Blog Posts - Big-Time Athletics Fan!

Big-Time Athletics Fan!

The “Wow” Factor and the “Day of Wow”

4/23/2016

There are days in baseball when we are “wow-ed.” I remember Troy Tulowitski and his unassisted triple play in his rookie year. That was a moment of “wow.” Even the Hall of Fame was wowed and had their request in for his glove, hat and shoes before the game was even over. Those are magical moments. This week, many of us watched as Jake Arrieta threw a no hitter, one of the few reigning Cy Young winners to have back-to-back years of no-no’s. That was a moment of “wow.” It is rare, however, when we get a full DAY of “wow” in baseball. It’s not because there aren’t enough talented players, strategic managerial moves, and just pure luck. It’s because “Wow” moments are either super-human or supernatural in nature. That day was yesterday, April 22nd, 2016. And the A’s were part of that Wow.

So what happened yesterday? Well, the White Sox turned a 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play. You can try and picture that in your mind, or you can watch the video. Fielder flat-footed was the only piece that took away from the Wow. Todd Frazier’s fist-pumping and body bouncing into the dugout brought the Wow back.

Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Larcenist Supreme, stole home on left-handed pitcher Matt Moore on a full count. The Yankees went on to beat the Rays 6-3.

Yo, good old Yo, in center field for the Mets guns down Nick Markakis at the plate. Really Nick? You played for Baltimore. You know Yoenis’s cannon. Guess he forgot because he rounded third and tried to score and was gunned at the plate. The only thing worse than Nick’s choice to run on Cespedes was the commentator who said, “The only negative was he overthrew the cutoff man.” Really? Yo doesn’t overthrow.

Even better than Yo’s throw home was Yasiel Puig’s nabbing a ricocheted off the center field wall and throwing 310 feet ON THE FLY to third where Trevor Story’s long fly ball ended with a Justin Turner tag. Coor’s Field has been celebrating Trevor Story’s rookie bat since opening day. That had to hurt, especially given the fact that they raised the outfield wall in front of the bullpens which kept that former home-run length ball inside the yard.

So those are the moments of Wow to make it a Day of Wow on April 22nd. Oh, and there were a few other good baseball moments like Curtis Granderson and his multi-homer game which included a grand slam—both long balls off of Bud Norris. Normally that would be on MLB Tonight as a Wow moment. Sorry, Curtis. It was a rare Day of Wow and you didn’t make the cut.

Still want to head to spring training? Check out my article at http://www.athleticsnation.com/2016/2/29/11136574/its-not-too-late-spring-training-is-waiting-for-you

2/29/2016

Even in Las Vegas I'm thinking about Baseball

11/23/2015

Rear view Mirror: Some 2015 Season Photos

10/30/2015

V for Valencia, V for Victory

8/11/2015

Today’s game was a game of thrones…as in Kings…as in K’s. Chris Bassitt was looking for his second win of the season, but a no-decision was the best he could do. And yet that doesn’t come close to telling the whole story.   Bassitt definitely won the game “King of the Hill” today. Pitching 6.2 innings and giving up only 3 hits and 1 earned run (which shouldn’t have been an earned run), he walked 2 and struck out TEN! Yes, 10. Most of those K’s on a nasty curve. Double-digits for King Bassitt. Maybe we need our own King’s Court! Ok, knowing the ending of this story, I’m definitely getting ahead of myself, but it sure is fun to be excited! At least in this moment!

That’s the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh, uh huh: Perfect song for the rally in the 8th as Phegley walked and Semien put it down the right side to advance him to 3rd. Up comes left-handed batter Billy Burns with no outs. Infielders play in, no-brainer on their part given Billy’s propensity for ground balls. There’s a runner on 3rd. First pitch is handled in true Burns style: He goes opposite way on a cutter to place the ball in short left field for an RBI hit. No dirt on THAT ball! Nice shift there infield. Our leadoff man can do it all including putting it past you—shift or no shift. Woot, woot. Exciting. 3-2 A’s with no outs!

With runners on 1st and 2nd, Coco—his orange (aka bleached) hair poking out of the back of his helmet—hits into an infield-fly situation. One out, runners still on first and second and Josh Reddick at the plate. Reddick. Solid Reddick. He doubles down the left field line, and Semien scores as Burns advances to third. But Burns gets no farther as Vogt strikes out and Lawrie lines out to center.   Man-oh-man. The life of an A’s fan as we head to the top of the 9th with a narrow 3-2 lead.

In true A’s fashion, no fan can relax, especially when Mujica is coming in. Yes, it’s true. We have no closer. Mujica’s first save yesterday does not make him a closer. And he proved that point today. Coming into the 9th he gives up a hit to Gomez and a hit to Lowrie (who looked like he was taking batting practice). Then Colby Rasmus, who is behind in the count 0-2 just waits a bit as Mujica turns it into 3-2 count quickly with ugly pitches like a splitter in the dirt. Then boom. Yes, boom! Rasmus tees off and takes one over the wall in right field with a 3 RBI homer. 4-3 Astros. I’m so, so sorry, Chris Bassitt. You had a FABULOUS game only to have it ruined by that “dreadful, dreadful bullpen” (Susan Slusser, pre-game interview, 8/9/15).

All of that said, we will not go gently into this good night! No Sir! Bottom of the 9th, Mark Cahna in for Butler (who subbed for Davis in the 7th). Base hit. Josh Phegley then gets a base hit and advances to second on a Jason Castro passed ball. Marcus Semien strikes out on a hard slider (going 1 for 4 on the day), and Billy Burns is intentionally walked. Coco then gives up the second out with a fly ball to left field.

And then he returns again. No cape. No Spiderman outfit. Just Reddick. Solid Reddick. A hero with an RBI double in the 8th comes through again with an RBI single in the 9th. A hard shot that bounced off of Luke Gregerson and was unplayable by first baseman Marwin Gonzalez. Tie score as Cahna crosses the plate and Burns advances to second. Yes, tie score and two outs in the bottom of the 9th. After the game Reddick said it was luck. Sorry, Josh; watch the video. That was a good, hard shot and a legitimate infield single.

And then Danny Valencia gets in the box: V for Valencia, V for Victory. Danny Valencia, who has been involved in 6 of the 13 runs scored by the A’s since he was picked up from Toronto, delivers with a walk-off base hit to left field. Pie. Gatorade. It’s all waiting for him as he delivers yet again for Oaktown and puts the nail in the Astros’ coffin in this 5-4 win.

That said, none of this should take away from Houston’s efforts today. Shortstop Correa, all of 20, is impressive. A double that tied the game was had on a slider contacted up in the zone. Pitcher Mike Fiers held Oakland to just 1 run on five hits as he struck out 4 batters with varied pitches: Splitter, fast ball, curve. But the real Ace of the day is Chris Bassitt who, in just five innings, gave up only 1 hit all the while striking out 9 and retiring 11 in a row. It was only when Correa doubled on a slider he left up in the zone in the 6th that got him rattled and led to a Young visit to the mound.

And, unfortunately, Jose Altuve continues his O.co hitting streak with hits in 20 straight games in Oakland. But hey, at least Phegley gunned him stealing in the 8th.

Tonight the A’s hop on a plane and head to Toronto. They will arrive at approximately 2:30am and play an evening game. Let’s hope they all sleep well on the plane so we can make Toronto work for a living!

Probable starters for tomorrow: Kendall Graveman taking on right-handed pitcher Drew Hutchison in Toronto for a 4:07 start.

A's seek to dominate Astros and end Altuve hitting streak!

8/9/2015

Eclectic, pre-game rambling...Here we go:

1.    I am a fan of José Altuve—aka Gigante. He's 5’5” in the press book (which no doubt means 5’4” or even 5’3”), and he defies the strength gods with his compact power and control. Magnificent. Great defensive range. Consistent bat with a current batting average of .298, 12th best in the American League, dropping from 10th yesterday when Manny Machado went 4 for 5 and Ian Kinsler went 3 for 4. We do need to hold Altuve hitless today to stop his 19 game hitting-streak here at O.co. Fan or no fan, we just can’t let José continue to do that to us!

2.    Danny Valencia: Starts off Saturday with a 278 foot double that scores two and draws first blood. This, after taking Dallas Keuchel deep Friday night as he went 2-3 with an RBI and a walk. Saturday: His second multi-hit game. Him. His bat. Nice. Danny: You're keeping baseball fun. [As an aside, how nice for Toronto that life is so good and their roster is so deep that they had to DFA Valencia. Even nicer is the fact that we got him for a mere $20,000 claim fee. If you haven’t already read it, see more Danny details in Jeremy Koo’s comprehensive article from August 3rd.]

3.    Vogt: Yes, I believe in Stephen Vogt, yet his bat is F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-I-N-G! I know he hit a homer Thursday night, his 15th, but that was the 2nd in 30 games. Yesterday: Pop-up to second, swinging strikeout, liner to left. Zilch. Nada. Didn’t even make the ‘Stros work for it. Vogt is batting .136 in the last 7 games, .120 in the last 15 and .165 in the last 30. I know we are supposed to give catchers some slack. They work hard behind the plate. Get tired—beat up even. Lots of wear and tear. If they bat .270, most people are happy. However, Vogt going .165 in 30 games does NOT make for happy! Everything Bagel needs to find a way to schmear that red-stitched, 9 inch leather all over the field! [I know, I know, he has 60 RBI’s, and OBP of .337 and 15 doubles. But imagine what that would be if he was batting .285 or .290! And either way, the last 30 days of batting just HAS to reverse and climb. Just proves I DO believe in Stephen Vogt with these expectations!]

[And don’t even get me started on Country Breakfast-Billy Butler and his .239 BA (Eric Sogard: .246); SLG of.366 (Sogard: .283); and an OBP of only .306 (Sogard: .291 though career to-date is .295). As a second aside: I’m using Sogard because I think people don’t give him his due. Sometime I’m going to make a case for him in writing and OBP is a start.]

4.    Pitching: There’s a lot to be said for our starting pitching right now (although I agree with Duncan Morrow that Jesse Chavez needs to be in the pen in 2016). Collectively in this series we’ve amassed (sarcasm) a whopping 1.17 ERA on 3 earned runs. Closing out the series today is Chris Bassitt who is going for his second consecutive win. In six starts this season, Bassitt has a WHIP of 1.09 and an ERA of 2.64. His last start against Baltimore on Tuesday included 7 innings of shutout ball with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts for his first win of the season. Repeat performance, please, Chris!

5.    Finally, since this is an eclectic rambling, maybe we could end the “Cahna” chants and get something going with Bassitt. That Bassitt name evokes a lot of possibilities, and I’m really sick of hearing the “Cahna get a hit” type chants. [And for the record, the PEEEEETS-ZAAAaa guy STILL drives me nuts!]

Free Extra Rib 'Cause I Had My A's Visor on in San Luis Obispo!

7/20/2015

Baseball is our Moral Compass!

6/28/2015

What I love about baseball is that it’s a lesson in moral compass. [Wait for it, wait for it…] Baseball is the epitome of sportsmanship. There are written rules. There are unwritten rules. And there are actions you take when rules are broken, most of those actions being unwritten. And, like chaos theory in science, everything eventually comes back into balance on its own—to a peaceful, balanced state.

This is the case even when you are on a tear and winning everyday (nice problem, wish we had it). Fans caution themselves to not “jinx.” Players do the same and stay away from pitchers in the dugout who have a no-no in progress. (Mad-Max Scherzer is getting lonely these days.) No one wants to disrupt physics, disrupt the energy. No matter how chaotic the internal action is at a given time, physics tells us that energy circles round to come to a resting, peaceful place. When this happens, our moral compass is headed due north, and we feel better about ourselves. [Stay with me folks, it’s Sunday, which—in my tradition—is a spiritual day.]

So what do we do when we are just downright angry and want to rip the “Straight outta Kauffman” shirts right off KC fans’ non-PC backs? What do we do when there’s been a bean-ball war that violated the Code in April and we still want revenge, even though if we really think about it we know that the April weekend is ‘done’ according to the Code? What do we do when we see Vogter take a shot to the wrist area on Friday night, imagine a fracture, flash to Phegley running the base paths and flashback to 240+ pound Jeremy Brown and emotionally wonder if it’s intentional? [Even though we know deep in our gut that it wasn’t intentional, but we want to think it is so we can retaliate against the KC Strut.] What do we do?

We breathe. We refrain from trying to castrate Sogard for going 0-4 in the leadoff role Friday night; we trust that Melvin had a good reason for putting him there even though it didn’t work out. We remember a lot didn’t work Friday night. We also refrain from unleashing the mean “Country Breakfast” jokes because Billy Butler is 0-10 in the last 7 days. We don’t start ringing our hands over the potential trade of Scott Kazmir. We don’t go to the rulebook on balks and try to write a Dear-Mr.-Hampton letter (movie reference: White Chicks, Wayan brothers at their best). We breathe.

We align our moral compass and if we can’t find that compass, we align ourselves with the stars. We look at the stats to keep calm: Vogt (53RBI’s), Lawrie (16 doubles and 7 homeruns), Gray (9-3 with a 2.09 ERA and an SO9 of 8.1), Burns (3.22 BA and 15 stolen bases), Reddick (SLG of 4.67 and 45 RBI’s).

And worse case scenario, we say, “Ah what the hell, it’s baseball, it’s Sunday, and winter is a long way off.” We align our compass to the love of the game. Get a beer or a Pepsi and think life-is-good-cause-it’s-baseball-season! Here’s to baseball. Here’s to June. Here’s to us having each other to get through the season and swirl to a resting place of non-chaos and peace. Here’s to our boys in green and gold! Go A’s. Kick some KC fanny!

Will there be bean-ball tonight at O.Co?

6/26/2015

Given today's monumental Supreme Court Decision, it's hard to get worked up about the A's/Royals love loss; it just kind of pales in comparison. That said, here is how I see it: If there is retaliation by the A's because of the final act of Herrera throwing behind Lawrie's head on day three of the tumult, it will not be the result of the Code. It will be because they are human and their emotions are over-ruling their heads. According to the Code, this should be done. Lawrie slid into Infante; Lawrie got beaned in the ribs; score is even; an accidental pitch hits a KC foot--not a place you hit someone under the Code; Herrera throws behind Lawrie's head because he's emotional; the Code then says the Kansas City players take control and get it done in the Clubhouse. They reprimand Herrera for putting himself above the Code and acting unprofessionally. The A's need to trust that the Royals followed the code. Period. So if the A's erupt today, it's pure hot-headed emotion. I don't believe it will happen. If this erupts by the Royals, then we start enforcing the Code again. New day and new Code enforcement. Unlike some, I LOVE the Code. It's chaos theory in science where all chaos comes to rest eventually because of the laws of the universe. Energy finds it's way to rest. That's what should happen today. This should be done.

Pre-Game A's Versus Angels: June 21, 2005

6/21/2015

I hope a lot of you are reading this pregame at the ballpark. Yesterday I was fortunate enough to go to the game, see a great win, and take a Sonny Gray Garden Gnome home. I'm not much of a gnome person, but it's still fun.

It's sure nice to be playing today's game with 30 wins in our pocket. Something feels different today doesn't it? When the Angels show 35 wins and we have 30? Doesn't it feel like we are in the hunt? That the 500 mark is just around the corner? Yep it's a good day to be at the park and a good day to win another series!

Scott Kazmir (3-4 with a 2.84 ERA) takes on Garrett Richards (7-4, 3.59 ERA) for today’s rubber match on Father’s Day. Some A’s changes in today’s lineup from yesterday include Sogard sitting out today and Ben Zobrist moving to 2nd. Canha replaces Vogt at DH, and Vogt is behind the plate today. Sam Fuld is batting ninth and in left today.

And let’s talk about Father’s Day. Did anyone have a catch on the field today with their father or son? If so, drop a comment below about the experience. Baseball is in my blood because of my father. I grew up listening to baseball on the radio, keeping score sometime around age 6, and having my own Oakland A’s Booster membership thanks to my dad. I watched Reggie and Campy, Rudi and Bando, Fingers and Hunter. We’d go to the Coliseum as often as we could afford, living only 15 minutes away, but most of my baseball was on the radio. There was no cable back then, so TV was rarely an option. Radio helped me see the game. We’d often cross the bridge to pick up my Granny in San Francisco, both an A’s and Giants fan who kept score in her rocker and changed caps depending on the team she was listening to. She loved to go see the A’s as well as Charlie-O, the mule, making his way around the warning track. Like the scene from Fever Pitch when the young boy sees Fenway’s field for the first time, I had that same awe every time I walked into the Coliseum as a kid. I STILL smell that stadium; it smelled different back then. Of course, it was brand new back then!

As a female, I don’t know that my experience is the common memory for women of my generation; it was more Dad’s and their boys as the norm when it came to instilling the love of the game. You sure see a lot more girls and their dads at the park in this era. It’s fantastic! My dad played catch with me daily if I asked, taking a break from his wood working. It seemed to take forever for those breaks—a whopping 20 minutes or so; time is different when you’re a kid, especially as a kid in love with baseball. I remember the glove I started with, one my brother had used that belonged to my dad. I still have it. It’s classic. Back then girls couldn’t play baseball in little league, and there was no softball league. So I used that glove with the boys in the neighborhood. And I used my Reggie Jackson bat given at “Bat Day” in those sand lot games—now wishing I’d preserved it.

I pulled weeds out of the lawn with my dad just to listen to the games through the summer. To this day, baseball is best on the radio for me. This is my 9th Father’s Day without my dad, and threading for Athletics Nation seems so fitting on this day. Thanks AN. And thanks Dad!

Now let’s go, A’s. Let’s do this!