"Homeruns On Both Sides Of The Wall!!!" Destroy Anderson, A's

as the rest of you…

It’s one thing when the A’s make mediocre pitchers look great. That’s galling. It’s another thing when when the winning pitchers are last year’s Cy Young winner, a 300-game-winner destined for the Hall of Fame. and a guy who’s a sure thing for the 2009 Star Game.

I don’t like it, especially when it’s against the Giants, and team squanders two nice starts by Mazzaro and Outman along with way. But the A’s are a bad hitting team, facing good starters. Realistically, the team’s real opportunity for a win was in yesterday’s game, against a lefty, but they didn’t get it.

Lincecum and Cain vs. two rookies, the latter of whom is erratic at best. What do you expect?

Give someone else a chance to see what they could do for the rest of the season. Who knows a kick in the pants might do this team some good.

Its obvious that Geren has failed to perform the most essential job as manager- to lead and motivate a team to victory.

All of the in-game strategy moves only gets you a few more wins a year. Its the leadership and team building that is essential.

I have given up on Geren long ago but his ‘defense’ of the players for letting that fly ball land last night is the proof that he has no clue on how to motivate people.

If he thinks that Crosby and Cust (neither of whom are Willie Mays) have such a weak ego that they couldn’t take being called-out or held accountable then he has no clue.

Its obvious that whatever techniques he uses to lead have failed (3 straight losing seasons is the proof of that)
 
For those who say he should not be judged based on player performance ask yourself this – Why was Macha fired? It was I suppose because of ‘communication/ player relationship conflicts. Thus, off-the field leadership is valued by the A’s.

The fact is that many players have failed to improve under Geren’s tenure (Crosby, Buck, Cust, Ellis, Casilla, Street) and many others have regressed upon arrival (the new players this season except for Kennedy and Bailey)

With an off-day and a trip out of town now would be the perfect time for a change.

To not make a change sends a very clear message to the team and that is WE TOLERATE POOR PERFORMANCE. Some will say so what many players (Cabrera, Springer, Garciaparra) are not part of the long-term plans. Well, many of the guys are. The worst message to send our young pitchers is that crappy playing is tolerated.

I feel that their ‘rivalry’ is totally manufactured anyway and plus my dad raised me to be a fan of both (though I have gravitated towards the A’s in the last 15 years or so). I don’t even mind the fact that we lost each individual game, because as has been pointed out we lost to a trio of elite pitchers. I feel we got two very good pitching performances, and one poor one, out of three very young starters.

What I mind is having automatic outs in our lineup, a lame manager, and being swept.

Frack.

was Kennedy and Cust batting 1,2

Most of the players don’t belong on ML squad.

Don’t agree with most of them but there are half a dozen who should not be.

Ah ……………. the reasoned voice of the common baseball fan (atic) – "fire the Manager ! we’re not winning, it has to be the Manager’s fault. Fire the S.O.B. Only then will we start to win. When the A’s fired Art Howe, and then Ken Macha that’s when they started to win. Bigtime. Fire Geren ! We’ll be winners.

Cretins. Geren was given a team with no third baseman, (and until recently) no one at second, an arthritic overthehiller at first, plus for the last two weeks two thirds of his starting outfield were in intensive care. He’s got a starting five made up of three 21 year old rooks and a pair of sophomores, his main closer never showed up, the back-up came down with swine fever or malaria or something, the veteran set-up guy has the same affiction as the veteran first-base, and the veteran jack of all trades bench player has only one leg.

Your 2009 Oakland Orthopaedics. And its the Manager’s fault? Oh.

I knew the education (choke) system was bad, but this bad?

There are times when a teams need to be shaken up and a change at the top sends a message that losing is not tolerated.

Firing Howe and Macha who won and keeping Geren who is a losing manager sends a horrendous message to the players and fans.

We could use someone like this on the team. He plays 3rd and many other positions and knows how to hit, especially in the clutch.

But lets just keep Hannahan at 3rd until Chavez comes back…. Oh wait

1. playing hard and 2, lead by example and 3. in-game strategy are all subjective. Were the A’s playing hard when they won seven in a row.? Do they only play hard when they win and not when they lose?
How do you define a culture of expectations and leadership? I have my opinion, you have yours, they are probably vastly different. How do you measure a culture? Is Beethoven culture? Is the Grateful Dead culture? Is Nine Inch Nails culture? The answer is yes to all three. To someone, but not the same someone for all three. Different strokes for different folks. And who’s in charge of culture installation? Ownership? Front Office management? Field management? Who? (I could tell you, but I ain’t gonna).
The much maligned Charley Finlay installed a great winning culture, except of course that it wasn’t Charley’s doing he just had great players and great managers too, I suppose. Still it was Charley who led the charge. However, few remember that essentially the same group of players lost over a hundred games two years in a row before they started on the greatest run in A’s history.
Culture is a slippery slope. Beware.
And strategy. Everyone who knows nothing about baseball is an expert on strategy. Strategy is easy, particularly when you have maybe ten percent of the information needed to make in-game decisions. Wives are terrific stratists – ask any husband.

Does Geren make mistakes? Of course. So does every manager in the game, from Little League to the majors. Always have. Always will. But hindsight criticising is the cheapshot way of saying you don’t like the manager but you don’t know why except the team’s losing.
Losing manager’s are never very popular, no matter what the sport or where its played. Winning teams always seem to have excellent managers. Strange how that works. Fans are the same the world over. Dim bulbs full of emotion. That’s OK but you should realise it.
Is Geren any good? I don’t know, but neither do you, or anyone who frequents places like these. What I do know is he’s forced to play the game with a very weak hand, and unlike poker you can’t bluff in baseball. As presently constituted this is a poor, poor team. Among the worst in the majors. You can change managers twice a week, every week, and nothing but nothing is going to change that essential fact.
Wait until Geren has a competetive group on the field, and not in intensive care, before you start passing judgement.