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Strikeout-Happy Bullpen and Crosby's Big Hit Lead A's to Comeback Win

The A’s stormed back from a 5-1 deficit tonight to take the game late from the Blue Jays. They finally got the elusive big hit, and despite Outman’s rocky start, every arm in the bullpen was lights-out.

Unlike their last game, the A's set up a golden chance to score early tonight; after Sweeney as the lead-off batter worked a 3-2 walk, Orlando Cabrera had a great AB, eventually getting a base-hit to send Sweeney first to third.

Giambi popped out, but Holliday was able to hit a weak ground ball to a) stay out of the DP and b) score the run. Not the prettiest of RBI’s, but he would do better.

The bottom of the first could have gone better for Josh Outman, as Marco!Scutaro! Extraordinaire opened the game with yet another Blue Jays homerun. Outman struggled early and often in today’s game; getting hit hardest in the third inning. Aaron Hill hit a two run homerun, and after an error by Ellis and a walk, Millar doubled in two more. The Jays jumped out to a 5-1 lead; knocking out Outman after four. Not a great line for him, but he did record 5 strikeouts on the night.

Undaunted by the deficit, the A’s loaded the bases in the fourth, after finally taking some pitches against the wild Purcey. Bobby Crosby came up with the bases loaded, and a 2-0 count and…wait for it…drove a ball into the gap for a bases-clearing triple, closing the gap to 5-4. He would score to tie the game on a wild pitch. I'll bet that felt good.

The game remained tied until the seventh, when Cabrera’s walk and Holliday’s ringing double would give the A’s the slim 6-5 lead. They would put two more on the board in the eighth on a Suzuki double, Ellis single, Crosby walk, and Cabrera ground out.

Toronto would not score again, thanks in large part to some stellar bullpen work by Bailey (2 IP, 4 K’s), Wuertz (1 IP, 2 K’s), Casilla (1 IP, 1 K), and Ziegler (1 IP, 1 K). The A’s pitching staff would strike out 13 batters tonight.

This was a GREAT win for the A’s; the game looked over in the third, but they battled back to get the big win; evening out their season record at 5-5.

Rumors abound that Chavy could be ready for the New York series, but we’ll see.

Game tomorrow is at 10:00 AM.

0 recs  |  143 comments

Comments

-nomar should not DH, ever. 3B, 1B, or DL.
-geren should be punched in the face every time nomar bats ahead of cust.
-bailey should be closing
-hopefully one of gallagher/gio/mazarro/duke can replace outman soon, although i think he may be fine in the bullpen.

i don’t understand why everyone wants Bailey to close. It has been widely accepted that your best bullpen arm shouldn’t necessarily be closing. Considering how Geren sets the lineup every night, I don’t want to see Bailey saved for 9th innings when we are up 3 runs or less. Let him keep pitching two high leverage innings in the middle of the game.

I agree

at least until Ziggy starts blowing saves
 
 
 
Then we will talk

i'm worried geren is going to overuse bailey, which he wouldn't if he was closing

high leverage situations: i agree, but ziggy should be used in high leverage situations as well, like when a DP is needed.
someone has to close, though. i really don’t care, let springer close. but ziggy shouldn’t be closing.

Geren is already overusing Bailey.

You won’t have to worry about him pitching in high leverage situations soon…because if he keeps getting the call everyday he’ll soon be on the DL with Devine.

Geren's use of the pen

doesn’t concern me nearly as much as our starting pitching.

i'm very worried about the bullpen

they’re going to start going down with injuries (like andrew brown, casilla, and street last year) if geren pretty much never uses springer, blevins, or gallagher.

Do we really want to

see Blevins or Gallagher in any high leverage situations? I would think that AN would be calling for Geren’s head if he did so.

gallagher is barely used, even when the a's are up/down by like 4-5 runs

blevins: why not? i’m not ready to give up on him after 2/3 of an inning, given his previous track record.
if you can’t rely on those guys, send them to AAA and replace them with relievers you’re willing to use.

the bottom line is: you can’t have this rotation and only use four relievers.

Can't argue with the long term logic.

I believe Gallagher should be sent down to AAA to work on his stuff. Relegating him to mop up duty is a waste of his talent.

springer

i don’t see why he isn’t used more often. this was a signing that i really liked. i would rather he than casilla pitch the eighth tonight.

thats what i was thinking to

it doesnt make much sense

maybe he tweaked something...

and was unavailable

was wondering the same thing

I (and I think a lot of people) assumed that Springer would be the “ace reliever” coming in for tough spots. Instead, it’s been Bailey and Wuertz.

Just say "NO" to Gallagher.

Geren should be punched in the head every time he does NOT skip Outman after an off day.

That's the opposite of right

Skipping Outman = other pitchers burn out by July

Exactly nevermoor
I thought Outman would pitch better than this, so I might be biased but...

I really believe that if Outman should be skipped he doesn’t belong in this rotation. We are going to need Cahill and Anderson to pitch WAY more innings than they ever have this year (especially if we make the playoffs). Not taking every precaution to safeguard those arms by giving them extra rest and limiting their innings and pitch counts is insane. I don’t care if we make the playoffs this year if the cost is wrecking Cahill and Anderson’s arms. If you cant trust Outman to make those starts, find someone else to do it but in no way should the 5th starter get skipped on this team.

Agreed

He should never start in he rotation period.

Bring someone else up who can pitch better than him. That should not be hard. He throws BP. We have to protect Cahill and Anderson although I think Anderson may be more durable but that’s just my opinion.

WIth the Angels having all sorts of injury problems, we cannot afford to have garbage like Outman starting and imploding because our offense is not going to bail him out everytime.

Outman pitched like garbage today.

He is not garbage…he’s inexperienced and may well improve as the season progresses.

I agree with this

If he’d managed to get through one more innings, in fact, I would have been very happy with his start.

Let’s not forget that the Blue Jays have been the hottest lineup in baseball thus far this year, too, and that Outman is the A’s fifth starter, not the Ace – personally, I think it’s a question of shifting expectations…

His fastball is as straight as an arrow

He walks people.

It is not good enough if this team wants to compete.

To date if you include last year and so far this year, he is not up to standard for a starter. You guys are entitled to your opinions, I respect that but IMO he is garbage. With some ironing out, he may be better suited to the pen but the way he pitches and the way he gets figured out, he is not a starter.

I'm not going to say "garbage"

But what I will say is that the combination of his lack of control, and the lack of movement on his fastball, renders him ill equipped to succeed as a starting pitcher.

I guess that is a better way of putting it
I guess I have shifted my expectations this season

I’m not expecting great starting pitching – my new ‘decent start for the A’s’ is something like five innings, three runs. Let the bullpen and the lineup handle the rest. Because those are both pretty darn good.

If they get more out of the starters, it’s a bonus, frankly.

Hey, I’m not saying this is a recipe for success, I’m just saying, this is how I feel it’s going to go.

Nice job BBG
Current IP projections for pen

Bailey— 130 innings

Casilla— 101 innings

Wuertz— 101 innings

Ziegler— 112 innings

Umm— we need some innings from the rotation.

this is my concern

why is russ springer never used?
and is geren really going to give up on blevins after like one inning? if so, send him down to sacto to close and call up one of those other relievers.

I don't understand this either, and I've never heard anyone ask Geren about this.
anyone notice VLad went on the DL?

or am i late with this…

He hurt his tits
Tore them,

or at least one of them. Sounds painful.

How? He always moves in slow-motion.
It's been posted....

Finally, some bad news for the Angels that I can get behind.

Moseley hurt too

Apparently an arm injury of some sort

Wow.

I’ve never seen a team lose an entire rotation after the second week of the season.

This game, my take compared to...

last year would have been 90% of us loosing after the 5-1 lead
year before, 85% etc. etc.

I am hoping this is a sign that we can at least be 50-50 for over coming that kind of lead this year.

Remembe the old days...

when the A’s were known as a second half team? I do.

yes, that tailed off but was quite the bromide for a time.
if we are, that's a miracle

I’m willing to bet that the 27 Yankees were only 30-35% coming back from 4 runs down.

Take the win tonight.. and pray for better starting pitching.

The bullpen

I love, love this pen. But I am scared Geren is overusing them. I like using Bailey for 2 innings though: he’s a former starter and it means less relievers have to be “on” each day. Geren just can’t used like that every game. Springer needs to get more innings and if Gallagher is going to be in the pen (which I vehemently disagree with) give him frickin’ innings. Blevins too.

On another note, imagine if we had signed Reyes to have instead of Blevins, and when Duke came back he went to the pen as was rumored (horrible if true). Then add Devine on top of that. The bullpen would be Devine (CL), Duke (8th inning), Ziggy (DP specialist), Reyes (lefty specialist), Casilla, Wuertz, Bailey and Springer. That’s 8 guys who I would be comfortable with pitching. No longer is there a Jay Marshall, Ricardo Rincon, Jim Mecir, or Mike Neu. I know all 8 would never be healthy together (I’m looking at you Devine, Santi, and Duke) but dayum. If they were, one of them would have to go to Sac.

I was surprised Springer didn't get the 8th inning tonight

considering his cutter makes him the best bet, aside from Blevins, against lefty hitters, and it was a save situation in the making – I thought he was as close to “the 8th inning guy” as we had. Not sure what happened there, but frankly I haven’t really had issues with Geren’s use of the pen other than the slight underuse of Blevins and Gallagher.

i'm guessing Springer was unavailable

Outman threw 96 innings thru 4 innings— Geren had no choice in what had suddenly become a tie game but to go to the pen. Which promptly threw i hit ball for 5 innings.

I think the organization philosophy is to use most bullpen arms until they drop. Which might have been the problem with Devine. They have some live arms at AAA— if Casilla or Wuertz or even Bailey get overworked and have to take a few weeks off, then just fill the next arm in the slot. It ain’t pretty but I don’t think this rotation is going to magically start going 7 innings. Anderson may be the only one who can do that even semi-regularly, but then you start approaching 200 IP for him and the worry about overwork for such a young arm.

I will say this: if Beane, Geren and Young can walk their way through this minefield and wind up with a mostly intact staff in September, this team could do some real damage— regular and postseason. but that’s a big if.

96 pitches, i meant, for the non-out man
Marty lurie noted on his show today

that normallly you don’t pitch a starting pitcher as young as Anderson and Cahill 150+ innings in their very first year. This may bear watching this season.

I think Anderson is beyond normal

Cahill may be problemmatic— but I think the die is cast. Unless they are DLed, 31-32 starts means at least 170-180 innings.

Off topic (a little)

I’m watching Dan Haren pitch against the Giants at them moment…

It’s a real thing of beauty

Haren deserves a win
make that 3 wins
well, he's playing the right team

though, he’s 1-0 down, so, yknow

Not getting one tonight

Danny should be at home with this D-back team – no offense, just like the ‘07 A’s.

Haren pulled after 79 pitches through 6.

For a pinch hitter. Judging by the comments at AZ Snakepit, Haren was pissed. Understandably.

How is he on the hook for the loss?

1 to 0 Giants when he came out
man crush on bailey/wuertz

what a pitching clinic by the bullpen.
i agree with curt young, bailey could be a future closer.

I wish to state publicly that I miss me some Marco
It kind of makes you wonder what he would have done had we started him regulerly.

But that go’s for just about anything.
I miss the Scoot’ too.

actually, Marco did start regularly

since either Crosby or Ellis was injured practicallly the whole time that Marco was with the A’s

minors news

huge day for midland:

corey brown has cut his Ks,making more contact. if this is legit w/ his power/speed combo he could be in AAA by midseason
cardenas is a hitting machine
looks like theyve dumped cardenas SS experiment, Horton/WImberly playing SS mostly

in kane county,desme is healthy, for now.he’s hit great the last 2 games

the thought of wimberly working out at Short Stop definitely gives me tingles
Deal

Deal is also back (finally) and pitched 2 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts for Kane County. I really hope they stretch him out as a starter like they are doing with Leon.

You forgot to mention the power display by our top prospects in Kane County.

-Bonus Baby Dusty Coleman had two home runs.
-Grant Desme had one and his average is up to .214, which is better then it looks because it was .000 three days ago.
-Scott Kleen had a home run and has a 1.089OPS but he’s too old for the Midwest league.

Angels get cycle slammed by Kuble

9-8 Minny

wrong score

11-9 Minny

So basically, Minny is on top of Mickey
It doesn't start out that way....

but isn’t that how marriage works?

i heard mickey divorced minny

he found out she was fucking goofy.

(sorry. ancient joke. but that’s the best kind.)

I can't wait until Duke comes back...

This game (and the last he pitched) showed showed that outman is clearly not suited for starting in the bigs. He seems to be perfect as a bullpen guy or long relief at best. Like Ray and Glenn said he kind of has a “max effort” delivery which would seem to make it difficult to pitch deep into games. The switch would be beneficial for our lack of lefties in the pen.
Speaking of Outman hopefully exiting the rotation, how is Gio Gonzalez doing?

Anyways, GREAT GAME! Nice to see our offense rally back and our bullpen shut it down.
Congrats to Bobby on the 3-RBI Triple, too.

I can't either but....

would not be shocked if we are waiting until at least June

I had to work tonight

was sneaking peeks at Gameday on my iPhone until the end of the fifth inning, so I had no idea who won. I drove home listening to Extra Innings but Buan didn’t even hint at who won the game (he said 8-5 but not who won!). So after getting home I powered up my laptop — and my DSL was down!!! Finally it started connecting and first thing I do is come to AN where — YES! I see that the A’s won!

Buan was probably distracted by the sound of his own voice
He annoyed himself?
Fosse and Kuiper

…actually paid attention to the game, or at least did in the last few innings. It was like they were two different people from the ones who announced earlier this week.

All I have to say is...

WOO!!

Eff it, I'm going to have to be the turd in the punchbowl.

So, am I to take it that pictures of CLEAVAGE (not the game, mind you, not the game—practice) led to someone(s) discussing and/or deciding that something should be said, you know, for the sake of the children? Can’t we just think of the children?

Seriously? That’s who we’ve become here? We don’t show pictures of (covered) cleavage? Am I 12? Is this middle school?

Where's the pictures?

Where? where…. tell me dammitt!

What are you talking about?

There are far too many young men who read this site for it to be anti-cleavage.

Speaking as an "older" man....

I want to go on record here as also not being opposed to cleavage. In fact, I would also request that all hereto mentioned allegations of cleavage be posted immediately so that a thorough review can be conducted concerning their impropriety.

Duly noted.

;-)

Not the children

The people who may follow threads while at work.

Yeah, yeah, people can say “Well, why aren’t they working instead?” but everyone knows people surf the web at work if they can get away with it.

What’s more likely to get them in trouble is something that could even remotely appear connected to porn. Scantily-clad women fit the bill.

You do realize I can read, right?
I don't think I suggested otherwise
Well, yes, yes, you did,

by repeating the exact same thing that BBG said.

My bad, then
Well, that's no fun at all.

You’re no daisy.

Actually, LB, if you did read what bbg wrote

why are you protesting the moral angle when her writeup explains that this isn’t the issue?

Point me to the Selma porn out there.

…please. I’d pay good money for it.

On a completely unrelated note, good thing AN isn’t changing at all!!!

It was nothing specific....

…was just a reminder that people read AN a lot at work, that’s all.

I like you, and I'm sorry to possibly place you in an awkward position,

but this was clearly something discussed outside the campground fire, and the consensus was let’s shove BBG out there and have her say this because she’s nice, people like her and they won’t be offended by it. And while I’m not necessarily offended by what you’re saying (other than the fact it’s implied censorship and that’s a very slippery slope), how you came to say it and why you and TPtB even feel it’s necessary to say is offensive to me.

Plus the whole “a lot of people read this at work” argument seems to lose a lot of its cogency at 4pm (or later) on a Friday.

But since I seem to be the only one screaming here, perhaps it’s just me. Though it also seems that the ones who might be screaming at this are no longer present.

You are not alone.

+1000

You represent the silent majority…

I'm with you LB

And while I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m offended, I do think the “suggestion” to “think twice” is silly.

Everyone knows that if you click the title of a comment, the body of the comment is hidden, right? Using this function seems to me a much better way to quickly hide anything NSFW than asking the 300 commenters per hour of game thread to never post anything NSFW.

We can all also select comments to be “Collapsed” rather than “Expanded” by default, so if you’re working and worried about it, choose “Collapsed”.

Love you, bbg!

BBG's paragraph was just a bridge to the upcoming announcement

that soon all comments will have to be prefaced with an “AN loyalty oath”, and all avatars will be changed to show readers bowing in the direction of the moderators. This message will be delivered by Flashfire if he knows what’s good for him.

Finally!

The damn trains will run on time!

This made me laugh. teehee
It does bring up the question if totalitarians

have a sense of humor about their oppression.

Point taken.

baseballgirl had her own opinion on it...

….after her boss walked in on a game thread re-read this week. Honestly, it was just a reminder that sometimes the game threads are open at work, and large pictures seem to dominate the screen.

Post what you want; I don’t care anymore. I can’t make anyone happy, so why even try to make it fun for me?

erm, yeah - I don't see why people are making a fuss

to a simple request to make it easier for people to read at work? I mean, it’s not a grand conspiracy.

When I had a job (I remember those days), I would often have the internets open. Now, it’s much easier for your boss to turn a blind eye if there’s not a large picture of a girl on your screen as he /she walks past.

That’s just fact.

From a personal perspective – and I don’t expect people to agree, or even care about this, frankly – I find that it kinda distracts from the experience of following a baseball game with a group of people.

Finally, I do like 10am games. I’m making scones.

I have to clean my apt this morning

nice to have A’s baseball and baseball talk on the radio while I do so.

Thank you, alea iacta est

I just wish people would stop to think about how insulting it is to baseballgirl to suggest she is so weak or dishonest as to be “forced to post” or to “pretend to post” something when in fact it’s far easier, if you just “assume goodwill,” to take a simple paragraph like hers at face value. Conspiracy theories are fine for movies; in real life, try Occam’s razor once in a while.

...and then you ruin it by being a dick.
You know...

…you ARE the one who accused BBG of being forced to say something on behalf of the others because people will probably react better if she’s the one who says it.

You’re also the one who assumed you knew, without asking, that you know everyone sat down and decided to say something about the pictures. I can tell you for a fact I wasn’t asked about it and I don’t need to be.

Then you cap it off by calling Nico a dick? Nice one.

I wasn't speaking to you here.

You’re not Nico’s lawyer.

He’s sharp enough, he doesn’t need one.

It's a public forum

I can respond to anything I like.

So we are 12, then.

k.

Point is...

…if you don’t want someone else to respond, you can e-mail Nico privately.

What does calling Nico a dick make you?

And that's a hell of a point.

Good job.

You win.

I'm not trying to win

I’m just trying to figure out why you have such a big problem with people being asked to exercise a little discretion with some of the images they post. It’s not like BBG told people “cut it out or you’re going to be in trouble.” Not even close.

I’ve always seen you as a pretty level-headed person here. I know I have my moments where I get stubborn and keep things going when they should probably just be let go of, this likely being one of them, but BBG said herself her boss saw one of the pictures so I can understand her request.

..and I fail to see why, when Nico

passive-aggressively attacks me behind the disguise of “some people” and I call him on it, you seem to feel the need to defend, not only him, but the party line in general, and apparently the site.

If you see me as being pretty level-headed, then perhaps you should look at what I’m saying instead of defending it and the other moderators so vehemently.

I defend them because I agree with them in terms of...

…the images in question. It’s not a morals thing and it’s not about AN trying to censor people.

It’s about there being better places for people to see those pictures if they want to.

I said "some people," LB, because

you weren’t the only one to comment. And I didn’t think I was being that passive in my “attack” – I’m happy to aggressively “attack” anyone who tries the “AN is a dictatorship, we’re all being censored” baloney, because it is, IMO, the single lamest stunt pulled on AN.

If you're referring to me

My only point is that freaking out about cleavage is silly. Of course, turning around and pretending that isn’t what freaked you out is also silly, but I don’t really care.

Conspiracy theories are fine for movies; in real life, try Occam’s razor once in a while.

i totally disagree with this, most movies would be better if the writers occasionally applied occam’s razor.

Or at LEAST hired people who knew how to write.
In my opinion, I have no problem looking at pictures of beautiful women...

…but I don’t come to AN for it. I can to any number of places for that.

I have the luxury of working from home so I don’t have to worry about a boss happening to see me skimming a post, spotting a picture I didn’t know was there, but I definitely understand the concern others may have. Like I said above, “Then don’t read AN at work” is not really the best counter because I’d wager almost everyone with internet access at work has checked in on this place or any other website they like to frequent.

What bothers me the most is the immediate reaction by some people of “Oh, it’s just AN trying to tell everyone what they can and can’t do once again, and they tossed BBG to the wolves since she’s everyone’s favorite.” That’s insulting to her and she doesn’t deserve that kind of response.

You know, BBG can and does speak for herself. Very well, I might add.

So what you're saying is

that the disclaimer she added to the beginning of her post last night was entirely her idea, of her own making and had no back room dealings whatsoever?

I'm sure she can clarify it if she feels the need to

If there was an e-mail sent around to people, I know I wasn’t a part of it, nor did I raise an issue about it to anyone.

More like,

“What do you guys think – how ’bout if I say this?”
“Sounds good. Go for it.”

Ooh, big scandal! Consulting with a few peers and then saying something on a blog!

Can anyone explain

Why everyone wants to anoint Bailey as the best reliever on the staff? He had a killer spring, and has since pitched SEVEN INNINGS in the big leagues. Last year, he had a 4.32 ERA in AA (albeit half those innings were as a starter). I know Geren can’t understand that hundreds of innings worth of regular season data have more predictive value than exhibition games and a handful of real ones to start the season, but I expected more from people on this site.

bandwagoners

sheesh

7 innings, 0 runs, like 10 ks, maybe 1 BB?

Bailey’s WHIP is probably like 0.25 – He has been insane.

He was a lot better last year in the pen than as a starter -- 2.46 FIP vs 5.53

The rest of the pen is OK, but there’s no one so great that a newcomer couldn’t conceivably be better….and he’s certainly been the best so far.

Link

After Zeigler...

everyone one wants to get on the bandwagon early. Better seats.

really not feeling outman.

can’t wait til the Duke of Hurl is back.

How many runs?

Thanks, Ruby the New Foster Dog.

Pretty smart dog, that Ruby.

Are there any Gio updates????
just now on Marty Lurie's show (7:35 am)

Vince Cotroneo told marty that the A’s have sent Jerry Blevins back to the minors and called up Dan Giese, who they recently acquired. This means that the A’s bullpen is entirely right handed.

Link will be on Marty’s website once his show is up there.

As long as the bullpen is entirely good I don't care.
So long Jerry....

we hardly knew ye.

The plights of Blevins and Gallagher have been odd
Nico where is Gio????
I'm still a little surprised that they didn't send Gallagher

to work out his starting issues in AAA

If they are going to keep

Gallagher here they might as well start him over Outman. He cannot be any worse can he?

He has much better stuff but I would also have thought that he would have been better in AAA getting regular starts and getting sorted out.

Matt Holliday (mental state of mind)

I wonder how long before Holliday realizes his off the wall doubles would have easily been homeruns if he was still in Coors field? Is any of this going to affect his state of mind knowing his pay day lies in the numbers he puts up?

I wonder what kind of contract he is looking for if the HR’s do not come while in Oakland?

I think Beane trading for Holliday in a contract year really puts the pressure on Matt to perform and either earn that money or stay in Oakland’s price range or remain very attractive trade bait…

If the homers turn into doubles because of the Coli his potential suitors won't mind.

They’ll just know it’s because the Coli is an extreme pitchers park. As long as he hits reasonably well he’ll get a huge contract.

Even if he doesn't hit reasonably well

The giants will leave a large skip of cash outside his house with a note saying ‘see you at Spring Training, love, Sabes xoxox’

LOL; Very true!!!

 They have a (funny/weird) way of doing business over there in San Fran these days…

Pun intended!!!

I don't think I get the pun?
He reallly shouldn't let it get in his head

I’ve seen plenty of HRs in the Coliseum — it may not be the launching pad that Coors Field is, but how many ballparks are?

When he gets to Arlington

He should hit half a dozen there (LOL)

Now that is a launching pad

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