I hate the fact Tommy is still a better starter than Hammel, yet he gets sent off and Hammel is 0-4.

Pitching has been strong all year, it's the offense that's been really inconsistent. I would like to think that Yo has much more to offer than Gomes, but Gomes has been real clutch and has a ring to show for it. Yo hasn't been that clutch hitter and his avg is lower than it should be.

I like the starting 4 we'd have in the post season:

"Shark"
Sonny
Lester
Kazmir

But the offense still needs help when it comes to facing ace pitchers. I'd rather Billy go out and get another bat.

The trade of Milone for Fuld worries me that Coco is going to get healthy enough to last the season. Too late now. Billy is either going to to elevate his status to Emporer of Baseball or he's gonna look like he just panicked and tried to bye a ring right before closing time.

 

I was listening to The Wheelhouse on 95.7 The Game on my way home earlier, and the guys & callers were bringing a bunch of these points y'all have made.

As Gagan said, I've nearly picked up my jaw off the floor. I'm on board with Beane's & ownership's show clear message of THIS IS OUR YEAR. PERIOD. Before it was, "Let's show them we're serious about getting over the hump."

One of the guys had mentioned Tim Kurkjian's take, which sums up their message to the world. He said, likely in that cracking voice we know & love, that the Samardzija deal was for the division crown, but the Lester, Gomes, Cespedes one was to win it all.

While I like this very bold move, one which is very atypical of Beane, I don't like the faint stink of "Isn't this what the Yankees usually do?" But that goes away quickly when I step back to look at the bigger picture. And that's a picture with that 5th ring to put on their thumb! WOOT WOOT!!!

Oh, and one quip I painfully laughed at was them referring to Hammel as Jim Johnson: Part II.

 

I think the main reason is that Oakland is able to win without Cespedes. Sure he hits a homerun every now and again, but the team was still able to produce runs when Cespedes was in a slump. Lester needed to fill a big gap with his arm and Gomes was here before on a big run.

 

I just didn't see the A's pitching staff as the problem. It was always their lack of of fence against good pitching. With the exception of Darvish and Weaver, they've had a hell of a time scoring runs on ace pitchers.

Cespedes doesn't really the most disciplined or dependable hitter, but he was at least a threat in the line up behind Moss and Donaldson.

I just don't like the trade since they already had great pitching but lost one of the only bats that could crush a bad pitch. Plus, that's got to hurt the clubhouse knowing that essentially no one in the line up is untouchable.

 

Lester put them in the sleeper hold tonight.

It's getting harder to miss Cespedes with Lester here. The A's are a hot hitter away from being lethal.

 

So Hammel has seemed to have taken Johnson's place. So that's nice.

 

I refuse to hit the panic button.

 

They aren't clicking right now, but they will soon enough. Tigers are struggling too

 

There's no need to hit the panic button! Still a lot more baseball left. They will click when the time is right. Everyone still seems to think its the Cespedes trade that jacked it all up, but 1 player isn't how you win games. LETS GO OAKLAND

 

Panic! Panic! Panic!!!

 

No!


If Billy builds it, the bats will come...

 

Billy is rabid.... Billy has rabies...

Its the only explanation...


We just got Dunn

 

This train ride is exciting!

 

I'm sure Dunn will prove himself since he hasn't had a single postseason appearance along with his 400+ HR career

 

Damn, Kazmir and Melvin out. yeesh