A's are quiet at MLB trade deadline

Well, the (sort of) official trading deadline has come and gone and the Athletics finalized the deal for George Kottaras, a backup catcher from the Milwaukee Brewers.  The A’s sent RP Fautino De Los Santos back to Milwaukee.  De Los Santos was a decent RP that floated to and from the majors and minors.  Here’s a quick summary of the trade from the San Jose Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_21186472/oakland-trade-catcher-george-kottaras

Here are Kottaras’ career stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kottage01.shtml

Yawn.  When this deal was originally rumored to be going down a few days ago I thought it signaled the end of the Kurt Suzuki era in Oakland.  I’m glad that it isn’t / wasn’t, as Derek Norris was sent back down to the minors earlier today.  None of these guys are going to be consistently productive in the batting lineup for the A’s for the rest of the season, but I like having Kurt on the roster for his experience in general and with young pitchers. 

The day comes and goes without a new infielder on the left hand side of the diamond and while that isn’t a good thing, I’m glad we didn’t sell the farm for a rental or someone that was going to eat up a lot of Lew’s limited resources in the future.  Yes, I’m talking about Jimmy Rollins specifically, as I have seen the rumors floating around from this afternoon.  While I love the idea of adding Rollins for the rest of this year, I wonder what the cost would have been and the ramifications to Beane’s budget in the future.  This team is playing too good right now to take that much risk on. 

What do you think of today’s “non-moves”?  Good, bad, or indifferent?  Would you prefer to have Rollins on the roster, and if so, at what cost?  

Let’s go Oakland!

Game Day Diary - Oakland @ Baltimore, 7/28/12

We’re live again from the exact same location as last night, as I have absolutely nothing better to do on this fine Saturday evening.  The wife remains on the DL and I feel like I might be heading there too.  Not good times.  At the same time, NBC is replaying Olympic events that have already happened and are leaving a lot to be desired with their coverage. 

For those taking the time to read these updates please let me know what you think.  If you like them, correct any errors I might make, etc.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.  I want to come up with some type of regular frequency for these game day diaries for August and September.  Should I drop in a picture of who I would vote for as ‘player of the game’ vs. just using the A’s starting pitcher on that night? 

7:08pm US EST – Jemile Weeks is back near the top of the lineup, batting second this evening, which means batters 7-9 in tonight’s lineup will be a combined 1-12 at best.  In the middle of that insult, Weeks breaks up Tommy Hunter’s bid for a no hitter with a single to left field.

7:13 – Just checked Twitter and it looks like Oakland is making some moves with C Kottaras coming over from Milwaukee, but they are waiting for the A’s to make another move (per @Haudricourt).  I fear that Suzuki’s days are essentially done in Oakland.  Damnit.  (By the way, Seth Smith grounded into a double play to end the top of the first.)

7:19 – Markakis breaks up Colon’s no hitter and leads off the bottom of the 1^st with a hit. 

7:25 – Colon walks Davis to put men on first and second.  Colon doesn’t look good right now and his pitch count is already over 20.  Tonight might not be the A’s night. 

7:30 – Colon gets out of it with a fly out.  I really hope this game speeds up.

7:34 – I have no idea how Cespedes didn’t get called out on strikes there … and on the next pitch he swings and misses anyway, so that’s a moot point. 

7:37 – After Carter strikes out it dawned on me how quiet the crowd is this evening in Baltimore.  There are a lot of empty seats tonight as well.  Moss walks during those random thoughts. 

7:40 – Brandon Inge misses a double off the wall by about a foot and strikes out on the next pitch.  Of course he does. 

7:43 – I missed the first out of the bottom of the second getting a “water”.

7:45 – Someone named Quintanella doubled down the right field line, which reminded me that the A’s kept Reddick out of the lineup tonight after last night’s game ending catch and crash into the wall.  Thankfully, he’s apparently OK and should be ready to go tomorrow. 

7:48 – Colon gets out of it again to end the inning and, thankfully, the 2^nd goes by a bit quicker than the 1^st inning. 

7:54 – The bottom of the A’s lineup is living up to the hype mentioned above.  Coco Crisp then gets robbed by the O’s second basemen and we’re into the bottom of the third before 8pm. 

8:03 – Colon sends the O’s down in order for the first time tonight.  Adam Jones looks like a good player, but every time I watch him (when the O’s play the A’s is the only time I watch him actually) it just feels like he’s a guy that doesn’t meet his potential. 

8:08 – After Weeks gets another single to lead off the inning, he steals second and the A’s are in business! 

8:10 – Seth Smith dribbles the ball down the first base line to move Weeks to third and Fosse steals my thunder by calling out that the pitcher flipped the ball with his glove and the first baseman caught it with his bare hand.  It was funny before Fosse ruined it.  OK, maybe it isn’t that funny at all. 

8:13 – It’s Business Time!  Cespedes with a bomb to left field and the A’s go up 2-0.  The crowd gets a little rowdy which I believe means the ball was thrown back into the field.  As an added bonus, the CSN cameras pick up Cespedes yelling as he goes into the dugout tunnel. 

8:16 – Carter and Moss go down quietly to end the top of the 4^th. 

8:21 – The clouds are apparently rolling in and there’s a rain delay in the future.  Let’s get through the 5^th quickly please. 

8:26 – Colon gets out of trouble again leaving runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  Even Colon looked a little surprised at the called third strike.  We’ll take it. 

8:30 – Fill in the blank: Brandon Inge _____ out again.

8:32 – Suzuki doubles and Sogard follows that up with a hit to right field, scoring Suzuki!  A’s go up 3-0 and the bottom of the lineup has already exceeded expectations for the night.  Well done!

8:44 – One more out in the bottom of the 5^th and this game can be deemed official if the rain starts coming down.  Let’s go Bartolo! 

8:47 – Three up, three down for Colon and this game is now through five innings.  Nice!

8:53 – Chris Carter goes deep and the A’s go up 5-0.  Absurd confidence level continues to rise! 

8:59 – I’m running out of jokes, so just note that Inge struck out again.  I would say he’s not taking the trade rumors very well, but this has been going on for weeks. 

9:07 – Colon is in trouble again and this time Melvin’s music is cued and he pulls the hook on Colon’s night.  Nice outing from Colon again.  Norberto is coming in. 

9:12 – Norberto strikes out Quintanilla to end the inning and the O’s remain scoreless!

9:16 – I’m not rooting against the A’s or anything, but the top of the 7^th was perfectly short in length and it is time for the seventh inning refill, I mean stretch. 

9:19 – Inge boots a groundball to third and I think I see Billy Beane running on the field to let Inge know that his talents can be taken to Miami and that Beane will finish the game for him.  Good lord.  To be “fair”, it was going to be tough to get the runner at first, but he’s given an error. 

9:26 – Now Norberto gets into and out of trouble with no runs coming in, with Adam Jones (noted above) grounding out to end the inning.

9:35 – This just in, Cespedes is good.  He triples to right center field, which scores Weeks.  6-0 A’s. 

9:39 – The A’s leave Cespedes stranded on third and we go to the bottom of the 8^th. 

9:49 – Hey, there’s a rumor out there that Cespedes is a five tool player.  Well, he just flashed some leather to end the 8^th inning in style.  Note that he moved to CF to replace Crisp and I don’t see anyone reporting the specifics on Coco yet online.  Please, let’s stay healthy and see this through. 

9:53 – Again, to be fair, Inge gets off the shnide (sp?) with a base hit to left field. 

9:55 – Browsing the Internet as this game continues on and I see that Toronto took care of Detroit tonight, so that helps the A’s out as well with the Wild Card.  The A’s don’t play Detroit until mid-September, so that’s a team that we will have to watch from afar. 

10:00 – Gomes and Weeks strike out and we head to the bottom of the 9^th with the A’s up 6-0.  Don’t blow this.

10:04 – Balfour just threw a beautiful breaking ball and follows it up with a fastball on the outside corner to strike out Teagarden.  That was a nice job of pitching.  (That’s the type of intense analysis you deserve.)

10:06 – It is amazing what little compliments (above) will do.  Balfour just gave up a home run and the shutout is no more.  6-1 A’s.  Let’s get this game over with. 

10:09 – Balfour throws one right down the middle for a called strike three and the A’s win another one!  This is becoming way too much fun!

Let’s go Oakland!!

Game Day Diary - Oakland @ Baltimore, 7/27/12

7:02PM (US EST) – We’re live with the Roku after making a quick pit stop at Happy Hour.  The wife was put on the 15 day DL earlier this week with mono and that means we have a quick turnaround to the second game day thread.  The A’s begin a weekend series in Baltimore and hopefully put the first nail in their coffin while continuing their own ascent in the AL. 

7:09 – A’s lineup just presented and I have a love/hate relationship with Weeks at the bottom of the lineup.  This is working, so I need to deal with it and be quiet. 

7:11 – Coco Crisp with a pretty terrible at bat to start off the game, which brings up Jonny Gomes.  Remember when I made fun of him batting 2^nd last time?  I don’t either. 

7:14 – After Gomes walks, we see one of the most bizarre triples I’ve seen in quite some time, a high chopper into the right field corner from Reddick.  That’s Reddick’s 50^th RBI of the season (according to Glen). 

7:16 – Wild pitch and Reddick scores, A’s go up 2-0.  I’m absurdly confident in the A’s going into this weekend.  For the record; this isn’t a good sign. 

7:18 – Chris Carter sends a bomb to left field and the A’s go up 4-0.  This write-up may not last the full 9 innings.  Again, way too much confidence for this weekend; if Inge gets a hit …

7:20 – Never mind, Inge strikes out for the 747^th time this season, despite Glen and Ray’s pregame verbiage. 

7:22 – Norris grounds out to end the top of the 1^st.  Baltimore will send the SP out for the 2^nd to not waste the middle relievers arm for the rest of the A’s bottom of the lineup. 

7:23 – I took a quick look at Twitter and see that Rosenthal is reporting that Greinke is going to the Angels.  Thanks KC!  (Sarcasm)

7:25 – Chris Carter with a nice defensive play to start the bottom of the 1^st.  I hope to repeat that sentence through September and into October.

7:29 – Parker with an easy bottom of the first. 

7:32 – The Mayans may have been right, Brandon Hicks sends one over the fence on the first pitch of the inning.  5-0 A’s. 

7:39 – Reddick flies out to end the inning.  There are way too many fly ball outs for the A’s to not keep this going, right? 

7:43 – Chris Davis destroys a pitch to right-center field and the lead is cut to 5-1. 

7:45 – There may or may not have been a double play there, but it was a beautiful play from Inge.  On a quick replay, it doesn’t look close at first, with Carter coming off the bag.  Thankfully, MLB is still in the 20^th century and doesn’t use replay for virtually anything.  (When this happens against the A’s, naturally, my opinion wildly shifts in the other direction.)

7:49 – Cespedes flies out, but CSN shows a replay and convinces me that Carter stayed on first for that double play.  Either way, Carter just grounded out for the second out of the inning. 

7:59 – A’s just miss throwing out the runner at home and the A’s are now up 5-2 with a near home run bouncing off the top of the wall from Hardy.  This inning started with two strikeouts and is starting to fall apart a bit. 

8:01 – Parker gets out of it with some noise in the middle of the inning and it remains 5-2 A’s. 

8:07 – The bottom of the A’s lineup goes down in order.  I wasn’t holding my breath to bet against that.

8:17 – After a wild pitch that moves a runner to third, Parker strikes out Reynolds to end the inning.  All three O’s down on strikes in the inning.  Parker continues to impress me.  (That’s ESPN-like analysis there, I know)

8:24 – Reddick just hit a ball that bounced off the very top of the wall and bounces right into the center fielder’s glove and we have a double.  However, Bob Melvin’s music is cued and he comes out to ask for a review.  Naturally, I mention MLB’s review system earlier tonight and now this happens.  You really can’t make this stuff up.  Have I mentioned that I love MLB’s instant replay?

8:29 – I listened to Glen and Ray explain Reddick’s double and came away just as confused.  What just happened?  Either way, Reddick remains on second for Cespedes.  By the way, that’s approximately 5 minutes for the final call on replay.  MLB might want to expedite that a bit. 

8:35 – Carter grounds out to end the inning and the A’s still have the lead 5-2.  If it were not for Reddick’s HR / not HR, this game was coming to a screeching halt in excitement.  Actually, it still is. 

8:37 – MLB.TV comes back a few seconds early and I get to see that there is a Scott Hatterberg bobblehead day coming up.  Nice!

8:41 – Orioles causing some havoc with another run in and runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  I’d love to blame Inge’s height on that hit, but I’m fair and balanced.  (Sarcasm?)

8:45 – Jim Thome strikes out on his 63^rd birthday.  OK, I made that up. (The birthday part)

8:46 – Sarcasm bites me right in the face like a zombie, as Adam Jones hits a HR and the Orioles take the lead, 6-5.  I just jumped off the confidence pedestal. 

8:47 – Parker’s 8^th strikeout comes a few batters too late and we go to the 6^th inning with the A’s now down 6-5.  Uh-oh. 

8:56 – After two quick outs, Brandon Hicks walks for the first time this season (not really) and Buck Schowalter couldn’t run out to the mound to pull his starting pitcher faster. 

9:05 – We now have three two out walks and Seth Smith comes in to hit for Gomes.  Let’s get this right back. 

9:08 – After taking five straight pitches, Seth Smith strokes a ball to left-center field and clears the bases.  Hey now, 8-6, A’s back on top!  As an added bonus, CSN shows Gomes rooting for Smith.  I love the chemistry on this team right now!

9:11 – Reddick pops out to end the inning but it looked like he didn’t miss that by much.  That last sentence is exactly why I didn’t want to write a midseason review during/after this streak.  If that happened a month ago, I would have been all over Reddick.  Moving on…

9:19 – Noberto gets through the bottom of the 6^th relatively easily.  As an aside, I would like Noberto to shave his beard.  We don’t want or need the coverage that James Harden got for the OKC Thunder (not that we would, but still).  Thanks in advance. 

9:27 – Brandon Inge slows down the inning with an infield hit.  CSN shows the standings for the wild card and I feel reinvigorated. 

9:29 – Derek Norris doesn’t feel the same and strikes out looking to end the top half of the 7^th. 

9:33 – Grant Balfour comes in to pitch for the A’s.  He was my favorite player on the team last year.  This year, I still love him, but a little more consistency is desired. 

9:50 – Seventeen minutes of silence means complete frustration on my part.  Balfour walks the bases loaded and has two outs.  Sean Doolittle is coming in to clean up this mess. 

9:54 – Doolittle strikes out Betemit to end the inning on three pitches.  Kudos to Doolittle there, and yes, I just enjoy typing his name.  (Phew)

9:57 – Hicks has another hit to lead off the inning.  He must have heard a few trade rumors.

10:00 – Someone close to a camera is cheering “You ain’t Rickie” while Jemile Weeks is batting.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Baltimore fans don’t have much to hang on to since Ripken retired, so I’ll let it go.  (For those that don’t know, Rickie Weeks is Jemile’s older brother)

10:07 – Glen announces that the Blue Jays beat the Tigers and Josh Reddick takes strike three with runners in scoring position.  That was the bittersweet moment of the evening.  A’s lead 8-6 still

10:16 – Melvin comes to the mound to call in Ryan Cook (All Star) to close out the 8^th, after Doolittle gets into a little bit of trouble.  2 outs, 2 on for Cook post the blue screen for MLB.TV.  (I’m very glad they don’t, but wouldn’t you sell ad space here if you were MLB.TV?  You know what, never mind, I didn’t say anything.)

10:20 – Cook gives up a hit to Hardy and the A’s are now up by one run, 8-7.  Not good times. 

10:22 – Fosse makes fun of Norris for not dropping his mask on a pitch in the dirt for the 10^th time this week.  Glen enjoys the joke, I do too.  This is going to cost the A’s something, somewhere.  You can feel it.  As I typed that, Thome comes through and just tied the game vs. a shift.  If you aren’t going to pitch inside, don’t put your fielders in a shift.  The VP of common sense is checking in for duty too late. 

10:29 – Cook hits Jones and this game has turned into a potential disaster.  Bases loaded for the O’s. 

10:30 – Orioles take the lead on a hit to left field, but the A’s get “a break” with Thome trying to score from second, as he’s thrown out by about 85 feet.  Again, not good times.  It’s on to the 9^th with Cespedes leading off, and the A’s down 9-8.   

10:35 – Cespedes hits a cue shot that gets scooped up by the first baseman.  One out and it comes down to Carter … because Inge is up next.  (Reverse jinx effort)

10:36 – Carter singles up the middle to bring up Inge.  (Gulp)

10:38 – Inge singles to left and here we go!  Sadly, we have run into the bottom of the A’s lineup.  (Reverse jinx squared)

10:41 – The second ridiculous chopper goes over the first baseman’s head and this game is tied!  This game is not good for the heart.  Brandon Moss is hitting for Hicks = Upgrade

10:44 – Moss walks to load the bases and Weeks comes up.  “You’re not Rickie!!!”  Chant it, I dare you.

10:46 – Yes!  Jemile Weeks, not Rickie, comes through with a single to left field. 

10:47 – Coco Crisp comes through again and the A’s go up 12-9.  Who are these guys?! 

10:52 – Seth Smith crushes a ball off the right field wall and we now have a 14-9 lead.  I’m relatively positive that this is the craziest game of the A’s season, and that is saying A LOT. 

10:54 – Reddick “just misses” another one and I think we are looking at a slump forthcoming, with the team masking it (hopefully).  End of the inning as that was typed and we go to the bottom of the 9^th. 

10:58 – Jerry Blevins is pitching the 9^th and that makes me uncomfortable. 

10:59 – Blevins gets a strike three called and I think the umpire is looking forward to the fireworks in Baltimore this evening. 1 out. 

11:00 – Brandon Inge chokes on a ground ball hit right at him and we have a man on first.  For some (home town scoring) reason, that is called a hit.  It wasn’t. 

11:02 – Jerry Blevins now has men on 1^st and 2^nd.  Have I mentioned that I can’t stand Blevins?  Where is Ricardo Rincon?

11:09 – Reddick catches the ball against the wall and is still down 30 seconds later.  Maybe he wants a good seat for the fireworks?  Let’s hope so.  This isn’t the best way to end another nice win by the A’s.

As always… Let’s go Oakland!!

I've decided to not write a "first half summary" of the 2012 Athletics season, largely because it was incredibly built around peaks and valleys, and right now it would come across as a way too positive recap due to how things are currently going.  I've "given up" on this season more times than Brett Favre talked about retirement.  Rather than rehash the first 95 games, "I'm not here to talk about the past, I am here to make a positive influence on this." (McGwire, Mark ... "this" being "the future")

So with that in mind, let's keep the good times rolling in the second half and make a run into one of the two wildcard spots.  I largely missed the sweep of the Yankees due to vacation, but caught the end of games through my mobile and MLB.TV's app.  Thank you technology!

It is on to Toronto!  As always - Let's go Oakland!!

Game Day Diary - Oakland @ Minnesota, 7/15/12

In the interest of getting this blog up and running, and before I get through a summary of the A’s season through the All Star Game (+1 additional week I guess), I figured I would rip off of Bill Simmons’ NBA draft diaries.  1. I love the premise of those articles and found myself saying very similar things with my friends.  2. That’s about all I read of his these days but still enjoy them.  3. Copying is the greatest form of flattery, right?  Good. 

Feel free to comment and let me know if this type of entry is of interest moving forward.  I could try to do something similar on somewhat of a regular basis (whatever that is or becomes) without having the wife wanting to kill me. 

Running Diary, Oakland @ Minnesota, Sunday, 7/15/12:

2:10pm (US EST) - Live from my couch, I’m joined with our friends at Guinness, with a few leftovers in the fridge ready to be called in from the bullpen for lunch/dinner.  Here’s a rundown of today’s game from one fan’s perspective.

2:15 - Jemile Weeks takes away the no hit bid with a base hit to lead off the game.

2:18 – Jonny Gomes, for some reason batting second, slaps a ball to the outfield and we have 1^st and 3^rd for (the should have been All Star) Josh Reddick. 

2:24 – After Reddick strikes out, the always healthy Cespedes gets another base hit to the outfield.  Luckily, his hamstrings still look attached.  The A’s take the early lead.  1. This team is currently en fuego and pushing for a wildcard spot.  This is amazing and Melvin deserves some consideration for coach of the year if we even wind up over .500.  2. I love Cespedes, bear with my sarcasm or just don’t bother ever reading this blog again. 

2:26 – Chris Carter walks to load the bases.  I would not want to meet Carter in a dark alley. Separately, I really hope he’s in the big leagues for good now. 

2:29 – Brandon Inge strikes out for the 732^nd time this season.  The “Inge-A-Turtles” on Twitter (https://twitter.com/IngeAturtles) desperately need to change their name; for Brandon’s sake. 

2:32 – Derek Norris walks to ‘drive in’ a run and I’m already daydreaming about the Rangers and Yankees series coming up this week.  I’ve also realized there is no way I could do this for the entire game, seeing as the top of the 1^st is going to go a good 30 minutes. 

2:37 – 41 pitches in the top of the 1^st and we finally get to the end of the inning as Seth Smith grounds out with the bases loaded.  Hopefully, there are a few more opportunities to take advantage of in this game. 

2:38 – 1^st “refill”.  The best (or worst depending on your attention span) thing about MLB.TV on Xbox and Roku is the silence and blue screen during commercial breaks.  I personally love it.

2:39 – Jarrod Parker is on the mound today for the A’s.  I have no idea how Billy Beane and company continue to find these guys – consistent, young arms that could easily be a 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th starter on contenders. 

2:45 – Arch nemesis number 1 for the A’s this year, Josh Willingham, comes up to bat and hits a ball to Parker that could have been a double play.  E1, run scores, runners on 1^st and 2^nd now.  Lovely.  We’re not even through 1 inning yet and I’m already regretting typing my comments about the end of the top of the 1^st.  Good times. 

2:48 – No more damage, as Parker gets out of the inning. 

2:54 – Remember about 30 minutes ago when I questioned why Jonny Gomes was batting second in the lineup?  Let’s agree that Bob Melvin has forgotten more baseball than I’ll ever know or learn.  4-1 A’s with another shot off of Gomes’ bat (HR) with Weeks on board.  Well played. 

2:58 – CSN shows the graphic of the A’s being 1.5 games out of the wildcard.  I’ll use this time to also mention that I love Glen and Ray.  Aside from Vin Scully, I really can’t think of any other teams … wait, in game interruption, Cespedes goes yard and the A’s go up 5-1 … Back to Glen and Ray - there aren’t any other MLB booths that I enjoy more.  Honestly, this has nothing to do with being an Oakland fan, as I can’t stand my other favorite sports teams, home announcers (Seahawks radio team and Timberwolves TV).  They do a great job night in and night out, don’t oversell the good, and don’t harp on the bad, just an all around great team in the booth. 

3:00 – Chris Carter goes yard and the A’s are completely on fire!!  6-1. I’ve jumped on and off the bandwagon of this season too many times, so I’m just going to shut up.  Let’s go Oakland!!

3:05 – This game is on pace to last about 6 hours.  I’m sure the wife will be pleased.  Bottom of the second, Twins have runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs.  This isn’t the way to protect the lead and build confidence with the lineup by the way. 

3:07 – Reddick did not look too smooth on that sacrifice fly, but they get the out.  Run scores 6-2.  I think it’s time for a refill.

3:14 – Ron Gardenhire woke up after the second inning and makes a call to the bullpen to someone named Casey Fien.  OK. 

3:20 – Fien gets through the top of the 3^rd without any problems.  Of course he does.  Anything I say, just expect the complete opposite to happen today … excluding Brandon Inge strikeouts. 

3:26 – Hicks with a nice double play to end the inning with no damage done.  A’s still up 6-2 going into the fourth.  I’m not a big fan of either SS on the A’s right now – which makes me one of about 99.9% of the fan base.  We really need to do something about this soon.

3:34 – Reddick gets his first hit of the game and stretches the inning a bit.  On the first pitch to Cespedes, he hits a bullet right to the SS and the inning ends.  Despite the out, the ball just jumps off of Cespedes’ bat even on ‘routine’ plays like this.  Please don’t trade Cespedes; in fact, I just hope no one is calling the FO at all on him to even put the train of thought in their minds. 

3:43 – Parker gives up a 2 out base hit but gets the next batter to end the inning.  Thankfully, we’re no longer on pace for a 6 hour game, as Parker looks solid.  That’s probably a kiss of death that I’ll be typing up in the next half hour or so. 

3:47 – Brandon Inge avoids striking out for the third time today by lining a shot … OK; actually he dribbled the ball about 25 feet and is thrown out at first by the pitcher.

3:49 – Derrick Norris strikes out to end the inning and this feels like a good time to bring up some thoughts on Zuke (Kurt Suzuki).  I really, really like Zuke and hope we keep him around.  He’s been a tremendous asset to the pitching staff but has a ton of mileage on his body.  I’d love to see him get home in late August / September and give this team a push into contending for a wildcard spot. 

3:56 – Parker gets through the bottom of the 5^th quickly - three up, three down.  CSN did a bit of a pan of the crowd at Target Field and I have to give kudos to the Twins faithful.  That’s a very nice sized crowd for a team that is playing pretty awful baseball. 

3:58 – Jeff Gray comes in to pitch for the Twins in the 6^th.  Again, who are these guys?  Seth Smith greets him with a leadoff home run, 7-2 A’s.  This HR was actually spoiled by Twitter and the 45 second delay received on MLB.TV.  The power and curse of the Internet strikes again.

4:06 – Jonny Gomes gets hit by a pitch and the A’s have runners on first and second again with Reddick coming up.  If he doesn’t get a hit here, you’re going to see a helmet toss. 

4:08 – No helmet toss, maybe due to the sacrifice fly, but CSN didn’t follow Reddick into the dugout either.  Consider this a petition for a future add-on to MLB.TV subscribers and multiple TV angles. 

4:10 – Cespedes with another hit and another RBI, 8-2 A’s.  Can we stay in Minnesota and play a game on Monday?  Jeff Gray exits the game and Twins fans are probably at the point of wondering when the Vikings season is set to start.  OK, maybe the Twolves (that’s my favorite NBA team).  OK, maybe not that either.  “Let’s go Wild” chants should start sprouting up any moment now at Target Field. 

4:18 – Jonny Gomes scores on a wild pitch, 9-2 A’s.  Brandon Inge with a sigh of relief, as he has the bases loaded and two outs. 

4:19 – Inge grounds out to end the inning.  It hasn’t been a good year for Brandon.  I’ll stop there. 

4:28 – The Twins are getting around on Parker and it might be time to get some arms up in the bullpen.  9-3 A’s, runners on second and third with one out. 

4:29 – Jerry Blevins is warming up in the bullpen.  While he’s having a pretty solid year, I’m still not a fan.

4:32 – Twins sacrifice another run in, 9-4 A’s.  However, Parker gets Casilla to tap out in front of the catcher to end the inning.  That was a pretty good outing from Parker, as he’s probably done for the day.  Without that early error, it would look a lot nicer. 

4:38 – That was a quick top of the 7^th, with the A’s going down in order.  Nothing to see there at all.

4:46 – Touché.  Blevins comes right back and puts the Twins down in order.  I always liked him …

4:53 – Jonny Gomes continues to make me look like a fool – another base hit for Gomes in the two hole of the lineup.  Player of the game; Check. Josh Reddick lines out quickly thereafter with a rocket to RF.  Fosse sums things up pretty nicely, “Feel bad for the opponents coming up this week” (or something similar to that). 

4:55 – Cespedes with yet another hit.  Have I mentioned how much I like this guy?  If he played in a big market, they would be talking about him every week and his batting average would probably be about 20 points higher (due to the Oakland Coliseum, O.com, whatever we’re calling it this month). 

5:01 – Inge grounds out to the pitcher (again) and leaves the bases loaded to end the top of the 8^th.  I don’t even want to bother making another joke here. 

5:07 – After 5 up and 5 down, Blevins is getting pulled by Melvin and Scribner is coming in.  To be honest, I’ve never seen him pitch on TV yet, but it is hard to make a joke about a guy that has a 0.00 ERA, even if it is only in 5 appearances. 

5:10 – Nice play from Inge to end the inning with a backhand on the line to throw out the hitter.  Scribner, minimal effort given, maybe he comes back out for the 9^th?

5:20 – After Brandon Hicks’ first hit of the game, Weeks grounds out to end the inning and mercifully sends us to the bottom of the 9^th.  The wife has joined the party and is looking for a quick end to the 9^th inning. 

5:27 – The Oakland A’s are now three games over .500 for the first time in the season, with a sweep of the Twins!  Hey now!  It is amazing what this team can do when they put some offense on the field!  As always …

Let’s go Oakland!!

The dawn of another Oakland A's blog

I've decided to break up the blog to provide more focus in particular areas - for now this will be on Travel and the Oakland A's.  I'm going to commit to at least one entry a month on the A's for the rest of the season.  The below write-up was done at the start of the 2011 season, so I will be updating this over the course of the next week for where things stand in 2012.  


Let's go Oakland!!


_________________________________


Admittedly, there is no rhyme or reason to the sports teams that I have the utmost passion for.  I have always disliked the vast majority of NY/Philly teams and this is largely due to the fact that I can’t stand the vast majority of their fans.  I have been able to appropriately proportion good friends by their favorite sports teams, so I never have to deal with “Giants night” or “Yankees night” or anything related to “Philly night”.  You try to distinguish one of those as worse than the other.  I dare you. 

If you put a gun to my head, I would rank my favorite teams as follows:

1.     Oakland Athletics baseball

2.     Minnesota Timberwolves basketball

3.     Seattle Seahawks football

Given the national appeal of the NFL, I’m probably ‘loudest’ about the Seahawks, but in reality, the A’s and T-wolves top the list and I’ve liked/followed both since grade school. 

Now, given the current state of each franchise, I have to wonder, “what the hell was I thinking?!”  Let’s delve right in … I’ll start with what is currently in season, the Oakland A’s. 

(Plus, I want to wait for the T-wolves to screw up the June draft again before killing the entire state of that franchise in 3,000 words or more.  Here’s a hint, it starts at the top with Glen Taylor.)

Oakland A’s Baseball

The “Moneyball” era of Oakland A’s baseball was preceded by the greatest stretch run of any of my favorite teams and I don’t care if the entire era was driven by performance enhancing supplements.  Walt Weiss was not on steroids and he isn’t here to talk about the past, he just wants to look towards the future.  OK? 

Beane’s approach at running a team deserves a lot of credit, especially given the various ownerships that have provided him with limited support throughout his era.  By support, of course I mean dollars.  The early 2000’s were a great run that led to a lot of painful Fall collapses.  When pitchers admit to having weak knees when pitching in Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, chances are, you aren’t going to succeed in the playoffs (see: Hudson, Tim).  And they didn’t.  Time and time again.  Nevertheless, it was fun while it lasted and you had hope that the A’s would be hot at the right time and run into teams that hit a wall.  They weren’t and/or they didn’t. 

After the Big 3 of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito were traded away, there has been a run of mediocrity.
A few big name/game pitchers and a lineup that struggles to produce runs; which leads to .500 baseball, no playoffs, and a hope that the front office can convince a star batter to take slightly less money to come play in Oakland and watch their batting average drop at least .030 points due to the team’s stadium (you know, McAfee-the Coliseum-Overstock.com-The O state park, or whatever they are calling it this week). 

This season, Beane has managed to put together a nice run of young, very talented pitchers and has managed to sign most of them to long term contracts.  I really like Cahill, Anderson, and Bailey.  I like what I’ve seen so far in Brandon McCarthy, excluding that injury bug.  You could talk me into Gio and Tyson Ross, as well as Ziegler and Balfour.  So the current pitching staff is in good shape.  They could use a lefty in the bullpen because Blevins and Fuentes are absolutely atrocious.  Blevins was just sent down to the minors (again) so that seems to have worked itself out already, but we need Bailey back.  Like, right now.    

Unfortunately, this year’s roster has absolutely no power bats whatsoever.  This was abundantly clear all offseason.  After gunning for and missing on Adrian Beltre, Beane seemed to give up on the big bat in the middle of the lineup and settled for a few low risk, medium reward players; Matsui, Willingham, and Conor Jackson.  These guys are all OK on their own and are ‘nice to haves’, if they didn’t make up the entire heart of the A’s daily lineup.  Aside from this, there isn’t ANY power in the lineup; Ellis, Barton, Sweeney, Crisp, Pennigton, on and on.  Kurt Suzuki looks like he’s lost a step offensively (hopefully the birth of his daughter creates some sort of good karma down the road) and I can’t speak rationally on Kevin Kouzmanoff … he sucks.

I’ve gone this far talking about the A’s and I’ve yet to make mention of the biggest problem of all; the coaching staff.  Are we sure Bob Geren was a catcher?  Mike Scioscia has more feel for the game in the dead cells of his left, pinky toenail than Geren does in his entire body.  He handles the pitching staff as well as I handle dancing in a club.  At a bare minimum, I’ve probably watched at least part of five games a week since returning from my honeymoon (read it below!) and there are at least five times a week that I wonder, “what the hell is he thinking/doing?!” aloud.  That isn’t a good average/frequency for the non-math majors out there.

I hate to do this to myself, but the base running blunders that consistently seem to occur with the A’s is astonishing.  At least a part of this is coaching … or a lack thereof.  Pick-offs, run downs, caught stealing, getting thrown out at home without sliding (Gatorade commercial anyone?), not sending runners in clear situations (“Ugh, Gallego?!?!”), the list goes on and on.  This lack of discipline, teaching, whatever you want to call it, is at least in part due to the lack of schooling that is being done off the field and outside of the game and it must be improved. 

The A’s continue to bounce around the .500 mark with an inability to make a good (or bad, thankfully) run over the course of a full week.  Win 2, lose 1, win 1, lose 2, repeat.  I’m hoping to see the A’s in the playoffs this year, you’ll see why if you care to read about the Twolves and Seahawks (coming over the next few weeks), and they need to take advantage of a weak division that is up for grabs.  In other words, we need a midseason trade to sign a big bat, even if said player is a 6 or 18 month rental. 

Win or go home!  Let’s go Oakland!