June 19, 2006
Plate Discipline — What’s That?
As I write this, it is Colorado 3, Oakland 0 in the eighth inning. Jose Mesa — quite possibly one of the most combustible relief pitchers in captivity — is one the mound for the Rocks. The great Joe Table retires pinch-hitter Marco Scutaro for the first out, but not before nearly removing Marco’s head with an errant fastball. Then it’s a single to Kendall, another single to Swisher, and a four-pitch walk to Eric Chavez. True, that was probably a pitch-around — none of the four balls were anywhere near the plate — but it’s safe to say that Mesa is not exactly on the top of his game tonight. So up to the plate comes Bobby Crosby — who worked a bases-loaded walk the other night to beat the Dodgers in 17, by the by. Obviously, this is a situation that calls for Croz to sit back, take a couple pitches and see if maybe we can get Jose to pour some lighter fluid on the smoldering flames of this rally.
Do I have to tell you that Crosby swings at the first pitch he sees to ground into an inning-ending double play? (His second rally-killing GIDP of the night, but who’s counting besides me and the official scorekeeper?)
This, coupled with the fact the Rockies got their third run when Nick Swisher did a Byrnes-ian dash past an easily hit basebal to turn a routine single into a run-scoring single and error, has forced me to deal with uncomfortable fact that this year’s Athletics roster may be comprised of a preponderance of meatheads.
Update: And as I finish writing this, Jay Witasick and the newly acquired Scott Sauerbeck — “Scott and Jay? Must be losing today” — have worked their magic in the bottom of the eighth to render the ninth inning irrelevant.
