Why Oakland Lost Game Two
In Game Two, we saw good, we saw bad, and we saw a lot of ugly. The A’s are simply playing like they don’t want to win.
The Good (sort of)
- Mark Kotsay, Milton Bradley and Jay Payton are the only ones who are hitting. they’re a combined 13-for-25 in the ALCS so far. They’ve notched 68% of the A’s hits so far, and 5 of the 6 runs batted in. The problem is, they are the ONLY ones hitting. The rest of the lineup has been horrendous. Other than Eric Chavez’s home run, they’ve done nothing.
- The A’s bullpen, when used, has been good. They’ve allowed just 6 hits over eight and one-third innings, with the only run coming on the solo shot by Granderson off of Huston Street.
The Bad
- With the exception of Milton Bradley and Mark Kotsay, this team looks uninspired. Up and down the bench, the A’s look disengaged, a far cry from their usually upbeat attitide. They look like the Twins bench did last week in Game Two. We know what effect that had on the Twins chances of coming back from an 0-2 deficit.
- Esteban Loaiza was cruising through the first three innings, then imploded in the 4th. He was still shaky, but got through the 5th inning. I would have warmed up Joe Blanton or Kirk Saarloos, and probably put him in after Craig Monroe hit the double off of Loaiza. Macha is managing the bullpen like this is still the regular season. Every inning, and every run is important.
The Ugly
- Nick Swisher, Frank Thomas and Marco Scutaro look lost at the plate. They are a combined 0/22 with 11 strikeouts in this series. There’s no way to analyze that, or sugarcoat it, or anything. It’s just awful. I expected that from D’Angelo Jimenez, but he’s been more productive (2/7, 1 K).
- You can’t win when you strike out 13 times in a game. The A’s swung on so many first pitches, I swear I was watching a different team.
- D’Angelo Jimenez made another error, his second in as many games. Mark Ellis made 2 errors all season long. I cannot stress enough how much the A’s miss Ellis right now. This is a massive loss. The only thing Jimenez is bringing to the team right now is mediocre hitting and congratulatory high fives.
- Eric Chavez looks unsteady in the field at times. He’s muffed two balls so far, very uncharacteristic for him. He was trying to do too much when he ranged far to his left for a try at a double play. He just barely missed the ball, knocking it off course and out of the reach of Marco Scutaro. He needs to tighten up his play, and do the same thing in the field that he’s been doing for years.
- The A’s have a lot of trouble with Placido Polanco. He’s 4/8 with 2 walks in this series so far, and his lifetime numbers against the A’s are now 37-for-75, a .493 average. They need to find a way to neutralize him.