Athletics Nation

Neither Lucky Nor Good Makes For A Yawner Of A 4-0 Loss

2012-05-16T01:58:12Z

The A's were not good today in any way. Offensively, they chased a lot of bad pitches (yes, Ervin Santana had something to do with this) and down 4-0 in the 8th began the inning with each of 4 batters swinging at the first pitch. Following Cliff Pennington's 2B as the second batter of the game, 16 consecutive A's were retired. then when Oakland loaded the bases in the 6th, Seth Smith chased a slider in the dirt to strike out.

Defensively, Bartolo Colon missed a one-hopper back to the mound that would have ended the 3rd inning, instead opening the door for the Angels to score twice, then in the 5th deflected a ball that had he let it go would have been an easy 4-3 putout instead of an RBI infield hit. Cliff Pennington's attempt to keep a ball on the infield with a runner at 2B and two out was also an epic fail, and really nothing rolled quite the A's way defensively unless Josh Reddick was throwing -- Reddick did get his major league best 5th outfield assist today.

Meanwhile, Lady Luck apparently took out a lot of money in Vegas on today's game, which I am submitting to the league as an official "conflict of interest" complaint. (I expect Bud Selig to form a committee and issue a decision within 3-4 years.) Colon's line looks ugly, and here I'm not just referring to his waist. On paper, it's 6.2 IP, 12 hits and 4 ER, but in reality he was generally bounced and rolled to death -- Albert Pujols alone had 3 consecutive infield hits, and aside from Mike Trout's impressive HR to CF in the 7th, very few of the hits off of Colon were hit all that hard.

Really, it was just "one of those days" combined with Santana doing his usual number on the A's for 7.2 scoreless. As banged up as the A's are right now, a split in LAA and a split in TEX would make for a very respectable road trip, and then you come back home-ish to visit the Giants, where you draw Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsang, and a struggling Tim Lincecum.

The hard part will be to get one in Texas. I'm a big Tommy Milone fan and even I don't relish the vision of him facing the Rangers' lineup in Arlington, but that's tomorrow's assignment with Brandon McCarthy going on Thursday. Steal one in Texas and it could be a pretty good week all told. The question is how this lineup will do it.

Open Thread - Game 37: Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels

2012-05-15T22:30:16Z

More baseball! Don't check your calendar; it's not a typo. The A's and Angels play at 7PM Eastern Time, which is 4PM our time. The A's try to sweep the Torii Hunter-less Angels (in what is an incredibly sad story, without knowing many of the details).

The Angels will be starting Ervin Santana, while Bartolo Colon will face off against his old team, now obviously representing Oakland. He is coming off a really terrible start, so I hope he rebounds. The A's will have Kila and Jemile back today, all good things.

I'll be your host for the game, and Nico will be coming in to close.

Your lineups:

1. Jemile Weeks (S) 2B

2. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

3. Josh Reddick (L) RF

4. Seth Smith (L) LF

5. Kila Ka'aihue (L) DH

6. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

7. Daric Barton (L) 1B

8. Kurt Suzuki (R) C

9. Collin Cowgill (R) CF

1. Mike Trout (R) CF

2. Alberto Callaspo (S) 3B

3. Albert Pujols (R) 1B

4. Kendrys Morales (S) DH

5. Mark Trumbo (R) RF

6. Howard Kendrick (R) 2B

7. Vernon Wells (R) LF

8. Erick Aybar (S) SS

9. Bobby Wilson (R) C

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Barton Would’ve Had It - A Criticism of UZR

2012-05-15T14:04:33Z

If you don't already listen, ESPN's Baseball Today podcast is one of the few good things that come out of ESPN these days. It's worth a listen if you have 30-40 minutes in your day where you're performing a mindless task that leaves your ears open.

On Friday's episode, one of the cavalcade of co-hosts, Mark Simon, mentioned that Brett Lawrie has skewed defensive stats. Depending on your choice of defensive metric, Lawrie already has saved somewhere between 5-7 runs in less than two months worth of defensive chances. For the uninitiated, UZR is one flavor of defensive metrics that exist that attempts to rate fielders at each position against each other. So, all the first basemen are rated against each other based on the likelihood that the average guy at that position that year would have made the play. Positive numbers mean that a fielder has saved runs, whereas negative numbers mean that a fielder has given up runs. Plus or minus 10 in any direction means that fielder is pretty good; anything above that puts someone in rarefied air. Think Andruw Jones in his prime in CF for someone really good, and Jack Cust in LF for someone really bad.

At any rate, Simon delved into data with help from ESPN's research department and found that one reason for Lawrie's early success was a number of plays he had made near second base due to an aggressive shifting program that the Jays and many other teams have begun to employ against dead-pull hitters. In other words, because of where a normal 3B would have stood relative to where Lawrie was actually standing before the play, he is credited by UZR with having great range, when in actuality he was simply best positioned to make that play because of the shift. This is where UZR begins to break down - at one point is someone simply a good defender, versus someone whose team got lucky a few times and guessed right on positioning.

How does this affect Barton? Take the play he made last night, ranging behind him and to his left to snag the popup off of Mike Trout's bat to end the 3rd inning. A good play, to be sure, but that seemed to be a play better suited for Jemile Weeks, who came from farther away, but had a superior angle. Barton also makes this play well In Oakland, where a fielder can range far to his left to snag foul pop-ups. Finally, a first basemen can also pick balls to his right, but this time, impeding the ball from getting to the 2nd basemen, whose momentum is taking him toward the direction has to throw to make the out.

If a player makes enough extraordinarily range-y plays, he ends up being credited where perhaps this is not a measure of his true talent. Worse, if a range-y play is actually due to superior positioning, it can paper over a fielder not making the routine plays that 90% of fielders should indeed make. Is this why Barton's 2010 UZR of +10 was so good? Did he make a couple extraordinary plays but then muff some easy ones? It is commonly cited that UZR needs approximately 3 seasons of data to be useful, but let's be real here: analysis is mostly season-based.

So, what kind of fielder is Daric Barton? Is 3 seasons even to rate him, knowing that UZR is such a flawed metric? Is he the best guy the A's can find when taken as a whole? Discuss, if you wish.

Join baseballgirl for today's game thread, and me tomorrow against the Rangers. The A's will try and cleanse the slegnA away using a Colonic in this short series in front of me, the 500 or so other transplanted A's fans who show up to the Big A, and 29,800 of my worst red-clad enemies. 4 PM start... WTF MLB?

Ross and Friends Shutdown Angels in 5 - 0 Win, A's lead Majors with 5 Shutouts.

2012-05-15T05:15:04Z

While the A's lead the majors in pitching shutouts (5), the Angels now lead the majors in offensive shutouts (8). Ouch.

Tyson Ross started the game off throwing 30 pitches in the first inning, but came out of the inning with no damage. He then gave up a lead off single to Mark Trumbo before proceeding to retire the next 9 batters, which took him into the 5th inning. The only jam Ross got into was in the 5th inning where he gave up back to back singles to ALberto Callaspo and Vernon Wells, but he was able to retire Bobby Wilson without any damage. Tyson Ross's final outing came out to 5 hits 1 walk and 2 strikeouts over 6 shutout innings.

Dan Haren on the other hand was not his best in his start tonight as he gave up a solo home run to Josh Reddick in the 1st inning. Haren was able to cruise through to the third inning, but after a double from Seth Smith followed by a wild pitch, Josh Donaldson hit a sacrifice fly to double the A's lead to 2 - 0. Haren struggled again by leading off the 5th inning and hitting Jemile Weeks. Cliff Pennington then hit a single to right field, advancing Weeks to third base and Pennington to second on the throw by Mark Trumbo. After loading the bases with an intentional walk to Josh Reddick, Haren induced a ground out from Jonny Gomes, but Seth Smith followed with a 2 run double to increase the A's lead to 4 - 0. Haren would finish up the inning and then get a 1-2-3 inning to finish his outing at 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts over 6 innings.

The A's ended up scoring another run in the 8th inning off of Jason Isringhausen on an RBI single from Kurt Suzuki brought home Josh Donaldson. The A's bullpen was able to finish off he Angels with 3 shutout innings from Grant Balfour, Jordan Norberto, and Ryan Cook. The A's ( 19W - 17L) are now 4 games behind the Rangers after todays win.

Bartolo Colon will take on Ervin Santana tomorrow in the last game of this 2 game series in Anaheim which starts at 4 PM

Overflow Game Thread: A's at Angels

2012-05-15T04:10:06Z

A's lead the Angels 4 - 0!

Tyson Ross has pitched 6 innings with 5 hits 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.

Lets add on some runz!!!!

Game Thread: Oakland A's at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

2012-05-15T01:45:01Z

Today the A's take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to start a 7 game road trip featuring a 2 game series against the Angels and Rangers, and a 3 game series at At&t Park against the Giants.

Tyson Ross (7.71 ERA) is set to make his 6th start of the season and he will be up against fromer A's pitcher Dan Haren (4.19 ERA). Tyson Ross has had success against the Angels throughout his short career with a 2.61 ERA and 11 strikeouts to 2 walks over 19.2 innings pitched.

Dating back to the first game of the Red Sox series, the A's have scored 60 runs in their last 12 games, so that averages out to a whole 5 runs per game! Of course that has been with a healthy lineup, which has now been plagued by some minor injuries to Yoenis Cespedes, Jemile Weeks, Kila Ka'aihue, and Brandon Inge. Fortunately, Jemile Weeks will be in the starting lineup today as he had a minor ankle sprain during Saturdays' Tigers game.

Athletics

1. Jemile Weeks (S) 2B

2. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

3. Josh Reddick (L) RF

4. Jonny Gomes (R) DH

5. Seth Smith (L) LF

6. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

7. Daric Barton (L) 1B

8. Kurt Suzuki (R) C

9. Collin Cowgill (R) CF

Angels

1. Mike Trout (R) CF

2. Maicer Izturis (S) 2B

3. Albert Pujols (R) 1B

4. Kendrys Morales (S) DH

5. Mark Trumbo (R) RF

6. Alberto Callaspo (S) 3B

7. Vernon Wells (R) LF

8. Erick Aybar (S) SS

9. Bobby Wilson (R) C

Down On The Farm – Week #6: Tough Times Down On The Farm

2012-05-14T10:51:01Z

Well, with the exception of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, there’s been some tough times down on the farm of late, with A’s affiliates besides the Cats going a combined 3-16 last week. The Double-A Midland RockHounds are currently riding a 6-game losing streak, while the Class-A Stockton Ports are now in the midst of a brutal 13-game losing streak. Top prospect Michael Choice hit just his 2^nd home run of the season for Midland last week, and infielder Miles Head, who was acquired in the Andrew Bailey deal with Boston, has pretty much been the lone bright spot at Stockton. You can get daily updates on everything that’s going on with the A’s minor league teams and top prospects on my Athletics Farm blog and lots more details on the last week of A’s minor league action right here on Athletics Nation after the jump…

SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS

(Triple-A Pacific Coast League)

Record This Week: 4-2

Record This Season: 25-13

Unlike most of the A’s other affiliates, the River Cats continued their winning ways last week, led by the strong performance of their starting rotation. Right-handers Graham Godfrey, Brad Peacock and Bruce Billings have all been solid, and A.J. Griffin, who had been Midland’s most dominant starter, has now been promoted to join the River Cats’ staff. Sacramento’s bullpen lost its best arm when Andrew Carignan was called up by the big club and right-hander Jim Miller was sent down to take his place. The team also lost two of its hottest hitters when third baseman Josh Donaldson and outfielder Collin Cowgill were recalled by the A’s. But the River Cats regained the team’s most productive hitter this season when outfielder Michael Taylor was returned to Sacramento. After 100 at bats, Taylor’s batting average stands at a robust .360 and, despite his time with the A’s, he still manages to lead the River Cats in both doubles with 14 and stolen bases with 7. Outfielder Brandon Moss is the team-leader in home runs and total bases, and first baseman Chris Carter leads the team in hits, walks and RBIs, but the right-handed slugger also leads the club in strikeouts with 43 in 138 at bats.

Top Cats:

Outfielder Michael Taylor (16 R / 2 HR / 18 RBI / 10 BB / 14 K / .360 AVG / .416 OBP / .560 SLG / .976 OPS)

Outfielder Brandon Moss (19 R / 7 HR / 19 RBI / 14 BB / 19 K / .298 AVG / .376 OBP / .540 SLG / .916 OPS)

First baseman Chris Carter (21 R / 4 HR / 23 RBI / 17 BB / 43 K / .283 AVG / .361 OBP / .449 SLG / .810 OPS)

Catcher Derek Norris (20 R / 4 HR / 21 RBI / 9 BB / 21 K / .293 AVG / .333 OBP / .500 SLG / .833 OPS)

Pitcher Graham Godfrey (26 IP / 27 H / 4 ER / 4 BB / 18 K / 1.38 ERA / 1.19 WHIP)

Pitcher Bruce Billings (28 1/3 IP / 23 H / 7 ER / 7 BB / 24 K / 2.22 ERA / 1.06 WHIP)

Pitcher Brad Peacock (39 1/3 IP / 36 H / 16 ER / 14 BB / 37 K / 3.66 ERA / 1.27 WHIP)

MIDLAND ROCKHOUNDS

(Double-A Texas League)

Record This Week: 0-6

Record This Season: 18-18

After going 6-1 the previous week, the RockHounds really turned the tables and lost all 6 of their games last week to even their record at 18-18. Rocky outings from previously reliable right-handers Daniel Straily and Gary Daley contributed to the slide. The team’s only real productive hitters have been outfielders Shane Peterson, Conner Crumbliss and Jeremy Barfield along with former shortstop turned third baseman Josh Horton. Horton currently leads the team in hits and total bases, Barfield leads in RBIs and doubles, Crumbliss in runs and stolen bases, and Peterson leads all RockHounds regulars in on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Outfielder Michael Choice notched just his 2^nd homer last week in 136 at bats with Midland.

Top Hounds:

Outfielder Shane Peterson (24 R / 2 HR / 21 RBI / 29 BB / 33 K / .297 AVG / .451 OBP / .486 SLG / .937 OPS)

Outfielder Conner Crumbliss (26 R / 4 HR / 14 RBI / 26 BB / 22 K / .273 AVG / .404 OBP / .438 SLG / .842 OPS)

Third Baseman Josh Horton (14 R / 4 HR / 19 RBI / 21 BB / 34 K / .280 AVG / .381 OBP / .447 SLG / .828 OPS)

Outfielder Jeremy Barfield (21 R / 3 HR / 24 RBI / 7 BB / 18 K / .297 AVG / .336 OBP / .466 SLG / .802 OPS)

Pitcher Murphy Smith (35 IP / 25 H / 12 ER / 13 BB / 28 K / 3.09 ERA / 1.09 WHIP)

Pitcher Daniel Straily (45 1/3 IP / 42 H / 22 ER / 16 BB / 54 K / 4.37 ERA / 1.28 WHIP)

Pitcher Jonathan Ortiz (12 2/3 IP / 10 H / 2 ER / 3 BB / 12 K / 1.42 ERA / 1.03 WHIP / 6 Saves)

STOCKTON PORTS

(Advanced-A California League)

Record This Week: 0-6

Record This Season: 11-24

The misery continued in Stockton as the Ports lost all 6 of their games last week, running their losing streak to a painful 13 games, and the team has now lost 18 of its last 19 games. Stockton’s starting staff, which was expected to be a real strength has instead turned out to be a real weakness. A.J. Cole, Ian Krol and Blake Hassebrock were expected to lead the staff, but they currently have 1 win between them and, after 7 starts, Cole’s record now stands at 0-6. None of the trio has an ERA under 6.75, and another Stockton starter, Josh Bowman, has an ERA of 6.14. The only impressive member of Stockton’s starting staff has been 15^th-round draft pick T.J. Walz, who sports a nifty ERA of 2.72 after 6 starts. The only consistently productive hitter for the Ports has been infielder Miles Head, who currently leads all A’s minor leaguers in hits, RBIs and slugging percentage and is tied for the lead in home runs with Burlington outfielder Dusty Robinson.

Top Ports:

Infielder Miles Head (25 R / 8 HR / 27 RBI / 7 BB / 30 K / .336 AVG / .372 OBP / .656 SLG / 1.029 OPS)

1B A.J. Kirby-Jones (15 R / 5 HR / 18 RBI / 20 BB / 36 K / .273 AVG / .382 OBP / .455 SLG / .836 OPS)

Outfielder Josh Whitaker (20 R / 3 HR / 11 RBI / 15 BB / 45 K / .256 AVG / .340 OBP / .384 SLG / .724 OPS)

Pitcher T.J. Walz (36 1/3 IP / 34 H / 11 ER / 8 BB / 42 K / 2.72 ERA / 1.16 WHIP)

Pitcher Blake Treinen (44 IP / 48 H / 22 ER / 8 BB / 35 K / 4.50 ERA / 1.27 WHIP)

BURLINGTON BEES

(Class-A Midwest League)

Record This Week: 3-4

Record This Season: 17-19

The Bees’ offense has been led by outfielder Dusty Robinson since the start of the season, but third baseman B.A. Vollmuth has been starting to heat up of late. The 2011 3^rd-round draft pick currently leads the team in doubles, is tied with Robinson for the team lead in hits, and is second to Robinson in both RBIs and total bases. Burlington’s starting staff has been led by the dynamic duo of Sean Murphy and Drew Granier. Murphy leads all A’s minor leaguers with a miniscule ERA of 1.27, and Granier leads all A’s minor leaguers with 5 wins after 7 starts. The rest of the Bees rotation hasn’t been quite so impressive. Jose Macias sports an ERA of 7.16, Jonathan Joseph’s stands at 5.15 and Raul Alcantara, who was starting to fare a little better of late, currently has an ERA of 4.41 with 17 walks in just 32 2/3 innings.

Top Bees:

Outfielder Dusty Robinson (23 R / 8 HR / 26 RBI / 14 BB / 31 K / .269 AVG / .351 OBP / .562 SLG / .913 OPS)

Outfielder Royce Consigli (15 R / 3 HR / 13 RBI / 14 BB / 17 K / .248 AVG / .333 OBP / .422 SLG / .755 OPS)

3B B.A. Vollmuth (17 R / 4 HR / 25 RBI / 10 BB / 42 K / .250 AVG / .301 OBP / .414 SLG / .715 OPS)

Pitcher Sean Murphy (42 2/3 IP / 28 H / 6 ER / 17 BB / 44 K / 1.27 ERA / 1.05 WHIP)

Pitcher Drew Granier (38 IP / 33 H / 9 ER / 11 BB / 38 K / 2.13 ERA / 1.16 WHIP)

You can check out my blog - Athletics Farm - for daily updates on the A’s minor league teams and all the top prospects down on the farm.

Justin Verlander Silences A's Silent Bats

2012-05-13T23:36:29Z

The A's had a somewhat B-squad out there today to face arguably the best pitcher in Major League Baseball and it showed. Any time a team can only manage two hits you deserve to lose. Coupling that with walking six guys and it is a miracle you only lose the game 3-1. The A's bats most definitely were enjoying brunch with their mothers today as only Seth Smith with a no-doubt solo shot to right and Josh Reddick with a bloop single in the fourth managed hits. Otherwise the A's bats were shut down to the tune of 11 strikeouts while only managing two walks.

Jarrod Parker was today's soreluck loser. He wasn't great getting into trouble and running up his pitch count with a rough first and second innings during which he was able to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard despite some shakiness. He settled in but his pitch count got the best of him and he left having thrown 112 pitches and with the bases loaded. Grant Balfour continued his poor pitching of late walking in the go-ahead run to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. That lead would hold under curiously Bob Melvin inserted Pedro Figueroa who has seldom been used and has been used in the least leverage situations as possible. Entering the game with awful peripherals masked by his 1.50 ERA he promptly allowed an insurance run. All was for naught as the A's went quietly 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the ninth against Tigers closer Jose Valverde.

Not much to write about in this one. The A's simply were outplayed. The A's got lucky with only surrendering three runs despite allowing six walks, and the Tigers just dominated when they were throwing the ball. A's take on the Halos tomorrow in sunny Southern California so if anyone else is going hit me up!

Also please check out my interview posted this morning with Jerry Blevins and Nico's great piece posted near simultaneously on how to field bunts it is a great read.