SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Athletics Nation

What's Good for Giese, is Not Good Enough for the A's

Well the A's got all they could ask for from spot starter Dan Giese, who gave the Green and Gold 5-2/3 solid innings, but it wasn't enough as Oakland lost its fourth straight, 3-2.

Elvis Andrus got things going for Texas with a long homerun to left, making it 1-0 just two batters into the ball game.  For the 20-year old shortstop it was his second career homer, and the 49th hit by a Ranger this year. 

The second inning epitomized the A's woes at the plate this season.  Rangers' hurler Scott Feldman sandwiched two outs around a Jack Cust single.  With Travis Buck at the plate, Cust broke for second, only to see Buck hit the ever-popular inning-ending single after the ball struck his teammate.

Texas tacked on two more runs in the fourth.  Marlon Byrd singled, went to third on a double by Nelson Cruz, and scored on a sacrifice fly by David Murphy.  Cruz cruised home on a knock to right by Chris Davis to increase the lead to 3-0.

Things could have been worse were it not for Jason Giambi who speared Jarrod Saltalamacchia's line drive and beat Davis to first base for an inning-ending, unassisted double play.

The A's got those runs back in the latter half of the fourth.  Giambi walked with one out, and Matt Holiday followed with a base hit, with both runners advancing ninety feet on a groundout by Jack Cust.  With his team in desperate need of a big two-out hit, the sweet-swinging Kurt Suzuki obliged with a two-run double just of the reach of Cruz in right field.

Not once did Giese retire the Rangers in order but kept his club close by working out of minor trouble in the second, third, and fifth.  He exited with two out in the sixth having given up three runs on eight hits.  He walked none, and struck out three.

Feldman did his counterpart better, though not by much.  In addition to the pair of runs, he allowed four hits, issued two walks, and recorded three strikeouts. Feldman got Matt Holliday on an inning-ending double play in the sixth before giving way to the bullpen.

Three A's relievers- Michael Wuertz (1.1 inning), Russ Springer and Andrew Bailey (one inning each) shut down the Rangers on just one hit.  Not one Texas batter reached on a walk tonight.

But as was the case from the starters' standpoint, the Rangers' pen was just as good.  Derek Holland retired all six batters he faced before Frank Francisco came on to close.

The man with the invisible ERA made things interesting by walking leadoff batter Orlando Cabrera, but Francisco came back to strike out Giambi and Holliday.  Jack Cust, who also legged out an infield single in the seventh, stroked his third hit of the night, sending Cabrera to third.  With the tying run ninety feet away, Suzuki teased A's fans with a drive to left that Murphy caught up against the wall.

Ugh.

With the win, Texas moves into sole possession of first place.

As for the A's, it was another case of so close, yet so far.

 

0 recs  |  212 comments

Comments

This cant score till the 9th inning stuff is getting old.

Lets rally in the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th for a change.

In fairness, the A's didn't score in the 9th

Am I helping?

There's nothing left to comment

I read about the same damn failures every day.

See ya tomorrow! Go A’s!

why oh why do I love these guys?
Baseball
Gymnastics
Stoppit!
WAT!?
Sorry. Knee- jerk reaction to gymnastics reference.
Why indeed?

I do, so I’ll be there Friday. Thursday I’ll be the library.

I'll be watching

Baseball

I won't actually BE the library

It feels like that sometimes. at at at

Oh man. I was gonna offer to be the hardware store

We could be a whole block.

My lil library

has a sheep farmer’s office next door. The hardware store is on the main drag. A long 5 minute walk.

You had me at "drag"
does this count as game threads?

I’d like to participate in this particular conversation, but I made a promise to Pere Chien…

I call Quickie Mart!
Anyone going Friday evening?
I think I can speak for most of the Bay Area when I say, "No."
Fortunately

I have skigurl’s excellent seat for Friday games
Unfortunately, I don’t have the much praised new blanket to stay warm under.
Hope everyone who has it slept snugly last night.

I have an extra.

Would you like it?

Cuz you deserve it.
You went last night?
Yes, with John.

I was his date.

Front row seats.

You didn’t see me?

Did not.

Wish I would have known.

You mean me?

Have your extra blanket?!

Yep.

You’re a sweetie!

I am
If I could afford it, I would be
bought my season ticket package a while back

22 games and the season ticket discounts the price of tickets…it really helps

Stop by and say hi

if they’ll let you into our posh area. 117-17-9
Where is your seat?

225, so they might kick me out
So funny!

Same sec. Sent you an email.

Haha!

You’re the Fri. girl, I forgot. Let me know your mailing addy.

Dumb question about email addresses

I know they are in our profiles. But I can’t figure out where the profiles are. Mine is in my dashboard, but where is yours, lynnzgal?

Click her name on one of her posts, Library Girl.
I never thought of simply clicking.

I’m the one who is rarely up this late. Brainpower fading. Thank you LB for not saying yes dumb question.

No problem.

I heart libraries.

I'm going Friday!

Right now the W/L pattern at games I’ve attended is L-L-W-L-L, so we’re due for another W.

unless it's a geometric pattern, whereby the losses increase each time around

LLWLLLWLLLLWLLLLLW etc

this would be a bad thing.

Don't even *say* such a thing!

Eeesh.

Damn geometric patterns!
Having two batters not advancing a runner in the 9th, tie game hurt

Not that I’m suggesting that they bunt, but putting wood on the ball is key, I hear.

In Giambi's case, putting bat on ball is more likely

to produce a DP than to advance the runner. In Holliday’s case, asking him to swing at an 0-1 fastball right down the middle from a pitcher who throws 95% fastballs is highly unreasonable.

No shift was on.

No apparent dancing off first, hit & run, steals, anything/

On the plus side, we didn't trail after the first hitter of the game
after the second hitter
No we trailed after the second hitter

And every hitter thereafter.

I should re-read what you wrote
I should re-write what you read.
re: I write what you should read.
If any of you are going to write,

I put a few links in today’s DLD that should help.

Links in a DLD??

Rebel.

poppy yelled at us.

Us DLD monkeys, we gotta fly straight.

Then I must be the rebel.

Oh I kid. I’m Rex, remember?

short arms.
Big feet.

What to take from this?

Rebel...Sweet I knew Heroes was real.

The slegnA announcers (last night) said that OCab is a great baserunner

and wonder why the A’s don’t utilize him. Should have stolen with 1 or two outs tonight and we would well be tied. Especially since the A’s are having trouble hitting their way out of a paper bag, it sure would have helped

I think Fransisco is too quick to the plate

Probably would have been thrown out, but I guess it’s worth a try.

mid-90's heater

I’ll say he’s too quick to the plate

question for Geren
The question is how you would have felt if he had gotten thrown out

and then, say, Holliday bounced a single into left field. I think with your “power hitters” up, you look for one game-winning swing.

There's the problem

the scare quotes around power hitters.

You assume to much.

Yup. Seriously, though,

I wouldn’t run with Giambi up because he’s a high HR, low AVG hitter.

Half right, sadly.
"was" for the first, "is" for the second
I think it's worth a shot

He’s a smart baserunner

Closers are easier to steal off (I don’t know his stats though)

The A"s cannot put two hits in a row together of late so trying to hit runners seems harder at moment

He may have had the green light,

and being a smart baserunner decided he wasn’t sure enough to go. (BTW, no one has stolen off of Francisco so far this year.)

No one has 'anything' against Francisco this year!
You can see why. Nobody could hit his fastball.
There was a first time for everything

including giving him an ERA that was higher than Zero. But we will never know

I had my fingers crossed.
I remember. That bastard!
OK

well this loss thing is getting really annoying. We knew that the Division was weak but this is kinda embarrassing being 7 under after 25 games

plus

he is 1-4 this year. he has been good through his career, but…

Well he's stolen one base and been caught twice this year for what it's worth.
Holliday had 28 SB last year in 30 attempts and averaged about 16 a season over the past four

He hasn’t attempted a single stolen base with the A’s.

Cabrera was getting about 20 swipes a season. He’s only attempted four with the A’s, succeeding once.

The A’s just don’t run. Or rather, if this year is any sign so far, they don’t run well.

I think with those two, it's mostly that

they’re rarely on base. And the A’s have run far too MUCH, IMO, so far this year. Texas is 20 for 24 – that’s running well. The A’s just run kind of randomly.

He has - he tried to steal one yesterday and then comically slid into second

because he had no idea that Cust had hit a single to left field. Story of his season so far.

That's right

Doesn’t go as a SB or CS since contact was made. That’s what I meant.

slide jack slide
i am Jacks sliding Holliday
Fransisco was dealing

and Giambi and Holliday were trying to murder the ball. They should take a lesson from Jack Cust and just go with the pitch, not try to do too much with it. I guess that’s what happens when you’re struggling. The best thing about baseball is we get to try again tomorrow.

Jack Cust is perhaps the best hitter on the team.

Everyone could learn from him.

"They should take a lesson from Jack Cust and just go with the pitch, not try to do too much with it."

Sorry, I laughed. Never thought I’d see that sentence.

I thought the same!
And it looked pretty much like every swing I've seen Cust take.
I'm really growing to like

Jack Cust, 5 hole hitter.

It's just a shame the 3 and 4 hitters are automatic outs.
i cried until i started to laugh then i cried some more
i would like him even more at #2
I think it's worth a shift to #3 or #4

at least temporarily, if that makes Geren feel better…and shift Suzuki to one of those spots as well. Giambi and Holliday could be shifted down.

I realize the arguments for not moving the lineup around, but many good managers will at least temporarily juggle their lineup if their 3-4 hitters aren’t producing. Those are the spots Geren keeps mentioning, so it wouldn’t hurt to do it.

It's true though, no?

At least it seemed that way in the ninth.

I don't entirely disagree

But it’s a statement I never thought I’d read

Holliday is being fed a steady diet of fast balls

not only from Francisco

has he always had trouble hitting a fast ball?

You don't post a .900 OPS in any park if you can't hit a fastball

He just decided to go from being very good to godawful upon coming to Oakland.

It's starting to be almost comical now.
And yet I have not laughed once.
You should try it, it really helps- a few beers makes it easier.
I tried it, but Holliday seemed pretty annoyed.
It's quite amusing. If you don't laugh you'll cry.
hey, at least Ravi Bopara made a century today
Think he'd survive a transition across the pond?

We could use a power batter

he's more of a stroke maker

Kevin Pietersen, on the other hand, would be Good At Baseball

Bopara - Well played sir

another Essex product, grins LibrariAN, Essex fan since 1955..

But would Jessica like the role of baseball wife?

…Jessica Taylor Models for Tesco’s Diamond Boutique Lingerie… This is a caption, you can find the pix yourself.

Attractive wife you say

Well, guess he’ll have to be a Dodger or a Yankee then.

First laugh I've had this evening
I missed it, I was in St Helens filming all day.

I heard he was good though.

Every AB is the same for him.

The first pitch is always a fastball down the middle… or maybe towards the outer half of the plate.

Looks like he's adapted to the A's philosophy faster than I expected
makes you wonder if the whispers are true
what are the whispers?
Please to tell.
I heard they were careless
performance enhancers

not that I necessarily believe that…it’s pretty much a standard whisper (sometimes much louder)…seems that some people feel Holliday’s performance was showing some worrisome signs even last year.

hmm.

makes sense.

you mean a bit like marco scutero having a power surge at age 33? those sort of whispers?

Cause I’ve heard none.

Not that I would have, of course

The silver lining for tonight's game

Zook couldn’t hit it out, so no whispers for the Stylin’ Hawaiian.

actually I haven't read that about Scutaro

I do know that he had been improving at the plate for a couple of years. His performance in the Venezuelan winter league was pretty interesting.

I don’t necessarily think that any player does or doesn’t do it simply based on a decline or improvement (and 33 is not old if you’re in good shape and haven’t had major injuries). For example, Ozzie Smith was always a great defensive shortstop, but in his 30’s he became a better offensive player as well. PEDs? Who knows? But he didn’t show any of the physical symptoms, and neither does Scutaro.

Scoot always hits well in the Venezuelan winter league, no?
yes, but he's been improving even there

and did well in the WBC

not sucking pills?
If you build it they will come
We talk so much about how Holliday is doing not so good

Giambi is the real problem in my opinion, but oh well

i'll speak for me when i say that i had higher expectations

for holliday than i had for giambi. his disappointment is greater relative to expectations.

i guess we should swap giambi and cust. cust to third and giambi to fifth.

Yeah Giambi is a huge disappointment. He's literally done nothing

so far this year.

He's been hit by a pitch four times.

Close to the league lead.

Not literally
The odd thing about tonight's game

Was that, taken in a vaccuum, it was like a regular, run of the mill loss, which occurs for a normal team 60-80 times a year.

Not for the first time today, context is everything

it certainly was more interesting than last night's or the night before
Yes and that's why I am hoping

for something more interesting tomorrow and ever so satisfactory on Friday.

so by that reckoning by the time I go next wednesday, they'll be knocking the cover off the ball?

excellent

stranger things have happened
Careful

They might peak over the weekend, they come down with a case of the Mondays, which lasts several days.

dammit

this has the ring of truth

I was gonna go there.

But my next game is Saturday and I couldn’t come up with anything just past satisfactory.

hey, I am no stranger to hyperbole
There is medication for that nowadays.
If you find yourself using litotes for more than 6 hours, contact your doctor
You have in fact shared bodily fluids with hyperbole.

You and hyperbole are so tight that you not only know his middle name, you know his mother’s maiden name.

Your relationship with hyperbole is, in fact, the greatest, most loving relationship since the dawn of time. All other relationships combined pale in comparison to the closeness and intimacy that you share with hyperbole. You make the rest of us look like drunken hobos struggling in the dark for greased up water balloons.

Told you never

to mention hobos here. Roast beef sandwich, remember?

On selected evenings, many baseball players are ho beaus
i think a more succinct way of putting would be

I’m the best.

Or, for those who speak alea's language

Ego sum optimus.

At first, I reaally thought the ball jumped off Zuke's bat

and had enough to do some damage. Harold Reynolds on MLB network practically jumped out of his seat.

2009 Oakland A's

Almost good enough to win!

I was also going to complian about Rajai davis PHing

I was afraid that again, the score would be tied, and Rajai would have to bat several times in extra innings, taking our best bat out of the lineup.

Should have put Rajai in for OC, if they aren’t going to press on the basepaths.

That is to say, if they want a pinch runner, put one in earlier when it could do more good.
that I thought made sense

He’s at first, Suzuki has been pretty hot, extra base hit wins it.

That’s really not what lost the A’s the game, tbh

I was hoping that would happen

So as to finally give Rajai a mark in the “helped team” column.

Sweet

We’re now complaining about the A’s not failing spectacularly enough. They can’t even lose well.

Seriously

Why did they have to go and score any runs tonight?

Suzuki can't help what he is

We should trade him and bring Kendall back. There was a guy who could go cold.

Nah, just thinking ahead to the later innings

The Sunday affair, for example, where we found that Davis’s D was not as good as Cust’s.
Was fearing that we’d wish for Cust back again.

not a chance
yeah, I take your point

but I say it was worth the risk – only way it’s going to extras is if there’s a hit, so might as well go for the knockout punch

Yeah, but now you're complaining about how we complain :)
Who said I was complaining?

I was rather bemused by the complaint’s complaint.

I, in turn, was then bemused by your complaint

about the complaint’s complaint.

This could go on forever. I will stop now.

More positive!positive!positive! from Geren in the post-op....
The operation was a success, but sadly, the patient died.
That's the machine that goes PING!

It means your baby is still alive!

Some kid hurt himself ghostriding in Brentwood

and KTVU’s 10 PM news showed clips of Ben and Nate ghostriding the Volvo to illustrate the concept.

Dan Johnson.
Dan. Johnson.
Linku

For those who have yet to enjoy perhaps the greatest YouTube vid of our generation
Ghost Ride the Volvo

I had yet to see that. Goofy hilarious, yo.
I was wrong

not sure whether it was KTVU’s assumption or mine last night….but actually, some kid hurt HERself ghostriding.

I started watching in the middle of the game.

And frankly I’m shocked and disappointed that nobody commenting in the live game thread wrote “Elvis has left the building” when Andrus hit his first inning shot.

the radio broadcasters did
He's not an A, therefore, no-one is going to think of a cool catchphrase for him.
Not hitting is contageous

LOL

Some guy on the Robert Buan show telling him this.

Insert swine flu joke here
The A's are so bad, it's like they have the swine flu
How bad are they?

(ineffectiveness of team has left me unprepared for proper joke timing)

Revised: Insert bad swine flu joke here
There's a bad joke going around [bad pun]

It’s about WHO’s on first.

Now you're just being clever.

WHO’S ON FIRST, CDC ON SECOND AND CHAVEZ IS ON 3RD! LOL!

And I appreciate the bad pun!
maybe you need to go back to your leg kick
So many close games...

there has to be a point where we start winning them. Please Lord.

3rd?

I’ll take 3rd. I’m healthy!

Watch 2-4 innings....

Click it off and read about it in the morning. Repeat.

Pitcher consistency question

I believe it was here that some analysis was done comparing a ‘consistent’ pitcher with an ‘inconsistent’ pitcher with the same overall ERA. anyone else remember this? I believe, numbers showed that the inconsistent pitcher would expect to win more games than the consistent pitcher.

I think it had to do with Bronson Arroyo or Joe Blanton, so it was either here or at Red Reporter. Any help???

Dan Giese looks very pruney in that picture

At least the uneasy feeling one feels when Eveland pitches (likely due to horrible mound presence, slow worker, balls repelled by the strike zone, etc.) were absent. Gooooo Beeltegiese!

Haha, that's what I'm gonna call him every time I see him pitch now.

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Athletics Nation to post a comment.