A Sporadic Day of Baseball Observations...

Observations from Game 1, A's (B. Zito) v. Twins (J. Santana):

- Barry Zito is a great pitcher. Since 2001, his first full season in the Majors, Zito has thrown 214, 229, 231, 213, 228, and 221 innings each year. Understand the importance of that for Billy Beane. He knows that every fifth day, his manager will be able to write Zito’s name down and get six to seven innings. This is of course why his agent Scott Boras is going to be asking for 15 million over 5 years, but as important as he is to a starting lineup, I’m not convinced he deserves ace money. As this game started, after watching Santana mow down the A’s in the first, Zito came to the mound and I thought, ‘if Santana has a 8 inning, 4 hit, 1 ER, 11 K day, there’s no way Zito can match that. It’s not that he’ll be bad, but he’s going to give up 3 runs, at least. Dependable, but lacking that shutdown quality, makes him seem like a great number two pitcher. Of course, A.J. Burnett was given 55 million over five to be a number two and Zito’s deal, given his health, should be better than A.J. Burnett’s. That puts him at 60, or even 65 million for 5. Yikes. I hear the Padres are going to be interested in him, that would require a little less money (which isn’t likely in the World of Boras), but what a perfect destination. Good defense, warm location, HUGE home park.

- Wow, Frank Thomas is a beast. He’s even starting to look pretty good in green, but I wonder if there’s some sort of provision Oakland can petition MLB for about getting someone to run around the bases for him on Home Runs. Like they do for the seventy year old in my beer league softball, because even on HRs, when Frank can take a leisurely stroll around the bases, it’s looking pretty tough for him to make the trot.

- Ok, so much for Santana only giving up one run. He’s striking every other batter out and the Atheltics have still put two runs on the board. They don’t get a lot of credit, but the A’s are good…

- I’m cheering for either one of these team’s to win the World Series. I really like the Twins, but I was annoyed when they ended up winning their division and thus drew the A’s. Baseball needs to do away with the ridiculous rule, whereby teams cannot open the playoffs against a team in their division. The rule is absurd and there is no practical reason for it, especially given the importance baseball puts on intra-division rivals.

- Joe Morgan and Jon Miller really, really, really, need to forget about Luis Castillo’s blown stolen base in the first inning. It’s the fourth inning and they are still yammering on about how he shouldn’t have run, because Zito was struggling to throw strikes. You guys are right, it was a bad decision, but you’ve made the point. Honestly, let it go.

- The Sportsnet guys are asking if fans think the right amount of teams make the postseason, or whether it should be expanded. I used to champion a second Wild Card team, with a single game play-in. It would give importance back to winning your division cleanly, because a team would have to use their Ace in a play-in game, thus hurting their chances in the division series. However, one game is inherently flukey and it seems silly that this year the Tigers could miss out on the playoffs, despite being 5 games better than the White Sox over 162 games, because they lose one single game. Yes, it would be in their home park, but it’s one game. So, right now, today, I’m not so sold on that idea. I’m definitely not in favor of expansion, beyond the potential play-in game. Too many teams in the playoffs devalues the 162 games they play between April and September. I like those games.

- Five pitches in the last inning for Santana. Despite the two runs, he’s pitching great. Zito can only find the strike zone every other at bat, but he’s winning right now, throwing a one hitter. I love baseball.

- This game is FLYING… Seriously, we’re barely over an hour since it started and we’re already half way through the sixth. I actually want to go get a bite to eat soon, do you think it’ll be over by the time my girlfriend is out of the shower? It’s even odds. I mean she’ll be in there awhile, but games tend to bog down from the seventh onward.

- I love how Thomas was almost thrown out running to first… Brilliant.

- Wow, Bartlett just killed his pitcher, you HAVE to double Thomas up there. Oh well, it happens, the scarier thing is that as I typed “wow” at the exact moment that Jon Miller said it… great, now I’m saying the exact same thing as Miller… it’s one of those moments in life when you’ve prepared someone to bash you over he head, you know like “the day I start talking like Jon Miller or Joe Morgan, bash me over the head…” Only, because I never considered the possibility of this occurring, I haven’t made the necessary precautions… Damn. I think I’ll have to settle for going for food… Maybe it’s the hunger that’s causing me to talk like Miller. I’ll be back…