Monday, September 19, 2005

"If the A's were playing the Pats, they would be tied," wrote some wag on the Sons of Sam Horn game thread yesterday afternoon as the score stood at 7-0 and Matt Clement skulked from the mound after just an inning and a third.

It would get worse.

Clement had less than nothing yesterday. Just awful. A single to left. A single to left. A runner-advancing wild pitch. A ground rule double to right. A single to right. A single to right. Finally, an out came, but on a run-scoring fielders choice. 4-0 after one.

In the second, another double, a run-scoring single, and then Eric Chavez's two-run homer bumped Oakland's lead to a touchdown. So long, Matty. Remember when you were the "ace of the staff"? Those were some good old days.

In the fifth, with Jeremi Gonzalez on the mound, a ground rule double and a homer to deep left made it 9-0. A single, a walk, and another homer from Chavez made it an even dozen.

Not to put too fine a point on it, another SoSHer had it right: "The team we root for sucks."

With that, the game was Foulke-proof. Of course, he picked that day to toss two scoreless innings. (A good sign, at least. In fact, the whole bullpen kept the A's scoreless for the rest of the game. With Craig Hansen on the way, could it be that the pen is suddenly the least of our problems?)

Clement's spectacular implosion was so hard to take because the staff as a whole has been solid of late, with Bronson Arroyo (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER), Tim Wakefield (9 IP, 7 H, 2 ER), and David Wells (7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER) all turning in fine performances their last starts.

Just as disconcerting is this team's sudden inability to put bat on ball. Bill Mueller saved face (a little) by homering in the sixth, but the our side was scoreless until then. We cobbled together a couple runs in the seventh -- props to bench guys like Roberto Petagine and Alejandro Machado, who notched his first major league hit -- but it was much too little, way too late.

Manny's towering moon shoot on Saturday night -- and the invaluable contributions of this guy here -- notwithstanding, our lineup has been disturbingly listless of late, Jason Varitek and Edgar Renteria being the two most egregious offenders. Even our two wins against Oakland were low-scoring games, with one win coming only thanks to Manny getting plunked with the bases loaded.

Yeah, pitching wins championships. But we've gotta start hitting again. We just gotta. Hopefully those mediocreTampaBaystarters with be just the restorative we need.

(But, whatever happens with this season, however much that last series ends up meaning, this is not 1978. If anything, without Schilling, Foulke, or a reliable bullpen, we're overachieving -- not blowing a 14-and-a-half-game lead.)

Tough break for Youk, by the way. Heal quick. You too, Wade; see you in the spring. And let's pray that Ghost of Butch Hobson is wrong about Ortiz.

In the mean time, perhaps we should remind ourselves that EVERY team has problems, as the hilarious motivational posters here and here show.

Let's hope that, when all is said and done, "cockiness" is the worst of our worries.

9/19/2005 12:53:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  
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