No, not because of the score, humiliating as it was, and not because of the venue, which \u201cis what it is\u201d and was always going to be that. It\u2019s the decisions that were made with full knowledge of the context that make fans rightly wonder who is minding the store.<\/p>\n
The fact is, fans don\u2019t actually want to be smarter than management \u2014 they want to pretend to be, but they want to be wrong because they want their team to be well run. One of the worst aspects of fandom is the helpless feeling of watching decisions you know are dumb but can do nothing to control.<\/p>\n
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Fortunately, most often fans \u201cknow that they\u2019re smarter\u201d but in fact are only smarter in hindsight. It\u2019s when foresight is 20\/20 that nerves are touched even in a game that winds up being a loss by 2 touchdowns. Let\u2019s count the number of obvious blunders that were blunders before they happened \u2014 and then showed why.<\/p>\n
1. As I proclaimed loudly, before the home stand began, to anyone who would listen (nobody), the last thing you wanted to do was to line up Jeffrey Springs to start twice in a 6-game home stand in the launching pad that is Summerlin. JT Ginn would have been on turn, Mason Barnett could have pitched in tandem as part of a bullpen game, and Springs could have been pushed back to Monday.<\/p>\n
Predictably, Springs got shelled again for 8 runs and 3 HR in 4 IP \u2014 with 2 of the HRs coming on exit velocities that needed a boost from the desert air.<\/p>\n
2. I will accept that Nick Kurtz<\/a> needed a day off of 1B because he has had so little time off the field and you can\u2019t begrudge needed rest, even though you were looking at a game against an opponent you had a great chance to beat with a chance to move into a 1st place tie. But given the extreme heat and fatigue factor, you have to allow for it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Where the front office failed was in constructing a roster without a real back up 1Bman, which led Mark Kotsay to opt for Jeff McNeil<\/a> at 1B. It only took until the top of the 1st for the idea to backfire, as McNeil couldn\u2019t pull in a bad throw from Muncy that a taller or more accomplished 1Bman catches on the bag.<\/p>\n Where Kotsay failed was in not making the more logical move and going with Tyler Soderstrom<\/a>, no great 1Bman but one with experience at the position and the physical traits for the job. Speaking of which\u2026<\/p>\n 3. The A\u2019s could not have put a more absurd defense on the field behind their pitchers. You had Max Muncy<\/a> and Jeff McNeil on the corner infield, the combo that predictably allowed for 2 unearned runs to score early.<\/p>\n The A\u2019s continue to act as if Lawrence Butler<\/a> is a viable option in CF and that Carlos Cortes<\/a> won\u2019t hurt you in RF. Back when the game was still very winnable, Butler fanned on a drive that Henry Bolte runs down, then proceeded to look like a Little Leaguer out there the rest of the afternoon. Cortes did as well later in the game, but you can at least blame the sun\/wind for playing a part and by then no one really cared about the results anyway.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Overall the defense was an absolute joke \u2014 just as it was on paper so no one should have been the least bit surprised. How could Kotsay have better navigated the personnel he had available to him? You put Soderstrom at 1B, McNeil at 2B, Gelof at 3B, Cortes in LF, Bolte in CF, Butler in RF.<\/p>\n Suddenly you have exactly nobody playing out of position (even if your 1Bman and LFer aren\u2019t the strongest fielders) and you have swapped Muncy out for Bolte the day after Bolte put together several excellent plate appearances and there was really no reason to sit him.<\/p>\n With that defense behind a SP who isn\u2019t an extreme fly ball pitcher with severe HR tendencies, the A\u2019s would have had a shot today against a bad pitcher who was getting hit hard. Now would the A\u2019s have won? Likely not in that most probably today was a game where at some point the A\u2019s were going to turn to Luis Medina<\/a> in the middle innings and Medina was just awful. So maybe you lose anyway \u2014 but not in a way where the front office and manager are exposed for not knowing how to assemble or employ a roster.<\/p>\n Moving forward, if the A\u2019s want to stay in contention for anything they are going to have some difficult decisions to make because they can\u2019t continue to carry too much dead weight on their roster and expect to distance themselves from the .500 mark \u2014 at least not in the direction they are hoping.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In a game that featured 39 hits, McNeil went 0 for 3 with a couple weak fly balls to LF. It\u2019s getting harder and harder to justify penciling him in as his slump reaches 0 for 20 and he has just 4 hits, all singles, in his last 51 at bats. And more troubling is how weak most of his contact has been in those 51 at bats.<\/p>\n Also, Scott Barlow<\/a>\u2019s smoke and mirrors act is running out of steam. The A\u2019s suddenly have the trappings of a much improved bullpen thanks to the apparent emergence of Elvis Alvarado<\/a> and Mason Barnett, but Barlow\u2019s last 5 appearances speak for themselves: 4.1 IP, 8 hits, 9 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 3 HR. Summerlin can only be blamed so much.<\/p>\n