Any ways, should the mood for outrage be upon you, have a look at Benillo’s strike zone from that game. He was actually calling strikes over the chalk lines on the opposite batter’s box. A couple of those were for strike 3 on the 3rd out with men on. The game was close the whole day, too.

Pay attention to this guy Benillo. He’ll be in the news again. He seems to want to be the next Angel Hernandez.

What concerns me about the strike zone is that lately it seems to be a pattern. Dimuro, a few games ago also redefined the strike zone. I fear, and hope I am only imagining, that the MLB commissioner’s office, sent out a memo, that with the decrease in runs, perhaps the umps tighten things up a little to aid the hitters. This creates 4-hour debacles, not better baseball.

Worth noting that Athletics Nation, the main A’s fan blog, is now in full “Geren is an idiot” mode, about a year after we had this discussion on HBT. As the best man at Beane’s wedding, rotund Bob isn’t going anywhere, no matter how often he runs mushball throwin’ Fuentes out there with the game on the line, past performance=reality, in the world of the A’s.

But more importantly, the Giants dissection of the A’s indicates the gap between the two clubs: substantially more mature pitching, more professional at bats, better organizational depth, better managing. The gap isn’t all due to the stadium differential and the revenue effect derived therefrom. I’ve felt for a long time that Beane has received too much credit for the team’s late 1990′s/early 2000′s success, as that team was largely built by Sandy Alderson as GM, and that ownership group, while not perfect, appeared to take less money out of the team than the current group does.

Oh, and Schierholtz just kills the A’s.

I need one more; we gotta kid who just won’t eat. Cute as button, but not a clue with the feeding. Tell me; how was Hanley’s defense?

This team is so bad at the plate, impatient, that I take bathroom breaks when their offense is up. 2 mins. later, when I return to the TV, the opposing team is back up.

I love watching them for their pitching and they are in 1st place. But their offense is pathetic and I will critisize them until they get their act together.

Mini-cur you complete me…

However, I am going to enjoy the historic pitching while it is happening and not worry about October until October. They are still the best team in the National League and one of the top 3 in baseball. They are still better than the Cardinals and the Giants I don’t care what Craigy says.

And Ken Rosenthal, with his little sideline reporting throughout the game. While the game is being played, they put the camera on his mug. Sometimes missing plays in the game because of him. He can go eat a bag of d**ks!

.246 team batting average. Very painful to watch day in and day out.

I don’t care if this team is in first place. At the plate, they are very frustrating to watch.

However my countrymen did heckle the heck out of Hunter Pence. Why? Because he was there. Because he was named "Hunter Pence" (sounds like a medieval barber or something), and they had beer and he didn't.

Too many guys trying to hit homers, swinging for the fences, hacking like they're a gonna be Babe Ruth. Case in point; Aaron Hill at the dish, 2 out, bases jacked, 9th inning. Does he make any sort of adjustment? Nope. Hack, hack, hackity hack hack. You are out, ballgame over, sit down, but don't forget to give Hunter Pence a good shellacking.

Just as a tip, for next time, when you are facing a pitcher who can't afford to walk anyone, and the game is entirely up to you and you've had no success up till then; DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! Like what you ask? Here's a gooder; move right to the right edge of the batter's box. Just crowd the plate. The pitcher doesn't dare hit you, you can now reach that called strike over the chalk line in the opposite batter's box and you force the dumba$$ ump to get a better line on those outside pitched he keeps calling strikes.

The Beavermen are clinging to around .500. They gotta add some plain old base hits to their repertoire if they plan to do any better.