Note to A's pitchers: don't put ANYBODY on base before Justin Morneau comes to bat.
Morneau struck early and often against another A's starter ( this one being Greg Smith) as he provided an RBI single in the top of the 1st after a double by Nick Punto. He would then put the game out of reach with a 3-run shot to right field off of Smith after another Punto hit and a walk to Joe Mauer. After that point, with the A's trailing 6-1 in the top of the 6th, Smith lost his composure and the A's effectively lost the game. Foulke, in his first action back off the DL, came in and hemorrhaged a few more runs, so that by the time the A's wound up stringing some hits and walks together to put a dent in the lead (the bottom of the 8th) it was way too little too late.
Early in the game, after the blip to Morneau and a belt-high BP fastball to Alexi Casilla in the 2nd that left the yard for a 2-run homer, Smith seemed to have settled. He was consistently finding the strike zone, wasn't walking anybody and had a few K's for the effort. He cruised through the 3rd, 4th and 5th, but just couldn't keep the focus going into the 6th. That loss of a focus was a killer, but I'm just gonna take the positive away from Smith's outing: he actually struck-out more batters than he walked (4 to 3) and managed to work into the 6th. Ehh, not much, but what can you do?
A few hours after I raved about how solid the A's defense has been the last few series, a few likely culprits spoiled the party this afternoon. Barton pulled a Buckner and let a grounder roll right through his legs while the bags were loaded with Twinkies in allowing two more runs to score in the 8th, while Pennington's bobbled ball and errant throw tacked on an unearned run to Ziggy's sloppy 9th inning "getting the work in" appearance.
And now, a few hours after my call for this team to seize the momentum for a new month and a new era in this team's development, they just reverted back to the ugliness that has permeated "100% Baseball" since mid-July. At least the month of August is mercifully over and...
Aaron Cunningham (2 for 4 with a double, single and 2 RBIs) is up with the team to stay and giving us something to cheer for! After a rough first two at-bats (striking out twice on a total of 8 pitches) the young Tom Sawyer-lookalike came alive and topped off his debut night with a well-struck ground rule double to right-center and a two-RBI, line drive single to center in the A's first significant rally of the game in the game on the 8th. Congrats Cunningham...we've needed you for awhile now!
0 recs | 51 comments
When I watch A's games now I feel like Charlie Brown,
because in the end all I usually have to say is, “Oh good grief.”
Nico - August 31, 2008
Bad game - I gave up watching in the 8th inning
Exception: The butt-crack man. I was laughing so hard I was crying, especially will Kuiper and Fosse trying their best to keep from busting up themselves.
doctorK - August 31, 2008
I liked the woman behind him gently pulling the back of his shirt down.
Not sure if that was for his sake because he was on camera, or if it was for her sake just because.
Nico - August 31, 2008
I thought it was more of a frantic act of self-preservation
doctorK - August 31, 2008
Definitely not my favorite as "grand openings" go
Nico - August 31, 2008
When it comes to butt crack theater
I want the curtain to close soon as possible.
lynnzgal - August 31, 2008
Act #1 is fine. Intermission is fine.
Act #2 I do not care to see.
Nico - August 31, 2008
Nice to know this was caught on camera...
…we saw it all the way from Section 118, Row 26! Shockingly, my “say no to crack” quip didn’t resonate with my fellow downtrodden fans.
Technotofu - August 31, 2008
Looking forward to watching the game and seeing this Cunningham character
From how he’s been described here on AN, he’s got the bat of 47 Mickey Mantles, the looks of a young Clark Gable, and more brains than Marie Curie. Plus, I understand he cured cancer. That is a gentleman I want to watch play baseball.
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
wise Bill King once cautioned fans
not to fall in love with players in March or September. (OK today is August 31.)
OaklandSi - August 31, 2008
Loophole!
PaulThomas - August 31, 2008
Dallas Braden..
even though most everyone is not a fan… is the only good pitcher we have. sorry.
Sbo12 - August 31, 2008
This is... this is supposed to be funny, right?
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
It's quite true if you zoom in to "right now"
Smith and Gio have been ungood, and Meyer has been most unnotawful.
Nico - August 31, 2008
Why, Meyer, why?
All I’m saying is: Tod Van Poppel.
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
Meyer
is coming back too
Sbo12 - August 31, 2008
name someone else who has pitched a solid outing lately. Name someone else that has reached even 7 innings lately, which should be a normality for pitchers.
Sbo12 - August 31, 2008
Eveland's actually looked good lately
I think both sides of this “debate” are kind of missing the point, which is that right now none of them are particularly good (although I think Gio will be, eventually).
PaulThomas - August 31, 2008
The statement was "Braden is the only good pitcher we have."
Not, “Braden is the only pitcher we have who is playing well right now.” I don’t judge overall quality based on recent outings. I can name you several pitchers who have pitched well in the short term and have not turned out to be Sandy Koufax after all.
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
i meant right now
just giving credit where credit is due…. right now…obviously didn’t mean the season.
Sbo12 - August 31, 2008
My bad
Re-reading my comments, I came off as more of an asshole than I intended.
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
i had a great time
i was in attendance for my friend’s wedding in section 235. great times. the bride tossing the bouquet got onto baseball tonight.
flipgatey3 - August 31, 2008
and
congrats to mike and erin.
flipgatey3 - August 31, 2008
Yeah, she has the arm of Eric Patterson
theblackpearl - August 31, 2008
Hey!
Ahem!
Flashfire - August 31, 2008
Sorry, I stayed away from the game thread today.
theblackpearl - August 31, 2008
it was more like
she had more beers than jack hannahan on a day in college ending in “y”
flipgatey3 - August 31, 2008
We completed our 3rd consecutive non-losing series!
We’re pretty much awesome, there’s no other way to put it.
whiteshoes40 - August 31, 2008
Cunningham:
1. I was pleased with what I saw in that he’s in the “good stats, less good scouting reports category” occupied by the likes of Denorfia, Murton, and Patterson, where, when I saw the latter three, I understood the scouting reports… I sort of thought Cunningham would look small, but he doesn’t, and I liked his swing a lot. He’s been a bit heavy on the singles in the minors, but you can tell from his approach (and from the high Ks in the minors) that he’s not a Kendall (or Murton or Denorfia) type slap hitter getting those singles. He’ll hit the ball hard when he makes contact, although he probably isn’t strong enough to every be a plus HR hitter.
2. The two Ks. Not great to seem him get blown away by good but not great fastballs. To the extent that that is typically how his Ks happen, I wonder whether it’s better to have trouble against fastballs or to have trouble with breaking balls out of the zone. Hard to say…
3. He didn’t look especially good in the OF today.
mikeA - August 31, 2008
I think a lot can probably be attributed to
major league debut + 22 years old = nerves. No getting around that. My expectation is that as he settles in, he’ll make more contact but won’t hit .500. He did have 17 HRs in AA/AAA combined, so he’s far from a singles hitter – I actually think he could out HR Sweeney in the bigs – but he’s never going to be a 25-30 HR guy. I do think he’s probably been underrated by scouts as a “4th OF type” – I just have a feeling he’s going to be a solid everyday starter before too long.
Nico - August 31, 2008
He had 57 XBH in 127 games last year
45 this year in 105 games, which is basically the same rate. He’s nobody’s idea of a slap hitter.
For reference, Ryan Sweeney had 33 in 120 games last year and 22 in 99 games this year.
PaulThomas - August 31, 2008
He's described as a guy who stays within his skill set well
I envision him being a cross between Eric Byrnes and Mark Ellis – combining Byrnes’ energetic style and Ellis’ headiness, and just generally being extremely white.
Nico - August 31, 2008
I also saw the Byrnesy connection
Despite being only cautiously optimistic about Cunningham, he looked pretty good out there. And by pretty good, I mean why aren’t the female fans (and some of the male fans) flooding this thread with various ribald fantasy scenarios?
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
Ahem
Along these lines?
http://deadspin.com/5040525/michael-phelps-slash-fiction-is-here-its-too-late-to-run"
Warning, NSFW… at least assuming your boss has no sense of humor, which seems like a safe bet.
PaulThomas - August 31, 2008
I think that outdoes "ribald" by a country mile
Jon Lovitz is disappointed.
Joey C. - August 31, 2008
I initially misread "ribald" as "rabid,"
and yet the sentence made sense to me.
Nico - September 1, 2008
Point was:
He didn’t look like an overly slappy hitter from the stats, but I thought it was possible that he was since the scouts seem to like him a bit less than the stats. His power numbers don’t raise any red flags, but he’s succeeded largely on BA, not power, and his Ks have been high, which is cause for concern. His minor league numbers have been boosted at every level by an excellent BA, but a guy with that type of K-rate is not going to sustain a high BA in the majors.
Obviously he’s hit for a lot more power than Sweeney… I think he’s more promising than Sweeney. I loved his swing today. I also think Sweeney will have a better obp the next few years. They’ll walk at about the same rate, but I think Sweeney has a real capability to put up a good ML batting average and that Cunningham may not. Hopefully, he does…
mikeA - August 31, 2008
His BA this year
is the result of a 25% line drive rate.
Maybe that’s unsustainable too, but the guy knows how to hit a baseball.
PaulThomas - August 31, 2008
yeah, he does
he had a great year. He’s a very promising hitter.
But he won’t approach a 25% LD% in the majors, so he’ll need to cut down on the Ks to keep up his average or hit for more than “moderate” power to be a good corner OFer. If not, he is nothing to get excited about, unless a “pretty good” player is something to be excited about.
That said, I loved his swing, and I am excited. But he will have to improve justify that, not just keep up what he has been doing.
mikeA - August 31, 2008
Very Classy Twins
I thought it was very cool when Cunningham came up in the bottom of the 7th. He had struck out the first two times in his debut, so Mauer walked out to the mound to talk to Reyes. On TV it looked like he was telling the pitcher, “Let’s give this kid something to hit—we’re up 8 to 1.” The first pitch to Cunningham was a fastball catching the outside of the plate for a strike. Mauer turned and looked at Cunningham, sort of as if to say, “I told you it would be a fastball.” Then Cunningham hit the ground-rule double.
Flamethrower - August 31, 2008
Hmmm...
the Twins in the playoff hunt… an 8-1 lead in the 7th is good, but not completely insurmountable (well, okay, against the A’s it probably is). But, if Cunningham is the firestarter and the Twins lose, there’d be some hell to pay for that conversation. I doubt it happened.
FoolshGame22 - August 31, 2008
If that actually happened, that would make me like Mauer quite a bit
Flashfire - August 31, 2008
Emil not happy!
gotgreen - September 1, 2008
Well, there's today's installment of Great Moments in Irrational Egotism
PaulThomas - September 1, 2008
PT said it better, but I'll just add...
Makes more than two of you.
FoolshGame22 - September 1, 2008
QOTM
Ice Cream - September 1, 2008
Dear Emil Brown,
Try not sucking against right-handed pitching. Then try not sucking in the outfield. Then try the occasional walk – Earl Holloway says it’s good for you. Then shut up.
Sincerely,
Me.
Nico - September 1, 2008
neither is Street
link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/01/SP6412M1L7.DTL
(I’m having some computer issues so until they’re resolved I’m not using the link tool)
It’s not unusual for players to gripe about not getting more playing time. I don’t fault Emil or Huston for doing so. However, it’s not their call…and it’s never a good strategy to gripe to the press
OaklandSi - September 1, 2008
the link came up half-active
not of my doing…it’s simple enough to find this article on the SF Chron A’s page
sorry for the inconvenience
OaklandSi - September 1, 2008
That doesn't strike me as anything, really
Slusser talked to him, and he said he’d like to be the closer (of course), but it doesn’t come off as angry or whiny at all.
mikeA - September 1, 2008
If everyone else saw this coming...
… why didn’t Emil or the A’s?
Joey C. - September 1, 2008
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