Yawn.

I know I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but there are days when it really rings true: I would rather lose a game 9-8 than to lose 1 or 2 to 0. Not scoring runs is frustrating; the game really does lose a lot of its fun when you watch the A’s get mowed down for the second straight night.

It’s hard to separate the horrible offense from the quite stellar pitching by C.C. Sabathia (who recorded 11 K’s on the night), but when Suzuki is running up a 0-22 streak, and the rest of the A’s hitters don’t look much better, it’s probably really easy to pitch to them. All it takes is throwing strikes, and only walking players (ahem, Frank Thomas) who will be promptly doubled off. In nine innings today, I never got the feeling that the A’s were close to scoring. Not once.

Despite a couple of rocky moments, Joe Blanton pitched a gem of a game; two solo homeruns the only blemishes in his seven innings. He was helped by a come-backer double-play right back to him with the bases loaded, but it was all for naught; he picked up yet another undeserved loss.
 
It took him until two outs in the eighth inning, but Rajai Davis finally became the leadoff hitter that I was looking for (I loved him in the first slot when lineups were announced), as he dropped a bunt down the third base line for a hit, something that he probably should have tried in every single of his previous at-bats.

Mike Sweeney put another couple of hits on the board, and Crosby and Murphy added their solo hits to Davis’ single, but that was the entirety of the A’s offense tonight. C.C. went the distance without breaking a sweat.

Incidentally, the three innings that I had to listen to the Cleveland announcers was quite enough, thank you. Yes, I recognize that the last two games have been downright embarrassing for the A’s offense, and how we look like anything but a contending team, but before you make us out to be the Royals, try remembering two early-season series wins against your team, both of which you barely escaped a sweep. I’m just sayin’.

The A’s look to stave off a sweep of their own early tomorrow morning (9AM Pacific time). Smith against Laffey.

 

Well, in what seems like a familiar match-up, today's game will feature Joe Blanton against C.C. Sabathia as the A's try to even the series in Cleveland. Blanton is hoping that the curse of the 'starter who pitches very well, but ends up with nothing but a loss to show for it' went to Duchscherer last night, leaving the offense to score for him tonight.

The A's offense certainly needs to get up off the deck today and put some runs on the board. Some power would help (Thomas, I'm looking at you; it's time to heat up).

From MLB.com's Mychael Urban this morning:

The scouts who love Joe Blanton say he has "good winability," noting that Oakland's big-boned righty gets deep into games and keeps his team close, even when he's having a bad night.

The scouts who aren't wild about Blanton say he gives up too many hits to win a lot more than he loses. Period.

The A's just need Blanton to keep the team in the game today while the A's try to put some numbers up against C.C. Here's to scoring that first run.

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LET'S GO OAKLAND!!

(Side note: After the game, there will be a poll asking if you will need a ticket to AN Day - please vote, so I can get a rough count!)

I know, I know, people hate it when there is premature speculation (isn't there a pill for that these days?).  But I'm wondering if the A's might've made a mistake in picking up Frank Thomas.  The reason?  I'm thinking that Mike Sweeney is just a better hitter right now and Thomas' presence has put Sweeney on the bench.  Not only that, but perhaps Barry Bonds would've been the better fit because he can probably still play left field whereas Frank Thomas has no business being anywhere close to a glove.

Now before you all lash out at me, I understand that Bonds would've cost a lot more money and if all the media reports about Bonds are to be believed, he wouldn't have added much positive energy to the clubhouse.  Bonds also would've created a similar situation that the A's have now with Cust, Sweeney, Barton and Thomas.  They essentially have four designated hitters and two of them need to be in the field every night and one of them rides the pine.

If you look at their stats, Sweeney has been the better hitter this year.  I think one of the major reasons Beane picked up Thomas was his plucky young A's weren't getting pop from anywhere and if Thomas has proven anything throughout his career, it's that the guy knows how to slug with the best in baseball.  The problem is that he hasn't been slugging at all for the A's.  He only has four extra base hits in 60 ABs and none of them have left the park.  The chances are that this is probably a small sample size, but I'm wondering if Thomas is a better hitter overall at this stage in his career.  Both Sweeney and Thomas are .300 hitters for their careers.  Yet Thomas is going to be 40 on May 27th.  Sweeney turns 35 in July. 

Thomas may be a statistical aberration and not be declining as he hits his big 4-0 a la Bonds, but for how good he was with Toronto last season, he wasn't anywhere near as good as 2006 with Oakland.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't blame Beane and company for taking a chance on a hitter with the credentials of Bonds.  Hell, I even advocated for Thomas when he was sitting out there.  But I just can't help but think that Mike Sweeney should be in the lineup every night unless he's injured (which might not take long given his past history).  The other option would be to possibly send Daric Barton down and let Sweeney play first every day.  The problem with that is that you're asking for an injury to Sweeney by taking that approach.  I also think that Barton's growth could be getting stunted by not having him out there every night.

Beane has told me several times that you can never have too many good players, but the truth is that I don't think the A's are getting the best out of what they have because they have too many players who probably should be a DH.  And you just know that Thomas is rarely, if ever, going to wind up sitting out because of the way he exited Toronto. 

Although the issue will arise this upcoming weekend when the A's head into Atlanta.  They're going to lose Thomas' bat all weekend without the DH.

Course this all goes away and I look like a fool if Thomas just starts hitting homers and doubles with regularity.  And quite frankly, I'm hoping he makes me look like a fool.

Travis Hafner's first inning RBI single was the game's only run until Ryan Garko broke the game open with a 3-run HR to lead Paul Byrd and two relievers to a shutout victory. Final Score: Indians 4, A's 0.

You had two starters who come at you with 86 MPH, battling 1-0 and at times making it look easy. Meanwhile, the A's two-out curse continued, as Cleveland scored the game's first run after Justin Duchscherer got the first two batters out in the 1st inning, and scored the other three runs after Alan Embree retired the first two batters in the 8th.

The closest the A's came to scoring? That would be when Frank Thomas, on second with two outs, managed not to score on a pop fly single to CF that Grady Sizemore fielded cleanly despite a weird hop and then fired a strike to the plate - the five-pointed thing that seemed to confuse Thomas a bit. The only beef I had with Thomas on that play, because I'm just relieved he didn't get injured in the slide--roll-collision-thingy, is that he really could have had a bigger lead off of second. That's the part he could most control, not the part about being slower than AN 2.0 or not quite knowing how to turn his reconstructed 6' a lot" frame into a gracefully sliding object.

But the real bottom line today is this: The Indians played as close to a perfect game as a baseball team can play. Byrd was masterful (which is the word beginning with "mast" that I am most comfortable associating with Byrd), and Cleveland's defense was nothing short of sensational. David Dellucci's leaping catch was very good, Sizemore's play on Thomas excellent, his diving catch phenomenal, and Asdrubal Cabrera's over-the-shoulder diving catch in short CF as good a play as you will see.

So after the "grrr we lost" wears off, we can look back at this game and just appreciate that we saw some exceptional baseball on display by the Indians. Maybe tomorrow it will be the A's day - we'll see see.

1-0 Indians going to the 8th. This is your mojo thread. Thank you.

The A's got a break yesterday as the weather gods allowed the Indians to play a double-header. So instead of facing the A's, Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee pitched yesterday, each throwing 9 scoreless innings.

Bob Geren has promised to get Kurt Suzuki a day off on this trip but it won't come tonight, even though Suzuki could have gotten a two-day break by sitting this one out. Perhaps the "comfort factor" wins out with Justin Duchscherer throwing to a more familiar catcher - history suggests perhaps Rob Bowen will get the start tomorrow when Joe Blanton takes the mound. Paul Byrd, who can spot his fastball almost as well as he can spot his favorite adult web site, goes for Cleveland. The lineups, sans Mark Ellis who is day-to-day with a mild pull below the waist (as seen on Byrd's favorite web site):

   A's:

Suzuki - C

Barton - 1B

Cust - LF

Thomas - DH

Brown - RF

Hannahan - 3B

Crosby - SS

R. Sweeney - CF

Murphy - 2B

   Indians:

Sizemore - CF

Peralta - SS

Dellucci - LF

Martinez - C

Hafner - DH

Garko - 1B

Cabrera - 2B

Gutierrrez - RF

Blake - 3B

 

Carlos Gonzalez, Aaron Cunningham, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, James Simmons.  These are all names that most ANers are familiar with. Not only are they the organization's top prospects, but they are the guys that were either a) drafted and signed by A's scouts, or b) acquired in a high-profile, recent trade.

Though I should concentrate my efforts on following those guys - since they will be the ones that will more than likely make it to the big club - I thought I'd take a few paragraphs to profile four players currently in the system who were acquired the low-profile way: minor league free agency. Just as a primer, a minor leaguer has the option of filing for free agency after spending 3 years in the organization that originally drafts/signs them and hasn't been added to that organization's 40-man roster AND if they are not selected in either the major league or minor league portions of the annual Rule V draft. So generally speaking, minor leaguers that end up in free agency are usually players that several teams have passed up on for one reason or another and are not usually considered genuine "prospects" with big league futures. Rather, they're usually signed for one year as organizational roster-fillers. All that being said, the goal of any professional baseball team, major or minor, is to win games and some of these minor leaguers, like the 4 below, can help those teams win now.

1. OF Jon Zeringue - AA Midland - .291/.400/.559

Zeringue was a rather big name coming out of high school in 2001 and he was selected by the White Sox in the 3rd round of that year's draft. He opted for college instead, mashed at LSU for three seasons and the move payed off as he was eventually drafted and signed by the D-Backs in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft. He was assigned to Single-A Lancaster where he put up a nice .926 OPS over half of a season. His stock rose considerably in the D-backs organization after that season, but after being moved up to Double-A to start 2005 he lost his swing and took a nosedive, having to repeat at Single-A to start off 2006, then, after a cup of coffee back in Double-A in 2007, he was released by the organization. He signed on with the South Georgia Peanuts of the unaffiliated South Coast League, where he put up a 1.032 OPS in 90 at bats, after which he was promptly signed by the A's and assigned back to the Cal League for Stockton. He homered in his first at-bat with his new organization and hasn't looked back since. He ended his season with the Ports with a .909 OPS with 13 homers. He started this season up in Double-A and finally seems to have raised his play to match the level, as he's already belted 8 homers to go along with a .959 OPS. Zeringue's a corner outfield guy who swings from the right side, so, in such a lefty-heavy organization, he's proven himself to be quite valuable to the mid-level farm teams.

 

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Well, the masses have spoken, and who am I to go against the crowd. By an overwhelming margin of victory, it looks like AN Day V will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2008 against the Angels.

Details will follow, but consider this your 'save the date'. Unfortunately, other A's fans think this is a neat day to come to the ballpark too, so the BBQ plazas we've been using for the last few years are all full.

BUT since this is a night game (6:05 start), this leaves us a wide margin of time to pull together something truly unique (that is becoming scarce in Major League Baseball parks): the tailgate.

Having a tailgate before the game would allow AN to meet together before the game starts, and would also allow for a wide range of participants in this activity, including season ticket holders with previously purchased tickets. If you do not yet have a ticket for this game, I'm going to get them at a great group rate, so please buy with the group if you are at all able to (I'm aiming for about $20), but even if you don't sit with the group, you are welcome at the tailgate.

I will need help, though, so if you are an Oakland regular interested in this event, I'm looking at  you. I need ideas on how to pull this off; I'm looking for grills, and whatever else we might need.

I think the easiest way to arrrange this to everyone's liking will be to have people bring their own tailgate food items (unless someone wants to pull off a Costco run) and if you are from out of town, we will find you an Oakland native who you can pay for food.

This is something new and different, and I'm interested in any and all feedback. I'm excited; it's certainly the best match-up we will see, and I think it will be great fun. If you want to help, please post in this thread, or email me at baseballgirl1976 at hotmail.

Thank you in advance-let's get this on the books!

OK, I'll admit it: I'm emotionally and financially invested in Rich Harden not succeeding. (For those of you who missed it, mikeA and I made a wager last year that Harden wouldn't reach 10 more starts + saves for the A's. As of today, mikeA's only 5 starts/saves away from winning.)

But he just really didn't look good at all today. Yes, his fastball was lively, and he could increase or decrease speeds on it and his changeup very effectively.

But, as I mentioned during the game, Harden was pitching straight up-and-down, not flexing his back or legs, and generating all his power from his waist-up. Consequently, he couldn't locate any pitches below batters' waists, and eventually struggled with his overall control and got hit hard when he had to lower his target to hit the zone.

It looked to me as if Harden was struggling through some stiffness in his hamstrings or his back (and genuinely his back, not the "back" muscle pull as the A's tried to convince us regarding his latest arm/shoulder problems). Now, that could, ironically, be not a bad omen for his next start--if he was just not warmed up properly, and avoided straining his arm, he could bounce back nicely in his next start or two.

Sidney Ponson, after a really awful first inning, tossed a Blantonesque struggling-effectively-through-lousy-stuff performance at the A's. It was only when the A's got into the Rangers lousy (and, ironically, given their recent string of shutouts) and overextended bullpen that the offense really piled on. It was very good to see Cust continue his solid stroke and exasperating patience, Frank and Lil' Sweeney make some solid contact, and Barton finally go yard again. The indifferent offensive performances in Arlington the last couple days had been pretty dispiriting.

And I know I've been down on Crosby, but he really was the Panther excellent-fundamentals-and-focus-leading-to-good-outcomes-player of the game today: he had some nice-looking ABs, some really hard-hit pitches, the heads-up steal of home when Ellis got himself hung out to dry, and the tagout of Saltalamacchia on Salty's steal attempt. That latter play was pretty sweet: yes, Salty overslid by just a bit, but Crosby stayed right on the play, and basically shoved Salty's hand off the bag to tag him out.

As Nico noted, Embree was the right decision in the 7th and 8th by Geren, and rewarded the manager's confidence by shutting down the Rangers when a run or two could have really gotten Texas back into the game.

This was a really nice win for the offense, the 'pen, and the team as a whole to regain some confidence in the middle of a touch road trip.

As for Harden ... who knows. Ken and Vince were talking in the late innings about how tomorrow and his next start are really the only way to judge Harden's start today; while I think that's true to a degree, I think we can also pretty definitively say that Harden didn't exactly look "right" today--but he didn't really play a role in the team's success or failure. And that's essentially what we should expect from him.

"Breaking" news reported by Buan just now: Buan will be breaking some news about Ellis and Chavez.

A's back on top 8-6 going to the 8th.