OAKLAND — The Athletics' newfangled Costco Bullpen plan (buying in bulk means using in bulk) still needs a bit of work. I mean, for manager Bob Melvin to have the full fun experience of using half a bullpen, he needs for it not to turn all shambolic at the end.
Now none of that explains why the A’s lost to the New York Yankees, 5-1. Well, okay, a little of it does. But, scoring one run and getting two hits and leaving only two runners and hitting into two double plays and committing two errors is mostly responsible for Tuesday’s short-sheeting. On balance, they got what was coming to them, and as a result they are now 3 ½ games behind Houston and 4 ½ behind the Yankees.
But the story of the night as decreed by the Find That Narrative Brigade was the second installment of the Full Tampa, in which Liam Hendriks pitched the first inning and then gave way to what ended up being a parade of relievers. Hendriks did fine, whipping through the first inning, and his successor Daniel Mengden powered through the next five innings, an ideal situation for this sort of thing.
Ask any Tampa Bay Ray.
But then it sort of, well, blew up. Ryan Buchter lasted only a pickoff and a batter, Jeurys Familia lost and then relocated his release point, Fernando Rodney closed a troublesome seventh and then jump-started a troublesome eighth, Emilio Pagan couldn’t escape, and then Dean Kiekhefer, and then Chris Hatcher ... and in the end, Melvin had to use seven of his 14 non-starters in a game that looked like he could escape with only three.
Now it’s unfair to compare the A’s to Tampa Bay in this regard, given that the Rays under Kevin Cash have been doing a form of the starter-in-name-only all year. By now, they have it pretty well down, as evidenced again Tuesday in a 4-0 shutout of Toronto. Ryne Stanek, making his second start in successive days, Hunter Wood, Jalen Beeks, Jose Alvarado, Daniel Castillo, Adam Kolarek and the redoubtable Sergio Romo breezed through a committee night, and the increasingly improbable Rays won their 12th game in 14 tries.
In case you believe in miracles, and you have to given what the A’s have accomplished, Tampa is now only seven games out of the second playoff spot. And they’ve done it in large part with even fewer starting pitchers than Oakland has – the battle cry is essentially “Blake Snell And What The Hell.”
Not that we’re suggesting more attention be given to the rear-view mirror, mind you. The Mariners remain 5½ back of the A’s, and began their latest defeat with a clubhouse fight the details of which remain murky. In other words, maybe Tampa is worth more of your attention and Seattle a bit less.
But back to the A’s. They actually got much of what they wanted from their pitching staff Tuesday, but nothing from the other phases of the sport; J.A. Happ happened for six innings, and then New York’s superior bullpen (David Robertson, Zach Britton, Dellin Betances) breezed on a night when the A’s were essentially inert.
Still, if they’re going to keep using the Arm Tsunami as a tactic, they have to know that such plans take time and tinkering. Tampa has it down, but it took them four months, a few disabled list stays and a big deadline day trade to feel fully confident that it doesn’t get harder with only one starter. The A’s are just embarking on that stratagem, and have things to learn.
Even when on the face of things, it seemed to work fine. The general rule, though, is, if you’re going to use eight pitchers, at least six need to be really good. The hitting and fielding ... ahhh, that’s tomorrow’s narrative donkey.
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