A's v. Indians Series Recap

This was supposed to be posted last Friday. Then some stuff went down.... my bad. I know you missed your recap. And sadly, there will be no recap of the Kansas City Series. But they get a paragraph!

The Cleveland Indians have some magic in those bats right now. They're where the A's want to be. And I'll say it right here. You want to know what the difference is? They play for Manny Acta, while the A's play for Bob Geren.

Acta looks intense in the dugout. And, it seems, he's found a way to make that team believe in itself and win ballgames. It's exactly where the A's are supposed to be, and where the Giants were last year. They get good pitching, and the hitters are just scrappy enough to win ballgames. Acta is much more aggressive with his bullpen, evidenced today when he took out his starter after 5.1 to turn Pennington around. The A's seem to only get up and excited late in games. How many times this season have they failed to jump on a starter who had not looked good coming into the game(See: Hernandez, Felix; Carmona, Fausto; Lewis, Colby)? I don't mind a manager who has his players' backs, but not when they lose games because of it.

That said, the offense continues to be a major issue. Something needs to be done on the infield. Penny leads the opening day infield starters with an average of .239. LaRoche is hitting .298, but I'm not sure we can count him yet, and he is not the answer at 3B. I would love to see Jackson at 1B every day. Barton just has not done enough for me to argue for his inclusion in the lineup. LaRoche has taken over at third for now, but I'm not sure he's the answer. Finally, and it pains me to say this, but unless Ellis turns it on soon, it is time to give Jemile Weeks a shot at second base. He's hitting .333 with 2 HR, 4 2B, and 3 3B at AAA. It may be time for the A's to move on. Notable: A's starters gave up a total of 4 ER in this series, yet only got 1 win. We need to hit. We need to hit bad.

May 3
A's 1 v. Indians 4
Bob Geren lost a game for the A's. It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time. He did, however, make three decisions that effected the outcome of a game the A's should have won. First, he left Conor Jackson and Josh Willingham out of the lineup. Those two have been the best hitters for the A's as of late. To sit them at the same time? Silly. Thus, A's score one run. Tyson Ross pitched 6 innings of beautiful ball. But had thrown more pitches than he ever had as a major leaguer. He gave up three singles, and no one was warming up. Tie Game. Then in the 9th, still 1-1, Geren uses Brian Fuentes for the fourth time in 5 days. He was tired, and there was no gas in the tank. Then he just let him die out there, and the A's lost.

May 4
A's 3 v. Indians 1
Bob Geren did not lose a game for the A's. David DeJesus decided he knew how to hit, and Trevor Cahill pitched a gem. DeJesus hit not one, but two home runs, and there was much rejoicing. Josh Tomlin looks like the real deal. Cleveland, be excited. Your team is blossoming again, and should be solid for a few years.

May 5
A's 3 v. Indians 4
Bob Geren kind of lost the game for the A's. It was a tight one, and the A's were having trouble hitting again, so I put this on them almost as much as Geren. But, after Wuertz pitched a 1-2-3 10th inning only throwing 8 pitches, he was pulled in favor of Fuentes for the 11th. My feeling, in an extra inning game, is that you go with a hot pitcher as long as you can, because you never know how many you'll need. In this case, Fuentes pitched an OK 11th. But then Breslow blew it in the 12th, and once again, no one was warming in the 'pen. Then he gave up a another run, and the A's were only able to rally for one in the bottom of the inning. Frustrating.

Player of the Series
Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, and Tyson Ross. They pitched phenomenally, and deserve W's. Only Cahill got one. Sigh. Their stats combined: 22.1 IP, 4 ER, 20 H, 3 BB, 13 K. DeJesus gets a shoutout for his 2 HR, but no POTW until he does it consistently. Ryan Sweeney gets an honorable mention for going 5-6 during Thursday's game.

GOAT
Bob Geren. He put his team in situations to lose. Mismanaging his lineup an his bullpen, Geren contributed greatly to the two losses. I'm not sure if I'm on the "fire him" bnadwagon, just because I'm sure who to replace him with, but I think I'm ready to see a change.

Plays of the Week

This play from Ross on Sunday was out of control

DeJesus is out of Control.... for one game

Sweeney lays out

Song of the Week



Roundabout - Yes

Prog Rock at its finest.... And the A's have been going around in circles above and below .500 for this entire season.A

The Royals Series
Yeah, I blew this. My bad. The A's took two of three from the Royals, and really, if they could get a freaking hit from time to time, should have swept. BUT, a series win away, is a series win away, and the Royals are currently playing great baseball. Home runs from Pennington, Suzuki, and Kouzmanoff were nice to see in this series, and the A's solid starting pitching continued. A very, very solid series.

On Deck
Three in Arlington against the Rangers. Cahill, Anderson, and Gonzalez get to go against the Rangers top three. A series win here would go a long way to shoring up the A's as a postseason contender.