I hope the Players’ Weekend uniforms have been burned. The A’s relieved a lot of Giants fans of some money but aside from the big attendance, let’s just put those games behind us and get back to real baseball played in real uniforms.
Tonight at 5:15: Homer Bailey vs. Brad Keller
Tuesday at 5:15: Mike Fiers vs. Mike Montgomery
Wednesday at 5:15: Tanner Roark vs. Jake Junis
Thursday at 10:15 a.m.: Chris Bassitt vs. Royals TBA (game on MLB Network)
Weather: Forecast here; it looks dry after whatever afternoon showers and thunderstorms today move on (radar loop here). There’s still about a 50% chance of rain at game time tonight so there could be a delay but that chance of rain then decreases pretty quickly. As usual, Bassitt gets the hottest day, the day game at that, and it could be on the humid side.
Ex-A’s: I don’t see any on the Royals’ 25-man roster. There was the trade of Jesse Hahn and Heath Fillmyer for Ryan Buchter and Brandon Moss’ contract. Fillmyer has had a couple looks with the Royals and was in their rotation late in 2018 but he’s an Omaha Storm Chaser at present. Hahn has just started a rehab assignment after TJ surgery and threw one inning for the Wilmington Blue Rocks yesterday. Kevin Merrell, the return for Bailey, has a .574 OPS in 153 PA as a AA Northwest Arkansas Natural.
The Royals have a few good players in Merrifield, Soler and Dozier at the top of their lineup. Alex Gordon has won some Gold Gloves in left field but his .736 OPS this year is his highest since 2015. Looking at the preliminary lineup for tonight, 5-9 is brutal, it looks like tryout camp:
5. O’Hearn 1B: 289 PA, .577 OPS
6. Viloria C: 78 PA, .603 OPS
7. Starling RF: 126 PA, .485 OPS
8. Phillips CF: 24 PA, .583 OPS
9. Lopez SS: 332 PA, .582 OPS
The bullpen is the collection of no-names you’d expect on a 46-85 team. Ian Kennedy is the recognizable name and is the closer in the rare situations when an opportunity arises. They use Kevin McCarthy, a righty of course, as an 8th-inning guy; he’s not having a very good year.
A’s twitter posted a lineup showing “White” Merrifield leading off for the Royals.
That’s pretty well implied by the name Whit. And Merrifield.
#8 in Oakland A’s history.
Andrew (P, 2007-2008)
Darrell (OF, 1982)
Dee (OF, 2007)
Emil (OF, 2008) booooo
Jeremy! (C, 2006)
Larry (IF, 1971-1972)
Ollie (OF, 1972)
Seth
I had no idea Jeremy Brown ever got that cup of coffee. He managed to get 11 plate appearances, but only caught one inning (thanks Kendall).
For some reason, I’ll never forget sitting in my parents’ living room, watching the game and using their internet, seeing Jeremy Brown hit a double, and looking forward to seeing big things from him in the future.
Looks like Profar is easing his way back into the lineup again.
They all count, kid.
Just got my annual reminder that Ned Yost is somehow still managing this team.
In that 2014 WC thread we were so fondly recalling their were several comments that Yost’s decisions were fireable offenses. Those Midwesterners sure do love their consistency.
I’m going out on a limb and saying the Royals pregame plan was NOT to walk both Khrush and Jurkstore
This guy is hopeless.
Ned Yost is still the manager?
I heart Marcus.
love love love
That “Always Royal” sign on the backstop seems especially appropriate right now.
This is turning into the kind of game that Puk should be getting a couple of innings in.
Road Homer can help make that true, but maybe in a different way than you were thinking.
I’m already planning on going into hiding during Road Homer’s start in Yankee Stadium.
I’d love to see them bring up Manaea and find a way to skip Bailey forward to next week so he can miss Yankee Stadium altogether.
That was definitely a 2019 homer, one hand off balance no business going out of any ballpark
Let’s keep this guy.
I see Dallas made the trip to KC. We’re getting very close to Fosse being a full-time radio guy.
Ray isn’t there at all tonight.
Maybe I’m wishcasting but Dallas seems to be getting better, tempering his enthusiasm while still sprinkling in enough hep lingo to connect with the young (I imagine).
I’m liking Coco Crisp. He’s raw, but he has some good insights.
This helps wash away some of the weekend’s BS.
I don’t want to know what Grossman did to this home plate ump to deserve this kind of treatment.
Yeah straight, poorly located 98 mph fastballs don’t work in this league.
I mean, if it weren’t for brown and puk, I don’t think I would pay attention.
Aaaaand Puk starts warming up.
“Seth, can you tell us a difference between AAA and the majors?”
“No. The pitching is the same, the defense is the same and the crowds are the same”
Is soler the cneter or the centerfielder?
Did Charlie O name the mule he rented in Kansas City Homer? It seems that is this homers fate tonight.
was ned yost vaping?
Sometimes the team that leads makes courtesy outs when a position player is pitching. Usually it’s only for one inning though. I doubt the A’s want to give away three innings worth of courtesy outs.
Position player in the 7th. they should just forfeit.
Imagine as baseball White Flag ceremony. With a song and dance number that the forfeiting team is force to do.
Just call this game before we run out of umps.
And before Yost blows out the arms of half of his position players.
That 1-2-3 first inning was a long time ago.
looks like puk wasn’t the answer
reading these threads, i can never tell who’s winning.
or that paul hardcastle is pitching.
i’m glad sbn is podcasting.
avoiding those gives me the time i need to watch apache on netflix.
It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.
Thanks, and go As.
it’s cute. so far.
though there’s barely any soccer.
Hendriks
He’s also looking forward to moving into the Raiders’ locker room.
The Sharks gave him and Canha great seats and custom jerseys when they attended a playoff game at the Tank last year. I don’t doubt for a second that W’s ownership/ management might consider themselves too big time for the A’s. But Klay at least has been a frequent fan, and always rocking A’s colors.
I like this guy
If the Royals are worth more than $1 billion, how much do we think the A’s are worth?
Most recent Forbes rankings had them very close, A’s $1.1B vs KC’s $1.025B.
Is that with or without soda vending machines?
And they said this team can’t scratch across runs.
Marcus is having himself a helluva series but that steal attempt seemed ill advised.
Yeah that was not close, and not needed with Chapman at bat.
I like the new guy.
He’s got a hose too, turns out.
Cheslor Cuthbert is my new favorite baseball name.
I made myself an Excel doc with day-by-day schedules to track the AL wild card contenders. And I included Minnesota because I figured Cleveland could catch them. But then I saw that the Twins have 7 games left with KC.
Cleveland also has 6 interleague games left, Phillies and Nats, all in the last 10 days of the season.
The A’s have 6 games left with KC! The trouble is that when the Twins aren’t playing KC, they are playing Detroit and the White Sox.
I seem to remember the Rays play several against the O’s too. So it probably is us or Cle
The Rays only have three left with the birds. Their schedule isn’t that easy from here on out:
@Houston
Cleveland
Baltimore
Toronto (4)
@Texas
@Angels
@Dodgers (2)
Boston
New York
@Toronto
That’s no cakewalk, and their pitching has deteriorated enough due to injury that I think we’ll hold them off.
It was the O’s Jays combo I was thinking of. Lets hope Toronto plays the way they did against us.
I have in my mind that the Jays should be better now with all the Major League Star Jr. call ups, but that may not be true.
Ugh, that probably gives Montgomery another inning.
Fiers threw a perfect 2-2 curve for a would be strike 3 to O’Hearn. Phegley didn’t even have to frame it – all he had to do was not move his glove down after catching it.
Yeah that was unbelievable.
Verlander ejected. No word on if the Astros will let the home plate ump into the park tomorrow.
has he gotten worse? he seems very sensitive these days
Sure seems like it.
What was he even bitching about in a game where he had a 9-0 lead, and hadn’t walked anyone?
(The AB before he was ejected was a double on a 3-2 count. None of the called balls is close to the strike zone on gameday.)
Matt Chapman is good.
That helped. Thanks Alex.
Giving Soria the 8th inning with a one-run lead on the road. What a world.
Yay
Thank goodness the Royals are so incompetent – it really feels like we stole this one.
i firmly believe it evens outs
Forgive me for being out of fucks to give given that those fucks in Cleveland get to play almost a 1/4 of their season against these guys and the Tigers.
Have the A’s decided what to do with Manaea yet? I feel like it would make sense for him to make the Thursday start instead of Bassitt so you can push Bassitt to face the Yankees. They’re currently in line to start Anderson, Bailey, and Fiers at Yankee Stadium which doesn’t seem ideal.
that is an ugly looking series.
I assumed they are waiting for sunday to call up manaea. But I like your idea
Manaea is in the dugout today…
Per Slusser notes, apparently Bassitt is also expecting a baby so Manaea is on hand to start if needed.
Nice to get a win when most of the team played poorly.
Unbelievable stuff going on in the UK right now. Suspending parliament in the name of democracy is up there with fighting for peace and fucking for virginity.
Is there any precedent for this? I’m having trouble figuring out just how crazy this is.
Parliament is usually prorogued during late April or early May, between each yearly parliamentary ‘session’ (unusually, however, the 2017 parliamentary session has spanned more than two years to allow time to pass the necessary legislation to prepare for leaving the EU).
Parliament may also be prorogued before it is ‘dissolved’ prior a general election, to wrap up parliamentary business early and allow MPs to focus on the election campaign.
[…]
Parliament has not been prorogued by a government as a means of circumventing parliamentary opposition to government policy since 1948, when it was suspended following the Lords’ opposition to the Parliament Bill. The government could only bypass the Lords after a delay of three sessions. By proroguing Parliament, the government could hold a special short parliamentary session, thereby speeding up the process for overriding the Lords.
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/proroguing-parliament
I consider myself antirogue, usually.
I started a war for peace
I just read that and thought to myself – where does one go to make some sense of proroguing? Well, FK, of course
good for him
MLB got an order requiring Angel Hernandez to sit for an eight-hour psychiatric exam and a second deposition to test his claim for $9 million in emotional distress
Missed opportunity to also order an eye exam.
Neuse up while KD has a baby.
That requires 40 man roster space no?
Yep. Slusser previously mentioned that they could put Luis Barrera on the major league roster and stick him on the 60-day DL, so this might be the time for that.
Nope. Wei-Chung Wang DFA.
That makes sense. Middle reliever who actually did what the role was meant for-thats the type of guy you want to get rid of. Ugh
His K to BB numbers were bad and portend to bad things.
Duplicate post due to an accidental double-click. That was weird.
Can we keep him?
That looked scary.
Roark please hit Ned Yost in the head now I’m sure he’d consider it a legit response.
Christ the shift for Profar is so ridiculous. It’s sad that he can’t do anything but pull the ball from the left side.
I’ve noticed that the A’s have mostly seemed to stopped shifting this series. Which seems like a bad idea, especially since that line drive by O’hearn would’ve been an out with a shift.
It really seems like the A’s haven’t shifted at all tonight. My conspiracy theory is that it’s because they don’t believe Profar can make a throw from behind second or deep in right field as in typical shifts.
I feel that’s less conspiracy and more legitimate theory.
They were playing the shift against the Astros recently, but having Semien move all the way round to shallow right so Profar could stay at 2nd.
I think that’s been their standard for a while actually, even with Jed! for example.
Not great that they let Chapman hit again if there was enough concern to pull him out.
Holy Profar Throw
It’s seriously pathetic how they give him chance after chance and he still FKs it up.
Yeah it’s pretty clear it is never going to get better.
That guarantees that Profar makes at least one throwing error tonight.
no advance= no error
Yes, but the game is still young.
he gave it the old college try
gak
Nice to see Bad Blake showed up.
Sigh
If at first you don’t succeed…
Treinen is just a run-of-the-mill bad reliever now. It sucks.
On the days where Petit is not available, there’s just no decent bridge to Hendriks. Hopefully Puk can do something here, but I dunno.
I’m starting to think Bassitt might be a good option here too as his fastball dominant repertoire could be really effective in 1 or 2 inning spurts. Then you have Manaea/Luzardo as options for his spot in the rotation.
I was thinking the same thing about Bassitt. They actually might try that. Even Homer might be slightly interesting in the bullpen.
A’s Pointing Matt Harvey Toward Possible Relief Role
Was just about to post this. As much as I want to laugh could it really be that much worse?
I almost commented on this that it’s weird, because the velocity is still there, and the movement is still there, and while he’s clearly struggling with command some it’s not like he’s completely lost it, so I wouldn’t expect such a dramatic difference in results.
Today, Ken Arneson suggests that the problem is too much movement on the four-seamer: thread.
Then add in what we know about changes to the baseball and that’s likely where the additional movement comes from.
His velo has trended downwards from last year. It looks like he was basically averaging at least 98 or higher every month last year and this year he’s down to 96.5 in August. He’s also throwing his slider significantly less than last year too. Although this looks like it’s trended up recently – I remember seeing him at about 5% sliders at one point.
I’m almost certain this is due the elbow/shoulder issues he was dealing with earlier this year.
Velocity looks really good tonight.
Seriously dont know what you do with this bullpen if we get into October. The only ones to remotely truet are Hendriks and Petit, and even that has been shaky lately.
Starters better be ready for a dozen or so CGs.
At least the Astros are helping us out with an assist from a Profardian throw by Sogard.
What an absurd situation to get picked off in.
Has anyone figured out what Hermann is supposed to be good at yet?
WAR!
What is he good for?
Absolutely nothing.
He hit a HR once.
Baseball stat, element or both?
IANAD but I am dubious about Chapman not having concussion symptoms or whatever when he had blurred vision after the beaning and he has a headache today.
Uh yeah, blurred vision and headaches are two of the most common concussion symptoms…
What’s the point of being home sick if the game isn’t televised?
Wondering this as well.
No MLB Network?
Nope
MLB.tv has it on. Can you see that?
On a second thought, you’re good
Blacked out in A’s territory despite no A’s broadcast.
Lineup is pitiful today so we’re going to have to continue to rely on the shittiness of the Royals starter.
Not a terrible thing to have to rely on.
Bassitt on a hot day. I don’t need a broadcast to have a good idea what he looks like.
Group A Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, Galatasaray.
Group B Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, Olympiacos, Red Star Belgrade.
Group C Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, Atalanta.
Group D Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lokomotiv Moskva.
Group E Liverpool, Napoli, Salzburg, Genk.
Group F Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale, Slavia Praha.
Group G Zenit Saint Petersburg, Benfica, Lyon, RB Leipzig.
Group H Chelsea, Ajax, Valencia, Lille.
I’ll take that.
Real Madrid being in Pot B (behind Zenit St. P in A!) was always going to be a wildcard … delighted to see it’s at the expense of PSG. Group F looks tasty too.
I was hoping for a group with Liverpool, Real and Crvena Zvezda.
Wow, Atalanta made the Champions League. Bergamo on the big stage.
Love Bergamo!
Amazingly, they are going to the quarterfinals unless they concede four goals in the next 45 minutes. Nice for the people of Bergamo who are trapped and worried right now.
Hard to picture all the places that were packed with fans watching Euro Cup when we were there being totally empty.
Splitting against the Royals is not what playoff teams do.
Also, I get the idea that you dont move around starters based on whims, they need their routine and stuff, whatever. But with all of the advanced stats that are used now, it amazes me that we dont look at doing small tweaks that make too much sense. Like last year when Cahill was money at home and shit on the road but they would still trot him out last game of a road trip. Or here-for whatever reason the Hound cant pitch if it isnt 62 and breezy. Do a bullpen game if you have to but jesus christ!
That has to be a shitty season when you are riding an 11-game hitting streak and all it managed was to get your OPS into the high five-hundreds…
*deletes comment complaining about Profar being the DH*
Semien is unreal.
Pflegley was about 5 feet away from a grand slam
Well, Cuthbert missed his by 2 feet, so I guess we’re good
Man, KC’s pitching is awful.
It’s awful to the point of being dangerous.
Teams in the central should have like a 2-3 game penalty in the WC standings.
Add some sort of weighting system to the Wild Card rankings.
Christ
Damnit Bassitt, 5 run lead and you couldn’t even get through the 5th. And now Petit’s going to have to pitch a bunch.
Im done with Bassitt starting. Go with LCs idea above. Give him 1-2 innings and it will be later in the day so as not to harm his precious heat/humidity strained body.
FK you Diekman
It’s truly unbelievable how terrible Diekman is.
And that he is now our primary set up guy? I still had more confidence in Wang. (hehehe)
is it?
We are going to need Puk to do his job on days when he has enough rest. No other choice.
A sac bunt ahead of Joseph and Phegley? Presumably playing for the wild pitch …
…or the foul out that makes the fielder fall into the dugout.
Or … that.
Royals pitching, defense, and just overall decision making has been our savior this series.
Emilio in to hold a 2-run lead, immediately gives up homer.
Strikes out Reddick on a pitch at the shins, Reddick gets thrown out of the game.
Moveable object, stoppable force. Your 2019 ex-A’s, ladies and gentlemen!
Not sure if this is a hot take or not, but I’m saying it anyway:
Pod Save America hosted by Lovett >>>>>> Pod Save America hosted by Favreau
Lovett is the only reason to listen to the PSA crew as far as im concerned… the rest is sanctimonious bullshit.
I learn things about how the foreign policy apparatus works from Vietor, and I like his manner. Pfeiffer has reasonably smart things to say about politics sometimes.
Lovett, however, is a really, really brilliant guy I think. The combination of humor, compassion, and clear-eyed assessment of politics is pretty special.
too many dudes.
This is a real problem, for sure.
hysteria’s good. the alyssa / erin convos are worth it. then it gets lost in the weeds a bit. but so do the other ones, see GM’s take on interviews.
w/ friends like these is a tougher listen sometimes. still worth it.
I cant stand how Vietor interviews his guests.
I like Pfifer more than the rest of the non Lovett crowd
I usually have turned it off by the time the interviews start.
Do you listen to Arms Control Wonk?
Its my favorite podcast. Even more than the food ones.
Don’t know that one but I will check it out!
hmm. added.
i’m a go ahead and quote favreau’s straight man here: “yeah. i think that’s right.”
The signing and season-long treatment of Grossman as a LH platoon guy is really bizarre. He was bad against rhp his whole career before this year.
Tyler Skaggs: fentanyl + oxycodone + alcohol.
JFC
The family is suggesting that an Angels employee gave him the drugs. This is going to get ugly.
it sure is. that statement is bonkers
Even if he did, I imagine he wasnt just throwing it at people who weren’t requesting it.
yup. rich dude in his 20s that has a high physical stress job and prior surgeries is exactly the type of guy that would have that stuff
Chris Townsend doing his talkshow live from the Chicken Pie Shop of Walnut Creek is the A’s Cast equivalent of Trump hosting the G7 at his golf course.
food wasn’t bad.
Thanks, and go As.
The Nats had an 80s movie themed costume party on an off day, and Eireann+Sean totally brought it
Kind of cliche. Steal the child to steal his youth like that.
I’m not sure Doo would be an improvement on our 2019 bullpen but holy smokes he and the missus sure are endearing characters.
It’s really on the A’s at this point that Profar is still playing second.
They only have three other 2B on the roster, and two of them in tonight’s lineup.