Yeah, that could be either "pretty freakin' pathetic," or "pitchers' fielding practice."
Top 9, game tied, 2 outs, Marlins on 1st and 2nd (and Dan TyBabeTedBarryManny Uggla on deck): A's right-side infielder makes a very nice play to snag a grounder -- and the closer isn't at first in time to cover.
Bottom 9, A's down 2, bases juiced, 2 outs: Marlins right-side infielder makes a very nice play to snag a grounder -- and the closer is at first in time to cover.
As Nico said in the game thread, it's a game of freakin' centimeters. Cantu snagged Swooney's would-be-game-tying-or-even-winning sharp grounder down the line, flipped the ball to Gregg covering -- game over.
Once again, both teams made a good ballgame even more exciting in the late going. While the ninth inning featured some really poor control by both closers (and some even worse strike zone control by home-plate umpire Dana Demuth), both bullpens actually pitched pretty well -- all the late scoring was executed by some pretty good swings by both teams on balls that didn't miss their targets by a whole lot.
The starting pitching was a different matter, though, with Eveland and Nolasco both pitching into, around, through, over, under, edging around the corner of, and finally out of, trouble repeatedly.
Eveland finally settled down, and pitched into the seventh -- a Notnalb start (starting ineffective, and finishing ... well, "strong" is a little ... strong; let's leave it at "effective").
It's hard to fault any of Geren's decisions in the game -- up until the ninth inning. Bringing in Street seemed peculiar, given Street's ineffectiveness last night and the (apparent) availability of Brown, Gaudin, and what seemed like half the starting rotation in the 'pen. And letting Rajai Davis bat in the bottom of the ninth was simply inexcusable (unless Barton was/is deathly ill).
I liked Englishmajor's invocation of Woohoozuki's quote from last night's postgame interview: "We are never gonna give up. We may not win every game but I guarantee we will be fighting until the last out."
It'd just be nice if the offense didn't have to fight until the last out once in a while.
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