It's the 50th GOG of the season! Thinking back to late April, where did we all think that we would be at this point? If I take a look here, I see that roughly 90% of us thought that these last series against the Angels would be a meaningful part of the division race.

Now, some might say that the A's have been playing like a playoff team over the last month or so. I would just like to point out that, for this series, one team is starting Jered Weaver, John Lackey, and Joe Saunders while the other team is starting Gio Gonzalez, Dana Eveland, and Edgar Gonzalez. I think that I can pick the playoff team out of that lineup. Putting aside some justifiable pessimism, I'll just focus on the A's offense, which has definitely been clicking lately, and the remarkable job that the bullpen has done. The race is still on to determine whether Oakland or LAAAAAAA will finish with more wins for the decade. So let's go A's!

Links

• Probable pitchers
• Angels stats

GOG #50 :: Last Rats of the Season (32 points possible)

Three game series @ Los Angeles Angels -- September 25-27

UPDATE -- answers added below in bold

1. Series outcome [3 points] 2-1 Oakland
2. Rank the three Angels starters (Weaver, Lackey, and Saunders) by pitcher game score, best to worst [2 points for each correct position] Weaver (50), Saunders (48), Lackey (24)
3. In their most recent starts, Gio, Dana, and Edgar pitched only 3.2, 5, and 3.1 innings, respectively. How many total innings for the A's starting pitchers against the second best offense in baseball? [3 points] 14.2 IP
4. In 351 career plate appearances against Oakland, Vlad Guerrero has been held to a mere .884 OPS (compare to an American League career value of .930). Predict his AB/H/TB for the series [2 points each] 12 AB, 1 H, 1 TB
5. Jack Cust is currently tied with Scutaro for fourth in the AL with 90 bases on balls (Figgins is first, followed by Abreu and Bay). How many walks does Cust draw in this series? [3 points] only one BB for Spartacust
6. About a week ago, Mike Scioscia said that he was considering giving some save opportunities to Kevin Jepsen. This hasn't happened yet, and Fuentes continues to lead the AL in saves (currently tied with Joe Nathan). Jepsen has been the much better pitcher this season, despite having a nearly identical ERA to Fuentes. They have the same strikeout rate, but Jepsen walks fewer hitters, keeps the ball on the ground, and allows far fewer HR. By WAR, Jepsen has been a full win better than Fuentes this season. Of these two relievers, who has the lower ERA for the series? Who allows the fewest hits per inning? Who has the lowest walks allowed per inning? [+1 for each right answer, -1 for each wrong] Jepsen posted a 21.60 ERA, allowing 1.8 hits and 1.2 walks per IP (1.2 innings total) while Fuentes pitched 1 inning and allowed no runs, 1 hit, no walks... so Fuentes wins in all three categories
7. Of the five projections systems displayed on fangraphs (Bill James, CHONE, Marcel the monkey, Oliver, and ZiPS) expectations for Erick Aybar's OPS this season ranged from .660 to .701. The fact that he is currently OPSing .761 while playing good defense at shortstop is another reason why I hate the Angels. ZiPS is still not impressed, projecting him to put up a .655 OPS for the rest of this season. Guess whether Aybar has an OPS of above or below .700 for the series [+1 if right, -1 if wrong] Aybar OPSed .946 for the series, which is decidedly above .700
8. Win Probability Added values for relief pitchers can fly all over the place, thanks to high leverage situations near the end of close games. Which Oakland reliever has the best WPA for this series? [3 points] Wuertz has the most WPA, with +.113
9. Oakland hitters have received only 16 intentional walks, fewer than any other team in baseball. Do the Angels choose to put any Athletic on first for free? [+1 if right, -1 if wrong] nope
10. How many games in the series are decided by 3 runs or fewer? [3 points] 2 (games 1 and 3)

Jered Weaver kicks things off at 7:05 sharp. Go Oakland!

Results

After grading the first few questions, I thought that Angry Sean had a shot at a perfect score. It didn't work out, but he still did well. So did a couple other people.

Overall scoring statistics

• mean = 5.42857 points
• standard deviation = 4.21927 points
• mode = 3, 5, or 12 points

via cfcp.uchicago.edu

Your Scores

The winners for GOG 50 are swatnick and Angry Sean! Those two plus JLeverenz were pretty much head and shoulders above everyone else on this one. Also, I would be remiss not to note that JLeverenz crossed the 200 point mark and Rated-R Superstar passed 300 points!