An Oakland A's Postmorgan

Right after I talked about the A's resurgence last week, when they'd won their fifth in a row, they backed up their five game winning streak with a five game losing streak. Even though they broke it yesterday with a win, they're pretty much dead now, and unless something dramatic happens, this will probably be my last baseball post before the end of the season. I'll keep watching, but I've lost my emotional attachment to my team, so there isn't much to talk about.

One of my favorite baseball blogs is Fire Joe Morgan, which uses the Hall of Fame second baseman as a figurehead for so-called "traditional values" in baseball that values gut instincts over hard statistics. In his time as a national broadcaster at ESPN, Morgan has rallied against the use of statistics and computers as bad for baseball. Somewhere along the way he crossed the line from a good natured contrarian to an irascible old coot.

Needless to say, one of Joe's least favorite teams is the Oakland Athletics. Joe has a history with the A's since he grew up in Oakland, ended his career with the A's, and was part of the ownership group that tried to buy the team in 1999. The higher-ups at ESPN always try to keep the A's off national telecasts that Joe broadcasts, since the team makes him irrational, but every once in a while, an A's question creeps into his weekly chats at espn.com.. Pulled from FJM.

Q: Joe, do you think the A's will ever get some guys that know how to manufacture runs by advancing the baserunner, bunting and stealing a base or two? It's frustrating watching this team as it is dead last in the AL West in runs.

Joe Morgan: Well they are built on walking and hitting home runs, and they have not been doing that a lot this year. That is their philosophy, as far as walks and home runs (ed: what the Miss Teenage SC?). During the regular season there are so many weak pitching staffs that you can at times get away with looking for walks and trying to hit home runs, but once you enter the playoffs that is not the case. That is why they have struggled in the post season. They may win the division with that philosophy, from time to time, but they will never win a World Series like that.

First, the Oakland A's have always been built on pitching and defense. Offensively, they value patience at the plate, mostly because it's undervalued in the market, but they are far from being built on "walking and hitting home runs". They don't hit many home runs as a team, which is kind of frustrating. Joe's answer doesn't explain why the A's are struggling this year, which has very little to do with philosophy and a lot to do with bad luck.

During the A's run last week, they swept a four game series from the Chicago White Sox, one of those teams that plays the game "the right way" according to Joe Morgan. They did it by following their "be the house" philosophy and not taking any risks on the bases or making unnecessary outs, while the Sox tried to sacrifice and steal and consistently gave outs away to play for one run. That style works well in a short series, where one run here or there makes a difference, but over the course of a season, it's like going to the casino and hitting on 16. Anyway, I'm rambling and trying to make points in my last baseball post of the year, and now I forget where I was.

Oh yeah, Oakland rules. Joe Morgan drools! 1972 dude!