Oak. Equals Choke!!

[STEEL CITY SELECTIONS]

YES I BET OAKLAND TONITE ...
well, this was a tough loss to take, this game played out exactly as i thought/hoped it would.
oak. with a chance vs. a terrible bos. bullpen.
kinda had the feeling when williamson came in that he would provide excitement. sure enough he did....walks 1st 2-hitters...lol...i find it hard to believe oak. couldnt push across a run with 2nd and 3rd after sac. bunt....i need answers.......how do u put somebody named mellhuse or something like that in to pinch hit
for jermaime dye? i know the righty/lefty bulshit...but with 1-out that atbat is the most important...contact needs to be made...an out can score a run...i want a veteran/experienced major league hitter up in this spot...this atbat basically is oaklands season...they entrust their entire yr. to this guy mellhuse? who ive never heard of..hey he may have been a great pinch hitter this yr..i dont know, i dont follow oaklands every game or know their entire roster...but i do know who j. dye is!
horrible decision by k. macha...
then even worse.....how....how....can 2-hitters in a row, stike out LOOKING, with the game on the line....that is pathetic.....swing the bat!!!!! that was embarassing...i mean d. lowe...hes not friggin e. gagne...lol...what a joke....oak. had a great opportunity to win this game....they blew it and they are officially CHOKERS!!!

 

[Nolan Dalla]

Don't forget that fraud Tejada, yes the same Tejada who was somehow voted the AL's MVP last season by the brainless baseball writers went a stellar 2 for 22 in the series. Real nice job hitting in the clutch. How in the hell Rodriguez wasn't and isn't the MVP in this league is beyond me.

But that's nothing compared to baseball biggest chokers -- the Braves. So much for that awesome hitting lineup, which managed just 9 hits (TOTAL!) in the three pitiful games they lost versus Chicago.

If I were in Atlanta, I'd boycott this underacheiving team too.

-- Nolan

 

[STEEL CITY SELECTIONS]

YES NOLAN...atlanta the team was a joke in the post-season, but even a bigger joke is their fans...atlanta must be the worst sports town in the country....that last game in atlanta seemed like a cubs home game....lol......i guess the fans are bored with success....or maybe the only show-up for league championship series.....lol....i wish 20-yrs. of losing season upon them.

1-other very questionable or terrible decision was by k. macha, when he lets b. zito pitch to ramirez in top of 6th inning...now im no baseball ex-minor league player or hi-school coach or whatever, just a fan...how, after zito gives up hr. to varitek, walks j. damon, goes full count with nomar and he luckily fouls out, beans t. walker....clearly zito is done, any moron can see hes lost his edge...so how in the hell do u let him pitch to arguably the best right-handed hitter in baseball...the game is still tied...zito pitched very well, u go out there and tell him great job and bring in your best right handed reliever and hope he gets out of it...its not brain surgery.....leaving zito at that point cost them the ballgame .

 

[loophole]

ok, i was an oaklan player last night also, but regardless i found it unfathomable that the a's last two outs in that situation came on called third strikes. why sacrifice if your next hitters are not committed to putting the ball in play?

 

[gman2]

steel city - i couldnt agree more on your the point you made about melhuse/long going down LOOKING in back to back at bats with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

i will give melhuse the benefit of the doubt, because that maddux-esque comeback fastball lowe threw him was absolutely filthy. the movement was sick.

BUT

then if youre terrence long, you gotta learn from that at bat your teammate just took. he just went down looking on a pitch that starts in and then comes back across the plate. as a professional, you gotta pick up on those things. and he started off long the exact same way he did melhuse- with some sinkers down in the zone. then he got ahead. and then he came with the comeback fastball.

inexcusable for your final 2 outs of the season with guys in scoring position to be called 3rd strikes.

re: the ramirez situation. thats a tough call for macha. i know what you mean- ramirez was so overdue, but in this case, i might actually side with macha. ramirez had no rbi in the series up to that point and zito made him look silly the frst few times up. and i believe the home run was hit on a 1-2 pitch. zito simply missed with the pitch. if youre gonna miss to ramirez, miss away or down in the dirt. you cant get an 89-mph fastball in on his hands. hes too quick. hindsight is of course 20/20. zito was one pitch away from getting ramirez out and he messed up.

 

[bej0101]

in the end the better team won and now will get smoked by the yankees

 

[Mick Onofrio]

you might have gotten the situation you wanted

you might have gotten the situation you wanted

Oak vs Sox bullpen...but now look at the BullPen numbers over the last 4 games in that series. That's what a bullpen is supposed to look like. Timlin and Embree are pitching like Veterans with a ticking clock. One of these two guys must be the closer. I say Timlin cause he makes you beat his best stuff and he's only walked like 9 batters all season. So he is gonna bring it 92-97 MPH with movement. If you hit it you're the better man...if not he is. That's what baseball is all about. That's why I love Embree and Timlin right now. No Curveball Freaks, No young closers with fragile mental states. Just Firey, Cagey, Concept of Time having Vets that say "Here it is, now try and Hit IT!!!!!!" I loves these guys. Sox bullpen numbers dropped fast when they decided to make these two the factors. ERA closing in on 2.00 over the past 4 games. I will Submit all these rambling in a new thread to see what my Sox fans think of this: Pitchers listed with their ERA and their last 3 games pitched along w/ WHIP

Long Relief
Suppan...No stats in this role
Arroyo...1.13 & 0.63

Middle
Saurbeck-Lefties only...3.00 & 1.67
Todd Jones-desparate times...0.00 & 1.00
Mendoza-pitched well vs Yanks...0.00 and 0.33
B Kim-more effective without the pressure of late innings...3.38 and 0.75
Brandon Lyon-threw well down the stretch-could be a factor in Mid Innings...6.23 and 3.00

Set Up
Embree-lefty 0.00 and 0.50
Williamson-right 0.00 and 0.67

Closer
Mike Timlin-doesn't walk batters(like 9 all year maybe less) Throws heat, has effective movement on fastball-only concern is he'll throw 25 of the those 94 mph fastballs in a row in the same spot BUT he challenges hitters and that's what good closers do...he's closed out games before. 0.00 and 0.00 my boy is pitching like he wants it.

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

i will give melhuse the benefit of the doubt, because that maddux-esque comeback fastball lowe threw him was absolutely filthy. the movement was sick.

I agree dude...i was watching those replays of those called third strikes ALL nite.......

absolutely FAWKING FILTHY movement on those pitches....i can't say i blame them for freezing on those pitches....
:shrug: