarm clock to a number of back and oblique troubles? It's very important.
Backing up Harden is #2 guy Danny Haren, who I steadfastly refuse to call "Dan" ala other media outlets. Things are less settled after that, with #3 Joe Blanton and #4 Esteban Loaiza generally guaranteed starting spots unless they do some massive pooch-screwing in Spring Training. The fifth slot in the rotation, as with the Cards, is unsettled for the A's. Hefty lefty Joe Kennedy appears to be the front-runner. I'm less than tickled about this (see old post entitled: I Hate Joe Kennedy) but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Other names being tossed around include Brad Halsey, Jason Windsor, Shane Komine, and Lenny DiNardo. Hmm. Nothing stellar. Zito's shoes won't be easily filled. Also, the rotation is entirely righty, without the benefit of a lefty to put in there to change things up... another thing that departed with Zito.
A slot-by-slot look goes:
- Rich Harden (now regarded as
- Danny Haren (a legit #2, he also sports a high-90s fastball, a sinking cut fastball, a devastating splitter, and an above-average changeup, all of which he can use effectively, and mixes up well. He's also a workhorse, logging well over 200 IP the past two seasons. The 6'5" righty is regarded as the prime score from the Mulder trade, but still scuffles with unpredictability - he has the raw talent to be as good as any in the game, but can sometimes hit prolonged ruts in which he can't locate to save his life and consistently leaves the ball up in the zone).
- Joe Blanton (another weighty matter, literally, as the Kentuckian tips the scales at 255 pounds. He wins a lot of games, but tends to get lucky by relying on fortutious run support, and a decent - but not stellar - 16-12 record was made a little bit more bitter by the fact that he posted a 4.82 ERA to go with it. Not the stuff you'd want consistently out of your #3 guy - the Cards look better in comparison if you consider that Reyes or Wainwright will be taking this slot. Hopefully Blanton, not a power pitcher who relies on fine control and hitting his spots, will be improved this year. He could also stand to lose some weight).
- Esteban Loaiza (he started off terribly last year, posting an 0-3 mark and an 8+ ERA that caused much, much unhappiness in A's Nation, but was revealed to be injured, and went on the DL a day after allowing five runs in the first inning to the fricking Royals, a game which was fortunately washed out of the standings by rain. Upon his return, Loaiza was serviceable, still prone to the odd turkey, but fortunately with far less regularity. He was brilliant in August, earning Pitcher of the Month honors. He started Game 2 of the ALDS in
- Joe Kennedy/Brad Halsey/Jason Windsor/Shane Komine/Lenny DiNardo (as with the Cards, absolutely nobody has a lock on the final spot, although A's management seems to indicate that Kennedy is the frontrunner. A chancy reliever who comes by his numbers a bit dishonestly - he tends to let the inherited runners of other pitchers score, instead of his own - Kennedy is known as "Bazooka Joe" among the A's faithful, and nobody feels quite comfortable with him out there. Let him get one or two runners on, and he turns into a veritable horror show. Perhaps being stretched out as a starter from the get-go will help. As for Halsey, he's worse - an ex-Yankee prospect whose nickname is the Gas Can, for good reason, and not a guy I want to see starting for my team every fifth day. Windsor and Komine are the highly touted arms of the future, who each had one good start and one bad start last year before being sent back to Triple-A Sacramento. DiNardo is a 27-year-old lefty snagged off the waiver wire from the Red Sox, who had a 7.85 ERA as a reliever last year, but this could be due to persistent neck problems. Healthy, he could possibly find a role in the bullpen as a LOOGY (Left-handed One Out GuY)
Best-Case Scenario: Harden stays healthy for the entire year, finally achieves his potential, and crafts the breakout season that the A's have been waiting for. He wins 15+ games, easily racks up 200 K, a 2-something ERA, and 200 IP. Haren matches him, posting another ERA in the high 3's with his loss total cut back by some run support. Blanton harnesses his suspect command and lowers his ERA while still winning a high number of games. Loaiza continues his round of newfound success and is a decent to good back-end starter, while Kennedy proves to be not terrible and stabilizes the fifth spot. The A's prove that their pitching, once again, carries the day for them, and they nab a second straight AL West title.
Worst-Case Scenario: It shouldn't be this easy... there's too many question marks in the rotation. Harden is injured by May and useless afterwards, logging perhaps 50 IP while the burden of making up for his absence falls largely on the incompetent shoulders of patchwork replacements. Haren continues to be steady, but gets tagged with too many losses since the bats can't help him out. Blanton posts an ERA north of 5 while his win total declines due to spotty control, and Loaiza regains April '06 form, resulting in an ignominious departure by the break, at which point the A's are steadily sinking in the AL West. Kennedy, Halsey, and everyone else give up runs like a sieve. The Elephants are unequivocally doomed.
Bullpen
- Kiko Calero (another piece of the Mulder deal, Calero is as close to automatic as a 7th-inning guy can be. He's prone to the odd misstep, of course, but for the most part, he's an exceptional late-game reliever who relies almost exclusively on his hard, biting slider. He's never really done anything to disillusion me, and when I see him coming in after a pitching change, I feel confident that we'll get to the next inning with the lead intact).
- Justin Duchscherer (known fondly as The Duke, Duchscherer(rererererer...) is a vastly underrated gem. He was
- Huston Street (the final piece of the Unholy Troika which compromises Calero, Duchscherer, and himself, Street can nonetheless sometimes look the most fallible of the lot. Chosen in the 2004 draft from UT Austin, he made it to the big leagues in '05 and kept the Rookie of the Year crown in
- Santiago Casilla (the masked man, who used to be known as Jairo Garcia, he's decent and killed everyone in Triple-A, but hasn't shown true major-league talent yet. Mainly used as a mopup guy last year, it's possible he could see action in more meaningful games this year. Not sure how I feel about that).
-Ron Flores (the younger brother of Randy Flores of the Cardinals; I suppose every team needs one. A soft-tossing, wily junkballer, who either utterly baffles hitters or gets his butt kicked,
- Jay Witasick (is a punchline for A's fans. I have fond memories of him due to conversing briefly with him while the A's were in
- Alan Embree (journeyman, with the Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Padres among his recent employers, he nonetheless posted a fair 3.27 ERA last year, but in Oakland, with the late innings locked down between Calero/Duchscherer/Street, I foresee him being used only to get the ball to one of the three).
-Chad Gaudin (terrific K numbers, but equally shocking B/B numbers, as he walks as many people as he strikes out. When he pounds the strike zone, he can display flashes of brilliance, but all those walks keep coming back to bite him).
Best-Case Scenario: Calero, Duchscherer, and Street dominate. Fortunately, this is very likely to happen, as
Worst-Case Scenario: Calero and/or Duchscherer and/or Street go down, leaving the A's to patch the absences with pick-and-choose junk. The game becomes a very dicey proposition after the sixth or seventh inning, or whenever the starter leaves, and because of this absence, the A's can never pull out late-game victories. Their record suffers, leaving them to drop in the standings accordingly.
The Nonexpert Nostradamus Predicts:
(again, starters/relievers listed under overall numbers)
Starters
Rich Harden, RHP, 15-6, 2.87 ERA, 195 IP, 220 K, 25 starts
Danny Haren, RHP, 15-8, 3.76 ERA, 220 IP, 200 K, 34 starts
Joe Blanton, RHP, 16-10, 4.55 ERA, 185 IP, 125 K, 33 starts
Esteban Loaiza, RHP, 14-10, 4.35 ERA, 175 IP, 100 K, 30 starts
Joe Kennedy, RHP, 10-9, 4.45 ERA, 160 IP, 90 K, 25 starts
Brad Halsey, RHP, 2-5, 4.77 ERA, 75 IP, 55 K, 7 starts
Shane Komine, RHP, 2-3, 4.66 ERA, 50 IP, 20 K, 3 starts
Jason Windsor, RHP, 2-3, 4.50 ERA, 27 IP, 15 K, 2 starts
Chad Gaudin, RHP, 3-3, 3.89 ERA, 43 IP, 20 K, 2 starts
Relievers
Huston Street, RHP, 3-2, 3.01 ERA, 34 SV/40 SVO
Justin Duchscherer, RHP, 2-1, 2.83 ERA, 3 SV/3 SVO
Kiko Calero, RHP, 3-1, 3.22 ERA, 2 SV/2 SVO
Ron Flores, LHP, 1-2, 4.86 ERA, 1 SV/2 SVO
Jay Witasick, RHP, 0-3, 5.95 ERA, 0 SV/0 SVO
Santiago Casilla, RHP, 1-3, 4.26 ERA, 1 SV/2 SVO
Lenny DiNardo, LHP, 1-0, 4.22 ERA, 1 SV/1 SVO
HITTING
Projected Lineup (positional, not batting, order)
1B Nick Swisher (a genuine power threat, who slugged 35 HR and knocked in 95, Swish nonetheless posted a surprisingly low average, .254. He's the homer-or-nothing type of guy - he's admitted freely in the past that he swings for the fences in key situations - and while that certainly has its merits, I'd like to see Swish continue to mature as a hitter and develop some more plate discipline and pitch selection).
2B Mark Ellis (the finest defensive second baseman in the AL, Ellis was gypped out of a Gold Glove last year despite posting a league-best .997 fielding percentage. There's nobody smoother with the glove, which discounts his lower offensive contributions. He hit only.249 last year, albeit with 11 HR, following a breakout year in '05 in which he hit .316).
SS Bobby Crosby (the lineup's version of Rich Harden,
SSa Marco Scutaro (Oakland's magical little man, the small Venezuelan second-stringer shortstop has a knack for delivering key hits whenever the club most needs them, seven of the game-winning persuasion since he joined the club after being dropped by the Mets in 2003. He saw extensive action last year when
3B Eric Chavez (
RF Milton Bradley (the man with the board-game name and a volatile temper, who has seemed much mollified since his transition to Oakland's frat-house atmosphere, he's a five-tool player, has decent speed and good power, and is also capable of slugging 20+ HR when healthy... alas, he's another guy with an all-too-recent injury history. Keeping him healthy with the others will be key).
CF Mark Kotsay (another Gold-Glove worthy fielder, another injury risk. Kotz has made his name catching the uncatchable, usually with Torii Hunter-style leaps at the outfield fence and never losing balls, even deep in the gap, but he also had back problems for most of '06 and his offensive numbers are slowly starting to decline).
LF Shannon Stewart (acquired from the Twins, he hits for a good average but low power numbers - the last time he cracked in excess of 20 HR was in 2000, for the Blue Jays, where he hit 21. He has some speed and can possibly re-introduce the running game to
C Jason Kendall (an absolute iron man who's famous for refusing to take days off, Kendall hit .299 last year, but it's a running joke as to how long it'll be before he hits another homer. He managed to tally one last year, an occasion which set off mass celebrations in A's Nation. However, he's a decent top-of-the order hitter who can be pesky about getting on by slapping singles and stealing bases - he has speed, unusually for a catcher).
DH Mike Piazza (he has some big shoes to fill, literally, after Frank Thomas, 6'5", 275 lb, with 39 HR and 114 RBI, departed for the Blue Jays after they offered him more money. The A's are hoping he can decently replicate his 2006 production, as he's still a good hitter, posting numbers of the tune of a .283 average, 22 HR, and 68 RBI. While they're nowhere near Thomas's numbers, the A's are hoping that a healthy Chavez and Bradley can provide the extra punch. He won't see much action as a catcher, mainly because his defense has degenerated to the point where he caught only 13 of 97 base thieves for an epically lousy 13% success rate, and also because Kendall just won't get out of there).
Best-Case Scenario: Chavez,
Worst-Case Scenario: Nobody stays healthy, and even the valiant few who tough it out, such as Chavez, can't bring much to the table. The A's notoriously doddering offense gets even weaker, unable to support the rotation, and filling Thomas's place proves just too daunting to Piazza, who can't adjust to the
The Nonexpert Nostradamus Predicts:
Nick Swisher, S/L, 1B/OF: .275 AVG, 38 HR, 100 RBI, .385 OBP, .500 SLG, .885 OPS
Dan Johnson, R/R, 1B: .261 AVG, 7 HR, 34 RBI, .315 OBP, .360 SLG, .675 OPS, I predict he gets cut around or before the break as he's becoming something of a fifth wheel.
Mark Ellis, R/R, 2B: .267 AVG, 12 HR, 54 RBI, .325 OBP, .300 SLG, .625 OPS
Bobby Crosby, R/R, SS: .265 AVG, 14 HR, 48 RBI, .300 OBP, .340 SLG, .640 OPS
Marco Scutaro, R/R, SS: .268 AVG, 6 HR, 47 RBI, .340 OBP, .380 SLG, .720 OPS
Eric Chavez, L/L, 3B: .270 AVG, 29 HR, 97 RBI, .366 OBP, .450 SLG, .816 OPS
Antonio Perez, R/R, 3B, .201 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBI, .200 OBP, .215 SLG, .415 OPS
Milton Bradley, S/R, RF: .280 AVG, 20 HR, 86 RBI, .380 OBP, .455 SLG, .835 OPS
Mark Kotsay, L/L, CF: .277 AVG, 16 HR, 70 RBI, .327 OBP, .375 SLG, .702 OPS
Shannon Stewart, R/R, LF: .275 AVG, 9 HR, 40 RBI, .320 OBP, .350 SLG, .670 OPS
Bobby Kielty, S/R, OF: .266 AVG, 6 HR, 27 RBI, .320 OBP, .404 SLG, .724 OPS
Jason Kendall, R/R, C: .287 AVG, 1 HR, 52 RBI, .350 OBP, .335 SLG, .685 OPS
Adam Melhuse, S/R, C: .220 AVG, 3 HR, 18 RBI, .270 OBP, .351 SLG, .621 OPS
Mike Piazza, R/R, DH: .269 AVG, 20 HR, 65 RBI, .340 OBP, .489 SLG, .829 OPS
This just isn't a team of heavy hitters - you'll notice that despite the high HR totals I predicted for several players, I didn't tab a single one to break .300, and the likeliest candidate to do so is scrappy single-punching Jason Kendall, who I also expect to hit (maybe) one HR all year. The A's are famous for not running and disdaining the sacrifice bunt, all part of the highly mythologized and much-copied "Moneyball" style of play for which they're famous, but new skipper Bob Geren says that he may be more inclined to give the A's the green light to steal more often, so perhaps this could translate into more runners advanced on the base paths and more runs scored because of it. The A's are also (in)famous for leaving the "ducks on the pond," and hopefully the runners being moved up can help put them in.
OVERALL PREDICTION
It looks to be another close and tight season in the AL West - whatever else, this race is never boring, and there's never really one team poised to run away with it all. The A's entered the season as the favorites last year, and managed to live up to their billing by capturing their first divisional flag since 2003. I've got them marked for a 90-72 record, three games off the pace from last year, and in a race that's normally so close, I'm not entirely sure if that'll be enough to bump them over the hump. As much as it kills me to make this call, since I hate, hate, HATE the Los Angeles Angels of Whereverville California USA, I may have to slide them in by one game ahead of the A's. The Angels have only two weaknesses. Fortunately for A's fans, these are known as: Offense and Defense. Despite this, however, this A's team is built of china men, and if any injuries wreck an already precarious picture, the green and gold could be in for a long summer. If they're healthy, they'll be in it until the end; if not, this one could be over pretty quickly in Mudville.
The Angels have one of the better starting rotations in baseball, but Bartolo Colon has health problems and patches of atrocity, and it remains to be seen if Jered Weaver can follow up his sterling rookie campaign. They also have as bad of an offense as the A's, although that could change if the LAA prospects begin to hit (and the A's veterans do the same). And while the A's infield is watertight, the Angels have a little trouble with basic things like catching and fielding. Defense could prove to be a late-season key.
The Rangers are primed for a fall - even with new manager, and former A's coach, Ron Washington, their hitters' numbers are artifically inflated by playing at the launching pad known as Ameriquest Field, and their pitching still isn't any better. That lineup, with Blalock, Young, and Teixeira, is still admittedly fairly scary, but as long as the rotation can't hold up their end of the bargain, they're going to be treading water, yet again, in a tight division. They aren't the pushovers that they were a few years ago, but I just don't see them managing to upset both the A's and Angels.
The Mariners had one of the more dismal offseasons in recent memory, and their rotation consists of Felix Hernandez/Jarrod Washburn/Jeff Weaver/Miguel Batista/Horacio Ramirez, none of whom are very awe-inspiring. If Hernandez turns it on and lives up to his promise, he could become a solidifed ace, but his backup corps are a bit... well, perhaps underwhelming would be the word. They have Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre, and Raul Ibanez on the offensive half of things, all of whom are capable of providing decent-to-excellent seasons, but have struggled to do so with any consistency during their tenure in
As you can see, I think that the A's and Angels will be duking it out for first place, and the Rangers and Mariners will be duking it out for the cellar. If the A's manage to unseat the Angels, I will cheerily and happily eat all the crow dished out to me, but I'm too dubious of the team's overall health to make an outright championship call, however much I would like to.
AL WEST
1. Angels, 91-71
2. A's, 90-72
3. Rangers, 75-87
4. Mariners, 74-88
Now that I've wasted a good two hours on writing this preview, I shall head off to read some philosophy. The
Friday, November 17, 2006
Am I Pissed? Yeah, I'm Pissed
.... Nice going, Billy Beane. After letting fan favorite and unanimous choice-for-manager, third base coach Ron Washington, slip to a division rival, he either puts up the world's most lackluster pursuit of Frank Thomas or had already decided to let him walk. Either that or the Big Hurt, despite all his words about loving Oakland and wanting to come back however possible, is just like the rest of the greedy money-sniffers that constitute the participants in professional sports. Either way, the result is the same. He signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and booked out of Oakland after only one season. Adios, cleanup hitter, 39 HR/114 RBI. Adios, ace (Zito; 16 wins, 3.83 ERA).
Beane does this every offseason before pulling some crazy scheme out of his ass to save the ship, so as an A's fan I should be used to this, but it never ceases to feel like a gut punch. I was devastated when Hudson and Mulder went, and that worked out, but at the time, man, was I upset. The A's lost a popular coach, an ace, a cleanup hitter, a home, and a manager, and what have they gained? Bench coach Bob Geren, to nobody's surprise, is the latest dull white guy to be named skipper. Also, they get to have a name as ridiculous as that belonging to their SoCal rival, the LAAAAA, which I will continue to call them until I'd be a hypocrite if I did. If we're the Oakland A's of Fremont (''of Fremont" has to be included, but I'll kill myself if it's the Silicon Valley A's of Fremont) the acronym is the OAFs. Wheeeee. What exemplary civic planning.
The idea behind the stadium is that the A's will finally make enough money to retain their high-profile players, instead of letting the rest of MLB pick and choose as they like. It had better work out... oh yeah, and to put the bitter cherry on a really, really frustrating offseason sundae, they're seriously considering signing Barry "Steroid Head" Bonds to fill the vacancy left by Thomas.
I'll take all this moving/renaming/losing crap, but I can't root for Bonds in the green and gold. I just can't. He's a liar and a cheater and a despicable human being, unlike A-Rod, whose only crimes are excessive egomanism and lack of good sense and/or "clutch" hitting. Bonds really is a grade-A asshole. And it's one of the cases when the name on the front of the uniform would not take precedence over the one on the back.
We've already made ourselves laughingstocks for the LAAAA fans, who you can bet will be giving back every drop of grief they received from A's Nation over their name; why not make ourselves universally unpopular and sign the most hated player in MLB? Go for the full monty. Get booed relentlessly on the road and be sniggered at as the team dumb enough to take on Bonds' traveling circus and chemically enhanced skills. You go right ahead and do that, A's management, but remember, you exist in a different stratosphere from the fans, who pay for merchandise and ticketing and keep fattening your pockets, which are still apparently too small to shell out enough to keep Frank Thomas in Oakland.
As a totally unrelated note, Danny Haren is getting married today. Congrats, boy. Let's see if it'll work out for you. Long-distance relationships can be hard.
One very bitter A's fan signing out.
Beane does this every offseason before pulling some crazy scheme out of his ass to save the ship, so as an A's fan I should be used to this, but it never ceases to feel like a gut punch. I was devastated when Hudson and Mulder went, and that worked out, but at the time, man, was I upset. The A's lost a popular coach, an ace, a cleanup hitter, a home, and a manager, and what have they gained? Bench coach Bob Geren, to nobody's surprise, is the latest dull white guy to be named skipper. Also, they get to have a name as ridiculous as that belonging to their SoCal rival, the LAAAAA, which I will continue to call them until I'd be a hypocrite if I did. If we're the Oakland A's of Fremont (''of Fremont" has to be included, but I'll kill myself if it's the Silicon Valley A's of Fremont) the acronym is the OAFs. Wheeeee. What exemplary civic planning.
The idea behind the stadium is that the A's will finally make enough money to retain their high-profile players, instead of letting the rest of MLB pick and choose as they like. It had better work out... oh yeah, and to put the bitter cherry on a really, really frustrating offseason sundae, they're seriously considering signing Barry "Steroid Head" Bonds to fill the vacancy left by Thomas.
I'll take all this moving/renaming/losing crap, but I can't root for Bonds in the green and gold. I just can't. He's a liar and a cheater and a despicable human being, unlike A-Rod, whose only crimes are excessive egomanism and lack of good sense and/or "clutch" hitting. Bonds really is a grade-A asshole. And it's one of the cases when the name on the front of the uniform would not take precedence over the one on the back.
We've already made ourselves laughingstocks for the LAAAA fans, who you can bet will be giving back every drop of grief they received from A's Nation over their name; why not make ourselves universally unpopular and sign the most hated player in MLB? Go for the full monty. Get booed relentlessly on the road and be sniggered at as the team dumb enough to take on Bonds' traveling circus and chemically enhanced skills. You go right ahead and do that, A's management, but remember, you exist in a different stratosphere from the fans, who pay for merchandise and ticketing and keep fattening your pockets, which are still apparently too small to shell out enough to keep Frank Thomas in Oakland.
As a totally unrelated note, Danny Haren is getting married today. Congrats, boy. Let's see if it'll work out for you. Long-distance relationships can be hard.
One very bitter A's fan signing out.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Sometimes I Dislike Baseball
... I know, hard to believe. But bear with me. I have a bitching session to execute.
As much as I adore the sport itself, and will always do so come hell and high water, the business/managerial/capitalist aspects sometimes leave me cold. (Wow, don't I sound like your typical SLC liberal raver here. I suppose I am, to some extent, but only because I voted for the first time in my life yesterday and punched a straight Democratic ticket, with lovely results. Adios, GOP. I think it's awesome that a woman is Speaker of the House. But yes, we're getting distracted).
I know that baseball is a business, but all this wheeling and dealing and glossy commercialism is like a pill coated in sugar - tastes and looks sweet, but leaves a bad taste in your mouth afterwards. The A's are the latest team to give into the lure of a new stadium (although the Coliseum is admittedly a granite bowl in a lousy section of Oakland that the Raiders chop to pieces every fall, it does have its history) and have reached a deal with managing partners to move the team 20 miles down the road to Fremont.
The move probably won't take effect for 3 or 4 years while they build a new ballpark (reportedly "Cisco Field," heeurgh) and they haven't decided whether or not to change the team's name. "Fremont A's of Oakland" or any such permutation is craziness; there's no way they should give them the same cumbrous moniker as is bestowed upon the LAAAAAA. "Fremont A's" is okay, if they absolutely must, but I want them to keep "Oakland" and "Silicon Valley A's" makes me want to blow chunks. :( I swear, I am not buying a single scrap of A's merchandise if it has either of those two names on it. I'm an Oakland girl, thank you very much.
I'm a little depressed with the A's management this offseason - letting popular third-base coach Ron Washington sign with the Rangers as their new manager, when I thought (and certainly hoped) that he was ticketed for the same vacancy in the A's organization. Now this... must see how this will play out, and not even a token effort to keep Barry Zito... his agent is Scott Boras, so there's no way they could actually have re-signed him, but maybe something besides a meek "Bye, Barry, go get a nice paycheck?"
Just, dear God, don't let them hire another boring, insipid white guy. I really wish that they'd hired Wash, who was after all within their own organization, before letting him slide. I don't know what Wolff has on the table, but I must hope that it is good for the OAKLAND A's and their signature green and gold colors, along with Stomper, their mascot. There's no way I can ever stop loving them, honestly, but I have to admit that I'm a little disillusioned with the uppity-ups now. Probably happens to every baseball fan, and at least I haven't been screwed over as badly as fans of some other organizations have been.
Hopefully Beane, Wolff, et al do something really good to make up for all this. :) Go A's! (wherever they may play) and Cards (your World Champions, baby!)
As much as I adore the sport itself, and will always do so come hell and high water, the business/managerial/capitalist aspects sometimes leave me cold. (Wow, don't I sound like your typical SLC liberal raver here. I suppose I am, to some extent, but only because I voted for the first time in my life yesterday and punched a straight Democratic ticket, with lovely results. Adios, GOP. I think it's awesome that a woman is Speaker of the House. But yes, we're getting distracted).
I know that baseball is a business, but all this wheeling and dealing and glossy commercialism is like a pill coated in sugar - tastes and looks sweet, but leaves a bad taste in your mouth afterwards. The A's are the latest team to give into the lure of a new stadium (although the Coliseum is admittedly a granite bowl in a lousy section of Oakland that the Raiders chop to pieces every fall, it does have its history) and have reached a deal with managing partners to move the team 20 miles down the road to Fremont.
The move probably won't take effect for 3 or 4 years while they build a new ballpark (reportedly "Cisco Field," heeurgh) and they haven't decided whether or not to change the team's name. "Fremont A's of Oakland" or any such permutation is craziness; there's no way they should give them the same cumbrous moniker as is bestowed upon the LAAAAAA. "Fremont A's" is okay, if they absolutely must, but I want them to keep "Oakland" and "Silicon Valley A's" makes me want to blow chunks. :( I swear, I am not buying a single scrap of A's merchandise if it has either of those two names on it. I'm an Oakland girl, thank you very much.
I'm a little depressed with the A's management this offseason - letting popular third-base coach Ron Washington sign with the Rangers as their new manager, when I thought (and certainly hoped) that he was ticketed for the same vacancy in the A's organization. Now this... must see how this will play out, and not even a token effort to keep Barry Zito... his agent is Scott Boras, so there's no way they could actually have re-signed him, but maybe something besides a meek "Bye, Barry, go get a nice paycheck?"
Just, dear God, don't let them hire another boring, insipid white guy. I really wish that they'd hired Wash, who was after all within their own organization, before letting him slide. I don't know what Wolff has on the table, but I must hope that it is good for the OAKLAND A's and their signature green and gold colors, along with Stomper, their mascot. There's no way I can ever stop loving them, honestly, but I have to admit that I'm a little disillusioned with the uppity-ups now. Probably happens to every baseball fan, and at least I haven't been screwed over as badly as fans of some other organizations have been.
Hopefully Beane, Wolff, et al do something really good to make up for all this. :) Go A's! (wherever they may play) and Cards (your World Champions, baby!)
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Playoffs, Day 7: Green and Gold Train Derailed
Not that it was ever really on the tracks for the ALCS. The Kats just flat outplayed them. Hitting, pitching, defense, and fire, the Tigers played like world champions and the A's...well...didn't. I'm not as upset as I thought I might be, because after watching the travesty of a Game 1, I was really irritated and thought, "If they win the next game, they have a chance. If they don't, they're done." That proved to be the case and saved me from probably severe emotional trauma. So they're done for the season now, and I have to wait until 2007 for them to play meaningful games again.
The Cards, meanwhile, are deviously going about surprising people. After a pathetic showing Game 1, they rebounded by winning Games 2 and 3, one on a clutch homer by So Taguchi and one on a brilliant effort from Jeff Suppan. They are making an actual series out of what many people predicted would be a Mets sweep. Anthony Reyes goes against Oliver Perez today with a chance to bump the edge to 3-1. Let's hope that Good Reyes shows up - the one that shut out the White Sox for eight innings after the Pale Hose had scored an ungodly amount of runs against the Cards (33) in the past two games, and not the Reyes that allowed 7 runs in 2 innings against the Diamondbacks. Reyes is talented, but totally unpredictable.
As for Perez... that may be interesting. I actually like him, and have for a while, despite his mercurial nature and propensity to suck after a brilliant 2004 season, but I hope the Cardinals pummel him. I really want at least one of my teams to do the deed. Although, if it's a Cardinals/Tigers World Series... cats eat birds, you know. Erp.
Might post some other stuff later.
The Cards, meanwhile, are deviously going about surprising people. After a pathetic showing Game 1, they rebounded by winning Games 2 and 3, one on a clutch homer by So Taguchi and one on a brilliant effort from Jeff Suppan. They are making an actual series out of what many people predicted would be a Mets sweep. Anthony Reyes goes against Oliver Perez today with a chance to bump the edge to 3-1. Let's hope that Good Reyes shows up - the one that shut out the White Sox for eight innings after the Pale Hose had scored an ungodly amount of runs against the Cards (33) in the past two games, and not the Reyes that allowed 7 runs in 2 innings against the Diamondbacks. Reyes is talented, but totally unpredictable.
As for Perez... that may be interesting. I actually like him, and have for a while, despite his mercurial nature and propensity to suck after a brilliant 2004 season, but I hope the Cardinals pummel him. I really want at least one of my teams to do the deed. Although, if it's a Cardinals/Tigers World Series... cats eat birds, you know. Erp.
Might post some other stuff later.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Game Is Only A Game
...and anyone who loves it cannot truly count themselves unmoved by the events of today, or else they are an exceptionally heartless person. As wonderful and euphoric and occasionally heartbreaking as baseball may be, it is still just a game, and the tragic events of today drove that home.
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, a licensed pilot, today crashed his plane into a downtown Manhattan high-rise apartment building, evoking memories of 9/11, Thurman Munson, the talented and iconic Yankees catcher who died untimely in 1979 after crashing his private plane, and of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals pitcher who died at age 33 in 2002, stunning the baseball world. Today, it was treated to a nightmarish repeat and lost another of its own.
I'm not a Yankees fan, but this is more important than just team loyalty. This goes to the heart of what it means to love the game and to respect those who play it, regardless of the colors they may wear. I heard the news, was stunned to the core, and then I began to cry. If anyone calls themselves a baseball fan, they should feel the same.
You can read more on ESPN.
The outcomes of tonight's ALCS/NLCS games - both of which, of course, I want the Cards and A's to win - suddenly don't seem that important. Lidle was absolutely otherworldly for the A's in the summer of 2002 and their magical 20-game win streak, turning it on after an unremarkable start of the season. It was something that may never be repeated in baseball and I'm glad that he got to be a part of it.
God go with you, Cory. Rest in peace.
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, a licensed pilot, today crashed his plane into a downtown Manhattan high-rise apartment building, evoking memories of 9/11, Thurman Munson, the talented and iconic Yankees catcher who died untimely in 1979 after crashing his private plane, and of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals pitcher who died at age 33 in 2002, stunning the baseball world. Today, it was treated to a nightmarish repeat and lost another of its own.
I'm not a Yankees fan, but this is more important than just team loyalty. This goes to the heart of what it means to love the game and to respect those who play it, regardless of the colors they may wear. I heard the news, was stunned to the core, and then I began to cry. If anyone calls themselves a baseball fan, they should feel the same.
You can read more on ESPN.
The outcomes of tonight's ALCS/NLCS games - both of which, of course, I want the Cards and A's to win - suddenly don't seem that important. Lidle was absolutely otherworldly for the A's in the summer of 2002 and their magical 20-game win streak, turning it on after an unremarkable start of the season. It was something that may never be repeated in baseball and I'm glad that he got to be a part of it.
God go with you, Cory. Rest in peace.
Cory Fulton Lidle - 1972 - 2006
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