Royals series = owch At least we helped them potentially push DET out of a key playoff spot I thought we had this game won today when we took the lead, but then Cook just absolutely imploded giving up that 5-run inning.

ALWest lead back to only 2 games over the hated halos

8/14/2014 6:38:31 PM

The matchups with the Angels will decide who wins the division. Oakland's offense is taking off half the games off since the All Star break. I can realistically see Detroit at Oakland for the one game Wild Card. Two months ago I had no idea Detroit could lose the Central. It's a reality now.

8/15/2014 9:47:17 AM

as much as i would like to see the A's win the world series, i would also love to see them not make the playoffs because it would be hilarious

8/15/2014 8:01:26 PM

hahaha lead blown

8/17/2014 1:02:13 AM

After that horrible roadtrip going 1-6 (at least 3 of those 6 loses came by 1run), it'll be interesting to see if anything changes now that the team has arrived back home. Especially our pitching!

I know everyone is blaming the hitting, but in reality our pitching has been more of an outlier vs. earlier this season when we were winning more. Look at Avg Runs Scored/Game vs. Avg Run Allowed/Game over this span - and while both have regressed at once, the Runs Allowed is more significant.

Of course we expect a dropoff in run production losing Cespy, but its crazy to think that since adding Lester, Samardzija, and Hammel - our starting pitching ERA has significantly risen. Yes you could blame 60%+ of this on Hammel...

in some ways it actually feels more comfortable as a fan to see the A's playing from behind once again

8/19/2014 4:07:00 PM

Welp that richards injury hands you guys the division

8/20/2014 9:42:55 PM

Not so sure about that - when Samardjiza is giving up 7ER to the friggin Mets in 3.2 innings
(facepalm)

8/21/2014 6:39:36 PM

After the Cespedes trade, our run differential is exactly at ZERO.

If they end up missing the playoffs, I won't be surprised.

8/21/2014 10:21:07 PM

well the road to recovery or complete disaster begins today!

Even though the names and records make it look like we should be favored, Santiago (3-7, 3.46) has pitched well over his last 4 games while Gray (12-7, 2.99) has been pretty mediocre...

8/22/2014 5:13:32 PM

[Edited on August 25, 2014 at 1:51 AM. Reason : Go Mariners!]

8/25/2014 1:50:29 AM

The M's are pretty good, but they've mostly played crap teams (DET being the exception) over the last several series. They have 13 games left against LAA/OAK, so that will be their real shot at winning the division. Meanwhile the A's are tied for first again thanks to a good win tonight and a terrible LAA loss

8/26/2014 1:41:47 AM

Sam Fuld with the 9th inning magic This LAA series is going to do wonders for my blood pressure over the weekend...

8/28/2014 12:02:16 AM

Bob Melvin proving why he is an elite manager by going with Hammel and Pomeranz to set up his top four with Anaheim this weekend. I would have Hammel in AA ball by bow but he was great on Tues. Hammel goes 7 gives up one, and Pomeranz goes 5.1 giving up one. Bullpen on Tuesday let it go. Huge series starts tonight. What happened to Detroit?

8/28/2014 8:57:27 AM

yeah - simply put: Chris Carter is the reason we aren't still tied with LAA going into this series. He crushed it with us back in 2012 for that late season playoff run and is crushing it for the friggin Astros now - hopefully he crushes LAA and SEA also when they play.

Huge series coming up - but I don't see it doing well for us honestly. LAA threw out their dirt starters against MIA and came out of that series pretty well. We will see probably see Wilson (toss up), Weaver (L), Shoemaker (toss up), and Trevor Cahill (toss up, rumored to be traded from ARI to LAA to start game 3 or 4 against us)

8/28/2014 9:27:40 AM

A split would be great. One thing nobody has talked about is the possibility of a tie for the division. What happens in that case? Isn't it just head to head record? If that's the case, I think the A's just need two wins against LAA to win the tie breaker.

8/28/2014 8:18:59 PM

I hate to say it, but LAA is taking the division. As much as I thought this was finally the year we'd break through, it's not happening. We haven't been able to make up ground and injuries have really taken their toll. Poor Coco

8/30/2014 11:36:59 AM

I hate to say it but it seems like the a's are falling apart badly. I wasn't a fan of the cespedes trade when it happened and it has not worked out. Combine that with injuries and the fact that Moss is absolutely terrible now and it is depressing to think how good we were all year and what we look like now.

8/30/2014 11:02:49 PM

The wheels fell off after that trade.

11-14 ish after the trade

[Edited on August 30, 2014 at 11:32 PM. Reason : A]

8/30/2014 11:29:45 PM

Got Adam Dunn for a minor league pitcher

8/31/2014 11:53:37 AM

WELP.

8/31/2014 6:45:25 PM

embarrassing. Wild card is all but a lock, and we'll probably lose that game agaist Verlander/King Felix too

8/31/2014 7:07:50 PM

Hey hey hey - this is the low point of our season. All better from here. Srsly we will see great teams in the playoffs from the WC spot or ALWest champion spot. Need to find our pitching game again and we can still beat anyone again. Keep the faith and Bernie Lean

9/2/2014 7:23:46 PM

Lester vs. Felix today, only run thus far has been a longball by the Big Donkey

we're seeing a preview of the AL WC game here most likely....

9/3/2014 4:45:47 PM

Yeah show's over folks. It's been a fun few seasons, but this team is done.

9/3/2014 6:21:33 PM

well those 2 one run losses to the M's arent terrible, theres time to rebound. but its ridiculous to think we need luck now though after probably the second best first half in recent MLB history

9/3/2014 7:21:20 PM

This team doesn't resemble the 12/13 teams that constructed runs and played loosely with confidence. It reminds me of the 2013 Rangers and how the imploded into mediocrity. Sure, I'm being dramatic and anything is possible, but the last 6 weeks of baseball haven't been very fun to watch if you're an A's fan.

9/3/2014 8:46:54 PM

It seems like the opposite of most a' s teams, we usually come on strong in the 2nd half and are playing loose. This years we are flaming out and everyone seems to be feeling the pressure.

9/3/2014 9:51:05 PM

yeah I am now also starting to feel like this team has imploded.... 3 straight 1-run losses at home, we should be winning these games if we're the WS contender everyone thought us to be

9/6/2014 11:24:27 AM

World Series? LOL

The Astros have given good teams fits this year and they're going to be even better next year, but I just don't see us getting past the wild card (if we even make it). Still plenty of games left, but the panic button has been pressed repeatedly and it ain't looking good

9/6/2014 11:38:35 AM

I still say Beane will rue the day he made the Cespedes trade. Seems like La Potencia has been lighting it up for Boston lately, while we lose over and over again.

9/6/2014 4:39:49 PM

tigers fucked their trade up too... you wont have to deal with verlander its looking like

9/6/2014 4:55:31 PM

The tigers trade was just as much about next year as this year and I still like it. We'll offer price arbitration and he'll prob settle for like 19-20 mil for 1 year and we'll let scherzer walk. Let's be honest, withthe Tigers' injuries, we have no shot anyways

9/6/2014 5:46:37 PM

Quote :

"I still say Beane will rue the day he made the Cespedes trade. Seems like La Potencia has been lighting it up for Boston lately, while we lose over and over again."

it was a calculated all-in move, and sometimes calculated all-in moves blow up in your face. it's not beane's fault that everyone on a team that he assembled that was probably overperforming all season completely forgot how to hit all at the same time.

9/6/2014 6:06:05 PM

Walking 5 straight batters in the 9th to lose the game that should have easily been won was a pretty accurate reflection of where this team's at right now.

9/7/2014 8:26:54 PM

Cook was good last year but he has been garbage this year.

9/7/2014 9:25:29 PM

Another 9th inning meltdown. 2 strikes with 2 outs and another reliever gives up an HR ESPN projects a 12-8 record over the next 20 games, but I'm just not seeing it at this point. Just terrible.

9/9/2014 11:28:29 AM

Regarding Cespy, Anaheim was going to win the division with or without him on Oakland's roster. In fact, we could have both Lester and Cespy and Anaheim would have still won the division.

Moss went from MLB All Star to marginal AAA player since the break. Norris has come back to reality after seeing the ball well the first 70 games. Coco hasn't been anything either and he's the straw that stirs the drink. Notable post all star batting averages:

Moss- .170
Coco- .199
Jaso- .235

You can't have your two of your three best hitters (Donaldson the third) bat under .200 post AG and expect to win. It's amazing they still have a lead in the WC. Shows how strong the pre AG team was.

When you factor in that if Oakland is lucky enough to win one of the two wild cards the opposing pitcher will likely be either Felix, Ver, or Scher and all 3 have experience shutting down Oakland. I actually hope Detroit beats out KC and Seattle falls out.

[Edited on September 10, 2014 at 2:55 PM. Reason : .]

9/10/2014 2:52:10 PM

dude srsly, we've lost like 5 one run games over the past week or so... Cespy's production was good to win us ~2-3 of those probably. We're still way back in the division.

LAA have been on a tear and deserve props from everyone. They are getting all-star production late in the season from no name pitchers and hitters like the A's have in the prior few years. When Richards went down they actually got even hotter

Where are our no name stars coming out of the woodwork in September this year? Aint got em.

But that DOESN'T mean we can't refind that swagger we had earlier this year in any given game at this point. Sustaining that swagger like we did before? I think it starts with pitching. We need to get back on that classic A's streak where we only give us <2 runs per game 50% of the time. Our "ace" starting staff is losing games for us just like our hitting, Lester has been the only consistent one. At least Doolittle will be back here yet this month...

http://www.fantasysp.com/player/mlb/Sean_Doolittle/3654692/sean-doolittle-could-be-activated-friday

9/10/2014 7:20:52 PM

I think it's just fatigue. Playing at high level for 2.5 seasons took its toll and they peaked too early. I am not at all optimistic about the playoffs, but I'll still continue to watch and hope for the best.

9/10/2014 7:26:30 PM

geeezus. our 7th one run loss in 11 days! put a fork in this team, they're done...

9/11/2014 4:31:19 PM

they've been done for a while. i kinda don't even feel like watching anymore. it's too painful to watch them lose in such frustrating ways.

9/11/2014 5:24:50 PM

-10

9/12/2014 7:28:34 AM

HUGE series win. Glad we finally beat King Felix. Just gotta keep winning to assure the #1 WC spot.

9/14/2014 10:05:25 PM

the hitting slump is normalization. see my post from back on 7/6


message_topic.aspx?topic=642110&page=1#16094028

Quote :

" http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-giants-clustered-their-luck/ This bodes well for the rest of the Tigers' season. A's #1 when it comes to offensive cluster luck....no surprise there. This all probably normalizes over the course of a season"

[Edited on September 15, 2014 at 12:58 AM. Reason : m]

9/15/2014 12:56:33 AM

yeah yeah. neither team is making it past the ALCS, so who cares?

9/15/2014 3:43:58 PM

I didn't say the Tigers will, just saying that I (guided by the numbers from the fivethirtyeight site) called this 2 months ago.

If the tigers play the O's they'll make it to the ALCS, just have to hope the Angels don't get there

9/15/2014 3:46:52 PM

^ good call on those uncanny 1st half offensive numbers for the A's. It really sucks to think that we led the division for so long and were seemingly such a lock, but now I've come to grips with a playoff run from the WC spot. Crazier things have happened (like losing 23 of 30 from Aug to Sep)... but still, fighting for WC#1 isnt what we all dreamed she'd be

9/15/2014 7:33:19 PM

Quote :

"If the tigers play the O's they'll make it to the ALCS, just have to hope the Angels don't get there "

I wouldn't put my money on it. Losing Davis obviously hurts, but Detroit is pretty banged up. It'll definitely be a close series imo.

9/16/2014 11:18:20 AM

I just say that because Detroit matches up against the O's the best. 5-1 on the season series as well.

But you are right (starting players/bullpen players) Dirks, Rondon, Iglesias missed the entire season, Anibal Sanchez missed half of the year, Verlander is pitching injured, Miggy has been limping since July, Avila has had like 3 concussions, and our bullpen add Soria has pitched 4 games for us since we got him.

That being said, the Price/Scherzer combo is the best in the AL when it comes to a 5 game or 7 game series. Porcello has stepped up and Miggy is a top 10 hitter in the league even with an abdominal tear and leg injury

9/16/2014 11:57:06 AM

^^ losing Davis doesn't even hurt the o's that bad. unless we know he would've caught lightning in a bottle the last 2 weeks of the season and carried it into the playoffs, it's almost addition by subtraction. he's valuable as a home run threat for a team that is pretty reliant on home runs, but he's not good defensively and had been playing at a more demanding position after machado went down. obviously he wouldn't have been benched, but he's been Real Bad

^ a 6 game sample size is almost meaningless. the o's are 4-2 vs the angels. would you really say you like the way the o's match up against them? no way. if scherzer or price get into trouble early in any of those games, the tigers are in serious trouble because they don't have a bullpen to bail them out. and you're assuming they win the central, which I wouldn't do considering they're only up 1.5 games on the royals.

9/16/2014 12:45:37 PM