Honestly, this is the type of game I expected to see a lot more of in the course of this so-called "rebuilding" year. It was the type of game where some nice things happened, but you never expected the A's to actually win. And with Joe Blanton leaving some very hittable stuff up-in-the-zone while the A's offense was taking a siesta for the first 4 innings, there was no real threat of the A's actually winning this game...
And yet, some very nice things DID happen tonight...enough of them for me to chalk this one up to the rebuilding gods as a net positive for the team going forward. First off:
AN's OWN INTERNET SUPERSTAR BRAD ZEIGLER MADE HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT TONITE!
For a 20th-round, previously released, former-starter-turned-submarine-reliever who suffered several major life-altering injuries, we all knew the odds of Ziggy making it to the big leagues were steep...and yet, for those of us on this blog that were privy to Ziggy's work ethic and passion for his craft that he's shared with us time and again, there was no doubt that this day would come! Congratulations Ziggy and your pick-off move was freakin' awesome, so don't even worry about giving up that flukey hit!
Two other good things that happened tonight? Buck, Chavez and Suzuki seemed to have gotten their grooves back as they combined to go 7-for-12 with a double, 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored.
As for the actual team performance...it was uneven and, like I said above, reminiscent of how a rebuilding team would usually play. Blanton collected another loss tonight, but he did the save the bullpen by lasting 6 innings...if "lasting" is even the right word, after allowing runs in half of those innings, for a final line of 6 runs allowed, on 10 hits and 1 walk with zero K's. The offense did wake up a bit, stringing hits together in two separate innings (the 5th and the 7th) to push over what is a virtual Oakland bonanza of 4 total runs!
So, let's just all revel in the good things that come with watching a rebuilding team (Brad Ziegler), and let Geren, Beane and the coaching staff figure out a way to neutralize Brandon "Placido (hat tip mikeA)" Boggs and the rest of the Texas offense.
0 recs | 45 comments
I think I speak for everyone on Athlete's Nation when I say,
“YAY, BERT!!!!!!!!”
-Cindi
Nico - May 31, 2008
TUCK FEXAS!
We’ll get ‘em tomorrow.
baseballnut020 - May 31, 2008
Of course we will - it's June!!!
Nico - May 31, 2008
All I can say about today is...
I’m glad tomorrow is the first day of “The Next 10 Days.”
FoolshGame22 - May 31, 2008
We're going to have a bit of a problem
when we face Kenny Rogers Monday. Besides the fact that he never loses at the Coliseum, it will be hard not to put a lefty-heavy lineup up against him.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Are righties really all that much better off against Rogers?
Nick - May 31, 2008
The pitcher or the security guard?
I think so, but I’ll look it up…
Nico - May 31, 2008
Pretty normal platoon splits for his career,
but huge splits for the last three years… Lesson seems to be, that LHHs have stayed about the same, but RHHs have started to crush him.
mikeA - May 31, 2008
Right - the last three years
lefties have hit .197, .200, and .201. So it should feel pretty normal to us.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Check him for pine tar?
Buck Turgidson - May 31, 2008
also...
I think we should ReAc Jermaine Dye, Aaron Harang, Marco Scutaro and Ken Macha. Swish and Byrnes, not so much.
FoolshGame22 - May 31, 2008
I think you mean "Ziegler" ;-)
Flashfire - May 31, 2008
Ziggy
I mentioned this in the game thread: Ziggy’s motion really reminds me of Dan Quisenberry’s, much more so than any submariner I’ve seen since Quiz retired. In addition to the arm angle, the really distinctive thing I saw was his little hop to his right after he releases the ball—it’s exactly what Quiz used to do.
I’ve been looking for Quisenberry videos on the internet, which I thought wouldn’t be so hard to track down given that he was one of the best pitchers of the 1980s. MLB, in its infinite wisdom, however, seems to have a policy of scrubbing all video of anyone wearing an MLB uniform from any and all sites in the web—except for their own.
I don’t know if you need to be an MLBTV subscriber to see this, but I found the archived video of Game 6 of the 1985 World Series (when the Royals overcame a 1-0, 9th inning deficit thanks to Don Denkinger completely blowing a call at 1B)—Quiz pitched the top of the 9th. So go to this page and click on the top of the 9th in the line score, and see what Quiz looked like when he was the best reliever in baseball.
Nick - May 31, 2008
The main difference, IIRC, is that Quiz
was more Bradford knuckle-scrape-the-ground when he released the ball and Ziggy is more halfway between sidearm and submarine. I LOVED watching Quiz pitch and was so sad at his demise. I remember shortly before he died, he was honored at the ballpark in KC and looked kind of haggard and bewildered – he was very close to death at that point. Very sad ending to a great career/life.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Yeah, Ziggy seems to have a higher release
...and is still alive…
mikeA - May 31, 2008
It's a little eerie seeing video of that game
with him and Dick Houser, and knowing that they both died of brain cancer just a few years later.
Bill James, who was a huge Quiz fan, wrote that he heard (or maybe it was read) an interview with Quiz after his diagnosis, in which the interviewer asked him, “Do you ever wonder, ‘Why me?’” and Quiz said, “Why not me?”
I’d have to see Ziggy more to get a better sense of how low his arm angle is—I hope he gets a chance soon to get his first batter out!
Nick - May 31, 2008
It wasn't as low as I expected
More Steve Olin (aren’t we grim tonight?) than Chad Bradford. Again, though, with the key difference that Ziggy appears to still be very much alive.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Ask and ye shall receive
Flashfire - May 31, 2008
Ziggy's also 6'4"
Flashfire - May 31, 2008
I am extremely confident that Ziggy will have mlb success.
He won’t be star, because he’ll struggle somewhat against LHHs, but he’ll dominate RHHs and be extremely stingy with the long ball. 0 HRs in 100+ innings since he went submarine. He has low upside, but is as close to “can’t miss” as you can get to being a very good bullpen arm if used properly.
mikeA - May 31, 2008
Ultimately, it depends on location
He left a pitch up to Kinsler and won’t get away with too many mistakes against big league hitters. If he has command, he should be a fine ROOGY. In other words, he will be Jeff Tam – which one, remains to be seen.
Nico - May 31, 2008
That's the thing, though
He’ll get away with a lot of mistakes because his mistakes are singles. That was a bad pitch to Kinsler, and he hit it into the ground. Which means he is definitely not the guy you want to bring in with risp, as he’ll give up a lot of singles. But he is a great bet if you need to avoid a catastrophic HR.
I’ll say it again. 0 HRs in 100+ innings. Bradford also has an extremely low career HR rate.
mikeA - May 31, 2008
We should bring him in to face Jack Cust!
Nico - May 31, 2008
Pretty much all submarine guys do, as far as I can tell
for the pretty simple physical reason that it’s a lot easier to “keep the ball down” if it’s never “up” to begin with.
Oddly, I looked up Pat Neshek’s stats… and he’s actually not been that great at preventing HR. He throws at a very odd angle, though—his release point is very low but his arm plane is more sidearm than submarine. Still curious.
PaulThomas - May 31, 2008
gotta close the 5-hole
SwisherThresher - May 31, 2008
Needs thicker socks
Nick - May 31, 2008
Or a longer--
Oh never mind.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Glove
MobiusKlein - May 31, 2008
Well, I'll admit the sleeveless Sacto jersey doesn't really do him justice ;-)
Flashfire - May 31, 2008
2 on, 2 out for the Angels
Bottom of the 9th and the Jays bring in Benitez to face Vlad…
SwisherThresher - May 31, 2008
Now the Jays need to score a few just to rub it in
after that call that went against them.
Don’t think I have ever seen Sciosica so animated
Trainman - May 31, 2008
Well, the Angels are good at bunting...
It would be nice if our shitty-but-fast hitters could bunt.
mikeA - May 31, 2008
but until then, for the love of Geren, they should stop trying
drink409 - May 31, 2008
Welcome to 3.5 games out
Enjoy your stay.
Nico - May 31, 2008
Good tidings:
Brett Anderson off the DL:
4 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 6 K, 0 BB.
Back to his old tricks, it appears.
mikeA - May 31, 2008
There's a reason the opposable thumb is so important to human development
grover - May 31, 2008
What, you don't think throwing all changeups is a viable pitching strategy?
PaulThomas - May 31, 2008
Only if your name is Trevor Hoffman
grover - May 31, 2008
Here's a macabre question
This is a picture of Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown holding a baseball:
See here for more angles and a better view. He’s a Hall of Famer, who was one of the greatest pitchers of the dead ball era, and put up a career ERA+ of 138.
So here’s the question: would anyone be crazy/desperate enough to mangle their pitching hand deliberately in order to throw an unhittable sinker?
Nick - June 1, 2008
Give it a shot
Nico - June 1, 2008
And if not to gain baseball fame, then perhaps to gain enlightenment
Or at least that’s the vision Katherina Dunn posits in her novel Geek Love, wherein a cult devoted to a circus freak seeks transcendence through the amputation of their limbs.
FreeSeatUpgrade - June 1, 2008
"I'm part of that cult,"
he typed with his nose.
Nico - June 1, 2008
Gary Radnich, KNBR and KRON
apparently has a couple of fingers missing. Not that I saw, just that I heard.
One won lost won - June 1, 2008
Been known to help on the guitar
FreeSeatUpgrade - June 1, 2008
Radio pre-game
FreeSeatUpgrade - June 1, 2008
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