Now in to pitch for the Twins, a member of the WBC Team Netherlands bullpen this year, Shairon Martis. It's been a pretty big year for Dutch MLB players, with top prospects Jurickson Profar, Xander Bogaerts, and Jonathan Schoop spending time with the Rangers, Red Sox, and Orioles respectively, Andrelton Simmons looking like a gold glove contender at shortstop for the Braves, and Kenley Jansen closing things out for the Dodgers. Speaking of the WBC, another Twin, tonight's 1B Chris Colabello, played for Italy. The man responsible for the Twins' only run so far, RF prospect and cleanup hitter Oswaldo Arcia, could very possibly join fellow Venezuelan greats Miguel Cabrera, Pablo Sandoval, Carlos Gonzalez, and Anibal Sanchez in WBC's of the future.
AND THERE IT IS! A deep fly ball to right field off the bat of Josh Reddick, it's going back, over the head of the outfielder and the wall for a home run! And there with the call as always, Glen Kuiper's "That Baby is GONE!" has never sounded so sweet. Reddick has used his time on the DL to re-grow a version of the grizzly beard he had to start the season (pictured) and it's apparently working well for him.Speaking of working well, A.J. Griffin worked very well for 7 innings, now gives way to mop-up man Dan Otero, who has been pretty active on the waiver wire, spending time with the Giants and the Yankees before catching on with the A's, but who has also put up a very impressive season out of the bullpen with a miniscule 1.41 ERA and a very strong 4.20 SO/BB ratio. The ground ball specialist did his job in that respect, but also gave up a run on three hits, all grounders, one of which, a comebacker to the mound, he hacky-sacked back to Derek Norris, who couldn't get out of the crouch soon enough to make a play.
Oakland lead 8-2 and I'm officially signing off barring a crazy comeback (goffabid).
END 6th inning: OAK - 6, MIN - 0
We've seen A.J. Griffin do it all this game: strike guys out, induce a clutch double play to escape a jam, courteously pick up catcher Derek Norris's mask after he made a great athletic play to end an inning. We've also seen Coco Crisp grind out some good at bats, the latest of which resulted in an error, which he later turned into a 2B via the stolen base, which Josh Donaldson later converted into a run with an RBI single, giving the A's an always-good-to-have insurance run. (Just ask the Pirates in their recent series against the Rangers: you can never protect too much against a comeback.) A little bit of context: Coco's steal was his 19th of the year, the same number of home runs he has hit as of his blast last night. A 20-20 season might be within reach for the veteran center fielder.
Chris Young is next on the CF depth chart. He is a former leadoff hitter for the Diamondbacks, meaning he had the speed to leg out a triple in the 6th, the Oakland's second of the game, which just got converted into another insurance run by Josh Reddick with a sac fly. Young isn't currently wearing his cool socks, but I'm totally fine with him wearing the unfashionable long pants if it means he's more comfortable to run on those extra-base hits.
As far as roster position is concerned, Young was always projected for a platoon role with left-handed hitting Seth Smith, as evidenced by both of their inclusions in this year's Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview. What they did not predict was the platoon behind the plate, listing lefty John Jaso, but not providing a bench spot for presumed catcher-of-the-future Derek Norris. In addition to making that nice play, he also picked up a strong single and has also been taking a beating behind the plate. Also, if anyone at Sports Illustrated is listening, please don't discontinue the full projected lineup portion of each team's 2014 Baseball Preview page like you did in the 2013 Football Preview. Can't tell you how much I enjoy looking at those things, and I hope I'm in the majority as far as fans are concerned...
END 3rd inning: OAK - 4, MIN - 0
At this point, by design, we've seen every player in the starting lineups come to bat at least once (and exactly once for the Twins, more on that later), and each starting pitcher get some significant work in. We've also heard a third of a game's vocal track from broadcast artists Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper. And in that time we've also seen the A's continue their scoring ways from last night and put up a four-spot on a two-out rally that included a big triple* from HR Derby champion Yoenis Cespedes, playing DH tonight with the A's outfield now back to full strength with the return of Josh Reddick from the DL a couple days ago.
END 1st inning: OAK - 0, MIN - 0
I watch a lot of A's highlights, so I recognize the voices and phrases of the A's announcers pretty well. Don't get me wrong, I watch a lot of every team's highlights, but the A's guys stick in my mind because I'm (for some reason) more emotionally invested in their games. I also recognize the Yankees announcers, Michael Kay on YES and John Sterling on WCBS, who worked together in the incomparable baseball video games All-Star Baseball 2000 and 2001. And also the Giants announcers Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, who lent their talent to the legendary work MVP Baseball 2005. But my point is it would be great to hear a "That Baby's Gone!" happen in real-time.
Won't happen this inning as the A's go down 1-2-3 to Twins recent call-up Scott Diamond, who has the second-most fantasy points (as of the All-Star Break) of any starting pitcher on the active roster. However, the Twins suffer the same fate at the hands of A.J. Griffin, who is also second in points to Bartolo Colon, but unlike the Twins top pair, each has quadruple-figures in points this year, with a few starts each to go. It's no secret who's favored in this matchup.
No comments:
Post a Comment