A Hollow Victory, But A Victory Nonetheless

But hello Dateless young people. :-)

Maybe the real reason behind using Street/Duke -- Mach knows that Loaiza's pitching tomorrow, and is accepting the inevitable.

Scutaro has good at-bats. He will move the runner when needed, put up a fight with the bases loaded, come up with the occasional huge hit with men on base, draw a walk once in a while, and never make you feel he is an automatic out.

Crosby is a black hole in the offense and will be equivalent to the pitcher's spot in the lineup for opposing teams, which is unacceptable at this point in the season. If Crosby already struggles with 'pressure at-bats', how much more will he struggle down the stretch playing Anaheim for what, quite possibly, could be the last playoff spot?

Scutaro is who he is, and that is a sub-par baseball player, with flashes of competence, both in the field, and at the plate.

Crosby, v. 2006, has inspired NO confidence in the lineup, and will be a liability that his defense can't save.

P.S. Nice win, bitches!

Jason "You Hang 'Em, We Bang 'Em" Kendall.

And they agreed that Chavvy is the best third baseman in the game.

<tears>

It's SO cute!

We have played our best ball of the season since he's been gone, why mess with success?  Guy kills a rally like Raid kills bugs, dead.  Less he succeeds, the harder he tries to hit every pitch to the Fruitvale BART station.  Marco isn't Bert Campaneris or Derek Jeter but he doesn't try to be anyone but himself and he doesn't insist on batting 3rd.  I feel the lower Chavez hits in the order, the better Marco does at #8 because he sees better pitches, more fastballs, whatever.

It's not entirely Crosby's fault.  He's the golden boy becuase the management anointed him as such before they knew what they really had, or didn't have, or what might take years for them to have.  Biiiiiig poster of him, several stories tall, hanging in the stadium, Mr. Rookie of the Year.  He needs a few years to sort it out and fail so he can succeed eventually and develop into the player he could be, but this team exists on a tightrope and can't afford an offensive black hole at shortstop, particularly if it falls back to this pattern where Macha's under pressure to let the guy drift back up the order to the third spot.  

We have a three-hitter now, he draws tons of walks, he takes the outside pitches with two strikes the other way, he hits for power, he sees pitches, he hits doubles.  He has become the sparkplug of our team, responsible than perhaps any other guy for the recent upsurge in offense and the idea that we have the biggest division lead this evening than we have since Sept. of 2004.  To move him out of that spot would be pure suicide, and with Crosby coming back it's inevitable he will want that spot, which he has not earned.  Another part of Crosby's act I dislike is the sense of entitlement, the unsubstantiated swagger, the hubris... like I said it's not all his fault but he bears the brunt of the responsibility.

You've all heard me say all this a thousand times but we are playing so well now, so crisply in a lot of areas, and it's a delicate balance a long time in the making which I don't want to see upset for the sake of a single player, no matter how good he is, might someday be, or just plain isn't.  

The answer is that Crosby is the utility player for the rest of this year, let it be a part of his humbling and an object lesson in team concept for him.

I think Macha is managing like it's a pennant race (I wish he'd do that a bit more in May)--meaning he may not jump to insert Crosby, or bat him higher than 8th, upon his return. We'll see...

Hollow victories can be classified as such if (and only if):

• A player is injured during the game
  
• If your main rival clinches a playoff spot or you are eliminated
  
• Something on the world stage overshadows sports (Never!)

But, the A's did gain a full game on the Angels (and Mariners).
They won their 8th of 9, and have already clinched the series.

I'll take this hollow victory anytime!