Oakland Athletics Suffer Tough Loss; Fans Suffer Hawk Harrelson Broadcast
Oakland Athletics Fall to Chicago White Sox, Much to the Joy of Hawk Harrelson
In his first regular-season start for the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, Chris Bassitt deserved a better fate. He pitched well until he gave up a three-run homer in the fifth inning. A better defense would have helped. If Jed Lowrie makes a hard throw to second instead of a soft toss, the A’s would have gotten at least one out and Bassitt’s strikeout of Jose Abreu would have ended the top of the fifth. Also, as fans saw from replays that were repeated ad nauseum, Chicago White Sox slugger Todd Frazier reached out to drive a pretty good curve ball that was below the strike zone. That home run did not come on a bad pitch.
Chris Bassitt is going to have a good year, but the defense has to get better if the A’s are going to be successful. The bullpen was rock solid until Sean Doolittle got roughed up. Two games do not make a trend, but the bullpen could be a key strength for the A’s.
Offensively, the A’s battled the whole game. Lowrie is already driving in plenty of runs, and Yonder Alonzo came through with a big hit. It seems as though the A’s, especially Josh Reddick, are hitting the other way against the shift. The power has not kicked in yet, but when the home runs start flying, the A’s are going to be tough up and down the lineup.
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Meanwhile, they will have to eat another one-run loss. It was bad enough to watch them lose another game, but the telecast was especially hard to stomach. If MLB Network is going to hijack the local telecast and deny it to local fans, they have to find some announcers who are not hardcore homers for the opposing team.
The game itself was not too thrilling, so maybe I’m just a little testy. But to hear an announcer taunting a hitter with “He Gone!” on every strikeout is incredibly annoying. (Maybe not as annoying as “Grab some pine, Meat!”, but incredibly annoying all the same.) Hearing these clowns urging a ball to “get through, get through…” when the A’s are desperate to get out of an inning is pretty aggravating.
The one consolation to Tuesday’s broadcast was seeing the White Sox’s promotion for a free winter hat complete with fleece-lined ear flaps. The White Sox are expecting snow for their home opener in Chicago.
Next: Season Predictions: A Guide to 2016
If MLB Network is going to take over local telecasts. they should find announcers who don’t refer to “our guys” and “their guys.” I have a whole new appreciation for the professionalism of Oakland broadcasters Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper. Regardless of the game’s result, the White Sox announcers were distracting and obnoxious. If you Google “White Sox Announcers,” you will find that they are the “most awful” – seriously, Google returns “most awful” as a search result. They were voted the worst in baseball.
As far as Hawk Harrelson goes, I will be so glad when…he gone!