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Open Thread: Game 12 - A's vs. Angels

 

We told you all not to hold your breath for Eric Chavez's eagerly awaited return to 3rd base that was always tentatively scheduled for today...The Chronicle's Susan Slusser reports that Chavez will in fact NOT appear at 3rd today and will instead rest at least a few more days after "tweaking" something in his surgically repaired shoulder while batting yesterday. When the words "tweak" and "Chavez" appear in the same sentence, it's usually never a good thing, and while he's "felt great" all along this spring, this (along with Duke's lingering health issues) are frustrating bullet points to say the least, coming as they are as the team looks to field a competitive team for the coming season.

There is at least an entertaining by-product of Chavez's latest postponement and that is that new super-utility man Bobby Crosby will make his debut at 3rd in Chavvy's stead this afternoon. There is plenty of (mostly empty) speculation that Crosby could be moved to the Yankees if he looks capable at 3rd as part of a band-aid solution to the "A-Rod Out 9 weeks" problem. But with the brittle nature of the A's infield, I would just like to see Crosby stay on the team and be able to fill in where needed...which will still likely allow him plenty of playing time over the course of the year.

While the Angels are dealing with their own health woes (mainly, to the recently-extended A's Assassin Ervin Santana) they are still probably in a better position at this point due to the relative stability in their starting rotation. Today, the Halos bring one of the pillars of that stability in the form of Joe Saunders, who, while getting lucky in the BABIP department last season en-route to an All Star appearance, is still a solid pitcher in his own right. He'll be facing fellow southpaw and darling of the A's media establishment Dallas Braden.

Michael Ynoa arrived in Phoenix today, threw about 25 fastballs and changeups for some media onlookers and conducted an interview in English afterwards. Ohhhh, and the first cuts have been made to the A's roster: Jeff Gray was reassigned to Triple-A Sacramento, while Brett Hunter, Jared Lansford, Arnold Leon, Tyson Ross, Josh Donaldson, Tagg Bozied, Adrian Cardenas, Chris Carter, Yung-Chi Chen and Jemile Weeks were reassigned to minor-league camp. No real surprises there.

A's

Davis - CF

Cunningham - LF

Ellis - DH

Giambi - 1B

Powell - C

Crosby - 3B

Carson - RF

Petit - SS

Wimberly - 2B

Angels

Figgins - DH

Aybar - SS

Mathis - C

Morales - 1B

Quinlan - LF

Wood - 3B

Rodriguez - 2B

Evans - RF

Pettit - CF

 

0 recs  |  252 comments

Comments

You know, this isn't even just "unlucky" anymore.

The injuries are pretty damn ridiculous at this point. I love… love to watch Chavez play, but come on already.

Yes...absolutely unbelievable.

And soul-crushing.

Soul-crushing is unbelievably accurate.

I broke my keyboard tray at work I was so mad.

Giambi Error

on the pick off move…runner to second

Ooooooh, Petit saving the day!
Mostly empty speculation

Too bad. I think Crosby is one of the few A’s that we’d actually enjoy seeing in a Yankees uniform. I know I would. I think Bobby would like it, too. It’s a win-win.

Nope. You do realize that as soon as Crosby is dealt, he is going to magically turn into the .875 OPS guy he was for like 6 weeks in 2005?
Gameday link?

I can never find it on the MLB website. I depend on AN

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_03_09_anamlb_oakmlb_1
Here's the same info in a clickable link

Here

Is there an old version of gameday still?

This newfangled 3D flash one sucks.

I'm working...

so i need ya’lls help :)

Petit made a superb play to save a run!

Petit at SS. Pettit in CF. Couldn’t Pettitte be on the mound? Mon petit désir.

Davis Picked Off?

Bah!

You're ahead of me

On my computer it’s still the middle of the inning

OK, now Gameday caught up
Seems like Braden is at least attacking the hitters fairly effectively.
Is Gameday correct that he hasn't given up a run in ST yet?
I think so.
That is not true anymore.
Three K's for Diamond Dallas.
Got lunch, what'd I miss?
No scoring...Braden just walked a guy.

Man on 1st, two outs for Dallas.

Giambi's second error puts a man on second
Giambi Error

On pick off move…runner to second

Both errors were on Braden, not Giambi
F'n Baun

he lied to me

Braden's Pick-off Move is so good...

it even fools Giambi.

sent my e-mails in
What is the status of Justin Duchscherer’s and Ervin Santana’s (of the Angles) Elbows?
-Shane, Chicago
Rajai Davis and Chris Denorfia are the main competition for the 5th Outfielder Spot. If Travis Buck makes the team as the starting Right Fielder, with Jack Cust as the DH, I think Chris Denorfia should make the team over Davis. Denorfia can play Centerfield, as Rajai can, but he is a better hitter and can put up a better platoon split against Left Handed Pitching. If Cust is DHing, the A’s won’t need a late inning defensive replacement or pinch runner as much as they need a Pinch Hitter.
 
My Bench:
C Landon Powell
CI Nomar Garciaparra
MI Bobby Crosby (or if traded, Cliff Pennington)
CF Chris Denorfia
 
Shane, DePaul Chicago
Just working on that one myself

I’m torn between Rajai and Wimberly if we still have Crosby. If Crosby leaves I’d go with Nomar, Bowen, Rajai, Wimberly.

Wimberly is not on the 40 man roster

and Denorfia and Rajai are out of options

I think Denorfia might still have an option.
I chose Davis

along with Crosby (Pennington if he’s traded, then Wimberly when he’s ready) and Nomar.

And also Bowen, but it’s his job to lose to a healthy Powell or Gallaraga when ready.

the a's front office is not smoking whatever you are
... A run

I’m gonna go.

I THINK THE GAME WAS DOING BETTER WITHOUT ME.

1-0 Angels on Ground Rule Double
Chavvy Shoulder Tweaked?

Ned? Ned Ryerson?

Such a great movie
he could always master the piano

But would probably “tweak” his fingers

watch out for that first step...it's a doozy!
2-1 A's!

Yay for Crappy Defense!

Epic angels air mail

into the A’s dugout
2-1 A’s

I'll take the 2 runs on the error.
Carson is on fire
They're talking about Ynoa's bullpen session

-Very smooth, easy delivery.
-Very tall.
-Athletic (not lanky, not all legs).
-As advertised.

-English coming around nicely

This is exactly the description I would give

If I had seen him pitch and not known a thing about baseball

hes probably 5 years older than reported though
So now he's a 21 year old prospect who is 6'7 and throws 95
Who's never pitched a professional inning.
Slusser is on with Buan talking about Ynoa.

Also, the kid insisted on conducting the post-throwing session interview in English. That’s pretty ballsy for a person in his first time in this country.

He's well ahead of Tejada in that category
Mee shell

or michael?

My-kull, I believe.
They pronounced it MY-kel, or the anglican pronunciation of Michael
Slusser's picks

Crosby, Nomar, Bowen, Rajai, and maybe Powell instead of Bowen.

Rajai is the one she's highest on

She would like to start him in CF

I think a Sweeney/Davis platoon would be the way to go, absolutely.
she is highest
Su solus altissimus
Wimberly is playing a lot of 2B for us

Using MLE I translated his pretty good .370 OBP AA stats:
2008 TUL Tex 24 Col AA 2b-ss 108 388 65 113 17 2 0 26 59 16 41 45 9 1 9 2 2 .291 .370 .345 715
Wimberly’s cube

translates to these ugly Oakland stats: .218 .280 .255…but 46 SB in 403 ABs. A backup doesn’t need to be a complete player, but those are bad stats. But a defensive middle IF with Rajai Davis speed could be acceptable…if we trade Crosby…and Nomar only has to cover 2B or 3B, and not both, for Ellis or Chavez.

2 PRs for Cust and Giambi

…so I could see late inning situations where it would help to have two pinch runners like Davis and Wimberly for both Cust and Giambi. Of course, Cust and Giambi probably only get on in the late innings (last AB) about 14% of the time. So having 2 PRs probably isn’t that important if you’re giving up too much offense and/or defense.

UH -Oh

what did she just say about Chavy and Ellis…and it might be a good thing having Crosby around…

Given their health history it's not a very radical statement
Discouraging, though

Cute dog pix!

Yankees had a scout at the game yesterday but not today
Ynoa thinks he will be in the Majors in 2 years
He's what, 16/17?

He really will have to be as good as advertised and get lucky with injuries for that to happen.

Ynoa believes he can be in the majors in 2 years
copycat :P
Or vice versa ;-)
Bobby Crosby, he's the 2009 version of Scott Brosius!

Brosius ‘97 numbers with the A’s .203 .259 .317 remind me of Crosby …they were followed by .300 .371 .472 numbers with the Yanks.

Now that would really suck
I was trying to prop Bobby up so the Yankees want him
ix-nay on the onest-hay
Jairo's not fooling anybody today.
Seeing as how he's 36 years old

and named Julio Castillo, he’s doing just fine.

Hey, Zonis! He's reading the question.
I swear I get an e-mail or two read every show
I don't think that many people are emailing in.
My email:
Robert, Isn’t Bobby Crosby demanding to be a starter kind of like you demanding to be the lead play-by-play voice of the A’s? Love, HigherPie
def will be read
Cold blooded!
Once I sent in an e-mail

asking where Ellis was now.

Ouch!
(I didn't actually send that email)

I have a heart. I would never even joke that Buan sucks as much as Crosby. Except in game threads.

Oh, like that's gonna make Robert feel better

when he reads it here on this thread

Wow, A's catchers have thrown out a runner two days in a row

I guess Kurt’s yesterday was a pickoff though

Buan did say that Billy Owens will be on, right?
Owens in the 5th inning, I think
Giambi 2 for 2 today

That’s good to see.

I think that will put his average up to .157
Spring Training stats don't mean squat!

(hopefully)

Jerome Williams

Williams pitched well for Giants, got out of shape, was sent to Cubs, now he’s back in shape and is looking better.

The Jerome Williams comment was by A's personnel guy, Billy Owens
I'd listen to him if not for the fact

that he destroyed the Warriors when they traded Mitch Richmond for him.

Now they're talking about minor league SS Joe Barry Carroll
e-mail sent
For Billy Owens – Non-Ynoa International Players and ’08 Shortstops

We’ve all heard about Ynoa, but can you give us some information on some of the other A’s International Signings and where they will be playing this year, such as Robin Rosario and Alex Arnold Leon.
 
Where will the A’s 2008 Shortstop Draftees, Jason Christian, Dusty Coleman and Nino Leyja, play for 2009?
 
-Shane, Chicago
Rajai Davis triple

Nice!

Raj!

Triples-machine!

Rajai Triple

he’s on fire

e-mail sent
Robert, Can you please bring the Outlook pings back to your Buancasts? Love, HigherPie
Ha ha ha ha
hahaha thats true

after like 4 years, he finally learned how to turn the sound off.

Raj!

2 out triple!

Stump him good with the following question...

Ask what he knows about the international free agent catcher the A’s signed out of Australia, you know, the 18 year old catcher, BOX.

Crosby makes a nice play cutting in from of SS Petit
He just read part of my question

With the Corey Wimberly mention.

crosby makes a play at 3b!
Robert, Can you ask mlb.com to not let Barry Bloom write A’s stories when Mychael Urban goes on vacation? Love, HigherPie
Bean ball at Ellis!

Just what Mark needs, but looks like he’s OK.

I guess I should be less confrontational

“A poorly thrown ball by the Angels pitcher accidentally hits Ellis.”

Crosby swing/miss on a low/outside pitch!

Shocker!

Ahahaha. Where is this from?

Groundhog Day

Ned Ryerson

why would you laugh at that image if you don't know where it's from?

the humor is entirely due to the context…

The facial expression was amusing to me.

And I haven’t watched Groundhog Day in a while, so I don’t really remember the whole movie.

Definitely a dog bites man story

Crosby connecting on said pitch: man bites dog story.

I'm getting
Gameday is currently unavailable for this game

Anyone else?

My gameday mini is cute!
Well that's not helpful to me ;)
Haha...I was just sayin'
Mine is too! My gameday is awesome!

I’m just sitting here looking at it. And it’s updating.

Actually I have gameday AND gameday mini up. Just for fun. Because they both work.

Cruel boy!
I didn't like him much anyway.
Workin' fine for me.
Billy O says someone offered $1,000,000 more to Ynoa than we did.

Anyone know which team that was? And why didn’t Ynoa take it?

Texas did
Smart kid, then.
Texas fans talked a lot about it at the time

though if I remember correctly, it was kind of accepted on face that if you are a young pitching prospect being offered oodles of money, and your choice was between Texas and Oakland, you’d choose Oakland.

probably rangers
Pretty sure it was Texas or Cincinnati.

Pretty sure he took less from the A’s because the track record of the A’s developing pitchers is a lot better than either of those two AND the fact that those two teams play in absolute launching pads might have been a factor too…

lucky he didn't chat with the medical staff...
Also it was supposedly after

he verbally told the A’s he was signing with them. That Texas made the offer.
Not like that mattered much when he back out of the deal he had with the Yankees. But they used the having a deal with the A’s and how the past history the A’s have with young pitchers has reason he came here.

seems my e-mail got a lot of information out of Billy O
Petit onboard on a double

Could have been scored a single plus an error.

Now can Corey justify my faith in him with an RBI hit?
Fail
But he did move Petit over so he could score on the passed ball
So awesome!

Wimberly on pre-game show tomorrow talking about the sox!

12:45 tomorrow
We're so funny!

Yay! Wimberley’s socks on the pre-game show! Haha!

Could it be the highest rated MLB radio show of ST?
Tomarrow at 12:45! Find out why he will wearing the stirups!
I'm interested in tuning in tomorrow to hear why Wimberly wears the stirrups.

I was just in Phoenix and saw Corey and he looks plain AWESOME…

Pictures, please!
Soon enough, young padawan.
Wild pitch?

4-3 now

BEN COPELAND SMASH

TIE GAME

copeland

i would have preferred a HR from someone who is going to still be with the organization a month from now.

You could say that about anybody

. . . who has been with the A’s the past 3 years!

NO WAY! NOT SWISH... um...

NO WAY WILL HAREN GET TRA…. um..

I got nothin.

I think there's a decent chance we'll be able to keep him around due to the Giants just forgetting about him
how would that work?
What the hell just happened?
Baseball.
Yes, but what kind?
I don't know, my Gameday's not working.
is it cute, at least?
Mine either. You jinxed me.
sweet, sweet karma.
It's a bitch.
Mine is SO awesome!

GameDay Mini is precious.

Shut up already ;)
We are going to have some seriously silly fun in AZ.
SILLY I tell you.

Oh wait I’m not going.

Harumph.

You are going to miss some gymnastics.
I hate you right now.

Webcam plz kthx.

Sorry.

There might be some stills. If you are lucky. And nice.

I'm always nice.

Don’t you get started.

Let's put it this way.

My last fond memory was of you kissing a dolphin. :-)

I've never done such a thing.

Though, I’ve been kissed by one.

A seal, too.

Which was better?
I don't kiss and tell.
Come on

It’s not like the dolphin will get pissed off or anything.

Though the seal might. They’re a little more private.

Fan made a nice catch on a foul bunt
Can said fan hit better than Bowen?
Yes.
can he sit on a bench for 155 games?

S/he demands to start or be traded.

so, starting 3b for the yankees?
Robert, Can you please ask Billy O not to talk over you when you’re trying to describe live game action? Love, HigherPie
wont understand Buan's call anyways
no

gameday and AN comments explain what’s happening in the game, i’d rather hear owens accurately describe our prospects than buan inaccurately describe the game action.

Ynoa (Just Released Video)

http://baybridgebaseball.com/2009/03/the-ynoa-video/

I guess he’s in Arizona today… Kid looks pretty big for a 17-Year Old.

That's because he's really 32.

(ok, that’s better)

Is a walk-off too much to ask for at this point?
If you don't ask, you won't get ever it.
Anybody heard anything about Henry Rodriguez this spring?

Has he just completely fallen off the map?

recovering from hernia surgery
A ha.

Many thanks.

Petit walks to lead off.

Small ball time?

You know

I really fucking hate it when Buan calls everyone a “product”.

Jason Giambi was the product of...

a cold winter night spent by John and Jeanne in West Covina.

Is West Covina cold in April?
Wimberly sacrifices the runner to 2nd

almost beat it out for a hit

Copeland grounds out to first.

Pennington at 3rd with 2 away.

Base hit! Cunningham wins it!
Aaron Cunningham!!!

Good win!

CUNNINGHAM SINGLES
cunningham woooo!
PLAYOFFS

oh wait. i’ve been sitting down for too long today

VICTORY

That’s wicked bright.

A great thing to see after getting off a call and missing the end of the game
Well that's fun.
WOOOO!!! :)
Netherlands @ Puerto Rico

starting right now

Italy @ Canada, too
how is denorfia doing so far?
He's infield singled an RBI.
Joe Sauders had a little soreness in his arm a few weeks ago

Buan conjectured that the soreness may be back based on Saunders performance.

Saunders performance wasn't that bad

Saunders 3.0 4 2 1 1 0 0 … Braden did pitch better: Braden 3.0 2 1 1 1 3 0
…but both teams started 2-3 regulars (Figgins, Morales, Aybar, Ellis, Giambi)…so not a real test.

I really hope the A's win today.

Oh.

This moves the A's firmly into...

last place(?!?) in the AL West. WTF. Is everybody in the West bringing their A game this Spring?

Team….. W L PCT GB
Angels 9-2 .818 –
Marinrs 6-2 .750 1.5
Rangrs 7-4 .636 2.0
Oakland 7-5 .583 2.5

question

has o-cab played yet? sorry for the question, but i have been to busy to actually fallow spring training

also do people like the o-cab and nomar signing? i think they were solid moves and should give the a’s the talent to make a run at the a.l west.

no

they should suit up in the next few days or so after they get situated in camp

is nomar going to play 11st and giambi going to play DH
and is this the end of jack cust

don't understand
don't understand

I found it shocking that Jeff Gray was sent down with a 1.93 era and yet others are still up there with era’s in the double digits…Wurtz is sitting somewhere around 14…are you serious? From what I hear, they called him up in September and then wanted him to change his pitching mechanics after 2 weeks….He obviously showed the improvement and was almost lights out in the AFL…how just don’t see how you justify sending him down and keeping Wurtz around…this organization is a joke!

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