Spring Game #32: A’s close out spring with meager 3-0 loss to Giants

As the cherry on top of the A’s trash cream sundae of a day, the A’s lost their final spring game to the Giants by a score of 3-0. The regulars amassed just four hits and yeah it’s spring and all but c’mon A’s. Could you have maybe given us just a little excitement on this the day we learned of A.J. Puk’s fate?

Seriously, how did this day happen. It’s like the baseball gods engineered the single most painful day possible. Two days before the regular season. If I wake up to the news that the team signed Billy Butler to a ten year deal to replace A.J. Puk I will be wholly unsurprised. I have seen movies called the Green Mile that were less depressing than today. Yuck.

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The lowlights

-Jonathan Lucroy officially went 0 for spring. If he ends up being terrible this year, it’s impossible to say what effect if any starting up so late had on his performance but you’ll have to wonder. He certainly looks like a guy both past his prime and underprepared for Opening Day.

-The A’s got just four hits against Chris Stratton and company. Nothing against Stratton who is fine and will probably have a regular season outing that god at one point this season. He’s a big leaguer. But four hits.

-Wondering how four hits by regulars happens? Hit fourteen balls on the ground and just five in the air.

-Liam Hendriks

There are more than this but let’s just try to be positive.

The highlights

-Matt Chapman made one Those Plays. If things continue at the rate they’re going, the A’s should cancel all games and just sell tickets to a Matt Chapman showcase.

-Trevor Cahill looked great which is neat cause he’s probably the A’s number three, four, and five starter in like three weeks. He also has some fun, Rich Hill-esque pitch finishing poses. There are reasons to worry about Cahill, but the stuff is there to make him more than serviceable.

-Matt Joyce had half of the important hits with two.

-There are a few things to take away from Spring Training stats and you throw away the rest. You can mostly ignore the fact that Andrew Triggs gave up just under a run per inning tonight. His command was sometimes erratic but the six strikeouts are a good sign and the thing to hold onto. His stuff is for real which is good for a guy who is automatically in the rotation due to the process of elimination.

-I saw a few people I know on TV. Neat!

-Frankie Montas can still flick his wrist and throw a fastball at 97. He threw a decent eighth inning in preparation for filling in for the next A’s pitcher to get hurt in seven minutes.

-Chad Pinder made a great play in right. The dude is an athlete and his ability to play seven positions (eight if you include DH) will go a long way.

-Didn’t even see Dr. James Andrews on the broadcast once.

-The game didn’t matter! T’was an exhibition!

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Didn’t matter. Exhibition. We get real baseball on Thursday and for some reason, real baseball always ends up totally different than fake baseball. Fake baseball was rather miserable this year so real baseball, which will be the polar opposite, is bound to be amazing! Right! Right?