A’s 8, RAYS 1: Nothing pretty about this one
By Scott Caruso | July 23rd, 2008 | Posted in Game Recap
There’s not a whole heck of a lot that I can say about last night’s game, so I’ll make that part of this brief:
Andy Sonnanstine is only as good as his ability to limit the long-ball. He certainly wasn’t BAD last night, but one bad pitch and one trip around the bases for Jack “Irish Pub” Hannahan put the Rays in a hole they wouldn’t bounce back from. Again, not a bad performance from your #4 or #5 starter, but just not good enough last night.
Trever Miller and Al Reyes just aren’t that great. Certainly both has a little bit of value - Miller has been decent against lefties this season (which, by the way, are who he should be facing. Maddon’s decision to allow him to face righties on an almost-nightly basis has long run its course and is something I’ve been complaining about since April), while Reyes has actually been quite good against righties. The problem, of course, is that neither of them is being used to exclusively face the other side of the plate. If Maddon would leave Reyes to only face righties and Miller to only face lefties, both of them probably wouldn’t look nearly as bad as they do. I suppose in a game like last night you don’t have much of a choice, if you insist on saving the top arms in the bullpen and not trying to keep the lead at 2 runs.
Evan Longoria can’t do it by himself. Someone else needs to deliver a big hit. At the very least, Carlos Pena didn’t strike out with the bases loaded in the 3rd. A sac fly is better than nothing.
This Willy Aybar thing has run its course. He’s a nice bench player, but he shouldn’t be playing as much as he has been. What’s the more permanent solution? It’s not in-house, I don’t think, and we’ve all heard the rumors about Xavier Nady, but what about a guy like Ty Wigginton? Yes, I know we’ve gone that route before, but don’t you think he could be a capable DH against left-handed pitching? His OPS this year against southpaws is over 1.000 (and is more than .100 better than his line against righties for his career) and he gives the Rays similar defensive flexibility to Aybar. Wonder what it would take to get him back from the Astros, because I would certainly consider it.
Tags: A's
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
I actually like the Wigginton idea, should take too much I wouldn’t suspect, however, for some dumb reason, the ’stros are still buying (see Randy Wolf), so I don’t suppose they’d want to part with Ty just yet…
I’m rather sick of the dead weight on this team- We are in a pennant race and should hve the best 25 man roster that can be placed on the field, and I just don’t see it.
Floyd, Miller, Reyes, Aybar, and Gomes are the “dead weight” I speak of There is no reason and hell that Aybar should be a DH on any night… He is a nice bench player- but Floyd has been mariginal since May, and Gomes- well I duunno what to do with him… I just don’t see how Ruggiano and Dan Johnson, and Juan Salas for that matter can just languish in AAA with solid numbers…
At some point you have to cut the fat and go…
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 am
To be fair to Gomes, he has been on base something like 3 out of 5 or 6 times up this series against the lefties, so maybe he’s starting to remember his stroke against southpaws.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
The Boston, Yankees and even the Jays won last night. It’s getting mighty close here in the AL East.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
I was really disappointed to see Rauch traded for a hot AAA 2baser. He would have done well in a Rays uniform as we go down the stretch. I sense that we will not bring in a closer so not to upset Percy. Question is…is Percy really capable of pitching like the old Percy for the rest of the season (and possibly post-season?)?
I agree that there is dead weight to be cut. This is not the best 25 man roster we could have. At least cut someone and bring up Ruggy…he is much better than Gomes any day. Having a roster with Gomes, and Floyd, and Aybar, and Zobrist, and Gross is not a division leading roster. Need some fixes.
I wonder what is going on in the RO discussions concerning RF? Are they looking to just survive for the rest of the season because they have a plan for the 2008-2009 off-season? Someone targetted? Just curious….
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
The only problem I would foresee with Wiggy being back is that he doesn’t play the OF well at all. He’s a fine infielder, but not good in the OF. A guy like Casey Blake makes a ton of sense for us in a trade. Essentially, he’s the right-handed version of Eric Hinske. And as you said, the Astros are still trying to win their division, for some odd reason.
I, too, was a little disappointed about the Rauch trade. I thought we could have offered the Nats some pitching, which is really what they need more than anything. However, I think the organization is comfortable with what they’ve seen out of Balfour while Percy’s been out. So, maybe he is our closer of the future, and the Rays will be looking in a different direction.
By the way, Scott, no offense to your opinion, but Gomes is done here. I really don’t care about what he’s done in this series because he always plays well against Oakland. Their his hometown team, and he’s always made it a point to do his best against them. Maybe not by hitting HRs, but he does do well against them. He can’t be trusted in the OF, and his swing is terribly inconsistent. As has been said many, many times before, nobody doubts his hustle and character, but performance is where it counts the most, and he hasn’t stepped up.
Also, Floyd has not been dead weight by any means. He has come up with some big hits for this team, and his veteran leadership has been noted by teammates. This is his 1st time giving the DH-role a try, and I think he’s done well in his limited time with us. He’s going to hit about 11-14 HR this year, which is great since he’ll only end up around 250 AB’s. Maddon has done a nice job keeping him rested this year. I really think Maddon has done it on purpose because he knows that Floyd could really help out in August and September with his veteran leadership, and power bat to go with it. It’s more important to have Floyd be fresh and healthy later in the season than it is in the beginnning of it.
Finally, Aybar is hitting about .280 against LHP this year, which is better than most of the guys we have on this team right now. That’s the only reason he’s been in the lineup. He’s doing a fine job. We don’t have much dead weight on this team at all. We have 3 guys that I feel we need to replace: Zobrist, Gomes, and Hammel.