SB Nation User Blog: FoolshGame22

The July Sigh

FoolshGame22 — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:10:43 -0000

Okay, this is a truncated version of what I intended to post. AN 3.0 ate my original post. So, it's not as stat-laden as originally intended. I was going to post the individual stats of A's players in July (especially, the hitters). Sorry to the stat-inclined, they would have been amused, but I'm too lazy to dig them out ,again. Anyway, here goes... Pourin' half a forty on the ground for my ol' homey, Oaktoon...

We've all heard of the June Swoon... I think another Bay Area team made that phrase famous. But, we got past June in pretty good shape. July has been a bitch, though. As most of you suspected, without even knowing for sure... the A's are last in runs scored for July with 63. Is July an indicator of crappy teams? You be the judge:

25.  Tampa Bay  69

26.  Houston  68

27.  San Diego 68

28.  San Franciso  68

29.  Seattle  64

30.  Oakland  63

Now, the Rays are pretty bad in July, too... But, they're still 1 whole game in front in the East. Will they stay there? Prolly not, despite my pre-season projection that they'd win the East, they probably won't... The fuckin' Yanks probably will. Nevertheless, I'm stickin' with that prediction on the off chance the Rays are as good as I thought they'd be.

Damn, 63 runs... numero 30... we suck! Okay, it's late, I'm gonna have to edit this when I wake up to include all the lousy July individual stats, but... I'll just hit post instead of draft for now.

I hate this team...

FoolshGame22 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:04:56 -0000

No, seriously... I do. They are crap! Always losing the close games. Run differential should put us in 1st place. Pythagoras lies. Let's face it, we need more hitters. Do we have any on the horizon in the next 3 years?

Who is batting cleanup today, Bob? Emil Brown? Well, no... hopefully, after this year, it'll be Jack Cust for us. But, maybe that's only if Billy doesn't decide to re-sign the RBI Machine to a long term extension after he leads us in RBI this year.

I taught my kid to love the A's.... he's 2 1/2 years old. "Let's go to a ballgame, daddy!" I don't take him to watch them anymore. It's too depressing. (And, I don't want him to watch batters strike out looking... I actually want him to swing when he gets to T-Ball.)

I was kinda excited when Brooks Conrad got the callup... what's he now? 0 for everything? What a fool was I? I'm still rootin' for ya, Brooks. But, seriously, would Brooks or Wes or Jack or Huston be on any other major league roster?

Nevertheless, I want to see all all the vets gone... every last one.

Huston Street as a closer, for christ sake! The guy can barely throw a fastball over 82 MPH. He should be the first to go... Ellis next. And, finally, when some team is totally desperate... Duke, because we'll get the most for him at the very last minute. Put us out of our misery by July 31st.

I know this isn't worthy of a fAnPoSt... but, I no longer care.

I use "we" and 'us" quite liberally throughout this fAnPoSt... did you notice that?

Edit: Get some hitters, Billy, or see attendance down around the 7,000 per game level.

Most depressing DLD ever 4-11-08: Are you believers yet?

FoolshGame22 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:20:52 -0000

I know Blez isn't. He predicts the Angels will win the West. He doesn't think the A's will sniff an AL West title this year. That's okay... none of the pundits did, either.

I suspect Nico isn't... I haven't seen him commit, but I've seen enough to know he leans toward the Angels, as well.

Monkeyball... I'm not sure. I couldn't access the Official Prediction Thread. But, as I recall, he didn't post there. So, in my hypothetical world, he picked the Angels, too.

So, now that the A's are in 1st place.... where are you AN? Yes, Harden's on the DL... yes, Duke is on the DL. Nevertheless, we dominate the AL in pitching stats. Not so much in hitting stats (yet).

So, anyone want to change their minds? You only get credit if you post, PaulThomas. Where'd you have the A's finishing in the AL West? Last? 3rd? Or, no where near the top?

Here's the depressing part:

Mark Kotsay is pretty good this year. Okay, he's no Ryan Sweeney, but he's pretty good.

Jason Kendall is really good this year.

Aaron Harang is excellent this year.

Eric Byrnes is a star on a team of young, bright supernovas!

And, Marco Scutaro almost beat us today. I wouldn't have liked that, even though I like Marco.

Remember any of these guys from A's 1998 (since I am unable to edit the title)?

Poll

The A's will finish in....

Does OBP tell the truth?

FoolshGame22 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:53:32 -0000

Or should we just ignore Spring Training stats? Or should we just ignore OBP stats?

Because, if we believe them, the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays will be the best teams in baseball this year. Well, only if you believe OBP is the "end-all-and be-all" stat... OBP Leaders. I'm actually okay with that, but do I believe it? No, because the A's won't pick the best guys to play. I'm pretty confident in that. However, the Rays might, so they could surprise a lot of people. Don't get me wrong, I think both of those teams will be good teams, but maybe not great teams. Does OBP lie?

I want the stat nerds of AN to tell me why, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary in Spring Training, that the A's and Rays won't compete for the whole enchilada down the stretch. They lead in OBP.

Does Spring Training predict nothing? Or, is there some pitching element in the equation I'm not accounting for?

The First Pitch (repost)

FoolshGame22 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:10:56 -0000

I lost my draft diary (fanpost) with the new AN format. That was my fault. I drafted it soon after I threw out the first pitch at the end of last season. And, obviously, I waited way too long to publish it. Politics and baseball are my favorite pastimes and politics won out this offseason. After learning that my edited draft wouldn't accept comments and, at the request of other members, I am re-posting this as a new FanPost. Apologies to those who previously voted in the poll.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Justine, Galt and I arrived at the park early that day in late September 2007. We had been given the tickets by fellow season ticket holders who sit right behind our seats. Shortly after we arrived, two young men wandered down the aisle. They turned toward us and asked if we were season ticket holders? We hesitated briefly, then, answered "yes," adding that we weren't sitting in our seats this day as they were the ones directly in front of us.

The two young men walked a few steps down the aisle, huddled for a moment and conversed over their two-way radio with some unseen A's officialdom. As they walked back up the stairs, they said: "Would you like to throw out the first pitch?" Surprise, suspicion, shock, followed by fear, all crossed my mind in an instant. But, they looked official, so I responded succinctly: "Ummm... sure." "Okay," one of them said, "we'll come and get you about 45 minutes before gametime and bring you back to the offices and, then, down to the field."

As promised, they came back and took us back to the offices where they asked for our names and filled out our field passes. David Rinetti, the V.P. of Stadium Operations, came out to hand us the passes after seeing my name on it. I know David from Massimo's Restaurant in Fremont. And, I had thought initially that he might have been behind this. But, it turns out he was just as surprised to see me as I was to be randomly selected.

A couple of other people wandered into the waiting area outside the offices, one of which turned out to be the singer scheduled to sing the National Anthem. He turned out to be pretty good. We all then rode down in the elevator to field level and walked through the hallway connecting the clubhouses to the field (just as you would if occupying the Diamond Level seats). I got to say hello to a couple of players on the way back in... Swish and Scoot, as I recall.

We were escorted to the field by a young woman who had an earpiece in her ear. As we waited for our turn in the pre-game ceremonies, she asked me if I was the Dan Gordon who owned Gordon Biersch? I'm pretty sure she was prompted by the scoreboard guy or someone else on her earpiece to ask me that question. And, I was momentarily tempted to say "yes" just to see if Lew would invite me up to his box. Alas, I said "no" and that ended my potential VIP treatment.

Daric Barton was assigned as my catcher. We got to chat with him briefly before I threw the first pitch. I was surprised that I wasn't more nervous. They gave me the option of throwing from in front of the mound, half-way up the mound or from the rubber. I thought to myself, "Hey, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, I might as well do it from the top of the mound." I asked Daric if he could handle a "hard slider, low and away" and he said: "Sure, if it gets to me." (Thanks, Daric, for the boost in confidence.)

After walking out to the mound, I realized I'd probably made a mistake choosing to throw from the rubber. Damn! That's far, I thought to myself... a lot farther than it looks from my normal vantage point in Section 120. Mind you, I haven't thrown a baseball from a mound in probably 30 years, perhaps longer. "Aim high" Daric had told me as we walked out to our positions. I reminded myself to take his advice.

As it turned out, it was a pretty good pitch. It bounced on the plate, but I think Bobby Crosby would have swung at it. Daric caught it and also autographed it. Whew, no complete humiliation! And, a great experience overall. I'd recommend it to everybody who is ever offered the chance.

Oh, of course, the one and only time in the last three seasons that Justine doesn't bring her digital camera, it was this day. Thanks to the A's camera folks for taking the pictures and e-mailing them to us.

Anyway, here are some of the pics:

On the Mound (I almost missed the sign to throw the ball)

The Scoreboard

The Pitch

The Pitch (close-up)

Daric Barton and Me (after the pitch)

Justine and Galt on the field to watch the first pitch

Poll

Would you throw out the first pitch if given the chance?

Wear It! It's time to apologize to Urban.

FoolshGame22 — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:59:38 -0000

I think everyone on AN, including myself, owes Mychael Urban an apology. At least, for his Milton Bradley "tired act" article. I liked Bradley. I think most ANer's did. But, Urban told it like it was and was raked over the coals here at Athletics Nation.

I have it on relatively good authority that this had nothing to do with overcrowding in the outfield, or accelerating trade negotiations, or keeping Dan Johnson at 1st base. Please... I am probably one of the few DJ supporters on this site, but even I don't believe that one.

It was strictly a "dump Milton" move. He'd worn out his welcome. Urban was right. He got to be a tired act. I'm sure Mychael is privately saying "FU AN! I told ya so." Well, Mychael, you were right, I was wrong. And, IMO, so was most of AN.

I'm sure Billy made this move because he feels he has other options now. But, let's face it, he's going to get very little in return for Bradley. And, he really doesn't care.

Edit (in order to enhance my "tired act" status):
Byrnes AVG OBP SLG OPS HR
Season .318 .370 .514 .884 11
June .355 .383 .500 .883 3
So much for your hoped-for June swoon. ;-)

Poll

Do you forgive Urban?

Kotsay and Kendall Must Go!

FoolshGame22 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:34:34 -0000

The gritty team leaders? Okay, maybe... we can do without the grit. We're not the Angels. Even Geren knows they suck. I'm sure he thought twice before putting them ahead of Gaudin in the batting order tonight.

Sometimes events converge in such a way that they just impel me to post a diary. Today, the bottom of our batting order and this insightful article (Stunning Study Shows: Teams Should Play Their Best Players) prompted me to do just that.

Upon reading the article, I thought about how that might apply to our A's. Now, I know that with all of the injured players this year (especially, with Milton leap-frogging on and off the DL), this might seem an inapplicable theory for our lovable moppets. But, upon further consideration, I think not.

Are we playing the "best available player" at catcher? Or, are we playing him because we owe him a shitload of money this year?

Are we currently playing the "best available player" in center field? Or, are we playing him because we owe him a shitload of money this year?

Admittedly, Kendall is, arguably, the best option on the major league roster at catcher, but that wouldn't stop me from calling up Suzuki now and seeing what happens. He could hardly be any worse. And, if he is... hey, it was a short experiment.

Certainly, a healthy Milton would make this decision all the more obvious in the case of center field. But, I'm counting each day that Snelling remains in his rehab assignment as Kotsay's batting average swirls closer to the heart of the black hole. Really, I didn't think it was possible to suck worse than Kendall or Bocachica, but Kots is proving me wrong:

Kotsay before tonight's game (22 AB):
AVG OBP SLG OPS
.091 .130 .091 .221

Kotsay after tonight's game (27 AB):
AVG OBP SLG OPS
.074 .107 .074 .181

By way of comparison:
Snelling before tonight's game (20 AB):
AVG OBP SLG OPS
.350 .480 .350 .830

Okay, maybe it's Kotsay's "Spring Training." If that's your thought, then, maybe he should be down at Papago in extended Spring Training or down with Sacto until he gets right. But, there are clearly better options now!

Is an outfield of Stewart, Swisher and Buck, with DJ at 1st and Cust at DH worse than Kotsay rehabbing in center field? Clearly not. How many games are the offensive black holes named Kendall and Kotsay gonna cost us this year? Probably more than we can afford, I'm afraid.

Play your best players, Billy. Sit the losers.

Poll

Who will have the lowest OPS this year?

2007 Prognostications

FoolshGame22 — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:56:21 -0000

The rosters are set. Opening Day is tomorrow. Every team has a chance to win it all, right? Well, maybe not the Royals, Pirates, Devil Rays or Giants, but almost every other team has hope. But, according to the collective wisdom of baseball pundits and prognosticators, our Oakland A's aren't going to be going to the playoffs this year. I would say the consensus is that our beloved A's will finish 2nd behind the Angels (and, probably, many on AN would agree with this; although I am, obviously, not among them).

Just for fun, here is a sample of various "expert" predictions for the 2007 baseball season:

CBS Sportsline.com

Ken Rosenthal (Fox Sports)

Sports Illustrated

ESPN Experts Picks

Now, I realize that someone did this earlier in the offseason, but that was before it was official that Travis Buck will be starting in the outfield and Chad Gaudin would be starting in the rotation. So, now, it's time for AN's official prediction thread. Here are mine:

AL West
Oakland Athletics
Texas Rangers
Anaheim Angels
Seattle Mariners

AL Central
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers [WC]
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Kansas City Royals

AL East
Boston Red Sox
Toronto Blue Jays
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Devil Rays

NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
L.A. Dodgers [WC]
San Diego Pardres
Colorado Rockies
S.F. Giants

NL Central
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros
Pittsburgh Pirates

NL East
Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves
N.Y. Mets
Florida Marlins
Washington Nationals

ALDS
Oakland over Cleveland
Detroit over Boston

ALCS
Oakland over Detroit

NLDS
Philadelphia over L.A. Dodgers
Arizona over Milwaukee

NLCS
Philadelphia over Arizona

World Series
Oakland over Philadelphia

MVP
AL: Grady Sizemore
NL: Ryan Howard

Rookie of the Year
AL: Alex Gordon
NL: Chris Young

Manager of the Year
AL: Bob Geren
NL: Ned Yost

Cy Young
AL: Rich Harden
NL: Brandon Webb

I always enjoy looking back after the end of the season to see how foolishly optimistic I had been. Hey, at least, I had the A's getting to the ALCS, last year. ;-)

Purely for Poll Results

FoolshGame22 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:05:51 -0000

Who is the A's #2 Starter... Joe Blanton or Danny Haren? My Poll didn't get posted in my original diary and, although, I counted a lot of OG ANers voting against me (by their comments), I didn't really get an accurate count. So, I'm posting the poll again (if it works, this time).

Previous Diary: http://www.athleticsnation.com/story...

Stats in support of my position:
2007 Spring Training Pitching Stats
Pitcher ERA IP H ER BB SO
Harden 0.00 5.0 4 0 0 9
Blanton 4.76 5.2 8 3 3 6
Haren 5.40 8.1 11 5 4 5
Loaiza 10.12 2.2 5 3 2 3
Kennedy 15.95 7.1 21 13 5 2

Now, the OG's pretty much all chimed in against me, but do all 6,000+ AN'ers agree with them? C'mon, Blez and Nico... I know, you want to weigh in here. ;-)

Blanton or Haren... who is our #2?

FoolshGame22 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:03:56 -0000

Who is our #3 starter? Blanton or Loaiza? That's how most AN'ers would ask the quesion... wouldn't they? Assuming arguendo, that Danny Haren is our #2, they go on to debate, in the earlier offseason, what we could have gotten for Joe Blanton in a trade.

Well, I'm sorry... I don't think Blanton is our #4. In fact, I don't think it's so obvious he's our #3. And, me being me, I'm willing to say so.

So, here it is:

Danny Haren:
W L ERA
2005 14 12 3.73
2006 14 13 4.12
Career ERA: 4.12
Wins for the A's (2005 & 2006): 28
Losses for the A's (2005 & 2006): 15

Joe Blanton:
W L ERA
2005 12 12 3.53
2006 16 12 4.83
Career ERA: 4.19
Wins for the A's (2005 & 2006): 28
Losses for the A's (2005 & 2006): 14

Now, by my standard, which is how many wins and how may losses a pitcher logs for my team, I'd have to give Blanton the edge. He's our #2, right?

But, I know, on AN, it isn't going to be that easy, is it? You're all gonna throw peripherial numbers at me and tell me how much better Haren is than Blanton, right? Is he? Will he win more games for the A's than Blanton this year? I know, I know... W/L is such a bad indicator of pitching performance. Except that it is an indicator of which team goes to the playoffs (and, usually, who wins them).

So without further ado, here's your chance to put your vote where your mouth is...