Podcast & DLD: Tough Times in Oakland

Darn you, baseball. Everything was going so well, and then you went and got in the way and plunged the A's into a deep slump. And darn you, Angel Hernandez, for being terrible at your job.

On today's episode of the Phil Naessens Show, Alex and Phil talk about the state of umpiring and some issues that should be addressed by MLB. Here is the direct link, which will begin as soon as the page loads. My segment starts at 41:00 and goes a little over 15 minutes:

Direct Link

Page where you can download to your mobile device

Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments!

A few more links:

- I posted this in the comments of yesterday's game recap, but I wanted to put it up once more. Dan Glickman at The Baseball Continuum asked me about my favorite baseball memory, and it turns out that he also asked a lot of other writers who are way better and more famous than I am. Check it out, and also check out the rest of Dan's site because it is fantastic.

- This might be one reason why Angel Hernandez couldn't make a conclusive call on Rosales's homer: he's working on ridiculously insufficient equipment (the TV, not his eyes...well, maybe both). MLB, you make $6B in annual revenue; buy some HD TV's for your instant replay process, for crying out loud!

- I really enjoyed Jon Morosi's take on Angel's gaffe(s).

- This was posted in the comments of a recent game thread, but here it is once more. Turns out Angel Hernandez has sucked since at least 1991 - before he was even in the Majors! I get that you can't fire MLB umpires, but do you have to promote the ones who already suck?

- Here's a neat piece about Josh Donaldson's mom - The Maker of the Rainmaker?

If you have any other links to share, then dump them in the comments!

Go A's!