Friday, April 21, 2006 |
Walk Like An Athletic: A's 5, Angels 3
It's not like the Angels didn't have their opportunities — GA's home run particularly brought cheer to the evening's proceedings, as did the two-run fourth, when the Angels put on a clinic about how they like to play the game. But when you walk ten guys, the outcome can't be positive; the team's pitching has been maddeningly inconsistent so far this year, and nowhere has this been truer than with the bullpen. There was a moment in the game that illustrated not only that point but the frustrations I sometimes have with Rex Hudler: on replaying Romero's changeup that Chavez took into the seats, Hudler said it "just drifted" over the plate. Well, yeah, and it was also belt-high. Any major-league hitter can get to that and do something with it.
The Angels' snuffed-out rally in the ninth just rubbed salt into the wound of a depressingly off-kilter team. Erstad's triple followed immediately by a Tim Salmon strikeout, and then a Casey Kotchman walk, planting the tying runs on the corners. But Ersty walked from third directly to the showers; somewhere Jeff Mathis is left scratching his helmet over the meaning of "batter's interference" for stumbling into Jason Kendall's path. Another ugly game in a string of bad ones.
One final item, a bit of bad news for the A's: Ken Macha pulled Bobby Crosby in the fifth because of an injured arm, a tricep as I recall. We need to watch this; his offense is a key part of their attack.
Update:
WPA graph courtesy of Dave Appelman and fangraphs.com.
: 4/22/2006 07:16:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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