SB Nation - Brad Ziegler

Davis does it again, leading A's to another win deep in the heart of Texas

Flashfire — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:49:55 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

He fast. He good. A's win again. Coincidence? I think not! By the way, Rajai Davis is faster than an unladen swallow. It's true.

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The Rajai Davis Show, which is currently the longest-running form of entertainment in Northern California, continued with a road performance tonight in Arlington. Runnin' Rajai led the way, reaching base all five times he stepped to the plate (FC, BB, 1B, 1B, 1B). He further filled up the stat sheet with a run, four RBI, and he went one for two on his stolen base attempts. As a direct result of his efforts the A's claimed a 6-1 win over the slumping Texas Rangers who, while they finally scored a run on a David Murphy homer, couldn't muster anything else against Edgar Gonzalez (4 IP), Craig Breslow (2), Brad Ziegler (2/3), Jerry Blevins (1/3), Michael Wuertz (1) and Andrew Bailey (1).

Davis is now batting a season-high .314 and has pushed his OPS past .800. What more can be said about the job he's done since becoming a regular? Cliff Pennington pitched in with two more hits including his first Major League triple, continuing his solid play as the A's have now won seven of their last nine to reach twelve games under .500 for the first time since August 17. Adam Kennedy and Daric Barton both had a hit and two walks.

Elvis Andrus had a 16-game hitting streak snapped and Brandon McCarthy only lasted two batters into the fourth, throwing 80 pitches. With both starters exiting before the end of the fifth, the game started to drag on with numerous pitching changes but it's easier to take when the A's win. Boston also won again and Texas has now lost three games in the wild card standings in the last three days.

The only real bad thing about tonight's game was 13 strikeouts by A's hitters, including Jack Cust's fourth Golden Sombrero of the season. That matches his total from last year and it was the tenth time of his career, all with the A's. Given his role on the team it may come as no surprise that when he strikes out that many times the A's struggle to win. They'd lost all eight times he did it in the past before winning their last two (7/11 in Tampa Bay being the first), which both happened to be games in which Davis played a big part in the victories - that time he replaced Ryan Sweeney and hit a tying homer to go with a single and stolen base. I think the point here is now the Oakland offense has become well-rounded enough (relatively speaking) that they can still put some runs on the board even when Cust has a game like this.

A quick recap of other organizational news:

Pacific Coast League Championship, Game 1: Memphis leads 1-0 in the top of the 8th with two out and two on after Chris Carter struck out looking. Travis Buck is about to pinch-hit and Memphis is making a pitching change.

Texas League Championship, Game 1: NW Arkansas had their way with Midland, winning 11-5 after the RockHounds scored four in the bottom of the 9th. They committed five errors, which makes it hard to win.

Could it be...? No, it can't be... OMG it really is! It's a Minor League Update!!!

grover — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:00:25 -0000

Hello again.

Work called me away for a while and it’s been tough getting back into the groove of things. For those who don’t know, I’m a wildland fire fighter and August got a little busy for those in my career field. So when I disappear again for a couple weeks just remember… I envy your access to in-door plumbing.

Anyways, I want to focus this week’s minor league update on the 40 man roster and the options that are going to have to be decided upon in the coming months. Why do this now instead of waiting until September 1st? The topic tickles my fancy, that’s why. As I seem to have (once again) misplaced my Cap o’ Omnipotence I’m forced to resort to basic logic and common sense reckoning to try and deduce the future roster.

That’s right… none of what I’m about to tell you is guaranteed!

The way I see it, there are 28-29 spots on the future 40 man roster all but guaranteed. On the pitching side, Brett Anderson, Andrew Bailey, Jerry Blevins, Dallas Braden, Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill, Joey Devine, Gio Gonzalez, Jeff Gray, Jay Marshall, Vin Mazzaro, Clayton Mortensen, Josh Outman, Henry Rodriguez, Michael Wuertz and Brad Ziegler all seem certain to have jobs in the Oakland organization next year. That’s 16 pitchers of varying combinations of success/cheapness/options that aren’t going to be released just to make room on the roster. (There’s a pretty good chance that Outman will open next season on the 60-day DL, opening up an additional spot on the 40 man.) Santiago Casilla and Edgar Gonzalez are both arbitration eligible next season but neither pitched so well that the A’s are going to be eager to give them big pay raises, which could mean either or both players could end up as trade fodder or possibly even released. Dana Eveland is still on the 40 man roster as well, but his poor performance led to a demotion that will keep him from seeing any arby money next season. Unfortunately, Mr. Eveland’s suckitude forced the A’s to use his last option this season; meaning he can’t be stashed on Sacramento’s roster next season without first passing through waivers. Chances are Eveland isn’t going to be one of the 5 best SP candidates for the A’s come Opening Day 2010 and as a lefty with a pulse he’d probably get snapped up by some other team desperate for pitching. Therefore, I think this is good-bye to Mr. Eveland.

As it just so happens, it looks as if the A’s are going to need maybe 3 openings on the 40 man roster just to protect some arms that should attract a lot of interest in the Rule 5 draft. Pedro Figueroa hasn’t advanced past High-A ball but he’s a lefty with a low-90’s fastball. Brad Kilby is another lefty who’s put up back-to-back quality campaigns in Sacramento’s bullpen. Fautino De Los Santos is still trying to bounce back from 2008 TJ surgery but he wouldn’t last long if the A’s made him available for the Rule 5 draft. Jason Ray is in the same boat but I don’t think there’s much risk of someone grabbing him and keeping him on a 25 man roster all season.

There’s also a chance the A’s might be interested in bringing back Brett Tomko or Justin Duchscherer next season. Dan Giese should be fully recovered in time for next season; maybe the A’s are still interested in him as a swing man type. Plus, guys like Sam Demel and James Simmons could be knocking on the door next season and they’d need a spot on the 40 man to do so. Like I said, I could see 3-4 spots going to the guys I just listed and we haven’t even looked outside the organization to find help.

The hitting side of things is even more in flux.

Kurt Suzuki, Landon Powell, Eric Chavez (who?) Mark Ellis, Daric Barton, Travis Buck, Aaron Cunningham, Rajai Davis, Scott Hairston, Ryan Sweeney, Jack Cust, Tommy Everidge, Cliff Pennington and Gregorio Petit have spots on the 40 man roster. (Although I’m not sure if Petit has another minor league option available to him in 2010… if someone has a conclusive answer I’d appreciate hearing it.) C Anthony Recker is the most prominent bat in the A’s system that would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter and I’m not sure if the A’s would consider his departure to be a great loss. So any Recker fans out there can protect him on their 40 man lists, but I’m thinking the A’s leave him off the protected roster. Chris Denorfia and Eric Patterson are both out of options, so if they aren’t in Oakland come Opening Day there’s a good chance they’ll be playing for another organization in 2010. I can maybe see Patterson as a back-up at 2B and in the outfield but I’ve got to squint and angle my head to one side to see it. I think it’s more likely that the A’s will try to bring back Adam Kennedy to serve as a deluxe back-up option/veteran mentor type.

The real twist comes when you consider the minor league bats that the A’s have in AA or higher that aren’t yet on the 40 man roster. Sean Doolittle, Adrian Cardenas, Josh Donaldson, Corey Brown, Chris Carter and Brett Wallace highlight the next wave of Oakland offense… which could be much more refreshing than the current ripple in the still waters we’ve experienced as of late. Yet again we haven’t looked outside the current organization to determine if maybe there’s another bat to be had.

So bring back Kennedy, add the newbies and you’re looking at 38-39 players on the 40 man roster before the Rule 5 draft. Does anyone see any glaring omissions?

Until the next time...

Rajai’s Speed, Crosby’s Power and Stellar Bullpen Work Get A’s Win Over Angels

baseballgirl — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:47:07 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

Yes. I am that fast.

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NOTE: We still need tickets sold to meet our initial deposit for AN Day! If you are going, it is $20; please reserve your ticket now! Details here.

Apparently "Dog Day" at the Coliseum inspired the A’s offense, because they showed up to help the bullpen secure the win against the Angels in a pretty exciting game. The only damper on the night was a hit-by-pitch from Spier to Scott Hairston in the eighth inning, once the game was all but over. My first fear was a broken wrist, and although Hairston stayed in to run (Holliday promptly ended the inning with a double-play), he was pulled the next inning. Think good thoughts.

The Angels got on the board early with a homerun by Kendry Morales; the only run Cahill would allow in his first four innings. The A’s answered back in the bottom of the fourth, as Rajai Davis doubled with one out, and pulled off a delayed steal of third. Mark Ellis walked to put runners at the corners, and on a 1-2 pitch, Crosby caught up with a hanging curveball and hit a three run homerun. (I know!)

Cahill wasted no time in giving the entire lead back, and it was only thanks to Geren’s hook that the damage was limited to two runs. Cahill had completely lost the strike zone; actually walking in the tying run. Rivera even tried to help Cahill out by swinging at ball two, but Cahill would not be denied his last walk. He would finish with 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB. Brad Ziegler (new middle reliever?) replaced him and although he went 3-1 to the dangerous Morales (batting left-handed, which made Ziegler an interesting choice), he got him to fly out to center.

Ziegler got in trouble again with walking two with two outs in the sixth. He was replaced by Breslow, who walked the bases loaded, but got out of the inning with the game still tied at 3. It’s not often the A’s walk three in an inning, and hold any team scoreless, but they managed. They would give up 7 walks in total, but received 8.

Rajai Davis stole a run from the Angels in the bottom half of the inning to give the A’s the lead. After walking Davis to lead off the inning, Saunders misfired a pickoff throw to first, and Rajai went from first to home on the overthrow. It was a closer play than you would like with no outs, but I can’t blame Gallego; I’ve seen the A’s offense. Rex Hudler said Davis was clocked at 11 seconds, but Hudler also drew on a dog on the teleprompter, so you can take it for what it’s worth.

The A’s would add two more in the eighth on a double by Cabrera, and Wuertz made sure that the Angels never had another scoring opportunity. He added four more strikeouts in 1.2 innings to bring his total to 26 K’s in 14 innings. That’s amazing. Bailey came in to close the game out, and the A’s win.

A couple of notes:

I’m really worried about Hairston.
Nomar should not be batting ahead of Suzuki.
As noted by ptbarnum in the thread and multiple announcers around the league, it looks like Holliday is really struggling hitting the fastball. This is something to keep an eye on. (According to GameDay, the homerun last night was a slider.)

So the A’s even the series, and will take on the Angels again tomorrow at 1pm.

DeRosa-less Cubs Carry On: Cubs vs. White Sox Preview, Sunday 6/28, 1:05 CT

Al — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:00:22 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

I think that's the "Get us some help, Jim!" flag.

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The headline, incidentally, is what is known as a "joke", in case you thought I was serious. This will be the last time Mark DeRosa will be mentioned by me on this site, until the Cubs play the Cardinals.

Now, on to more pertinent matters. Look who's on Lou's side regarding the Milton Bradley flap: Ozzie Guillen:

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had no problem with the way Cubs manager Lou Piniella handled the Milton Bradley drama Friday. As a matter of fact, he applauded it.

Guillen's problem?

There should have been 24 others who policed it beforehand, rather than it escalating to the point it did with the Cubs' skipper.

"That was awesome," Guillen said Saturday when asked about the Bradley chaos. "We make [Bradley] pissed. That's not too hard to do.

"Everybody handles the ballclub different. Lou handled it the right way because you have 24 guys you have to respect. You're not a manager of one player. You're the manager of a team. It's all about the team. It's not about one player. He showed the team that Lou cares about his ballclub."

I'm not a big Ozzie fan, but he has this exactly right. Meanwhile, Jim Hendry doesn't sound too thrilled with the whole thing:

Hendry, who backed Piniella's handling of the situation and issued no further discipline, seemed to take the same approach, with an optimistic outlook, given two seasons and 91 games left with Bradley.

"There's risks in all free-agent signings," he said. "Hopefully, this one will [work out] in the long run. Certainly when you're hitting .220, you wouldn't say it's going as planned so far.

"I'm sure the frustration level is at its wit's end for him. And obviously that doesn't condone certain actions that you don't want a player doing. But we're still in a pretty good spot to make a run at things in the second half, and we certainly could use the Milton Bradley bat that we signed up for.

"Maybe you look back at a day like [Friday], and some good can come out of it, too."

We can only hope Hendry is right. In addition to a bat, it's pretty clear the Cubs need bullpen help. May I suggest that the Cubs call the A's and ask about Brad Ziegler? Ziegler had a terrific scoreless streak to start his career last year, but has struggled at times in 2009. He might be available.

Shameless promotion: I will be leaving the Cell early today, but for a good reason -- Kasey Ignarski and I will be signing copies of "Cubs By The Numbers" at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square on the north side of Chicago, 4736 N. Lincoln, from 4-6 pm this afternoon. Stop by and pick up a copy! This also means today's recap will be delayed.

Today's Starting Pitchers


Carlos Zambrano Cubs	vs.	John Danks White Sox

4-2	W-L	5-6
3.48	ERA	4.43
63	SO	75
33	BB	28
6	HR	11
vs. Sox	--	vs. Cubs

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Carlos Zambrano	4-2	18	12	0	0	0	0	77.2	66	32	30	6	33	63	3.48	1.27

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - John Danks	5-6	14	14	0	0	0	0	81.1	77	42	40	11	28	75	4.43	1.29

John Danks tied the Cubs in knots on June 17 at Wrigley. In two starts vs. the Cubs he's 1-0, 1.48. Milton Bradley has gone 3-for-6 vs. Danks, and overall Bradley has hit much better vs. LHP this year (.327/.400/.490, though in a fairly small-sample-size 48 at-bats).

The next day, June 18, Z threw seven good innings at Wrigley vs. the White Sox but left trailing 3-1. Thanks to the bullpen, they made it 5-1 before the Cubs mounted the first of their three straight comeback wins. Paul Konerko has hit four career HR off Z in 25 AB -- that's the most that any AL player has hit off him.

Len & Bob will be on WGN today. The other guys are on CSN Chicago. For amusement, if a close umpiring call goes against the White Sox and you are in Chicago or have the CSN feed on EI, flip over to hear the whining. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

To find out what Sox fans are thinking, visit our SBN Sox site South Side Sox.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 2 pm, 3 pm and 3:45 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

It's reunion time in Oakland

Poseidon's Fist — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:01:32 -0000

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

Arguably the two most dangerous Athletic bats are former Rockies. But neither have been Oakland's best hitter to date.

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The storyline of this series goes without saying. It is MLB's only primary green team vs. the only team that wears purple. Oh wait - we don't even wear purple anymore. Right - that whole Matt Holliday/Carlos Gonzalez/Huston Street bit.

There's not a whole lot to say on that front. It will be the first time the trio play their former team - more of an event for Holliday and Street, who were both celebrated for years as premium players for their former clubs. Street has become a solid if not fantastic closer while Gonzalez furthers his reputation as a possible AAAA player.

As for Holliday, he is still working uphill from that terrible start. His wOBA is lower than every year in his career, including his rookie year, and his OPS+ only exceeds that same 2004 campaign. So it's not JUST being away from Coors. His OPS has not reached .900 and his average have not reached .300 once this season. He is currently on an 18-game, 64-AB homerless drought. He has actually had a worse offensive season than the Rockies' fifth outfielder if you compare Fangraphs offensive value.

Oakland got off to a miserably sluggish start like Holliday - and the Rockies. On June 1, the A's were actually one half game worse (19-30) than Colorado (20-30), but like the Rockies, June brought a bit of a surge. Bob Geren's club reeled off seven straight at the beginning of June to bring them within four games of .500, but they have lost 10 of their last 15 to drop back to earth.

The Rockies last played the Athletics June 18-20, 2006, when they outscored the A's 15-3 at Coors Field. However they haven't played in Oakland since being swept in 2001. In fact, the Rockies won their first ever game in the Coliseum in 1997 thanks to a dominant start by Roger Bailey, yet they have lost all seven games there since. The A's are only 3-8 at Coors Field though, so it evens out to a 9-10 Rockies record all-time vs. Oakland.

Colorado is now 8-4 in interleague play; Oakland is just 5-10 with a modest 17-17 overall home record.

The Rockies absolutely must win this series against an inferior team. After dropping a series in Anaheim in which they outscored the Angels, they can't afford to head to Dodger Stadium needing a sweep for a winning road trip.

Athletics Nation is Oakland's SBNation blog, actually the oldest among us all. In case you missed it in the offseason, here's a classic view on the Matt Holliday trade from AN from January.

Oakland Athletics (31-40, L2, 4th, 8.0 GB)

Friday-Sunday: 3-game series at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

The Bats: D-

Bob Geren has toyed with the lineup to a great degree trying to spark some offense. Suzuki could bat second, pushing Cust, Holliday and Giambi down one spot. OFRajai Davis (.240/.309/.340), C Landon Powell (.182/.258/.364) and IF's Daric Barton (1-for-14, 2B) and Nomar Garciaparra (.254/.274/.390) fill out the bench.

This is my best guess on the lineup, which is just outright terrible (the guess and the lineup):

LINEUP

Avg

HR

RBI

OBP

SLG

wOBA

Adam Kennedy - 2B
.298

6

24

.368

.474

.369

Jack Cust - RF
.227

13

37

.313

.421

.323

Matt Holliday - LF
.269

8

39

.367

.423

.352

Jason Giambi - DH
.205

10

37

.341

.384

.326

Kurt Suzuki - C
.278

4

27

.325

.400

.320

Orlando Cabrera - SS
.243

2

25

.289

.313

.264

Bobby Crosby - 1B
.190

3

17

.291

.306

.275

Ryan Sweeney - CF
.254

2

18

.315

.320

.289

Jack Hannahan - 3B
.191

1

8

.273

.304

.262

That lineup features your worst offensive 3B and 1B in MLB, plus the 2nd worst shortstop, only to 2007 NL MVP (*cough cough*) Jimmy Rollins. The Rockies can field a lineup with a better offensive player at all nine positions (even left field!) except second base - by wOBA anyway. Speaking of which, utilizing that, this lineup has two solid above average hitters (Kennedy and Holliday), three a bit below average (Giambi, Cust and Suzuki), one very below average (Sweeney) and three don't belong on the field, let alone an MLB starting lineup (Cabrera, Crosby, Hannahan).

Overall, the Athletics have the lowest batting average in the majors (about Torrealba level), the 6th least runs scored, 6th least HR, and are dead last in wOBA at .299. I know I know, sample size. But I can't resist pointing out their team wOBA is 8 points worse than Ubaldo Jimenez'.

Should we treat their lineup like nine Ubaldo's? Obviously not. They get a significant disadvantage playing at the Coliseum, but still, their roster OPS+ is just 82, worse than every Rockie except Quintanilla, Gonzalez and Atkins. Any way you slice it, this is a terrible offense. Those big offseason additions of Cabrera, Holliday, Giambi and Garciaparra have done very little.

The Arms: C+

The Rockies draw the top two Oakland's starters. Gone are the days of the big three, but Dallas Braden and Trevor Cahill are still solid young arms with upside. Brett Anderson's scheduled start tonight has been pushed to Monday due to biceps inflammation, so Braden and Cahill will each move up a day; both have an ERA+ of over 112. Vin Mazzaro moves into Sunday's spot - the 22 year old righty has been impressive in five starts this season. Rookie Andrew Bailey has stepped in to be a dominant closer in place of Brad Ziegler, who still gets an opportunity now and again.

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Andrew Bailey	4-1	2.23	1.04	50	18

Overall, the club has an 97 ERA+, which is a tick below average, but some of the deadweight pulling that stat down are not on the roster or won't be starting in the series.

The team is 13th in ERA (13th for starters, 15th for relievers) and 11th in FIP (15th and 2nd), so despite lacking big names, the Athletics continue to put forth an above average staff. Other arms Bob Geren leans on in the pen include Michael Wuertz, Russ Springer, Santiago Casilla, and Craig Breslow.

The D: C-

The A's have a UZR/150 rating at 1.6, slightly better than average. They 50 errors (8th in MLB) and are 8th worst in fielding percentage. That washes out to a slightly below average defense.

The Ballpark: Pitching Park

The multi-year park factor is 93, giving a pitching advantage over the last few years equivalent to the offensive advantage at Coors the last few years. This year, it is at 97, mirroring Coors' migration to average, so it is still as much of a pitching park as Coors is a hitting park this year.

Probable Pitchers:

Tonight, 8:05 pm MDT

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Jason Hammel	4-3	4.41	1.50	46	17

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Dallas Braden	5-6	3.26	1.29	62	25

Saturday, June 27, 7:05 pm MDT

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Jorge De La Rosa	3-7	5.85	1.51	82	36

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Trevor Cahill	5-5	3.68	1.34	41	33

Sunday, June 24, 2:05 MDT

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Aaron Cook	7-3	4.00	1.33	46	30

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K	BB
2009 - Vin Mazzaro	2-2	2.56	1.07	20	8

Dallas Braden and Trevor Cahill have each thrown 7 consecutive quality starts, though Oakland is only 7-7 in those games. Vin Mazzaro has four QS's in his five starts this season - in his only non-quality start, he allowed four runs to just miss the qualification. Andrew Bailey has been unscored upon in 10 of his last 11 outings. Ryan Sweeney is 6 for his last 17 and Orlando Cabrera has a .855 OPS in his last 6 games.

Matt Holliday is 12 for his last 58 (8 singles and 4 doubles) for a .208 average since June 7. He only has two more home runs than Adam Kennedy this season. Jack Cust is only 4 for his last 24, Bobby Crosby just 1-for-10 and Jason Giambi has scratched out just three hits in his last 15 trips.

Pitcher Josh Outman (best name for a pitcher ever) is on the 15-day DL with an elbow injury. Dan Giese (elbow) is on the 60-day DL, as are four very prominant names on the roster: 3B Eric Chavez (back), 2B Mark Ellis (calf), and pitchers Joey Devine (elbow) and Justin Duchsherer (elbow). The elbow epidemic in Oakland is killing them.

Poll

How will be rebound from consecutive losses in Anaheim?

We won't. This team is fragile and is affected by streaks too much in both directions. We'll struggle to hit in the Coliseum and get swept.

3 votes

The doubt is there, and we manage to win just one game, probably while outscoring Oakland for the series

11 votes

A solid road series win against a mediocre home team and terrible offense sounds reasonable

53 votes

Matt Holliday doesn't get the Monforts' green, but he does match his uni with envy after watching his former club sweep his struggling team.

20 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

Nine Down, Nine To Go For Dodgers

Eric Stephen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:05:16 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

The O-Dog watches his home run sail over the center field fence in the third inning last night.

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Another game, another no-decision for Randy Wolf last night -- his tenth on the season in 15 starts -- but the Dodgers won the rubber game of their three-game series with Oakland, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium Thursday night. All three games against the A's were one-run contests.

The Dodger record for no-decisions in a season is held by Odalis Perez, who had 18 in 2004. Bert Blyleven holds the major league record with 20 no-decisions for the "We Are Family" 1979 Pirates.

Orlando Hudson provided the power for the Dodgers with his second inning shot. Casey Blake was two for four, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He is hitting .389/.410/.611 over those nine games, and is hitting .364/.400/.620 during the Manny Ramirez suspension.

Mark Loretta snapped an 0-for-13 pinch-hitting run with the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning.

Ramon Troncoso rebounded from his rare poor outing Tuesday to get the final two outs -- a double play by Ryan Sweeney on two pitches -- for his fourth save of the season. Jonthan Broxton was out for the second straight game with a sore right big toe.

The Dodgers have now played half of their 2009 interleague schedule, and have won five of nine games so far. They have only won five games against the American League in each of the last four seasons (20-43 in that time), and haven't had a winning interleague record since 2004, when they were 10-8. Trips to Anaheim and Chicago, followed by a home series against Seattle will end the Dodgers' regular season schedule against AL teams. Until October, that is.

WP - Brent Leach (2-0): 0.2 IP

LP - Brad Ziegler (1-3): 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk

Sv - Ramon Troncoso (4): 0.2 IP

Box Score

Bison wins Barn Burner at the Ravine

Phil Gurnee — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:23:56 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

The Beard does double damage tonight. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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A pitching duel between two young talented left-handers turned into a barn burner at Chavez Ravine when inexplicably Ramon Troncoso left his cape in the bullpen and gave up four runs in the top of the eighth to turn a 2 - 0 Dodger lead into a 4 - 2 deficit.

Michael Wuertz had pitched a perfect 7th but he was not as lucky in the eighth. Without missing a beat the Dodgers started their comeback in the bottom of the eighth behind a double by Furcal, followed by a single by Blake to close to within one. The A's brought in lefty Craig Breslow to face Loney who worked the count full before squeezing out a walk on a borderline pitch bringing up the Bison with two on and one out. The A's countered with their best relief pitcher in Andrew Bailey and the duel was on.

Ball one. Swing and a miss. Ball two, just missed. Base hit to right field but Bowa holds Blake at 3rd leaving the bases loaded for Andre the A killer. A weak ground ball to 2nd was all he could muster but when Kemp took out Cabrera the tying run had crossed the plate. 4 -4, leaving 1st and 3rd with Martin up. The worse hitter on the team in June had a chance to make amends. Alas, it was not meant to be as he lined out to LF, leaving the score tied at 4 - 4 headed to the top of the ninth.

Broxton came in and gave up a single but kept the score tied giving the Dodgers a chance to give him his 7th win against no losses but they could not muster any offense against Bailey. To the worries of the crowd Mota came in to pitch the 10th but the worries were unfounded. For over a month now, Mota has been pitching great in low leverage situations and this was the perfect time to see if he could continue that hot streak in a high leverage situation. Mota was the vintage 2003 model in the 10th, and shut down the A's.

The A's countered in the 10th with Brad Ziegler who entered the game not having given up a run in nine interleague appearances. Orlando Hudson started the Dodger 10th with single through the hole at shortstop. Casey Blake then hit a slower bouncer over the pitchers mound that the normally sure handed Orlando Cabera fumbled leaving runners at 1st and 2nd with James Loney due up. Loney leads the team with 44 rbi's but Joe Torre asked him to bunt and of course he was unable to do so, leaving him down in the count 1 - 2. Loney then hit into a double play filled with controversy. At first Loney had been declared save when Giambi came off the bag but 1st base umpire Adrian Johnson decided to ask for help from the home base umpire Ted Barrett who said that Loney had been tagged. So with two out and Hudson on 3rd base the A's decided to pitch to Matt Kemp and the Bison made them pay with his 3rd hit of the game giving the Dodgers their league leading eighth walk-off win and their 13th victory in their last at bat.

Clayton Kershaw pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against three walks. He struggled with his pitch count but the bottom line is that he kept the runs off the board. Ramon Troncoso failed for the first time since Manny was suspended as Giambi and Crosby took him deep. He was due for a game like this as those home runs were the first he's allowed in 43 2/3 innings. Cory Wade got the last out of the 8th inning keeping the Dodgers within striking distance and that is all they needed. Also can't forget to mention the good work Belisario did getting us from Clayton to Ramon.

The Dodgers first two runs came on run scoring doubles by Blake and Loney and that was the extent of the offense until they mounted their comeback in the 8th.

With that victory the Dodgers are now a season high 21 games above 500 and continue to have the best home record at 24 - 9. Also nice to see they are now 4 - 3 in interleague play. 6 - 1in extra inning games this year and 15 - 5 in one run games with a sterling 12 - 1 mark at the Ravine.

Part of the fun at the Ravine tonight was the rousing ovation the crowd gave recently recalled career minor leaguer Mitch Jones in his first major league at bat. He worked the count to 3-2 before striking out but his knee's had to be knocking with 41,169 fans cheering every pitch. Even as he walked back to the dugout after the strike out he got a nice ovation. Classy fans tonight.

Nomar pinch hit and got a mixed reaction. To tense a game to give him the ovation that he might have gotten if he'd just been announced as a starter or came up in the first inning.

Casey Blake now has a modest seven game winning streak and is hitting .393 during that streak.

Josh Outman, Long Balls Lead Oakland A's to 5-3 Win Over White Sox

Tyler Bleszinski — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:16:07 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Josh Outman continues to be a surprise in the A's rotation, becoming one of their more reliable starters over the last few weeks. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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I keep waiting for signs that our green and gold is going to turn it around in 2009. Some little sign that the young pitching has matured enough and that the hitting, while never expected to be near the top of the AL this year, would at least be a vast improvement over last season's abysmal squad. It's tough to point to any one game, but maybe the calendar turning to June is a good one for a mostly young Oakland A's team is exactly what they needed.

Josh Outman backed up the excellent Vin Mazzaro debut yesterday with an a great outing of his own today. It looked like it was going to be a rough night when Alexei Ramirez beat out an infield play to barely get on board and then old Oakland Athletic Jermaine Dye crushed a two-run home run. But alas, Outman really didn't see much more trouble until he gave up a run in the third inning.

The bottom of the A's order almost immediately tied the game up in the second and then Bobby Crosby and Landon Powell went back-to-back to leave the home run friendly park on two consecutive pitches in the fourth inning.

Outman didn't exactly rack up the strikeouts (only 2), getting 12 flyouts instead, which is a bit of a dangerous game in Chicago but the air is heavier there at night and a couple of times, the heavy air seemed to knock down balls enough to prevent the damage. I'm thinking of a Thome shot to the wall in particular that Matt Holliday pulled down. I'm wondering if Outman is going to remain for real. He's got 42 strikeouts in 53.2 innings this year and he's kept the walks down. I'm just not sure. He seems to hide the ball well and gets good velocity on his fastball. He also mixes up the speeds well. And damn it, I love that he rocks the old socks. I just had to say that. Still, he and Braden feel like the two pitchers on the staff I feel really confident about right now. And if you look at the bigger picture, Joe Blanton's ERA for the Phillies is up in the 5 plus range right now.

The A's should win a lot more games if they get the kind of power they got tonight, but it isn't like I expect Crosby and Powell to turn on two pitches every night. Still it's nice to get three home runs from Powell, Crosby and Giambi. There was a bit of discussion in the game thread about using Andrew Bailey to get the last five outs, but I like the move. The A's feel like they have two closers now in Bailey and Brad Ziegler, so why bother to throw someone out there like Russ Springer against Jermaine Dye or Jim Thome when you can come back tomorrow with Ziegler if you need him. The bullpen isn't exactly stacked with a ton of options right now since they had to send Cameron back down to make room for Mazzaro. So I don't mind that move.

So is the A's rotation coming together nicely? Are we seeing this team slowly turning the corner? I mean it's going to be next to impossible to compete in 2009 but at least that team that wasn't so interesting earlier in the year is starting to look a bit more interesting. For example, I loved how they all jumped off the bench to scream at the first base umpire when he clearly blew a call in the ninth inning on Orlando Cabrera. That's exactly what we need from the entire team.

That will make it a bit more interesting. That and the continuing maturation of a very young rotation.

Billy Beane's Big Gamble

Tyler Bleszinski — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:22:27 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Vin Mazzaro is one of the main reasons I'm tuning into this team right now. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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There's been a lot of grumbling about the A's so far this year which in many ways is justified. They often look listless on the field and in the camera shots of the dugout. Or maybe we just got spoiled by seeing Milton Bradley and Nick Swisher doing their patented, choreographed celebrations after long balls. I don't blame A's fans for feeling discouraged by this team and not feeling like it will ever pay off in a better product on the field.

Billy Beane made a calculated risk in 2009 and it appears to have failed given the team we're watching on a daily basis. But my question is this? Did Beane really make a calculated risk? Or was much of what he did in 2009 predicated on trying to at least get a competitive team on the field to gain some interest in the area rather than really "going for it"?

I would say that it was the latter. I mentioned this a while ago when Nico wrote his Dear Billy Beane post. I don't think that anything Beane did in preparation in 2009 was stunting what he originally set out to do starting last year and that was to build towards a real winner in 2010 or 2011 that would be a winner for a long time to come.

Beane went out and signed Orlando Cabrera to a low-cost, one-year deal in which that player had all the incentive in the world to perform well to get his value back to what it used to be. Beane gave up a closer that he thought he could replace fairly easily in Joey Devine. Well, that went awry, but he had a backup in Brad Ziegler and then Andrew Bailey. He gave up Carlos Gonzalez who is hitting very well in Triple-A, but he's still in Triple-A and who knows if he'll make that jump adequately this next time or it will take him several years until he possibly turns into a Carlos Pena after three more stops. He got a hitter whose contract is expiring at the end of the year and there have already been plenty of rumblings from around the majors about who might be interested in acquiring Matt Holliday.

The Jason Giambi signing could theoretically be over after this year if the A's feel like Sean Doolittle is ready to become an every day player by the end of the year.

The biggest question mark going into the year was adding Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson to the rotation. And I think that adding them has been good for these young pitchers. In my spring training interview with him, Beane mentioned how rare it was for even the most talented pitchers to come in and be an effective major league starter. Mark Mulder had an especially rough first adjustment to the majors. But I personally think that this experience has been really good for both Cahill and Anderson, who have to make the mental jump to believing that they belong 60 feet, 6 inches away from major league hitters. Anderson may be having the harder time making that adjustment because his splits from April to May are trending a little worse whereas Cahill had a much better May than he did in April, correcting much of the BB/K ratio issue (17 strikeouts to 9 walks) and his ERA for the month of May was 3.89. I think it takes time for those kids to make that adjustment. Vince Mazzaro will also get that chance to see if he's mentally ready for that jump as well.

But in order for the A's to compete in 09, things would've had to have broken perfectly. Even Beane seemed hesitant to call his team a contender during that same interview. His emphasis though was on the young pitching, whereas I believe the biggest problem with this team continues to be the offense. He gambled that Nomar Garciaparra would be able to add some consistent depth and Nomar's continuing health problems have hampered things. Giambi has improved of late, but he's definitely not the Giambi who wore green and gold eight years ago. If anything, the only player who has probably performed better than expected offensively is Jack Cust and that's because he's really worked on cutting down the strikeouts while becoming a better "hitter". He really has turned into almost the ideal Moneyball prototype.

Regardless, I think this sums up best where this team is right now, and again, it's taken from Beane's interview with me back in March:

Blez: Is that where you see this team right now?

Beane: It's hard to say. I think what we want to do is be better than last year and from a macro standpoint people will see that this will ultimately be an organic team and one that came from our minor league system that has some legs to it as far as its performance. But we also wanted to take advantage of some opportunities out there to sort of speed up the development of it. We want to be patient with the young guys but we also have a major league sports team and we want to win games because we do want people to be interest in it and not just go into hibernation until the young guys are good. You can have a five year plan but don't go around announcing it. Do your best, in the interim, to have that five-year plan in the background and go ahead and execute that, but do what you can to keep us interested.

The key to that statement is the end. "You can have a five year plan but don't go around announcing it. Do your best, in the interim, to have that five-year plan in the background and go ahead and execute that, but do what you can to keep us interested." If Beane has failed to do anything this year it's to make this team interesting enough this year with some of the moves he made because they were bargain shopping for those great deals and so many of them haven't worked out.

That being said, all hope is not lost. The young pitchers are getting some great experience that should ultimately help them down the road. And they don't look completely out of place. Well, Anderson does at times, but Cahill and Outman have not. The jury is out on Mazzaro. Dallas Braden has proven that he will be a really nice number four guy given that he has a true competitive streak to him. It's a cliche, but his guts and determination probably outpace his talent. But that's also the truth with Justin Duchscherer too. And he's proven that he can be a really effective major league starter. The A's aren't handcuffed by anything they did to make this team more interesting in 2009. And they're in a position with Holliday to move him for glaring holes at third base and shortstop. And I think that's going to be a big factor in judging whether or not this process has ultimately been worth it or not. It's just too bad that this team in 2009 isn't nearly as interesting as most people, including myself and many other people, thought it would be.

Still I find the most interesting thing about this team is watching the young pitching. The Cahill, Anderson, Mazzaro, Outman, Baileys of this team. Funny because it was one of the aspects of the 2009 team that I feared the most if they were going to compete for the West. Since they aren't competing right now, I can just enjoy watching these guys grow and mature and see a brighter future for the green and gold. Isn't that something we all want?

25-28, Game Notes

Jeff — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:35:51 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

Seattle Mariners' shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt prays to God he doesn't fall on that during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Seattle, Monday, June 1, 2009. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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There you go. There's your comfortable win. It seems like every time the Mariners get out to a half-decent lead and then give up a few runs, somebody has to come by and ask "geez when's the last time this team made it easy?" so with tonight's effort - a game in which the Mariners stormed out early and never looked back - the ticker's been set back to zero. Tonight is the last time this team made it easy. We may end up pointing back to this for a good while yet, since the team doesn't score and teams that don't score seldom make it easy, but hey, at least it happened. Take that, win against the White Sox in the last week of April! We won't be needing you anymore.

I haven't the foggiest idea what Bedard was thinking prior to taking on his former team for the first time after being traded, since it'd be enough of a chore for a reporter to so much as get Erik to confirm that he played for the Orioles, but if anything was weighing on his mind, it didn't show itself early on. It wasn't until the middle innings that he started to scuffle, and even there he was somehow able to escape a sequence of line drive-line drive-walk-line drive-pop up-line drive-line drive without allowing a run. Baltimore didn't get on the board until Bedard was fatigued and the game was in hand, and while 6.1 innings of one-run ball may not sound as sexy as seven innings of one-run ball to the people looking out for Erik's trade value, the 112 pitches represent his highest total in a Mariner uniform, which is something. Whether or not he should've been left in that long is one matter, but the fact that he made it to 112 without snapping to pieces should work in Zduriencik's favor when he goes to the phones.

This wasn't Bedard's best effort by any means, mind you. He threw strikes through six innings, but he didn't miss many bats and the Orioles smacked a half-dozen line drives. His curve, though, was there when he needed it, and any time he's able to get strikes on three-quarters of his breaking balls, I feel like he's probably going to look pretty good in the box score. For a team that still hasn't determined whether or not it's going to compete, having Bedard keep his stock high is good news for everyone.

One day. It took Griffey one day to make me look like a retard. Fresh off of my suggesting that he may be finished, Griffey drilled extra-base hits to all fields, lining a double to left, a double to center, and a homer to right. Those three hits raised his slugging percentage from .362 to .407 and his OPS from .688 to .743. One of those doubles even came on a pretty good 93mph fastball. His timing could not have been worse.

The issue, of course, is that he didn't really put Griffey swings on them. The homer in particular came on a sweeping breaking ball from Jamie Walker that Griffey reached out for and yanked looking kind of off balance. It wasn't the most awe-inspiring of longballs, and tonight did little to make me think that I was wrong to post what I did. However, if the evidence pointed to Griffey maybe being done a day ago, now the case is a little less convincing, so that's a step in the right direction. This was a big game that Griffey's stat line badly needed.

Russell Branyan doesn't always hit really long home runs, but he does always hit really high home runs. Tonight he put a perfect Branyan swing on a 3-2 slider from Walker and launched it about 10 or 15 rows back into right. I'm beginning to understand how he's able to so consistently post such extreme GB/FB ratios. He swings the bat like he's trying to hit an invisible person in front of him flush in the nutsack. There's just something so refreshing about the one guy in this lineup hitting home runs that don't make you wonder. When Branyan hits one, the only question is whether the outfielder will even bother running.

When we came into the season, one of my concerns about the offense was that having supposed platoon bats like Branyan and Griffey in the middle would leave us vulnerable to lefty relievers. Those two have responded by slugging .588 against lefties over 85 at bats. Our three best offensive performances against lefties so far have come from our three regular left-handed hitters. This is the weirdest sport.

I could use this space to talk to you about how Sean White isn't the least bit deserving of his shiny ERA, but instead of that, I'm going to point you to the fact that, over his last seven appearances, he's managed to throw 67% strikes while still generating a good number of grounders. That's good, and the 1-1 changeup he threw to Adam Jones today was absolutely wicked. So while Sean White's true talent level is going to catch up with him one of these days, my hope is that his true talent is a little better than his numbers. Truth be told, while his K/BB is currently under 1, it really doesn't have to get a whole lot better in order for him to be a useful reliever. The stuff is there for him to run lines like a poor man's Brad Ziegler.

In case you're wondering, today was the fourth consecutive day that Ichiro extended his hit streak in his first at bat. He's now set a new club record of 26 games. Yay, Ichiro. I wonder if Beltre's hit in 26 games all season.

Jamie Walker looks like the sort of guy who lives with eight or nine children. I just can't decide if he looks like he's supposed to.

Going for the series win tomorrow with Jason Vargas against Brad Bergesen, who appears to be a righty that lives off a high-80s sinkoh no

LINEUP	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA
Adam Kennedy - 2B	.298	6	24	.368	.474	.369
Jack Cust - RF	.227	13	37	.313	.421	.323
Matt Holliday - LF	.269	8	39	.367	.423	.352
Jason Giambi - DH	.205	10	37	.341	.384	.326
Kurt Suzuki - C	.278	4	27	.325	.400	.320
Orlando Cabrera - SS	.243	2	25	.289	.313	.264
Bobby Crosby - 1B	.190	3	17	.291	.306	.275
Ryan Sweeney - CF	.254	2	18	.315	.320	.289
Jack Hannahan - 3B	.191	1	8	.273	.304	.262