Transaction Update: A's acquire Jesse Chavez in the WTF Why? move of the day (meanwhile, Juan Cruz is a free agent!). A's 40 man roster is full now. - Zonis (source: MLBTradeRumors)
Thanks, a lot, A's. Thanks to this crazy playoff race, I watched both the Rangers and the Angels' games last night as intently as if I was watching an A's game down the stretch run, and as y'all know, it did not turn out very well. There's little wonder in my mind why the Red Sox are not in contention any more; and here I thought the Angels' bullpen was bad. The A's play against this afternoon; it's another 4PM start, and I don't want to say that any games are must-win, because they aren't yet, but the A's would be well-served to play better in this one than the one last night. I'm hoping last night's loss was the baseball gods levying punishment, and we can right the ship today, knowing that Tyson Ross has strolled out of the A's lives forever. Jarrod Parker will take the mound against the dangerous Rays, facing off against the nearly-unhittable-lately Matt Moore. We'll have the Friday night game thread right here at 3:30.
In the meantime, make me feel better about Josh "0-2" Reddick. It's uncanny; it really is. I did a little preliminary research from this season, because it seems that Reddick starts every at-bat in an 0-2 hole, but of course, I'm just going off my memory; and that can't really be reliable, now, can it? It's not every at-bat, but wow, does Reddick work himself into a 0-2 count often. He's a free-swinger; he has collected 120 strikeouts on the season, good enough for seventh in the American League, and this might explain why he's frustrating with runners on third and less than two outs; he's often in a strikeout hole.
That's not really my concern, though. My concern is his overall numbers since the A's hot July. Reddick's August line is .175/.221/.300. They're worse than Pennington's! (Granted, Pennington missed the first week, but still.) Maybe most concerning is his only four extra base hits from the third spot. Reddick has really struggled as of late, and I worry about losing his bat in the middle of a lineup that can ill afford another black hole. Prior to the All Star Break, Reddick's OPS was .880; since, it is a mere .616. Where did Reddick go?
Small sample size? Are there better numbers that refute this trend? Should we move him out of 3rd in the lineup? Will he have an amazing September and lead the A's to the playoffs?
