Luzardo vs. Giolito
La Stella, Grossman, Semien, Olson, Canha, Lamb, Laureano, Pinder, Murphy.
Go.
WC Game 1: A’s vs. White Sox 186
186 thoughts on “WC Game 1: A’s vs. White Sox”
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Luzardo vs. Giolito
La Stella, Grossman, Semien, Olson, Canha, Lamb, Laureano, Pinder, Murphy.
Go.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I feel good about this game. If/when the A’s lose this series, it will surely be in three games.
The two hits were on good pitches, Luzardo’s stuff looked fantastic that inning.
Yeah, opposite field singles by their two best hitters don’t worry me too much.
First pitch balls to the first three batters were a little more concerning, but started with strikes to the last two.
yes. I don’t even think it was good hitting. Anderson was super late and ran Into it and abreu topped it
By contrast the A’s hit two balls right on the screws with nothing to show for it.
That has been the one thing that has kept me going through the weekend. We had a number of hard hits/great catches in the last series. They have to start falling in at some point right? RIGHT?????
Infinitely better start than the last 2 playoff games.
I don’t know about dropping Ramon down to the seventh spot. I’d hate to miss out on an AB from him late in the game.
I know where Vida would have called that one, and it’s not thigh high
did Mendoza just say the White Sox are impressive because they all have had 2 strikes?
We’re all used to the empty stadium, the cutouts and the fake crowd noise but to me there’s a different, higher level of creepiness to it in postseason.
Our fake crowd noise is among the worst I heard. It’s tinny and synthetic. It sounds just as terrible on ESPN.
really bad
They’re playing the Tuesday-night-in-May-against-the-Mariners crowd noise.
That is what happens when you are 22. you put that 2 strike pitch dick high. He should have started game 2
i am getting worse at figuring out if you made a typo.
Luzardo knows the only way they touch him today is on mistakes. So no more fucking mistakes.
Offense needs to get him two. Three would be better.
KK said the ball is carrying. I guess I like that with all of our fly ball hitters.
Is there bullpen decent? I’m assuming we need to get into it.
It looks pretty good based on the stats.
That’s probably the least shifting I’ve seen all year against Olson, and it’s a Vince Shift with everyone on the dirt.
I really liked that and encourage it going forward
Damn, Lamb got two pitches right down the middle and fouled them both off.
Gonna need someone on the A’s to not A’s this up.
LOL Melvin
LOL Renteria
ESPN seems to have not invested in quality wireless headphones.
Really wanted Anderson to make an out at some point so I could type something in all caps.
tight zone
Shocking-Twins take the lead.
Lake Jamb flashing the leather today.
Matt Chlambman over there
Shitfuck.
I guess we didn’t do our homework
The dog ate it.
Hello darkness my old friend…
nuts
Ah, now this feels like postseason.
Another middle-middle fastball.
Why throw that pitch to Abreu? If he walks, he walks! Argh!!
that is another older Jesus will not worry about walking abreu there
He shouldnt have had to worry. The message should have been given to throw the ball into lake Erie.
I wonder if the catcher also being a rookie played into it.
umpire like that high pitch
need more tweeners and fewer atems
leave Jesus in there bob. he made 2 rookie mistakes
When you can put the Wunderken in dont you have to?
….checks notes…
Oh, actually not only do you not have to put him in, you shouldn’t put him in.
Oh look, the A’s are losing a in the postseason.
The good thing about a noon start is that I’m not tempted to Denogginize my frustration. (Note: this may not apply if there’s a noon start on Thursday.)
Lunch ending is probably a blessing. I’m strongly reminding myself that it is best for me to get my work wrapped up instead of throwing things at my monitors.
Yeah I went the drunk route last year. I’m thinking I’ll try emotional detachment this time.
I went the “get on a plane on the way to a funeral in Massachusetts after the first inning ” route last year
My death-related flight East was not until the day after but I was similarly distracted.
Not a fan of Mendoza, she does OK at homework, seems to try to know neat stuff about the players. She talks over the action and over uses buzz words. Ok I guess, but in the probably best to mute category
I like her a little better here where she and A-Rod are not both talking over the action.
yeah, I don’t watch that
Apparently they and all the ESPN announcers are calling these games from their homes. It seems odd for postseason. I saw parts of a few college football games on Saturday and most of the announcers were on-site. Football does seem nearly impossible to call off monitor and the one broadcast I saw where they were doing that, which was also a Dave Flemming game, suffered for it (difficult to identify some of the players).
It feels like she has a long sheet of talking points and she’s working her way through them. They’re reasonably good talking points, but not very spontaneous.
She really does talk an awful lot about everything except what’s happening on the field.
yeah. She seems better than most ex jocks, but still meh
Also, Jessica, “gypped” is not the preferred nomenclature.
ouch.
Hopefully she quits while calling a Matt Olson 3 run home run
Judge used “gypped”
I don’t think its problematic origins are widely known.
I got called out once when I said that a person had “scotched the deal,” had never even considered that it might have derogatory background.
Until a few yrs ago I wouldnt have thought about it. Just like welching on a bet.
Ah the native tongue … a vocabulary of racism on which the sun never sets.
you gave us the racism and now you want to take it back? Gotta be a term for that in german or something
Engländeruberheblichkeit
One of the particularly galling features of many of these slurs is that they project on the target exactly the behaviour that the oppressor routinely used against them (see also “Indian giving”).
Can’t do a TOOTBLAN if you never get on base {taps forehead}.
ok, I am logged into court. Hopefully my hope has already dies and whatever happens on the iPad underneath the monitor will provoke no reaction
Nothing a defendant wants to hear more than his lawyer hoping that his hope has died.
(muttering under breath) Well dammit, that seals it, we’re gonna lose.
Ed: how can you sit there and not atleast swing?
Defendent: uh..ok (knocks out bailiff)
LOL
you guys know the emo Phillips joke about listening to the World Series while attending a wedding. punchline he shouts “God dammit how many of these losers are you gonna let score?”
LOL-now I need to go find that.
I really hope my client in this first case hears something, neither me nor her parents have heard from her in a while.
I really want to fix that lace on Wendelken’s glove.
But maybe it distracts hitters.
a lot of pitchers did that in the early 2000s and it did not
How can my old ass have never been fan of a championship team in any professional sport in my adult life. The closest I have been is the W’s (Casually liked them but not my team) and 1 AAA championship created by the *’s. I guess thank God for the 2008 FSU Wonderdogs.
OK some hits now please.
This has high potential for embarrassment.
I read that the Beane A’s are 1-15 in games with a chance to advance to the next round. The logical move is to minimize the number of such games.
The math checks out.
I wouldn’t say “the burden of expectation”, Dave, so much as “the inevitability of frustration”.
Don’t patronize us, Mendoza.
this game is really going as expected. Shitty and playing to all narratives, but close enough to be really frustrating.
Case one done, bench warrant issued, not I am in 2 video courtrooms at once.
Wendelken has it working, maybe let him hit too.
Yeah, He’s only 0-4 in his career, as oppose to the A’s offense and their 0-15. What’s the worst that he could do?
Sound analysis. Hi!
I got through case #2 (which I prepped yesterday pretty well) during that half inning. I don’t know what happened in the game though. I am hoping its still 3-0
its a bad game, but I see signs of improvement. I think with this large lead in the first half, when we get to games 100-162 we will be hitting on all cylinders
This is truly pathetic.
that was giolitos’ best inning
He might actually Larson us.
The A’s streak of not being no-hit is the longest in the major leagues. I guess they’re due and in a postseason game, how appropriate.
Am I the only one rooting for the Astros?
Nope, you sure aren’t.
I’m rooting for the Twins, but Astros not being a pushover does take a little sting off.
My policy once the A’s fail is generally to root for the Yankees so that the maximum number of fanbases are unhappy. Maybe I should change that to the Astros now.
I am not rooting for them as the weakest opponent, but for that enemy factor that compels me to root for the yankees for the same reason you do
Similarly, I don’t really need this nose, do I?
One roots against the Astros the same as one roots against GOP voter suppression, because it is the only morally just choice.
Why do I keep wanting us to make the playoffs? This is so painful and not fun at all to be a part of.
It is the worst.
A hit! A very palpable hit!
TeAse time!
An underappreciated part of the archetype of A’s playoffs losses, the one brief moment of (fringy, desperate) flickering hope, usually in the 7th or 8th, that an out-of-nowhere rally might save us.
I think last year was the most pathetic, when we were down to “if only Profar had let that pitch hit him.”
Renteria made the Dusty Baker-Russ Ortiz mistake.
AKA the Bob Melvin-Jon Lester mistake.
Different mistake.
I’ve had enough ESPN. Just shut up already.
Not interested in 500 words about whether Giolito looks happy in the dugout two batters after he was taken out?
It doesn’t excuse the A’s or make today suck any less ass, but it does seem a lot of well hit balls are heading right towards a White Sock.
when I was watching process was good, results were bad. The three strike out inning happened just after that
So Ed needs to call out sick tomorrow.
Nope sitting at work, have afternoon court
My boss, is strangely quiet right now. It may be what everyone calls “Minnesota Nice” as he is from the twin cities.
Wonder what he is watching in his office with the door close.
PleAse let this be more than a teAse
Letting Lastella hit there seems really bad?
You wanted…Khris?
As opposed to? Khris maybe?
Piscotty
Yeah.
I do feel like the A’s got BABIP’d quite a bit today. Were they the better team? No. Are they the better team? If they beat Keuchel, I like their chances a lot more. Truly the insight of the day.
It’s especially frustrating because the White Sox won with the same kind of offense that hasn’t worked for us – they struck out 11 times, but managed to hit home runs.
two of the three home runs were rookie mistakes. I am going to my bed believing that
Now?
In Arkansas?
On the bright side none of us are currently sad slogging toward the BART Bridge bottleneck.
be honest.
you typed that and your next thought was “oh man what i wouldn’t give.”
It’s true.
Change the karma, fire Bob Melvin tonight.
Seriously, if tomorrow’s game looks like today’s, Bob’s departure wouldn’t surprise me at all. Something has to change and that’s easy.
Erasing along winded rant.
Fuck ’em, go pound some Budweiser and get ’em tomorrow.
Mike Scioscia is tanned, rested, and ready.
Did the Angels fire him?
Rickey would be fun. And different.
If you’re wondering how/why the *s beat the Twins today, townsend has your answer: “Like it or not, they’re tough.”
Tomorrow will test whether the old”lose every single clinching game” pattern has been displaced by a new, disguised, “lose every single game” pattern, as they try for 7 straight.
Oh god, it was hidden in plain sight, wasn’t it.
Still have a long way to catch the Twins.
Test passed. It’s still the clinching game thing until further notice.
So…he finished his homework?
I’m still OK with the Luzardo choice for today, and he wasn’t horrible. But Manaea more closely resembles the pedestrian lefties CWS has torched this year. Hound Weds, Fiers Thurs, and have Montas ready for a couple innings from the pen if needed.
This exactly.
I’d like to subscribe to your substack newsletter.
If the we can somehow scratch out today’s game, I’d give us the advantage tomorrow just based on pitching depth. After Giolito and Keuchel their pitchers don’t scare me. Unfortunately, Keuchel scares me a lot.
yessir
I don’t think Olson can be benched tomorrow, even against Keuchel, but he really really needs to be better if this team is going to have a chance.
I’d say move him down, but the problem is we cant have like 7 guys hitting 8th.
He can flip spots with Ramon. I mean, if we’re grasping might as well elevate the clutchiest guy we’ve had this year.
Pretty close. Ramon is batting third and Olson is batting sixth. KD and Piscotty both in the lineup.
Starting Piscotty instead of Grossman is a horrible move.
Grossman is still quite bad from the right side, isn’t he?
He has been bad from the right side in 23 PA this year, but it was his better side before he joined the A’s.
Piscotty has a .629 OPS for the year (worse than Khris). .526 vs lefties. .354 in September.
Well, shit. I knew Piscotty had been terrible of late, but not that terrible.
On the brighter side, Keuchel’s stuff may be the sort that late-stage KD can handle.
Khris finishes the year with an .809/.513 platoon split.
His only two homers were off righties but that is more than balanced by more walks and fewer strikeouts (17%(!) vs 33%) leading to more hits vs. lefties.
Sample sizes are tiny for all of it (99 PA) total, so take with appropriate grains of salt.
I am sure Melvin is thinking how great it will be to bring Grossman off the bench.
huh, He was better righty? He is natural lefty. (I learned that last week) Seems odd
The lineup right now reminds me of those old box scores where Kurt Suzuki is hitting 4th. WHY. Then you look and the lineup is full of Sweeney, Pennington, Rajai, Kouz, Rosales, Buck, Jackson, Gross (Conor and Gabe if the last two didn’t ring a bell). Oh.
Mike or Ryan though?
It’s not great, but (as usual) you exaggerate just how bad it is.
Five hitters with OPS+ >= 100 in today’s lineup: Murphy (131), Canha (126), LaStella (124), and Olson (105), Laureano (100). (Yeah, Olson has sucked recently, I know.)
Grossman (130) and Lamb (SSS 143) on the bench, and Chapman (122) on the DL.
That’s still the 1927 Yankees compared to the 2011 team: 3 above average regulars (121, 114, 110), all people I had mostly forgotten existed and only one of whom played in >100 games, plus Jai Miller, 101 in 12 PA.
Wow-and that pitching staff. I had forgot Moose Costco and Bruce Billings existed.
I guess the thing about 2020 is that they are mostly not bad (in the way the Geren-era teams were), but they are deeply disappointing.
Exceeded expectations: Murphy, Grossman, a couple weeks of Lamb
Met: Canha, Kemp
Fell far short: Olson, Chapman (injury), Laureano, Semien, Piscotty, Khris (sort of)
That’s a lot of underperformance from hitters who are mostly either young or should be in their prime.
Scott Sizemore on the DL again?
As long as we can get a couple of guys on base in front of Willingham.
The Ewing Theory hits our poor Matts
Hopefully the A’s offense can come back from the dead like FK.
I know this just happens because technology. But clicking on the site and seeing it just not working after another awful playoff game had a feeling of someone just pulling the plug.
It was like FK had the same reaction to the game that Melvin did when the ESPN headphones didn’t work: “I don’t have time for this shit. What’s the point. I’m out.”
Between the game one loss, a dead FK, and that horrifying shitshow debate I was ready to deem Sept 29 the worst day so far of this awful awful year.
With all these games happening at once, it is crazy that ESPN doesn’t have a Red Zone type thing.
Ah, it exists, but only if you pay for ESPN+.
1-0, 0-0, 0-0. Feel the excitement.
Jason Benetti, the normal White Sox pbp guy, is anchoring this thing. He’s pretty fun.
As I was getting ready to work today I was deciding what I could wear that would be “lucky”. One thing these years of playoffs have done-they have made virtually every piece of A’s related clothing I have not ‘lucky”.
Yeah I tried wearing new underwear yesterday for this reason, no dice.
the eventual end state-we are all sitting naked on a brand new towel praying this will get rid of the mojo.
At least the Twins might get eliminated before us.
They dont even let us whine about our 6 game losing streak properly.
Oh hey, Matt Joyce is a) on the Marlins and b) starting a playoff game. Good for him.
Um, Alex Rodriguez, maybe cole and bauer had good days, but I am guessing they aren’t happy for each other.