With the Philadelphia Phillies taking game one of the series, the Oakland A’s must buckle down in order to stop their current three game skid. The A’s found themselves in a pitchers’ duel last night, but reliever Brian Fuentes ultimately surrendered a walk off hit in the ninth.
Justin Klugh from That Balls Outta Here, steps in to help preview the rest of the A’s-Phillies weekend series.
1. When I think of the Phillies, I think about their strong starting pitching. Philadelphia’s rotation is stacked from top to bottom, but from what I’ve read, Roy Oswalt suffered from back trouble in his last start. Is Oswalt’s injury something serious?
Yup. Dude was keeping quiet on an injury, which on one hand is bad ass, but on the other hurts the team. In hi srecent post game interview, he sounded more defeated than ever before. It was depressing, because the guy is a fucking gamer who would go out there with a cinder block strapped to his black. As a whole, the potential of his career ending is terrible. From a Phillies standpoint… well… we have three other aces. So. Don’t think for a second that we aren’t hurting right along with him–we are. But from a baseball perspective, we can recover from the loss.
2. Philadelphia currently holds a four game lead in the NL East, but with the A’s coming into town, any chance that lead gets smaller? Offensively, the Phillies put together a more formidable lineup, but what do you see as the biggest hurdle for the Phillies in this series?
Let’s look at this first game: the win is a win. There’s literally nothing else we can take from that. Our offense spent as much time pooping the bed as you did. The walkoff hit was a joke. With the streakiness of our lineup, you have every chance to shorten our lead. Our offenses are like two corpses slapping into each other at this point.
3. The A’s and Phillies both have solid starting rotations, but other than that, these teams don’t share a lot in common. What do you see as the Phillies’ biggest advantage going into this series?
Our lead in our division. We can afford to lose two games and not be affected in the standings by too much. Our offense has proven that it can shut off whenever it wants. Starting pitching can be as good as it wants but if there’s no run support we’ll just be the spineless monsters.
4. A’s designated hitter Hideki Matsui has owned the Phillies, and the last time he face the team, he was named World Series MVP. He went 8-for-13 with three home runs and eight RBIs during the ’09 World Series, but this season he’s hitting just .221 with six homers and 30 RBIs. Do you think Phillies pitchers will have an easier time facing Matsui this time around?
Phillies pitchers are different pitchers than the last time Matsui came around. One of them is Roy Halladay now. Also, fuck the 2009 World Series. That never happened. Except Cliff Lee’s complete game. That totally happened.
5. I know very little about the Phillies, so please forgive me when I ask, who is Vance Worley?
He has glasses and could be a decent #4 starter someday!. Did I mention the glasses?
6. As we approach July, do the Phillies, in your mind, need to do anything at the trade deadline? Do they need to add pieces? Or are you comfortable with the product they’ve put on the field?
RIGHT HANDED BAT. Just one. Please. THe rotation can take the Oswalt hit. Just, if anything, give us a right handed bat who happens to be getting hot. Just blind luck from the right handed side is all I ask. Or do we not deserve everything?