Athletics Nation - Game #45: A's vs. YankeesAn SB Nation blog for Oakland Athletics fanshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47025/an-fave.png2016-05-22T16:18:12-07:00http://www.athleticsnation.com/rss/stream/115037472016-05-22T16:18:12-07:002016-05-22T16:18:12-07:00Game #45: A's shrug, turn in 2015 rerun, get swept
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<figcaption>Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>I really dislike the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Yankees</a>.</p>
<p>This isn't an unpopular opinion or anything, but the Yankees deserve every ounce of the hate they get from small market teams everywhere. I feel like that gets forgotten as they've grown increasingly irrelevant over the past three years, but they're my most hated team in baseball. The culture they represent and the obnoxiousness of their ubiquity is completely unmatched. Since 2010, A's fans have mostly replaced their hatred of the Yankees with hatred of the <a href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Giants</a>, but don't believe the hype. The Yankees are The Worst. They will always be The Worst.</p>
<p>Here's another thing that is The Worst: getting swept in a four-game series at home. Luckily, that hasn't happened to the A's since 1999. Unluckily, that streak is officially broken. About a month after sweeping the Yankees in New York, the A's get swept by them at home.</p>
<p>By the transitive property, this series was The Double Worst. That sounds just about right to me.</p>
<p>This entire series was the baseball version of shrugging and going back to bed, but today in particular was such a 2015 repeat it gave me flashbacks.</p>
<p>The game started out on such a positive note. <span>Billy Burns</span> manufactured a run basically by himself -€” hitting a single, then stealing second, then stealing third, and then scoring on a groundout. When he's at his best, that's the type of game-changing energy he brings. He has not been great this year -€” he has 7 XBHs to his name, almost all of which were hustle-doubles -€” but he's valuable because so few players in baseball are capable of doing things like that. Baserunning like that is almost as good as a solo homer.</p>
<p>Speaking of solo homers, Jesse Hahn. He was really good today! Much better than his line would suggest, but I'll get to that. The real blemishes on his day were two solo homers -€” one by <span>Brian McCann</span>, one by <span>Jacoby Ellsbury</span>. But solo homers, whatever. He walked nobody, his sinker was great, he hit 95 repeatedly, and was incredibly efficient.</p>
<p>The A's retook the lead in the 5th inning, when <span>Stephen Vogt</span> hit a two-run double, an oppo shot that just kept hooking away from <span>Brett Gardner</span> in left. Vogt had a three RBI day, which is neat. <span>Michael Pineda</span> looked real sharp, but the A's hit him for three runs in six innings. That's a moderately good sign, if we're looking for silver linings.</p>
<p>But Hahn was pulled at the first sign of trouble, which is where things began to fall apart for the A's. The Hahn pulling was absolutely inexplicable. I don't love second-guessing managerial decisions, but this was just bizarre and bad. Hahn was pitching really well, getting through 5 2/3rds on 73 pitches. He had plenty left in the tank, and, even though he had allowed two baserunners in the inning, looked fresh.</p>
<p>Melvin decided to go with <span>John Axford</span> instead for the last out of the inning. Axford, who had pitched three of the last four games. He allowed two hits, scoring two runs. Both were charged to Hahn.</p>
<p>The next inning, the Yankees scored one more run on a <span>Carlos Beltran</span> double off of <span>Sean Doolittle</span>. A two-run deficit is simply insurmountable against the Yankees' three-headed bullpen monster. The A's scored the most unearned of all unearned runs off of <span>Andrew Miller</span> (reached on error, reached on error, RBI groundout). That's all you can realistically hope for against <span>Dellin Betances</span>, Andrew Miller, and <span>Aroldis Chapman</span>.</p>
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<p>The Yankees are bad. This series was bad. You can't be too down on the A's, considering they're missing like eight key players, but yeah, I'm pretty down on the A's right now. Screw the Yankees.</p>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2016/5/22/11739690/game-45-as-shrug-turn-in-2015-rerun-get-sweptDuncan Morrow2016-05-22T12:30:37-07:002016-05-22T12:30:37-07:00Game Thread #45: A's vs. Yankees
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<img alt="Same." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c4RYylX7UaRfzLoSdyzy0VIPuQA=/0x0:2520x1680/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49655809/usa-today-9303550.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Same. | Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Welcome to A's baseball, where everything is misery and joy turns to ash in your mouth. We're all going to die eventually, and life is only endless struggle.</p>
<p>It's not really as bad as all that yet. But if we get swept by the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> at home, I reserve the right to go full nihilist after the game. There's only one man who can defend against a ponderous and miserable recap: <span>Jesse Hahn</span> (1-1, 3.38).</p>
<p>After coming back to the MLB, Hahn's been mostly solid. Don't look at the advanced numbers, he's been great. Sure, he has a 2.89 K/9 (I've actually never seen it that low), and a 5.64 FIP, but whatever you do, don't look at that. He's gained 2.5 MPH on his fastball since this time last year, so the insane lack of strikeouts is pretty inexplicable. I can't imagine it continuing, to be honest.</p>
<p><span>Michael Pineda</span> (1-5, 6.60) is having the exact opposite problem – he's striking out everybody (10.31 K/9), but he's been <em>terrible</em> in terms of run prevention. This is mostly due to the fact that he's giving up over 2 HRs per nine innings. That's a lot. It seems like the A's can only really win games when someone hits three homers, so, hey, favorable pitching matchup.</p>
<p>Here's the lineup. It's pretty bleak. <span>Max Muncy</span> will hit three dingers, though. Trust me on this. It'll be crazy. Place your bets now.</p>
<div class="pane sports_data_widget lineup clearfix"> <h3>Today's Lineups</h3> <div class="lineup"><table cellspacing="0" class="zebra"> <thead> <tr> <th align="left">NEW YORK YANKEES</th> <th align="left">OAKLAND A'S</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Jacoby Ellsbury</span> - CF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Coco Crisp</span> - LF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Brett Gardner</span> - LF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Billy Burns</span> - CF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Carlos Beltran</span> - DH</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Stephen Vogt</span> - C</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Brian McCann</span> - C</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Danny Valencia</span> - 3B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Mark Teixeira</span> - 1B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Yonder Alonso</span> - 1B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Starlin Castro</span> - 2B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Chris Coghlan</span> - 2B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Chase Headley</span> - 3B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Marcus Semien</span> - SS</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Didi Gregorius</span> - SS</td> <td class="td-first td-name">Max Muncy - DH</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Aaron Hicks</span> - RF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Jake Smolinski</span> - RF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"></td> <td class="td-first td-name"></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name">Michael Pineda - RHP</td> <td class="td-first td-name">Jesse Hahn - RHP</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> </div>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2016/5/22/11737172/game-thread-45-as-vs-yankeesDuncan Morrow