That was an annoyingly shitty at bat by Moss. Peacock was clearly having issues throwing strikes to everyone so of course he goes up hacking at everything.
Missed in the challenge and anger we didn’t score, was that was some great baserunning by Jaso. He beat the throw at second when I think a throw to third gets Coco.
Says he is definitely addicted to it. One of the reasons supposedly they called him up and he signed that contract right away was worries about the MiLB vs MLB testing policies.
indeed. I ran into my first Taco Time at Lloyd center on vaca and was fascinated by what Mexican fries might be. When I saw they were tots I almost asked for my money back. But then I remembered 1) I was eating at a food court and 2) TOTS!
I know a lot about him. He ran for president. Probably signed and/or vetoed some laws. Appointed some people to some jobs. Said some nice things about slavery.
Is it weird that Peacock’s still pitching? In his last outing he gave up a homer and a walk in 2/3 of an inning and gets taken out immediately. He pitches far worse in this outing and is still out there? I don’t get Bo Porter.
My 5 year-old cousin got mad at his 3 year-old brother today. He got out some scissors and started removing him from the family photos. That’s some hate.
I didn’t know the Giants fans did it. I’ve seen it at the Colosseum for as long as I can remember. I saw a catcher from the opposing team double-clutch in an attempt to throw off the timing once. It’s a very Oakland thing in my mind.
oh shit. just remembered my work gave me tickets to the first game at ATT after 9/11 and i went on a friend non-date (because she was dating someone else) with my future wife!
that may have been when i saw this.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Oakland Oaks jersey from Ebbets field flannels in Feb.
Last A’s was a home white CARTER in Oct 2012
Last football jersey was a Napoleon Harris several years ago. (same last name, couldnt pass it up)
Im going to get a Solons one next year hopefully. They are becoming my big xmas/birthday present when they go one sale I will pick one up.
Im also thinking about getting a Carr. My best friend has a cousin or something who can get some very nice looking, if slightly not authentic, jerseys for affordable prices. But Since ive known about it there hasnt been a single Raider jersey I wanted.
I have three Raiders jerseys…Plunkett, Tim Brown, and the Marcus Allen one on the wall. I find retired players are better…they never get traded or suck on the field.
I really wish Art hadn’t comeback for the second go around as head coach. It’s hard to remember now but it was so cool when he got the job the first time. Who knows if Bo doesn’t get hurt maybe we beat Buffalo and take out the Giants in the Super Bowl and Art is a Super Bowl winning coach.
My wife did the house…I did the office. Raiders stuff, Harry S. Truman bust, all the Genesis album covers in a collage print, and a signed picture of Jack Nicklaus.
When I was a kid I had a Casper and a Van Egan. They really werent jerseys, it was a heavy cotton almost like a turtleneck with the names and #s. Wish mom had kept them.
I had a Stabler one as a very young kid…maybe 3 or 4. It was handmade by a family friend. There are several pictures of me in it at the Coliseum back in 1977 or so.
No lie: Milton Bradley. It was super cheap, it doesn’t actually look like any form of jersey that the team has ever worn in any context, and it says Athletics on it.
Heh – Fosse just said Moss has a good arm. I know for a fact that this is wrong because Krukow told everybody multiple times that Moss does not have a good arm, and obviously Kruk is right because BUSTER POSEY and TIMMEH and GAMERBABES.
Agreed…the moment does seem to have passed him by. If he does however I’m pretty sure Tony Dungy doesn’t want him as his President…too much of a distraction.
Meh. He’ll be okay. Probably just a little numb. Hitting a ball off the handle of the bat hurts like fking hell, but it’s only a temporary thing. With a lead like this, no reason for him to stay in.
It was one of those throws that leads the first baseman into contact with the baserunner. It’s been a broken wrist/arm situation for some but Moss is apparently OK.
HE. WAS. OUT. Man this umpire crew is pissing me off this series. The ball was in the glove when the tag was made and CLEARLY stayed in long enough to establish the out.
To be fair, there were maybe a combined three feet and a blown call between two runs and two outs. Altuve should have been called out and JD could have made a better throw anyway; just a few inches better and there’s no question about the out. And then the base hit to center field, that goes three feet further and Coco catches it. Now maybe the runner still tags up and scores, but one run and two outs is a lot better than how it turned out. Jim Johnson just doesn’t have a speck of luck to him.
I don’t know the specific rule on that sort of tag play, but I don’t see how it can be counted as an out since the ball (and glove) were dislodged as a direct result of the contact on the tag itself. Moss did not maintain any sort of control of the ball after making the tag.
I disagree. Watch it again, he holds the ball for a distinct period of time after making the tag. He then jettisons the glove, with the ball in it, because his hand/wrist hurts and he needs to address it. The ball does not leave the glove until his glove leaves his hand, but if you apply a tag, follow through with the baseball still in the glove, and then jettison the glove, I don’t see how it’s not an out.
I saw that too BUT it happened so fast that I don’t think you can make the call that he really maintained position of the ball through the entire play. If you were to review it, at best you’re looking at inconclusive.
That’s where I’m coming from. If Moss maintained control, it was for no more than a fraction of a second. It all happened in the same motion as contact was made – not “tag then a couple seconds later he dropped the glove from the pain” – so I can’t agree that he held the ball for a distinct period of time after making the tag. I just can’t.
is there a replay link? i seem to remember the ball went around in a circle twice. i know PTBNL will correct my diction, but my understanding of centripetal force says that the second moss loses control and lets go of that ball the ball will travel in a straight line along a tangent to that circle. so the time the ball travelled in that circle and not in a straight line is the distinguishable period when he held on. and twice around seems long enough.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Not sure where a replay might be found. Didn’t see anything on MLB.com for that alone, but if anyone has MLB.tv they can probably view the condensed version of the game.
In fact, MLB AtBat offers the same thing. I’m looking at it now and yeah, Moss does a full spin after making contact with Altuve then the glove and ball flies off, but to me that’s still part of the whole motion of not maintaining control on the tag. I can see the argument for the other side, though.
Sorry but no. If he’s such a delicate flower that he can’t handle being booed when he’s the expensive $10M man who was brought in to be a proven closer(TM) then he’s really not fit to be in MLB at all, let alone on a team that’s expecting to make a deep run into the postseason.
And I have to say: mikev is one of my favorite people on here
-slusser.
Perhaps you mean something like two good outings in a row, 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K? That was Jim Johnson, in Oakland, April 5 and 6. Or maybe that period between April 11 and May 4 when he gave up zero runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out nine in 11.1 IP. That was over the course of eight appearances. Then there were the two games in Toronto, and a couple more periods. And the booing never stopped.
Because, in large part, he never put together consistently good outings at home. That was the first “discussion” earlier in the year – he’s pitching much better on the road, but he can’t get it done at home. Oh, should we just use him in road games?
Like I said last night, of his 17 games in the Coliseum he had a single, solitary 1-2-3 inning to his credit. That is not going to inspire confidence in the fanbase attending the games.
By the way, that stretch you mentioned of April 11 to May 4 was made up of 6 road games and 2 home games, with games at home against Houston and Texas (1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO). Even those were “dirty” outings for him.
Then May 6 came around in that Seattle game where he allowed 4 runs in 2/3 IP. May 7 was the 1-2-3 outing.
This is utterly unfair. Have you ever been in the middle of an arena, surrounded by tens of thousands of people who actively and vocally hate you? And then done it again and again, night after night? And then your wife got heckled at a charity event? Baseball players are humans, and humans have psyches. When a guy’s out there in that shit, there’s no amount of money that can assuage that. There’s no amount of “professionalism” that can make that go away, especially with the added pressure of knowing your career is crumbling.
The wife thing aside, because there’s zero excuse for that, this is why these guys get paid what they do. If they can’t handle fans booing them when they underperform consistently at home, they’re in the wrong profession.
It reached that point at least a month ago. And even that’s being generous.
Using that roster spot on someone who can’t even get an inning or two of outs in a blowout puts more strain on the rest of the bullpen. It’s really maddening.
I didn’t like paying a closer 10 million bucks. As far as giving up Weeks to get him it felt like the A’s had no more use for Weeks so I was fine with moving him.
Well, let’s see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. I couldn’t believe it.
I don’t care about whatever shitty minor leaguer Beane might be able to squeeze from the Marlins. He is hurting the team right now. It’s a complete joke if he’s not gone by the morning.
Your tweet on this was posted in the game thread on AN. I’m tempted to tell them they just posted a tweet from someone who was banned from AN, just to see if some good meta results, but I’m really too tired to care anymore.
I know they don’t need Milone to fill the last spot. I just think Chavez needs to pitch less right now, and we know he’s a solid long reliever.
I’m not hitching my wagon to Milone here. He’s OK and was on a hot streak when sent down. I’m just trying to solve multiple problems at once.
I am fine with your options. Scribner and Rodriguez would both be improvements over Johnson, who simply cannot be used with the lead – no matter how big it is.
No one is dumb enough to sac bunt there (although Lowrie might have learned that play at Stanford), he was trying for a hit. Which is also really stupid…
If they were smart, they’d DFA him NOW in the middle of the game. Give a chance to change, get his shit together, and get out the door before anyone notices him. If you can’t hold a huge lead while facing one of the worse teams in baseball it’s time to stop dicking around collecting a paycheck and retire. Your career is over.
The internet thinks he is a pitcher with an ERA north of 7. xFIP thinks he’s 1.5 points lower than that. I’d say he’s not as bad as the internet thinks he is.
The theory behind FIP is based on sampling major league pitchers and observing that there is not much variance (beyond sample variance) in BABIP. (And for xFIP the theory is that the same thing is true, though to a lesser extend, I think, for HR/FB).
We do not know that those facts would be true for non-MLB-caliber pitchers pitching to MLB-caliber hitters. In fact, at the extreme, we have the examples of batting practice and HR derbies, where we can be quite confident that those things wouldn’t be true.
Johnson’s past success was based on great location – a very low walk rate, and keeping the ball down. Now, for unknown, reasons he has lost his command – his walk rate is way up. So it should not be surprising that when his pitches do find the strike zone they are still not where he wants them, and batters are able to tee off. And there is no reason to think that his FIP is necessarily a better measure of how he has pitched than his actual results.
You know, we’ve had some really shitty pitchers. We’ve had guys you brought in and couldn’t rely on. The thing that irks me the most about Johnson above all others is just how fucking quick he implodes. There’s next to zero time. You can’t get the bullpen up and throwing quick enough to replace him in time. Instead you have to rush someone up and into the game to replace him. At least when others couldn’t find the strike zone and sucked, you could quickly get someone up and ready within a batter or two and minimize the damage. By the time you can pull Johnson, the damage can’t be undone.
My favorite was the Ray question to Reddick about what it’s like sitting out there while this is happening. My initial reaction was, “He can’t answer that over the air, Ray. It would start with a censored diatribe.”
Johnson is an utterly broken human being. You can’t call what happens to him an implosion; he’s defeated when he leaves the bullpen. I was sitting near there tonight, and his body language said, “Well, here goes nothing.” And when he came back to the dugout and guys tried to comfort him, he appeared to be saying, “What the fuck, you know? We’re all gonna die alone in the universe.”
I don’t agree with every decision Melvin makes, but I am pretty confident Johnson will not pitch with the lead in Oakland again. (He might pitch with a big lead on the road.)
Keeping Johnson was an indulgence, a hope that a bad investment could be salvaged somehow. But tonight, with a huge lead late in the game, putting him in the game almost cost them.
Even the victory came with a price, because the rest of the bullpen had to pitch.
Melvin knows that the A’s have an imposing rival in the Angels. They can’t be throwing away games because Johnson is still on the roster. The whole point of the Cubs trade was to win now. If the A’s don’t win the division, they’re in a one-game playoff, possibly against someone like King Felix, and their season may end quickly.
If you’re going to the Church of Win Now, you must worship there. And that means Johnson has to go.
I think he’s here until the trade deadline. If the Marlins were still asking about him this morning, someone might still ask him about tomorrow morning. Personally, I’ve felt so many “last straws” with Johnson and Punto both, and none of them have ever actually been last straws.
Doolittle is already signed to a contract through 2020. The contract includes a salary boost if he is arby-eligible after this season, but that just depends on his service time, not number of saves.
I don’t often expect to be able to predict Beane’s moves. But I will honestly be surprised if Johnson is not DFA’d tomorrow. I think tonight was the last straw.
And there are times when I’ve felt bad for Johnson this year. He has seemed to be a dink, a dunk, a 2-run double type of guy this year. Perhaps there is an alternate universe where the luck went his way at the beginning of the year and he built on that success. But at some point, you have to admit that a guy simply won’t succeed with you. And the A’s are past that point. It’s in his head and in our heads.
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’d be horrified if he leaves Oakland with the team though. Somehow I still don’t think they’ll pull the trigger on the DFA. Our team would be so much better without him and using that roster spot with someone reliable. And we have that available to us.
I agree he’s been unlucky. The first hitter arguably should have been called out. The single in front of Crisp was bad luck too. He even occasionally throws that hard sinker that made him successful. But it doesn’t matter at this point. He has no confidence in himself, and the manager has no reason to have any confidence in him – even with a large lead. Melvin had to scramble to salvage that game, using his top relievers.
Johnson may come back and pitch effectively at some point, and I wish him well. He doesn’t seem like a jerk, and he’s handled an awful situation as well as can be expected.
But as vignette17 says, it’s not going to happen in Oakland, not this year. And he’s doing actual damage to the team, when there are obvious and better alternatives to pursue within the organization.
I really do have a ton of respect for him as a person. I don’t recall a single complaint from him. Not about his playing time. Not about how often he pitches. Not about the team, the city, the fans. Nada. He hasn’t made excuses or tried to blame anyone for it.
I was thinking aobut this last night. The only complaint? When asshats started talking bad to his wife. And he had every reason to be pissed about that.
For all the jokes and all the frustration of wanting himoff my team right now, I will root for him more at his next stop than I ever did before. I hope he figures it out.
Yup. That was entirely out of line. I also don’t view booing as booing him, but booing his performance. No one is sitting there actively wanting him to fail.
Tonight did have some poor luck for him a bit, but by now it’s past the point of no return. Now 17 outings at home and he’s allowed runs in 9 of them, hits in all but two of them, and he walked a pair in one of those. Just one 1-2-3 inning at home.
The A’s are once again tied for the league lead in runs scored with 496 with LAA. They are second in runs allowed at 345. Seattle is at 340, Washington at 349. The last team to league the league in both was 2001 SEA.
Couple great posters here (warning: goes to you-know-where), mainly BrianJ12 and joetaptaco right below. Of course, Trainman offers up his usual brand of insanity by thinking the Angels might actually pick up Johnson if the A’s got rid of him. Though, how crappy would that be if they did and he pitched better again?
Some nice anti-Jane Lee comments as well. You just know if Ray Ratto or some dude had covered the booing story instead, most of the people who hate Jane Lee for it wouldn’t have talked shit.
I’ve seen that sentiment on Twitter as well, like it’s a suggestion she’s trying to stir the pot by focusing on the booing so much as a reporter. I don’t see that as criticism because she’s a woman.
Same. Although honestly since that big blow up I dont feel like she has said much more about the booing than anyone else. Really it all got quiet after that. To me (who hasnt been at a game yet so not best place to discuss) it seemed like the booing got a bit better for a few games, but came back as he started blowing up again. And when it has come back there were less comments by both reporters and players saying how it was not understandable and we have to stick by him, etc.
Fans gave Jim Johnson every chance possible to get his shit together at home, especially after it got called out early on. It sucks if Johnson ended up in the state of mind that any mistake would set off the powder keg, but it came down to him not making his pitches. Bad luck is bad luck, but his K and BB rates – especially the latter – were awful as well.
It’s not overtly about gender, but a lot of the tone of the criticism has used very gendered language. And now that I think about it, some of the stuff earlier in the season was overtly about gender, people saying that only a WOMAN would ever report on something as WUSSY as this. The narrative has felt, both overtly and covertly, very Damon Bruce.
I’ve talked with someone who has had to edit a lot of her pieces before they go up on MLB.com and it seems she came into the job just not knowing a whole lot about baseball. She’s improved, to her credit, but she’s still not what I’d consider a go-to read for any recaps. The only reason I follow her is for breaking news, the same reason I follow Stiglich. Slusser, I like reading.
There are a lot of men out there whose writing is worthless too, though.
You’re talking fangraphs WAR? Just AL, or all MLB? I’m trying to figure out if your strange comment is about Gray at 16 and Kazmir at 21 (though they have essentially identical WAR), or if you are talking AL-only with Chavez squeaking into the top 20.
I feel bad that he won’t get to be in a World Series parade this year. Otherwise, I think he’ll be fine. Worst case, he got a big payday before he fell off the cliff.
This. For all the talk the last 12 hrs, at least JJ was a problem we could avoid a lot by just not using him. We still have to put Nirc Pugard out at 2B every day.
Scribbles has always been ok. He just has been caught up in the Tommy Milone memorial numbers game for like 3 years. If Tommy thinks he can demand a trade then ES should be able to ask for like an ownership stake or something.
So I’m forecasting that Scribner saves our bullpen after a rough stretch for the fourth or fifth time now, and then gets demoted right back down, just like he always does.
I don’t even know if it’ll happen, just a comment on how I think he’s extremely underappreciated by this team and constantly gets rewarded for huge performances by getting demoted. If it does happen, I’d guess Milone up to the rotation, Chavez to the pen.
I don’t think it’s necessarily under appreciated. It’s just a numbers game and not having a guy available for several days in a depleted bullpen isn’t conducive to winning those games.
The only way I see it is if we burn out the bullpen sort of like right now-Scribner has to pitch 4-5 innings and the rest of the bullpen is gassed. Then they flip him and Rodriguez. If it happened again they would flip again, or we get to 9/1 and they are both up, whichever comes first.
Kendrys Morales back to the Mariners. They appear to be quite desperate. He has already put up almost a full win below replacement in his brief time with the Twins.
As bad as Corey Hart has been — and he’s been very bad — Morales has been considerably worse. Amusingly, Michael Morse has been pretty good this year. This is also amusing:
Morales would not return to #Mariners several times when he had choice – including for reported offer of 3/30. He had no choice this time.
I have a feeling that one day ESPN is going to do a 30 for 30 about tonight’s game.
What if I told you that Mark Krause batted cleanup for a major league baseball team?
I have the Greg LeMond one on my DVR from last night…anybody watch it yet?
Surely someone on the A’s is going to use “Just a Friend” as their walkup music tonight. Or maybe “Vapors.”
Runs. Now. Let’s get ’em.
That was an annoyingly shitty at bat by Moss. Peacock was clearly having issues throwing strikes to everyone so of course he goes up hacking at everything.
So just in case Verlander can’t go all the way in Game 5 we’ll have to get it done against Soria. Hmphh.
Since we’ll be playing them in a best-of-seven, I’m not overly concerned about Game 5. Or Verlander, for that matter.
This is a good use of a first-inning replay review.
Except for the not resulting in any runs part.
Don’t swing at fucking ball four.
Swing at ball four once? Shame on me. Swing at ball four twice? You can’t sw–…that fking sucked.
Missed in the challenge and anger we didn’t score, was that was some great baserunning by Jaso. He beat the throw at second when I think a throw to third gets Coco.
his lead was about 20 feet. No joke. He was watching coco a lot. I think he was expecting to get a steal
By god, you’re right Bed. Baseball is happening!
But is it happening with baseball players doing baseball things?
I’m calling this one early…Thunderbutt wins the game thread.
I kinda like that Thunderbutt guy.
Thunderbutt is one of the most consistently funny people on FK.
This seems like it should be a book jacket blurb.
If Thunderbutt writes a book I’d be happy to blurb all over it.
Unsung MVP?
Seems fair. I on the other hand am more of a Unhung MVP.
I’ll go ahead and say Thunderbutt is probably my favorite poster here, or at least definitely highest enjoyment for me per post of anyone.
Remember that time we lost him and I formed a search party? Good times.
Ha! I remember that phone call. I was generally pretty lost back then.
Glad to have you back.
I do. That monkey (or whatever it is) on his shoulder kidnapped him, right?
Sloth
Bed and I are compilers.
Singleton, isnt he the prospect that was smoking up the joint earlier this year?
Why? Did he test positive for canabis?
Says he is definitely addicted to it. One of the reasons supposedly they called him up and he signed that contract right away was worries about the MiLB vs MLB testing policies.
JED!
ED!
!
So glad we traded Peacock.
I don’t think anybody misses Carter or Stassi that much either.
Well, I think inflation killed Carter…and Stassi was hurt by the oil crisis.
Stassi was doomed to fail. Part if an evil empire that needed its wall torn down.
The Iran-Stassi affair almost brought down Reagan.
I miss Carter. I understand and from a baseball view Im fine with it. But still TROGDOR!
It was exciting when he came up for the first time.
Exciting, and then awkward, and then sad.
Sounds like my sex life.
Hey-O!
:(
Thanks, and go As.
I guess Astros fans are probably complaining about ex-Astros homering against them right now.
This assumes there are Astros fans.
Well, there’s George Bush. Maybe Barbara.
I’m pretty sure Barbara is more interested in UFC.
Here’s hoping Freiman gets a PH opportunity.
When they play the Padres?
We plucked him from the ‘Stros though, iirc.
Oh yeah, Rule 5. But he never played for them in the minors or majors.
Love seeing Sogard up there. Well ok, just love not seeing . but thats almost the same thing, right?
Reddick… Sogard… why are these names so familiar?
Which is more surprising? Sogard single… or Reddick walk?
I’m certain I’ve never seen both these names attached to baserunners at the same time.
If you let Reddick and Sogard get on base back to back you’re uh…not good.
Brad Peacock has thrown 50 pitches. He has recorded 3 outs.
That was a creative catch.
Hernandez just made one of the luckiest catches I’ve ever seen.
La Potencia!
There it is.
Hernandez ain’t catching that one. Boom, Cespedes.
SEXY FEET
Well this feels much more like an A’s-Astros game should.
Nice
I finally got tacos for dinner.
A great day for America.
what kind
Thanks, and go As.
I don’t understand the question.
Asada, carnitas, tripas, cabeza?
o_0
fish. just say fish.
We’re the Tacos Eastern Orthodox or Methodist?
If theyre Eastern Orthodox they wear a funny black hood.
Olives
Were they edible, or the kind of garbage normally found at your local Taco John’s?
Homemade. We don’t have anything like that around here.
Taco Johns: For people who think Taco Bell is too classy.
Does the Mexican Peyton Manning do their commercials?
Is that the place that has tater tots?
Taco Time in the NW has mexican frys (tots)
Mexican fries…less Mexican than Eric Chavez.
indeed. I ran into my first Taco Time at Lloyd center on vaca and was fascinated by what Mexican fries might be. When I saw they were tots I almost asked for my money back. But then I remembered 1) I was eating at a food court and 2) TOTS!
right?
I think so…I last ate at a Taco Johns about 15 years ago in Lawrence.
Choco tacos?
mmmm!
That’s some mighty fine baseball happening right there.
Peacock getting the Colby Lewis treatment here?
I wanted a 32 ounce mug from RBFD. They were sold out. Sad face.
For a second I thought they said James Buchanan in the bullpen.
He’ll fair to hold a lead or stop the drive towards Civil War.
I was going to make some such joke about something James Buchanan did, but then I realized I couldn’t name anything that James Buchanan did.
He’s mainly known for what he didn’t do. He usually ranks dead last or darn near it on most Presidential power polls.
Never got married, that’s what.
Miss Nancy they said. SHOCKING!!!
Is is accepted these days that he was gay?
Many historians have pondered that question and then gotten bored because it’s James Buchanan.
I laughed.
Me also.
depends what the position of the word is is.
Is he is, or is he ain’t?
He’s one of the three or four that many people think were.
Please say one of the others is Reagan.
I think Reagan was too busy loving himself.
nancy was always on top.
he could only fuck up!
I think I read that in “Dutch”.
I know a lot about him. He ran for president. Probably signed and/or vetoed some laws. Appointed some people to some jobs. Said some nice things about slavery.
I learn something new every day around here.
or he’ll fail to…first of many typos I’m sure.
He believes the A’s shouldnt be allowed to be this good, but he also thinks he is not allowed to get them out.
anger dissipating…
Is it weird that Peacock’s still pitching? In his last outing he gave up a homer and a walk in 2/3 of an inning and gets taken out immediately. He pitches far worse in this outing and is still out there? I don’t get Bo Porter.
Bo Knows…very little.
I think Bo is there to “build character”. When the Astros are ready to contend, they’ll hire a real manager.
Whenever people talk about what a smart organization the Astros are, I remember that they employ Bo Porter and Doug Brocail.
The Astros are smart at what exactly? Not signing their 1st round picks?
They hired a bunch of stat folks, and are supposed to have a really good farm system. I’m not convinced either.
After all the losing they’ve done they should have a good farm system.
12 innings last night, I would have been pretty surprised if he’d taken him out.
gp
if there’s no game number in the title, it just feels like spring training. again.
Hmm…well, I don’t really know what game this is in the season. It was too busy watching a Lifetime movie with Tiffani Thiessen to look it up.
The movie is called His Dark Thoughts: When Husbands Attack.
i usually look at the last game number and add 3.
I was told there would be no math.
My guesses about RBF day.
1. Canseco asked for a new jersey to wear. You can now find it on Ebay.
2. Jim Johnson’s wife was not there. If she was her line had no waiting.
All the wives and girlfriends were together. Don’t know if Mrs. JJ was there. Tina Milone was there, which is interesting.
My 5 year-old cousin got mad at his 3 year-old brother today. He got out some scissors and started removing him from the family photos. That’s some hate.
That sounds like something you do during a divorce.
that’s got all the elements of toddler 1984.
Now I want to see 1984 remade with an all toddler cast.
is animal farm with muppet babies too obvious?
No, and besides Baby Kermit needs a job after his divorce with Baby Miss Piggy.
who’s gonna get custody of baby pigletadpole??
My guess…Charles Kuralt.
Old Doolittle A’s Community Fund commercial is old.
The A’s were actually talked about on PTI today. Tommy Milone is big news apparently.
listen, any time a slightly below league average starter gets demoted and asks for a trade YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT
Thanks, and go As.
Sometimes you can’t be choosy when you have 30 minutes to fill.
Cespedes Home Run Derby Night at the Coliseum.
thats how come it was so full too, $2 and $5 tickets based on his performance
Heh. And they got what they paid for. Shitty pitching.
SEXY FEET (x2)
now this is more likely. and nicer too.
Nobody tell Cespedes that that isn’t Gallego pitching.
No way.
Way.
I love it when they do the “woop-wooooooo” at the Coli.
When you’re sitting down there by the visitors’ bullpen it’s pretty annoying IMO.
:/
i think of it as a giants’ thing.
It’s been happening at the Coli since at least 1994. I remember some Rangers pitcher that year getting very pissed about it right before the strike.
stupid facts and why i made sure to state it as reader-response criticism.
How big is a Giants’ thing?
You know that Coke bottle they have?
James Buchanan would approve.
Pat Buchanan would not approve…at least publicly.
the one that used to be full of steroids until bonds decided to shrink his balls on bases?
I didn’t know the Giants fans did it. I’ve seen it at the Colosseum for as long as I can remember. I saw a catcher from the opposing team double-clutch in an attempt to throw off the timing once. It’s a very Oakland thing in my mind.
it was were i first heard it. granted, i’d only been to one yankee stadium game and a year or two worth of A’s games when i witnessed it.
oh shit. just remembered my work gave me tickets to the first game at ATT after 9/11 and i went on a friend non-date (because she was dating someone else) with my future wife!
that may have been when i saw this.
Its been done at Beiden field since I was a kid. I’ll say 83 or so. Its a college/Fresno thing.
I would like that place more if it was Biden Field.
They have quotes all over the stadium. Some of them are even ones he said first!
Free Kraut: Where Joe Biden plagiarism jokes happen.
So, should I order the home or away Matt Schaub jersey?
Can’t you just put some tape over the name on your Daunte Culpepper jersey?
That would be better for the environment.
Baltimore has tied it up. Sweep, you dumb bastards, sweep!
Did anyone ever see that travelogue show about Baltimore? I think it was called The Wire?
Hey, they’re ahead, thanks to our temporary friend Adam Jones.
What was the last jersey you bought? Or have you ever bought a jersey?
A’s or in general?
Any sport.
Oakland Oaks jersey from Ebbets field flannels in Feb.
Last A’s was a home white CARTER in Oct 2012
Last football jersey was a Napoleon Harris several years ago. (same last name, couldnt pass it up)
The Oakland Oaks one sounds cool. I remember wanting a Sacramento Solons jersey back when I saw one as a kid.
Im going to get a Solons one next year hopefully. They are becoming my big xmas/birthday present when they go one sale I will pick one up.
Im also thinking about getting a Carr. My best friend has a cousin or something who can get some very nice looking, if slightly not authentic, jerseys for affordable prices. But Since ive known about it there hasnt been a single Raider jersey I wanted.
I have three Raiders jerseys…Plunkett, Tim Brown, and the Marcus Allen one on the wall. I find retired players are better…they never get traded or suck on the field.
My thought has been to pick up a Biletnikoff or Plunkett but couldnt find them at a price that I was ok with.
I wouldn’t mind a Howie one or a Todd Christensen. I got my Dad an Art Shell one probably 20 years ago or so.
Does it now stare at him silentky all day from the closet?
Oh sorry, I thought you bought Art Shell himself..
I really wish Art hadn’t comeback for the second go around as head coach. It’s hard to remember now but it was so cool when he got the job the first time. Who knows if Bo doesn’t get hurt maybe we beat Buffalo and take out the Giants in the Super Bowl and Art is a Super Bowl winning coach.
In all honesty we still would have lost to the Bills but not by such a huge margin.
Uh, 51-3.
I know…that’s why I amended my statement in the next post.
That’s one of those games I’d love to be able to forget.
Which made Scott Norwood famous.
I’m sure he’s enjoyed all that fame.
I’ve never bought one. They’re too expensive and they don’t look good on me.
I have no idea whether they’d look good on me. They’re too expensive.
I have a Marcus Allen one but it’s framed and on the wall in my office.
Ah, I can see using it that way instead of putting a Monet print there.
My wife did the house…I did the office. Raiders stuff, Harry S. Truman bust, all the Genesis album covers in a collage print, and a signed picture of Jack Nicklaus.
Didn’t realize you were such a big Chiefs fan.
HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!
USC?
Well…I’m more indifferent on that one. I guess my Marcus jersey is my only Los Angeles Raiders jersey…until we move back.
I should get a Carney jersey and frame it like the Marcus jersey.
I had one before but it got lost.
When I was a kid I had a Casper and a Van Egan. They really werent jerseys, it was a heavy cotton almost like a turtleneck with the names and #s. Wish mom had kept them.
I had a Stabler one as a very young kid…maybe 3 or 4. It was handmade by a family friend. There are several pictures of me in it at the Coliseum back in 1977 or so.
long sleeve though.
I think one reason I could get into soccer is the kits.
that’s how it starts…
I think my mom still has all my soccer jerseys…they should be clean as I rarely got near the action.
No lie: Milton Bradley. It was super cheap, it doesn’t actually look like any form of jersey that the team has ever worn in any context, and it says Athletics on it.
2-1 O’s now. Pleaseohpleaseohplease.
Baltimore seems to be scoring most of their runs in that series with two outs. I bet it’s very irritating to the HalosHeaven denizens…
Looks good on them, too.
Heh – Fosse just said Moss has a good arm. I know for a fact that this is wrong because Krukow told everybody multiple times that Moss does not have a good arm, and obviously Kruk is right because BUSTER POSEY and TIMMEH and GAMERBABES.
Whose godawful version of Wild Thing is that?
It buggs.
It’s the movie version.
X
I just want to say I’ll all in on a Altuve for Milone trade…seems like a fair trade.
I’d probably even throw in Sogard.
Yeah, I could be a pretty big Altuve fan.
The only problem is I’m pretty sure it’s against the law for the A’s to have a good second baseman.
He probably should have come out a little sooner, but now is definitely the time.
James Buchanan? It’s a little late, honestly.
Agreed…the moment does seem to have passed him by. If he does however I’m pretty sure Tony Dungy doesn’t want him as his President…too much of a distraction.
☺
Now we have to worry about Cespedes’ thumb.
Meh. He’ll be okay. Probably just a little numb. Hitting a ball off the handle of the bat hurts like fking hell, but it’s only a temporary thing. With a lead like this, no reason for him to stay in.
ah.
also.
Good morning. Your night shift was more successful than yesterday
Well, I ate a lot of fiber today so I was ready to win.
shift. he said shift.
Oh…nevermind.
Great post, AV.
:)
where the hell is my kerning button??
However, Schoop didn’t
And promptly, it’s 2:2
You know if we advertise that we spend most of our game threads talking about James Buchanan I think we can make this site bigger than Friendster.
Yesterday’s game was too long. I’m sleepy.
damnit
uhh… did someone get hurt during my ride home? VC with: “no word from the clubhouse yet” and “cespedes.”
How many lawns did you drive over?
pshaw. i bicycled.
(4 lawns.)
Uh oh, here comes the Jim Johnson Showcase.
I would bid $1, but that still seems like too much.
Freese is seriously terrible.
Tommy Hunter sucks.
Matusz trying to top him, though
And now Trout with bases loaded
8 straight righties coming up. Jaso better not sit against any of them.
Crap a maggot.
This is happening.
We’re not scare mongering.
Crap a maggot? Really?
It’s a Mrs. Tism.
Where is she? She should stick around too.
It sounds like an interesting medical condition.
Great hustle by Gentry to get an insurance run before Johnson comes in.
You were not kidding
I’d feel better about JJ’s impending appearance if Moss could loft a three-run Jimmy-Jack here.
For JJ, it’s a save situation.
Well, he made one out of it
Anybody remember when Brian Matusz was actually good?
Nope.
The Orioles are back to infuriating me. Three consecutive walks score the go-ahead run (the first was intentional).
Navarro was the worst hitter of the guys coming up and Showalter elected to walk him for free.
I don’t understand the big fear of Navarro. That didn’t make sense at the time.
Augh!
Ouch, I hate those plays.
FK FK FK
Missed it, what happened?
It was one of those throws that leads the first baseman into contact with the baserunner. It’s been a broken wrist/arm situation for some but Moss is apparently OK.
Throw off line from Donaldson, Moss tried the swipe tag, ball and glove came off when he made contact and it looked like he was in a lot of pain.
But he stayed in the game, so may be ok.
HE. WAS. OUT. Man this umpire crew is pissing me off this series. The ball was in the glove when the tag was made and CLEARLY stayed in long enough to establish the out.
This game is starting to suck.
thumbs.
I guess he’s OK.
Meanwhile, the stupid Orioles can get Trout out, but not before they outsmart themselves with an intentional walk, and then more walks.
It’s a tough call, rooting against the Angels or against stupidity in the managing
Street trying to return the favor, though
…isn’t that an out?
have to go 4 times ’round the merry go round without dropping the ball for it to count?
Personally I thought he held on to it long enough myself.
OH LOOK JIM JOHNSON CAME IN AND SUCKED BALLS
Thanks, and go As.
To be fair, there were maybe a combined three feet and a blown call between two runs and two outs. Altuve should have been called out and JD could have made a better throw anyway; just a few inches better and there’s no question about the out. And then the base hit to center field, that goes three feet further and Coco catches it. Now maybe the runner still tags up and scores, but one run and two outs is a lot better than how it turned out. Jim Johnson just doesn’t have a speck of luck to him.
I don’t know the specific rule on that sort of tag play, but I don’t see how it can be counted as an out since the ball (and glove) were dislodged as a direct result of the contact on the tag itself. Moss did not maintain any sort of control of the ball after making the tag.
I disagree. Watch it again, he holds the ball for a distinct period of time after making the tag. He then jettisons the glove, with the ball in it, because his hand/wrist hurts and he needs to address it. The ball does not leave the glove until his glove leaves his hand, but if you apply a tag, follow through with the baseball still in the glove, and then jettison the glove, I don’t see how it’s not an out.
That’s not the way I saw it, sorry.
I saw that too BUT it happened so fast that I don’t think you can make the call that he really maintained position of the ball through the entire play. If you were to review it, at best you’re looking at inconclusive.
That’s where I’m coming from. If Moss maintained control, it was for no more than a fraction of a second. It all happened in the same motion as contact was made – not “tag then a couple seconds later he dropped the glove from the pain” – so I can’t agree that he held the ball for a distinct period of time after making the tag. I just can’t.
is there a replay link? i seem to remember the ball went around in a circle twice. i know PTBNL will correct my diction, but my understanding of centripetal force says that the second moss loses control and lets go of that ball the ball will travel in a straight line along a tangent to that circle. so the time the ball travelled in that circle and not in a straight line is the distinguishable period when he held on. and twice around seems long enough.
Not sure where a replay might be found. Didn’t see anything on MLB.com for that alone, but if anyone has MLB.tv they can probably view the condensed version of the game.
In fact, MLB AtBat offers the same thing. I’m looking at it now and yeah, Moss does a full spin after making contact with Altuve then the glove and ball flies off, but to me that’s still part of the whole motion of not maintaining control on the tag. I can see the argument for the other side, though.
Yes, there is. It’s under “Moss’s apparent injury.”
Ahh, there you go then.
Ha. I initially thought you were being snarky.
Bullpen better get up. It’s Johnson in Oakland.
I hope the Marlins aren’t watching Jim Johnson tonight. This guy is completely broken.
DFA please.
He’s not being “unlucky”, he just fucking sucks.
No question he’s the worst pitcher in the bullpen, but he is not 7.50-ERA bad.
Johnson’s trade value is way up after this.
Give me a fking break.
Sorry, but the fans were right on Opening Night.
The fans on Opening Night, and on the subsequent nights, are a big part of the reason for Johnson’s awful year.
The fans are not that big a reason why he’s allowed 20 ER in 14 IP at home.
(Guess 19 ER in 14 IP, as it seems one last night ended up unearned. Still.)
Sorry but no. If he’s such a delicate flower that he can’t handle being booed when he’s the expensive $10M man who was brought in to be a proven closer(TM) then he’s really not fit to be in MLB at all, let alone on a team that’s expecting to make a deep run into the postseason.
Thanks, and go As.
Especially when if he had 1-2 good outings all of the booing would stop.
Perhaps you mean something like two good outings in a row, 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K? That was Jim Johnson, in Oakland, April 5 and 6. Or maybe that period between April 11 and May 4 when he gave up zero runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out nine in 11.1 IP. That was over the course of eight appearances. Then there were the two games in Toronto, and a couple more periods. And the booing never stopped.
Because, in large part, he never put together consistently good outings at home. That was the first “discussion” earlier in the year – he’s pitching much better on the road, but he can’t get it done at home. Oh, should we just use him in road games?
Like I said last night, of his 17 games in the Coliseum he had a single, solitary 1-2-3 inning to his credit. That is not going to inspire confidence in the fanbase attending the games.
By the way, that stretch you mentioned of April 11 to May 4 was made up of 6 road games and 2 home games, with games at home against Houston and Texas (1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO). Even those were “dirty” outings for him.
Then May 6 came around in that Seattle game where he allowed 4 runs in 2/3 IP. May 7 was the 1-2-3 outing.
In fact, if he were that delicate, he should DL himself and go seek some help in a Greinke like fashion. Come back when he can handle it.
This is utterly unfair. Have you ever been in the middle of an arena, surrounded by tens of thousands of people who actively and vocally hate you? And then done it again and again, night after night? And then your wife got heckled at a charity event? Baseball players are humans, and humans have psyches. When a guy’s out there in that shit, there’s no amount of money that can assuage that. There’s no amount of “professionalism” that can make that go away, especially with the added pressure of knowing your career is crumbling.
I can think of about 10 million reasons why he should put up with it.
Except the wife thing. That’s bullshit.
Players get booed and heckled. That’s a part of the game, especially when you’re brought in with the expectations that JJ had.
Thanks, and go As.
The wife thing aside, because there’s zero excuse for that, this is why these guys get paid what they do. If they can’t handle fans booing them when they underperform consistently at home, they’re in the wrong profession.
I see that Limp Dick is pitching as great as ever. Ray, tell us how great Jim is.
At this point Melvin can’t use Johnson in ANY situation at all short of the A’s losing a blowout. He HAS to go ASAP.
It’s stunningly unbelievable.
Mayday! Mayday!
Is there no impending victory so dominant that Jim Johnson cannot diminish it?
Not sure this is an impending victory at this point.
I just hope they make it out alive.
Wow. This is an impressive implosion.
Angels win. Can the A’s?
Hey, an out! Nice catch by Gentry.
At some point you just have to eat the money and cut Johnson. He’s a joke and not the funny ha ha kind.
It reached that point at least a month ago. And even that’s being generous.
Using that roster spot on someone who can’t even get an inning or two of outs in a blowout puts more strain on the rest of the bullpen. It’s really maddening.
Not one of Beane’s better moves.
I dont remember anyone actually liking the trade. But no one thought this would happen.
I didn’t like paying a closer 10 million bucks. As far as giving up Weeks to get him it felt like the A’s had no more use for Weeks so I was fine with moving him.
FK you Showalter.
jesus fucking christ people.
What the fuck nugget is happening?
You all thought I was joking with that insurance run comment a few minutes ago, don’t you?
Unfuckingbelievable
What. The. Hell.
FUCKING GET OUTS DAMN IT.
And now Otero is stinking out the joint.
This is a fucking nightmare
Wait…this game involves a giant spider chasing me up a mountain?
Verrrry interesting…
My therapist thinks the dream represents my fear of commitment.
Baseball can stop happening now, please.
I wish it really were “an unbelievable turn of events”, Ken, but sadly it’s not that at all.
This game is now a crisis. They can’t lose to the Astros with a 9-2 lead in the 8th after sticking Johnson on the mound.
There just isn’t any way you run Jim Johnson onto this field ever again. Cut this chump TONIGHT.
Ok, what did I miss.
Well, I brushed my teeth…took the dog out for a quick walk…did some yoga in the nude.
Well, let’s see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di’s clothes. I couldn’t believe it.
Yes! Now get me Rex Cramer.
It’s a damn good thing you don’t know how much he hates your guts.
Remember in that movie where they blew an 11-run lead and won anyway?
Yeah, but that was just a movie.
I thought that was in Toronto?
filmed there. no union.
Wait. I’m thinking of a Dan Haren game.
Brad Pitt will save us.
Or Chris Pratt.
My body is ready.
Jennifer…you’ll always be the best.
We just declared Thunderbutt the best.
RING HIM UP YOU PINHEADED SACK OF SHIT
one of my top 5 favorite KK quotes.
i swear. if you picture him in your head saying that, you will laugh.
You know someones career is over when you wish they just had Steve Blass disease.
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.
If the A’s can’t convince someone to take Jim Johnson in a trade, they have to just cut ties with him. Can’t risk things any further.
On the other hand, if they can, BB is a fucking mindmaster
I don’t care about whatever shitty minor leaguer Beane might be able to squeeze from the Marlins. He is hurting the team right now. It’s a complete joke if he’s not gone by the morning.
With the trade deadline 10 days away, they could have DFA’d him yesterday with no loss of (nonexistent anyway) leverage.
oh, he’ll pass through waivers
Nasty
Yay, Gregerson!
I hope before tomorrow’s game that #45 has been DFA’d and Milone recalled.
They should pay the useless MFer his ten million dollars in pennies.
Pesos or bitcoins.
Kicks in the nuts.
Nobody is going to take Johnson in a trade. He has no value. If they want to take a chance on him, they can wait for the A’s to get rid of him.
Fine with me.
Uggla him.
Jim Johnson’s Coliseum ERA jumps from 10.29 to 12.86. That’s 20 ER in 14 IP. 3.07 WHIP, too.
Your tweet on this was posted in the game thread on AN. I’m tempted to tell them they just posted a tweet from someone who was banned from AN, just to see if some good meta results, but I’m really too tired to care anymore.
LOL. Let’s see if anyone figures it out.
Oh please do that. PLEASE do that.
Here’s my plan:
DFA Johnson, or waive him, or whatever.
Recall Milone.
Put Chavez in the bullpen for a while.
They don’t need Milone to fill the last spot. They have plenty of viable right handed relief options in AAA.
Scribner has 57 Ks and 7 BBs in 37 IP for Sacramento.
Fernando Rodriguez has 35 Ks and 11 BBs in 31 IP (1.99 ERA).
That’s what makes the whole thing doubly frustrating. They have good, ready options in Sacramento but they keep trotting out Johnson instead.
I know they don’t need Milone to fill the last spot. I just think Chavez needs to pitch less right now, and we know he’s a solid long reliever.
I’m not hitching my wagon to Milone here. He’s OK and was on a hot streak when sent down. I’m just trying to solve multiple problems at once.
I am fine with your options. Scribner and Rodriguez would both be improvements over Johnson, who simply cannot be used with the lead – no matter how big it is.
A bag of peanuts would be less deleterious to the team in a roster spot right now.
A bag of peanuts would be better to someone with a peanut allergy than he is to a baseball team right now.
Remember when his teammates were standing up for him against the boos? We havent that for a while. Interested to see what we hear tonight.
How booed did he get?
Pretty good, Ray. Pretty good.
sounded pro forma to me. not as much hate as they coulda gotten away with. on the radio mic levels anyway.
he didn’t get booed coming in, there was a smattering.
But the comments “get him out” started immediately (even though the first baserunner was a lucky bounce)
But the booing was vigorous when he left. but short, as it turned in to loud cheers for otero
Those weren’t cheers for Otero. Those were cheers for Johnson coming out.
indeed
So, I see Johnson pitched.
I can’t recall any player ever playing so consistently awful. I really can’t.
That’s because most teams have the good sense to get rid of them by now.
Antonio Perez is the only one who comes to mind.
Jed Lowrie sac bunt against a LHP so that Josh Reddick can hit with 2 out and a runner on second.
BOLD FUCKING MOVE, COTTON.
Thanks, and go As.
In fairness, Reddick smoked that one.
He actually did. Still a dumbass move to bunt Lowrie.
Thanks, and go As.
Oh definitely. I merely mentioned it for fairness, not smartness.
No way that was called from the dugout.
Agreed.
You think Lowrie tried a sac bunt on his own, or you think he tried to lay one down and just had a shitty bunt
Thanks, and go As.
I’d guess the latter, but wouldn’t put it past him for the former. It also could have been a message to Bo.
No one is dumb enough to sac bunt there (although Lowrie might have learned that play at Stanford), he was trying for a hit. Which is also really stupid…
If they were smart, they’d DFA him NOW in the middle of the game. Give a chance to change, get his shit together, and get out the door before anyone notices him. If you can’t hold a huge lead while facing one of the worse teams in baseball it’s time to stop dicking around collecting a paycheck and retire. Your career is over.
Didn’t Arthur Rhodes get people out once in a while? Johnson is worse even than him.
Yes. As did FU.
In case anyone needed a clearer reason of why Johnson must go:
If you lose SuSlu you have lost everything.
Cronkite doesn’t sound very happy either.
LET’S GO OAKLAND!
we need a bleacher sign that says “CIRCUMCISION NOW”
Where’s Lorena Bobbitt when we need her?
LMAO
Sean Doolittle is my totem.
How much are we paying Doo?
A few million less than infinity ERA LD.
Not enough.
I wonder
… If we can get Obama to sign an order forcing Johnson to turn over all his monies to DOOLITTLE.
thank goodness.
Yes. Yes, he is. Might be even worse than the internet thinks.
Shh, quiet, retweet that at the Marlins.
Sounds like he’s blind.
That guy sure loves big fonts.
And he cannot lie?
The internet thinks he is a pitcher with an ERA north of 7. xFIP thinks he’s 1.5 points lower than that. I’d say he’s not as bad as the internet thinks he is.
Check that, closer to two points.
The theory behind FIP is based on sampling major league pitchers and observing that there is not much variance (beyond sample variance) in BABIP. (And for xFIP the theory is that the same thing is true, though to a lesser extend, I think, for HR/FB).
We do not know that those facts would be true for non-MLB-caliber pitchers pitching to MLB-caliber hitters. In fact, at the extreme, we have the examples of batting practice and HR derbies, where we can be quite confident that those things wouldn’t be true.
Johnson’s past success was based on great location – a very low walk rate, and keeping the ball down. Now, for unknown, reasons he has lost his command – his walk rate is way up. So it should not be surprising that when his pitches do find the strike zone they are still not where he wants them, and batters are able to tee off. And there is no reason to think that his FIP is necessarily a better measure of how he has pitched than his actual results.
This this this.
Yup. I wrote a bit on that some time ago. But, a picture is worth…
Im now going to go have a couple of shots and restart the projects I was going to start in the 8th unning for wok tomorrow.
You know, we’ve had some really shitty pitchers. We’ve had guys you brought in and couldn’t rely on. The thing that irks me the most about Johnson above all others is just how fucking quick he implodes. There’s next to zero time. You can’t get the bullpen up and throwing quick enough to replace him in time. Instead you have to rush someone up and into the game to replace him. At least when others couldn’t find the strike zone and sucked, you could quickly get someone up and ready within a batter or two and minimize the damage. By the time you can pull Johnson, the damage can’t be undone.
He definitely works quickly.
He probably leaves the stadium faster than an angry mob can assemble too.
Kudos to Bed tonight. I know it has been said already, but Baseball certainly did happen here tonight.
This was a fun game thread.
Also 5-1 Quakes over Chicago! Wooo
Thanks, and go As.
4 runs on 11 pitches. That’s got to be some sort of record for suckitude.
Do they have some corporate rule that they can’t eat more than $3 million? Cuz this needs to end now.
I think Picard said it best. The line must be drawn here. This far, no farther.
Still don’t know why they didn’t use the take of that line from the trailer. The take they used in the movie is a bit weak.
The way he says “here” is so ridiculous. I don’t know how Alfre Woodard didn’t fall over laughing.
2 pitchers have given up 5 runs on 11 pitches; 32 others have given up 4.
What if Johnson just went missing? Asking for a friend.
I’m not sure what you mean by “missing.” I can’t imagine anyone doing that for him.
Does anybody know any Canadian gamblers?
Melvin can’t even summon the will to bullshit us.
My favorite was the Ray question to Reddick about what it’s like sitting out there while this is happening. My initial reaction was, “He can’t answer that over the air, Ray. It would start with a censored diatribe.”
Of course, first he asked a question starting with “How great did you feel?”
Johnson is an utterly broken human being. You can’t call what happens to him an implosion; he’s defeated when he leaves the bullpen. I was sitting near there tonight, and his body language said, “Well, here goes nothing.” And when he came back to the dugout and guys tried to comfort him, he appeared to be saying, “What the fuck, you know? We’re all gonna die alone in the universe.”
I don’t agree with every decision Melvin makes, but I am pretty confident Johnson will not pitch with the lead in Oakland again. (He might pitch with a big lead on the road.)
Keeping Johnson was an indulgence, a hope that a bad investment could be salvaged somehow. But tonight, with a huge lead late in the game, putting him in the game almost cost them.
Even the victory came with a price, because the rest of the bullpen had to pitch.
Melvin knows that the A’s have an imposing rival in the Angels. They can’t be throwing away games because Johnson is still on the roster. The whole point of the Cubs trade was to win now. If the A’s don’t win the division, they’re in a one-game playoff, possibly against someone like King Felix, and their season may end quickly.
If you’re going to the Church of Win Now, you must worship there. And that means Johnson has to go.
I think he’s here until the trade deadline. If the Marlins were still asking about him this morning, someone might still ask him about tomorrow morning. Personally, I’ve felt so many “last straws” with Johnson and Punto both, and none of them have ever actually been last straws.
That was supposed to be a reply to vignette17.
Another price this victory came at? Doolittle’s arbitration with an extra save he shouldn’t have had…
Doolittle is already signed to a contract through 2020. The contract includes a salary boost if he is arby-eligible after this season, but that just depends on his service time, not number of saves.
That’s what I get for not checking first.
I thought the whole point of the internet was to get people to do your fact-checking for you.
that can’t be right? can it?
I just checked for you. Yep. It’s correct.
I don’t often expect to be able to predict Beane’s moves. But I will honestly be surprised if Johnson is not DFA’d tomorrow. I think tonight was the last straw.
And there are times when I’ve felt bad for Johnson this year. He has seemed to be a dink, a dunk, a 2-run double type of guy this year. Perhaps there is an alternate universe where the luck went his way at the beginning of the year and he built on that success. But at some point, you have to admit that a guy simply won’t succeed with you. And the A’s are past that point. It’s in his head and in our heads.
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’d be horrified if he leaves Oakland with the team though. Somehow I still don’t think they’ll pull the trigger on the DFA. Our team would be so much better without him and using that roster spot with someone reliable. And we have that available to us.
I agree he’s been unlucky. The first hitter arguably should have been called out. The single in front of Crisp was bad luck too. He even occasionally throws that hard sinker that made him successful. But it doesn’t matter at this point. He has no confidence in himself, and the manager has no reason to have any confidence in him – even with a large lead. Melvin had to scramble to salvage that game, using his top relievers.
Johnson may come back and pitch effectively at some point, and I wish him well. He doesn’t seem like a jerk, and he’s handled an awful situation as well as can be expected.
But as vignette17 says, it’s not going to happen in Oakland, not this year. And he’s doing actual damage to the team, when there are obvious and better alternatives to pursue within the organization.
He has all the hallmarks of being unlucky, but its to such a sustained level, can we still categorize it as “unlucky.”
his k/9 is 6 and his BB/9 is 5
I really do have a ton of respect for him as a person. I don’t recall a single complaint from him. Not about his playing time. Not about how often he pitches. Not about the team, the city, the fans. Nada. He hasn’t made excuses or tried to blame anyone for it.
I was thinking aobut this last night. The only complaint? When asshats started talking bad to his wife. And he had every reason to be pissed about that.
For all the jokes and all the frustration of wanting himoff my team right now, I will root for him more at his next stop than I ever did before. I hope he figures it out.
Yup. That was entirely out of line. I also don’t view booing as booing him, but booing his performance. No one is sitting there actively wanting him to fail.
Well, if you see the link I just tossed in at the bottom, there’s some asshat still going on about his wife.
I actively and visibly clapped last night when he came in and was announced.
You are a stand-up
comedianman, EdTonight did have some poor luck for him a bit, but by now it’s past the point of no return. Now 17 outings at home and he’s allowed runs in 9 of them, hits in all but two of them, and he walked a pair in one of those. Just one 1-2-3 inning at home.
Do I get to claim inside sources now or did I have to be more declarative originally?
READ BETWEEN THE LINES!!!!!11
Can’t. Too dense.
The A’s are once again tied for the league lead in runs scored with 496 with LAA. They are second in runs allowed at 345. Seattle is at 340, Washington at 349. The last team to league the league in both was 2001 SEA.
…of 116-win fame.
hmmm…. where was it i saw 5 unnecessary runs allowed just laying around?
Couple great posters here (warning: goes to you-know-where), mainly BrianJ12 and joetaptaco right below. Of course, Trainman offers up his usual brand of insanity by thinking the Angels might actually pick up Johnson if the A’s got rid of him. Though, how crappy would that be if they did and he pitched better again?
yeah… i don’t think he actually thinks that any more than he actually thinks JJ’s going to crawl into a hole.
Some nice anti-Jane Lee comments as well. You just know if Ray Ratto or some dude had covered the booing story instead, most of the people who hate Jane Lee for it wouldn’t have talked shit.
I’ve seen that sentiment on Twitter as well, like it’s a suggestion she’s trying to stir the pot by focusing on the booing so much as a reporter. I don’t see that as criticism because she’s a woman.
Same. Although honestly since that big blow up I dont feel like she has said much more about the booing than anyone else. Really it all got quiet after that. To me (who hasnt been at a game yet so not best place to discuss) it seemed like the booing got a bit better for a few games, but came back as he started blowing up again. And when it has come back there were less comments by both reporters and players saying how it was not understandable and we have to stick by him, etc.
End of day it’s over and really no use rehasing.
Fans gave Jim Johnson every chance possible to get his shit together at home, especially after it got called out early on. It sucks if Johnson ended up in the state of mind that any mistake would set off the powder keg, but it came down to him not making his pitches. Bad luck is bad luck, but his K and BB rates – especially the latter – were awful as well.
I mean, he put up the worst numbers for a pre-season anointed A’s closer that I can recall. Definitely worse than TARE and FU.
he was bad in spring too, FWIW
It’s not overtly about gender, but a lot of the tone of the criticism has used very gendered language. And now that I think about it, some of the stuff earlier in the season was overtly about gender, people saying that only a WOMAN would ever report on something as WUSSY as this. The narrative has felt, both overtly and covertly, very Damon Bruce.
I hate that narrative, yes.
I’ve talked with someone who has had to edit a lot of her pieces before they go up on MLB.com and it seems she came into the job just not knowing a whole lot about baseball. She’s improved, to her credit, but she’s still not what I’d consider a go-to read for any recaps. The only reason I follow her is for breaking news, the same reason I follow Stiglich. Slusser, I like reading.
There are a lot of men out there whose writing is worthless too, though.
like who she replaced (or replaced the replacement for)
No need to say HIS name.
He burned bridges there when he left, too. Surprised? Didn’t think so.
Yeah, Urban was a lot worse, and at least around here got the appropriate amount of vitriol directed his way.
I only had a couple exchanges with him on Twitter a few years back and his jackassery was readily apparent.
and yet like a fucking cockroach he is back covering bay area sports
Thanks, and go As.
Bad for ball
Johnson is now in first place in negative WAR for pitchers with a -1.3. Strange who is in the top 20 in pitcher WAR from our starting rotation.
You’re talking fangraphs WAR? Just AL, or all MLB? I’m trying to figure out if your strange comment is about Gray at 16 and Kazmir at 21 (though they have essentially identical WAR), or if you are talking AL-only with Chavez squeaking into the top 20.
I’m just going by whatever ESPN is using. But it’s MLB.
A’s fans! Tune in to CSN California this afternoon
to see Jeff Samardzija mow down the Astrosfor three hours’ worth of “Heartland Poker Tour”!B’bye!
Wow.
Now she adds, “Johnson was technically designated, not released, A’s say.”
So now a trade for a couple of low-level minor leaguers or a bag of used equipment is still on?
Meh, I don’t see anyone biting on that.
Don’t see why not. It’s a pure-upside play.
someone is going to bite.
He is technically off the team is what matters
Strange. Now that it’s happened, I kind of feel bad for him. Glad it was done (finally!) but still.
I’ve been feeling bad for him all season. Now I don’t feel bad for him anymore. This is what he needed.
yeah. I feel bad for the guy and always have.
I feel bad that he won’t get to be in a World Series parade this year. Otherwise, I think he’ll be fine. Worst case, he got a big payday before he fell off the cliff.
Same. Hope he goes to a NL team that won’t make the WS and pitches lights out for them the rest of the year against teams that are not us.
ahhhhh!
[taps twice]
[zips up]
Sorry that it didn’t work out for you here. Hope you bounce back with your next team. Can we get some of our $10 mil back?
Maybe he can come play for us for free next year, just like Octavio Dotel did.
NO JOHNSON? NO BARTON? WHO AM I GONNA BOO NOW!?!?!?!!?!!!!
still barton
Thanks, and go As.
Punto.
This. For all the talk the last 12 hrs, at least JJ was a problem we could avoid a lot by just not using him. We still have to put Nirc Pugard out at 2B every day.
Scribner up.
They had to bring in a righty. After the last two nights, the only available relievers are Abad and O’Flaherty.
Scribby’s been pretty great in AAA:
13.62 K/9
1.67 BB/9
1.97 FIP
Scribbles has always been ok. He just has been caught up in the Tommy Milone memorial numbers game for like 3 years. If Tommy thinks he can demand a trade then ES should be able to ask for like an ownership stake or something.
His 3 scoreless innings in Game 162 after Griffin’s meltdown don’t get talked about enough.
that is one of the reasons it was so glorious for him to be on the mound for the clincher game in 2013 that is replayed everyday.
So I’m forecasting that Scribner saves our bullpen after a rough stretch for the fourth or fifth time now, and then gets demoted right back down, just like he always does.
Demoted for whom? He’s pitched well enough to stick around here for a while.
It won’t be for Milone unless they move Chavez or Hammel to the ‘pen.
Barton, of course.
I don’t even know if it’ll happen, just a comment on how I think he’s extremely underappreciated by this team and constantly gets rewarded for huge performances by getting demoted. If it does happen, I’d guess Milone up to the rotation, Chavez to the pen.
I don’t think it’s necessarily under appreciated. It’s just a numbers game and not having a guy available for several days in a depleted bullpen isn’t conducive to winning those games.
Rodriguez is having a good year as well
The only way I see it is if we burn out the bullpen sort of like right now-Scribner has to pitch 4-5 innings and the rest of the bullpen is gassed. Then they flip him and Rodriguez. If it happened again they would flip again, or we get to 9/1 and they are both up, whichever comes first.
Yep.
A’s/Astros is the mlb.tv free game today for real and approxymate NRAFs.
Kendrys Morales back to the Mariners. They appear to be quite desperate. He has already put up almost a full win below replacement in his brief time with the Twins.
Wow, I hadn’t noticed how terrible he had been. Stephen Drew has also been bad.
nobody ever wanted those guys anyway
#Nevermoor’sCCObsession
As bad as Corey Hart has been — and he’s been very bad — Morales has been considerably worse. Amusingly, Michael Morse has been pretty good this year. This is also amusing:
Should have include a no-trade-to-the-Mariners clause in his contract demands.
Eh, he may well have done so, and just waived it since they look like they could compete for a WC spot.
The human in me feels for Johnson. The A’s fan in me wants to burst into a round of *Ding dong the witch is dead*
Yup.