The Angels had all sorts of chances today, and blew them all. Now they get 10 straight games against teams right in front of them: 3 vs. the A's then 3 vs. the Tigers, then another 4 against the A's in Anaheim. The Angels COULD get back into it, but this is a make-or-break stretch. And even if they play well now, it may still not be enough.

Angels? Take it to the Wildcard thread!

Naw, I kid. This series starting tomorrow is make or break for the Angels for a WC spot and for the A's regarding the division. I don't know if I'll be able to watch...

As a Rangers fan, I'm starting to feel like Butch Cassidy: "Who are those guys?"

Yeah, maybe the A's and Orioles will roll into 1st and the play-in game will be TEX/NYY.

Just kidding, Bob.

Meanwhile in the AL Central, Detroit can tie Chicago and has Verlander on the mound (De Aza lead off the game with a jack for the White Sox and they have Sale).

The Angels COULD get back into it, but this is a make-or-break stretch. And even if they play well now, it may still not be enough.

Even if they don't, it is almost Lakers time. I can't see the Angels pulling it off, unless the pen suddenly turns it around.

>>>"As a Rangers fan, I'm starting to feel like Butch Cassidy: "Who are those guys?"

You'll notice how the walk-offs have tapered off? Because the A's are starting to win going away.

Excellent pitching (starting and bullpen), very good defense, and power not only through the lineup but off the bench. I think we've got eight guys with double digit home runs now. (Odd note: Cespedes hasn't had an extra base hit in month.)

Also, so much platooning that's panned out. Melvin not only puts the right guys in the lineup against opposing pitchers, he manages the egos so everybody is willing to pitch in/ or sit as necessary.

The short version of the longer narrative is that over the last four years a lot of gambles didn't pay off, but this year all of the personnel decisions have come up aces.

A's schedule for the next month is brutal. Seven each against the Angels and Rangers, six against the Mariners, who have been hot, and series against the Yankees, Orioles and Tigers. The good news is that if they continue to play well against THAT competition, they could still win the division. The bad, of course, is that the bubble could burst and they could go something like 10-19 the rest of the way.

[Jurickson] Profar, Texas’ top-ranked prospect, sprayed a 388-foot homer to right field in his first Major League at-bat

Go Honkbal! But can a single hit, even a home run, be sprayed?

(Odd note: Cespedes hasn't had an extra base hit in month.)

??? Cespedes, Aug 1 to Sept 1 -
.288 / .357 / .413, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers (and 6 steals).

The short version of the longer narrative is that over the last four years a lot of gambles didn't pay off, but this year all of the personnel decisions have come up aces.

Yep. I STILL don't think they're THIS good, but I'm certainly enjoying the ride.

Profar's first major-league home run comes seven years and six days after his last game in the Little League World Series. That's pretty good.

A's schedule for the next month is brutal. Seven each against the Angels and Rangers, six against the Mariners, who have been hot, and series against the Yankees, Orioles and Tigers. The good news is that if they continue to play well against THAT competition, they could still win the division. The bad, of course, is that the bubble could burst and they could go something like 10-19 the rest of the way.

It is tough, but as I said in an earlier thread pretty much everyone in the AL West and AL East have tough schedules the rest of the way b/c they're playing all their divisional games and each other. Tampa's schedule from here on out is tough as well - six against the Yankees, three against Texas, three against Baltimore, seven against Boston, three against Toronto, four against the White Sox. The Orioles have four against the Yankees, six against Toronto, three against Tampa Bay, three against Oakland, six against Boston, and three against Seattle. The A's do seem to have the hardest schedule of those three from here on out, but none of those schedules are easy. Basically it's whoever stays hot, but we already knew that.

Tampa's schedule [...] three against Baltimore

I'm pretty sure the games on the first three days in October count, too.

can a single hit, even a home run, be sprayed?

The baseball disintegrated into 3,333 pieces, which will be collected, numbered, and included by Topps in random packs next year. Surely you remember when this happened with Matt Wieters's first home run.

RE: schedules; the Rangers have three in KC, three in St Petersburg, three at home against the Indians, and then 19 in their division. Not a tough extra-divisional tour, given that they play well in St. Pete; but of course, watch them lose all three series to make it interesting :( I will really miss the 4-team AL West, with its capacity for cutting itself off from the rest of the league for the last couple of weeks. It never really generated epic pennant races – in its best years, they tended to be the A's and Angels, with one or the other having a good chance at the Wild Card – but it's how things should be: you decide a division amongst the division rivals. That will now go the way of manual scoreboards and green wooden seats …

That will now go the way of manual scoreboards and green wooden seats …

It's so annoying that they turned the manual scoreboard in left field of BPiA into an automatic one.

Yeah, maybe the A's and Orioles will roll into 1st and the play-in game will be TEX/NYY.

I would so love for this to happen.

can a single hit, even a home run, be sprayed?


The writer must have meant to discuss his next hit, a double down the left field line. Pretty impressive first two at-bats.

It's so annoying that they turned the manual scoreboard in left field of BPiA into an automatic one

To increase the annoyance, they've gone back this year (after not using it much last year IIRC) to the practice of giving the out-of-town scores as "game states" (diagrams of who's on base, who's pitching and batting, ball-strike count, and more). That might be OK if they left up, say, the Oakland and Angels' games all night long. But instead, they show you something like Cleveland vs. Kansas City for about 30 seconds, barely long enough to gather what's happening from all the information on the board, and then take that down and replace it with Milwaukee vs. San Diego. (Three or four games are up at a time, and they keep rotating the others that are in progress, so that you never see a game state longer than a single plate appearance, you can't take in four of them at once, and it's an inning or two later when you see one again.) As a result, you might as well not have any scoreboard information at all; you can't follow any of it. The only way you could assimilate that kind of random flood of always-changing surplus information is if you were following it at the same time on your phone, in which case you wouldn't need the information, you'd have it already. {/rant

Yeah, maybe the A's and Orioles will roll into 1st and the play-in game will be TEX/NYY.

I would so love for this to happen.

It's not as appealing as the A's and Orioles rolling into first and the play-in game featuring TEX/TB, but I'd take it anyway. That scenario would thoroughly redeem this horrible season (from the perspective of a Sox fan).

Went to the As Sox game yesterday. Great day, As played fantastic against a team I did not even recognize apart from Pedroia and he was pretty much the only one to hit. First time watching Matsusaka pitch. Holy crap he's slow. Watching the hitters and base runners throw off his timing was amusing, as it was so easy.

It's going to be a tough September. Very lucky that the As were able to clean up in the last of the bad teams the play for awhile.