Since they lost the Toronto series and no one has started one for the A's as of 6pm, I figured I'd give it a go.

In tribe news, Salazar sent to Cbus, tribe calls up Crockett, left handed reliever out of Akron, and they plan on Bauer starting on Tuesday.

Game 1: Mcallister (3.89) vs Gray (2.17)
Game 2: Tomlin (2.13) vs Kazmir (2.28)
Game 3: Masterson (4.31) vs Chavez (2.44)

Really sucks about Danny, he just wasn't able to put it all together yet. Hopefully it happens at some point, because his stuff, as we all know, is sick. But, if Bauer can do half of what he did in Columbus, we have our new 7th/8th/C on our hands (Salazar). I really don't know how Axford ever wins that job back unless he really starts to mow people down.

Really good to see Brantley back in the lineup. Pretty good chance that issue was a result of the turf for 6 straight games (got hurt during the 5th).

And we suck. No more threads for me

Good game, good effort ZMac lol

You know it's bad when the opposing starting pitcher is getter stiff because he's been sitting in his dugout so long.

Garbage. Crockett in to walk his first batter

iclfan2;1617059 wrote:Game 1: Mcallister (3.89) vs Gray (2.17)
Game 2: Tomlin (2.13) vs Kazmir (2.28)
Game 3: Masterson (4.31) vs Chavez (2.44)

Look at the ERA's for the A's. Hammy was just saying that they have a staff ERA at 2.99. Amazing.

Yikes

They burned up Carasco (who is worthless) tonight in long relief so thankfully the bullpen didn't get totally blown up after McAllister's 1 inning gem.

This team needs to wake the hell up and get it's shit together. We are past the quarter pole, and for guys to still be at the Mendoza line and below is just unacceptable.

We are 8.5 out right now, and have 2 more with Oakland this weekend and a 3 game set against Detroit next.

They are getting to a point where the wild card is going to be the only path if things don't change soon.

IggyPride00;1617126 wrote:They burned up Carasco (who is worthless) tonight in long relief so thankfully the bullpen didn't get totally blown up after McAllister's 1 inning gem.

This team needs to wake the hell up and get it's shit together. We are past the quarter pole, and for guys to still be at the Mendoza line and below is just unacceptable.

We are 8.5 out right now, and have 2 more with Oakland this weekend and a 3 game set against Detroit next.

They are getting to a point where the wild card is going to be the only path if things don't change soon.

its time to screw Santana's feelings. the other day they mentioned not moving him out of the 4 hole because he already lost the starting catcher role, they don't want moving him in the line up to mess with his head anymore.....uhhhh, you aren't exactly going to make a .150 batting average worse and his once in a blue moon HR isn't enough to justify him staying in the line up. He has played in 41 of 42 games. while Aviles and Chisenhall have more than out played and out hit Santana in 30 games each.

Glory Days;1617140 wrote:its time to screw Santana's feelings.

I tend to agree with you here, this ain't little league...you don't hit, you sit.

Laley23;1617083 wrote:Good game, good effort ZMac lol

That's two horrendous games in a row...not good.

They nice thing about getting blown out is that it counts only as much as a blown save heartbreaker. Come back strong and win the next two this weekend.

I believe I heard 1 ridiculous stat. I think only one A's pitcher has a opposition batting average over .240.

They nice thing about getting blown out is that it counts only as much as a blown save heartbreaker. Come back strong and win the next two this weekend.

My baseball side is saying, that it's a marathon and only one game out of 162...and that all teams have bad stretches, and that it's early, and a bad stretch early looks worse than it actually is. But my fan/emotional side is telling me that this looks a lot like 2008 where we followed a playoff run/appearance with a shithole season. It feels like we have stagnated or gone backward, while every other team in the Central has gotten better. Even the Tigers, who were one of the best teams in baseball, made moves to address their weaknesses while we just patched holes from good players that were allowed to leave. We just assumed that Santana and Cabrera and Kipnis and Bourn would get better or return to form...and that our young pitchers would be able to step in and fill roles vacated by veterans. We thought Danny Salazar would just throw his shoes on the field and everybody would bow....when he was really just an inexperienced rookie that still needs a lot of development.

They say 40 games in is a good time to stop and evealuate the team and make changes where necessary.
Well, I'm looking at this team and there are a lot of questions......

It's looking more and more like the Over/Under line of 80 wins in Vegas before the season started is going to be pretty accurate. Hope things change soon.

40 game evaluation:

Better than expected
Chisenhall, Tomlin, Murphy, Morgan

About as expected
Brantley, Kipnis, Aviles, Kluber, Allen, Shaw

meh
Cabrera,Bourn, Axford, Gomes, Ascherton, Outman, Masterson, McCallister

below expectations
Swisher, Carrasco, Raburn, Salazar

way below expectations
Santana

The situation with Santana needs to be addressed. I would platoon him against left handed pitching or at least drop in in the order.
Chisenhall should get some more swings against lefties.
Swisher should be dropped to the 6 hole. You just can't have a guy hitting the Mendoza line and striking out too often in the 2 hole.
Kipnis should hit 2nd... Brantley 3rd.....a legitimate power hitter needs to be acquired for the 4th spot.....Murphy, Gomes or Santana (when playing) in the 5th spot. Mix and match the bottom 3 spots. Give Morgan more AB's in the 9th spot substituting him freely for guys not swinging the bat well.

The Tribe goes with a right handed lineup tonight, leaving two of its most productive hitters (Murphy and Chisenhall) on the bench. Carlos Santana remains in the 4th spot and Swisher in the 2 hole....Raburn bats fifth in RF tonite and Jesus Aguilar bats 8th at 1B. That means the Tribe will have 4 guys in the lineup hitting at or below the Mendoza line...one of which (Aguilar) is looking for an average. ....Plenty of opportunities for these guys to kill rallies, no matter where they occur in the lineup.
That said...they'll probably go out and score a bunch tonite. I hope. Josh Tomlin is on the hill.

C.C. Lee was optioned out and House called up....meh.

Kazmir is on the bump for the A's tonight. No doubt he will be looking for a bit of revenge against the Tribe for letting him walk without really making an offer last season. Guys usually take that personally.

Tomlin has been good so far, so it could be a bit of a pitcher's duel tonight.

Kazmir tossed for arguing balls and strikes.....LOL.

Well, at least we know the guy we let walk wont beat us.

HitsRus;1617251 wrote:Kazmir tossed for arguing balls and strikes.....LOL.

What a joke... ump with a quick trigger.

That was ridiculous. It's also stupid to keep playing Saharan and sitting Chisenhall. At least go with the hot bat!

Santana with another error