Moneyball: Win games, lose respect

by Joey C. on Apr 4, 2007 10:26 PM PDT Comment 7 comments

3 games into the season, and the media wants me to believe that the Mariners are something special.

All spring long, talking heads have been telling me how Mike Piazza is not going to replace Frank Thomas' production (ignoring that the team's offense as a whole was down last year due various injuries), that the rotation is shaky (we've been giving way too many starts to multiple future #6 pitchers for the last few years, why should this year be any different?), and that Oakland is, at best, a second-place finisher (where have I heard that before?).

But, oh, all that changed on Opening Day. Felix, a.k.a. "King," a.k.a. "The Ace," a.k.a. "The Hype That Hasn't Really Delivered" Hernandez fans 12, with the help of an umpire whose strike zone was extended to an extra foot on either side and an A's offense that hasn't really been dangerous since Jermaine Dye put the whammy on himself in the batter's box.

3 games into the season, and the media wants me to believe that the Mariners are something special.

No, on that day, the common refrain was "Felix Hernandez K's 12 against the DEFENDING AL WEST CHAMPS;" "Overmatched DEFENDING AL WEST CHAMPS look helpless against slightly less fat 20-year-old phenom."

To boot, the A's/Mariners matchup was the lead story of Baseball Tonight that evening. Of course, Rich Harden could throw a perfect game and Eric Chavez could set a new single-game record with 17 home runs in 5 at-bats, but I'd still have to wait until the final 10 minutes of the broadcast to hear anything about it.

I get it. Small market. Low payroll. Few, if any, stars. But it's wearing thin. The only respect the A's get is framed in terms of someone else's achievement.

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The kid had a heck of a game ...

he deserves credit ... what's the big deal?

Read my latest articles

by devo on Apr 4, 2007 10:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i agree

but still a funny diary.
"slightly less fat 20-year-old phenom"

A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05

by xbhaskarx on Apr 4, 2007 11:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The big deal, as I see it

Felix had a good game, this is true. After all, the ump's widened strike zone theoretically helped Haren, too. I just don't like how the A's aren't dangerous or respectable in anyone's mind unless they're beaten. When the Yankees won the Opening Day game against Zito last year, helped by A-Rod's grand slam, for instance. It was all about the Yankees' unstoppable lineup, and the only real question was, just how far can they go? Meanwhile, the A's took the last 2 out of 3 in that series. The Big Surprise? No one was talking about the A's beating up on the league's biggest payroll, or how far could the A's go, or how dangerous the Oakland Athletics were. Same song, different chords this season.

This, my friends... this is what grates my cheese.

by Joey C. on Apr 5, 2007 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd prefer to Rodney Dangerfield it...

It means that when they get blindsided, no one knows what hit them. The A's are a good team, a dangerous team, and we all know it. In any other sport, the success that Billy Beane has had would be replicated the very next season by dozens of owners and GMs. And yet how many GMsactually follow such a consistently successful strategy? Theo Epstein and J.P. Ricciardi have fallen away from it. Kevin Towers is building something down south, but that's a little questionable.

It is, in part, because whenever people think of the A's, they think "Oh, the team is okay. We can do better." The fact is, very very few of them are actually better and we get taken into the playoff race every year.

It actually gives me the willies at night when I think of a team with the Yankees or Red Sox payroll and a Moneyball approach. The last team that had that was the 2004 Red Sox and everyone saw where they went.

Let ESPN chuckle and have its cheap shots. We'll have the last laugh.

by eastbayexpat on Apr 5, 2007 7:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seriously, who really cares?

And why does it matter? The A's seem to play better under the radar anyhow, but even then that's just a perception. What ESPN or the media says or thinks about them should have no bearing on what they do on the field.

I think a lot of the general attitude of "nobody respects us" comes from being #2 to the Giants locally even though the A's have been the better team and organization.

All that matters is what happens on the field. I don't care what some talking head behind a desk says on TV.

Bottom of the 9th - Baseball photojournalism by James Venes

by Flashfire on Apr 5, 2007 8:14 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeh, better "under the radar"

.. and ESPN has always been sensationalist .. they don't care ... when asked they will even tell you they don't care .. it's all about the tv ratings ..

.. the Athletics may be small-market but they have BIG-heart! ..

by Randy Bell on Apr 5, 2007 11:08 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs