Athletics Nation

Yeah, but I

Gotta disagree with you here. Brodeur will surpass Roy’s all-time wins early this upcoming season and has been the model of consistency for longer than any other goalie in NHL history. He’s won something like 40 games a year for the past eight seasons.

Oh and he has three Cups, a gold medal and a World Cup of Hockey championship. Nabokov is good, but he hasn’t been great until this past season. Brodeur has been great since the moment he got in the league.

No doubt

But none of that earns Brodeur the 2007-08 Vezina trophy. Nabby got jobbed on reputation. Brodeur may not even have been the best goalie in New York this year.

FreeSeatUpgrade - June 12, 2008 reply

He had a better save percentage

Which is probably THE key stat in hockey when talking about goaltending. Brodeur at 92 percent to Nabokov’s 91 percent which may not sound like much, but the extra percentage point is a lot over the course of a long season. AND Brodeur was playing on an inferior team. His team also had less scoring to support him (222 goals to 206 goals).

Hey

He wrote Lolita, he has to get credit for that.

jahs34 - June 13, 2008 reply

Get This Guy

nevermoor - June 12, 2008 reply

amen

Meh.

It’s getting absolutely ridiculous to see this feast or famine bullshit.

The offense is fucking terrible right now, plain and simple. The occasional 8 run blowout is making the numbers look a lot better than they actually are.

Thomas and the Sweeneys can’t get back soon enough.

mikev - June 12, 2008 reply

Well...

Ryan, yes, hopefully tomorrow. Mike… it might be a while.

Big Hurt—June 20. Can’t come soon enough.

baseballnut020 - June 12, 2008 reply

Blanton proved he isn't a starter

He has great stuff some of the time, but get him the least bit flustered then his one walk becomes three walks, which then becomes a grand slam.

He was obviously flustered and instead of giving up one or two runs, he gives up the whole enchilada.

Umps have small strikezones sometimes, however unfair. Deal with it.

Time to move Gaudin into Blanton’s spot!

As tempting as it is to focus on the grand slam,

the reality is that Matsui could just have hit a sac fly, Giambi could have done the same, and the Yanks lead 2-1. The grand slam was just more dramatic. What stands out to me:

Right now, the A’s are just unequipped to compete against LHP.

This was one of the few games where the home plate umpire really did a lot to decide a game.

In the day time, the A’s take a 3-0, 4-0, or 5-0 lead into the 6th, with Cust and Hannahan getting drives off of, or over, the wall.

I hate the Yankees.

Right now, the A’s are just unequipped to compete against LHP.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Oh and isn't the hitting against LH pitching

supposed to be a Brown specialist.

The reality is, R. Sweeney, C. Gon, and Buck,

while lefty, can probably match Brown’s .300ish OBP and they can do it with a lot better OF defense and baserunning. And they need to learn how to hit LHP anyway.

Tomorrow it should be bye-bye Brownie or I’ll be in a cranky mood.

R. Sweeney

2 for 5 Tonight @ Tuscon. 1 Double. He better be on a flight to SF as we blog. 412/466/621 (34 AB’s)

DFA’ing Brown is a necessity.

Please.

Colorado Fan - June 12, 2008 reply

Agreed

True dat!

E-Mule needs to get his ticket out of town asap. Thanks for the one good month, EB but now “Get the hell out!”

mrod - June 13, 2008 reply

But when Thomas is back one of these guys is going to sit

because Crust will start due to his bat. So why not send one down so they contiune to get playing time. Unless them getting one maybe two at bats and playing one-two innings is going to make them better. I think Buck goes back down first. Then if he begins to struggle CarGon or Sweeney may go down. At least till rosters expand or we fall out of the race then all bets are off.

I still don't know about that

Emil’s been really inconsistent throughout his career, to the point of having had a reverse platoon split a couple years. If you look at his career as a whole, as mikeA pointed out, he’s got basically an average platoon split.

His problem is that he’s just not a good hitter. He’s less not good against lefties.

How about:

“Right now, the A’s are just unequipped”...........

mrod - June 13, 2008 reply

All true points

And all (most) of the RH hitters are on the DL. We do need another RH outfielders besides Brown. Ill give him that he was on fire to start the season but that was then and this is now. Why dont the A’s play more day games besides the money and all. Maybe all our power is to come on the road this season?

Prima Facie Evidence of what I've Been saying

He wasn’t the reason we lost—but he sure made it tough to win. Yes it was the Yankees and yes he held them scoreless for 5 innings. But a plus starter in this league cannot then throw an inning away like that—back to back walks followed by a game breaking home run. That is where above average talent ends and mediocrity or averageness or meh or whatever you want to call it begins—just such an inning as the 6th.

And If I thought BB and Co. had more confidence in Gaudin I too would be clamoring for that move—but they don’t so Cupcakes is gonna have to work this out himself.

madmongoose - June 12, 2008 reply

Doesn't matter when the team only scores one run again.

Flashfire - June 12, 2008 reply

true enough

like I said—not the reason they lost. But he made it much tougher to win.

madmongoose - June 12, 2008 reply

I think Blanton could be tired

He’s already pitched a lot this year as the newly tabbed “ace” of the staff. It could explain why he seemingly goes to hell come the fifth inning and beyond.

Also, he was very upset with the umpire in that inning and I missed some of the calls because I was bathing my daughter and my MLB.tv happened to die at that time, so I’m not sure if he got hosed or not on some of the calls in that inning. Regardless, it’s tough to win 1-0 against the Yankees.

I couldn't watch the game

but was following it on GameCast and it sure looked like the umpire was being generous on some of Petite’s pitches. What’d it look like live?

faninphilly - June 12, 2008 reply

Honestly

It was just a bad strike zone all the way around. But as usual, the A’s didn’t make adjustments to try and protect when a pitch was close. Instead they stood there staring expecting the umps to call their opponents out.

I meant expecting the umps

to call them balls instead of strikes.

Blanton got squeezed on the Abreu and A-Rod ab's big time

he looked good tonight. Had some swing and misses. He made some good pitches but couldn’t get the call

Buck Turgidson - June 12, 2008 reply

He was really pissed about it

even when he went to the dugout. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that much open emotion from him.

The Ichiro/Jason Ellison game?

PaulThomas - June 12, 2008 reply

I felt like several of Mo's pitches in the ninth that were called strikes were pitches Blanton had called for balls. Right on the black or just slightly off the plate.

Buck Turgidson - June 12, 2008 reply

I actually thought Rivera got squeezed on the 1-0 to Chavez,

and that Pettitte got squeezed a few times too. But Blanton got squeezed when it most mattered, which was the difference, I suppose. I didn’t feel Nauert had a “Yankee” strike zone, just a weird/tight one.

This is what will happen at first

if they ever get an “electronic strike zone”.
Side to side, the pitchers will seem like they’re getting “nothing” (that is, “squeezed”).
Up and down, the batters will be incredulous (“that isn’t a strike!!)

Still, an electronic strike zone is preferable to post-game whining. If Joe B isn’t worried that he’s not “getting that pitch”, if he knew it was all “electronic” maybe he handles the sudden “loss of control” better, psychologically, and with a better outcome..

I'd rather keep the umps

and get an electronic Opening Day starter.

An electronic strike zone is preferable for SO many reasons

Because there wil be an ACTUAL strikezone instead of a perceived one. Of course, some adjustments would have to be made on behalf of both the pitchers and the hitters. But eventually, having a consistent and fair strike zone for every batter on every team will make the pitchers better AND the hitters better. Everyone will have to improve, and that makes the game better.

pam5981 - June 12, 2008 reply

I'm probably in the minority, but I will

never support an electronic strike zone or instant replay. Kind of a “pro life / pro choice” situation – I don’t see anyone on either side changing their mind real soon, so probably not a great debate topic.

+1

as the kids say. Idea of non-human ball/strike calls really creeps me out.

FreeSeatUpgrade - June 12, 2008 reply

I'm obviously for it,

and instant replay too, but not for every pitch or every call. Some calls are obvious and there’s no need to use an electronic strike zone for every pitch.

What I’d really like to see is an implementation like in professional tennis – each player can make three incorrect challenges per set. If you’re challenge a call and you’re right, you keep your three (or two, or whatever you have left). If you’re wrong, then you use a challenge up. If you’re out of challenges and you disagree with a call, too bad for you. But this way, the player (pitcher, catcher, manager, whatever) can decide when it is actually important for them to challenge a call.

pam5981 - June 12, 2008 reply

nah, no "challenges" IMO

Yikes, all we’re attempting to do here, is =improve= the job the ump does. If you allow challenges, say in the 6th inning with Blanton, now he has to decide =which pitch= to challenge. And then, he gets out of challenges, and…???

In my opinion, if I’m an ump, I think I’d like a pitch to be called electronically, strike or “not a strike”. Man, no dirty looks, no weird “back talk”, no catchers “crossed-up and a ball off the mask.” You could concentrate on check-swings, catcher interference, etc.

It’s called an “enhancement” to umpiring, not a substitution for umpiring. As far as “home runs”, make the stadiums accountable. Either put up screens that “catch” the ball, fair or foul, along the lines, and a fence (not a painted line) or “we play somewhere else”. Once again, greed (advertising signs) is causing the problems.

how about videotaping players?

“Creepy” because it steals their souls??

Would it be more “human” just to bring people out of the stands at random to call the game.
Then it would be really “human’ with all the familiar “human failings”.

When each baseball comes off the assembly line, is it “creepy” to weigh each ball, to see if it conforms to a standard? Electronic scales?? What about the humidor at Coors Field in Denver? “Stepford Balls” in Denver, where they all “bounce” like back in California?

no way to do it

How do you account for a stance? Different heights of players?? The three-dimensional aspect—this isn’t tennis with just a line—it’s a three dimensional box.

Crazy—simply crazy. I’ll stop watching the game if they resort to such silliness. Although I suppose the machine can’t be “Bevettized”

madmongoose - June 12, 2008 reply

I guarantee you the technology to account for stances is already out there.

Flashfire - June 12, 2008 reply

I know too that the technology is there

No one watching the game would ever know the difference…and everyone participating will know they’re getting a fair shake. No more arguing.

The ump simply has a buzzer in his pocket. If it buzzes, it’s a strike. Each team gets access to the signal, so that an ump can’t miss a call (doubtful). Visually, the spectators and the players won’t see a single thing differently. So madmongoose, ...HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?? and what is the “silliness” you object to??

The game would improve tremendously, I think. Psychologically, I think it would take away a negative that players would not have to deal with…”Does the ump have a bias against me/ my team, and what do I do about it?”

Another problem with “bad calls” on balls and strikes, IMO, is that the umps attempt to “even it out”. “Ooops, blew that one…oh well, I’ll be generous with so-and-so”.

I bet 99% of the people who say they'd stop watching the game are lying, too.

Flashfire - June 13, 2008 reply

if man ever travels more than 40 miles per hour, his flesh will tear off his bones!

On the first railway rides

traveling at the “high speed” of thirty miles per hour, several learned passengers wrote down everything they were thinking, everything that came to mind, in order to compare their thoughts “at high speed” versus “at rest”.

Tomatoes, also called “Wolf Peaches” were regarded as highly-poisonous. A good garden decoration, but eating one would kill you. A highly-publicized “demo” (this was, 1816? 1808?) proved it to be wrong, and prominent “death by tomatoes” expert skulked away from the event to a barrage of verbal disdain.

Oh, no

I think FSU has a new nickname for ownership.

funny

I usually think of all the “fallout” from certain phrasings, but that one, “Lew Wolfe Peach” (< sounds Amerindian) I missed! Very clever!

Reminded me somehow of that “Amos & Andy” line…(the 1950s television show):

Kingfish: “I’d love to, Andy, but Sapphire done give me the ol’ tomata…”

At 88 mph a person can break the space-time continuum

provided the car gets hit with 1.21 gigawatts.

oaklandSMASH - June 13, 2008 reply

Well I'm sorry

but you can’t just walk down the the 7-11 and pick up Plutonium in 2008. So unless you know when a bolt of lightning is going to strike….

5Aces - June 13, 2008 reply

I love the idea

but it will never happen. At least not in my lifetime. A’s hitters need to realize that and protect the close pitches better. They’ve done a terrible job of adjusting to a bad ump…they just keep the same approach like they’re robots.

weirder things have happened

Imagine that the home team advantage in the World Series was determined by an exhibition game!

Nah, too weird!!

How about an indoor stadium?? Not in my lifetime…well, after I get a flying car, then, yeah, it could happen!

Metal cleats, or plastic?
GLOVES?!!! You put GLOVES on BOTH HANDS! ?? Then expect to “bat”?

Like it or not, the ump is just as much a part of the greatness of the game as the players or the fans.

The umps may be flawed, but they harken back to a time before people wanted everything automated. Take the strike zone away from an ump, and what else in baseball tradition should be changed?

Remember, metal bats may be cheaper in the long run and might provide harder hits, but wooden bats just give us the real baseball feel.

I guess I don't consider the strike zone a part of the tradition of baseball.

I think the plays should be called accurately.

But they’re obviously NOT being called accurately on a consistent basis. Replays show botched home run calls and Gameday shows pitches called balls that should be strikes (and vice versa).

And I don’t think the strike zone should be taken away from the umpires, or plays in the field either. All I’m saying, that like in tennis, where the linespeople and chair umpire’s decisions can be called into question on certain plays decided by the player(/team) on a limited basis, controversial calls should be allowed to be challenged.

pam5981 - June 12, 2008 reply

Although the strike zone has changed over the years, what hasn't changed is that an ump has called it.

I’m usually against further automation when it comes to baseball. Technology is a great thing but too much of it used in a tradition-based setting like baseball further distances the game from its purest and most beautiful form.

The only time when I think that is appropriate may be when home runs are questioned.

A pitcher and a hitter should still account the umpire’s tendencies along with all other things that come with their job.

So how would you feel about

no contact lenses or glasses? No video allowed, so you cannot review your last AB in the clubhouse (like Cust did, then hit a HR during one game).

Those are all ” technologies” that were unavailable to the “classic players”.
An ump would still “call balls and strikes”. You wouldn’t know the difference, no one would see anything different. The ump would have the benefit of “seeing better”.

If getting the “best umpiring” is not an objective, why not have a lottery before each game of “qualified people”, and then choose out of a hat?? Then it would just be like “old times”!! and plenty of fun!

I would love to see them return to the days of...

...the batter being able to tell the pitcher where he’d like the ball thrown.

Flashfire - June 13, 2008 reply

We would still need to give zooks a week off to get solid contact.

oaklandSMASH - June 13, 2008 reply

I disagree that poor officiating does anything "great"

for the game of baseball. What made it “great” when Eric Gregg called every pitch a “strike”? It is a well-remembered travesty…nothing “great” about it.

Players cheated and threw games often (Hal Chase) back in the era of 1901-1919, because they’re human. Greaseballs, spitballs. Connie Mack (pre-1900) carried a stick and surreptitiously “nicked it” so it sounded like a foul tip on a check swing. Should we bring back / sanction/ encourage all those human failings, under the guise of “greatness”?? I saw a news picture of Walter Johnson smiling broadly, returning from the A’s victory in the 1912 ?? World Series. He and his teammate bet on the A’s to win, and they did! Gambling! Ah, the “greatness”!!

Hand-stitched balls?? Like the old “dead ball” days?

Everyone enjoys the “crack of the bat”. IMO Aluminum bats just do not allow for the nice wooden sound. Like electric guitar versus acoustic guitar, each has its place. But neither should be played badly because “it reminds me of great times, drunk” .

1860-1890, I doubt that the bats were “real round”. Why should they enforce any rules about the dimensions of the bat?

bring back the irregular bat “greatness”.

A's Offense Not Very Good ...

In his 4 starts prior to tonight, Petitte had given up 10, 10, 8 and 8 hits … in 26 innings. That’s 36 hits in 26 innings. Tonight in 8 innings, he gave up … 5 hits. Yeah, some balls didn’t carry, but this team has ranked close to the bottom in OPS 3 years in a row.

Having said that, I like this team and I like Blanton. It’s a good a fun team. It’s just not a team that’s capable of winning a division that has the Angels in it.

solotar - June 12, 2008 reply

Good points all

They showed Pettite’s numbers on TV before the game….lefties hitting like .146, righties over .300.
The A’s are simply too laden with RH hitters. So it goes.

My biggest concern is what were goign to do with all these roster moves

Emil Brown and Raja should be gone tomorrow, buck and CarGon need to stay up. personaly i think Zegs needs to stay up over foulke or KIko. I guess we will see what happens, its time for all the young kids to play

buckfan6 - June 12, 2008 reply

Funny... my biggest concern is that we're 5 1/2 back

and the “core” future of Buck, Barton, and Suzuki look terrible swinging the bat

demarius12 - June 13, 2008 reply

They are all still young and adjusting to the Bigs

look for improvement throughout the year (hopefully) and if we cast both Davis and Brown away who then do we get to play the outfield if one on those three gets hurt. As bad as it seems unless something unexpected happens Davis and Brown stay and one of the young guys goes down and comes back when rosters expand. Murphy (RH) is on the way back, as is the Big Hurt (RH, June 20) that at least would give us the option of two more right handed bats.

but no righties?

How can they go with an outfield of Sweeney, Buck, Cust, and Gonzalez – all lefties?? I agree that Brown should go but they wouldn’t go with only lefties.

sacto - June 12, 2008 reply

What's wrong with that?

Do you have something against left-handed people?

Monday Fan - June 12, 2008 reply

Why didn't they put Ziggy in

when the bases were loaded? The A’s needed some ground ball outs at that time.

IM4Oakgal - June 13, 2008 reply

Crosby

That had to be the worst at bat i have ever seen with runners on second and third with the entire infield playing back, especially that awful swing he took at the third strike. Of course, it means nothing when you lose 4-1, but maybe Blanton takes a different approach with a 2-0 lead and is more willing to throw the ball over the plate against Abreau and A-Rod

demarius12 - June 13, 2008 reply

yes, it certainly was

At least Crosby at least owned up to it in Slusser’s game wrap:

Crosby, who said Pettitte got him with a backdoor cutter, added, “It was a bad at-bat, I was trying to do too much. I think if we score one or two runs there, it’s a different game, and I’ve got to do a better job. I felt that was the turning point.”

“trying to do too much” = standing too far off the plate, taking ridiculous swings at pitches that were starting on the outer half of the plate and breaking away

Trying to do too much?

That sounds like Barry Zito disease right there. Wait, he’d actually need to say it after EVERY game.

Tyler Bleszinski - June 13, 2008 reply

Reading my mind...

I read “trying to do too much” and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

louismg - June 13, 2008 reply

I'd be all for Crosby signing a big, lengthy contract ...

... with the Giants.

click

ak_A - June 13, 2008 reply

could it just be a mental issue with Blanton?

I’ve been one of the proponents of the “Joe’s getting tired earlier” argument, but that’s not what it looked like last night. It looked to me like Joe simply didn’t want to throw any kind of a hittable pitch to Abreu or A-Rod. He was definitely pitching scared to A-Rod (who is 4/7 lifetime off Joe with 2 HRs and 3 BBs).

Basically, it was poor judgment on Joe’s part—not merely in trying to throw a perfect pitch “on the black” every single pitch for two batters, but trying to do so with an ump behind the plate who clearly had a tight (and consistently tight) strike zone.