LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE CREDIT UNION

It appears that absolutely nobody with a laptop, steno pad or powdered donut hanging out of the corner of their mouth is willing to pick the A’s in the ALDS. It appears only a few knuckle draggers who also think that, well, that don’t think that the A’s even have a chance at advancing. Well, here’s a little clue; The A’s took 2 of 3 from Boston in Boston this season and they split 2 of 4 in Oakland.

“See, the Red Sox can win on the road and take 2 in Oakland and…”

Hang on there professor. What everyone from Bennifer to Jfleck seem to be forgetting is that one of Boston’s wins in Oakland was Mulder’s last start before the ‘Night to Forget’. Wait, no, that does make sense, then. August 13th was the last start Mark Mulder made before removing himself from his next start with a fractured femur. Mulder went six innings but was mostly ineffective. If Mulder walks more than two batters in a game, that’s usually a bad sign.

Further, Erubiel Durazo was sporting the purple leg. Durazo had been hit with a pitch in a recent game and his leg had gone all Barney on him. Finally, the A’s brought out their B lineup against Tim Wakefield on get away day August 14th which was also the Mug Root Beer Float day. Had Ken Macha sent in Keith Foulke in the 8th inning, the A’s would have taken 5 of seven from Boston this season and Manny Ramirez would not have launched a game tying homerun in the 9th.

It doesn’t seem to matter as the often spoken of East Coast bias is running amuck in New England. From Peter Gammons on the Baseball Tonight set to Martha’s Vineyard everyone with any connection to the media is pushing the Sawcks. It’s showing. ESPN’s panel of baseball columnists and hangers on have the Red Sox in the World Series on 10 of 18 ballots with the Red Sox winning the World Series on four ballots. Only one writer picked the A’s to even get to the World Series and they lose out to the Braves.

MLB.com of course has to take the middle ground and there is equal time for both teams, but you can read the Bahs-tahn accent ringing though. MLB tries to paint the teams as mirror images. Hmm, the only problem is the A’s mirror is located in an alley behind an East Bay Motel 6 while the Boston mirror is located Boston Harbor Hotel…and there’s money taped to the mirror. And maybe some lobster.

Anyway.

Is this the mismatch of the century or is all that hot wind from the recent hurricane inflating the pride of the Sox? There’s a big factor the Red Sox have been missing. Yankee haters take a lot of the bandwagon seats. There’s also the curse.

No, not the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost…

But, the Bambino’s Curse, the Curse of the Bambino or the reason why the Red Sox Nation is okay with not winning a World Series for 4/5 of a century. It’s the reason why the Red Sox can trade away Jeff Bagwell or have innocent ground balls disappear near first base. It’s the reason for freak injuries of Red Sox players and not freak injuries for Yankees players.

Edward Cossette runs Bambino’s Curse. Yes, his blog is much prettier than ours.

But, the Bambino’s Curse (the blog, not the Red Sox excuse pool) and Elephants in Oakland have a bet for the ALDS. The blog who covers the losing team will be providing something to the winner. Depending on the nature of the wager, it could be a long and awful poem written as an ode to the victorious team. There is nothing on earth quite like bad poetry. Or it could simply be the Next edition of Baseball Prospectus went it hits the stands.

We’re still debating.

Last year you may have seen the Twins Geek and our blog involved in similar shenanigans. Well, we are simple minded and lazy.

IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK TO DELETE ONE NAME

The post-season rosters will not be announced until today which is quite odd. It’s not as if the 24th or 25th man on a post-season roster is going to swing a series. But, it does create a little more work for the advance departments of each club and it keeps each team on its heels with just over 24 hours until first pitch (strike one).

If the A’s can see their way of keeping Terrence Long off the roster, that would be great. However, if they expect to trade him in the off season (we’ll do charity work, tell you your hair is not thinning and become monks, of please Billy Beane, please call Kenny Williams!) the A’s are going to have to find a way to ‘feature’ Terrence Long without having him cost the team a chance to advance to the ALCS.

ALCS…WHAT’S THAT?

That’s not funny.

SECOND ANNUAL EIOS PRE-FINALS GRADE EVALUATION

REMOVED

Sorry, we've got a few thousand words and counting on the A's and we hoping to get it done before the first pitch Wednesday, but adding all the trades and acquistion analysis is eating up hours at a time. We tried to tackle more than we could chew by including the minor league system and there were a lot of surprises. We'll skip it and return after the A's beat Atlanta in six games in the World Series.

We'll add a quick report card and look at the A's and Red Sox match up-wsie and start feeding you all the 'experts' hoopla in picking Boston to roll over the A's and win the whole thing.

We've got our ALDS tickets, do you? Anyone interested in a post game sit down or round table?

Email us.

KAISER SELIG’S TRAVELLING FREAK SHOW of BASEBALLERS

MLB has decided that a west coast team and an east coast team need only 18 hours between starting times for playoff games. There’s just not enough time for common sense when there is the option of competing for ratings and money. To ensure that Bud Selig can blame the A’s for a poor TV rating, he has decided that Game 1 of the ALDS should be at 7:00 PM Pacific Standard Time. In a matchup pitting Pedro Martinez versus Tim Hudson, it is essential that the majority of the east coast be asleep by the third inning.

To make matters more interesting, Kaiser Selig has decided that the usually festivities of a playoff game have good nutritional value. This must be why the A’s and Red Sox will finish game one, probably around 10:30 (playoff game in prime time = extra commercials). The players will shower, talk to the media and probably leave the Network Associates Coliseum sometime around 11:30 or midnight. Then, the teams will fight morning traffic to report to the Net around 8:00 am for their 1:00 PM start time.

That’s good thinking there, Kaiser. While you’re at it, why not make the teams spend the night on the outfield grass and charge admission; say two bits a gander? Four bits to get a look at them eating their vittles.

MLB has screwed up their playoff system for the umpteenth time. They have game fives culminating on a Sunday and competing against the NFL and game fours competing against College Football. At least we don’t have to sit through Mary Kate and Ashley commercials on ABC Family this year.

Todd Walker is a Jackass

Winning can do a lot of things for a lot of people. Taking away common sense is one of them. After the Boston Red Sox clinched the AL Wild Card, Theo Epstein’s second baseman proclaimed, “we just gotta go into Oakland and whup some ass.”

As a wise man once said, “"Five to one, baby, one in five".

Okay, Jim Morrison was basically a drunken poet and not a wise man, but he did front a damn good blues band.

In any case, we should mention those hats that MLB decided all the teams were going to wear for making it to the post season are one step above decidedly lame. The last team we saw wear hats like that had Chico’s Bail Bonds on the back of their jerseys.

If you haven’t seen the hats, they couldn’t be more white trash. If they had the plastic mesh and plastic snap adjustable back, they would be on the Travel Centers of America shelves right now.

These things are hideous and each team got the same ‘official’ hat.



The inner logo simply changes for each team.

Nothing like MLB to try and convince everyone that the teams who make the playoffs are all the same. They all have the same chance as any other team to make it to the World Series. Even if the Red Sox and Yankees combined payroll for 2003 could buy the A’s organization and 65% ownership of the Twins organization. Hell, the Yankees payroll alone you could probably buy the A’s organization.

IS TONY LaRUSSA DONE?

As most people think Tony LaRussa is the most overrated manager in the game, we’re not going to argue that claim. With the tools LaRussa has been given in St. Louis the last ten years he has been unable to get to the World Series. How can you have Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Mark McGwire and Scott Rolen in your line ups and not win 95 games every year? Well, when Tony isn’t blowing out pitcher’s arms he’s thinking too much. Plus, Tony likes to talk a lot and wear stupid sunglasses and a 1970’s haircut. He’d probably get fired for the last three and not the former issues, though.

No, that isn't bitter talk. It's repressed memories surfacing of LaRussa pinch-hitting for Mike Bordick, asking Mark McGwire to bunt late in a game and letting Jeff Russell pitch in the 1992 ALCS.

OREL & BUCK SHOW

We will say this for the Texas Rangers coaching staff; they hustle. In each of the pitching conferences or pitching changes on Wednesday Orel Hershiser and Buck Showalter jogged out to the mound and jogged back. If MLB wants to cut down on time of games, there’s a killer right there. In contrast, Lou Pinella sometimes stops for a smoke and maybe some ice cram or a turkey wrap on his way back from the mound. Plus, Orel and Buck have a tendency to have to go out a lot and chat it up with the Ranger hurlers. They could probably keep off those extra pounds if they went and got John Burkett. Their first inning workouts alone would keep them a notch below the Soloflex guy fitness level.

CHAD AND THE QUICKPITCH HOOPLA

On Sunday’s thrashing of the Mariners home plate umpire Bill Miller decided that he simply had enough of Chad Bradford obstinately flaunting his ability to follow the rules. Miller waited until a 1-0 pitch crossed the heart of the plate for a strike to come out from behind the plate and instruct Bradford that he must come to a set position before coming to the plate.

This is ridiculous as Ken Macha, Billy Beane and Bradford all discussed with as many umpires as they could get their hands on during spring training on the rule specifying coming to a set without runners on base. Replays clearly showed that Bradford’s first pitch was the same as the second pitch, yet Miller waited until the second pitch to come out and make a spectacle of himself. Bradford has been pitching that way all year. Why make it an issue now? Who knows. Looking at Miller stats he is not exactly a pitcher’s umpire.
Oh, big yawning fun:

Official Rules: 8.00 The Pitcher
8.01
Legal pitching delivery. There are two legal pitching positions, the Windup Position and the Set Position, and either position may be used at any time. Pitchers shall take signs from the catcher while standing on the rubber. Pitchers may disengage the rubber after taking their signs but may not step quickly onto the rubber and pitch. This may be judged a quick pitch by the umpire. When the pitcher disengages the rubber, he must drop his hands to his sides. Pitchers will not be allowed to disengage the rubber after taking each sign. (a) The Windup Position. The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his entire pivot foot on, or in front of and touching and not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and the other foot free. From this position any natural movement associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch without interruption or alteration. He shall not raise either foot from the ground, except that in his actual delivery of the ball to the batter, he may take one step backward, and one step forward with his free foot. When a pitcher holds the ball with both hands in front of his body, with his entire pivot foot on, or in front of and touching but not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and his other foot free, he will be considered in the Windup Position. The pitcher may have one foot, not the pivot foot, off the rubber and any distance he may desire back of a line which is an extension to the back edge of the pitcher's plate, but not at either side of the pitcher's plate. With his "free" foot the pitcher may take one step backward and one step forward, but under no circumstances, to either side, that is to either the first base or third base side of the pitcher's rubber. If a pitcher holds the ball with both hands in front of his body, with his entire pivot foot on or in front of and touching but not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and his other foot free, he will be considered in a windup position. From this position he may: (1) deliver the ball to the batter, or (2) step and throw to a base in an attempt to pick off a runner, or (3) disengage the rubber (if he does he must drop his hand to his sides). In disengaging the rubber the pitcher must step off with his pivot foot and not his free foot first. He may not go into a set or stretch position if he does it is a balk. (b) The Set Position. Set Position shall be indicated by the pitcher when he stands facing the batter with his entire pivot foot on, or in front of, and in contact with, and not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and his other foot in front of the pitcher's plate, holding the ball in both hands in front of his body and coming to a complete stop. From such Set Position he may deliver the ball to the batter, throw to a base or step backward off the pitcher's plate with his pivot foot. Before assuming Set Position, the pitcher may elect to make any natural preliminary motion such as that known as "the stretch." But if he so elects, he shall come to Set Position before delivering the ball to the batter. After assuming Set Position, any natural motion associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch without alteration or interruption.Preparatory to coming to a set position, the pitcher shall have one hand on his side; from this position he shall go to his set position as defined in Rule 8.01 (b) without interruption and in one continuous motion. The whole width of the foot in contact with the rubber must be on the rubber. A pitcher cannot pitch from off the end of the rubber with just the side of his foot touching the rubber. The pitcher, following his stretch, must (a) hold the ball in both hands in front of his body and (b) come to a complete stop. This must be enforced. Umpires should watch this closely. Pitchers are constantly attempting to "beat the rule" in their efforts to hold runners on bases and in cases where the pitcher fails to make a complete "stop" called for in the rules, the umpire should immediately call a "Balk." (c) At any time during the pitcher's preliminary movements and until his natural pitching motion commits him to the pitch, he may throw to any base provided he steps directly toward such base before making the throw. The pitcher shall step "ahead of the throw." A snap throw followed by the step directly toward the base is a balk. (d) If the pitcher makes an illegal pitch with the bases unoccupied, it shall be called a ball unless the batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batter or otherwise. A ball which slips out of a pitcher's hand and crosses the foul line shall be called a ball; otherwise it will be called no pitch. This would be a balk with men on base. (e) If the pitcher removes his pivot foot from contact with the pitcher's plate by stepping backward with that foot, he thereby becomes an infielder and if he makes a wild throw from that position, it shall be considered the same as a wild throw by any other infielder. The pitcher, while off the rubber, may throw to any base. If he makes a wild throw, such throw is the throw of an infielder and what follows is governed by the rules covering a ball thrown by a fielder.

By definition, Bradford pitches from the windup. Because he scrapes the ground as he throws the ball, his natural pitching association has to be adapted to the manner in which he ‘winds up’. Umpires, sans Bill Miller, realize this. Forcing Bradford to come to a set position without runners on base essentially puts him into a traditional pitcher’s wind up scenario as he goes from leaning over to take the signs, then straightening up, then leaning over again to deliver the pitch. From the Bradford wind up, he merely leans over, takes the signs, winds (reaching back) and delivers the pitch. If the batter is in the box from the time Bradford takes the signs to delivering the pitch and Bradford does not come off the rubber - then Bradford ahs not attempted to breach the rule or 'tradition'. Further, the haphazard effort by Miller to interpret the rules would warrant the umpire to issue a balk with the Bradford wind up. But, if there are no runner’s on base, how can you call a balk?

LILLY PUFF PIECE

Someone is working hard on the Ted Lilly campaign:From the Associated Press via ESPN
Thursday, September 25

Lilly learns from namesake Theodore Roosevelt's exampleAssociated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III is making quite the name for himself in Oakland's talented pitching rotation.
And that's not surprising, considering his namesake.
The reticent left-hander is nothing like the brash, rough-riding 26th president of the United States _ but the Athletics sure like what he's done for them in the second half.
``My great-grandfather rode with Theodore Roosevelt, admired him and respected him, worked for him, pretty much,'' Lilly said. ``He was a Rough Rider, and named my grandfather Theodore Roosevelt. That's how I got that name, from the admiration of being around him. It means a lot more when you get older and you understand.''
Lilly proved this week that he's plenty tough.
When rookie right-hander Rich Harden began having back spasms, Lilly walked into manager Ken Macha's office and volunteered to fill in despite the fact he'd just thrown a bullpen session the day before. Lilly proceeded to pitch six impressive innings Sunday in an important 12-0 win over Seattle that avoided a three-game sweep against the second-place Mariners.
Lilly (12-9) retired 13 straight during one stretch on the way to winning his career-high sixth straight start.
``It would be very comfortable for him as an individual to just say 'I'll go on Tuesday,''' general manager Billy Beane said, referring to what would have been Lilly's day to start. ``To come in and put himself on the line took a lot of guts.
``He's gotten better and better, and it couldn't come at a better time. He's been the best in the league the last 12 or 13 starts.''
Lilly will be counted upon for a big role come the playoffs next week, too.
After a rough beginning in Oakland, he has been a key component in the A's second-half success. Oakland won the AL West for the second year in a row and has earned a playoff berth for the fourth straight season, but the A's have lost in the first round the past three seasons.
With their ``Big Three'' _ Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito _ depleted to the ``Big Two'' because Mulder is injured, Lilly likely will start Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs.
Hudson is confident every time Lilly takes the mound, especially after what he showed Sunday.
``This was the biggest game of the year by far, and he stepped up like a lot of people can't do,'' Hudson said. ``I know after throwing a bullpen, the last thing I want to do is pitch a game.''
Lilly has high expectations for this postseason after a disappointing showing last year.
He made two disastrous relief appearances in the AL division series against Minnesota, going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA as the A's were eliminated in five games.
Lilly took the loss in Game 1, getting tagged for two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. He relieved Hudson with a 5-4 lead and no one on base before giving up the tying and go-ahead runs. He had a no-decision in Oakland's 11-2 loss in Game 4, when he also relieved Hudson.
Lilly was acquired in a trade with the Yankees last year and was slow to find a rhythm with his new team. He spent July 23 to Sept. 10 on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation, then returned to make three starts. He came out of the bullpen Sept. 28, a role he kept through the playoffs.
He changed his delivery in the offseason and has been effective most of this year.
``I haven't done what I wanted to do, but I've been able to contribute enough,'' he said. ``The main thing is we're in first place and have a chance to go to the World Series.''
Lilly feels a certain connection with Roosevelt, who signed the proclamation creating Yosemite as the nation's fifth national park.
``I grew up 40 miles underneath Yosemite,'' said Lilly, who lives in Bass Lake and attended Yosemite High School.
On the road this season, Lilly has been reading ``Theodore Rex,'' a 550-page book on Roosevelt's life by Edmund Morris.
``Something like this is kind of special to me,'' he said. ``I'm understanding why he had so much energy for life and to accomplish things. It can certainly be motivating.''
Lilly's 59-year-old father, Ted Lilly Jr., isn't sure how long his grandfather was a Rough Rider _ Roosevelt's crew of volunteers recruited from the hunters and cowboys of the West for the Spanish-American War.
``Ted is telling me his son is going to be the fourth,'' said the elder Lilly, who follows Oakland's games on the Internet from Florida. ``He's really gotten into it.''

We also got into with Ted Lilly's Dad via the MLB A's message boards as someone was nice enugh to let us know that someone had "called us out". The thread was titled: "Where are all of the Ted Lilly bashers?"

THE RESPONSE FROM AN EIOS STAFFER
Apparently you weren’t paying attention to the thread because others have been comparing Lilly to Mulder.
Yah, gee, sorry Pops, didn’t mean for any stats or actual proof to dismay your notions of Ted Lilly being in the upper echelon of MLB pitchers.
Ted has put some good efforts forth in his last few starts, but that doesn’t wash what he did earlier in the year. Further, none of the recent starts were quality starts. By the way, a quality start is a traditional stat representing a pitcher who pitches at least seven innings and allowing two or fewer runs. Fantasy leaguers have bastardized the stat for their own use to be 6 innings or more and 3 or fewer runs (which is ridiculous because a pitcher has a whopping ERA of 4.50 with 6 innings pitched and 3 earned runs).
But I digress.
Maybe you haven’t noticed but Oakland A’s fans are tied of giving players their ‘props’. They’ve been giving their ‘props’ for a long time and deserve to at least see their team get out of the ALDS, for a change. They still chant ‘T Long’ for some strange reason.
The A’s organization has resolved itself to allow the playoffs to be a crapshoot. And to an extent it is. The Twins got hot last year, Tim Hudson had a hip injury he fought through (he didn’t pitch that poorly, and Ted Lilly came on and was unable to get anyone out. It happens in baseball. It just so happens it was the playoffs. As witnessed by the Angels winning the World Series last year. Does anyone think that the Angels were a better team than the A’s, other than the broadcasters at Fox? Does anyone even think the Giants were a better team than the A’s last season?
Still, it’s a lot more fun to roll the dice when you know you’ve got the better team, that is focused and ready and you’re not playing with the house dice. A’s fans don’t see the playoffs as a crapshoot. The see the opportunity for an 11 game wining streak. Sadly, that hasn’t happened and, frankly we’re getting rather Buffalo Bill/Susan Lucci about it.
In 2000, the A’s had to juggle their rotation in the playoffs and Terrence Long lost a ball in the sun in game 5. 2001 saw Jermaine Dye go down and the Giambi who would not slide. 2002 was the juggling of the rotation, Ted Lilly’s relief work and Billy Koch as the main culprits. What does 2003 have in store?
Who knows? But, it would be nice to know that Ted Lilly has put his stubbornness aside and has accepted the fact he has a very good fastball and he needs to be aggressive as he has the last few starts. The problem is, Ted Lilly has not been able to hold a stretch together like this, yet in his career, which has a lot of fans waiting for the bottom to drop out.
Am I rooting against Ted Lilly? No, are you crazy? I’m just not the least bit surprised when I see his old patterns show up. Leaving soft stuff on the outside of the plate to right-handers, throwing too many pitches and getting behind batters. You saw that on Sunday when he walked two in the sixth inning.
I’m an A’s fan. That doesn’t mean I have to like every player on the team. I actually like Ted Lilly, but not the Ted Lilly that was showing up for 2/3 of the season. I want to see a Ted Lilly willing to kick some butt and not be afraid of his own ability. I’d like to see Ted Lilly move ahead and make his presence felt rather than fling the ball up there and hope batters get themselves out.
It’s not bashing, it’s being critical. That’s what concerned fans do. They analyze, yes with stats, and critique. They posture and ponder. Most fans expect the worst from some players after they have seen them do poorly in the past. Remember Johnny Damon? Jason Isringhausen? Billy Koch? The Giambi who would not slide? A lot of fans loved those players in the green and gold. But ask them now, and they wouldn’t want to see them go anywhere near an A’s jersey, again. At the same time there were a lot of detractors who hoped for the best from those players but knew they had glaring weaknesses; Damon, weak arm couldn’t hit in a big park, Isringhausen, wasn’t an efficient pitcher, scared the heck out of most A’s fans, Koch, not a pitcher, a thrower, couldn’t understand the concept of 1-2-3 inning, Giambi, a ton of talent, five cent head and a jealously streak of his older brother a mile wide.
It’s professional sports. You don’t get slack for poor performance; you have to answer for it. Listen to all the whispering about Rich Harden. It’s not just Lilly. A’s fans know they have a great pitching pedigree in Oakland and they don’t tolerate poor performances, no matter who it’s from. Ted Lilly is as talented as any of the better pitchers in the league and he’s been unable to show he can produce on a consistent basis. That makes his disappointment seem larger in comparison.
If your expectation of a player is low because of the player’s limited ability, the disappointment is marginalized. Take Mark Ellis. Fans don’t expect him to hit .330 or jack 35 HR’s. They expect him to hit around .250 and play excellent defense and have a decent OBP. He does, so when he goes 1 for 15, it’s not as bad as say Terrence Long who follows up a 1 for 15 with a 3 hit day and then goes on a 1 for 22 binge and constantly misplays balls in the outfield.
When you have a pitcher with tremendous ability who can’t seem to pitch into the 7th inning and scuttles around and gets knocked out in the third and fourth inning way too often, it makes the disappointment that much glaring. Ted Lilly could be a 20 game winner someday. But, he’s not right now. He’s a marginal pitcher with tremendous ability that is seeing an upsurge late in the season.
Here I am complimenting Ted Lilly and I will read is how I bashed him.
Whatever.
So back off. Fans sometimes can’t communicate their feelings beyond. He s-u-c-k-s. It’s all some can do.
Why is everyone so up in arms about defending a single player? Isn’t this a team game? Why don’t you put your efforts of defending Ted Lilly toward something substantial, like getting rid of Terrence Long or finding out where Scott Hatteberg’s ability to hit line drives has gone?

A's WIN AL WEST

Not that we're being too observant, but it would have been nice to see ESPN mention that the A's won the AL West. Their top stories on Sportscenter were the Yankees and Twins clinching. Not the A's clinching their third AL West tilte in four years and fourth consecutive playoff berth. Their top stories on ESPN.com were the Yankees and Twins clinching. They also mentioned the Angels knocked Seattle from the AL West chase.

Equal Time.

Today should see the Sacramento River Cats West lineup and give the starters some rest. With a day off Thursday it could mean two straight days off for the regulars before playing Seattle and winding up the regualr season. It may not be such a bad idea to scratch Tim Hudson today and let John Halama, Mike Neu, Jeremy Fikac, Mike Wood and Jim Mecir all pitch 2-3 innings with Mecir bringing up the rear. No sense leaving Hudson out there where Boston scouts get an extra look at him and leaving him vulnearble to injury.

Priorities.

EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE

Well, the A's jumped out to a 7-0 lead and watched in fear as Jim Mecir did his best to try and get Keith Foulke a cheap save. It didn't happen, but it were close, it were.

The good;
Eric Byrnes 2 for 3 with a walk.
Jermaine Dye 1 for 4 with an energized homerun.
Eric Chavez went 2 for 2 off a left hander and drove the ball...agressively...agaisnt a left hander. Sure, it was Tony Mounce, but it's a start.
Jose Guillen 1 for 4 with an opposite field single.


The not so good;
Barry Zito only pitched 6 innings and walked 3. He didn't look sharp, but he was sharp enough.
What the hell was Ramon Hernandez doing in there? Will some one slip this guy a mickey so he can get a day off?


The bad;
Why would you bring Chad Bradford in to start an inning with a freakin' six run lead? He pitched yesterday. He didn't need the work. Chad Harville, Mike Neu, Steve Sparks or John Halama were all available to get nine outs.
Scott Hatteberg. This has all the makings of another multi-year deal hog-tie written all over it.

TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

Another day another wild rumor hits the fan. The latest from the Oakland A’s Conspiracy Files actually gets its start Saturday. Ted Lilly pitches a bullpen session and tells reports that he never pitches the day after throwing a side session in the bullpen (what an odd thing to say)... Rich Harden cuts his bullpen throwing session short due to back spasms. Ken Macha states that Harden will still pitch on Sunday.

It’s peculiar that:
Lilly went and told reporters he never pitches the day after a bullpen session.
Prior to…
Harden revealing he has had back troubles before after cutting a bullpen session short. The day before a start, Rich Harden is throwing, but Lilly never would.
Then…
Ken Macha states emphatically that Harden would pitch on Sunday, not the more veteran Lilly, even after the A’s kept Keith Foulke out of two straight games due to back spasms last week.
Oddly…
Ted Lilly is in a contract year, so increasing his value in September is not such a bad thing if the A’s lose him to free agency.

The story comes out that Rich Harden was unable to go Sunday morning. Hearing this, Ted Lilly walked into Ken Macha’s office and made his case to start yesterday in lieu of, well, anyone the A’s could string together. Lilly ends up pitching six innings of scoreless baseball, walking 3 and striking out 7. Further, Ramon Hernandez comes out to catch Lilly (Adam Melhuse is not allowed to catch Lilly). A day after blowing two plays at the plate and having his right elbow reconditioned via Ben Davis in a home plate collision, Hernandez the Warrior is born. Then, to dabble the thick drama further along your nose, Ramon got plunked in his left elbow in the second inning and refuses to come out, wanting to "stay in there for Lilly". Greg Papa and Ray Fosse won’t shut up about how Lilly is the second coming of Randy Johnson, the Warrior Ramon and the Oakland A’s clubhouse is a frat house suddenly out from under double secret probation. So much so, that injured Rich Harden shows up to the post game festivities at the Pyramid Ale House after the game.

What the hell is going on in Oaklandville?

We’ve been accused of Ted Lilly bashing before.

Please.

Lilly-bashing...what looking at the stats? Analyzing the facts?

Ted Lilly is still -2 RSAA for the year. That's how bad he has been even with his good September. RSAA (Runs Saved Against Average), pitcher against the average (go get Lee Sinins’s daily stats and see for yourself).

Check the selection of Baseball Prospectus stats and see for yourself.
Ted Lilly 9.1 SNW (9/15)
SNW = Support-Neutral Wins -- the pitcher's expected number of wins, assuming he had league-average support.


Ted Lilly 9.5 SNL (9/15)
SNL = Support-Neutral Losses -- same as SNW except for losses.


Ted Lilly -.1 SNVA (9/15)
SNVA = Support-Neutral Value Added -- the expected number of games the pitcher would be worth to an average team in the standings, over what a league-average pitcher would be worth.


Ted Lilly 1.2 SNWAR (9/15)
SNWAR -- "Support-Neutral Wins Above Replacement-level": the number of SNWs a pitcher has above what a .425 pitcher would get in the same number of (Support-Neutral) decisions.


Who did Lilly face in his last six starts?


Aug 25th v Toronto (.523 winning pct as of 9/22)
6 1/3 innings pitched


August 30th v Tampa Bay (.387 winning pct as of 9/22)
6 2/3 innings pitched


September 5th v Tampa Bay (.387 winning pct as of 9/22 )
6 innings pitched


September 10th v Anaheim (.468 winning pct as of 9/22 )
5 1/3 innings pitched


September 15th v Anaheim (.468 winning percentage as of 9/22 )
5 innings pitched


September 21st v Seattle (.571 winning percentage as of 9/22)
6 innings pitched


Two wins against teams with winning records and not a single quality start amongst the six wins. Lilly is averaging less than six innings per start. That's not helping the bullpen.


Yes, it's great that it appears Lilly is finally listening. Ramon Hernandez is making Lilly throw his fastball more and it is paying off.


The fact is, Lilly is still a notch below league average. That's not good. You can chalk up the last three weeks to a lot of things, luck might be one of them. If Lilly can keep this up, that's great. But don't be surprised if he falters.


You don't label an entire season by three weeks of work.


The A's have been babying Lilly all year with extra days of rest. That shouldn't have to happen for a major league team. The A's say they are worried that Lilly has never pitched this many innings before. Ted Lilly is 27years old. Rich Harden is 21 and Justin Duchscherer is 25 and the A's aren't holding Harden and Duchscherer back.


Though, the back spasm virus thing is starting to sound fishy.

WHAT FLEW UP THE CUCKOO’S NEST’S ASS?

Is something fishy going on in Oakland?

Probably not. The fish in Oakland aren’t exactly safe and are extremely suspect.

Well, how can you explain the events at the ‘Net the last two days?

Well, we can’t.

Plus, if we did, we’d be talking to ourselves.

Anyway.

A lot of rumors have popped up that the A’s are trying to fall back in the AL seedings to play the Twins rather than face the Boston Red Sox. Sandbagging, as it were.

Since the Yankees can’t play the Red Sox in the opening round (a Wild Card team can not face a team from its own division in the Division Series), The Red Sox will face either the AL Central or the AL West winner depending on their final win-loss records. The A’s currently have the number #2 seeding in the American League. By a ridiculous six games over the Twins. Unless MLB has changed the rule, the number 1 seed plays the number 4 seed the Wild Card - unless the Wild Card is a team from its own division. Should that be the case, if things ended today; the Yankees would play the Twins and the A’s would play the Red Sox.

Who wants to face Boston with that offense?

This is an asinine thought process as the Twins have owned the A’s this year while the A’s have taken it to both Boston and the Yankees. Facing either would be preferential than listening to Rick Sutcliffe drawl on and on about Minnesota. If the A’s play Boston or New York, they’d actually get better TV announcers due to a ‘higher ratings expectation’. Anything but Dave O’Brien, pretty please. Dave O’Brien may be the worst TV sports broadcaster because he LETS his color men get away with murder. Sutcliffe, Joe Morgan and David Justice use O’Brien like Neville Chamberlain to their German annexation – it’s all kosher and he says nothing to refute it.

Oh, you wanted info on the games.

Oh.

It’s stupid to think the A’s went out the last two games and lay down on purpose to the Mariners. Even if they DID GO OUT AND LAY DOWN THE LAST TWO DAYS AGAINT THE MARINERS. Questions all around;
Why was Ramon Hernandez catching a day game following a night game with four (4) catchers at Ken Macha’s expense? Three plays at the plate in two games and Hernandez converts on none of them, costing the A’s three runs and so much pie in the face it’s like a lesbi…, ugh, never mind.

Why was Justin Duchscherer pulled after just 86 pitches in the 4th inning? Pitch counts are one thing, but Duchscherer had actually pitched well, even in giving up the two run single to Ichiro in the top of the 4th. He still had at least one more inning. Mike Wood seemed surprised and a little rushed in being in the game.

How can you let the Mariners beat you with Ryan Franklin, and Joel Pineiro?

Further, how can you let Ichiro, Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez beat you? Did you not read the memo that these are basically the three guys you have to stop to beat the Mariners?

Where are Bobby Crosby and the rest of the River Cats? Did these guys not pay their clubhouse dues or something?
After not getting to the Mariners bullpen on Friday night (hey, swing at some more first pitches!) the A’s basically have given Seattle cart blanche to run all over them yesterday and Sunday.

About the only thing Ken Macha has done right is keeping Terrence Long out of the line up. ESPN.com actually has Terrence Long listed on the injury list because of his bitching. That has to be a first. Can they put him on the DL for being a pain in the ass?

THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF NOT BEING HIRED AS A SPORTSWRITER…

Well, we think we had a hand in the dismissing of one of Northern California’s worst sportswriters. And we did.

The Sacramento Bee recently fired Jim Van Vliet. If you have ever read this blog, you know we rail at local sportswriters. Van Vliet was the Bee’s A’s beat writer and he was horrible. It was obvious on many occasions that Van Vliet did not witness the games in question and still had direct quotes attributed to players, coaches and managers. We pointed it out several times on the blog. We sent a lot of email to the Bee in disgust. We have also seen the trend growing in the rest of their sports department.

It’s easy enough to do. There are a few dozen bloggers out there that do the same thing that Van Vliet got fired for - but better. They watch the game on TV, listen to it on the radio or wait a few hours and download it off MLB.com and watch the game. In the postgame interviews there’s at least twenty minutes of sound bites. You wade through it, grab a few and then write about it.

With the Associate Press and Reuters ability to post, often horrible, accounts of games online in less than 30 minutes of the games end - any desk jockey could cover half of MLB for a newspaper and get the title ‘beat writer”. The sad fact is, not many would notice. What these writers lack in ability they manufacture with a number of throw away quotes.

It’s a sad claim of the modern sportswriter. Their craft has a want ad that reads: "lacks the ability to write, report or even appear to have a brain in their skull". Rattle off any name of good sportswriters and you’ll have a legion of torch wielding villagers who have already run said sportswriter out of town. Pedro Gomez, Skip Bayless...

Which is what gave us our birth.

So sick of reading accounts of games in local papers and from national news services that clearly missed a majority of the action, we wanted to explain the game to any number of readers who felt the same way.

What makes the issue of ‘phoning it in’ all the more ridiculous is that Van Vliet did want to go to the ballpark. That’s just dumb. Of course the game he got nailed for was a Giants’ game, so we kind of understand.

Here’s the Bee’s statement.

An apology to our readers

Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, August 20, 2003
On Aug. 7, a story on the cover of the Sports section about the Giants game at Pacific Bell Park was filed by a Bee reporter who was not at the game. The reporter watched the game on television at a location away from the stadium.
He filed his story without telling editors at The Bee his true location, leaving the impression he covered the game from the ballpark.
In addition, it was discovered later that the story included quotes from other media outlets that were unattributed and old, made to reporters on a previous occasion before the day of the game.
The story violated basic journalistic values and ethics as practiced by The Bee.
The reporter involved, Jim Van Vliet, no longer works at the newspaper.
The Bee regrets the situation and apologizes to its readers.
Armando Acuña
Sports editor

Pfft

Tim Kukjian rambles on about the A’s and their free agents to be. Yah, because that’s not a story that gets cut, copied and pasted every September.

The A’s will never be able to compete without BLANK. BLANK was the heart of the A’s. If the A’s can find a new home in BLANK, their revenues will dry up. Not only will the A’s lose BLANK to free agency, they will also lose BLANK. They may offer a contract to BLANK, but that will not make up for the loss of BLANK.

Of course, Billy Beane and Co were able to counter the loss of BLANK last year with the addition of BLANK and trading less than blank for BLANK. The A's also have BLANK in their minor league system.

Same story every year.

EMERGING FROM THE DEPTHS

ENTER KENART MACHAHOWE

The more this season drags to a close the more we are concerned that Billy Beane and the front office are pulling more than strings. In fact, we are almost convinced that there are no strings. The bullpen phone is not actually connected wherever the A’s are and Rick Peterson, Terry Francona and Ken Macha all speak three different languages.

You explain Tuesday’s loss and last night’s embarrassment.

There are two schools of thought; Billy Beane is calling all the shots which is leading to a gross error of communication or Ken Macha is calling the shots which is a gross error of management.

Don’t get us wrong. We like Ken. He’s an affable guy. But, crap like Friday night and Tuesday has got to stop.

With the day off Thursday, the A’s enjoyed a brief moment of rest to recuperate and reload before the stretch drive comes to an end next week. With five full games on the Mariners and only needing to win four games to capture the AL West the A’s had a lot of room to maneuver. With their best pitcher on the mound and the start of a three games series, the AL West could have been done and over with by Sunday.

Mariners 6, A’s 1

The stretch drive has screeched to a halt.

The A’s last week called up six players from Sacramento, five position players and Keith Foulke clone - Jeremy Fikac. The A’s have yet to use any of the position players.

What they hell were they called up for? To force the laundry room attendant to wash uniforms that don’t get dirty? To test their commuting instincts? Just to make the parking lot administrator reconfigure his schematic?

Friday night’s contest was an immense opportunity for the A’s to get another full day of rest for a few of the regulars. By running out a lineup of :
Mike Edwards (CF)
Billy McMillon (LF)
Bobby Crosby (DH-SS)
Miguel Tejada (SS),
Graham Koonce (1B)
Jason Grabowski (RF)
Frank Menechino (3B)
Mark Johnson (C)
Esteban German (2B)

Ken Macha could have basically thumbed his nose at convention and the Mariners. Giving the bench players all a spot start puts less pressure on the individual and also makes for a lot of fun in the clubhouse. Imagine how deflating it would be to Seattle to gird up their loins (best sports phrase ever?) to try and keep their heads above water and heading to a do or die series by facing the Sacramento River Cats West. In addition, the extra day of rest would have been beneficial, not to mention a good sign that the organization doesn’t see them as second class citizenry.

Losing the opening game of this home stand wasn’t going to be the end of the pennant race, but by putting an ulterior lineup, it could have precluded the massive amount of air it sucked out of the Coliseum.

Ken Macha clearly has not had the A’s focused after his ridiculous bungling of Tuesday night’s game. How the hell is Erubiel Durazo thrown out stealing? Why was Chad Bradford used so early? Since when in this injury-riddled season has Jim Mecir earned the right to close out tight ballgames?

Ken Macha keeps touting his matchups, especially after they blow up in his face.Hey, KenArt MachaHowe, yah, over here;

YOU ARE LEADING BY FIVE GAMES, IT’S TIME TO LOOSEN UP THE REIGNS AND START LOOKING TO SHAKE THINGS UP BEFORE THE WHEELS FALL OFF.

Now, if the A’s had a bunch of 30 years old wash-outs for call ups, we wouldn’t dare suggest Macha fill out a lineup card similar to the one above. But, these call-ups just won the PCL championship. They destroyed PCL pitching for six months. Chances are they could take Seattle and Texas pitching for a few AB’s here and there. Further, the A’s matchups versus Ryan Franklin were ridiculous. A bunch of 0 for 15’s and 1 for 20’s in the lineup. Our best guess is that if Ken actually looked at the matchups, or even took them seriously he would have altered the line up. He didn’t. It seriously wounded a team that is already limping into the post season.

With Chris Singleton a question mark, Keith Foulke a question mark, the rotation a question mark, Jermaine Dye’s knees screaming and Eric Byrnes starting for the 10th consecutive game without a rest, Ken Macha is begging for double guessing.

Well, he’s going to get it.

FAN=FANATIC

Well, A’s fans have been able to gloat the last few days as San Francisco Giants fans have made a collective SBC Park sized ass of themselves. First, as fan tried to scale the wall out in right field to retrieve something he had dropped. He ended up dropping himself two stories to his death. Last night, according to early reports, a group of Giants fans and a Dodger fan got into it. It left the Dodgers fan dead from a gunshot wound to the torso.

Well, kind of puts that ‘lazy Giants fans’ theory to rest. Hell, if they’re going to start packing heat instead of conjuring up a decent argument you might see Raiders fans ducking for cover.

A website has taken on the task of rating MLB fans by team. Which is always a fruitless exercise. But, it’s nice to notice the gap between A’s fans and Giants fans.

CRACKER

Just when you thought it was safe to bench Terrence Long.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW, IS A NEW KIND OF TENSION
In the time in between posts, Ken Macha seems to have had something lit under his ass. Most likely something that Billy Beane started to burn and threw at Macha. If it was a pile of stats that point to Terrence Long not being out in the field, it seems to have helped. Since the A’s decided to ‘bench’ Terrence Long, they have won seven straight.


Of course that benching coincided with Long’s ‘injury’ to his wrist and his three game suspension for bumping umpire Marvin Hudson in Baltimore on September 2nd.


While Long was riding the pine, Macha seems to have done some research. Macha’s conclusion may have been different than ours: that Long was not worthy of playing over any of his other outfielders, but the result is essentially the same.

"Too bad. He's 2 for his last 19. I'm sticking to what I always say - if you give good at- bats and hustle all the time, that's what you've got to do. Our focus should not be on who's in the lineup but on winning these games.''
- Ken Macha, when asked about Long’s hurt feelings…

That’s nice to hear, and all, but why was Macha batting Long in the leadoff spot as recently as two weeks ago (September 2nd, hmm, coinky dink)?


’CUZ THE OLD ONE JUST BORES ME TO DEATH
Long’s bitching and moaning shouldn’t be new to anyone. He’s been doing it for two and a half seasons. Once reporters had used up all their slack from the 2000 season, the gloves were off in 2001 (the BayArea media prefers the white dainty dueling gloves, to the boxing variety). Long had come up with the A’s after the trade with the Mets in a rushed situation (really, 24 years old and being called up is right on time). He had claimed to never have played centerfield or batted leadoff. He did a serviceable job at both and it looked like his few months during the playoff push projected solid numbers for the future. A badly missed played ball in the sun against the New York Yankees cost the A’s the 2000 ALDS, though the "We’re here, where's the free food, we don’t care about our jobs, hey, you wear a uniform, you must be terrific, let's do an interview" BayArea media seemed to let it slide. Though the rest of baseball didn’t.

Long has been cornered before by the media about his poor performance at the plate; all he cared about is his batting average with runners in scoring position (2001), his poor fielding; he claims he’s a natural right fielder (2001), poor attitude; having to move positions and playing 'hurt' take it’s tool (2002 and 2003). Funny, though, that it took Michael Lewis writing a page in Moneyball about fans egging Long’s car before a few people actually started to wipe the crap from their lenses and actually check the numbers.


WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW, IS ANOTHER FOLK SINGER
Robert Baun has taken to kissing Long’s ass to great lengths on the A’s post game fan call in show. Baun constantly puts fans on the defensive if they even suggest the A’s should replace Long with another player within the organization or make a trade for a competent fielder. Baun’s "give me a name" treatment is so ridiculous is actually looks like he doesn’t research the stats for the organization. The A’s already have three, and did have five guys, more than able to stink up the joint less than Long. Further, the Sacramento River Cats had guys like Graham Koonce, Mike Edwards, Jason Grabowski and Mi