Seattle (2-2) @ Oakland (2-1)

TTown · Post #1 » by **TTown** » Thu Apr 9, 2009 9:56 pm

Today's Oakland/Anaheim game is canceled due to the death of Nick Adenhart.

Ryan Rowland-Smith (1st start) vs. Brett Anderson (1st start)
Felix Hernandez (1-0, 1.12 ERA) vs. Josh Outman (1st start)
Erik Bedard (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Dallas Braden (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

All projected match-ups are from Yahoo. Things could change with today's cancellation.

I like our chances in any series where Felix and Bedard pitch, but of course baseball is a funny game.

Braden pitched decently enough against LA in the opener. 3 runs, 9 hits, 1 HR in 6 IP. Oakland lost 3-0.

Post #2 » by **Sweezo** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:37 am

TTown wrote:Today's Oakland/Anaheim game is canceled due to the death of Nick Adenhart.

I don't often feel a connection to celebrity, but this shook me a bit.

I read the story and saw the pictures of the accident scene. And then I thought about the times where I've either helped put those guilty of vehicular manslaughter in jail, or times when I've tried to get them out of custody. Thought about those who die at the hands those who waste their lives to the point of committing such heinous acts. It hit close to home, to say the least, and I'm shocked we don't hear more stories like this than we do.

So often murders or criminally-related death occurs in an expected manner...someone killing someone else where the roles could easily have been reversed. And it means nothing to me.

But then you have something like this, where someone completely innocent dies at the hands of someone who makes a foolish choice. And suddenly the lives of two 22 year olds, on the opposite side of the spectrum, are completely lost. Tears are shed, families mourn, and for zero purpose whatsover.

TTown wrote:Ryan Rowland-Smith (1st start) vs. Brett Anderson (1st start)
Felix Hernandez (1-0, 1.12 ERA) vs. Josh Outman (1st start)
Erik Bedard (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Dallas Braden (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

Good luck looking at those matchups and making an educated guess about what the outcome of the series will be. You have Seattle's two 'aces' and a pitcher who is loved by bloggers but looked altogether hittable during spring training. Meanwhile, Oakland has three guys who no one has a good read on.

I think this is a great test for the M's. Maybe it's just me, but I've always felt the M's over the past few seasons have struggled greatly with unknown starters who they haven't really faced before independent of skill level. I want to see some good at bats, where batters study the pitchers and plot an approach. Give me none of the 'see a pitch and flail at it' approach of year's past...play smart, and take advantage.

Post #3 » by **Bulltalk** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:27 pm

I *wince* just a bit at how easily we could have been 4-0 now. I'm just interested as to how long this team can remain a viable playoff contender this year? No, I don't think we're a playoff team by any stretch now. But it would be nice to be hovering somewhere near the division top until the all-star break, exceeding expectations in this way, rather than fall 6-7-8 games back before the first day of June. I don't want to have to start thinking about football season by the first day of summer.

TTown · Post #4 » by **TTown** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:07 pm

I could see a season similar to 2006. 78-84, hovering around the .500 mark, a team that isn't in it at the end but they're also not a comical 41 games back (we finished 15 GB of Oakland in '06).

Could set the stage for a decent 2010. Hopefully management doesn't try to "help us out" by signing another Carlos Silva.

TTown · Post #5 » by **TTown** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:17 pm

Well, we take the first one from Oakland, 5-4.

RRS went 3.1 IP without an ER, but walked 4. C. Jakubauskas picked up the win. Aardsma with the save, pitching a perfect 8th and 9th.

Chavez went 3/5, driving in 2 as part of our big 5 run 2nd inning.

LOB -- Seattle 5, Oakland 14

Felix pitches today. He's 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA over his last 8 games with Oakland.

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #6 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:54 pm

Really nice win last night. Would have been a heartbreaker to lose. Our bullpen, aside from that Morrow collapse in the first game, has been tremendous. I was very impressed with Jakabauskas. After hitting Giambi, he came back to throw some tremendous pitches.

And Chavez is a stud! Haha, dude's been a hit machine thus far.

Lets go Felix and Bedard.

Post #7 » by **Sweezo** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:07 pm

It's a shame today's gave wasn't televised, because it was fun as hell to listen to. The A's seemingly had this game in hand, but the offense kept battling back and took advantage of what the A's gave them. It's early, but last year if the game was a 3-0 deficit I was inclined to turn the TV/radio off. This year, it's worth paying attention to because they might actually come back and win it.

This bullpen terrifies me. Results have been OK but it's been a high-wire act with lots of control issues at play. They definitely need to do a little fine tuning there.

TTown · Post #8 » by **TTown** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 12:24 am

The A's had uncharacteristic success against Felix today, but props to the offense for coming up clutch.

Hey, we won a series.

Post #9 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:45 am

We're in 1st place.

Post #10 » by **Sweezo** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:34 pm

Sweep!!!

Nicely done. Aardsma sure makes thinks interesting, but there was some great pitching in today's game. Sweeney's come through big the last couple days with hits to help win the game.

TTown · Post #11 » by **TTown** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:43 pm

Bedard! Hell of an afternoon. Nice being on the other end of the broom...

Post #12 » by **bennith13** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 11:33 pm

Well this is a pleasant surprise. I am not sure how long we can keep this going, but I am going to enjoy it while it last. I think its clear that new management is a good thing for this team, I actually have some hope for the future (despite all of our minor league pitchers being turned into bull pen guys).

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #13 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 12:57 pm

Well, I was definitely NOT a fan of pulling Bedard there in the ninth. Unless ofcourse he was telling skip he was a bit tired, he should have had the chance to close out the game. Sorry, but wild, hard-throwers w/ a run one lead is one of the scariest things ever.

Fortunately, Aardsma got it done.

Great game by Bedard, and some clutch hitting from Sweeney. He's been swining the bat well.

YAY!

Post #14 » by **Sweezo** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:25 am

I think they had to pull Bedard. You'd like to have a lefty-lefty matchup if the pitcher is as good as Bedard, but he's not one to go that deep into games so when he's done he's pretty much done.

Aardsma is terrifying. He's produced 'results' a couple times, but at some point the lack of control and line drives are going to hurt pretty badly.