I Thought I Would Be Finished With Baseball When The A's Folded, But...

by ptbarnum on Oct 11, 2005 9:08 PM PDT

...I've actually enjoyed the playoffs. Watching teams I detest work each other over is peculiarly relaxing. My emotions have been completely disengaged and I can appreciate the special team we seem to be building. The A's can beat any of these teams (and have, in the cases of the White Sox and Angels). May the gods of baseball grant the A's some breaks next year!

...Arte Moreno seems to be following in the footsteps of Steinbrenner. The trained seals who pass for announcers on Fox TV mentioned Moreno (St. Arte?) was determined to get power (Konerko? Piazza?) out of the free agent market. Go, Arte, go! How did Colon perform last year? Was Cabrera any better than Eckstein? What about Finley? Okay, I'll give him Vlad Guerrero. But doesn't the Yankee experience of the last five years mean anything? Incidentally, is Moreno a racist for preferring Cabrera to Eckstein?

...Smallball has become the new political correctness. The Angels and White Sox dispatched the Red Sox and the Yankees by out-muscling them. Even tonight, the difference was a homerun by Garret Anderson. Yet the announcers keep yapping about "small ball." Most of the steals and bunts I've seen have ended in embarrassing outs. Why are these people being paid as "analysts?" They obviously are not watching the games they are broadcasting.

...Speaking of watching the same game, I want to congratulate Billy Beane for not retaining Ken Macha. No manager who has supervised three straight meltdowns, as Macha had, should be retained. Wrong message to the players and the fans. (Bobby Cox has a job only because the Mets and the Phillies are utterly incompetent.) I have always enjoyed Beane's moves because I've felt Beane has been watching the same game I have. Mistakes have been made, sure, but he corrects them, NOW!, and moves on. Let's hope he gets a manager willing to bench Eric Chavez early in the season That's the only way Mr. Chavez will be able to extricate his head from his ass. (Incidentally, I am a great admirer of Eric Chavez, but the boy does need help.)

...Angels in five. I detest the Angels, but the White Sox are mediocre, as we well know. This cult developing around Scioscia (which began in 1988, thanks Tony LaRussa!) is amazing and annoying. Scioscia is to baseball what Jim Cramer is to stocks. He's right about half the time and, yet, he is extolled endlessly. When you got the horses, you win. When you don't, you don't. Check the records of the legendary managers. LaRussa, the credentialed hero of George Will, couldn't win without the best players. Torre. Stengel. Berra. Connie Mack. Jack McKeon won the World Series just two years ago, yet he's an unemployed geezer idiot today. Small ball and Mike Scioscia. I think I'm going to be sick. But there's no cure until the A's win the World Series.

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Nice work PT,

one of the better diaries posted on here in quite some time. Way to tell it like it is with small-ball, Macha and Chavez. Arte is more of a racist for having the Banco Popular sign on the outfield wall. Does he pay his players in pesos?

by southofcruiseamerica on Oct 11, 2005 11:30 PM PDT reply actions

Racist?

Haha, what a ridiculous comment.

Bring back Hammer.

by OaktownPower on Oct 12, 2005 12:21 AM PDT reply actions

But so true on the smallball shit...

Man, it is everywhere.

Bring back Hammer.

by OaktownPower on Oct 12, 2005 12:21 AM PDT reply actions

good diary except

PT, the correct term now is heartball. Because, you know, no one else except the four teams left have any heart.

by Apricot on Oct 12, 2005 12:29 AM PDT reply actions

don't forget Gritball ...

... and, for Scioscia and Guillen, respectively, Gallball and Spleenball ...

The best conkers to play with are uncracked, firm and symmetrical. Make a hole through the middle of your chosen conker.

by monkeyball on Oct 12, 2005 3:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh, they're watching the game, all right

They're just not understanding what they're seeing

by ArakSOT on Oct 12, 2005 6:36 AM PDT reply actions

A lot of babble about small ball

The 3 teams left in the AL supposedly are successful because they play "small ball".
But both teams scored LESS runs than the A's, the A's scored 772, the Angels 761 and the White Sox 741 despite the fact they hit 200 HR's to the A's 155 and the Angels 147. Yet to listen to the EXPERTS the reason they both won is that they play NL ball. I won't even get into the fact the White Sox played KC and Detroit 18 games each and should have scored many more runs.
Last night the White Sox effectively lost the game because they tried to play SMALL BALL.
BB is right as usual.

by china bob on Oct 12, 2005 7:49 AM PDT reply actions

Nice one PT

Enjoyed your write up and tend to agree. Certainly in previous years I would not be paying much attention to playoffs beyond that which the A's participated in. But this year I am relaxing and enjoying the games for what they are. I tend to hope the Sox lose to Anaheim. Dye producing after he did little for A's for three years, but is he really producing now? Ha Ha...

Charlie Brown GO A'S WIN

by Charlie Brown on Oct 12, 2005 7:52 AM PDT reply actions

I Agree with most of what you say

With the exception of Chavey. As it has been well documented and commented on a number of times on this site and others, he has been hurt. And according to many sources (can't find any off hand at the moment, but if you really want a few, I will look into it) he is going to be having surgury during this off season, which I am sure will improve his game. So to say he should be benched early next season is like saying we should abandon ship before it hit the iceburg. We don't know how his arm is going to be after the surgury, so lets just give it some time and figure it out.

Also, he only missed one game last year before we were eliminated. That was for Diego, not his arm, so I say he is a soldier! He works through the pain. That being said, he probably shouldn't have! But even in pain, he was one of the best third basemen in the game this season and could very likely walk away with a fifth Golden Glove despite the fact that he was not 100%. That is pretty damn good if you ask me.

So yes, he probably should have had more rest and taken a few days to ride the pine and let it heal, but he was still great this year. As for next year, lets just wait and see how the surgery goes and then worry about how much time off he should get. Who knows, in May we might be saying, "hey, now that is the Chavey we know and love, where was he in 2005!" and this conversation will be null and void. But this is just my opinion.

As for the play offs, I have been enjoying just watching good baseball. Whether that is Smallball, Heartball, Moneyball, or whatever, it is just nice to sit back and watch baseball and not be so wrapped up in it. But the announcers do need some work.

I think we are a bit tainted because we have Fosse, who follows the A's day in and day out and knows the team so well. When we hear announcers who casually follow a team, it is obvious how little they know about them and they are just trying to fill dead air time. It is the same thing that happens when ESPN covers the A's. We sit there and think, man, you don't know what you are talking about. Well, they don't know the A's as well as Fosse, so no, they don't know what they are talking about.

The real problem is people like my father (love him dearly, but good grief) who take in everything that the announcer says like it is the word of the baseball gods. They hear what the announcer says and think it is the end all, be all of info on the team, when in reality there are places like AN that can offer more precise and thoughtful analysis on the subject.

The Talking Heads are influencing the casual fans, which is the real problem here. And then the casual fans try to talk to the hard core fans about Moneyball, and end up repeating some crap some talking head said and then WE, the A's fan who actually read the book, are stuck defending it!! Now that is the real problem here!!

Ok, well I just turned my, suppose-to-be-short comment into a rant, Sorry! I will stop now. Oh and sorry about the Spelling! It is terrible, I know.

"We play our best ball when we're goofing around and having a good time" ~Bobby Crosby

by BobbyCrosbysGirl on Oct 12, 2005 10:37 AM PDT reply actions

on feeling sick

<< I think I'm going to be sick. But there's no cure until the A's win the World Series.>>
---
actually, there IS no cure. When the A's win the World Series, like 1989, I was happy for a little while and then sick again starting the next October. Red Sox and Yankee fans are feeling that right now and White Sox fans may be next week. Since on average your team will only win 2.5 world championships in a 75-year fan lifetime (unless you're a Yankee fan) you'd better be prepared to root for other teams in the playoffs or else feel sick most of the time.

by vk on Oct 12, 2005 10:43 AM PDT reply actions

Good diary, and I agree with most ...

but I wouldn't call Arte a racist for wanting Cabrera over Eckstein. Eckstein might have a small advantage offensively, but the defense is no comparison (at the most important defensive position, no less).

Call it small ball, call it whatever you like. When you have a really good pitching staff, and you are playing against a good pitcher, it just makes sense to play for a run sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but Macha should have done more of it. Total runs scored on the season doesn't begin to rationalize the fact that Macha rarely moved runners in low scoring games and DP situations with DP hitters (esp. Hatteberg and Kendall, who typically make contact). The feast or famine A's offense skewed overall stats and are not indicative of the number of games that may have been affected by aggressive baserunning (including bunts and hit & runs).

The Sox mediocre? Yep. Decent, but not great starting pitching and very little else. Angels in 5? If they win tonight, I'm betting Angels sweep.

by iceplant on Oct 12, 2005 10:48 AM PDT reply actions

give me a break

Bobby Cox would be fired if not for the Phillies and Mets?

Nice job disrespecting the best manager in the game...jeez. And you say some people don't watch the games...

by SeanR on Oct 12, 2005 10:54 AM PDT reply actions

good diary save 2 comments

besides replacing Eckstein with a player whose value skyrocketed thanks to his Beltran-like stretch run with the Red Sox, the Angels also replaced Guillen with Finley. Looks like equal-opportunity mismanagement to me.
You bring up Bobby Cox after mentioning the meltdowns that occurred under Macha's watch...are you implying that the Braves "melt down" annually in the playoffs? I don't think 14 straight division titles would fail to satisfy any franchise besides the Yankees. Cox has a lifetime contract to manage the Braves.

I favor this sort of stream-of-consciousness diary myself, though, so I was reluctant to even point out those disagreements, because you weren't exactly striving for factual correctness here. So, I repeat, good diary.

Rock over London, Rock on Oakland. Wheaties: It's the Breakfast of Champions.

by Cutthemullet on Oct 12, 2005 2:37 PM PDT reply actions

Well Put

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I now feel a bit relieved that the A's didn't make the playoffs this year. I was devasted during that last week and a half, but now I've come to believe they weren't ready. I wouldn't want to see the national "experts" pick them apart if they suffered another first round elimination.
But next year .... that's another story. I have this feeling that DJ or Swisher (or both) will have monster seasons and hit more than 30 homeruns. I see Blanton and Haren each winning 20 games. And if Harden stays healthy. ..... watch out.
This has probably been noted here before, but at the end of the telecast of the last A's game in Seattle, Fosse made a bold prediction. He said that when the A's lost the World Series in 88, he predicted they'd be back the next year, based on the talent they had. And he predicted that this current team would be in the World Series next year. "That's how strongly I feel about this team." In Fosse I trust.

by SportySpice @ Athletics Nation on Oct 12, 2005 2:45 PM PDT reply actions