Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

The much-anticipated meeting five days ago of last year's Cy Young winner Barry Zito and this year's contender Roy Halladay was extremely disappointing to the Jays and their fans. Tonight can only be better. Doc was rocked for ten hits and seven runs (five earned) in just three innings last week, and his lifetime record against Oakland (2-4, 6.98 in seven starts) isn't great. Zito has been much more effective in his career against Toronto (4-1, 3.07 in seven starts) and went a solid seven innings on Sunday to earn the win at home.

The series is vitally important to the A's, who cling to a one-game lead in the wild card race and are within three of the division lead. The Jays are trying to build on two fine efforts that decided the Mariners series. So far in this brutal 14-game stretch against the best in the West, they are a very respectable 5-5. A win tonight gets them back to .500 for the season, and the vast majority of the remaining schedule is against Tampa, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.

Eric Hinske (0-for-6 vs. Zito) gets the night off, with Dave Berg starting at third. O-Dawg's in at second despite his poor platoon split, with Woody at short; Mike Bordick generally hits lefties well but is just 2-for-12 off Zito. Kevin Cash gets to catch the ace for the first time, but it's going to be a challenge to improve on his .118 average against this tough lefty.

Posted by Coach on Friday, August 22 2003 @ 06:59 AM EDT.

Game 128: Rematch | 24 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

_Nigel - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 07:08 PM EDT (#93793) #

And now Phelps is sitting against a lefty? Unless he is hurt, I just do not understand the plan as far a he is concerned. To me, this suggests that Tosca has lost a lot of faith in him.

In my opinion, Delgado's looming free agency is the biggest single issue to be faced in '04 after the need for more pitching. Phelps is the one (possibly Griffin) possible internal alternative. You have to start figuring out if he is a long term answer or not.

_Shane - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 08:13 PM EDT (#93794) #

Nigel, again you hit the right notes, tonight is a limp line-up. If i'm coming out of my ass by saying this, I appologize, but is Cerutti not talking out of his ass when he over-reaches by saying Cito Gaston has had a hand in the great success of Vernon Wells? To me, this is a reach for the sake of some on air Cito diety.

_Dez - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 08:23 PM EDT (#93795) #

Sigh.. I have to think that J.P. Ricciardi has given up on Phelps as well - all of his moves have given Tosca more excuses to decrease his playing time; bringing up Reed Johnson, trading Stewart for Kielty, and now bringing up Kevin Cash.

_Shane - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 08:27 PM EDT (#93796) #

Where's that Gitz at, anyhow?

_Dr B - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 08:59 PM EDT (#93797) #

That's an awful lot of pitches for Zito. Apart from Foulke, do the A's have anyone reliable in the Pen?

_Eric C - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 09:03 PM EDT (#93798) #

That's a beautiful bunt by Cash. Coach would be proud.

_Graham Hudson - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 09:09 PM EDT (#93799) #

Oy! That was some seriously BAD decision making by the Blue Jays. They went from 1st and 3rd and one out to TWO guys thrown at home.
J.P. is going to have a few words with Tosca tonight I think.

And man, did Hernandez ever look like a rock when Cash ran into him. He didn't even MOVE.

Gitz - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 09:51 PM EDT (#93800) #

You rang, Shane?

Gitz - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 09:53 PM EDT (#93801) #

Regrettably, I cannot watch the game, and, for some reason, my MLB audio is not cooperating, so I'm stuck with the dreaded game tracker. Ick.

Gitz - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 09:58 PM EDT (#93802) #

How many other teams pinch-hit for their first baseman? Spin away, Beane fans, but that is a terrible signing.

Shane, you mentioned the limpness of the Blue Jays lineup -- have you checked out the A's crew? The highest BA going in was Chavez at .276. Terrific.

And you're spot on about Phelps. Is it me or are there some Travis Lee/Jeremy Giambi comparisons here? The Jays aren't going to make it this year, and, as some have suggested, they need to see if Phelps is going to be Todd Greene or Pat Burrell (before he forgot out to hit). I've said this before, but any time Dave Berg plays and Josh Phelps doesn't is a mistake, platoon issues or not.

Gitz - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:07 PM EDT (#93803) #

Ouch. ESPN.com is reporting Mark Mulder may be done for the year. Those rumours, unlike trade rumours, wind up being true more often than not. A real blow to the A's, obviously.

Sadly, Barry Zito's performance tonight -- 118 pitches in 5 2/3 innings -- has become all too common this year.

robertdudek - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:26 PM EDT (#93804) #

I thought Zito used his fastball exceptionally well for most of the night - throwing it on a different plane from pitch to pitch. I got sick of seeing lazy fly out after lazy fly out off Toronto bats. But he didn't have much command of his curveball, to the extent that there were only a handful of decent ones, and most of those early in the count. If Singleton catches the Delgado double (it would have been a great catch), Zito might have ended up the winning pitcher. Before the 6th inning, only Venon Wells' double (the best fastball hitter on the team) was hit hard. I would have started Tommy Wilson (perfectly suited to face a pitcher like Zito) at catcher and Josh Phelps at DH.

Halladay had great stuff: I give full credit to the Oakland batters for fouling off a large number of nasty pitches and hitting the ball hard when they did make contact. Halladay stuck out 8, walked none, and gave up an opposite field homerun to Tejada after a momentous battle. I'd rate this as one of Doc's 10 best outings this year so far.

Gerry - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:36 PM EDT (#93805) #

Phelps is not the only option at first for '05. I suggest Eric Hinske or John Ford Griffin, if he is ML caliber.

Gerry - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#93806) #

To add to my previous comment..we should look to see if the Jays convert someone in the minors to third, or trade for a AA third baseman, to see if Hinske needs to start working in a trapper.

Gerry - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:38 PM EDT (#93807) #

In a trapper? On a trapper.

_Shane - Friday, August 22 2003 @ 10:46 PM EDT (#93808) #

If you're an A's fan or an A's supporter (that's me) it's been, what I believe, a disapointing season. There's been zero sign of an offence worthy of making the post-season, and while they have thrived/survived on pitching and perhaps defence, losing Mulder is just not good news. Throw in a lot of people waiting to jump in and claim 'The MoneyBall Witch Project' cursed them or exposed them, either way their time to shine doesn't look to be happening in '03, and contractual time is always running out.

Gitz, what was the profound Beane quote in '01? that 'in the next 2/3/4 years he'd never field a team with less talent than the one that he finished with (in 2001)'? Neyer's brought this quote up before, but I don't believe he challenged the fact that this years A's (and maybe last years) are not those such clubs.

Gitz, 2 questions:
A) What is it that the A's have been trying to do to Harden? A pitch selection change? Less starts because of his minor league workload? There was someting announced wasn't there? Because, minus Mr. Mulder, I think they're going to need the Harden they had before the tinkering.

B) Not important, but, how did Terry Francona ever become an "A's" guy? I always found the union odd, and don't remember any newsprint on why Macha chose him?

Thanks

_R Billie - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 01:36 AM EDT (#93809) #

If it came down to it, I'd move Hinske to first, keep Hudson at second, let Adams play short, and Hill take third.

Gitz - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 03:12 AM EDT (#93810) #

I believe the Beane comment was "This year's team will be the worst we field in the next five."

A) I think the biggest problem Harden faces is that he's 21-years-old, that the Red Sox and Blue Jays are not as crappy as the Tigers and Indians, and that the team is in a pennant race. The tinkering is irrelevant.

B) I really don't know why Francona is on board. I could say that about a few A's, however ...

The Mulder injury might finish the club for this year. They have no margin for error, given how pathetic their offense has been, even with the addition of Guillen.

_Shane - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 08:53 AM EDT (#93811) #

Amen, brother.

Coach - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 09:11 AM EDT (#93812) #

The buntin' Jays are on a roll. In his National Post game report, John Lott summed up the wackiness:

Speaking of oddities, during one at-bat by Reed Johnson in that rollicking sixth inning, the scorecard recorded two putouts, three assists and a single.

Sparky missed a suicide squeeze, leaving Woodward hung out to dry in a rundown. Then Reed beat out an infield hit, but Cash was thrown out trying to score. Kevin was aboard after a gorgeous RBI bunt that was called from the dugout. "I'm not that smart," he told the TV boys after the game.

We have a celebrity visitor -- the Sparkplug dropped by to read his interview, and left a nice comment.

_Phelps, Werth, - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 09:26 AM EDT (#93813) #

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/news/tor_news.jsp?ymd=20030822&content_id=493752&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor
"He still does too many things to help us win, even when he doesn't get hits. The way he runs the bases, his defense, his on-base percentage -- still good. I'm not concerned about him at all."

Tosca talking about Reed Johnson, who snapped an 0-for-22 streak on Friday night

Sucks to be us.

_Donkit R.K. - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 10:30 AM EDT (#93814) #

The SparkPlug comment is pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

_Spicol - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 10:57 AM EDT (#93815) #

We have a celebrity visitor -- the Sparkplug dropped by to read his interview, and left a nice comment.

Great stuff. He just such a fun player, and seemingly, a great guy.

Speaking of fun players, Rob Butler made an appearance at the Dome last night. I was in Detroit the night in 1993 when Rob got called up, and he started in his first game. It was a horrible game and I remember being disappointed that Trammell was at third. Like watching Tony Fernandez play second base, some things just don't seem right. But late in the game, Rob swung down on the ball and hit a slow chopper to the left side. Tram didn't charge in and had to move to quite a bit to get the ball (right or left I can't recall). It was just enough time to allow the fleet of foot rookie from East York to beat out his first major league hit. The highlight of the game for this Canadian kid.

He stuck around immediately after the last out to talk to his family and sign autographs, the only time I've ever seen a major leaguer do that. I remember him looking like a deflated balloon, or maybe more descriptive, like a first time father looks 24 hours after the birth. He'd spent so much energy anxiously waiting for and then playing in that game, that he had little left, physically or mentally.

And people say baseball is a sport for wimps.

Thanks for the memory, Rob. In a crowd of polite spectators last night, I was the one in the 500-level being transported back 10 years and cheering my heart out.

_Spicol - Saturday, August 23 2003 @ 11:06 AM EDT (#93816) #

Other notes of interest (or not) from the game last night:

- Zito threw nearly as many balls as strikes for the first 4 innings. As Robert said, the fastball was there, but he was otherwise really struggling. It's interesting the see a guy try to piece together a game without his best stuff and he did pretty well until the 6th.

- My reaction after the Cash bunt: "Oh! Damn!" My reaction after the Johnson bunt didn't work: "Oh, damn!" Subtle difference. Really though, good try by Tosca. It would have likely worked were Johnson not now well know for the push bunt.

- I'd forgotten how silly the A's white shoes look. They glow.

Game 128: Rematch | 24 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.