Oakland A's 2015 Season Thread

[Isaiah4110]

Hahn's improvement is very encouraging, as is seeing pitchers intentionally walk Vogt to face Butler and Butler making them pay.

 

[ratenstein]

Yeah, the starting pitching in general was good in the sweep against Detroit, and has been of late. Just keep the more bed-crapper relievers off the field as much as possible.

They still have the worst record in the AL, but thankfully it's still early and no one is exactly running away with it right now. Boston has been struggling a bit of late, as were the Tigers, so hopefully the A's are catching these guys at the right moment as well, and can get the road record to about .500.

With Moss, Cespy, Donaldson all gone, a lot of people thought the production would be gone too, but right now they're about 4th in the AL in Runs Scored. Hopefully Vogt and Reddick stay healthy.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Hopefully Vogt and Reddick stay healthy.

I'd say Zobrist is at least as important as those two. We really fell apart when he was on the DL. And we need Burns to keep making us forget that Crisp has been on the DL pretty much all season.

 

[ratenstein]

Yeah, I'm real hopeful for B.Burns, good stuff so far.
And hopefully Venditte will be here to stay as well now.

I saw something about the Nats trying to get Zobrist.

 

[ratenstein]

Boston has been struggling a bit of late, as were the Tigers, so hopefully the A's are catching these guys at the right moment as well, and can get the road record to about .500.

So much for that idea. BoSox sweep the series. Very tough luck for Graveman as the pen crapped all over itself in the game 3 loss.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Could still be just a hiccup in the gelling process. I'm still in a wait-and-see mindset. If the rest of June looks like the first part of May then we are probably don. If, however, we look like we did before the weekend again then we may still have a chance.

I'm curious to see if/when Beane will call it and mail in the season.

 

[ratenstein]

Nice to see Kazmir get back on track against Texas.
I hope it was just a hiccup against Boston because these guys aren't terrible when they don't have a bunch of errors or the bullpen doesn't crap all over itself.
I read that Griffin is coming along and even Zito has been lights out in the minors of late, so maybe even if Beane does decide to make a move, there's depth among the starters.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Zito's last 4 starts have dropped his ERA by 1.52 and his WHIP by 0.31. That's not a bad drop. Over those 4 games he is 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 27 IP. He has only walked 6 batters and allowed 16 hits while striking out 22. That is a pretty good stretch. He actually had 3 scoreless games in a row before giving up 3 runs in his last start.

Overall Zito is 4-5 with a 3.77 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 74 hits, 32 BB and 56 Ks in 76.1 IP.


All the last 6 games (for the A's) have told me is that we still need to wait and see. This team may be a sub-.500 team, but they also still could be a repeat of 2012.

 

[ratenstein]

Yeah, I ended up reading a bit about Zito right before Venditte got called up, since both were doing well. Hopefully Venditte can come back from the DL soon.

If Beane does decide to pull the plug or just make a move, I think Zito could step in and the rotation would be fine. And then Gray and Graveman both put up good stuff in this last set with LAA, but once again, a blow out win and two 1-run losses.

 

[Isaiah4110]

I find this to be a very interesting season so far. The A's (if they do turn it around) are about 2-3 weeks behind the timing of the 2012 turnaround.

So many factors are coming into play. We have had a couple games where this team has shown they have that 2012 fight in them and never give up on a game. We also have a team on top that looks very weak overall. I really think the Astros are going to falter, and not just in the last month of the season like the Rangers did in 2012. Right now the standings show us as 10.5 games out of first, but I really think the team we need to catch is going to either be Anaheim (yes, intentional) or Texas. That would mean we are actually only 7-8 games behind the team to beat for the division title.

 

[ratenstein]

Yeah, I figure it'll be the F'n Angels.

This team isn't nearly as bad as the record, but I don't think they're going to win with this set of relievers as things are now. There's been too many injures and way too much inconsistency.

 

[ratenstein]

& A's take care of the 2 road games against SD with Clippard getting save #10, home games to come.
Nice to string some wins together again.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Most impressive in that game to me (aside from again not rolling over and fighting to the finish to take the lead back) was Clippard. 1 perfect inning for the save in a 1 run game throwing 15 pitches and getting 3 strikeouts, all swinging.

 

[ratenstein]

Overall, Clippard has been a bright spot in relief. It was good to see that O'Flaherty got an inning in a couple of games ago as well.

 

[ratenstein]

And, A's split with SD at home winning 3 of 4 from the Padres. Graveman gave up 2 solo HRs (one of them to D.Norris) in 7 innings in the lone loss.

 

[ratenstein]

A's win 2 of 3 from LAA and might have swept if not for the meltdown inning in GM 1.
Up next is Texas again. If these guys show that they can win some series against their own division, I hope Beane gives them a while longer before he starts selling off parts.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Barring a 10 game losing streak starting right now, I would still be extremely surprised if Beane mailed in the season before the All Star break.



Interesting notes on the season thus far: we have played more games than any other team in the AL (tied for first in the MLB with the Padres at 72). Most teams have played 69-70 games. The Royals (who have played the fewest games thus far) have only played 66 games. We have also played 4 more road games than home games and are heading out on another 3 games road trip.

Al-in-all, I think we have had a pretty tough schedule the first half of the season and this team *could* be primed for a second half run.

 

[ratenstein]

Yeah, and they haven't even been as bad on the road all things considered. It's really that record at home so far which has been puzzling.


Oh well, good start in Texas so far.

 

[Puckleberry_finn]

Ratenstein.....I like your enthusiasm about talking about the A's with fellow fans. I've come here many times and posted and just never hand anyone post things. But I checked today and at least you have. The A's are looking great right now! 5 straight wins against our division! We have the 2nd best starting rotation in baseball, and now our bullpen is finally starting to clean up their mess. Our offensive production is better than previous years so if everyone can finally get back on the right page, which I believe they are starting to do, then we could take this division by game 162. At least a wild card. But I don't see the Astros holding onto 1st place all year.

 

[Puckleberry_finn]

good to see you here too Isaiah and Raider. Let's keep this going. Its a good time to talk A's green brand baseball!