Game #58: A's 5, Twins 1 (by Tanner Boyle)

June 4, 2006 | A's vs. Minnesota

Here is my tryout piece to fill Wella's shoes while she takes off to parts unknown on vacation. Baseball is definitely my favorite sport but I do not share Wella's reverence for the game itself. I showed up in the top of the second (blame traffic) and left after the top half of the eighth (fear of traffic).

As a fan, I am a sabremetric wannabe. I try and drink up as much baseball nerdery as possible. Thoughts on today's game...

Rich Harden Returns
I always know that someone is not really paying attention to the A's when they refer to Barry Zito as our ace. Rich Harden is that guy and it was great to see him back in action. His last start was April 26.

Six strikeouts in 4 innings is great to see. He seemed to be mixing pitches between the low 80s and the mid 90s over his eighty pitches. Most impressive moment was blowing away one of the meager Twins batters with a 97 MPH high fastball. Far too often when Harden goes north of 95, he is nowhere near the strikezone. His last five outs were strikeouts. Good times.

Frank Thomas rumblin' bumblin' stumblin'....
In the bottom of the second, Frank Thomas broke his bat and sent a ball into the left field corner an easy double, for most pro athletes. However, the very large and old Frank Thomas was nearly thrown out at second base as he literally coasted to a stop at second base, barely ahead of the throw.

Two pitches later, Crosby singles and Thomas is waved home. The right fielder hits the cut off man and they had a decent shot at getting Thomas at the plate. However, the second baseman probably saved the equally fragile Joe Mauer from getting killed. The Big Hurt scores but calls it a day with a sore foot. I really hope he is not out for any extended amount of time. We need sluggers in the lineup, badly.

Speaking of slugging...
I went to the Friday game and today's game and mocked the anemic Twins lineup through both games. They have Mauer and Hunter and nothing else. As of today the Twins have scored more runs thatn the A's. We are 25th of 30 teams in baseball in runs scored, the Twins are 24th.

So what do we have in our lineup. OPS (Definition) of today's starting line up. Note that the league average OPS is 750.

Today's Starting Lineup
Kendall - 690
Swisher - 1006 (Anything over 1000 is elite. Sixth in the AL)
Chavez - 893
Thomas - 841
Crosby - 703
Payton - 606
Johnson - 581
Kielty - 610
Scutaro - 469

Additionally:
Kotsay - 724
Ellis - 624
Bradley - 779

The upside is that hopefully we swap out Bradley for Kielty. Kotsay is an upgrade over Payton. Baseball Prospectus says that DJ should be over 800 for the year. Just like last year, there is no way we can hit this poorly for much longer. Could good times be ahead?

I am certainly upbeat because the pitching is coming together. Harden is back. I like Halsey in the bullpen. Maybe Calero is pulling it together. Witasick back this week. Loaiza was touching the 90s in his last outing. Street can only do better. Best of all I saw our 2005 All-Star, Justin Duchscherer sporting the bottom half of a goatee in the bullpen. I pray this is done for some upcoming commercial.

News and Moves...
Matt Roney sent down to Sacramento to make room for Jay Witasick. Jeremy Brown is now oh-for-Oakland. No appearances in two trips to the Show. Bradley scheduled to return Wednesday. Loaiza possible for Thursday.

(Game experience: Sec 121, Row 6, Seat 12 )

A's record: 27-30 | streak: W-2