Bailey Sets A's Save Record After Anderson's Strong Start
by baseballgirl on Sep 12, 2009 1:41 PM PDT
Email
PrintAndrew Bailey struck out Cabrera and Mauer in the ninth inning en route to his 24th save of the season--most ever for an A's rookie--as the A's beat the Twins for the second straight day. Bailey made a winner out of another Rookie of the Year candidate, Brett Anderson, whose seven inning, five hit, two run, zero walk, four strikeout day led the A's to yet another second half win powered by the rookies. Cliff Pennington went 3-3 in today's effort, as a different A's team than we have seen in the past put together traditional baseball fundamentals to score four runs, all without the benefit of a big hit.
The A's took full advantage of Mike Redmond filling in for Joe Mauer as the catcher today (Mauer DH'd), as they recorded five steals in the game (Ellis, Davis, Patterson, Pennington, Kennedy). We have certainly seen a shift this year in the importance of the running game, and I have to say I kind of like it. Rajai Davis (batting .304) has 36 steals in a season where he didn't even start the year as a full-time player.
But most impressive in today's game was the way that five of the six runs were scored. With the exception of a Pennington RBI double, all of the other runs in the game were scored via the sac fly; three by the A's, and two by the Twins. Both teams had only six hits on the day, but the difference in the game was the six walks that the A's received.
The A's took an early 2-0 lead in the second on an Ellis walk, a Barton double, a Patterson sac fly and a Pennington double, but the Twins came right back to tie it with single runs in the third and fourth. But the Twins' pitching loaded the bases with walks in the fifth, and the A's made them pay with the game-winning sac flies from Rajai Davis and Kurt Suzuki.
Cust went 0-4 with three strikeouts and did not look good doing it.
After Anderson breezed through his seven innings of work, Wuertz threw a scoreless eighth inning to set the stage for Andrew Bailey's big moment. Bailey's ERA is now at 2.03, and knowing the Baseball Writers, if he can get his ERA under 2 and his save total over 25, it might be the edge he needs over Niemann or Andrus for the ROY. The A's got Anderson the win today, but I think it is probably too late for Anderson this season. He'll have to try for the Cy starting next year.
With today's win, the A's have won the season series against the Twins, and considering how this season started, I'm calling that a victory. I wasn't sure we'd beat anyone. There is a lot to love about the young A's pitching, and their running game is masking their lack of real offense, at least for now.
The A's look for the sweep tomorrow in the very last A's game EVER at the Metrodome. For some reason, that makes me nostalgic.
75 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Pennington/Rajai are typical angels hitters
pesky, grind it out hitters that get cheap hits..annoying when its against the A’s, but great when its for them
It's awesome to have some of those guys, no?
Some motherfcukers are always trying to ice skate uphill - Blade.
Does anyone know
off the top of their head what the A’s record is in the second half?
A thousand times better than the first half!
(non scientific answer)
"Tonto think Billy Beane need to make team full of squirrels and bears."
by OptimistPrime on Sep 12, 2009 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions
Almost 500
I counted and by my count missed a few games if 30-31 is the correct # of games.
"Baseball is dull only to dull minds." Red Barber
by BERRYJO on Sep 12, 2009 2:05 PM PDT up reply actions
A's were 34-46 at the break
…as recorded in the Alameda Sun on July 9th. After today’s game, the A’s are 64-77.
Very nice summary, baseballgirl. Your last full paragraph says it all. Congrats to Mr. Bailey!
by A's Fan in Virginia on Sep 12, 2009 1:53 PM PDT reply actions
Geren has no idea with Cust
Whenever Cust has a good game, Geren immediately shoves him in the 3 or 4 spot in the order, and he then proceeds to strike out 3 times and go 0-4. Here’s his numbers per order spot:
2: 883 OPS
3: 550 OPS
4: 665 OPS
5: 849 OPS
6: 1314 OPS
7: 822 OPS
So, any person with a logical mind should be able to decipher that hitting him literally anywhere else except the 3 or 4 spots is the right thing to do. Geren does not seem to see this, hmmm…
Looking at this for one season is dumb.
Especially since Geren told him if he wanted to bat higher in the order, he would have to cut his K’s and swing more. Well we all know how that experiment worked out, and he ended up playing his worse months of the season in those spots in the order.
"if gio would of ptched,he would of pitched shoot outs." - MR.OAKLAND
"Anyone who calls themselves the Angels Angels should have to start over and ride the short bus." -timmeh from McCovey Chronicles
Even his short stints years ago with other clubs
has the same pattern: Cust batting 6th or 7th is more productive.
"It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. " GB Shaw
by One won lost won on Sep 12, 2009 2:18 PM PDT up reply actions
I think Cust is perfect at 6...
unfortunately we don’t really have any “typical” 3 or 4 hitters, so we try to throw Cust in there….
Cust should never bat 3rd or 4th
painfully obvious to people who just watch the games and don’t even need to look up stats to verify it.
He is fine hitting 6th.
And U R correct, we don’t have a 3 or 4 hitter and he certainly is a very inadequate fill in
Pretty easy to make the same comparison for his entire career,
courtesy of Baseball Reference
Split G GS PA BA OBP SLG OPS
Batting 1st 3 0 3 .000 .333 .000 .333
Batting 2nd 9 7 31 .233 .258 .567 .825
Batting 3rd 130 126 539 .210 .345 .409 .754
Batting 4th 122 121 530 .218 .385 .420 .805
Batting 5th 77 77 315 .267 .384 .500 .884
Batting 6th 52 50 198 .323 .434 .646 1.081
Batting 7th 34 31 122 .226 .320 .396 .716
Batting 8th 15 10 44 .424 .568 .667 1.235
Batting 9th 31 0 36 .111 .333 .111 .444
That’s a larger sample, at least in the 3-7 positions. It does somewhat support PL78’s position that he hits better lower in the order, though it’s hard to formulate a theory for why in the 7th spot he’s dramatically worse than in either 6th or 8th.
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
It's just as hard to formulate a theory
as to why a manager would bat Cust 8th. So he can walk in front of the worst hitter in the lineup? Because he can’t hit well but you really need him in there for his glove? Or because he can hit well, but you happen to have 5-6 better hitters, yet you DH Cust? If you don’t think he should bat higher than 8th, maybe that’s a sign that he shouldn’t be in there at all.
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
The "GS" column is games started.
A manager has put Cust #8 in the lineup only 10 times in his entire career. You can easily track them down on BR. I’d guess they’re all early in his career. Or maybe a last-minute substitution.
"Go ahead and overachieve, you scrappy Brett-Favre-colored walk-takers." —Rev Halofan
Are you suggesting he gets better pitches to hit lower in the order?
Today he swung through strikes two of the times he struck out. I missed the other one.
The Oakland A's: Pissing off fathers of disappointing baseball players who still managed to be better than their dads (charter club members: Tom Grieve & Ed Crosby)
Last of the Ninth - Photography
Or are you suggesting he feels less pressure lower in the order, which helps him hit better?
The Oakland A's: Pissing off fathers of disappointing baseball players who still managed to be better than their dads (charter club members: Tom Grieve & Ed Crosby)
Last of the Ninth - Photography
Cust not face lefties
Cust can’t hit lefties. Only start him ve righties.
It's an interesting concept.
Check this graph out from Fangraphs.
http://www.fangraphs.com/splits.aspx?playerid=1564&position=DHOF&page=8&split=lr&type=full
His L/R splits are slightly stronger than they were in 2007, but they virtually disappeared in 2008.
I have liked Andrew Bailey from the beginning of this season.
Don’t really pay much attention to stats (excepting easy ones I can wrap my head around – like ERA) but to a fan like me – his outings made me think he was something special. The fact that I had never heard of him made it that much more interesting. I liked Street, too, so the fact that he has just taken the record from his rookie year means something to me.
I especially like that we gave him the role as his own and he has owned it!!
CONGRATS, Andrew!
"Baseball is dull only to dull minds." Red Barber
by BERRYJO on Sep 12, 2009 1:54 PM PDT reply actions
How many saves did Street have in his rookie year?
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
23
"Baseball is dull only to dull minds." Red Barber
by BERRYJO on Sep 13, 2009 2:41 AM PDT up reply actions
Has anyone thought that maybe we should try Bailey out as a starter again?
"if gio would of ptched,he would of pitched shoot outs." - MR.OAKLAND
"Anyone who calls themselves the Angels Angels should have to start over and ride the short bus." -timmeh from McCovey Chronicles
+1
Even the best relievers are not as valuable as an average starter.
"Life is a horizontal fall" -Jean Cocteau
by King Richard on Sep 12, 2009 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions
No? not even just to try it out?
Seems pretty low risk to me
"if gio would of ptched,he would of pitched shoot outs." - MR.OAKLAND
"Anyone who calls themselves the Angels Angels should have to start over and ride the short bus." -timmeh from McCovey Chronicles
If Devine were good to go in April,
you could certainly use April-May to check it out, with Devine, Ziggy, Wuertz anchoring the pen, and then slide Bailey back into relief if it didn’t work well.
I’m not advocating it, I’m just saying that 2010 is probably the right year to do it — a year in which the A’s either won’t quite contend anyway, or might only contend if they add another surprisingly good starter to the rotation.
Personally, I’d sooner lure Huddy back but he may or may not be interested anyway.
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 think, in the end, the Braves will probably bring him back
I know it’s a 12 million option. But that team would be STACKED with Starting Pitching next season if they bring him back. Almost enough to mask their so-so offense (just look at how long the Giants have stayed in the race this year).
the Braves may trade one of their starters
depending on what they can get. That means, one of Hudson, Lowe, Vasquez or Jurjens is likely to be traded.
he does have the repertoire of pitches to be a good starter
I guess it all depends on what works the best for the team
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
No
Young starting pitching is not a particularly big need. With Anderson, Cahill, Gio, Braden, even Mortenson, and if Outman comes back, we have plenty of young SPs. We are also looking at, perhaps bringing Duke back next year if he wants to come back. Closer is a need, since it seems we cannot trust the health of Mr Joey Devine. Plus Bailey is finding success in this role, why tinker with it?
Finding good starters > finding a closer
You want as many players in the race for the rotation as possible
"if gio would of ptched,he would of pitched shoot outs." - MR.OAKLAND
"Anyone who calls themselves the Angels Angels should have to start over and ride the short bus." -timmeh from McCovey Chronicles
Right, but....
perhaps I should have been more clear. We have tons of young starters. If we were to bring in another starter, I think it should be a vet. Bailey right now has a niche on the team as the closer. If we converted him to a starter, he’d be just another young starter. Plus he seems to enjoy closing, taking after Mariano and everything. And we still don’t really know about Devine. To me, he seems like another DL-prone Athletic.
I think you’re disproving your point. You want as many players in the race for the rotation as possible, but once you’ve determined 5 people, it doesn’t really help you. I don’t know if Bailey would have more success than any of the young guns that we’ve got slotted into the rotation going forward.
How does that disprove my point?
I don’t know if he will be better either, why don’t we find out? Certainly seems worth the…whatever risk there is.
"if gio would of ptched,he would of pitched shoot outs." - MR.OAKLAND
"Anyone who calls themselves the Angels Angels should have to start over and ride the short bus." -timmeh from McCovey Chronicles
I just posted something
to keep this discussion going…
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 continue to believe that one of the things
that separates mediocre teams from better teams is the ability to capitalize on opportunities, including making “productive outs” — yes, non-outs are better than outs, but sometimes you find yourself in a situation where a “productive out” can help score a run that’s out there and I am a big believer in moving runners over, sac flies, etc. as part of what it means to “find” every available run.
You need hits, you need HRs, you need crooked numbers, no question — but you need to “get ’em over, get ’em in” sometimes too and it’s great to see the A’s getting better at it lately.
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
Agree with this 100%
All things, every thing, to get runs. Early, then often.
Wonder what our hitting coach has been telling batters to create a five HR game, and besides a 12 run game the other night, the blowout of the Twins at the Coli before Holliday left??
speaking of…
Holliday got his BA up above .280 because of a couple of Twins vs. A’s games where he scooped up a ton of hits. Otherwise, he was “Mr. 0-2” for so many ABs for the A’s…
"It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. " GB Shaw
by One won lost won on Sep 12, 2009 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Didn't you see some other people?
Sometimes you just have to look around.
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
by Nico on Sep 12, 2009 2:22 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
In case you're confused.
Which is okay, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. I meant from AN.
Ian Anderson
We were there also.
Past 3B, lower deck. There was a whole group of 20+/- decked out in A’s gear in the next section over from us.
In 2008 I was watching a team that was rebuilding. In 2009 I feel like I'm watching a team that just sucks.
Anderson seems to be ready for prime time,
I’m not too sure about Cahill, Mazaaro and the rest though.
Who do you think would or should make the rotation in 2010?
In the battle of the strong, victory goes to the brave.
Mazzaro has been the biggest disappointment to me,....
Cahill and Gio have their ups and downs….I’d really like to see what Duke wants to do. If he doesn’t come back we should seriously think about getting a vet for the back end of the rotation. Just to provide some stability. It seems Anderson/Braden/Cahill/Mazaro/Gio looks like it’s already set in stone as next year’s rotation, but I’d like to have a vet at the back end and have Gio and Vin fight it out for the last spot.
A's rookie leftie with a 9-10 record? Sound familiar?
Mulder went on to have at least 15 wins in each of his next 5 seasons. I know W/L record is misleading, etc. but barring injury we have to feel good that young Brett can do something similar (and then get traded for some prospects who don’t pan out. :-) )
let's hope that this formula becomes routine in the coming years
Anderson for 7, and Wuertz and Bailey for the eighth and ninth
BA + AB = W
A fabulous formula
"I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be." -- Peter Gibbons
AB+BA = ABBA!
Having the time of your life!
"Life is a horizontal fall" -Jean Cocteau
by King Richard on Sep 12, 2009 6:37 PM PDT up reply actions
Crosby
Watching his future hit and field better than him. Poor Crosby I guess you cant say your the best SS on the team anymore.
Pennington
i don’t know why folks on this blog are so convinced that Pennington is not a major leaguer. I think he has shown he can hit, field, and run at this level. I like him.
Well, first of all, his success so far is based on a small sample size.
The reason for my skepticism is his severe lack of power. A lot of his offensive value is based on his ability to get on base. I think in the future, he won’t be able to get walk as much, as pitchers will have no reason to not simply attack the zone when he is hitting. And I don’t think he has the ability to hit well enough to put fear in pitchers, and therefore walk. I do like his glove and his speed, however.
Founding member of the Eric Patterson fan club.
These are my concerns as well, but I am now convinced
that Pennington can be a very good defensive SS and that counts for a LOT. On a team with Cardenas, Wallace, and Carter providing ample pop, Pennington could be a great complementary piece. And if he can maintain a .350 OBP, even just against RHP, he’s worthy of a starting job on a contending team. I just don’t know that he can.
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
Pretty much exactly how I feel.
At least we’re figuring it out by letting him play.
Founding member of the Eric Patterson fan club.
I will say he has pleasantly surprised me
I keep trying to remember that he WAS a #1 draft pick for a reason. Maybe he’s just a late bloomer. But I’ll still be surprised if he can maintain an OBP over .330, or a SLG pct over .350, in a full season.
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
Ya, all these homeruns are making me a little optimistic.
I don’t see it continuing though. According to the A’s official release after he was drafted, the Royals were thinking of drafting him as high as number two. So he clearly had some potential.
Founding member of the Eric Patterson fan club.
I think Pennington
Has basically penciled his name in as the starting SS for next season unless the Braves are feeling particularly generous with regards to a certain Escobar…
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Sep 12, 2009 7:33 PM PDT up reply actions
So you're saying he's
Pencillington?
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
In a way
He’s the Penningcillin to our SS woes
"Their batters are patient to the point that it's annoying." -Ryan Franklin
by Helloooo 1st on Sep 13, 2009 11:39 PM PDT up reply actions
if that seemed like a non sequitor
it’s that i used your positive comment about Pennington to raise something that’s been on my mind in reading folks’ comments about Pennington. Sorry for any confusion.
Knowing really nothing about pitching, I still really don't like that whip-snap he does with his throwing hand after release...
and I hate to think of what that will do to him if he tries to throw 100 innings in a season. The pullback action just seems awkward to me, and more potentially damaging from a starter role.
I lurk over at Driveline Mechanics quite a bit, and I put in a request for those guys to analyze Bailey’s delivery, but I’m sure they’ve got quite a queue. I’d like to know what more knowledgeable folks think about it.
Celebrate the turning of the worm
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Athletics Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Chris Johnson’s glove webbing had a Spidey sense at Coors Field — for one play, at least
- Jonathan Lucroy breaks hand after suitcase falls during search for sock
- The Juice: Long Adam Dunn homer punctuates Chris Sale’s 15 Ks, Mark Trumbo goes deep after Jered Weaver goes down for Angels
- Leyland begs media to make umpires ‘accountable’ for bad calls (VIDEO)
- Get a grip: Reds’ Todd Frazier loses bat, still connects for home run (Video)
