2014 Oakland Athletics Thread

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Pro-Angels have fallen off, lost 4 in a row, now 4 games back.

Con-Cespedes is batting .305 for Boston

Small sample size. He's only been there a week. He also only has a few RBIs and no homers.

Originally posted by socalfan21:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Pro-Angels have fallen off, lost 4 in a row, now 4 games back.

Con-Cespedes is batting .305 for Boston

Small sample size. He's only been there a week. He also only has a few RBIs and no homers.

And Lester had a 3 hit complete game shutout.

Yoenis helping us out today by taking out the Angels. The A's need to start manufacturing runs on a regular basis. That Skaggs injury is a blow to the Angels but the A's need to keep their foot on the gas.

Man, I hope these trades payoff come playoff time. And I don't want to lose to the freaking Tigers again.

Was watching Quick Pitch with my sons on Saturday night, as soon as I saw Phil Hughes was the probable for the Twins knew the A's would probably lose on Sunday, and definitely would not score many runs. He's not great, but pretty good and that's usually enough to shut down the A's offense these days. So many guys are slumping, ESPECIALLY Moss...WTF has happened to him? He looks completely lost at the plate.

But at least what I hoped for did happen, Angels had a tough time with Dodgers and BoSox while A's beat up on the Twins so A's gained some breathing room. But a very tough 4-gamer @ KC, they have good starting pitching and a great bullpen, they've won 15 of last 18. Gray needs a strong rebound game after gettng hammered by the Rays.

We need to sweep the Royals and make a statement.

Originally posted by DaGr84Niner:
We need to sweep the Royals and make a statement.

A's are awesome when they're going against someone on a scrub team making their ML debut and they get about 50 walks in the game...otherwise they're just anemic. I'd be happy to get a split in this KC series, but with the way things are going I think KC takes 3/4.

Pretty brutal 13 (now 12) game stretch right now that includes these KC games + 3 @ ATL and 3 vs Angels. Just like the playoffs, I don't care how great the A's pitching is, unless they throw a shutout every time then the A's better start scoring runs, and early in the game would be nice.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

A's are awesome when they're going against someone on a scrub team making their ML debut and they get about 50 walks in the game...otherwise they're just anemic. I'd be happy to get a split in this KC series, but with the way things are going I think KC takes 3/4.

Pretty brutal 13 (now 12) game stretch right now that includes these KC games + 3 @ ATL and 3 vs Angels. Just like the playoffs, I don't care how great the A's pitching is, unless they throw a shutout every time then the A's better start scoring runs, and early in the game would be nice.

Agree and so much for the sweep.

The Royals are on a roll right now....and the Tigers have some injury issues.

Verlander's shoulder could be a huge issue for them.

A's can piss off just like the Giants

is California scurred of the KC BBQ !?!

Originally posted by TheSilverFox1971:
The Royals are on a roll right now....and the Tigers have some injury issues.

Verlander's shoulder could be a huge issue for them.

Yeah but the A's are his b***h so he could probably pitch left-handed and still hold them to under 3 runs.

It feels weird being this down about a team that's in 1st place and 25+ over .500, but the prolonged slump and Lester trade have sapped a lot of my enthusiasm. The way it's been going any time I see a starter with a sub-4.00 ERA going against the A's I pretty much expect a loss because I know they won't score more than a couple runs.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

Yeah but the A's are his b***h so he could probably pitch left-handed and still hold them to under 3 runs.

It feels weird being this down about a team that's in 1st place and 25+ over .500, but the prolonged slump and Lester trade have sapped a lot of my enthusiasm. The way it's been going any time I see a starter with a sub-4.00 ERA going against the A's I pretty much expect a loss because I know they won't score more than a couple runs.

Lots of playoff heartache in recent years. As good as they are, I don't trust them to not break my heart again.

Not like they did it against Shields or anything, but that was a great offensive show tonight by the A's...maybe, just MAYBE, that's the spark that gets a lot of these bats going. Right on cue after I complain, Moss goes 4-4, JD with 2 bombs, and they scored a run in the 1st inning...although did not like Gallego sending JD on Moss double, if he gives him the stop sign it's 2nd & 3rd with only 1 out. Oh well, ended up being a moot point.

So not going to get too giddy but was definitely a positive sign...they go up vs. Vargas tomorrow who's pretty good, although he doesn't too well at home and has been very shaky his last few starts...so let's go Oak-Land, make me wrong on my prediction of Royals taking 3/4.

That was a nice game to come back to after a few days off from following the team.

Saw this on Athletics Nation, copied from Royals Review, and too awesome not to share here:

"sometimes they wouldn't go away. Other times that batter looks right inya, right into your eyes…you know the thing about an Athletic, he's got lifeless eyes…black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he swings a bat, he don't seem to be livin'. Until he hits the ball. And those black eyes roll over white, and then…ohhh, then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. And then the scoreboard lights up. And in spite of all the crafty veteran pitchin', they all come up to bat and they rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first inning, lost a run already. I don't know how many A's, maybe a thousand. I don't know how many runs, they averaged over one an inning.

In the sixth inning chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Jeremy Guthrie from Oregon. Baseball player, right-handed starting pitcher. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the dugout, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well…he'd been chewed in half by Oakland. Top of the seventh inning, Mr. Hooper, a major league umprie saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He's a young umpire, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And two innings later a big fat umpire comes down and starts to call us out. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never try to prolong a blowout game again. So, 25 men went into the stadium, 23 men came out, the A's took the rest, August the thirteenth, 2014. Anyway, we played the game"

And the theory holds, pitcher with ERA under 4.00 throttles the A's, CG 3-hit shutout. Unless Samardzija/pen hold the Royals to under 2 runs tomorrow then most likely A's lose. And this series is a preview of what I'm afraid will happen in the playoffs, A's get pitching that's good enough to win, but their offense is totally inept against any above-avg pitcher.