Beaneball

It turns out that Chris Denorfia is, in fact, hurt, and that he is the move the A's made to get Rich Harden on the roster -- he heads to the DL. The A's are thus down to four outfielders, and one of those is Jack Cust, who Geren likes to sub for late in the game. This means, though, that when Mike Sweeney, Frank Thomas, and Cust are all in the game, Geren's going to have to pick his spots carefully regarding pinch-running. He can't just wholesale with Denorfia and Rajai Davis like he did before.

Nice to see the A's bring the bats back to life, by the way. They kind of took a week off, but 12 runs, even if against Sidney Ponson and the Rangers, is nice.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 00:08 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I am sick to goddamn death of the referees in the NBA. Yes, I'm emotional about the fact that the Lakers got robbed of this game, that they got called for six more fouls (20 more Utah free throws) despite playing their entire offensive game at the Utah rim. The referees didn't entirely lose the game for L.A. (eleven missed free throws, Kobe's back, and the disappearing Jordan Farmar did that), but they sure as hell helped. Let's review the bad calls on both sides this game.

DJ Mbenga's completely clean block in the third quarter that was called a foul. This one wasn't even close, there was no body contact, no arm contact, nothing. It was utterly inexplicable. The Kyle Korver phantom elbow on Sasha in overtime -- Sasha sold it, but there was zero contact on the play. The overtime play where Fisher put his shoulder sideways into Deron Williams's chest, and yet Williams got hit with a foul. (I'm more ok with that call as a "quit flopping" foul on Williams, because it wasn't an offensive foul -- but it should have just been a no-call.) The most egregious one of all, Ronny's "flagrant 2." What on earth did the refs see? There was body contact and a swipe across the arms. Ronny's a big guy, so Price took a hard fall to the floor that looked worse than it was because he bounced his head. There was no head contact by Ronny, he was going for the block so it wasn't unnecessary, and it certainly wasn't excessive. Where on earth do they get calling any flagrant, much less a flagrant 2? I demand an apology to Ronny, to the team, to Lakers fans, and to NBA fans everywhere for this atrocious call. The referees were intimidated by the Utah crowd and the Utah players, especially Matt Harpring, who swarmed them, demanding a call. Rule change request: that's a technical foul. Players don't get to ask for flagrants, and they certainly don't get to run up on the refs like that.

Oh, and how about Ronnie Price's "block" of Luke Walton's breakaway. He got the ball cleanly, in terms of not getting arm, but his body just flew right through Walton's. That's the definition of a foul. He knocked Walton to the floor by flying into him. How do you not call that? Oh, and the Kyle Korver travel in the fourth quarter when he switched his pivot foot out on the wing, Phil Jackson flew up off the bench (the play was right in front of him), but no call. Carlos Boozer's shove (not tiny push, not subtle; Carlos Boozer doesn't do subtle; he gets away with full-on pushes and shoves the entire game) on Derek Fisher on a screen late in the game.

This was just atrocious, and it's nothing new. Half the flagrants this postseason (and I've seen almost every playoff game so far) weren't flagrants in February. Double technicals are handed out like candy instead of the referees actually making an effort to determine if one player doesn't really deserve one. Blatant travels are missed (and not just the hop-step style, or the LeBron to the bucket style, but switched pivot feet). Offensive fouls abound when guys are running in under the driver after he's already started off the ground. And the clock! Forget about the atrocious rule that resulted in an unjustified three for the Pistons the other night. What about the numerous clock problems and technical malfunctions? We're in the 21st century! This stuff doesn't happen anymore!

One last word on the Jazz -- I said it after Friday's game, and I say it now. They hit their jumpers, they got the benefit of every doubt from the referees, they got L.A.'s backup center and hit man tossed, Kobe was visibly weakened (the Kirilenko block from behind in overtime doesn't happen if Kobe's 100% because he stuffs that ball instead of trying to lay it up), Fisher got hit with early fouls again ... and it still took overtime to win the game! It still took the Lakers forgetting team offense and going to a guy playing at 60% on every possession in overtime for the Jazz to pull it out!

A word on Pau: he does complain too much, but at this point, the refereeing on him is getting downright bizarre. He's a skilled post player who spends the entire game in the paint. He took sixteen shots and grabbed ten rebounds. And he only shot two foul shots! He shot zero on Friday! What is the deal? Okur, who spends the entire game 20 feet from the basket, shot six. Kirilenko shot nine. Kobe took 33 shots, with at least half of those coming in the lane, maybe more, and he shot only ten. How on earth does Andrei Kirilenko shoot as many free throws as Kobe, when Kirilenko is the one who plays on the team that fouls more than anyone in the league? How does this happen?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 21:21 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

With Mike D'Antoni now in New York, is it automatic that LeBron is going there in 2010? James could average 50-10-12 in that system -- and given that he plays his best defense as a help guy coming over to make ridiculously athletic blocks and steals, the up-tempo game might help his defense as well.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 10:48 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I hope the Jazz fans are really excited about this win, because it took ridiculous games from their three stars, terrible shooting and ball-handling by the Lakers, two early fouls on Derek Fisher, and a real adjustment in the first half by the officials, from calling everything in the first two games to calling nothing (before returning to the call-everything mode in the second half). All of this to win by five, and even then only because a horrible play on the final jump ball where Luke Walton just threw the ball away after getting exactly the tip L.A. wanted from Pau Gasol.

The Lakers deserved to lose this game, and the Jazz earned their win, for all of the above reasons. But you know what? When you only lose by five, despite doing everything wrong while the other team does everything right, you're the better team. The only question is whether the Lakers can regroup on Sunday, stop fumbling the ball away every other possession, and stop missing layups when you're not bailed out by the officials.

Really just a frustrating, frustrating game. Did Okur or Boozer miss a single contested jump shot? (Obviously they did, but it sure didn't feel like it. Every time you looked up, they were hitting a 20-footer with Lamar Odom's hand in their face.)

So what's the prescription for Sunday? Kobe: don't go 0-6 from three. Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar: don't combine for 0-9 shooting. Referees: Pau Gasol works all game inside against a team that fouls more than anyone in the league; he seriously didn't shoot a single free throw in this game? Really? Pau: turnovers! Lamar: turnovers! Phil: don't be scared of Derek Fisher's two fouls; Jordan Farmar is a good player, but he's overmatched in this series because that position needs to guard Deron Williams, and Farmar can't do that. Fisher started with two fouls, and then, at the end of the game, you know how many fouls he had? Still two. It's not like Fisher stopped Williams, but he certainly did better on him than Farmar did. So in short, Phil, Fisher can play with fouls. If the offense is churning out the points, then you can sit Fisher, because the Jazz can't run with the Lakers. But if the offense is sputtering like it was in the first half tonight, Fisher has to be in the game.

One final note: the Lakers only lost one quarter tonight. The problem is they lost that quarter, the second, by nine, while they only won the second half by four, and tied the first quarter. They got seriously outplayed over those 12 minutes, and could only play more or less even with the Jazz for the other 36. That's on the bench mob, since they were playing that quarter, and Phil played the starters (more or less) the rest of the way, once he figured out that his reserves couldn't play the game tonight.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 23:49 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Ariza still not healed; seeing specialist today | The Lakers Nation

What on earth is up with these Laker injuries?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 18:18 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Why, when we hear about a survey in which a foreigner is voted "most popular person" in their home country, do we respond with a surprised, "More popular than their president!"? I can name approximately 100 million Americans who are more popular than our President. Why would we expect other countries to be different?

(Prompted by hearing on ESPN: "Manu Ginobli was recently voted the most popular person in Argentina, more than the president!")

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 23:05 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Jeff Van Gundy is a freaking genius. Here are his three proposals for flopping:

1. If the referee thinks it's an exaggeration of the contact, even if he thinks it's also a foul, call no foul;
2. Review of every game tape to determine how often flops happen: points assigned for flopping; upon a certain number of points accumulated through the season, suspension;
3. If you're suspended, you also have to wear a scarlet F on your jersey so the referees know who the floppers are.

JVG referred to this last proposal as "a little off the wall", and then Mike Breen teased him about it, but you know what? Nobody likes this flopping stuff. Nobody likes that a 6'9", 260 pound beast named LeBron James gets a little contact from Rajon Rondo and throws his arms around like a Mack truck hit him. It's not just LeBron of course; he's just (a) my favorite topic; (b) the guy who prompted the Van Gundy rant. But the problem precisely is that everyone does it, with a few exceptions: Kevin Garnett doesn't really do it; Shaq's another one. But name another star, or role player, or 12th man, and they'll fall to the floor acting like they got shot at the least contact.

Along the same lines, the referees have to continue to get more careful about the offensive players initiating the contact -- if the defender has his arms up and you jump into them, no foul! If you draw the defender into the air and then jump into his body (a Kobe special, I'll admit), no foul! The referees were supposedly emphasizing this recently, but from watching the last few weeks, it seems like they've gone back to the bad old Reggie Miller days at times.

Oh, and I hate the "if you hit a guy after he's released his shot, it's a shooting foul" rule. If you run into the guy as you're closing out on his jump shot, that should be a loose-ball foul if the shot doesn't go in and an and-one if it does. None of this shooting foul nonsense.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 19:39 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

The Transaction Guy | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » Pitch F/X Profile: Greg Smith

Here's a great piece by Dave Golebiewski at The Transaction Guy. Smith's pitches, in short, have great movement despite not much velocity, and, as David Pinto points out (and as I think is most important given the variety Smith throws), his release point is incredibly consistent.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 11:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Good Problems to Have - Part I - Athletics Nation

Here's an interesting piece from notsellingjeans at Athletics Nation about how the A's are unlikely to be sellers in trades because of their hot start -- they'd have to tank enormously to put their record in a position where they could justify selling pieces like Blanton, Mark Ellis, or Justin Duchscherer.

I'm not sure I entirely agree because, supposing the A's do play, say, .460 ball from here on out, and supposing further that the Angels start running away with the West, I think Billy Beane is smart enought to put questions about "waving a white flag" to the side in favor of actually maximizing the talent on the roster for the contention years.

Obviously this is all moot if the A's keep playing well enough to contend.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 11:42 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Bynum may undergo surgery on left knee | The Lakers Nation

That's just terrible news. I mean, maybe not because we're talking about a 'scope, but really? We still haven't figured out what's wrong in there? He hurt it in January! What's going on?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in L.A. Lakers at 11:37 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Donnie Murphy pinch-ran for Frank Thomas today and then played left field. Is Chris Denorfia hurt?

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 19:54 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

SFGate: Oakland Athletics : The Drumbeat : Gaudin to bullpen

Athletic Supporters | MVN - an Oakland Athletics blog » Blog Archive » Gaudin To The Bullpen … For Now

The Official Site of The Oakland Athletics: News: Gaudin to 'pen to make room for Harden

I saw this from Susan Slusser first: Chad Gaudin is heading out to the bullpen to make room for Rich Harden.  Mychael Urban reports that Gaudin's (a) not happy about this; and (b) worried about what it might do to his health, coming back from surgeries as he is.  I understand the frustration of a guy with an ERA below 2.50 over his last four starts being sent to the bullpen.  But what are you going to do?  Joe Blanton's not going anywhere, you can't bounce Justin Duchscherer around, Greg Smith has been even better than Gaudin, and Dana Eveland ... well, it's not clear to me why Eveland is staying a starter while Gaudin is heading to the 'pen.  It's almost a coin-flip situation, although maybe there's a talent-evaluation component here: the A's pretty much know what they have in Gaudin at this point, but Eveland is still an unknown.  Is this just a hot start?  Are his runs-allowed numbers sustainable given his peripherals?

Melissa Lockard points out that putting Eveland in the bullpen might hamper his confidence -- he's been beat up pretty good the last few times he's made the majors, so to send him out to the sidelines now that he's having success as a starter might impede him mentally.  Lockard also asks why the A's don't move Harden to the bullpen, and her answer is sensible: there's a good chance they're looking to get what they can for him in a trade, and you don't build up a starting pitcher's value by throwing him out of the bullpen.

But you know, remember Jason Isringhausen?  Failed, injury-plagued starter turned dominant reliever after a trade to a new team?  Nobody wants this to happen to Harden, where the A's insist on keeping him in the rotation before they finally just give up on him only to see him have a few great years for someone else in a role that fits him when the A's could just as easily put him in that role themselves.

Keith Foulke is also due back in a few days, and Dallas Braden is likely to get the ax when that happens, heading back to Sacramento.  He somehow avoided the chopping block last time, being kept around over Lenny DiNardo, but I wouldn't expect it to happen again, not with the way Joey Devine has been pitching.  Unfortunately, when Harden needs to be added to the roster, I'm afraid the A's might go back to a seven-man bullpen and send out Chris Denorfia or something.  Here's hoping the A's do the right thing, pat Devine on the butt and say, "Look kid, good job, but we want a six-man bullpen, you're the odd man out, and you're also the guy who'll be up in probably two weeks because of the inevitable injury (Street, Harden, Duchscherer, Gaudin, a random reliever owie) or trade (Blanton, Harden).  So keep it up!"

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 18:42 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Baseball Musings: The Oakland Offense

Pinto's basic point: throw strikes and you win the game. This seems dead on. On the other hand, it's been true for at least the last three years, and the A's have still managed to win more than their share of games. For instance, 2006's pennant-winning team lineup included such luminaries as Jason Kendall, Dan Johnson, Mark Ellis, Bobby Crosby, Mark Kotsay, Jay Payton, and Marco Scutaro. The team slugged .412, good for second-to-last in the league. (In 2005, they were a little worse pure SLG-wise, but were 10th instead of 13th in the AL.) Yet that 2006 won their first-round series against the Twins.

I still don't think this A's team is going to finish on the top of anything, but I don't think it's the poor hitting that will do them in, especially since I think some of the bats will come around, power-wise, in particular Daric Barton, Bobby Crosby, Jack Cust, and Frank Thomas. I'm not saying the hitting will be good; I just don't think it has to be good in order for them to win. Instead, I think the pitching will eventually fall off: Dana Eveland seems to be pitching over his head, and Sandy Casilla and Andrew Brown have to come back to earth at some point, right? Will Greg Smith finish with a 2.54 ERA? I don't have much confidence that he will.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 13:10 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

ESPN - Suns coach D'Antoni talks to Bulls, moves closer to leaving - NBA

It looks more and more like Mike D'Antoni will in fact be headed to Chicago. As I said before, this is a solid second-best (for the league, for us as fans) situation, certainly better on the whole than him going to the Knicks (with whom Marc Stein reports that he spoke, but it's apparently not really on the radar for him to go there).

I was down on Joakim Noah as a high draft pick because I just didn't think he had the skill to play in the league as a star. I thought he was the new Anderson Varejao. Having watched him with the Bulls a few times this year, I was clearly wrong, and I think Mike D'Antoni's system would be just the thing to make him incredibly valuable: he's a big man who runs the floor, finishes, and, most importantly, can dish to teammates like no one's business. He's a different player than Boris Diaw, but his utility to a fast-breaking, high-octane team is similar: you don't give up anything on offense because he can facilitate on the run or on the block, but he's big enough to at least nominally guard opposing centers and power forwards.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 10:21 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Ric Bucher is reporting that Darius Songaila is suspended for tonight's game for scratching LeBron in the face. The Cavs are mad because LeBron got away with throwing a clearly deliberate elbow into the face of Andray Blatche in Game 1. The Cavs win this argument, in my mind. That elbow was the most blatant thing I've seen in a long time that hasn't been followed by any actual official response.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 19:05 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)