It feels like March was about 700 years ago. Back then I was certain that the Texas Rangers were a last-place team, and that the A's might turn out to be pretty good. Ah, the bittersweet naivety of youth. Twelve games left. Hopefully nobody else gets hurt.
THE QUESTIONS (71 points possible)
1. SERIES OUTCOME (3 points) RANGERS SWEEP
2. RUNZ Remember when the A's had that awesome Run Differential? Yeah, those were good times, eh? The A's RD currently stands at -11 (639/650) Not much worse than the Rangers, actually; they're at -7 (668/675) Predict Run Differential for each team at the end of play on Thursday (5 points for hitting it on the nose. 3 points for +/- 1 Run. 2 points for +/- 2 Runs) Predict Over/Under 8.5 total Runs scored for each game (2 points each, 16 total) A's -27, RANGERS +9/OVER, OVER, OVER I just realized that there would be a 1-1 relationship in RD between the two teams. Take the points for each of 'em anyway!
3. PITCHER, OR BELLY-ITCHER? As of 1:45 pm Monday, the A's have not named a Starter for Thursday's game. I so want it to be Barry Zito. In the meantime, pick one Starting Pitcher from each team and predict IP/H/ER/BB/K (2 points each, 20 total) DOUBRONT: 4.2/8/7/2/4 PEREZ: 4/6/4/3/3 LEWIS: 6/5/2/2/3
4. BELIEVE Stephen Vogt is back! Don't know if we'll see him behind the dish, though. Predict AB/H/XBH for Stephen Vogt and Mike Napoli (2 points each, 12 total) VOGT: 7/0/0 NAPOLI: 3/2/1
5. WHO AM I?
I am an A's Relief Pitcher who:
a) Retires at least 4 Batters COULOMBE, ALVAREZ, LEON, VENDITTE, MARTIN
b) Records at least 2 Strikeouts VENDITTE
c) Walks at least 2 Batters VENDITTE, LEON, ABAD
d) Is charged with 1 or more Earned Runs COULOMBE, ALVAREZ, ABAD, MARTIN
e) Throws a Wild Pitch or Hits a Batter COULOMBE (2 points each, 10 total)
6. SLIDING-SCALE LONG BALL: Who hits the first HR for each team in this series? You can guess up to 3 players from each team. A correct answer based on 3 guesses is worth 1 point. A correct answer based on 2 guesses is worth 3 points. A correct answer based on 1 guess is worth 5 points. You can guess "Nobody" for either team. A correct "Nobody" is worth 3 points. (10 points possible, in theory) REDDICK/MORELAND
Answers due by Tuesday, 7:05 pm. Good Luck, and Let's Go A's!
