Game 21: Blanton Blues

Geren is leaving Blanton in games too long. Joe deserves better. He's
really not much more than a 7-inning pitcher; I am not sure he ever
has been even that, in truth. But this season has already revealed a
disturbing trend: Geren would rather let Blanton lose a game late than
take him out and go to the bullpen. Then again, maybe Alan Embree
proved Geren right.

Hopefully, that will change. Either way, it was another game with a
blown lead after the 6th inning.

The A's had eight hits, two for extra bases. Not a great offensive
night, but with good pitching, it could have been enough for a win.
And they did get pitching good enough to win (see above). This was a
frustrating loss.

I know the A's are off to their best "start" since 1992 or whatever,
but this was another kind of game that good teams win.

A's Record: 12-9
A's Should-Be Record: 14-7

On Apr 23, 4:58 am, Tonawanda Kardex <tonawandakar....TakeThisOut@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Geren is leaving Blanton in games too long. Joe deserves better. He's
> really not much more than a 7-inning pitcher; I am not sure he ever
> has been even that, in truth. But this season has already revealed a
> disturbing trend: Geren would rather let Blanton lose a game late than
> take him out and go to the bullpen. Then again, maybe Alan Embree
> proved Geren right.

Blanton was excellent except for the ABs vs. Monroe, who owns him for
some reason. Joe is supposed to be the Ace of the staff. Geren has
to leave him in there to try and work his way to the 8th inning at
some point in his career as #1. They don't need a reprise of the Zito
days as Ace, where the bullpen is getting worn out pitching the final
3 or 4 innings of all his starts. Casilla and Brown are already
approaching the red line... Even with the struggle at the end, it was
a solid outing from Blanton and he deserved to leave the game a
winner.

> Hopefully, that will change. Either way, it was another game with a
> blown lead after the 6th inning.
>
> The A's had eight hits, two for extra bases. Not a great offensive
> night, but with good pitching, it could have been enough for a win.
> And they did get pitching good enough to win (see above). This was a
> frustrating loss.
>
> I know the A's are off to their best "start" since 1992 or whatever,
> but this was another kind of game that good teams win.

I'm afraid they lost for the same reason as several other close loses:
poor defense. And these frustrating losses will likely continue until
they stop giving the opponent an extra run or two every game.

I hate to make desperation moves early in the year, but I think it's
about time to give someone else a shot at 3B. Hannahan's weak bat
would be tolerable if he were a bit better than average with the
leather. But in fact, he's a bit below average. Barton's not been
good either, but he's been productive with the bat, and should get a
lot better over time. Hannahan, I don't think, has much offensive
upside.

The outfield has also been sub-par with the glove. All of them. I'm
starting to regret not picking up Coco Crisp. But he didn't seem to
fit in with a "rebuilding" program then, and maybe not now either. I
sure hope Carlos Gonzalez can go make some catches in the the
outfield. Because if not, we're probably going to need to trade
Blanton for another basket of prospects.