Wednesday, October 23, 2013

NOW Javier Lopez, TIM LINCECUM and 'MORE MONEY BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH IT UP AGAIN

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NOW Javier Lopez, TIM LINCECUM and  'MORE MONEY  BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH  IT UP AGAIN  



Just in - Thirty-six year old Javier Lopez signing for $13.5 million for three years. Based on his 40 innings of work last season (which translates to about 10 pitches an inning or 400) means that JAVIER IS GETTING $10,000 PER PITCH !  Yes, like most of the Giants, his numbers seem to get better-  as he gets older -hmmm! - one has to question another overpayment by the Giants. Unless he's on something , which is very possible being a Giant - one cannot expect a 36 year old pitcher to continue posting a 1.50 ERA. Unlike other pitchers who have to stay out there and field and hitters who have to field, Javier usually only has to come in for a batter or two and that's it! What a job!  Of course Javier and others return to the Giants in glowing terms because, when you pin them down, nobody offered naively higher salaries.
The Giants seem incapable of going out and getting decent, prime of career, non-using players  so they continue to hang on to their aging players until they finally - PEDs  or not - backfire on the team; think Huff,
Rowand, Tejada among others. GM Sabean, the man of the 'band-aid cures' for the team.  Sure, the Giants finally won the two World Series - as they will remind you-  but only because of  PEDs,, namely Melky Cabrera and, indirectly, Jose Guillen as previously mentioned - and a number of other 'suspicious' players we've talked about in the past... Even with the extra 'help' the Giants didn't come close this year. Now they have a couple over paid , aging pitchers in Lopez and Tim Hudson, plus , for that matter, Tim Lincecum. Why not add Vogelsong to that list, though he only got one year, amazingly.



It looks like it's all about marketing for the San Francisco Giants.  Frankly, the only thing thats going to give Tim Lincecum a semblance of the greatness he had in his early years    is if he gets 'help' from an outside source, if you know what we mean. And, that may be what GM Sabean and President Baer -long known for espousing  ' win at any cost ' - are counting on  in signing their popular , thin , right hander to a $35 million, two year contract.  Lincecum will be the second highest paid Giant, yet with one of the worst records. For the early part of the season and last year he had the worst ERA in the league among regular starters. So, he improved  the latter half of 2013 for whatever reasons. Is that still enough to throw $17 million a year at him? . We never believed he would ever have been brought back to the Giants after two years in a row  of below 4.00 ERA baseball. Remember how greatful local fans were when the Giants didn't have to pick up that 5 year 200 million contract?  Lincecum's overall performance the past two years isn't even mediocre. Except for   games,  against the weak Western division teams like Houston (now in the American League) , Lincecum  got  lit up. He gave up 44 homers this year  . Even Barry Zito had a better record than Lincecum last year - and Zito is 35 years old.



So we have this new contract after Thin Tim   comes  off his third losing season in a row with a mediocre 4.36 ERA.  Yeah, he had a no-hitter in which he threw 144 pitches -against the weakest link, Houston Astros -which is just one reason to suspect that he might be getting that needed 'help.'  He also raised his velocity back up to 91, which is also interesting, indicative that he already started getting 'help.' But  help or not, you can't expect Lincecum to do any better as he gets older than what he did this year.  You've got only so much to work with. Perhaps the Giants don't mind over-paying since they got a good deal in Lincecum's early years.




If the Giants will be happy with a third or fourth man starter losing  more games than  he wins, that's what they'll be getting in Lincecum- even with that 'help.' (You can't make a superstar out of a now average player, even with 'help.' )   Perhaps they feel Lincecum - a likable yet  flaky guy - is the 'face of the franchise ' to  whom local   fans can relate in the  most liberal city of San Francisco - the only place where  the smell of  marijuana permeates the stadium   during  World Series games. Of course, Lincecum is a known marijuana user,  himself.  And so what if it were found out he was using PEDs to bring up his velocity and game; the fans had no problem , in fact, they loved Barry Bonds for a decade - and still do, even after he admitted to using steroids and having perjured himself in court. Not to mention the band of other Gaint Taints as in Melky, Mota, Guillen and going back to Rich Aurillia, Matt Williams, Bonds - over 20 INDICTED players (Mitchell Report and recent suspensions) many of whom gave the Giants very unfair advantages in regular season and resulting in Playoffs and World Series.  Take away just two of those guys , Cabrera and Guillen, and the Giants would never even have been in the the only two World Series victories they've seen in 60 years. Only in San Francisco.



The Giants have similarly hung on to players like Pablo 'Panda' Sandoval, whom other teams would have dismissed long ago, after numerous issues (from poor performance to continually being overweight to even being involved in a sex scandal). Only in San Francisco.



One wonders, however, why the Giants ever let Brian Wilson go to the Dodgers. Wilson had 'San Francisco' written all over him, with the beard and his eccentricities. Fans  loved him. Yet when he was gone
it didn't seem to really bother the fans that much. (Wilson, at this point, would seem to have much more value to the  team than Lincecum, what with his sub 1.00 ERA this year. ) Wilson, no doubt, wasn't the 'yes man' on which the Giants depend. He didn't want to have to come back to ATT for  a public party - that would show 'how great' the Giants treated him - just to get his World Series ring.  Similarly, there are reasons that announcer Hank Greenwald, owner Bill Neucomb , trainer Stan Conte and others quietly - or not-so-quiety- walked away from the Giants.  And, if Lincecum were not re-signed,  the fans would probably quickly forget and still be back for whatever it is that Baer and Co. put in their drink that lures them to the ATT ballpark. Half price tickets?  Players with cute names like Panda and Giraffe? . Un-natural, win-at -all-costs (well, not always)   PED baseball? The Giants management are the Obamas of baseball, pulling the wool over the eyes, purportedly giving people what they want - until something happens.



 Leave it to Baer and company to do whatever it takes to win. And, if they can't win, at least they got their so-called  150+ sell outs. And lots and lots of MONEY.



TIM LINCECUM and  'MORE MONEY  BALL' - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS COUGH  IT UP AGAIN 


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Monday, October 14, 2013

2013 'Extreme' Playoffs - Is This Baseball or Blowout Ball?




10-14  Sorry Commissioner, but  it seems ever more apparent with the baseball playoffs, in our opinion - to be rather blunt - that certain  'cultures'  are alive and strong among a number of major league baseball's teams.  Playoffs are when teams are especially under pressure to win  in   short ,  season-ending series. We've seen signs of secondary evidence of PED (performance enhancing drug) use  with unusually improved on field performance, especially in pitching this year and number of strikeouts and high velocity. How is it that these players, after long seasons can not only continue to throw baseball's in the mid to high 90's -  but even ramp up their performances to the tune of three no-hitters through five innings  for three games in a row!   Unheard of! 



It's the last gasp, at least this season, for players  several games away from season's end - most will NOT win the coveted ring - and  not only do they want to do well, themselves, but are concerned about their contracts for next year. So, they are especially inclined to take extreme measures that they might not during the season. Another reason for this is that there is no apparent drug testing during  the playoffs . ( in fact the latest bargaining requires only a minimum of one drug test during the season !).  Add to that the drug tests that ARE given may not have kept up with the latest designer PEDs, undetectable only hours after taken, which are,  purportedly the current drug of choice.  There a  number of other aspects that make us have these politically incorrect thoughts of our baseball players which we have outlined before and won't repeat here and now.



So, if you're wondering why the grand old game has taken on an unusally dark, less competitive air with one team blowing out the other with fastballs , perhaps this may be the answer - or at least part of it. Sure, we only see the the top pitchers in the playoffs but the same can be said of the hitters. Teams pull out all stops  but its not only pitching but hitting, too. Sure, the weather is a little colder, perhaps , and balls don't fly out of the park quite as well in Northern cities but hitters still hit and pitchers pitch.
We first noticed the trend to unusual dominance with the unlikely San Francisco Giants in 2010 and then again in 2012. This team of mostly journeyman players dominated  the teams expected to win. Many players on the Giants with average numbers during the season became superstars the last months of the season and in the playoffs, e.g. the starting staff, except perhaps Cain and Bumgartner, seemed to raise their performances - and velocity (which is generally a pretty set number). Even Barry Zito reenacted his old Cy Young-like performance for a rare moment in time.  Pablo Sandoval, who had only hit 10 homers all season hit three in one game and seven in the playoffs against top pitching.
Marco Scutaro, who had only hit .262 through mid-season before being traded to the Giants, suddenly began hitting close to .400 and cutting his strikeouts in half living up to his 'Giants' name - and only got better  through the playoffs, this for a 37-year-old journeyman who had never hit better than .299 in a single season with a lifetime average in the .260s.  In 2010  it  was the same pattern for the Giants but, even more surprisingly, with a largely different cast of characters. No-names like Ross, Uribe, and Renteria  performed sudden damage on their openents with other-worldly numbers (Ross hit eight homers his last month, about half his year's total) .  Over-the-hill guys named Burl and Huff suddenly performed like it peak career players only to fall flat the next year. Just the two INDICTED Giants, Jose Guillen in 2010 and Melky Cabrera in 2012 were enough by themselves to make the difference in the Giants getting into the playoffs... We could go on.



Perhaps Detroit , a very similar team in makeup to the Giants, caught wind of the Giants' propensities when THEY got blown out by the Giants in last year's playoff because, this year, Detroit looks like a carbon copy of the Giants in the 2013 playoffs.  It's pretty odd, to say the least,  to see a playoff team (Detroit) throw three no-hitters in a row through  the first five innings  of the playoffs; in fact,  it's never been done. Also,  it was the first time that a grand slam decided a game that late into a contest. The St. Louis Cardinal pitchers have performed a similar act against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League playoffs; there may not be the no-hitters, but Los Angeles has fared even worse, scoring all of one run in the first two games.  If this trend continues either ALL the teams will have to do whatever Detroit and Saint Louis are  doing or we'll have to put those teams in a separate league, perhaps with the 2010 and 2012 Giants -  and maybe even the 1919 Black Sox. At least if the Cardinals and Tigers play each other in the World Series they should be evenly matched; perhaps it will be the first World Series that no runs are scored thorgh nine - or, the fewest runs scored, anyway. A final note on this topic... it's interesting to note that guys coming up with the big hits in playoff games have been  indicted drug users Johnny Peralta (beating the A's) and Big Papi, bringing Boston back in the second game against Detroit.



The above is our opinion. We would love to be wrong as what we have seen - save the end of the second game with Boston and Detroit-  is not good baseball or good FOR baseball, perhaps not even true  baseball. At this rate, so much for the many prognosticators who expected the truly best teams, Boston and Los Angeles,  to meet in the World Series. Let's see how the rest of the playoffs play out before we make any further judgement. So far NOT so good.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Celebrate the A's Road to Success with Limited Edition, Exclusive 100 Year Old Poster and Tshirt


View more gifts at Zazzle.



The A's Had A Truly GREAT Year and No Team Could Have Beaten Verlander the Way He Was Throwing so Don't Worry, Be Happy with your Oakland A's. (We're not even so sure Verlander was all Verlander, if you know what we mean, nor others on the team, but what can you do... see more below and other blogs)  Enjoy the offseason - celebrate by posting this great, 100 year old 'ROAD TO SUCCESS' poster and/ or Tshirt ( or give to a friend) in honor of the A's SUCCESSFUL 2013 Season.  Makes a great gift for fellow fans or even students, business people or anyway who has achieved true success or  who  on the path - great motivator, too.  For a larger blowup and more details on this great, exclusive  poster go to http://RoadToSuccess.biz or http://RoadToSuccess.us


Celebrate the A's Road to Success with Limited Edition, Exclusive 100 Year Old Poster Print

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Oakland A's Post-Mordem Not Bad - Perhaps More To It Than A's Weakness

The A's Had A GREAT Year and No Team Could Have Beaten Verlander the Way He Was Throwing so Don't Worry, Be Happy with your Oakland A's.  Enjoy the offseason , starting with a nice Deal over at Mangia's in Lafayette , and sign up below for more  great local offers in the offing!


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All we can say, if Verlander continues to pitch as he did against the A's in the next series, along with Max Sherzer - and those guys pitch at least two of the first four games and three of the seven, will be surprised if anyone beats them, just off those pitching performances alone. And, really, who knows what's REALLY going on with Verlander -can't comment on Sherzer. In this day and age of unnatural things - such as when a team like the SF Giants can PED their way to two World Series in  three years with journeyman talent suddenly hitting like superstars (and two virtually different teams doing it - read on) in our opinion - anything can happen in baseball these days. We'll take  our guys - just happy to play baseball and smaller fanbase in an old ball park, at whatever cost  - anyday , over those overpaid, over-contracted , so-called 'sellouts' across the  Bay. If anyone tries to tell you the Giants were able to beat Detroit but the A's weren't don't even go there. You can't argue against a team loaded up on who-knows-what (for more than a decade now) along with  ownership's 'win-at-all-costs' ego (again , read blogs below for more on this if you like).



The fact of the matter is that there are no great teams in baseball this year and haven't been for the past several years. Otherwise, the Giants wouldn't have made it to the World Series twice, with or without PEDs. Not taking baseball, sports, or much of society too seriously anymore, we can still enjoy watching baseball and especially a team like the Oakland A's for what we believe it to be  - a bunch of young, eager , unspoiled guys playing hard to win.  Hopefully, Billy Beane won't take the A's performance against Verlander too seriously and  won't make any wholesale changes in the off-season. The A's are one of the best teams in baseball, if not the best; take away Verlander's other-worldly and, perhaps, unnatural performance against the A's and they'd be right in the series now. The A's teams that lost those Game 5's  over the past decade were NOT as good as this year's team.  It's too bad that certain things may still be influcening the game - including that homerun, to some degree (though we have to let that go) - but that's the way it is in today's society. But, we can still speak our mind if anyone's listening.

Justin Verlander's Changing Velocities over course of season(s), showing surprising improvement end of last two seasons.
This chart  is not complete and would should a drop in ERA at the end of this 2013 season and into the playoffs, but they're averaging it with one figure per year.


Who knows even what's up with Verlander.  His numbers have looked somewhat suspect  over the past couple  years, with him coming on strong, suddenly, at the end of  seasons 2012 and 2013 when most pitchers, if anything, lose something on the fastball.  How does a pitcher improve his velocity from averaging 92 to 94 or better from the beginning to end of the season as well as not losing anything from year to year  ( Five years ago Verlander was only throwing around 90 . Reminds me of the Giants' hitters (and pitchers) suddenly upping their performances the last month of the seasons in 2010 and 2012 World Series years like somebody gave them a magic pill  . Ha!  Nobody questions these things anymore and probably  there are still dozens if not hundreds of players still using the new, undetectable designer PEDs that MLB testing has not caught up with yet - and may never.  (Not a single major league player was caught this year to our knowledge; of course commissioner Selig will tell you it's because baseball is all 'clean' now). Right.  Just , again , read into the below posts...



You have to start wondering about a lot of these teams and their players, seeing so many hitters going down, ie striking out,  in the playoffs, not only on the  A's but on the Dodgers.  It's almost not even like a contest watching the St Louis Cardinal pitchers mow down the Dodgers one after another . One does have to consider after seeing things like the formerly invincible Lance Armstrong busted, Milwaukee Brewers' former good guy and MVP busted along with many others going back to  guys like Aurillia and Matt Williams  on the Giants - guys you would never have expected to be juicing (Mitchell Report).  THE FACT THAT NO DRUG TESTING IS REQUIRED IN THE PLAYOFFS, as we believe  (AS LITTLE AS ONE TEST DURING THE REGULAR SEASON ( NONE IN PREVIOUS YEARS), you just have to consider recent history and the society we're living in whether or not at least a share of what we're seeing is UNNATURAL and PED - induced. 
You have to wonder how a guy like Verlander can ramp up to 97 in the LATE INNINGS of a game, this coming late in a season where he wasn't even hitting 95 in the first months. 
 Remember how the Giants, the team most prevalent with PED users of all  for over a decade (highest number of indicted players) overpowered their opponents in the 2010 and 2012 series with even Barry Zito chipping in last year when he hasn't been able to do anything much before or after for years. You had guys like Sandoval hitting three homers in a single playoff game when he couldn't hit more than 10 the whole season, Scutaro hitting nearly .500 and  almost .400 since joining the Giants mid-year (after hitting only .262 at Colorado.  Just think about it: No drug testing in the playoffs is like an open invitation especially to slumping and mediocre players:   the Giants had at least one minor league coach in their system known to suggest getting such 'help ' through artificial means.  Just keep this in mind as you watch the rest of the playoffs. 




So, enjoy the off season and look forward to the A's coming back for another exciting season, beating the Giants. PEDs or no. PEDs can only go so far. There has to be SOME talent there in the first place to make them work across the team.  It's still a sad situation with drugs in sports, especially baseball, today - the fact that we can't really take the sport seriously.  And sign up for those future offers below, follow us on facebook http://facebook.com/bayareacoups and http://twitter.com/bayareacoups

The noted trend, above, continued into the Detroit-Boston series, as well as, perhaps, the St. Louis - Los Angeles NL series with as few as two runs scored for the first time in two games on the same day in playoffs history. Dozens of overpowering strikeouts and a near no-hitter...

Oakland A's Post-Mordem Not Bad - Perhaps More To It Than A's Weakness




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Thursday, October 10, 2013

GRAY TO PITCH MAY BE RIGHT DECISION for A's AFTER ALL

GRAY TO PITCH MAY BE THE RIGHT DECISION for A's!  After more research on our part - and the A's 'smart' folks 'upstairs' it looks like their decision to Start young Sonny Gray Is probably correct. Off the several factors 1) Gray's last excellent start under similar conditions 2) Colon's poor track record against Detroit including last outing troublesome first inning, 3) Gray's seeming unflappability. Detroit is one of the few teams Colon has not fared well against - and we missed that. So, go A's for the good research. With no more questionable homeruns, perhaps the A's will be allowed to stay on course with good judgement and get the win and playoff series today! GO A'S Meanwhile for MORE A's and A'S STORE and   review and analysis of the homrerun (it should not have counted three ways)  

We're still concerned about probably managerial mistakes, however, these could have perhaps resulted from quick turnaround after controversial homerun and upset and pressures to make quick decisions:
1) Not hitting Gaiaspo (fifth lowest strikeouts in the league) for Reddick (proliffic stikeouts)  or Vogt with runners on second and third and no outs in the seventh inning
2) bringing in Brett Anderson, not a true reliever and untested of late to pitch the sixth inning. Blevins would have been a better bet

Melvin believes in 'lefty-right' matchups only when it comes to hitting but perhaps he should rethink this , on occassion, as well as with pitchers - io the opposite direction. But again, much of Tuesday's game downfall may have been the result of momentum shift and sudden pressure following the controversial homerun (which should not have been called a homerun -see elsewhere

After the A's took the three run lead you could literally feel the wind go out of the sail of the Detroit ship with four innings left to go. The A's were sailing along. Straly had given up only 1 hit. But that's the time one must not take anything for granted, about the time starters can get tired in the fifth or sixth inning... Hopefully the A;s and management will be on top of their game tonight




Wednesday, October 9, 2013

SUNNY GRAY vs BARTOLO COLON To Start Game Five?

SONNY GRAY vs BARTOLO COLON To Start Game Five?
So, they don't reverse the homerun call...Perhaps the biggest question now is whether to start for Bartolo Colon or SOnny Gray. I would say to go ahead and stick with Colon,  who has been 'the man' all season, with consistency. Just because he had a hickup in the first inning of the first playoff game, just make sure he gets a lot of warm up pitches and   have Sunny Gray available and ready to come in at any time. Plus, there's no assurance Sunny Gray could repeat his shutout performance of Game Two, again; Colon has the track record that Gray doesn't have.  So,  it's like you have two chances that way. Theres no tomorrow  in this first playoff series if the A's lose and you don't have to worry so much about the upcoming starter as there will be several day break before the next series would begin.


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

HOMERUN OPINION 3 - BLOWUP PHOTO SHOWS BALL HEADED FOR REDDICK'S GLOVE


Slow Motion video of controversial Victor Martinez homerun in Oakland A's -Detroit Tigers playoff game, October 8 -  Only sure takeaway is that was definite fan interference @LBSports http://larrybrownsports.com/baseball   We believe fan interference should have been called @  http://wheredidyougojoedimaggio.blogspot.com




By blowing up the previous CBS photo, we get a good perspective on the flight of the ball. And, with the ball in motion, we are given the added advantage of seeing its trajectory, which is downward more than on a line. If the ball were not interfered with it appears that it would have right to Reddick's glove, which is just below and back of the fans' interfering hands. This shot is probably presents a clearer perspective than the video - too bad the umpires didn't see this photo rather than the video.

As per previous blog, 
1)fan interference within the sphere of the field is grounds for calling the batter out, according to the baseball rule book (per Keith Oberman, MLB, and other similar sports coverage following the game incident). Then, we have the added possibilities that
 2) the ball would have likely been caught without the fan interference and
 3) the ball might not have even gone over the yellow line to be called a homerun at all - interference or not. But we'll never know. With these several questions  , the  right thing to do would have been to call 'fan interference,' it is our belief , born out by these pictures.

BLOWUP PHOTO SHOWS BALL HEADED FOR REDDICK'S GLOVE

OPINION 2: HOMERUN CALL WAS WRONG IN THREE WAYS, NOT TO MENTION MENTAL AFFECT ON GAME


 Note the blurry image of the baseball in downward motion perhaps a couple feet from Reddick's glove as fans are about to deter the flight of the ball. Ball may not have even gone over yellow line.
We'll never know but the bottom line, according to CBS Sports/replay , was the only thing conclusive from the video replay was that  the ball was interfered with.

OPINION :
In the playoff game between the Oakland A's and Detroit Tigers October 8, the umpires call of a ball  interfered with by fans on its way down 'a HOMERUN' was wrong on two, er, make it 3 counts:

1) As mentioned in previous blog, the ball's trajectory was almost straight down and into Josh Reddick's glove; certainly Reddick was '100% sure' he would have caught it. Looking a the replay itself one cannot accurately judge where the ball would have come down since it was interfered with by fans before it had a chance to drop; however, it was a high fly ball well on its way down rather than a line drive shot with little time to drop.

2) The ball MAY NOT HAVE EVEN BEEN A HOMERUN if fans let it fall. Umpires assumed the ball would stay over the yellow line but with its trajectory it could have dropped below the line. In that case , it would have not been a home run - and A's Reddick would have probably caught it.

But wait, there is yet a THIRD REASON the homerun should not have counted:

3)In addition, The baseball rule book states that fan interference can result in the batter being called out. Clearly, fans interred with the ball as it came down still within the perimeter of the playing field . So, this is yet a third reason the homerun should not have counted.


CBS Sports give us a little more help with a good still shot of the interference (admitted to by the fans who touched the ball). We quote:

Replays showed a fan (two fans, really) reached over the railing in right field and interfered with the ball. It not only looked like the ball might not have cleared the wall, but it looked like Josh Reddick may have even been able to catch it. Here's a still photo of the ball in flight:
Click the photo for an even larger view.
As for the fans in question, CBS Detroit has the details:
A local chef and a long-time season ticket holder, John Bendzinski, 49, of Macomb almost changed the course of Game 4 for the Tigers.
“It was coming to me and I didn't know if it had enough – I didn't really want to reach over,” he told WWJ's Russ McNamara. “Next thing you know, I'm switching hands with my beer and it hits me right in the hands.”
Bendzinski didn't catch the ball but he did hold on to his beer.
Bendzinski's friend Mark Beauchamp was right next to the action: “The ball was coming out and we had to like ‘go for it' we were above the yellow,” he said.”That's all we knew.”
In any event, the only thing the replays showed conclusively was that the ball was interfered with. That's it. Without enough evidence to overturn it, the homer stood and the game was tied at four. A few batters later, the Tigers took a 5-4 lead on an Austin Jackson single. (CBS Sports)


OPINION 2: HOMERUN CALL WAS WRONG IN THREE WAYS, NOT TO MENTION MENTAL AFFECT ON GAME

OPINION: CONTROVERSIAL HOMERUN Affected Game Several Ways , Why Colon Should Start, New A's Store







Slow Motion video of controversial homerun only sure takeaway is that there was fan interference @LBSports http://larrybrownsports.com/baseball/fan-interference-victor-martinez-home-run-video/206621  We believe fan interference should have been called, per Baseball rule book, especially since there was no conclusive evidence whether or not 1) the ball could have been caught or not by Reddick and 2) whether the ball would definitely hit above the yellow homerun line Fan interference helps give Victor Martinez home run (Video)  


At first we didn't make much   over 'the homerun.'  I thought it could've gone either way but after thinking about it , it did have a significant role in the game, affecting Oakland negatively on several counts.


The fact it was a controversial homerun made it worse then if it were a clean home run because it changed the momentum of the game and made the As quickly regroup and try to put the pieces back together after being fairly comfortable in the driver seat .  One could say the the As missed their chances but had the homerun been caught one doesn't know how things would have played out differently. It was a bitter blow - and probably an unfair one -  to the A's in a close game.

Ideally, manager Melvin and the team would have regrouped with the game still in hand.   But, things don't happen that easily in a situation like this. It quickly puts more pressure on the team and forces some  quick decision changes   as to  which pitchers and  pinch hitters to use.


The homerun,  by the way,  may have appeared on the replay to be well above Reddick's glove to when the fans interfered ,however , it was still coming down -  almost straight down- and Reddick feels 'one hundred percent' he would've caught it  -and he's caught many like that before


Ideally, yes, the A's would have regrouped and stepped back a moment with two men on in scoring position and no outs; it's not like them to have two guys in a row strike out with runners in scoring position. They're usually good at battling and getting the bat on the ball, at least,  in tough situations like with Vogt the other night battling Verlander some 10 pitches . But this night it all happened so quickly after the shock of the homerun; there was little time to think about the next step and Reddick and Vogt went up rather shell-shocked, although, the previous two batters were able to get on base.

Melvin's Judgment Could Have Been Affected by Homerun, Too, re. Other Issues

That aside from the homerun controversy there were some issues in the game which we can look at. There were probably a couple decisions that may   be questioned regarding  Melvin strategies in the game, but, again, those are things he might not of done if he was not put under duress due to the 'shocking' homer .

The biggest question mark  was bringing in Brent Anderson rather then Jerry Blevins or another true reliever.


Melvin says he likes to bring in his set relievers but in this case it was after his main relievers were used up    so you could've brought anyone and we would've gone with the righty- lefty strategy which has some science to it,at least. If your remaining bull pen pitchers are of similar caliber than just figure if more righties or left handed batters were coming up next and use the one of opposite (ie lefty picther if more righty batters or vice versa).

 
Finally Melvin should've strongly considered using Guiaspo(sp)   rather than Reddick in right field. Reddick has been struggling and Guiaspo is more likely to hit the ball - and all we needed was a fly or slow infield hit with no outs in the seventh to score that run, yet Reddick and then Vogt, under additional pressue from the homerun call, not to mention facing the tuff Shirzer, both struck out .It's all hindsight but there is some science to which players are more likely to NOT strike out


SUNNY GRAY vs BARTOLO COLON To Start Game Five?
 But we must look ahead to game five we have at least even chance of winning the game  playing our home park. Perhaps the biggest question now is whether to start for Bartolo Colon or Sunny Gray. I would say to go ahead and stick with Colon,  who has been 'the man' all season, with consistency. Just because he had a hickup in the first inning of the first playoff game, just make sure he gets a lot of warm up pitches and   have Sunny Gray available and ready to come in at any time. Plus, there's no assurance Sunny Gray could repeat his shutout performance of Game Two, again; Colon has the track record that Gray doesn't have.  So,  it's like you have two chances that way. Theres no tomorrow  in this first playoff series if the A's lose and you don't have to worry so much about the upcoming starter as there will be several day break before the next series would begin.


 OPINION: CONTROVERSIAL HOMERUN Affected Game Several Ways , Why Colon Should Start, New A's Store

Monday, October 7, 2013

NEW MONEYBALL MOVIE IN THE MAKING plus AMAZING A'S STORE

Joe D would have loved the 2013 Oakland A's. You may or may not remember the native Martinez boy who came back to Oakland where he began his famous career with the Oakland Oaks   and worked for Charlie Finley and the Oakland A's in the 1970s/80s.  So, Joe  is still around out there somewhere cheering on these boys of summer who remind him NOT of the common modern day 'money' player and even PED users like those who got into the World Series across the Bay two of the last four years more for extraneous reasons than real talent and hard work,  but a lot of the  Field of Dreams  boys  of  yesteryear who played hard and won for the love of the game...

Amazing Oakland A's with walk off win in Second Game of American League Playoffs Oct 5
 
NEW MONEYBALL MOVIE 
IN THE WORKS
 courtesy ESPN

Baseball Tonight breaks down Sonny Gray's stellar performance in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.Tags: Stephen Vogt, Justin Verlander, Sonny Gray
OAKLAND -- This is the big question as the Athletics and Tigers fly to Detroit with their division series tied 1-1: Who will play Stephen Vogt in the "Moneyball" sequel?
I mean, Vogt is the natural candidate for a major role in the movie. Few players epitomize the entire Athletics economic approach to building a team better than the soon-to-be 29-year-old catcher. Vogt played six seasons in the minors before reaching the big leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays last summer -- and then went hitless in 25 at-bats spread out over four months.

[+] EnlargeStephen Vogt
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez To the victor -- Stephen Vogt, in this case -- goes the shaving cream pie.
With a lifetime average of .000 (his WAR was not very good, either), he was designated for assignment by the Rays at the start of the year. While other players were beginning the season, Vogt was walking through a shopping mall in -- where else? -- Durham, N.C., wondering if, like Crash Davis, his baseball career was over. Then his cell phone rang and he learned that the Oakland Athletics had just purchased his contract for $150,000.
Jump ahead six months - MORE

 AMAZING A'S STORE
Go Oakland A's !
All the Way to the World Series
Coupon Country CoupLetter SPECIAL Edition  -
Celebrate Your OAKLAND A's In the Playoffs!  OCTOBER 2013
Get Your A's Caps, Tshirts and Playoff Souvenirs, here!
OCTOBER 2013

FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS


 



OAKLAND A'S 2013 MORE THAN MONEYBALL... GET READY FOR THE POSTSEASON HEROICS - TSHIRTS , HATS, SOURVENIRS

by Mark PURDY, San Jose Mercury News



OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.
Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
MORE 




OAKLAND A'S PLAYOFF CENTRAL
STORE




FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS
- See more at: http://bayareacouponseastbaycoupons.blogspot.com/#sthash.cuMIEakJ.dpuf

FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS


 



OAKLAND A'S 2013 MORE THAN MONEYBALL... GET READY FOR THE POSTSEASON HEROICS - TSHIRTS , HATS, SOURVENIRS

by Mark PURDY, San Jose Mercury News



OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.
Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
MORE 




OAKLAND A'S PLAYOFF CENTRAL
STORE




FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS
- See more at: http://bayareacouponseastbaycoupons.blogspot.com/#sthash.cuMIEakJ.dpuf

FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS


 



OAKLAND A'S 2013 MORE THAN MONEYBALL... GET READY FOR THE POSTSEASON HEROICS - TSHIRTS , HATS, SOURVENIRS

by Mark PURDY, San Jose Mercury News



OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.
Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
MORE 




OAKLAND A'S PLAYOFF CENTRAL
STORE




FORGET MONEYBALL - THESE 2013 A'S ARE REAL WINNERS - A's PLAYOFF HATS, TSHIRTS, SOUVENIRS
- See more at: http://bayareacouponseastbaycoupons.blogspot.com/#sthash.cuMIEakJ.dpuf

THE Oakland A's again this year surprised the baseball world finishing off the Western Division  in first place, again supplanting the vaunted Texas Rangers  with 90 wins, no big name stars and one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.  Meanwhile,   cross Bay rival San Francisco Giants  just escaped being the first team to go from the World Series to last place in years,  despite having the fourth highest payroll , several stars , a lot of high priced players and a history of PED players and suspected performance enhancing drug users, in our opinion. Do the A's have enough to go all the Way to the World Series?  Purchase Tshirt - Classic 'A's' over Oak Tree in Circle
Forget Moneyball - 2013 Oakland A's The REAL Story 
 
            OAKLAND A'S Official On-field Caps and Tshirts and Playoff Souvenirs  ON SALE NOW
Joe DiMaggio once worked with the Oakland A's and Charlie Finley in the 1970s/80s and would be proud of the current team,  which plays much in the style of the old Yankee Clipper....good old, hard-nosed, no nonsense , smart baseball. There are no big name stars, just a lot of eager, aggressive, intelligent fun-loving 'lower paid' players who are playing for the love of the game as much as anything. There is also a manager, Bob Melvin, who has upset GM Billy Beane's old theory that the manager doesn't make a difference, who took over a team that revolted against it's previous manager - and the coaching staff is second to none. They've gotten the most out of their young team.  No help from modern technology, ie PEDs, like the cross Bay team.  This is good old, real  Golden Era Baseball like when DiMaggio played.
FORGET MONEYBALL - WHAT MONEY? 'Low  Paid'  2013 A's The Real Hollywood Story
by Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News
OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.
Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
To be sure, the A's of 2002 were intriguing.
Oakland Athletics players and fans exult as the last out of the game is made against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. (D. ROSS CAMERON)
They had a 20-game win streak and did break ground when general manager Billy Beane (portrayed by Pitt in the film) started using statistical data to make personnel and lineup decisions.But come on. Those A's did not feature a stadium that leaked raw sewage; or an uncertain future in their home city; or a relief pitcher from Australia who screams a lot and grew up playing rugby; or a right fielder nicknamed "Hillbilly Jesus"; or a powerfully exotic slugger from Cuba who obliterated the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. The A's of 2013 have given us all of the above. And then some.
"We do have some interesting guys," A's manager Bob Melvin conceded this week.
Not that many casual sports fans in the Bay Area would know.  MORE

How The (2013 American League) West Was Won  

There were a lot of great months in the A's 2013 playoff run, but none better than the month of September, that saw the A's overcome a 2-game deficit to eventually win the Division and finish the season five games ahead of the Rangers, who were knocked out in the play-in Wild Card game. The A's played strong when it counted, and as Texas faded, they took complete advantage; even Texas' end-of-the-season winning streak was too little too late to dethrone the 2-time defending American League West Champions, and that's why the Oakland Athletics will be playing tomorrow.
The A's started September by finishing a sweep of the Rays, obviously catching them, too, at their weakest point of the season. A lot of the A's success--winning the Division with a full week to spare--came by playing Texas and Tampa Bay at exactly the right time. Had the AL West and Wild Card gone down to the wire with the A's still in the mix, they would have had to win out to keep pace with the other teams, who won the remainder of their last games to get into the playoffs, even briefly. Before the penultimate showdown between the A's and the Rangers, the A's first took out the Rays, in game #136. Nico has the call: Joe Maddon thought he would try as many different pitchers as possible, so the A's decided to score in as many creative ways as they could and the end result was a 5-1 victory, a sweep of Tampa Bay, and just 1 game between Oakland and Texas in the standings as the Rangers come to town. This left the A's just one game back, as they geared up to face the Rangers.
Unlike previous experiences with the Rangers, the A's did not waste this opportunity, fighting hard to take two out of three, and climbing back on top of the AL West. Game one was recapped by Lev Facher, who coaxed the A's to a tie: A solid five innings from Dan Straily, home runs from Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes, and scoreless relief work from Dan Otero, Brett Anderson, Ryan Cook, and Grant Balfour have the A's back in a tie for first place. In front of 23,495 frenzied fans on a sun-splashed day at the Oakland Coliseum, a few costly mistakes on Texas' part and a nerve-wracking yet effective four innings from the bullpen gave the A's a 4-2 win, and seemingly all of the momentum in the AL West race. There really wasn't anything "seemingly" about it. Aside from losing the following night, the game also handled by Lev Facher: Well, the A's are back in second place. An all-around uninspiring evening from the green and gold has the A's a game behind the Rangers, making the rubber match tomorrow afternoon almost a must-win with three games in Arlington looming on the horizon. Bartolo Colon was both mediocre and unlucky tonight, while the A's offense stalled repeatedly with runners in scoring position. The bullpen wasn't great, either. Heard this one before?, the A's would strap on their playoff underoos and decimate the rest of the month, winning series after series. They finished the Rangers' series with a win, as baseballgirl tells us, the game also marking the return of Daric. Barton. The plucky A's, winners of eight of their last ten games, shook off yesterday's loss like it didn't even matter, and continued their trend of stomping all over ace pitchers as they dismantled Rangers' starter Yu Darvish and gutted the rest of the Texas bullpen to the tune of 11-4. The big blows of the game were home runs off the bats of Moss, Donaldson, and Coco. Oh, and also: Daric. Barton. This tied the A's and Rangers for first place, with barely 20 games to go in the season..
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