Games 84, 85 and 86 Recap or the A's are definitely worse than the Yankees

New York 3, Oakland 1 (WPA Graph from Fangraphs)
New York 6, Oakland 1 (WPA Graph from Fangraphs)
New York 6, Oakland 2 (WPA Graph from Fangraphs)

A's Current Record: 41-45

I didn't watch any of these games because, living in New York, they were blacked out on MLB.TV and I don't have cable (and didn't want to watch in a bar surrounded by Yankees fans), and I have to say I'm pretty happy about that decision.  The A's simply cannot hit against good pitching, and Javier  Vazquez, C.C.  Sabathia and A.J.  Burnett proved that rather convincingly.  Giving up 15 runs to the Yankees is about what you'd expect, though I would've liked to seen better performances from Trevor  Cahill (definitely not pitching in the All-Star game anyway b/c he goes on Sunday, but probably did not impress Girardi) and Gio  Gonzalez against the best team in the league.


These games are discouraging because it shows just how far away the A's are from being a legitimate contender.  Other than Kurt  Suzuki, there's not a single player in the A's lineup who would start for the Yankees (and that's w/ moving Posada to DH), or come even close.  Most of the team wouldn't even make their active roster.  They are simply a step below the Yankees (a great team, no shame in that but it's not close enough, nor does it seem as it will be anytime soon) and while they do have some strong young pitching, that's not enough.


Just so these posts aren't all negative, Cliff  Pennington has been hot, raising his season averages to .260/.332/.383, about what we'd expect, and worthwhile as a SS with average defense.  He was due for a bump as his BABIP was really low given his line-drive rate and has normalized a little bit.  Coco  Crisp has been great since his activation from the DL (.288/.355/.538), boosting his trade value quite a bit, and singlehandedly trying to keep the A's offense afloat.  Their pitching staff has been excellent -- as of today, they've allowed the 3rd fewest runs/game in the AL -- but they've scored the third fewest runs per game.  It's the same old story (good pitching, bad offense), and while I'm sick of writing it, I guess we better get used to it.