In the opening game thread, baseballgirl pointed out the absurdity of one team having Mauer and Morneau back to back in the lineup, and one team having Patterson and Pennington. Baseball is an absurd game, so it was Pennington who clobbered one of 5 A's HRs, Patterson who turned in a three-hit night, and the A's who pounded out 17 hits, 10 of them for extra bases. The other HRs were hit by Cust, Ellis, Suzuki, and Barton, with Ellis and Barton unloading 3-run bombs as the A's opened the game up in the middle innings.
Clayton Mortensen started the game serving up a leadoff HR to Span, Span, Span, Span, Span, Eggs, Sausage, and Span, but settled down to turn in 6 solid innings of one run ball. He did not record a strikeout, but recorded 12 outs on the ground.
Jerry Blevins deserves special mention, too. Though tonight's scoreless inning came in a blowout, Blevins has looked outstanding since returning to the big leagues. His velocity is good, his secondary pitches solid, and he has thrown strikes aggressively -- reminiscent of the Blevins we saw in 2008, not the one hitters enjoyed, both in the big leagues and at AAA, in 2009.
Santiago Casilla deserves mention too, in that it's not often a pitcher starts the 9th inning with a 12-1 lead and leaves with the team's closer frantically getting loose just in case. He was charged with 4 runs in 0.1 IP.
Finally, also worthy of mention on the positive side (IMO): Bob Geren, following up his yanking of Scott Hairston in the 12th inning on Wednesday after he failed to run out a pop fly by sitting him tonight. Point made, message delivered. And at least tonight, the A's did just fine without him.
0 recs | 61 comments
The Homer Dome strikes one more time
Hit4TheCycle - September 11, 2009
In our favor.
Awesome!
lynnzgal - September 11, 2009
last of casilla?
I suspect that might be the last time we see him pitching in an A’s jersey.
SheridanH - September 11, 2009
WANT
Oh please oh please oh please oh please
doctorK - September 11, 2009
Let's get Jairo Garcia back
sirbed - September 11, 2009
Hopefully the last time we see him in any uniform...ever!!
wacchampions - September 11, 2009
I would like to see
this form of him in an Slegna jersey
robbo650 - September 11, 2009
Well that would nice...
wacchampions - September 11, 2009
He goes by Bootcheck.
Nico - September 11, 2009
I would miss a game where we score a bazillion points!
Someone this week was asking about blow-out games this year. Does this qualify?
BERRYJO - September 11, 2009
Congrats, Clay Mortensen.
Not exactly a tough one to get, but congrats on the W.
Dunno if this has been posted anywhere, but here’s an article from Fangraphs on Andrew Bailey.
travdog6 - September 11, 2009
Great recap.
Love the mentions.
ZigFan31 - September 11, 2009
Thanks -- of course, deep down I know
that if my entire recap had been, “The A’s won and JERRY BLEVINS IS AWESOME,” you would have said the same thing.
Nico - September 11, 2009
That would have been the best recap ever!
You should let me be a special guest writer sometime…lol Cyndi and I would be a great team!
ZigFan31 - September 11, 2009
OMIGOD IT'S CINDI, NOT CYNDI
WHAT ARE YOU BLIND???? Did you do that on purpose? Grrrrrrr…I am SO trashing you on Facebook later.
Byeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
Cindi (with a heart over the first ‘i’ to draw your attention to it in case you need to notice what letter it is).
Nico - September 11, 2009
That's weird
because I usually heart my "y"s
mikev - September 11, 2009
hehe, I was just trying to get your goat.
ZigFan31 - September 11, 2009
he's pretty protective of it.
Leopold Bloom - September 11, 2009
Protection is very important.
Nico - September 11, 2009
I recommend sheepskin.
Leopold Bloom - September 11, 2009
Oh my
Flashfire - September 12, 2009
oH MY GOD.
I left for a bit and I’m glad to see they almost died but didn’t.
Hope someone got the fireworks!
ElQuesoCapitan - September 11, 2009
Mikey got your back.
lynnzgal - September 11, 2009
Holla.
mikev - September 11, 2009
You did good, sweetie.
lynnzgal - September 11, 2009
GFJ
ElQuesoCapitan - September 11, 2009
These bastard A's....
They’re just trying to give us false hope for next season!
alox - September 11, 2009
Don't know if it's been mentioned in the game thread,
but Chris Carter has HRed for the 3rd straight game tonight. BEAST!!!!
Nico - September 11, 2009
Holy shit
ElQuesoCapitan - September 11, 2009
IN A ROW:!!??!
mikev - September 11, 2009
Hey Carter...
don’t hit any more home runs on the way to the car!!
BleedGreen - September 12, 2009
Fantastic.
mikev - September 12, 2009
Plus
it looks like the Midland Rockhounds won 6-5 tonight and are now up 2 games to 1 in their series vs. San Antonio. Matt Spencer hit two dingers and Josh Donaldson hit his second of the series. Did you know Spencer hit 19 homers between High-A and AA this year, and will turn 24 in January? A bit of a sleeper prospect, perhaps?
Philip Christy - September 11, 2009
I'm not sure what to make of Spencer
He did manage to hit 19 homers, but 10 of those came in 30 games at the launching pad of the Cal league. He only managed 9 HRs in 93 games at AA. There is some evidence that Midland supresses homers a bit but it’s still hard to get a read on Spencer.
He’s moved around a lot and had good performances and bad performances, I don’t have a total read on him but he seems to strike out a little too much and not walk enough for my liking. I don’t think he has the raw power to make him a regular with his plate discipline issues but I’m not really sure.
OkayJay81 - September 11, 2009
Buster Posey is making his major league debut behind the plate now
the look on his face was priceless
OaklandSi - September 11, 2009
Bad news for the Gnats
Fat Head (aka Bochy) only is going to play him in games where they either have no chance (like tonight) or after they fall out of the race (which may be by next weekend).
doctorK - September 11, 2009
Is that so wrong?
It’s not like Molina has had a bad year — he’s a big part of why the Giants have competed to where they’ve gotten. Why would Posey suddenly get starts down the stretch of a pennant race?
Nico - September 11, 2009
Because the Giants are stupid
mikev - September 11, 2009
I'm echoing the sentiments at McC
And I’m not advocating Posey start over Molina (who has been awful, IMO), but he should’ve been given a chance to pinch hit earlier this week, last week, etc, in games where the Gnats had a fighting chance.
doctorK - September 11, 2009
Ah -- I think we'll see plenty of Posey
(maybe even a pocketful) going forward. But I think the Giants were right not to throw him into the fire before now. (And they haven’t had many lopsided games lately to get him an AB or an inning behind the plate.)
Nico - September 11, 2009
he struck out looking his first major league at bat
no matter, I still remember him from last year’s College World Series. He was by far the most impressive player in that series. I enjoyed watching his face in his first MLB game, with a full stadium giving him a standing ovation.
OaklandSi - September 11, 2009
and the first pitcher he caught
was Joe Martinez, the same one who got hit in the head with a line drive at the start of the season.
OaklandSi - September 11, 2009
I understand if you don't pay attention to advanced statistics to players not on the A's.
But please look up Molina’s a) OBP and b) wOBA. He’s been awful. Obviously it’s not his fault that he’s been hitting cleanup, but he absolutely whines every time he feels that something encroaches on his “alpha male dominant” territory and refuses to change his approach. His OPS+ of ~82 is on pace for the bottom 10 of all time for hitters who have ≥300 PA in the cleanup spot.
speckops - September 12, 2009
I'm aware of his stats and he should not be hitting cleanup
But on a team sorely lacking in power, offense, and RBI threat, Molina has done a better job than those numbers would suggest. I’m not lobbying for him to be MVP, just saying you don’t throw a rookie catcher into a pennant race when there is an actual everyday player in place.
Nico - September 12, 2009
I think it's symptomatic of the problems they have as a whole offensively
He had a great April and a strong August (and he doubled his walks from 6 to 12!), but May to July were pretty poor overall. When you look at what he’s done and the rest of that team aside from mainly Sandoval, it really is amazing how much their pitching has kept them in it.
Flashfire - September 12, 2009
Uribe's been "clutch," i.e.,
he generally sucks but has had surprisingly many important hits. Sadly (if you’re rooting for the Giants), that kind of offensive attack tends to disappear without warning.
Nico - September 12, 2009
Yeah, he has had a pretty bad year
Flashfire - September 12, 2009
last wednesday?
Future Ed - September 11, 2009
Wallace just homered!
After Cardenas singled in 2 with the bases loaded.
Sacto up, 13-2 in the top of the 9th with Demel in to pitch.
Nick - September 11, 2009
ME LIKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2011 might be whole lotta phun.
Nico - September 11, 2009
Try 2010
I get the feeling the A’s might be a very, very good team next year.
Or not, of course. But it sure seems like Wallace and Carter will be coming up during the season, and with an improved Sweeney, and Rajai lending speed to the team
-and a rotation headed by Anderson and Braden, with some improvement from Cahill, and an air-tight bullpen.Well, I can dream.
richwol1 - September 11, 2009
I'd love to see that -- I look at this as "1998"
and next year as “1999,” which was a fun year but not quite a playoff team. Then lookout, AL West.
Nico - September 12, 2009
Carter also homered in this game.
Syphon - September 11, 2009
Back from Sacramento
Well, that was a fun game. Great showing to take the 2-1 advantage in the series where one more win will move them on to face…MEMPHIS.
Jerome Williams was great tonight, never really in any trouble and the Cats gave him more than enough run support early before tacking on at the end. As for the homers, Carter’s was a moon-toucher that just had enough upon re-entry to clear the wall, then the ones by Carson and Wallace were no-doubters. Carter narrowly missed another one in his last AB, flying out almost to the center field wall.
I hope they advance tomorrow night. Sunday’s a day game and I can’t go!
Looks like the A’s kicked some butt too.
Flashfire - September 11, 2009
Oh yeah
My 2009 season started seeing Carlos Silva pitch for Venezuela in the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic. Now he’s pitching for Tacoma.
Flashfire - September 11, 2009
“How the mighty have fallen!”
Rated-R Superstar - September 11, 2009
And then there's Carlos Silva
Flashfire - September 12, 2009
Whoa
Dana Eveland pitched a scoreless inning. Nice!
Flashfire - September 11, 2009
for the love of pete
stop with the red hats.
what did the blue jays wear on 4th of july?
Future Ed - September 12, 2009
Just got back from an artist loft party in downtown LA
yay us!
go A’s and whatnot!
cityplANner - September 12, 2009
Before I go to why I'm really in MN...
Some more comments about the homer dome:
I did stay for the whole game and Landon Powell nearly decapitated me had it not been for the railing. Also, Casilla was truly awful. I mean it was funny to see Twinkie fans get all riled up still being down by 7 but when someone said behind me “hey maybe he’ll walk the next 6 guys” that was too close to home.
Cust hit some shots in BP. He hit the second deck baggie twice. I never realized it was actually a baggie, too.
Even though it’s a crapper (and I know this a whole other ball of yarn) the idea of a downtown stadium can’t be understated. They have a whole mini street festival set up before games. THAT’s what can help being families out etc and what the A’s should have.
Overall, good times. Now, time for work
cuppingmaster - September 12, 2009 via mobile
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