A's Offense is (Almost) Silent Again; Not Surprisingly, A's Also Lose Game
by baseballgirl on Jun 24, 2009 10:01 PM PDT
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PrintDespite a ninth-inning mini-rally that was the very definition of "too little, too late", there isn't a lot to say about tonight's game, except that the A's seem to like Nico's birthday every bit as much as they like mine.
Let's start with the BA/OBP/SLG for the starting lineup tonight:
Kurt Suzuki .275 .322 .386
Jack Cust .228 .314 .424
Matt Holliday .270 .368 .422
Jason Giambi .206 .346 .391
Orlando Cabrera .244 .289 .314
Bobby Crosby .192 .292 .313
Rajai Davis .240 .302 .320
Jack Hannahan .191 .272 .310
The A's had three hits (a single, a double, and a triple) in four batters to start the game (from the only hitters within the zip code of decent MLB numbers) and they managed to score only a single run. Randy Johnson struck out the side in between the hits, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
That would be the entire offensive story of the night save for a token homerun by Suzuki in the eighth and a pinch-hit double by Nomar in the ninth, scoring Rajai Davis, who walked with two outs.
Based on the run support, and the usual A's non-supportive defense, it didn't really matter what Gio Gonzalez did tonight unless he tossed a shutout, but in case you were wondering, he was actually pulled in the fourth after allowing ten hits and four earned runs, walking two, and striking out six.
Amnesiac summed it up for A's fans tonight:
Sticking around tonight reminds me...
...of an office christmas party. You know the kind where the DJ is playing and almost everyone has left and the only people still around are the bosses, a few who are trying to sober up, and the ones making out in the corner.
I'm sure the non-Giants fans at the Coliseum tonight felt the exact same way. Another game, another loss, another series loss, and the next games the A's will play will be against the hottest team in Major League Baseball, the Rockies, starting Friday night.
Maybe the off-day will be magical.
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Happy Birthday, Nico!
These ain't your father's A's.
by ohtobe21likehuston on Jun 24, 2009 10:03 PM PDT reply actions
Happy Birthday Nico!
It is my birthday as well and despite the outcome, I had a great time at the game tonight. Got an autographed ball from Ziggy, another from Giambi and Kennedy. Maybe next 6/24 they can win it for us. Hope yours was a good one as well.
by swishergirl510 on Jun 24, 2009 11:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Hey, that date is MY birthday!
I had it first.
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
you say it's your birthday?
It’s her birthday too.
It is not [Hawk Harrelson's] fault that his genius goes unappreciated by uncultured louts like you. -Nick
by Leopold Bloom on Jun 25, 2009 9:42 AM PDT up reply actions
Geren really does look like a cartoon character
Normally in HD things look more realistic but he could be in another Toy Story right now.
These ain't your father's A's.
by ohtobe21likehuston on Jun 24, 2009 10:05 PM PDT reply actions
Major gripe of the day
I would once again like to thank The A’s for fucking up Josh Outman.
They knew he was hurting before his start and allowed him to go and what a shocker, he has a sprained ligament in his elbow.
Joey Devine anyone. They kept him pitching, rehabbing and pitching.
These clowns have no clue how to take precautions in keeping someone healthy
That's actually a good point
We KNEW Outman was resting his elbow before his start…amazing to stretch that out in a rookie.
"Bobby Crosby at third is a bit of an adventure. And not like, here’s some hidden treasure, what fun. More like, gah! poison ants!" --alea iacta est
by baseballgirl on Jun 24, 2009 10:10 PM PDT up reply actions
At least Nomar didn't let me down.
He may be the only A’s player who steps to the plate in a high leverage situation where I have any legitimate hope of something positive happening.
Kind of sad isn’t it?
"You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."--The Boys of Summer
I was thinking at least he couldn't hit into another double play tonight
Last of the Ninth - Photography Site / jamesvenes.com - Blog
That was painful to watch live
Green and Gold Lantern Corps
by oaklandSMASH on Jun 25, 2009 1:49 AM PDT up reply actions
Anderson missing his next start with a bicep issue, according to Mindi.
Nico: Okay. We have twelve hours to make a really big pickle.
I heard he was just delaying the start a couple days to Monday
That would be “1/2 a start.”
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
Nomar?
Why is he not starting??? So what if he gets hurt. They don’t need a pitch hitter anymore anyways…besides what good is he if he only bats 5 times in 2 weeks. I say when Ellis comes back, start Nomar at 1st and Kennedy/Crosby at 3rd. And DH Nomar every couple of days and start Giambi when Nomar fills in at DH. It really baffles me that they keep running Hannahan out there….and Crosby for that matter. Whatever the season is hopeless anyways. It’s a sad day to be an A’s fan!
Byron
Might as well start Nomar, watch him get hurt again, DL him again, and have the roster spot for someone else again
Last of the Ninth - Photography Site / jamesvenes.com - Blog
They can't DFA him while he's on the DL, can they?
That would be a reason to keep him healthy.
"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s
I think if Nomar were traded or sent down, he'd retire anyway
so he’s not a DFA candidate. He was choosing between the A’s and retirement in the end, not between different places to play.
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
Oh cool!
Great now we can call up Eveland for another wonderful 4+ IP, 6ER, 10 H night!
Cant wait! When does the party start!
Byron
Youth in Asia
It’s really depressing watching this lineup each night. They are dead, dead, dead. Any changes would be welcome. C’mon Beane, blow up this lineup!
Blow up .235?
Why would you want to do that when you have the youngest pitching staff in the league? Really, don’t you want your young pitchers to learn how to pitch with -100000000 in run support!
Byron
by DoomandGloom on Jun 24, 2009 10:22 PM PDT up reply actions
Who would you be???
In reference to the office Christmas party, I would (A) be the boss, or (B) one of the drunk couples making out in the corner! LOL
Byron
A&B
Drunk couple making out in corner with boss.
Not Work Safe
by MobiusKlein on Jun 25, 2009 10:22 AM PDT up reply actions
Maybe...
Maybe we should have the pitchers bat rather than .200 Giambi, or flailing Rajai, etc.
I like that idea
How bout we have Jack Hannahan bat leadoff. He’s an ideal candidate because of his potential to break the .220 barrier and .325 OBP!
Byron
by DoomandGloom on Jun 24, 2009 10:26 PM PDT up reply actions
To bad it's not Christmas...
We can play “Silent Night” everyday before the A’s game starts….cause that’s how quiet their ooooooffense is!
Byron
Wait, who was making out in the corner?
AN seems to be operating normally again. Also, the ads in the background are gone. Maybe related?
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
Ha ha
Do you remember back in the 70’s when the A’s had the homerun inning and someone won groceries? Sheesh…this lineup couldn’t feed 1 homeless person for a day.
LOL!
Did they really do that? I went to my first game in ‘79. Don’t remember that, but I was only 5!
Byron
Yep, they did
I’ve been following them since 1968 and Monte Moore was a good friend of mine. Some of the promotions were hilarious, although I can’t say I miss the cow milking contests everytime we had a doubleheader. The A’s always lost those.
Monte Moore was awesome.
Remember when he came back and did TV in the 80’s for us? And there she goes!
Byron
I did get a good laugh listening to all those W/Sox home runs
with Hawk Harrelson
“You can put it on the board, Yes”
What a homer he is
The second home run by Fields, he forgot to say it until the end and then slipped it in. Steve Stone does not do the YES part in unison so Harrelson says Yes, twice
He was great
I used to record every A’s game on cassettes, and the A’s used the recordings for promotions and when Henderson broke Lou Brock’s record.
What is there to say?
They are a good team, and very likely could be playing in October. The A’s very likely could be picking in the top five come June.
Gio strikes me as the classic “AAAA” pitcher.
by Pucking Insane on Jun 24, 2009 10:33 PM PDT reply actions
lol solid team
that is playing better than expected. lincecum/ain sure do mask weaknesses. they wont be playing in oct basically they have to beat out mets/philly/ards/cubs/mil for a wildcard
by Asfan4ever723 on Jun 24, 2009 10:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Well...
Perhaps Chicago might want Gio back again. They did trade for him twice already, right?
Gio is talking to Robert Baun
Sounds like he’s drunk and laughing
Obviously not drunk but you would never know this guy sucked goats balls by the way he is talking
Now we know he’s no good as he is crediting Dana Eveland for helping him in the minors.
The help showed.
Eveland’s last appearance for the A’s, he threw a ball to second into CF to help put us out of our misery in the 15th inning at Seattle.
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
LOL Baun telling Gio he may overthink things
when he gets in trouble.
Great Caller ragging on Geren
saying the players don’t play for Geren and that he is sick and tired of Crosby, Hannahan and Cabrera who cannot hit and just plain sick of team.
Tune it, it’s quite good tonight
Gotta feel like Gonzalez was set up to fail tonight
Facing Randy Johnson is already tough as it is with the offense the A’s have, but as good as Gonzalez has looked in Sacramento I didn’t feel like he was consistent enough to be given a spot start where he’d probably be feeling more pressure to pitch well and hope they decided to keep him around longer instead of getting another 5-10 more starts in Sacramento to try getting even more consistent, then bringing him up for the last month of the season or so to start every fifth day no matter what, if the team’s out of contention. He doesn’t need to feel like he’s constantly looking over his shoulder. If that sounds like coddling, it’s not. It’s intended to let him focus on pitching and only pitching. In the offseason they could evaluate things further from there and decide what else to do with him.
Sure enough, tonight he only threw 57.8% of his pitches for strikes. Of the 23 batters he faced he threw first pitch strikes to just 11, good for 47.8%. That’s not going to do it at the highest level.
Last of the Ninth - Photography Site / jamesvenes.com - Blog
I was thinking the same thing
I was also thinking that the failure of the A’s to get more than one run in during the first inning, plus the sloppy defense in the bottom of the first, was going to add to the pressure that Gio apparently let get to him.
I actually had to turn off the game after the fifth inning because it’s late where I am and I was very sleepy…and so apparently were the A’s.
Props to Suzuki, Kennedy, Holliday and Davis as far as their batting and running. It’s certainly not Davis’ faulth that the A’s couldn’t get him home from third.
Pretty much
This is not to say Gonzalez had one or two breaks go against him. Allowing 10 hits in the time he pitched, he was VERY hittable.
Last of the Ninth - Photography Site / jamesvenes.com - Blog
I agree
I was just thinking that the A’s offensive failures of the bottom of the first and defensive failures in the top of the second just exacerbated Gio’s problems with letting the pressure get to him.
The 10 hits is a little deceiving, in that 3 of them
were balls that should have been fielded for outs. However, the other hits were not cheap, fo’ shizzle.
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
A few things
I hope that Gio get’s to stay up for an extended period. I don’t think he will be successful until he gets an adjustment period, like he has needed at every level before being successful. I think it might take a while, but could be well worth the wait. Also, take a fucking pitch Jack Cust. Never thought I’d have to say that.
"True fact: In a global thermonuclear war, the only human who would survive would be David Eckstein" -PT
That lineup is quite shitty
Isn’t it time to release some guys? Or is Beane waiting for some other MLB team to come to him asking for the super-utilitiness of a Bobby Crosby or the defensive juggernaut Jack Hannahan?
If this team is going to fail, I rather see it done with guys with some potential upside and a possible stake in the future of this ball club. I’ll venture a guess that Crosby, Hannahan, and Davis have maxed out on their upside (“upside” can be read as “mediocrity”). In the end, I’m just bitter about this team. I’ve never seen a lineup cobbled together with so many poor hittiers. Two-thirds of your lineup is hitting below .250 and the A’s don’t have the added excuse of having the pitcher bat.
My hope? After the trade deadline passes, the team will undergo a major roster overhaul, which will see the jettisoning of the extraneous suck known as the Davis, Hannahan, Davis, Cabrera, Giambi, Springer collective.
I am Ray Fosse's infatuations with Clay Wood and high-definition television.
To use the word "mediocrity"
in describing Crosby, Hannahan, and Davis is actually a compliment to those guys.
After the A's failed to score more than 1 run
in the bottom of the first I knew this was going to turn sour. When you let a pitcher like Randy Johnson off the hook, leaving two runs on the bases, your ass is in trouble.
The A’s made no adjustments, RJ did, and Gio did not help himself with that terrible throw that would have gotten him a dp in the 4th. Oh well, I guess it’s too much to expect decent fundamentals from this team.
And Matt Holliday is really starting to piss me off out in left. He makes Jack Cust look like a gold glover….piece of shit!
By the way, Happy Birthday Nico. :)
Zeigler to Geren…."A-Rod? He’s my bitch." -alox
LOL - thanks!
And thanks, A’s, for making it so…memorable.
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
Oh please.
Like hes even gotten a fair shake to prove he can be a major league pitcher. You prob said that same thing about Carpenter and Halladay.
"Their Triple-A rotation, led by Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson, could be better than some big-league rotations; Michael Ynoa is the best Latin American prospect of the decade; 2008 draftees Jemile Weeks and Rashun Dixon bring much-needed tools to an advanced group of hitters." - BaseballProspectus.com
In 46 1/3 innings, no less!
Not saying Gonzalez is going to have the guy’s career, but Tom Glavine wasn’t all that good his first couple years.
Last of the Ninth - Photography Site / jamesvenes.com - Blog
The strikeouts are encouraging though
They say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing all the time!
by muffinpryde on Jun 25, 2009 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions
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