Pathetic game. Now, they have to win Game 2 in order to have a decent
shot in this series. With Verlander on the mound for the Tigers, this
could get ugly fast. I'm reminded of the 2005 White Sox while watching
these 2006 Tigers. Particularly with all the baserunners the A's had
tonight, they blew this one badly.

1) Why wasn't Kielty in the lineup tonight? He usually starts against
lefties, and he had good numbers against Robertson this season.
Instead, Macha starts Kotsay, who hit into two rally-killing double
plays tonight. Same old Kotsay, same old Macha.

2) Has Macha not watched Zito pitch all year? The minute he gave up the
HR to Pudge, someone should have been up and ready in the bullpen. Zito
has a pattern of imploding while turning close games into blowouts. It
happened again tonight (ten baserunners in less than four innings?!),
and Macha wasn't ready fast enough. Especially at home, Zito has been
bad this year (6-7, 4.71 ERA). Macha should have been ready to pull the
plug early, and he wasn't.

3) I am not a fan of the bullpen usage tonight. Not only did Macha have
to use three short/middle relievers tonight, but he also used Blanton.
I would have brought Blanton in first and let him finish the game,
thereby saving my bullpen for Game 2 -- which is now a must-win. At
5-0, the game was already over for all intents and purposes. The A's
were already 0-for-4 with runners on base at that point, and it just
got worse. Maybe Macha thought the A's had a chance to come back, but
if so, he certainly wasn't paying attention.

4) Down 5-0 having already blown a few scoring opps (how many times did
the leadoff runner reach this game?), the fourth inning was pathetic.
Runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs? Three straight strikeouts. Ridiculous.
I guess it's better than GDPs, but they couldn't have done that in this
situation anyway.

Everything that could have gone wrong tonight did go wrong. At least
it's only one game, but you never want to lose a game like this at home
against a team who is starting their No. 4 starter (especially when
your alleged "ace" is on the mound at home). It's just going to get
harder for the A's from here on out.

I hate it to say it, but the A's now need a minor miracle to win this
series.

Tonawanda Kardex wrote:

strongly agree. With all the problems the As have on offense, and with
4 lefty starts in a 7 games series, Kotsay should be replaced whenever
possible.


not sure about that. He was not striking out anyone early on either.


probably true.


This is the As. Mediocre hitters with good schooling. Clearly, there
will be more GIDP and more lameness at the plate.


not necessarily. The Tigers got on base more and slugged more than the
As. I think even with Kotsay out, they would have lost. perhaps 5-4,
but lost most of the time. Loaiza has gone one inning as I type, and he
is much better against righties (the Tigers lineup is heavily righty)
and at home (will start twice in Oakland). And Casey is out, normally
good news for the Tigers except that they have no replacement, and
Casey is being replaced by the hideous Neifi perez. With only two
starts by Zito, there is room for hope.

"Tonawanda Kardex" <tonawandakardex@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160544199.721585.85670@i42g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...

This is the same crap you posted all year when you were giving us 50 ways to
leave your lover and 1,001 reasons the A's would not advance to the
playoffs. Don't you get tired? Get a life--get religion, get a grip on
yourself--oh you cannot do that and type at the same time.