2014 Oakland Athletics Thread

Originally posted by SoCold:

Originally posted by DelCed2486:
Ho-hum, another nightmare finish in Detroit...for as good as Doolittle can and has been for the most part, he has got to develop a consistently good secondary and even a third pitch. He relies on the fastball too much, and if hitters are disciplined enough to lay off the high fastball he likes to throw, then he has to give in and bring it down into the hitting zone. Granted, he can still get guys out there, but he's not nearly as effective. Even though Chapman is pumping up to 103 MPH gas, he's cut back on his fastballs, throwing more sliders and has even increased his change-ups.

Doolittle threw Austin Jackson 9 fast balls in a row a guy who went 0-5 the day before with 4 strikeouts and was 0-3 last night with this huge walk
awesome job by Jackson fouling off 4 heaters in a row Jackson. He doesn't care for the curve ball and just after striking out Suarez on two straight curves have no idea why he didn't throw Jackson at least one?

Then he throws Davis who loves to hit the curve two straight curves LOL
Even the Tigers radio guy was like he's not gonna throw him another curve is he?
BEWM

Great comeback for the Tigers should be an awesome couple games coming up.

Yeah, was still at work and only able to catch brief bits on the radio or online, but with the Jackson AB it seemed to be nothing but fastballs, a change-up might've been nice. And then he did go slider to Davis, but after seeing video of it, that was not a good slider at all, hung it like Romo's been doing the past month.

Doolittle behind the 8-ball as it is being a lefty closer, and even though he touches 96-97 on occasion, his avg is 93-94, so it's not overpowering stuff...his good control and funky release help him, and he is a damn good pitcher. But to be a great closer he needs to master at least one more pitch and wouldn't hurt to be at least average with a third. Like I said, even the Cuban Missile who throws 100+ has expanded his repertoire and isn't relying on his fastball nearly as much. Granted, Mariano Rivera made a living and HOF career predominantly with his cutter, but he's definitely the exception.

Man I hate this Tigers team. The A's WILL lose to them again in a playoff series if they meet up again. They are the only team I dont think the A's can beat in the playoffs, and my guess is they knock them out again this year. Because the A's always get screwed like that.

We will probably get swept today. Verlander is pitching.

Originally posted by socalfan21:
We will probably get swept today. Verlander is pitching.

Verlander is having the worst start to a season ever. He's on pace to give up the most runs and walks in his career.

This is a huge game for him. Turning point or continued struggles?

It's a day game and every day game I've listened to at work this year the Tigers have sucked.

So you guys got that going for you.

Originally posted by SoCold:

Originally posted by socalfan21:
We will probably get swept today. Verlander is pitching.

Verlander is having the worst start to a season ever. He's on pace to give up the most runs and walks in his career.

This is a huge game for him. Turning point or continued struggles?

It's a day game and every day game I've listened to at work this year the Tigers have sucked.

So you guys got that going for you.

Verlander has struggled this year, but he's one of those guys like Hernandez, Lackey, Weaver who own the A's...but they did have some success this season against Weaver I think it was, so miracles do happen.

Tigers offense bats .799 with RISP. Or at least it seems that way....

And the A's seemingly bat .007 with RISP....

O'Flaherty needs to be brought up and Johnson cut tonight.

Beane needs to sell everyone in the minors for Price and Zobrist.

Time to improve the team, not let it dwindle away and get surpassed by the Angels.

Originally posted by captveg:
O'Flaherty needs to be brought up and Johnson cut tonight.

Beane needs to sell everyone in the minors for Price and Zobrist.

Time to improve the team, not let it dwindle away and get surpassed by the Angels.

Yeah, I think this is the year to sell out, WS or bust. Sure it's nice to be the plucky underdog little engine that could team year after year, and if you want to hang your hat on getting to the playoffs then that's fine...but if you want to seriously compete for a WS, THIS is the year. There are some solid pieces in place, but you still need a couple more to be able to be a serious contender with teams like the Tigers, Angels, Blue Jays, etc.

Chavez seems to be running out of steam with his Cinderella story as a starter...it would be so great if they could have him back in the pen to be that guy who can give you 2,3 or even 4 innings long relief. He's not terrible as a SP, but it's not his forte.

Re: Johnson...okay, now that HALF the season has gone by, it might be time to pull the plug on this dud. Of course whichever team he goes to he'll probably get 20 saves and sub-2.00 ERA the remainder of the season, but he is damaged goods with the A's.

Beane should just DFA Jim Johnson. The money is a sunk cost anyway.

As soon as Doolittle hung that world's laziest slider to Davis, I knew this was gonna be a sweep.

Now back to Oakland for 4-gamer vs Toronto, game 1 going against RA Dickey, he's another guy that abuses the A's so you can probably pencil in the W for Blue Jays in that one. Think I'd be happy to get a 2-2 split, then it's a "home and home" 4 games vs Giants.

Originally posted by captveg:
O'Flaherty needs to be brought up and Johnson cut tonight.

Beane needs to sell everyone in the minors for Price and Zobrist.

Time to improve the team, not let it dwindle away and get surpassed by the Angels.

Hearing O'flaherty could be called up by tomorrow, so cross your fingers.

Frances DFA'd instead. If Johnson is brought in for anything other than the long-man mop-up down-by-10-runs role I'll puke.

Cool atmosphere at the Fireworks game last night. No Coco, No JD...still got a win. Sonny looked great...defense played solid behind him. Got back to our regiment/formula of winning games.

Honestly, the team looked like it was just happy to be home. They played like they were exhausted toward the end of the Miami series, then stumbled in Detroit.