Athletics Nation

Thanks!

MrMoneyBaller - June 18, 2009 reply

note to FF/ life lesson

“it is easier/better to re-write a losing recap into a winning one than the other way around” -

Signed. The Baseball Gods.

I was rewriting a losing recap into a winning one then said 'eff it' and threw this together.

I suggested a title for you before you posted

FML

don't give up guys.

walkoff baltimore chop - June 16, 2009 reply

no, we won't give up.

we’ll just run around, shoot zombies and basically figure out how geren is controlling said zombies.

We're never gonna give them up,

nNever gonna let them down, never gonna run around and desert them?

ElQuesoCapitan - June 16, 2009 reply

You're A's fans..we never give up.

+1

fruitattack - June 17, 2009 reply

we've seen worse records and deficits turn into playoff marches.

Really?

well i'm trying to be optimistic.. I was hoping people wouldn't go into detail there

Not happening with this team

Never say never! Or never say not!

...by good teams.

UncleLeo - June 17, 2009 reply

Rotation strong, Bailey good, offense will be coming (crosses fingers).

When will the offense be coming? We heard that in April, May, now June....

I would imagine sometime around mid-2010 we’ll see them peaking around the mountain in their chuckwagon.

Jackson23 - June 17, 2009 reply

2011-12

Next year the Offense will be full of rookies, and we’ll have to go through their bumps and bruises.

cyke17 - June 17, 2009 reply

Oh, so it's pushed back to 2012 now?

UncleLeo - June 17, 2009 reply

Interesting.

I went to see the Rivercats play the Grizzlies tonight. The Cats won in ten. Buck looked really good. The Cats were able to put runs up when they had too. They scored runners from third with less than two outs twice during the game, one of which was the winning run.

Oh, and Jeff Gray is an actual person. Who knew?

alox - June 16, 2009 reply

I'm really hoping

that Buck doesn’t turn into Dan Johnson.

GreenSocks - June 17, 2009 reply

Really wish we had buck and sweeney instead of davis and cust out there

I'd take Cust over Buck

not when Cust is DHing you won't

is this moron really saying that we should re-sign Holliday?

I’m callin for backup on this

pretty freshman calling and answering here....

Buan getting rather apologetic about Geren now...pleeeeeez.

Beane tells Buan what to say

and Buan dies a little inside

oaklandSMASH - June 16, 2009 reply

QOTM

Do you think it's such a bad idea to try to sign Holliday?

no....I just want to see the SOB do something at least every other game that makes a real difference!

that’s all…..too much to ask?

most rbi's and best average

jeeez.......

yeah, in the mile-high batting cages

not so hawt on a baseball field, tho

You realize he's got the best numbers on the team, right?

:(

sad clown!

You know, clowns don't freak me out in the least

But this picture is a tad creepy.

"That was never anything to brag about." -- Rosalind Russell, "His Girl Friday"

el campysino - June 16, 2009 reply

love it!

and your point is...?

and ouch! you’re a buzzkill Mike! you know how much this smack cost me?

wait! you got smack?

of course! how do you handle life as an A's fan????

thought I was the only one....Nico's goat? Are you there?

The goat thing is so over

Let it go.

no waaaaaaaaaay!

Nico's goat ate all my smack, and OD'ed

so I roasted his ass with garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Delish!

Actually Holliday isn't our best hitter

You taken a gander at Adam Kennedy’s 2009 line recently?
.313/.387/.493 with 5 HR (vs. 8 for Matt) and 6 sb (one behind Rajai)

Granted this will likely change by year’s end, but still.

GoA's - June 16, 2009 reply

Yeah, look at the direction his numbers are trending.

He was well over 1.000 OPS like 3 weeks ago.

That batting average is dropping like a stone

adragon - June 17, 2009 reply

Best numbers on the team, what is that worth?

If that is how you do a judge a players worth then the A’s are not paying him enough. But what is he really worth to the team. He is suppossed to be the clutch player, last I checked most of his production has been, for the most part, at unimportant times. I like him, but to this point a dissapointment.

Tom Nation - June 17, 2009 reply

Yeah, but he's starting to get walked all the time now a days...

They’re hardly giving him anything to hit.

he might not demand as much with the economical situation

dude....I would settle for about a 10th of that guy is making right now!

I'd settle for league minimum.

-10,00 even!

thousand!

Thanks for clarifying. I thought for a minute you were talking Euros.

el campysino - June 16, 2009 reply

Gold, baby!

not saying it is necessary that they sign him but it's more of possibility than most people would give it credit for

Yeah, but it's still highly unlikely.

He’s just too valuable as a single player to be worth it when there are so many other holes to fill on the team. If the pieces were all in place and Holliday would put us over the top, then yes, I think the A’s brass would pony-up the cash for a multi-year deal. But that’s simply not the case.

smokelanda - June 16, 2009 reply

He's one of the ones you build around.

He is, true along with our rotation.

Don't get me wrong -

I would love to see him signed, but based on Beane’s past behavior, I think we have to expect to be building around the guys we get for Holliday, rather than Holliday himself.

smokelanda - June 16, 2009 reply

talent-wise, yes. but it's hard to build around a guy who wants to be 3000 miles away.

Fine, keep him, but move the fences in...

oh, not really….

Maybe the only way to hit .320 or .330 in the Coliseum is PED’s…
Maybe the only way to hit 40 dingers in the Coliseum is PED’s…

Maybe expecting either of these things for an Athletic in the post-steroid era is not only unreasonable, but not even possible.

I'm sorry, everyone.

THANKS A LOT PAM

PUT ZIGFAN ON. NOW.

Better late, than never?

ZigFan31 - June 17, 2009 reply

RAWR

Grounded. All of you. :(

gigglingone - June 16, 2009 reply

interweb group hug. tear.

Yes?

So, totally painful loss, yes.

We couldn’t believe that call was changed. Did they show a replay? Was it clear that Giambi tagged him?

Anyway, it’s better to lose this way than the three other very annoying and painful ways we lost to the Giants.

Maybe tomorrow? Don’t hate us (yet)!

More than clear. He was literally out by over half a step.

and not mad because of a bad play

just pissed because we lost….again!

I've been pissed off a lot of late

As soon as they tied it at 4. I said to my roomy, “There’s no fucking way in hell they win this game”

And in this instance I hate being right. Just had that feeling because the pen is atrocious the last month or more.

Wuertz left every pitch up. Breslow needs to go into the medical field and Ziggy cannot pitch to save himself or us anymore.

He was great last year but is a AAA pitcher this year. Leaves too many pitchers up and over the middle and when they are a 4 miles per hour, You know the result. Added to that he cannot get a lefty out.

Seek anger management therapy, perhaps?

I'm right there with ya T-Man!

Sorry Flashfire

I expect more out of this franchise.

Stop doing that.

It can only hurt you, Train…

Nothing wrong with expecting more from the franchise

I’m unhappy with the way the team is playing and the way it’s put together as well, but I don’t see the need to come here every day and repeat the same things. This is part 4 of the community guidelines:

Relentless negativity will not be tolerated. What constitutes “relentless negativity”? It’s simple: simply posting the A’s suck 100 percent of the time without reasoning or proposing solutions. There is nothing helpful about someone who constantly says that their team “sucks” and complains. We’re all fans and we all get frustrated when the team doesn’t perform or has bad luck, but regurgitating the same venom over and over again doesn’t help anything or anyone. AN is aiming to be better than that. If you continue to do nothing but post negativity, you may lose posting privileges without warning. There’s a difference between someone who aims to point out flaws and be constructive and someone who is destructive. 10 Fanposts, or 10 comments, in a row about how the A’s stink with no reasoning or proposals is basically trolling and that’s how it will be treated. The goal is to make this community fun for everyone.

I think you have been borderline on that for a while and the other day when you called for dumping Crosby, Davis and Hannahan for people who can hit and didn’t have much of a response to people who asked you for your solutions except to throw it back at someone else, it fit into this part of the guidelines perfectly. I don’t want to see anyone told to find another place just because of the frustrations felt that come from following the current team – I think the majority of us are not happy right now – but there just needs to be a better balance.

Nobody’s asking for false hope or optimism that’s not there, but maybe sometimes that means not saying something if it’s the pattern is continuing. Lately any time I’ve seen your name attached to a comment I could know what the basic gist of it would be. Saying the game is over when the A’s allow a run doesn’t help. Neither does talking about going homicidal at the game if the A’s lose. I don’t know if you’re joking or not when you say that, but when I see something like that I think you need to step back and consider how much this team affects you.

My suggestion is to take a little time and look into some solutions instead of just calling to be rid of this guy or that guy. Give us a trade idea. Suggest someone to go out and get if someone else is going to be released. At least then people can debate the merits of it. If you absolutely have to, stop watching the games or following the team for a little while. Try tuning it out and focus on something else for a while.

A lot of this goes back to who Beane originally got this offseason, especially people like Giambi (past his prime but cheap) and Garciaparra (past his prime, cheap, injury prone) along with counting on someone like Chavez (injury prone) to have a healthy season. On top of that, Cabrera has underperformed, Sweeney hurt himself crashing into the wall, and that’s got a lot to do with why we’re stuck with Crosby, Hannahan and Davis in the lineup. Funny thing right now is Hannahan is actually okay lately (.270 AVG, .730 OPS in June) and so is Davis (.279 AVG, .703 OPS in June). Not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but better than they’d been doing before. At least they’re not automatic outs during this stretch.

Also, Holliday is having an "okay" season.

I don’t think us A’s fans were expecting a monster season from the guy, considering he was switching leagues and leaving Coors Field for half of his games played.

However, add all of those things up that you mentioned, Holliday not really mashing, the bullpen getting overworked early in the year, and the manager not really making a positive impact on the team………..recipe for disaster.

I can totally identify with the feeling of this team affecting my mood or state of mind, and when it starts to get bad, well it’s just like you say……I just stop watching and take a break. Sometime caring so much about the teams you follow causes the negativity….I don’t think Trainman is trying to be negative. I think it just comes out “at the moment”. But, I’ll let him answer for himself……just my take on it. Go A’s! :)

Holliday's been a lot better since April

Just a quick look at OPS by month so far, not saying this is the end-all, be-all of evaluating him, along with a few other numbers. ;-)

Apr: .648 OPS, 4:12 BB:K, .288 OBP, .240 AVG, .360 SLG
May: .872, 19:17 BB:K, .416 OBP, .291 AVG, .456 SLG
Jun: .920, 8:11 BB:K, .410 OBP, .294 AVG, .510 SLG

Holliday? Not the problem, at least compared to April, though I don’t think anyone’s really seriously complaining about Holliday right now.

Wasn't complaining about Holliday

Just pointing out that it seems that he has not had the impact on this team that I think many of us were hoping for, despite the stats that you posted above. Overall, I feel like Holliday has nor brought the “oompf!” that I was looking for.

Honestly, I could be talking out my arse, just my point of view.

Holliday Looks Like His Best Friend Just Died

I have always liked Matt Holliday as a player and was happy to see him come to Oakland but statistics cannot hide the fact that he looks miserable and wants out of Oakland fast. He doesn’t look like he’s having fun and has shown no emotion except on Sweeney’s game saving catch a few weeks ago.

FurVault - June 17, 2009 reply

Back to the "no emotion" thing?

The guy’s hitting respectably well for the last month and a half. He’s not the problem.

I've watched quite a few Rockies games over the past 5 years or so,

and I hate to break it to everybody, but Mr. Holliday didn’t exactly look like he was having a good time back then, either.

My guess is that he’s somebody who’s driven to excel in the more individual aspects of the game, not a rah-rah team guy, and a guy who if he could get paid the same amount of money, might be doing something else as a career, instead.

Hopefully, we all know by now that many MLB players are like this and don’t necessarily hold it against them.

Some players just aren't expressive that way.

It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care, and it doesn’t mean he’s not enjoying himself.

Be thankful we didn’t trade for Erik Bedard.

Hmm...I'm thinking the A's might be better WITH Bedard

than without him. But that assumes we could have him for, you know, free.

Nico - June 17, 2009 reply

OK

I agree I have been negative too much but it is so frustrating waching this crap day in and day out.

It’s like as soon as the other team gets a baserunner even though we are leading, you know what is going to happen.

Yes, there have been injuries and when those players come back, I am sure the team will improve.

I will tone down some of the comments and try to be more positive about it. That’s going to be hard to do, especially with the way the team is playing. Posting comments like that is a way of venting for me. I will try to keep it to a minimum in the future.

I listen to every game and have been doing so for close to 20 years. I will always be an A’s fan.

Trainman - June 17, 2009 reply

Of course you will friend!

it’s the A’s way…..cheers!…ºº
!

Cool

Like I said, nobody’s asking you to be positive if you don’t feel it. Just be a little more careful about the relentless negativity, okay? It can be fun and necessary to vent but we have to watch it so it doesn’t become the only thing we do here.

Take care.

Hey Pam

How come the gang keeps sending you to apologize? It can’t only be your fault, can it? I mean that’s silly, especially for someone who doesn’t even believe in curses. Well, hell, neither do I. The “W” comes tomorrow.

They're not.

I just hate hate hate hate losing. I was trying to keep the swearing to a minimum tonight at the game (think of the children!!!) but it was hard, especially the last few innings.

I can’t handle losing again tomorrow.

Just messing.

I know they’re not. I feel your pain though. Even from back home.

TWSS :(

Tell Zigfan hi, pamcakes.

Pssst, mike

you can e-mail her, you know.

Oh yeah.

But it’s more fun this way!

get a room, y'all!

If you say so!

ZigFan31 - June 17, 2009 reply

No complaints here.

Umm, she's not here.

You can tell her yourself, I think she must be home by now.

Wait! Where are my skivvies?!

road trip i thought?

Oh, yes. But not HERE, in the same room with me.

that's unfortunate.

{evil grin}

On the game thread, we learned to swear in different languages.

You would have liked it.

damn, and I missed the entirety of the game threads...

gigglingone - June 17, 2009 reply

Damnit.

pam5981 - June 17, 2009 reply

Just for you:

Questi cagacazzi mi rompe le balle!

A little help please!

For the not so multi-lingual among us.

pam5981 - June 18, 2009 reply

I failed miserably

I was trying to keep the swearing to a minimum tonight

adragon - June 17, 2009 reply

Kurt Suzuki comimg up next on RB EX Innings....

Good God. Mauer went 4-4 tonight

He’s at .429 on the season.

His AVG is higher than anybody’s OBP on the A’s.

He is currently the best player in baseball IMO

Worth more than all our offense lumped together

I bet if he were on the A's he'd be batting .250.

I second that motion!!!

But...

It’s the marine layer/ foul territory/ pitchers’ park/ blah blah blah.

A'sian - June 17, 2009 reply

It bears repeating:

The problem with Geren is not that he’s a “figurehead manager”. The problem is that he isn’t.

iglew - June 16, 2009 reply

You must have looooooved this game.

You know me well.

Wow

O-Cab is a complete disaster. Good Luck getting a job next season.

Colorado Fan - June 16, 2009 reply

Stick a fork in that bastard! Heezzzzz duuuuuunnnnn!

When you have him hitting 6th, Hannahan 7th, Davis 8th and the pitcher 9th

You have a least 4 innings per night when you have no chance of scoring.

I know there is no team in baseball that fields that bad of a bottom of the order. It is impossible for there to be.

Spot on, we need Sweeney and Nomah there instead of these guys.

greenbean - June 17, 2009 reply

Dude - I seriously cannot believe how f'n horrible the offense is.

Unless the other team pitches a perfect game,

in which case only three innings without hope.

Does anyone think my 10-0 win streak when I go to

An A’s game is in jeopardy on Thursday. Because I don’t think even that streak can save this bunch of buffoons.

Mazzaro going for you.

Go or don't go. I don't really care.

I don't reaaly care what you think either

Yeah, well I'm getting more than a little tired of your constant negativity here

Common boyz......settle down now!

Yeah, Trainman will be happy

when this team is back to playing 1.000 ball like they were a week ago…

Until then, he’ll be wondering who pissed in his cereal bowl…

Ah....the whiskey is kicking in I see.....

goood………………..

easy, guys

Tough loss, but it doesn’t have to get nasty.

TWSS

I could have bet the mortgage on that one, miguel.

I would hope so.

Hey, you're nothing if not reliable.

67MARQUEZ - June 17, 2009 reply

TWSS

"Slap that ass!"

Of course it is, for many reasons.

If you want, I’d be glad to go in your place.

dude ziggy should've come in the 8th inning. If he's not the setup guy what's his role on the team?

+++++++9999999,999999999,9999999!

"role"?

That’s funny.

Man, Buan had a greeeat interview with Zooks there!

give the man a raise.

Here is O_Smash's e-mail! Yes!

hahaha

cyke17 - June 17, 2009 reply

no comment from him...heh

cyke17 - June 17, 2009 reply

I gave up and didn't hear it

Nothing in response?

oaklandSMASH - June 17, 2009 reply

And did he read my name at the end?

oaklandSMASH - June 17, 2009 reply

yes he did!

Cool

At least there is one silver lining to this shit cloud.

oaklandSMASH - June 17, 2009 reply

He read it! Sweeeeet!

maybe, just maybe

this current squad isn’t any good. I knew interleague was going to be hell because we had to add another poor hitter to the bottom of the order.

6. Cabrera
7. Hannahan
8. Davis
9. Braden

sf drift king - June 17, 2009 reply

Shoot. for a second there I thought we had Pepe batting cleanup

Kallus - June 17, 2009 reply

:(

drmmerchk - June 17, 2009 reply

What? we ended up loosing? omg

ak_A - June 17, 2009 reply

The lady with blue LA nails and blue everything

sitting in front of me last night at Dodger Stadium — who seemed to know everyone in her section — season ticket-holder ? — but who read US Weekly the entire game w/o watching baseball for more than 5 minutes — and the a$$h@t throwing ice and cups at fans below him — sum up a certain kind of Dodgers fans that I detest. After 10 years in exile in LA, I’m happy to be moving to Ithaca, NY. LA sucks.

LAXile - June 17, 2009 reply

Wow...

I coudln’t imagine such a sight!!!

I think I would have said something and blew up… (Hopefully a poor sample size)

I love LA

honestly

You can not tell me there arent dudes in AAA who are better at baseball than Jack Hannahan, Orlando Cabrera and Raj Davis. Why must we constantly have 3 horiffyingly bad hitters in our lineup? They are NOT going to magically start raking, they are terrible at hitting and always will be.

Funny thing about O-Cab, the worst hitter in the game (lowest OPS)—-he’s currently a TYPE A free agent at the end of the year, so all is not lost. But yeah he is completely bad at baseball and Bobby Crosby has outplayed him in every facet of the game and needs his job back.

Giambi-Ellis-Crosby-Nomar-Suzuki-Holliday-Sweeney-Kennedy-Cust = can we run this lineup out there for 2 months please? To the gods above Im begging you!!!

Nomar can not stay on the field two games so, i think two month is a A LOT to ask for

A'sfaninNC - June 17, 2009 reply

A note on Cabrera...

There’s a clause in his contract which prevents the A’s from offering him arbitration during the off season. This will prevent the A’s from getting draft pick compensation but it will aid in Cabrera easily finding a new team. Sucks for the A’s, good news for Cabrera. Teams won’t shy away from him because they would lose a draft pick if he signs with them.

I never liked the Cabrera signing, but in the framework of Billy’s plan, it made sense. The offense is an under-performing pile. We all knew the stellar performance of the bullpen wasn’t going to last. The one positive has been the starting pitching, which was supposed to be buttressed by an offensive behemoth (relative to last season’s team, at least). So much for expectations.

franks a lot - June 17, 2009 reply

ouch on o-cab but it bears the question:

why havent we gotten rid of him yet? Crosby’s outhitting him by a long way and AK can hit leadoff no problem.

Meh, both sunk costs

Cabrerra has more upside, but they are the same right now.

Crosby: 200/295/319
Cabrerra: 229/283/292

Cabrerra BABIP 245 (Career 287)
Crosby BABIP 224 (Career 273)

Future Ed - June 17, 2009 reply

NINE. MILLION. DOLLARS.

The more suck for your buck

No TWSS allowed

franks a lot - June 17, 2009 reply

I don't need 9 million dollars.

All I need is ~~39.99~~ $399.99

Except it will be irrelevant

Cabrera is too bad at baseball to deny arbitration if offered to him.

Blicks - June 17, 2009 reply

also

Id like to meet all the people who complained about Cust taking too many pitches and “walking too much” and sock them in their stupid mouths. Way to go everyone, youve gotten your way and now Cust kinda sucks ass. Can we have the 10 pitch per AB walker/masher back? This version of Cust is not fun to watch at all.

No one on this team is watching pitches anymore, everyone swings at least once in the first 2 pitches, this is not good baseball at all and definitely not our style. Why is this happening???

Calm down, Mr. Violent

its just the internet im not going to actually do it, its just frustrating watching Cust hit the second pitch he sees into a weak groundout, no? hes not walking as much as he used to and theres been no explanation why.

I have zero faith in this team rght now. Zero.

I came in late and looked and they were ahead in the bottom of the 8th… and I was totally ambivalent about turning on the game and watching the rest of it. I had no confidence that they would hold on and win. I’ve already watched my yearly quota of heartbreaking losses. I went to bed instead, and woke up to the reality of yet another dumb loss.

UncleLeo - June 17, 2009 reply

+1

I did the exact same thing. I was briefly interested in the game after the Giambi and Crosby homers, but as soon as the bullpen put a runner on in the 8th after that “outburst” I knew that they would lose the game. I saved myself the heartache of actually watching the walk-off win, preemptively accepted the loss right there in the 8th and got an extra hour of sleep. That’s just how far my fandom has fallen, and it hurts to admit that…

Taj Adib - June 17, 2009 reply

Yikes

The thing that bothered me the most was the seemingly effortless way in which the Dodgers came back. I mean for an extra-inning game, it seemed to lack any kind of drama. I guess that’s how it goes when you know what’s coming. And I sensed that their fans felt the same way. “Oh, we’re down, huh? Well not for long.”

67MARQUEZ - June 17, 2009 reply

That part of the game is underrated...

The mental part, I mean…

If the A’s were confident and the Dodgers weren’t, then the A’s would have won that game.

Players get moody and down on the club and that attitude costs victories… victories that Sabermetricians can’t quantify on their spreadsheets, but victories that the fans who know better can see slipping away hit by hit…

If I owned a franchise, I would do as much psych testing as allowed on potential draftees, not trying to weed out headcases, but trying to find people who are literally addicted to winning, and get violent and or angry when they lose, rather than sad or down when they lose.

So, in conclusion…. i guess it’s not nine Scott Hattebergs that we need, but nine Milton Bradleys with actual working legs…

I agree that confidence and winning are correlated,

but I suspect the causation goes the other way.

I think the causation goes both ways...

Confidence breeds winning breeds confidence breeds winning…

All of this makes my cynical self think that the meds that Zach Greinke takes for his social anxiety actually serve as PEDs, boosting his confidence level, therefore helping him execute more optimally, with less fear of failure…

My cynical self also thinks that if the above premise is true, then the A’s are only 25 prescriptions and a peptalk away from contention…

I think that

those with the the most confindence are the best players (not because of their confidence), and therefore confidence and winning is a correllation, not a causation. I disagree that the A’s are that close to contention. I think the lack of confidence is (sounds terrible) warranted by the lack of ability by Davis/Crosby etc.

That’s a bold and interesting take on Greinke. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I don’t see an alternative option to Greinke taking those meds. So I think it has to stay that way.

travdog6 - June 17, 2009 reply

I don't buy into that as much as you do.

I don’t think that Bobby Crosby strikes out because he lacks confidence, I just don’t think he’s very good at hitting a baseball.

travdog6 - June 17, 2009 reply

I think Bobby Crosby strikes out because I lack confidence.

Nico - June 17, 2009 reply

Your post reminds me of the movie "Office Space"

where Peter is telling the fat shrink how bad his life is, and the shrink says; “wow, thats messed up…”

classic line

franks a lot - June 17, 2009 reply

Free Phil Gurnee

Xeifrank - June 17, 2009 reply

I already saw he was unbanned after about 20 minutes...

…but we don’t need you wandering back over here pressing the issue.

If you have a problem, feel free to contact people privately. On the front page, moderators at the bottom can be contacted via e-mail.

No problems… please keep a sense of humor.
vr, Xei

Xeifrank - June 17, 2009 reply

Watched the game with friends

My boy came over and even my best friend who isn’t into baseball that much watched the game. The worst part is that even my bf who doesn’t really follow baseball said of the A’s recent past, “Doesn’t the A’s bullpen suck?”
My response, “It sucks, and they are going to blow the game.”
Funny thing is the A’s pen which is well rested and under worked the last few weeks, actually has no excuse other than they do suck…
Early in the year it was our bullpen who was saving us, now it’s our SP. I guess that’s part of the problem with our team is there is no consistency.
Offensively though, we consistently suck…

DoomandGloom - June 17, 2009 reply

Stats

Tied for worst batting average (.234)
28/30 with only 503 hits
29/30 in OBP with .311
LAST in slugging % by far .358 to closest .376
17/30 in team ERA at 4.35

Bottom line…..stats tell the story of our season…OUR OFFENSE BLOWS!!!!

DoomandGloom - June 17, 2009 reply

NO WAY WE SIGNED GIAMBI AND GOT HOLLIDAY WE'RE GONNA BE AWESOME

Oh, wait, that doesn’t offset the trio of suck that is Rajai, Hannahan, and OrCa?

Giambi is a shell of his former self...

but he has some big hits in the clutch this year. I was hootin’ and hollerin’ after last nights shot!

Holliday is suffering from having to learn the American League pitching and from playing all his home games in Oakland (not Colorado). Doesn’t matter anyway, he will be gone by or right after the all star break…

DoomandGloom - June 17, 2009 reply

I was staring in disbelief, myself.

The expectation that “Giambi will come through, he’s awesome” has long, long since been replaced with “Giambi will probably strike out or roll over on a pitch, he’s old and not that good anymore.”

Travis Buck

Where is he? When is he coming back? Isn’t Billy Beane, who is a huge fan of the game, sick of seeing Davis and Hannahan too? I would say maybe he doesn’t care anymore and has given up baseball for soccer, but he just tried to get someone from Cleveland, no? I see a win tonight and tomorrow and a sweep of the Padres. Last night was one of those reached the bottom games. Go A’s!

A'sfansince1970 - June 17, 2009 reply

I'm right there with ya 1970'!

Let’s get the next five in a row and do some damage!

The story is with the DH gone in the NL parks they're leaving Buck in Sacramento a little longer

And apparently they don’t think he can play CF. I don’t know, maybe that’s true. I think there’s more to it than just those two things, though.

spot on...

Not even.

I don’t think it has anything to do with the DH, unless you think the team would prefer to have Denorfia coming off the bench than Buck. That DH explanation overlooks the brew-ha discussed below and by Urban in his mailbag.

double not even...

The club would rather see Buck get regular AB’s every day in Sacto in anticipation of a post-interleague return.

Denorfia can rot on the bench and the club doesn’t have to care, because he’ll be completely expendable soon with all the draft-related promotions, and is taking up valuable 40 man roster space.

Well if that's really the story

he’s forcing them to play him soon, because he’s tearing the cover off the ball in Sacramento. I’m sure he’d do better than Deno or Davis.

A'sfansince1970 - June 17, 2009 reply

Buck? Who cares about that dude? You dudes are all crazy if you think Travis Buck is going to solve our offensive problems.

Sure he’s better than Davis but hes nowhere in the same league as say, Jay Payton. Who sucks.

The A's management would seem to agree

He was activated from the DL and promptly optioned to Sacto. Not because he’s not an improvement over Denorfia but because Travis Buck = Selfish narcissist who is more concerned about looking good and maintaining his errorless streak than helping the ball club. In sporadic time with the big club over the past four years (career 148 games over 3 years) Buck has made at least five trips to the DL (4 in the bigs, one in Sacto), including stints due to an inner ear infection, a sprained right thumb, and shin splints. Dude is a serious wimp.

Travis Buck = the white Charles Thomas ’NUFF SAID.

I'm assuming you've never had shin splints.

As a matter of fact I played both my junior and senior year, as a running back,

with shin splints. I know they suck, but you tape em up, ice them, get arch supports, and take Advil, and you can play. Also didn’t miss a down with a strained right thumb, and antibiotics + tylenol take care of ear infections within 24 hours.

An inner ear infection is completely different/much worse than just a regular (middle) ear infection.

It’s not one that can just be treated in 24 hours. And shin splints and strains come in varying degress so unless you know specifically how severe Buck’s injuries were, it might be premature to call him a “wimp.”

Tripp - June 17, 2009 reply

OK.

I admit to not knowing the difference between a middle and inner ear infection, but really? Premature? I think not. The guy is already known for his injury-proneness, and I’m sorry, shin splints almost never require a trip to the DL. Sprained right thumb? Please. Five days, tops, and then you suck it up, not a two-week trip to the DL. Remember when Guillen played with a broken hand? When Holliday got drilled in the knee-cap with a fastball and didn’t miss a pitch? When Cunningham got drilled in the head and only missed one game? Or when Braden took a liner off the top of his pitching hand, finished the game, and was ready to go four days later? These guys are ball players.

Buck’s the type who has a nose bleed on the bus and tells the coach to make a detour to the ER. Then he blames the coach when the team shows up late for BP.

Thanks, Doc.

Middle ear?

I only have two.

Nico - June 17, 2009 reply

Rajai davis can't play centerfield

Future Ed - June 17, 2009 reply

Buck is in the DL and in the doghouse

Dude gets three hits, including a HR, in the first game of the double header, and then comes crying to be taken out for the second game. Management’s reply was, well, if you are so hurt to come begging to be taken out of the game, then you should be on the DL. Buck’s reply was to go to the media and tell them he could have played through the pain. Not smart. Buck’s a high maintenance pussy, IMO.

Yeah clearly being honest that you're carrying an injury makes him foolish.

He should have hidden it and played like crap, along with not being available to play for 4 games like the rest of the A’s hitters.

OldhamA - June 17, 2009 reply

Call me old fashioned,

But if you cannot detect an injury by how someone is playing, they are not injured enough to come out. Getting three hits and then putting your health in front of the team is just a weak ass move. Not a teammate I’d want to go to battle with.

And going and crying to the media is just the icing on the cake

Can’t get any more selfish than that. Through the management under the bus for trying to make your health a priority. Really classy.

Just because he did well in the first game doesn't mean he was healthy enough to keep playing

He could have felt a tweak and decided it’d be a bad idea to push it further but been fine after a day or two. Then the team put him on the DL and he acted like it wasn’t necessary. How many times have players hurt themselves worse by pushing a minor injury instead of taking a day or two to rest, something that wouldn’t require a trip to the DL?

I think you’re assuming a lot here because you’ve made up your mind about Buck already.

Perhaps, but

I think some reading between the lines is necessary here. What must have Buck said to land on the DL? Clearly, it wasn’t “I felt a little tweak and think I should take the day off.” If that’s all he said, I would cut him more slack, but even Geren wouldn’t react that swiftly to such a minor complaint. Case in point – Ryan Sweeney went several days with a strained knee, confirmed by MRI, before being placed on the DL.
All of us who have played sports remember the guys who would play through broken bones, and those that would cry to be taken out with a hangnail. I tend to respect guys who tough it out more than wimps who ask to be taken out, especially when they are performing well. The thought process should be, “I’m not playing well due to this injury and I’m hurting the team, so I should be lifted if the management agrees” not “I’m playing well but in a lot of pain, and I might not perform well, so I’m going to cry so I can be lifted.” And then, “Wait, you were concerned for my health and put me on the DL, but I’m going to make you look foolish so I can continue to look good.”

You’ve probably seen this, but this is the mailbag post mrod referenced below that I think got me riled up:

From Urban’s mailbag on the MLB site:

Did Travis Buck hack someone off by saying he didn’t need to go on the disabled list?
— Carl H., Monterey, Calif.

That’s not something anyone involved with the current regime would admit to on the record, but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable assumption. I also have a feeling Buck upset some people even before that, by saying he didn’t think it would be wise to play in the second game of that doubleheader in Texas a while back after getting three hits — including a homer — in the first game.
What I do know is that Buck wasn’t allowed to hit for at least a week after he was put on the DL, even though he said he was pain-free. If he’s not activated shortly after he’d eligible, you’ll probably have the answer to your question.

This is where I'd insert the Picard Facepalm but I don't feel like digging it up

Would you rather him pull a Dan Meyer?

Tripp - June 17, 2009 reply

Obviously there's a limit to playing through pain, which is why

even tough SOBs sometimes land on the DL. This was clearly not the case with Buck’s “injury,” as even he seems to admit (in a self-serving attempt to place blame on the management instead of his own flimsy backbone). As for Meyer, you could say the same thing about a lot of pitchers, perhaps even most pitchers who land on the DL with arm problems. And in terms of a teammate, yes, I would rather have teammates like Meyer who want to play through pain than ones who go to the DL twice a year for things most guys would play through.

meyer's problem required surgery to solve. buck's problem is whatever...

stm72 - June 17, 2009 reply

On the bright side

I think Sweeney is due to come off the DL any day now, if not already.

I agree that Buck is in the doghouse....again.

especially after reading Urbans comments from his mailbag earlier this week.

Yeah, I think reading that post is why I got so angry at Buck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bean

We need Billy Ball back (not Bean, Martin).

Billy Bean is like Denver’s Mike Shannahan. They both are very smart, have a great plan, do everything by the numbers and its their way or the highway. The problem is that they are not always right, and many times the talent does not fit the system. Checks and balances are important. Bean’s plan seems to be as fresh as Giambi being an A.

Tom Nation - June 17, 2009 reply

Except Billy Bean (sic) was a homosexual baseball player

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. :)

oh, go paint your toenails!

So, do we actually have to wait for Andrew Bailey's arm to explode

or can we just pack his warmup jacket with plastique to speed the process?

jeepers - June 17, 2009 reply

Is he playing hurt?

Seems to be pitching well. And shame on Travis Buck for arguing with the medical staff! They have such a great track record! Will Sweeney play tonight?

A'sfansince1970 - June 17, 2009 reply

He's being overworked to an obscene degree.

It’s starting to show in his velocity. He’s on pace to throw something like 110 innings. Geren is contracting Joe Torre disease in this regard.

jeepers - June 17, 2009 reply

The game wouldn't have even been close if Troncoso followed the scouting report

Giambi has a hard time catching up to the fastball now and Crosby swings at breaking balls off the plate. Giambi homered off a hanging breaking ball and Crosby smashed a fastball.

micdog2001 - June 17, 2009 reply

I tend to agree

But I think, as an opposing catcher, I know that Giambi knows we know he has trouble with a good fastball. So Giambi might be looking fastball, in which case you throw and off-speed pitch. As for Crosby, even the sun shines on a dog’s ass some days.

I see your point but

it seems like they can’t hit them even if they know it’s coming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it happened, I just wanted to sound smart ;- )

micdog2001 - June 18, 2009 reply

Forget Kennedy to third when Ellis returns, how about SS???

DFA Hannahan…