On the upside d’Anaheim had to fly to Wrigley yesterday for a one game makeup while the Oakland lads are fresh.
On the downside Grossman and Profar appear to have the keys to Bob’s starting lineup pen.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
I sat near a loud Angels fan in Oakland last week who claimed that Anaheim was the best ballpark for visiting fans anywhere.
I punched him out to prove my point.
Canning looked pretty sharp the first time around but you can’t fool (a few of our hitters) twice!
i’ll get to this after the softball world series. this series has been fantastic
good guys won. walk off after a 2 out hr to tie it in the top of the last inning
Dubs fans take heart: Primera the lifeguard reports that Steve Kerr looked very relaxed at the Claremont pool today. And no injuries!
It’s probably about time to give up on my early-season thought that Laureano would spend at least a few weeks this season as an Aviator.
fowler is not going to replace him
fosse and kuiper really don’t know how baseball works
Ray: “We’ve talked about it over and over, Laureano’s ability to play good center field makes him a better offensive player.”
Hard to fault Montas too much for losing some focus after ending that epic 13 pitch at-bat vs Trout by hitting him.
I know we’re short on late inning relief options but man Hendriks scares the hell out of me. Good for at least a couple badly overthrown Raging Aussie pitches every time out.
so… U-20.
USA has a shot to the final (in case you slept on it… like the argentine defense did on that last play against mali).
and who the hell is soto? did we know about this guy?
I don’t know much about Soto other than that he was a Cal recruit who decided to go pro in Germany instead.
He’s solid but he’s like 3rd choice behind Josh Sargent and Tim Weah in the U20s, although Weah can also be a winger. Good showing so far though.
Also IDK what the deal is with Sargent not being on the Gold Cup roster and also not the U20s.
Thanks, and go As.
Looking at the forwards who did make the Gold Cup….I definitely don’t know who Tyler Boyd is, I don’t think I know who Jonathan Lewis is, I know who Gyasi Zardes is and I don’t like it, I did not know that Jordan Morris is healthy enough to play soccer these days…plenty of room there for Sargent IMO.
And now I’m looking at the defenders…..Omar Gonzalez why why why
Tyler Boyd is apparently some New Zealand guy that filed a one time switch to the US. I don’t know a thing about him.
I am sick and fucking tired of Zardes and Morris continuing to be called up. Same with Wil Trapp.
Thanks, and go As.
It’s cool how Tyler Adams, a standout central midfielder for a good Bundesliga club, is pushed to right back for country so that Berhalter can keep Trapp on the field. Very, very cool.
Especially when Lima absolutely NAILED the weird RB/CM hybrid thing Berhalter has set up.
Thanks, and go As.
Oh look, a 0-3 loss to freaking Venezuela in Cincinnati. Pathetic.
Interesting excerpt from book on coaching the swing plane revolution.
https://slate.com/culture/2019/06/mvp-machine-excerpt-mookie-betts-better-swing.html
oh, ben, travis, your editor let you down a few times.
Gotta cross another one now.
Were they allowed into the country or was the border closed?
I’m picturing a Spinal Tap backstage epic saga.
Mistah FAB is sitting right behind the announcers at Oracle, causing numerous ABC audio silences as he loudly voices his displeasure at calls.
I’m in favor of taking whichever statheads came up with “openers” and locking them in Mom’s basement for a month WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS.
I have yet to see any real stat-based justification for it.
Yeah it’s weird, it’s clearly something the more stat-inclined teams are doing, yet why?
i don’t see why you can’t just tell the long guy “you only get two shots through the order” and have him start
It definitely hasn’t improved Mengden’s performance today.
This has to be Peñaful to watch for Angels fans. It’s not even very pleasant for me.
I’m Soria’re having a tough night of it.
tommy lastella?
that’s a pretty thing.
I don’t think it was a terrible pitch
It’s wasn’t real good either. Funny how Trout hesitated on his swing…”let’s see, nope, OOOH that looks good” (blammo).
This game has that wild meth-fueled nightmare feel.
You can already see the series against the Rays in Florida is going to be unwatchable because the pitching staff is going to be a disaster by the time they leave Texas.
sub optimal
I don’t know how they’ll get through this game, but not letting Mengden face Trout again there seems like the right call.
Never mind.
I think they need three miracle solid innings from Brooks to win tonight.
I know Hundley had a decent week a month ago but can we please move on from him?
Hermannnnnn?
how does lucroy throw out runners now?
Infrequently
wait, how is tommy lastella not on base?
Strike three to Trout would have gotten us a tremendous Sciosciaface in the old days.
are we buying wang?
He came out tonight to live and die in L.A.
With that I hope we’ve burned through all the Wang Chung references. Should note, though, that they released a new album, “Orchesography”, just last Friday. Not “new songs” apparently, but a “new album” nevertheless.
Yeah, this game has been so tortured that I took the time to look that up.
I was impressed with the last comment
We kind of have to at this point.
Poor choice by Olsen to try for two.
This definitely feels like the kind of slog that will go extra innings just to spite everyone involved.
So we still might need three innings from Brooks?
Safe! (But they will not reverse it.)
Wrong again!
Wow, I’m surprised the guy in New York is (a) still awake and (b) sober enough to make that call.
there is the lucroy I remember
Is Bob sober though?
no
By the time I get to bed tonight I won’t be either.
Wow, walking the go ahead run into scoring position to face Ohtani is… bold? Insane? I am not sure.
Buchter has walked 14, in 18 IP this year.
Buchter has walked 15, in 18 IP this year.
Yeah, that was the problem, bringing him in with the bases loaded. Hendriks is an adventure but has been more consistent than Buchter this year.
Good thing we let Hendriks and Buchter give up the tying run and leave the bases loaded before bringing in Trivino anyway.
That sucked but I admire the gusty choice (and also not having to get beat by Trout).
that wasn’t the worst decision of that inning
I like this new beardless Trivino so far.
bob, hendicks is a sometimes food, not an everyday food
Bob? Are you listening?
Also, hens don’t have dicks, Ed.
OK, somehow I still didn’t see that coming.
oh gawd
Although Brooks was going to be a disaster anyway, so I suppose it gets us a little extra sleep at least.
Feel bad for Lou, he was making good pitches and could really have used a clean appearance. After the drop he looked totally shellshocked.
His face appeared clean at least.
Uh oh!
My immediate reaction was “oh great, another example of the kind of W’s fan that makes everyone hate us.” Turns out yes!
Tired of the takes that everyone at Oracle is a tech bro dickhead. Try looking beyond the first 10 rows, lame take-havers.
Looking at Fangraphs this morning and trying to figure out this pitching staff, it seems like they’re hanging around .500 because although they serve up a ton of fly balls, relatively few of them have gone out of the park (up to now).
GB%: 39.6% (3rd lowest of the 30 teams)
HR/9: 1.18 (6th lowest)
HR/FB: 11.0% (tied lowest)
xFIP: 5.05 (2nd highest…wow, only the Orioles are worse)
2018 A’s relievers compiled 11.5 WPA. 2019 A’s relievers sit at -1.5 so far (on pace for -4.0). So the bullpen is on pace to cost the A’s 16 wins year over year. Sounds about right.
To add some context here:
Last year’s +11.5 was the best in the league by more than 2 wins. So a good amount of regression was probably inevitable. I sure wasn’t expecting this much.
On the negative side, our current -1.5 is 8th worst in the majors.
The 2015 TD was last in the league with -8, which seems about typical for that spot.
The 2017 A’s were also last, but were only -5.
This year’s Nationals are already at -5.7, which would be on pace for -15.
(And poor Sean Doolittle had positive WPA for all three of those teams.)
I’m falling in love with this guy’s deadpan literal answers to cliched interview questions.
“We’ll figure out what we’re going to do at some point,” Melvin said.
Like sign Keuchel for a prorated 1 year 20M deal?
oh wait
Thanks, and go As.
happy birthday, we didin’t sign keuchel
With eight games in the next seven days “some point” better be soon.