It Helps To Be Lucky, Helps To Be Good
by Nico on Jun 10, 2008 10:21 PM PDT
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PrintTonight the A's weren't really either one. Early on, Oakland suffered from some important bad luck, watching the Yankees score twice in the 1st inning on two spinning grounders and a bloop, then failing in the bottom half when Hannahan was hit by a pitch and then Crosby smoked the ball to left field - probably the single hardest hit ball of the night, including Melky Cabrera's homerun - right at Johnny Damon. Later, with the Yankees leading just 2-1 and Mark Ellis at second base, Carlos Gonzalez lined a base hit right over Jeter's head. How often do you see a line drive directly over the SS's head that doesn't score a runner from second? Not often, but Gonzalez smoked it too hard for his own good, Ellis had to hold at third and the A's loaded the bases for Kurt Suzuki...
...He bounced into one of four DPs that went with six Dana Eveland's walks. And that's where the luck part ends. The A's stranded a lead-off double, a key bases-loaded opportunity, and overall six of the seven consecutive leadoff men who reached base the first seven innings. Some of that was Wang, and some of it was the young, light-hitting, heart-of-the-order-on-the-DL A's.
My final comment on tonight's game: Yes, some of the failures were all too predictable but that doesn't mean anyone made a mistake. It's hard not to hit a sinker on the ground, and as a manager there are times you have to let guys hit even if you're worried that they will strike out or hit into a DP, because the situation calls for that guy to hit away. The A's are young and these are the kinds of aggravating failures we simply need to endure sometimes. And with the current roster, there aren't a lot of alternatives anyway. Get back soon, Ryan Sweeney and Frank Thomas.
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I keep thinking about how things would be slightly different with the Super Sweenwy Bros. and Big Frank T
and I sigh.
I can’t wait to see them back again because our lineup as it is, is lumber-deficient.
Green Hulk Fists
Totally agree
I think that if you take Barton, Hannahan and Buck out and put in thomas and the Sweeneys we win 6-4.
(The Yanks get another run because to be fair to Buck he did make a few nice plays in OF that M. Sweeney wouldn’t have).
Even having the Sweeneys in a pinch role would have definitely altered this game
With as many baserunners as we had, it was a shame we didn’t have those guys to wallop at least two more in.
Green Hulk Fists
by oaklandSMASH on Jun 11, 2008 3:16 PM PDT up reply actions
After attending 2 out of 3 of this weekend's games (Friday and Saturday)
and watching tonight’s game on TV, I counted at least 4 instances of the A’s leading off an inning with a double and then failing to score.
With the offense so lackluster lately, I would like to see Geren institute a mandatory bunt + sac fly rule for the time being to push those doubles across. Let the guys swing away with 1 or 2 outs, but if we’ve got a man on second with none out, it’s simply too costly not to start manufacturing runs.
If Barton bunts and Buck sacs out in the second tonight, we’re tied until the eighth. Psychologically, I think this team needs every little boost it can get right now when it comes to offense, and a tie game would have been just the ticket in my book.
You assume that these guys know how to bunt.
you also assume that these guys can hit a deep enough fly ball to score a runner from third.
This isn't a sensible strategy, particularly not in the scenario you outlined
It’s Wang, right? The odds are pretty high that if Barton puts the ball in play, it’s going to be a grounder to the right side. For a pretty minor advantage in the percentage of times you move the runner over with the bunt, you make a pretty major sacrifice of a chance at an actual base hit and a big inning.
More generally, any “always do this” rule is dumb, because a. it’s predictable in game theory situations, eventually resulting in things like wheel plays getting run against you, and b. it doesn’t take into account the actual situation (like “lefty at the plate vs. sinkerballer,” above), which is always worse than DOING so unless your manager is such an idiot that he consistently makes the wrong decisions… in which case the solution is not a zero-tolerance rule but a manager who isn’t an idiot.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Or have him play a couple of games?
Bring back Hammer.
by OaktownPower on Jun 10, 2008 10:59 PM PDT up reply actions
I would have pinch hit Brown
Letting Suzuki hit was sickening. It probably didn’t change the odds much, but letting the #1 DP candidate hit there in an “avoid-the-DP-at-all-costs” situation was pretty gruesome.
The A's colors are green and gold.
The percentage of times that those guys strike out or hit the ball on the ground,
the two outcomes to be avoided there, are essentially identical at about 55% for each. And Brown, especially with the PH disadvantage, isn’t a significantly better hitter than Suzuki.
The A’s got bitten in the ass by the injuries there. The team should have had a better hitter for the situation available on the bench (eg Hannahan) but didn’t, because all of them were either already in the game or on the frigging DL.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
the A's did have a better option on the bench: Bowen
I’m not the Zook H8r that some others are, but I’m certainly confoozalated by Geren’s unwillingness to give Bowen more spot starts and PH appearances - especially given his whole pinch-running-for-Cust-and-Hurt-as-early-as-the-7th predilection (i.e., if the justification for not using Bowen late in the game is preserving an emergency reserve C in case of … whatever - then why does the same “anything could happen and we could play 20 innings” logic not apply to keeping Cust and Thomas in?).
Why does such a wonderful man like such terrible things? @('.')@
Bowen strikes out like 40% of the time
Not exactly the ideal candidate with the bases loaded and one out.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
And Emil Brown has never seen a sinker
below the knees that didn’t look “reeeeal guuuud” to him. I completely agree with the criticism of not starting Bowen more – starting him more would keep BOTH catchers sharper. But given where we were last night, I think you just let Suzuki hit, cringe and hope for the best.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
I'd wayyyyyy prefer a K there to a ground ball
Not only is that 1 out instead of a likely two, but it rolls the lineup over to Hannahan—who has a good OBP and is a decent shot to walk in the tying run.
I’m not saying Bowen is an optimal choice there—but a far better one than Gadzooks (right now, anyway, with the flaws in his swing).
I’m actually starting to wonder if the A’s the last couple years might actually be coaching their catchers to generally ignore BP and to just swing down hard on the ball.
Why does such a wonderful man like such terrible things? @('.')@
another point in favor of your argument ...
... is that Bowen actually has lousy MLB numbers vs RHPs. So PH’ing him might not do much good anyway (though it might have worked to generate a BB out of the P).
Why does such a wonderful man like such terrible things? @('.')@
Actually, Brown and Suzuki were tied in GIDPs going into yesterday
Getting a chance to start against Wang helped Suzuki jump into a tie for third in the league with 10, but Brown is no piker in his ability to make two outs for the price of one.
Chad Gaudin
I missed the game tonight (I was working) so I don’t know how Eveland did, but I say bring back Gaudin if any starters are getting shaky!
But yeah, I know, our main problem is the lack of hitters…. when do we get Big Frank back?
Suzuki:
I was struck by something I saw when I went to the game the Monday before yesterday. Suzuki got a fastball and absolutelycrushed it straight into the ground 5 feet in front of home plate. It was a horrible sign. (Keep in mind he hit it very hard.)
If you take a hard swing at the ball on a good pitch to hit and connect, generally, you’ll either hit a hard GB, a line drive for extra bases (or an unfortunate out) or a home run. A ground ball means you hit it squarely on top of the ball, a LD meand you hit it squarely in the middle of the ball, which is what you want, and a FB means you hit it under the ball for a HR (remember I’m talking about hitting the ball squarely.)
Normally, hitting a ground ball means the pitcher got you to hit the top of the ball, and thus not quite squarely. The ball I saw from Suzuki was hit right on the nose, but hit directly into the ground, and that can only mean that he has a profoundly flawed swing.
I was a skeptic of bringing him up last year, because I didn’t think he’d even outhit the pathetic Kendall performance, as he wasn’t doing anything in AAA. He came up and hit damn well last year and got my hopes up. But this year’s performance is about what his prior career would indicate: he flat out can’t hit. Sure, he’ll do better than he’s done so far (a pathetic .617 OPS), but unless he makes big changes, he is simply not a major league hitter.
Suzuki is simply not a Major League player unless he makes serious adustments to his swing. And until he does, Geren cannot let him piss away the game by gidp’ing ing in big situations, which he will do quite often.
The A's colors are green and gold.
I haven't had that impression, though it certainly could be true
My problem with him is:
1)He takes a lot of good pitches
2)What good pitches he does get, he hits hard on the ground…. Pitchers don’t make mistakes all that often and good hitters crush those mistakes out of the park. Suzuki hits those mistakes hard on the ground and gets a single as long as the ball doesn’t go right to a fielder. He needs to elevate the ball.
The A's colors are green and gold.
It may just be an optical illusion because he holds the bat fairly upright with his hands kinda high.
Kinda like Mike Sweeney does – it just creates the “look” of not being able to get the bat around quickly, as opposed to, say, Big Hurt or even Ellis and Chavez, they have their hands farther back and not quite as high up and it allows them to get the bat through the zone quicker.
Fangraphs says otherwise on #2
His ground ball percentage is normal. His problem is a lack of line drives, or more specifically, the fact that a lot of what are line drives to a good hitter are fly balls for Suzuki. When you don’t have a lot of power, fly balls are terrible for offensive production. Grounders are not—they’re pretty meh for anybody.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
To sum up...
My feeling on Suzuki right now is “now is the time to panic!” Landon Powell is doing a lot worse, but he at least has some upside. I can’t take 5 more years Kendallish hitting (with fewer walks and less bat control!)
Only ground ball hits, no walks and no power make mikeA [lose his sanity]
The A's colors are green and gold.
So you think it's not time to panic on Buck,
but it is time to panic on Suzuki.
Well, it’s certainly interesting… because I’ve concluded the exact opposite.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
You are correct
with you conclusion. At the moment there are not any viable alternative options with Suzuki and his play really is not that drastically lower than his expected ceiling. He probably just really does need some days off.
However, with Buck, there are alternative options available and those should be acted on.
by TheRaiderWay on Jun 11, 2008 2:15 AM PDT up reply actions
It's hard to see a lot of upside with Suzuki
He doesn’t have plus power, and probably never will, and he doesn’t have plus plate discipline. He is going to have to hit for a high average to ever be good offensively, and he has never really hit for a high average.
As for defense, he is now the new Kendall, he gets overrated like all A’s catchers do. At some point, people will figure out that the A’s pitch in a pitchers park and consistently draft, develop, and trade for good pitchers. The A’s pitching has been very good with a lot of different catchers; maybe it’s not the catchers.
There is no particular replacement for Suzuki unless Powell can keep his weight down and stay healthy or Recker can improve defensively, but sooner or later even the A’s and their tolerance for terrible offensive catchers will get tired of watching Suzuki’s bat kill rallies.
by BlameChannel53 on Jun 10, 2008 11:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Thing is...
I still think he has some potential as a hitter, but he needs to radically change both his swing and his approach, since he hits the ball hard, which A’s-version Kendall could not do. And he does have good plate discipline considering that it would be crazy to ever throw him a ball… But he needs to radically change his swing and his approach, and I think that can only happen in the minors. But of course we are lacking in catchers… I think he has some upside, which he showed last year, but I also think the best bet is to wait and see if Powell can turn it around in AAA. And while my opinion of Suzuki is in the dumps, I think he still has more upside than Bowen as far as MLB pt goes.
The A's colors are green and gold.
I think the best thing I can say about Suzuki's offensive potential . . .
is that he is a catcher and so the decency threshold is low. Never at any point when he was in college, the minors, or in Oakland have I ever thought he would be a guy who will ever exceed a .750 OPS in a full major league season. I could see him developing into a .700-.750 OPS guy perhaps, but that is his ceiling as far as I can tell.
Agree that Suzuki should stay the starter, but Bowen should be playing more often than he has. Barring a trade, I foresee no scenario in which Suzuki is not the starter for the rest of this year and at the beginning of 2009. If he is still “producing” a sub .650 OPS by June 2009, one would think the A’s would be looking hard for other options.
by BlameChannel53 on Jun 11, 2008 12:18 AM PDT up reply actions
Sadly Kurt is the closest thing to an auto-out at the moment
I am sure they are working with him but he just looks pathetic.
I do not advocate injuries as we have enough good players with that problem but it would not be a bad thing for him to pull a hamstring as that appears to be the only way Geren leaves him out of the lineup.
I just hope Geren and others wake up and see we don’t need rally killers up and down the lineup. Hurry back Frank and Co, that will at least help out the other positions in the lineup.
I think Barton, Hannahan and Buck are just as bad.
What angers me about the other 3 and not Suzuki is that the ’s have people who can take their jobs but are hurt (or E. Brown).
I do think Bowen should get more starts period.
If M. Sweeney can get back after the All-Star game the we have an option to replace Barton (also Hannahan).
As I see it R. Sweeney and Thomas will push Buck out of the regular line-up. Barton and hannahan will see more days off as well. Thomas to DH, Hannahan can start at 1B a few games.
Basically, Barton has 5 weeks or so to keep his job until Mike gets back. If Barton is hitting then i suppose you stick with him. If not they need to go with Mike S. as the team I believe will still be in the race.
are your sure your name isn't Trellowhorse?
Why does such a wonderful man like such terrible things? @('.')@
Some thoughts on the game (watched while working)
—First, watching a close A’s game while working screws everything up. You don’t watch enough. You don’t get your work done fast enough.
—That radar gun on the TV that says Wang was throwing in the mid-90s, even if it was that annoying offspeed pitch that breaks away from lefties? It lies.
—The Yankees should have scored more runs too.
—Suzuki. While I agree with those who say Bowen should play more often, I think some of the criticism is too harsh. He’s a young player, doing a good job defensively (although he could block the plate better), and gets his share of singles. He just didn’t get one when the team needed it tonight. I cut guys like Suzuki, who plays a demanding and important defensive position, a lot more slack, than guys like Barton, who plays a position that really demands more production.
—Besides, there is no replacement for him. It gets a little silly when people start mooning about Powell, who can’t hit in AAA. I agree that he isn’t an ideal long-term solution, but he wouldn’t be a problem if we had better hitters elsewhere in the lineup.
—Carlos Gonzalez. He’s fun to watch. That throw to third during the first inning was Ichiroesque, only without the degree of difficulty. I know the conventional wisdom is that he’ll get sent down for more seasoning, but I am starting to wonder why that’s desirable. He needs to learn to hit tough major league pitchers who toss up offspeed stuff like Wang. How is that going to happen in Sacramento?
—It’s not always enjoyable to endure, but it’s probably for the best that Mike Sweeney is hurt, if only to let Barton try to work his way out of his funk. It won’t help the team this year, but the experience is necessary, for him and the team.
Suzuki couldn't hit in AAA either....
Agreed on the last point. Barton has been pretty bad, but Sweeney was no great shakes, and I am confident that Barton will be a very good hitter.
The A's colors are green and gold.
+1
The value of AAA at bats is often overrated. The pitchers these guys face are not always prospects, but guys pitching those other three or four days(depending on the affiliation) while the prospects rest.
"My boyfriend drinks ALOT, you know, because he's a rebel."-Reyna
Carlos Gonzalez is not getting sent down
I could be proven wrong as early as Friday, when R Sweeney is eligible to come off the DL (and he’s hitting well in rehab). Still, I’d be shocked to see Carlos get sent down.
First, Beane has made it clear that he doesn’t like to yo-yo his best prospects – barring something fairly extreme like Buck’s egregious slump coupled with his injury, the prize guys stay up once they’re called up.
Second, he’s hitting the damn ball more consistently hard than anyone on the team right now. His hits aren’t cheapies, they’re ropes, as beautiful to look at as they are useful. He’s done nothing at all to make himself the guy who gets sent packing.
Third, the timing works perfectly from a contractual perspective. He’s already been down enough to make sure he’s under team control for six additional years after 2008 and to avoid super-2 arbitration status. There’s really no downside to letting him improve at his trade at the big league level.
Fourth, while he has an unacceptably low walk rate so far (thus too low an OBP), I’ve watched most of his plate appearances so far and it does not seem to me that he’s getting anxious and flailing at bad pitches. Small sample size applies – if he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll get an adequate number of walks (enough to make his OBP at least passable), although he won’t be among the team leaders.
Fifth – Defense! It’s been much better than I was expecting. He has a fine arm that has already impacted games. From what I’ve seen and heard so far he gets a good break on the ball, something some of our outfielders struggle with. He’s someone who can finish his pursuit off with a dive and actually pluck a ball from an inch off the ground, where a lot of guys just can’t close that deal. (Remember Kielty’s slides, that were actually vastly less effective than simply staying on his feet and reaching down to knee level for a catch? Or Buck, for that matter, who often seems to sort of flop towards the ball, often coming up a foot or more short – which looks like good effort, but it’s useless and worse than that when the ball gets by.)
He’s a keeper. And the time to start keeping him is NOW.
Very well put - I'd be shocked if Gonzalez were sent down
as he is arguably our best OF hitter, and best OF defender, in terms of immediate potential moving forward. The OBP will rise as pitchers become more and more afraid to throw him strikes – something that is happening, or will happen, sooner rather than later.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
what Nico said
Is it prurient? I don’t know what to tell you. I think it’s odd and interesting. It’s part of life. @('.')@
hey - what about what I said?
And how come you ditched the cool lemur?
Who cares what you said?
I agreed with it – now THAT’S worth complimenting.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Nico agrees with me, therefore I am
Or in Latin: Nico me agreeum, ergo sum.
Suzuki should call Swish
so they could do the Farmer’s workout together.
Zook needs more stremph to hang through the season.
Green Hulk Fists
True -- it was all bad
Your post was on first and I just hit us into a double play.
Green Hulk Fists
by oaklandSMASH on Jun 10, 2008 11:40 PM PDT up reply actions
...in the old.. ball.. game!!!!
Let’s play some good baseball tomorrow!
Green Hulk Fists
by oaklandSMASH on Jun 10, 2008 11:56 PM PDT up reply actions
Sweeney to have both knees 'scoped
... according to Slusser’s A’s Notes this morning.
Also, reading between the lines on the Thomas-out-until-after-interleague/they’ll-likely-keep-Rajai item, it seems like the ground is being laid for an Emil DFA.
Why does such a wonderful man like such terrible things? @('.')@
I think they will have to drop a pitcher or both Brown and Davis
as R. Sweeney should be back with Thomas. Do they need Davis if they have T. Buck and R. Sweeney (one of them I would imagine is not going to start).
Personally, I would send Buck back down to AAA. I don’t know if E. Brown will stay on the team but I do believe it would be very unfair to keep Buck over Brown as Brown has performed much better.
I still say they should just keep 1 back-up infielder but I read some good arguments to that. (Then again wasn’t Davis a 2B??)
really quite a boring, dissatisfying game
Only real highlight for the A’s was CarGo’s awesome assist. If Eveland throws strikes in the first, this game might still be going on.
Yanks fans very well behaved in sect. 225. The Chinese fans are the nicest Yankees fans I’ve ever seen (though the one in front of me was rather disturbing: he videotaped the entire game including warmups between innings! while completely ignoring his adorable kid).
Really difficult to watch the bases loaded
with one out and a double play ball hit. I was at the game as I usually am (and will be again tonight) with my girlfriend. Her stomach hurt through most of the game as there was just a simple uneasy feeling watching the A’s struggle with RISP. I do think things will change with Frank back in the line-up and Mike Sweeny available to PH, etc. but it was rough last night. I sure hope Duke has his A game tonight.
Suzuki
While his bat was dissapointing last night, lets not over look the fact he played tremendous behind the plate. He blocks balls well, his pitching staff has one of the lowest ERA’s in the game (some credit needs to go to the catcher for calling games), his throw to first on the bunt was spectacular, he picked off Damon in a tight game (props to crosby for getting the high throw down without getting injured). He had a single, but it was not when it would have done anything. Then with bases loaded he gidp.
That gidp was what ALL the a’s hitters were doing last night, hitting or walking when there was no threat, then unable to hit when we needed it. ZOok is not the one to be blaming, it was one of those games we hung in but let the yanks off the hook repeatedly. Classic A’s ball, runs are hard to come by. Zook is hitting around .250 which is where i had my expectations for him. He’s too young in my opinion to expect a .300 batter and too light to be a power guy. His game calling and defense has been excellent and i don’t think he’s hit his ceiling by a long shot.
For those upset with his hitting, i agree they could have pinch hit Bowen with hte bases loaded, not a bad call at all, but ZOok will never learn to hit clutch if we don’t give him some opportunities now, so tough call keeping him in there with + and -’s for both actions.
I think they should ahve pinch hit Emil, who could of at least hit a fly ball to get the runner from third in, Zook is never good for that, Emil i think had the best probability of doing that.
It was a frustrating game. Move on take the next two.
by TheGreenGoldCrush on Jun 11, 2008 8:54 AM PDT reply actions
Kendall was also lauded for the staff ERA.
So was Ramona. Hell, so was Damian Miller.
At what point do we start giving credit to, you know, the pitchers? The coliseum? There is only so long that “the pitching staff loves him and he calls a great game” will get a catcher by. At some point he’s gotta hit.
Also, I wouldn’t quite call his defense tremendous, either. He’s got a very, very serious problem blocking runners because he is WAY too far in front of the plate when he’s receiving a throw, causing him to have to go back towards the plate and the runner and try to make a sweeping tag instead of setting up on the plate to block the runner. You would think that since the manager is a former catcher he would do something about that.
catchers
yes former catchers were lauded, in my post i wasn’t lauding him, i was saying “some” credit is due. A bunch of new pitchers , zook in his second year. And people are critizing him this much. All i wanted to say was, yes we expect more, but it all hasn’t been bad and no the sky is not falling. They trust Zook will get it done for them, and for a young catcher he has been respectable.
Outside of a small handful, not many catchers are doing much at the plate this year outside of molina, mcann, martin and doumit. Even victor martinez hasn’t been his normal self. For what we pay zook, and what he accomplished so far, i don’t think we need to crush his confidence by writing him off at this point.
by TheGreenGoldCrush on Jun 11, 2008 9:45 AM PDT up reply actions
Aside from his horrible plate blocking, nobody is criticizing his defense though.
There’s only so long a team can accept hitting like shit while saying “HEY LOOK THE PITCHING STAFF LOVES HIM!”
hitting .250 on the A's team, isn't that bad, ahead of most regulars in fact. He's not a .350 hitter.
I reiterate, i don’t think he’s underperforming, i think people need to adjust their expectations, and as always it flairs up when he hits into a one out bases loaded dp. I was frustrated too.
Catchers who can hit is a premium in the majors. That has been well known for a long time.
by TheGreenGoldCrush on Jun 11, 2008 12:34 PM PDT up reply actions
Barton, Buck and Kurt
should get those teaching videos the are guaranteed to improve your hitting that are/were indorsed by Fred McGriff
Barton is actually starting to come out of it and hit well, he has a .895 OPS for June
By Day/Month AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
June 29 6 9 2 0 1 2 5 0 9 0 0 .310 .412 .483 .895by theblackpearl on Jun 11, 2008 9:28 AM PDT up reply actions
Well he has some time to play everyday until M. Sweeney is back
Hopefully his play will warrant keeping him in the line-up.
Barton
has come around a bit. The thing i noticed about barton, is his plate discipline seems very good, almost too patient, but then on the strikeout pitch he hesitates a little too much. I like how he is making pitchers work him, make pitches, his indesiciveness on a 2-2 or 3-2 count is where he struggles. I think its a confidence thing, which with a little more success he’ll be a very good batter
by TheGreenGoldCrush on Jun 11, 2008 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions
It's not 2002.
I think Barton will be fine but even if he doesn’t pull out of it, M. Sweeney isn’t a good alternative. How long has it been since he’s had a good season? Or a healthy one? Once a new home is found for Emil Brown, M. Sweeney should be next on the list for a ticket out of town.
Root for the Giants? Not even if they're playing al-Qaeda!
The boys got Wanged
and Dana was shakey in the first, which seems to happen often. Let’s hope Duke has his A+ game tonight and they don’t make Rasner look like Cy Young. And the good news is we play the Giants this weekend!
by A'sfansince1970 on Jun 11, 2008 9:57 AM PDT reply actions
We play the Giants
and we miss both Lincecum and Sanchez. Perfect.
frustrating game
building up tension and hope by getting runners on and then GDP is baseball’s version of blue balls. really hurts and stays with you until the next game, which you hope is better.
You have to include smiley faces - Poppy
;- ) :- ) :-O : -> : -] : -}
Was it only me.
Or was anyone else thing of “Hey Wang, No Offense” watching him pitch last night. The A’s had their chances and couldn’t cash in. Plain and simple.
One thing that we are learning is that Keith Foulke is way past his prime. His change up doesn’t fool anyone these days.
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