There has been some talk of Ken Macha as manager of the year. This makes me wish I had enough coffee to drink this morning so that I could wet my pants.


Does anyone REALLY need further evidence why so many A's fans go beyond disliking Macha to the realm of all out hatred?


Macha has concluded that he does not need to have team meetings to discuss the last week of poor play. That the A's have become an embarrassment in a few short weeks speaks volumes of Macha's inability. The starting pitching has fallen apart and despite the A's finally scoring runs at a decent clip - they continually put themselves in positions that they desperately need a big inning off of bad pitching to put down an inferior opponent.


What has Macha done to deserve even being mentioned in these Manager of the Year discussions?


A's fans who slighted those who were overly concerned about the A's projected win/loss record based on statistical analysis. They strutted about with their chests puffed out stating that "they knew it, because the A's are a second half team". If that is so, it seems the only thing Ken Macha accomplished was ensuring poor play early in the season. He hasn't done much of anything in the second half to show that he's even in control of the team.


When is the last time Jay Payton, Milton Bradley, Nick Swisher, Marco Scutaro, Mark Ellis or Jason Kendall had a day off? Or were even juggled in the lineup?


Why have the starting pitchers been pushed to high pitch counts when there are a litany of long relievers (minor league starters) that need work? Joe Kennedy, Brad Halsey, Justin Duchscherer and even Jason Windsor and Chad Gaudin can pitch multiple innings, yet Macha continues to use them as situational relievers.


Now everyone and their mother's brother was happy as happy can be with Rich Harden's start on Thursday. But his three inning rehab start taxed the bullpen and Macha does not make decisions well when they are not dictated to him.


Are the A's going to lose the AL West?


Again, no.


But a lot more of you are starting to look at the odds that they might.


Ponder this; should the A's advance in the playoffs - how can Billy Beane rid himself, and us, of Ken Macha?


Further, what if (gasp!) the A's won the World Series his year? How could Macha not get a multi-year deal?


Oh the pain, the pain of it all!

The A's played a poor brand of baseball over the weekend and it should be unsettling to anyone, from the too sheepish to think Pollyanna or hardened Macha-hater. The A's were showcased on a National TV audience Saturday poised to clinch the AL West and failed. Badly. This followed Friday night's debacle with Ken Macha revisiting his bullpen "experiments in deactivated thought" artwork. Sunday brought another poor performance from every level of the A's play. What better way to send the fans a 'thank you' in the last home game of the regular season.


Are the A's going to lose the AL West?


No.


But they are definitely backing into the playoffs. The A's displayed why they fail to win deciding games and take the guesswork out of winning baseball games. If either Saturday or Sunday actually was a playoff game, and according to Kuipper and Fosse - they were, the A's would have given away another playoff series.

They sit in the bleachers, a haven with a long history for sophomoric behavior. Somehow they drop the IQ of the entire rightfield section. Apparently, they were advised that their job is to 'heckle' the opposing players. It would help if they knew Grady Sizemore played in centerfield, not rightfield. It would also help if they knew that rightfield is leftfield. It's like a mirror, see, you are looking in at home plate...just like at home on the 'TEE-vee'. So when you sit on the left side, you overlook rightfield. But you can't sit in center, but even if you could, that would still be centerfield.


While they hoot, holler and make noise, they usually lose their energy by the 3rd inning. That does not make it any more tolerable.


It's that time of year. The Nuevo "A's fans" have hatched and are now infiltrating the Coliseum. They are beyond clueless. They are well past being uninitiated. They just don't care what is going on - they are at the place to be. Their inner-idiot and outer-idiot come together and are as one.


It would be great to blame this on alcohol; the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.


That isn't the case.


Now, this is not to suggest that if you are a new fan you should be banished from the Coliseum. Of course not. Come as you are. But don't follow the village idiots from all over the BayArea who come out in order to be seen and heard, not necessarily to root on the A's.


They are the goofballs that buy the counterfeit merchandise and make the trek to and from BART intolerable. Their hats and T-shirts are too bright and in some cases, not even the right color of the green and gold. It is unforgivable even to those who do not know better, but they buy the pink A's hats from the sidewalk vendorthief, thereby screwing the Breast Cancer Research fund $1. Go ask the loved ones of those who have lost someone to breast cancer. Ask them if it's okay if you defraud a breast cancer charity because you want to buy a cheaply made, one-size-not-fitting-all hat.


They show up to buy day of game tickets and spend 20 minutes trying to find the best cheap seat in the house only to choose the general admission bleacher seat in the end. They shuffle around as if practicing their eventual occupations as 'mallwalkers'.


They erupt at the crack of the bat. Even when it's the opponent in the batter's box. They weren't paying attention. They didn't know the other team was up to bat. And they curse the umpire for not calling a strike after the pitcher requests a new baseball and lobs it into the catcher in the familiar exchange. Or worse, exclaim, "What kind of pitch was that?"


While I'm typing, one of their brood in a "know-it-all" junior college freshman squeaky voice clamors, "turn off your computer."


You let it go once.


It's easy enough to allow idiots to be seen for what they are. Maybe the light of day burns that idiocy away and the great, "oh, oh that makes sense" moment reveals itself.


"Hey, put your computer away."


Like any hack comic in front of a brick wall trying to parlay what they remembered of a 1970's George Carlin set that they heard playing on one of their uncle's cassette, they try to reload their hollow shot if they get so much as an exhale of breath in reaction to their "funny".


"Hey, you, put your com-"


"Shut up bitch! I've got work to do - sit down and shut your fat ass up!"


Well.


Glad he said it and not me. Looking around, they were at least four laptops in the OF tonight. About a dozen more with cell phones stuck to their heads or holding them out for photos.


You would think that being yelled at would be the end of it.


Still, two batters later, "why does he keep fouling the ball - why can't he hit it? That's stupid."


That's almost a question.

I escaped.


I am headed to the game tonight and tomorrow afternoon to see Rich Harden pitch.


One of the only outlets I have had in the last week is to create all of the user log-ins and fake patients we will use for training over the next month - using the A's organization roster for names and some of my favorite players in A's history.


In training next week Dr. Zito might give nurse Myron an order for a CBC and EKG on patient Crosby.




Something that is bothering me; I whipped through the Forum today was that there seems to be a lot of ill-conceived notions about what I have written. Can someone find where I stated succinctly that, "the 2006 A's will not make the playoffs"? And not in the context of discussing the run differential, the style of management and the mishandling of the bullpen - "...if they keep this up the A's won't make the playoffs". Find it for me so I can learn. And try to lineup the anit-Swisher statements to see what I have actually written rather than what you THINK I have written.


It gets very tiresome to have to talk people off the ledge when they consistently claim you wrote or said something you haven't.




I do think I might have a chance to touch on the MVP and other awards talk as well as the other decisions that will have to be made over the next two weeks of baseball. And I will touch on the run differential and how the 2006 A's are being mentioned a one of the teams in the all time "playing-over-their-heads" debate. The 2006 Marlins being another.


The Forum also might get an overhaul over the next two weeks.


Go hit the WebChat tonight.

I usually don't like to throw out subject matter without at least ripping open the wrapper and leaving it for you to argue over.


I am earlobe deep in a scheduled roll-out of a new process at work...that is teetering on not being on schedule.


The A's are going through their September Jekyll and Hyde act, as per usual. Here's a little research for you - what team has the best record in baseball since the All Star break? What was the A's record the last two seasons on September 1st? What was the Angels record? Another little trivia question; following the A's 20 game winning streak in 2002 how long did the A's retain the lead in the AL West?


Taking a look at the AL West standings, it certainly seems a 'lock' for the A's. History has this bitch of memory that likes to take itself out on the A's, though.


Since I started Elephants in Oakland I have been using the RIOT number as a reference tool. It is much more accurate than 'Magic Numbers'. Magic numbers do not take into account games between two teams. If the first place team is playing the second place team, a win automatically means a loss for the other.


RIOT NUMBER and have a chat in the Forum on the ramifications.

							Clinch			Avoid	Elimination
	W	L	GB	PCT	GL		1st	PLAYOFFS		1st	PLAYOFFS
OAKLAND	82	61	-	.573	19		13	13		1	1
LOS ANGELES	77	67	5.5	.535	18		18	18		6	6
TEXAS	73	71	9.5	.507	18		*	*		10	10
SEATTLE	68	75	14	.476	19		*	*		15	15

I'm heading to the game tonight with Stephen Shelby. No doubt much of the conversation will have to do with the Student Loan Sharks and our playoff run.


Notice I did use the possessive, "our", as Stephen, the Silent Benefactor and myself own and manage the Scoresheet team.


I never use the possessive tense when discussing the A's. Perhaps that is why there is such a dearth of accusations about my opinion and approach.


I don't own, play for or work for the Oakland A's Baseball Club. Therefore, I should never take the possessive tense. "We", is "they", or, "the A's".


Only in sports does this come into play. I don't think anyone with "sane" stamped on their hand refers to movies or music or celebrities in the possessive tense. So why sports?


A discussion for the off season.


I'm also going to walk everyone through RIOT numbers this week. I'm also exploring some analysis on so-called, "2nd Half Teams". I am thinking that a good comparison can be made of the Atlanta Braves and the Oakland A's. Both teams have been written off many times in the last few years and come back. The issue is going to hinge, I believe, on how the rest of the league reacts and the strength of division opponents.