Ah, the ol' Little League home run
by monkeyball on Aug 26, 2007 2:06 PM PDT
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PrintI can assert with no evidentiary or statistical backup whatsoever that every time a Major League team gives up a Little League home run, the Major League team will lose that game.
Even if they're playing a Little League team like the Rays.
(And especially if the Major League team in question is more of a Pacific Coast League team.)
We long ago in this season reached the point where Dan Haren had to pitch like, well, Dan Haren in order for the A's to win.
So when Haren doesn't quite match up his own standard that he's set this year, the A's are pretty much sunk. Interesting that in the last couple of Haren's starts, he's had (in his own words) the best stuff of the season against Toronto and his highest K total of the year today, with indifferent results.
Add some shoddy fielding, Haren's own inexplicable error in not backing up third on the LLHR, and the continued resurgence of Carlos Pena, and you have a recipe for a dismal series finale.
On the bright side, Kurt Suzuki continues to demonstrate that he does indeed belong in the big leagues, Nick Swisher's power stroke appears to be reemergent, and Marco Scutaro has emerged from the Ozzie Smith Vortex.
The weary A's head home to face the Blue Jays for three games starting tomorrow night.
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The weary A's head home to face the Blue Jays for
three games starting tomorrow night.
Yeah and the weary fans gear up to listen to a boring radio game on Monday. Losing 3 to TB? ::shaking my head::
I don't like the characterization of TB
as a Little League team. They're better than a AAA-team; they proved it this weekend.
Anyway, I'll take Shields, Kazmir, Peña, Crawford, Upton, and D. Young on the A's any day. We should be so lucky to have this Little League team's two top SPs, 1Bman, LFer, CFer, or RFer.
They have some great players
but the team has one of the worst records in the league. We should have been able to take this game today. It sucked bigtime. I am frustrated watching as a fan...and disappointed as well.
20/20 Hindsight
Wasn't Upton supposedly available last spring. Why it took TB so long to determine he wasn't an infielder is a mystery. His father should wrap him and his brother in bubble wrap this off-season.
by NoeValley on Aug 26, 2007 4:37 PM PDT up reply actions
We should be so lucky
as to NOT have this better-than-AAA team's worst-record-in-the-majors; nor their history of consistent and utter suckitude.
You're right, though, they are better than a AAA team, and if baseball had promotion and relegation a la futbol, they'd have a chance to prove it.
by rubin sierra on Aug 26, 2007 5:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Of all MLB teams,
I have long felt that TB gets the short end of the stick. They have both Boston and NY in their division, along with the Jays. They are truly the underdogs in all of baseball. I wonder how they would fare in the AL central or any NL division. On occasion they shellac the eastern powerhouses, but like the A's they seem to have trouble with the mediocre teams. I guess it comes back to their pitching/bullpen in the end. Can anyone imagine the terror Selig faces each ST at the prospect of a resurgent TB team? They would become America's darlings if they could ever sustain a winning record within their division.
13 K's each team!
Was there something going on with the ump, because 51% of the outs were K's - 26 / 51.
Or are the players just up there swinging for the fences, since both teams are out of contention.
Ump had a plane to catch
His strike zone was ludicrously large.
okay, we lost, so what.
rant: BBtonight....has sent me into the "I am sick of and bored shi*less any more of the freaking lists of the best top 10 all time of anything."
Then you'll love my Top 10 All Time
Reasons to hate BBtonight.
Do you not grasp the concept of a Top 10 List
which usually infers that there are more than 10 of said attribute? As for producers and hosts... well they can easily be covered by "All Producers and Hosts" as one of the ten on the list.
Yeah, I always thought
it was the middle 3 things, but now I understand.
I had always thought it was just
a bunch of random thoughts strung together. I had to look it up.
It's oddly quiet
The last few days here have been quieter than usual. End-of-summer vacations?
I've noticed it--
Bummerish. Hope it picks up, out-of-pennant-race be durned. We've never had an A's team out of the race since AN's inception--I really hope this isn't "par for the course" when the team isn't in the pennant race. I don't think so, as A's fans, and in particular AN A's fans, are a heck of a lot more loyal than that. But it has been awfully quiet this past week.
One of the last weekends of summer,
school having just started/is starting, fairly decent weather and we're playing the Devil Rays. We could be in the thick of a pennent race and we'd probably still see a drop off. Next weekend will be even worse.
Great, thanks--
I don't mind something being awful as long as I know that next week will be worse!
Like going to the dentist.
Only 2 cavities to be drilled and filled...but wait, next week I get to have a root canal!! Can't wait!
at least we have AN for, dread....
following the playoffs sans athletiques.
I'm still avidly following the games
on the radio, since they're out of town...I miss some innings, because things like work and family tend to occur sometimes at the same time.
I haven't been posting during games much because, well, just because...
OT "official scorer" question
(kind of came up in LAD-NYM game): Grounder to 1B, the ball is booted by the 1Bman, the ball caroms to the 2Bman who has time to throw out the batter, but the 2Bman throws it away, batter is safe. Shouldn't the error go to the 2Bman and the 1Bman is off the hook?
Depends...
how difficult would it be for the 2nd baseman to throw the guy out? If it isn't routine, then the error should go the 1st baseman (though any additional bases other than 1st would be an error for the throw). If is routine, then I'd agree that the 1st baseman should be off the hook.
2 Errors
Can you give out two errors on that play? Did the runner advance to 2nd base because of the 2Bman's throw?
by Colorado Fan on Aug 27, 2007 9:29 AM PDT up reply actions
No. I was only half watching the game,
but I think Conine booted it, Gotay recovered, had time but threw it wildly (to pitcher covering). Runner stopped at first and I think the E was given to Conine.
The Devil Rays play the Yankees and Red Sox
ALOT hence their record. AND I believe they have swept the Red Sox this year, no? They are a tough team and they usually play us well. Let's hope for a sweep back home against the Jays! GO A'S!
by A'sfansince1970 on Aug 26, 2007 7:22 PM PDT reply actions
Oh and by the way
I AM THRILLED WITH THIS TEAM! Only two games under .500 with this mess of a team/lineup! WOW! We should be happier this year then in a lot of other years with this teams resilliency under harsh injured conditions! I am super proud of them all! AND incredibly excited to see competition at ss and 3rd next spring!
by A'sfansince1970 on Aug 26, 2007 7:25 PM PDT reply actions
Think of it this way--
how many times have we followed a game mid-March, where the team got pounded and we said something like, "Yeah but it doesn't mean anything because we didn't play Chavez, Buck, Crosby, Murphy, or Kotsay today and normally Duke would have pitched the 8th..."?
In those Spring Training games you realize that the loss doesn't actually predict any problems in April. Similar situation these days in predicting 2008--except these games count and the injured guys aren't out by choice.
This is why I never watch preseason anything
I just find it maddening. If my team wins, I don't get happy, but if they lose, it still irritates me. And if my team isn't playing, it's just boring. College sports are better in this respect-- there the "preseason" is usually just a bunch of games against terrible opposition. They still count, though.
On another note.
The Georgia team won the LLWS today.
Well, the LLWS got mentioned on an A's blog
Now, how many Little League blogs do you think mentioned the A's game?
That's why.
well considering
espn gets mentioned on an A's blog. How many times do you think the A's are mentioned on ESPN?
Not making excuses
But is anyone else tired of this team having to fly cross country without a day off? I seem to recall hearing an announcer say that the schedule-makers have to give teams a day off if they travel across more than 1 time zone. I guess the league threw that rule out since it really only screws the west coast teams anyway.
I've said this before, but
the A's schedule this year is as horrendous as any I've ever seen. Between the bizarre concentrations of off-days at the beginning and end of the season (when they're least useful), the road trips that make no geographical sense, the 2-game road series (plural-- I think they have THREE this season) on the east coast, the pre-scheduled 40 games in 41 days stretch in which we're currently mired, the fact that the one off day in said stretch came in the middle of a road trip, and so on... the team has a legitimate beef with the schedule-makers. It wouldn't surprise me if it ends up costing them a full game in the standings just due to all the superfluous fatigue. I guess it's just as well that it looks like it's not going to matter.
I also CAN'T STAND all these
4 game series. They are awful. It's hard enough to beat the same team three times in a row, let alone four. They are a total momentum killer. It seems like we've had more of these this year than I can ever remember.
by AintEasyBeinGreen on Aug 27, 2007 1:05 AM PDT up reply actions
missed chavez today
the ball that our new thirdbaseman booted would have been a doubleplay if chavez was there. That 1 play may have costed the A's the game. Sometimes we don't appreciate having the best defensive thirdbaseman in baseball playing on our team.
oh I appreciate him
how many wonderful plays have we seen at the hot corner, that since he's been gone get through for hits?
(I'm not even talking about the errors.)
how about...
the 'designated fielder'
Chavez plays third, and doesn't have to swing a bat
He could be Oakland's DF
by SwisherThresher on Aug 26, 2007 11:02 PM PDT reply actions
Mexican Fortitude?
I guess that title now belongs to Loaiza, who used to be MIA
by SwisherThresher on Aug 27, 2007 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions
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