Beaneball

The A's won a wooly one in Toronto tonight. I couldn't watch, of course, but I did follow the second half of the game on MLB's Gameday (still a remarkable tool, even if the video highlights are actually lamer on Windows (for being choppy and buffering to the point of unwatchability) than they are on Linux (for being in Windows Media format and thus not actually viewable), and I caught the meager highlights on Baseball Tonight. Some positive thoughts: Ryan Sweeney looks like he's got a nice swing, and a game-winning triple sure is a nice result from that swing; Travis Buck, off the schneid!, and with extra bases to boot!; Jack Hannahan's offense (a single, a couple of walks) continues to make us forget Eric Chavez, since Chavez wasn't any more of a power threat the last few years than Hannahan anyway; the bullpen is filthy, for the most part: Andrew Brown with two zero-filled innings of 95 mph heaters; Keith Foulke, continuing to not call it a comeback; Huston Street back on track with a disgusting slider to strike out Vernon Wells to end the game; yeah, Alan Embree gave up the bomb to the Hurt, but that happens sometimes, and all's well that ends well; and Kurt Suzuki! Granted, it's all singles, but you'll take all singles when he's hitting two of them every game.

Some less positive thoughts: Jack Cust has to wake up, because I don't think the team is going to have many nine-run games that involve him going 0-4; I hope Chad Gaudin is better than this next time, because with A's starters already dropping like flies, the healthy ones really need to perform up to snuff.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 02:08 | |

Rich Harden is hurt again. His start is being pushed back a day, meaning Chad Gaudin's coming off the DL earlier than expected, which means something has to happen with the roster. Dan Johnson DFA'd? Fernando Hernandez returned to the Sox? (He's a Rule 5er.) Andrew Brown to the minors?

Doing some counting, the A's are at eleven pitchers right now, so I can't imagine the move is going to involve sending down a reliever, especially since Justin Duchscherer will miss his start Wednesday, which almost certainly means Lenny DiNardo will start, shortening the bullpen even further. Looking at the triple-stack of first baseman, the six relievers (one of whom will start and one of whom the A's clearly don't want to have pitch much), the one backup infielder (Donnie Murphy), and the one spare outfielder, the answer just has to be Dan Johnson.

The problem is that the move has to happen soon / now. This means little time to work out a trade with someone, which likely means a DFA after all, thus further lowering Oakland's leverage (compare what the A's got for Milton Bradley with what they got for Jason Kendall last year). On the other hand, keeping him around isn't doing much, because one at-bat in seven games isn't exactly a great way to showcase a guy for a trade.

Sigh. Really, I thought we'd go more than a week before the pitching injuries started piling up this year.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 00:07 | |

I managed to watch the A's first two games in Japan, one live (which just made me angry), and the other TiVO'd (which made me happy, although I knew the outcome going into the game). Joe Blanton and Rich Harden both look great, Huston Street doesn't seem right, and the bullpen behind Street, especially Keith Foulke, Alan Embree, and Sandy Casilla, should be fantastic. Poor Fernando Hernandez hasn't even gotten into a game yet.

I also watched yesterday's win over the Indians on MLB's Gameday application, which is really quite good, what with pitch tracking and video highlights (although the videos wouldn't load for me). Eveland looked like he got better as the game went on, after a rough first inning. By the pitch tracker, though, I will say that it looked like he left a lot of pitches up that the Indians didn't hit as hard as they might on other days. Of course, when you're watching without having video, it's hard to tell if the pitches are just up and hittable and missed, or whether they're up with lots of life, still moving while the guy is trying to put the bat on it.

CC Sabathia, who I'm counting on big time in fantasy, didn't look so good from the Gameday perspective. I only remember him coming inside on A's hitters four or five times throughout the game. For a guy with such dominating stuff, shouldn't you be better able to bust a fastball in on a guy like Mark Ellis?

Speaking of Ellis, how about three hits, two homers? That's a pretty funny line. He's actually walked five times in 27 trips as well, so he's not doing as horribly as his .136 batting average would indicate.

Travis Buck, on the other hand, is doing exactly as poorly as it looks. Eighteen trips, no hits or walks, nine whiffs. That said, let's not get too crazy. 0-18 slumps aren't nothing, but they're also the kind of thing that would drop your average almost imperceptibly if they were happening in August.

Given Justin Duchscherer's very nice five innings of work against the Indians, it'd be frustrating if he went down with an injury. Hopefully his arm heals up in time for him to make his next start.

Finally, poor Dan Johnson. Six games and he's got one trip to the plate? Ouch. I know he's not better than Barton or Sweeney, but shouldn't Geren be keeping his bench guys fresh? Or at least showcasing them for trades?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 09:44 | |

MLB's GameCast seems to think that Livan Hernandez is throwing a lot of changeups because the pitches are coming in at 84-86 miles per hour. Someone should tell GameCast that those are Livan's fastballs these days. Ouch.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Baseball at 14:15 | |