-Strike through- called!
by monkeyball on Apr 28, 2007 3:56 PM PDT
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PrintSigh.
Well, once again, the A's batters failed to show show up for the game ... um, wait a sec.
{fiddles with rabbit ears}
The A's got a few baserunners on, but couldn't come up with timely 2 out/2 strike hits ... hold on.
{pounds on top, sides of TV}
The A's short relievers gave up a handful of late game runs, thereby losing the slim 1 run lead to which the team had been clinging all day ... uhhhh, no that's not it.
{hits CTRL-ALT-DEL}
The A's, ah ... lost another outfielder to injury!
{holds breath; glances around nervously at obviously deranged, mendacious electronic devices}
Yeah, that's it. I knew there was a coal-black kernel of negativity to treasure from today's game.
So, yeah ... Chavvy goes all bobblehead on the oppo, Dan Haren continues to demonstrate that he's the most valuable player on the roster, Crosby continues to demonstrate improvements at the plate, the A's justifiably punished a poor and struggling pitcher. Today was a nice salve for the wounds of the last week.
But we still ain't gonna be facing Fossum regularly ...
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Sending some Love to kielty
hope he'll be OK .. go Krazy Klown! ..
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 3:55 PM PDT reply actions
"preparing for a long year'
okay chavy, lets prepare for playing in october with that in mind too.
mendacious?
Just when I thought I was smart enough to read AN I get stumped.
As often as our players get hurt,
Ellis came out of the game in the 8th
did he get hurt by the pitch that hit him or
did Geren want to get Scoot an AB?
by oak1 on Apr 28, 2007 4:08 PM PDT reply actions
He wanted to give Kendall some company
At that point, the only A's without a hit were Putnam and Kendall, and he hoped Scutaro would whiff so Iron Drawers wouldn't feel so bad.
AL West update: LAA over Sox 3-0 in bottom 2nd
... boo! ...
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 4:43 PM PDT reply actions
make that after two full innings
sox failed to score ..
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 4:45 PM PDT up reply actions
Angels still lead 3-0 going into the 9th
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 6:31 PM PDT up reply actions
And it's a final: LAA over ChiSox 3-0
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 6:48 PM PDT up reply actions
Wow
I've been waiting for that since the offensive outburst in Seattle (9-0) in the first series. I've been to 16 A's games so far, and in those 2 games the A's have easily outscored themselves than in the other 14 games I've seen this year. Feast or famine. Last night was the hardest one to digest---James Shields does not have any type of track record against the A's like Jarrod Washburn does. Plus, at least in that 1-0 loss to Washburn and the M's, Blanton had his best start of the year, while yesterday Gaudin had his worst.
Don't get me wrong, A's starting pitching has been unbelievable this year, especially Gaudin, filling in for Loaiza.
Hey, about TV, the one other offensive outburst I haven't already mentioned from this year, the 16 runs the A's put up on the board against Texas last weekend... was not televised. And today... not televised. Maybe the A's bats are camera shy.
Well tomorrow's game isn't televised either, which, of course, is outrageous, but let's hope it means the A's offense will put up some runs against Kazmir so we can take this series before we go to Fenway on Tuesday.
by Baseball Equals Life on Apr 28, 2007 5:15 PM PDT reply actions
james shields
"James Shields does not have any type of track record against the A's like Jarrod Washburn does."
yes, but james shields is a decent pitcher, and jarrod washburn sucks.
Baseball is funny...
Earlier this week, David Wells, 43, faced Randy Johnson, 43, in the oldest left-handed pitching match up ever, combined age of 86. In less than a week, we have probably the youngest left handed pitching match up between Dallas Braden, 23, and the younger Scott Kazmir, also 23, with a combined age of 46. It will definitely be an interesting game. Hope the A's can pull off a win to end the homestand on a positive note.
Yes it is, very funny & unpredictable
Anyone remember last year in interleague? Arizona came into Oakland during a month when they couldn't win a game to save their life, and swept us. Even Batista, generally regarded as mediocre if not downright sucky, pitched a very good game against us. Cy Young pitchers can have stinky outings, and mediocre pitchers like Washburn can have good outings. The old saying in baseball, "You're only as good as tomorrow's starting pitcher," is very very true. Let's hope Braden has another good outing tomorrow. :)
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions
I wish we could have seen more of McBeth up here
before he got traded away today. Hope Denorfia is worth it.
wow
If I read the box score correctly, we didn't hit into any double plays?!?!?! Wow....
I think I hear four horsemen galloping this way..
I've gotta start building that bunker...
by OaktownRajah on Apr 28, 2007 5:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Kendall struck out twice
and flied out to the warning track. Hence, no GIDPs for the A's.
He actually got one
to the warning track? That's a bomb coming from Kendall. He actually swung at the ball, huh?
by IndianaAsfan on Apr 28, 2007 7:17 PM PDT up reply actions
Unfortunately yes
It's best if he doesn't do that, especially if anybody's on first.
Did anybody watch Igawa on the Fox game...
He was wearing thick shades and he looked like The Terminator! Was this an adjustment because he spent most of his career in domed stadiums in Japan?
Except
for his buck teeth
by LawDaddy on Apr 28, 2007 5:57 PM PDT up reply actions
This is funny:
Nick Swisher
First Base
Team leader with .265 BA
I can't take anymore up and down
games or I'll look like this:
by LawDaddy on Apr 28, 2007 6:08 PM PDT reply actions
Without knowing anything about that picture...
My guess is he's on trial for something.
Is there any truth to this rumor?
I heard Alec Baldwin gave the A's a speech before today's game to straighten them out.
ABC
always be closing
The leads are weak?!?!
You're weak!
by Baseball Equals Life on Apr 28, 2007 10:54 PM PDT up reply actions
You call yourself a hitter, you son of a bitch?
It would be nice if Huston Street could get himself a pair of brass balls...
by Philip Christy on Apr 28, 2007 11:44 PM PDT up reply actions
They embarrassed him for the last time.
by secret ASian man on Apr 29, 2007 12:51 AM PDT up reply actions
Top of the first in Seattle...
and it's getting ugly.
Weaver out
1/3 inning pitched
29 pitches
7 hits
6 ER
Couldn't happen to a better guy
He should have stayed in St. Louis. He must enjoy stealing money.
by IndianaAsfan on Apr 28, 2007 7:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Or
better team.
by sf drift king on Apr 28, 2007 8:09 PM PDT up reply actions
Kendall
Everyone likes to make fun of Kendall but right now he's considered the A's only catcher. How long do his hitting woes have to continue before some type of change is made? A trade? Bring someone up from the minors? A sub-.200 hitter with no power is a serious drain on the offense, particularly compared to many teams that have good hitting catchers. And I don't see great evidence that Kendall is better defensively than good-hitting catchers around the major leagues. I would imagine Kendall's stats right now have him well below replacement level.
It's not that bad.
Having Kendall is like having a pitcher hit in the NL, that's all. No power and hits below mendoza line.
by sf drift king on Apr 28, 2007 8:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Great--we lost Zito's pitching
I'm hoping for sarcasm...
because it really is that bad. Who wants an NL lineup in the American League? Wouldn't every pitcher love to see a player in the lineup that could NEVER hurt you unless there was a runner at third (and even in that case, he has a 70-80% chance of not getting him in!). I just found out who the A's traded to the Pirates for Kendall. It was Rhodes (no clue who that is) and Mark Redman, and STILL it looks like it was a great trade on the part of the Pirates. They're paying a lot of Kendall's salary, got a shitty starting pitcher and some other dude, but it was sheer genius that they got rid of him when they did.
by jayefbe on Apr 28, 2007 11:20 PM PDT up reply actions
I don't mean to pick on the guy,
I hear he calls a good game though.
We already have Ray Fosse to do that
I'm afraid we scored too many runs today
the last time we had a jail brake like this, we got blanked the following day.
something tells me Kazmir's licking his chops...
hoping kielty not too hurt to play tomorrow
.. He has very good numbers against Kazmir ..
something tells me Kazmir's licking his chops...
by Randy Bell on Apr 28, 2007 8:49 PM PDT up reply actions
The Rope-a-Dope strategy
Teams have figured out that the best way to beat the A's is to play rope-a-dope. You put some batting practice pitcher on the mound, let the A's score ten runs or so, and then you beat them the next two games. It worked for Seattle - the A's scored 8 runs against the Geriatrics the day before Opening Day and were shut out the next day. And it worked for the Rangers, obviously.
The reason, of course, is the effect of all that running around the bases on the A's elderly and infirm. The excitement of running the whole way around the bases is too much for Kendall or Piazza or Chavez to take more than once a week, so they spend the day after a blowout resting.
Giving up a big loss seems like a high price, but if it's the first game of a three or four-game series, and guarantees wins in the following games, it's clearly worth it. Tampa Bay is working a variation on the Washington strategy since we play them again next week, after the Red Sox. We'll see how prolonged the results are.
Another great A's game that was not on TV...
this is getting ridiculous. No TV tmrw either so Braden will prolly throw a perfect game...
Amazes me at times
This team fascinates me, in more ways than one. Somehow the A's were able to hit against a starting pitcher for some runs and got clutch ab's. But then again, I believe for the next month or so the team will be living on the edge of a sword, so cheers for a tremendous A's victory.
Distributions
I find it fascinating that this team has now scored 40% of its runs in 12.5% of it's games. Since they've now played 24 games, we're getting close to something worthy of plotting in a distribution.
Runs A's Opps
0 3 2
1 3 3
2 4 3
3 4 1
4 4 9
5 2 3
6 1 1
7 0 1
8 0 1
9 1 0
12 1 0
16 1 0
Mean: 3.8 3.5
SD: 3.8 2.1
I wish I could figure out how to post the accompanying graph, but oh well. The key take aways:
- The A's pitching staff has only allowed more than 5 runs in 3 games (which is amazing);
- The mean runs produced and given up (3.8 vs. 3.5) are relatively close; and
- The std deviations are widely apart (3.8 vs. 2.1).
The question is - would you rather have a highly volatile offense, a highly volatile pitching staff, both, low volatility on both, or doesn't matter? I believe someone (Sal?) has proven that volatility is good. It certainly gives you a better chance to beat better teams in short series, but does it help you over the course of a season? If a team scores and allows the league average in runs, but is highly volatile in both respects will they win more or less games than average? Neither?
Personally, aside from the statistical implications, I like the offensive volatility because it adds an element of excitement. I think having a low mean, low volatility pitching staff points to the fact that they are generally good pitchers because individual pitchers are very volatile (hence lower value in fantasy). Look at how much Zito got for being a very low volatility and very healthy pitcher.
That said, I'm sure if someone did a study on the onset of hair loss in men as a function of the volatility of their favorite teams' run distributions, they'd find a highly negative correlation (more volatility = earlier hair loss).
Definitely do not want a volatile pitching staff!
Sounds like Texas! ;-)
But your post is excellent. I would add that if you plotted the same stats for the A's over the 2nd-half vs. the 1st-half of the season, you'd get some interesting comparisons. More consistency, less volatility for the offense - would be my guess. At least that seems to be the pattern in recent years.
Hate to utter a cliche but the A's are a 2nd-half team! Some teams are 1st-half teams - Boston comes to mind, as well as Detroit last year - they seem to get off to a fast start. But then, last year both Boston and Detroit faded in the 2nd-half. In fact, Boston had a total meltdown while Detroit was in free fall and hung on to win the wildcard.
Question: had you rather root for a 1st-half or 2nd-half team? The former is more enjoyable during the early part of the season, obviously. The latter requires patience and hope, waiting for that late surge. BUT, the 1st-half team isn't as much fun rooting for in the late part of the season during crunch time, if they are like Detroit and holding on for dear life to a lead they built up earlier in the season. :)
by Randy Bell on Apr 29, 2007 6:28 AM PDT up reply actions
Moreover
according to Slusser's article, the A's have scored 30% of their runs in 5 innings. That, friends, doesn't even qualify as volitile.
by IndianaAsfan on Apr 29, 2007 8:12 AM PDT up reply actions
That's fricking insane
I think the A's Offense is the result of crappy programming that gets them caught in infinite loops sometimes. They just pile on the runs until someone notices and hits CTRL-X to get them out of the loop.
I hope everyone is OK
My wife saw this on TV and we thought of our AN friends in the Bay Area.
Uh-oh. Has anyone seen
On a serious note, those photos are pretty dramatic. Sounds like no one other than the driver was injured and that the driver, remarkably, is relatively ok, considering. Yikes.
I just had a dream
that Danny Haren was injured.
you know that when I start having nightmares about A's players getting injured, and thus the injury bug has crept its way into my subconscious, that it's getting far out of hand.
This bug needs to be stopped.
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