Flipping the Remote:
*It was an indeed a nice 4-2 win by the A's over the Rangers yesterday. Nice to see Cespedes hit a long ball, nice defense, nice pitching, and of course nice to see the A's utilize the bunt. As you are probably well aware, "Moneyball" or "Sabermaticians" are anti bunting. Briefly, they view avoiding outs as the keys to runs, thus bunting not preferred. While I understand this argument, against upper echelon pitching, teams need to scratch out runs any way possible. I view small as part of a bigger picture, and if the A's can scratch across a few more runs in tight games, it may be what they need to bring home the rings!
*Matt Garza blowing a gasket kind of interesting. You can't really hold on to what athletes say in the heat of battle. However Garza's tweets after the game regarding the A's Mr. Nerd Power, Eric Sogard, well, to me just comical. Sogard bunted twice on the day, challenging Garza' reputation as a poor fielding pitcher. All I know is that the A's won, so really, who cares? What I would like to see however, is the A's/Rangers games take a notch up in their intensity. Rivalries are good for the game, and the fans! Maybe these two teams can acquire some sincere angst for each other--now that would be nice. Even in the early 2000's the A's and Angels never really shared a dislike for each other. I am not sure if it is because both teams have a Raiders connection or if so many players come from SoCal, but whatever the reason, the rivalry really never blossomed. Enter the Rangers, and after losing the title in Game 162 last season, one would think, a sincere dislike for losing to each other could be brewing.
(The only issue I have about the Garza blowup, is that apparently, after Sogard's bunt in the 7th led to the A's 4th run, Garza shouted at Sogy, and may have used the word that no woman ever wants to hear. If that indeed was the case, the umpires should have, or MLB needs to, step in. Not cool or manly.)
*Nice article on the A's Fans and the O.Co today by Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle. One thing I have clearly noticed is attendance is up on weekends and special promotion days. Firework nights on Fridays have been well attended, and my 8 year old in particular loves attending those games! Attendance lags during the week, however in my humble opinion, low attendance mid-week more about locale and venue. Look, many Giants fans love to razz the A's about attendance, but like I always say, can anyone please show a ticket stub from the Stick of a weekday game, that was not against the Dodgers. I haven't been presented with one yet! The bottom line is attendance is up because the team is winning, the team is fun, and for the most part the personnel are the same as last season. It doesn't hurt that the San Jose issue isn't mentioned much either! Nice job A's fan, nice job. One very interesting topic in this area: A's ticket prices currently very, very, affordable. When a new venue arrives, well, it might cut into my Nonfat Mocha's and slurpees! The bottom line, nice job A's fans and guests!
*Congratulations to Stacey Lewis on winning the Ladies British Open. Ice veined Lewis nailed clutch money puts on 17 and 18 to secure the victory. Those puts on 17 and 18, both for birdies. Most of the ladies today had to play 2 rounds as high winds forced postponement yesterday. That sounds like fun on one hand, but man that had to be tough. The announcers kept saying this was the first American win in the last 10 majors, does it matter? I don't know, but I am sure the American players have heard about it enough.
To Stacey Lewis, I raise my glass! To Sogy, the spouse's new favorite A, you will get yours after you make the postseason, and get to the Series! To all of the NFL Hall of Fame inductee's, congrats as well.
*By the way if I here one more time "sports fans" across the country probably could not name 3 current Athletics, I may break something. My 10 year old daughter just named 8 players, unprompted while she was watching Disney Chanel! These guys are good--how good, well, we just have to wait and see.
*Finally, I have shared with you the past days some deep emotions and events hidden way down in the depths of my pancreas. Today, I will get it light, and say I think a visit to St. Andrews now on my Bucket List. Today the landscape and course appeared absolutely magnificent.
Enjoy Your Sunday, Go A's (Boooooooo Rangers!)
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