A group weblog for Oakland A's fans
Friday, July 09, 2004
On second thought maybe we oughta keep Zito
Courtesy of my friend Paul, here are Zito's splits
Barry Zito ERA WHIP BAA
Pre All-Star 3.97 1.31 .250
Post All-Star 2.54 1.12 .199
His ERA drops almost every month, including 2.62 in August and 2.20 in
September.
Maybe a good question to ask is, are Zito's trends going to continue? A related question is, are the A's going to go on a 2nd half tear again? I don't know if they even need such a dramatic hot streak this year. I figure if they can play 10 games above .500 the rest of the way, 2 other teams need to play better than that to knock the A's out of a playoff spot. For how much turmoil there has been this year, the A's outlook is pretty bright.
Courtesy of my friend Paul, here are Zito's splits
Barry Zito ERA WHIP BAA
Pre All-Star 3.97 1.31 .250
Post All-Star 2.54 1.12 .199
His ERA drops almost every month, including 2.62 in August and 2.20 in
September.
Maybe a good question to ask is, are Zito's trends going to continue? A related question is, are the A's going to go on a 2nd half tear again? I don't know if they even need such a dramatic hot streak this year. I figure if they can play 10 games above .500 the rest of the way, 2 other teams need to play better than that to knock the A's out of a playoff spot. For how much turmoil there has been this year, the A's outlook is pretty bright.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Barry Zito for Randy Johnson??
Should the A's consider Barry Zito for Randy Johnson? Let's say for argument's sake that the A's were able to make it cash neutral. Let's also say that we knew we'd have RJ for the rest of this year and all of next year. Certainly Zito has more wins left in his arm than Randy, but the Big Unit would be a more formidable foe for the stretch and playoffs. I know this is Barry Zito Forever, but I'd go for it. Additionally because that would mean the Yankees wouldn't get him.
Should the A's consider Barry Zito for Randy Johnson? Let's say for argument's sake that the A's were able to make it cash neutral. Let's also say that we knew we'd have RJ for the rest of this year and all of next year. Certainly Zito has more wins left in his arm than Randy, but the Big Unit would be a more formidable foe for the stretch and playoffs. I know this is Barry Zito Forever, but I'd go for it. Additionally because that would mean the Yankees wouldn't get him.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Oof.
Two straight beatings at the hands of the Red Sox leave the A's only a game up on Boston for the wild card race (and still tied with Texas for first place in the West, thanks to Texas also losing two in a row). I'm not entirely surprised, as Zito and Redman have been pretty inconsistent and the Red Sox offense absolutely batters lefties. Still, it's pretty bad for your starters to get knocked around so badly in the first two games of a road trip. With Harden going tomorrow, it could get very dicey, as Harden has been having difficulty working deep into games and the bullpen is already rather overworked (I'm sure that Duchscherer, for instance, is unavailable for Thursday). Plus, Hudson is still on the DL and probably won't be back until after the break; in Kirk Saarloos' only start he worked only five innings despite being rather effective. So basically the team needs to get what work it can from its starting pitchers, and it's especially critical for Mulder to pitch deep into Friday's start.
I'll be away for a few weeks so I will probably be posting less regularly in that time. (It does include the ASB, so relatively little baseball will actually be played.) I'll catch up with the site at the end of the month. In the meantime, let's go A's!
Two straight beatings at the hands of the Red Sox leave the A's only a game up on Boston for the wild card race (and still tied with Texas for first place in the West, thanks to Texas also losing two in a row). I'm not entirely surprised, as Zito and Redman have been pretty inconsistent and the Red Sox offense absolutely batters lefties. Still, it's pretty bad for your starters to get knocked around so badly in the first two games of a road trip. With Harden going tomorrow, it could get very dicey, as Harden has been having difficulty working deep into games and the bullpen is already rather overworked (I'm sure that Duchscherer, for instance, is unavailable for Thursday). Plus, Hudson is still on the DL and probably won't be back until after the break; in Kirk Saarloos' only start he worked only five innings despite being rather effective. So basically the team needs to get what work it can from its starting pitchers, and it's especially critical for Mulder to pitch deep into Friday's start.
I'll be away for a few weeks so I will probably be posting less regularly in that time. (It does include the ASB, so relatively little baseball will actually be played.) I'll catch up with the site at the end of the month. In the meantime, let's go A's!
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Terrance Long Revisited
Last night the A's were off, so I watched the Padres/DBacks game. Terrance Long was playing in left field. I was wondering if he is doing any better than he was the last few seasons in Oakland. For being a below average player, he had some big games in green and gold. He hit 2 homers in a playoff game at Yankee Stadium. He hit the ball that would have beaten the Yankees if Jeremy had slid. T made the catch in Fenway robbing Manny for the last out of the game.
So I was watching this game with a warm heart and good feelings for T. And he just SUCKED out there. He made what I consider to be 4 bonehead plays:
1) After getting down 2 strikes to Clemens, I yelled at the TV, "Watch that backup pitch inside, the one you took to end your career as an Athletic. Don't be taking close pitches with 2 strikes!" As I watched in horror, he took almost exactly the same pitch. He hasn't learned a thing. But the ump called it a ball and T got first base. A bad call, T got lucky.
2) T made an out at 3rd base running the bases. 'Nuf said.
3) T took at terrible path towards a fly ball. Running straight to his left, then making a sharp left turn and running directly away from home plate and playing the short hop off the wall. A misread I am very familiar with.
4) T hit a nubber back to the pitcher, who got a runner on 3rd in a rundown for the 2nd out of the inning. T somehow thought he was out. So he started to wander off first base towards the dugout. The players in the dugout frantically started waiving him to go back to first. I am surprised he didn't get called out for leaving the baseline, which he certainly did. But he made it back safe.
Any one of these 4 things could happen to any player on any given day, but all 4 in one day? That's vintage T Long. Maybe it is comforting knowing there are players in the majors who do things on the field that rec softball players know are mistakes. Kinda like Ron Jeremy, if he can do it, any of us could do it? I wonder what the Padres fans think of this guy? Are they sick of his stuff yet? They will be.
Last night the A's were off, so I watched the Padres/DBacks game. Terrance Long was playing in left field. I was wondering if he is doing any better than he was the last few seasons in Oakland. For being a below average player, he had some big games in green and gold. He hit 2 homers in a playoff game at Yankee Stadium. He hit the ball that would have beaten the Yankees if Jeremy had slid. T made the catch in Fenway robbing Manny for the last out of the game.
So I was watching this game with a warm heart and good feelings for T. And he just SUCKED out there. He made what I consider to be 4 bonehead plays:
1) After getting down 2 strikes to Clemens, I yelled at the TV, "Watch that backup pitch inside, the one you took to end your career as an Athletic. Don't be taking close pitches with 2 strikes!" As I watched in horror, he took almost exactly the same pitch. He hasn't learned a thing. But the ump called it a ball and T got first base. A bad call, T got lucky.
2) T made an out at 3rd base running the bases. 'Nuf said.
3) T took at terrible path towards a fly ball. Running straight to his left, then making a sharp left turn and running directly away from home plate and playing the short hop off the wall. A misread I am very familiar with.
4) T hit a nubber back to the pitcher, who got a runner on 3rd in a rundown for the 2nd out of the inning. T somehow thought he was out. So he started to wander off first base towards the dugout. The players in the dugout frantically started waiving him to go back to first. I am surprised he didn't get called out for leaving the baseline, which he certainly did. But he made it back safe.
Any one of these 4 things could happen to any player on any given day, but all 4 in one day? That's vintage T Long. Maybe it is comforting knowing there are players in the majors who do things on the field that rec softball players know are mistakes. Kinda like Ron Jeremy, if he can do it, any of us could do it? I wonder what the Padres fans think of this guy? Are they sick of his stuff yet? They will be.
