Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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A's Face Hitless Reds This Weekend

Sometimes the schedule breaks in your favor and that’s what is happening this weekend as the Athletics face the Cincinnati Reds in a three game series in the Queen City.

The Reds just were swept by the team the A’s and the Angels are chasing across the landscape, the Seattle Mariners.

How bad are the Reds right now, let me tell you.The Reds have lost their last four games in a row. During those games they have managed to score four (4) runs.

Hitting coach Jim Lebvere had a close ddoor meeting with his position players before Thursday’s game and word is introduced them to the ball and the bat and explained how each are used during a major league game.

He told them to relax. He told them they were pressing at the plate.

He used every cliche known in the game of baseball in an attempt to give them confidence that their next at bat would be the one to bring them out of their slump.

Good luck. Hitting in the major leagues is not easy.

Just ask A’s batting coach Thad Bosley. The A’s have struggled all season long. Even though the A’s have won 20 of 25 games, they are not putting teams away.

Sure, Miguel Tejada and Jermaine Dye are carrying the offense right now, but Ramon Hernandez, Terrence Long, and Dave Justice have not been reliable since the season began.

Adam Piatt is cooling off, Mark Ellis has given the A’s a nice boost, Eric Chavez gets away with not having plate discipline to get some timely hits, and Scott Hatteberg does his best hovering in the .265 range.

This A’s team wins because it plays the game correctly, has tight starting pitching, a great bull pen right now, and because the opposition has been less than stellar.

This series has the look of the just completed Pittsburgh sweep, for the A’s.

What do the A’s need at the plate?

Timely hitting from someone in the line up. It doesn’t take a lot of offense to beat the teams the A’s have seen from the NL Central.

Drive the pitch counts up of the opponents starters. Get into their middle relief by the fifth inning.

A’s pitchers need to continue to throw strikes early in the count, because NL hitters swing at anything that looks like a strike and don’t subscribe to the A’s “wait ’em out” philosophy.

The Reds are so bad offensively lately that they are 1 for their last 30 with runners in scoring position.

They had the tying run on third base Thursday with two outs in the eighth inning when heralded second year player Adam Dunn came to the dish.

The Mariners brought in Kaz Sasaki who struck Dunn out and ended the threat, Dunn’s third strike out of the game.

Dunn is a scary power hitter who swings from his heels every time. If you make a mistake to him watch out. If you keep the ball away from his power, he can be dealt with easily.

Ken Griffey, Jr. has been on the shelf with a bad hamstring and a banged up knee.

He probably will play tonight against Aaron Harang, a righty, but he has not shown any of the Hall of Fame stuff the Reds have expected, mainly because of his many injuries since coming to town.

Now, the latest numbers for Cincinnati.

Sean Casey has gone 18 games without driving in a run. Aaron Boone is 1-for his last 14. Austin Kearns 5-30. Jason LaRue 2-16. Todd Walker, who has hurt the A’s in the past, 7-34. Juan Encarnacion, currently the hottest Red 9-57.

The Reds are last in the majors hitting .220 with runners in scoring position.

Over the Reds last 18 games, they are averaging barely three runs per game.

Tonight Jimmy Haynes pitches for the home team. The A’s know Haynes quite well, stay close to Jimmy and he will make a huge mistake to lose the game. His pitch count will hit 80 by the fifth ininng, just like all the rest of the NL starters the A’s have faced.

What makes the Reds a dangerous team is their bull pen. If their starter keeps them in the game for six innings, then a myriad of relievers are available to close the deal.

It’s still early enough in the year and the relief corps is not totally gassed from overuse.

The Reds are 16-23 against teams with more than a .500 winning percentage. Their saving grace is that 67 of their remaining 92 games are against teams currently with a sub .500 record.

Is this series a rerun of the A’s and the Big Red Machine from the 70’s?

No way.

This group of A’s do resemble their predecessors, they don’t have a high team batting average just like the 72 team, but they beat you with great pitching and a penchant for making the clutch play.

The Reds?

This Reds team won’t bring back thoughts of Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, or Tony Perez.

The A’s just want to get out of town winning the series and move on to Seattle for some real competition.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 06.22.02 at 1:44 pm }

Reds seem to be going through a slump similar to what the A’s had in May. It is definitely a great time to catch a break from the schedule and put a streak together. Momentum changes certainly produce some dramatic results–A’s to the good and Cincy in a downward spiral.

Mabry got the timely hits last night. Who will step up today?

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