This game is all on Buck

[LookitsPuck]

Coming into this game, right-handers were putting up a .067/.222/.067/.289 line against Matusz this year. Cespedes went down, out of the zone and hit a changeup over the fence. It wasn't a great pitch, but sometimes you have to tip the cap to the other guy. With JJ out and O'day already out of the game, there is no one on the team I'd rather have face Cespedes than Matusz. It just didn't work out.

As for Gonzalez, he was cruising and things went to hell quickly. Hard to fault Buck there. I don't have any confidence in Strop, but do you have confidence in Hunter in a tie game? Strop gave up single, misplayed a bunt and then Machado screwed up the next bunt. Bad defense more than bad pitching in the 10th.

I think Buck left Gonzalez out there to dry in the 6th.

Here's the play log from the 6th:

Adam Rosales - double

Coco Crisp - double after a 3-2 count after fouling off a few fastballs. Scores 1. O's up 5-1.

John Jaso - Single.

Seth Smith - Force out. Scores 1. O's up 5-2.

Yoenis Cespedes - single after a 3-2 count.

Brandon Moss - walks on 5 pitches. Bases juiced.

Josh Donaldson - doubles scoring 2 on a 3-2 count after fouling off nine million fastballs. O's up 5-4.

Chris Young - intentionally walked

When did Buck have Patton up and throwing in the bullpen?

That's one part.

The Strop part was the most inexcusable of all.

[birdcrazy]

I see this as a no win.

Gonzalez looked great the first 5. You have to let him try and make it out of that inning.

Matuz and Patton are expected to get the job done. That simple. Odds of them giving up home runs in the same game are astronomical.

Once you get into extra innings..then there really is no way to win. Britton is starting a game soon..so he is out. Mcfarland is the long guy...you don't lose him in a game like this. Hunter is worse that Strop IMO...he gives up home runs in non pressure situations...hate to see what happens in a game like this. That leaves Strop...who frankly has to get himself straight. You really can't afford for him to suck..because yopu can't send him down, and he is your setup man.

I personally think when you have already won 3 out of 4 games in a series, and are now in extra innings...in the middle of a long road trip, this a good place for him. Strop either blows it..and the game is over without trashing the bullpen much more...or he does okay, and gives you a chance to win (while getting confidence back).

What I did not expect was the two throwing errors. Had they not been made..Orioles likely would have gotten out the inning, and maybe won. Then everyone would be raving over Buck's bullpen management.

What I do blame Buck for is the poor readiness of the starts coming out of Spring Training. I think having so many starters in camp fighting over limited starts, plus having the top tier starters pitch minor league games (to hide them) is a major reason why they are not going deep in games.

[LookitsPuck]

"We honestly miss Ayala now." Ain't that the straight truth! Man, that trade for Dickerson was WAY premature. When it happened, I was was appalled. Oh well......

Luis Ayala was traded for a 24 year old left handed pitcher with options.

He's in Bowie right now pitching to a 2.57 ERA, a 1.143 WHIP, and a 7.7 SO/9...without walking anyone. Only 7 IP over 4 games, but just something to think about.

[SteveO]

I am sorry did I miss something? I could have sworn that we just won 3 out of 4 in Oakland and are 15-10 but yea its Bucks fault that Matusz threw up a gofer ball. It happens the other team tries to and sometimes they actually have success. Not to sure that blaming the manager that has to this point done a pretty damn good job IMO makes sense.

Its not about thinking Buck walks on water its about realizing that sometimes despite your best efforts the other guys actually find a way to get it done. It also applies the other way to. Not every time we win do we go oh boy if the other manager was not an idiot we would have lost

[Slappy]

On Buck? Really? Not Matusz? Not Strop?

[DoubleStufOriole]

I think I would've trusted Johnson's dead arm pitching at 15% more than Strop's near 100%.

I know Tony already posted that Matusz has done pretty well against right-handed hitters this year, but I didn't trust him against Cespedes and don't like him against any powerful righties.

Maybe the team would be wasting some of his ability, but I like him how Matusz was used at the end of last year, as pretty much a straight LOOGY, only brought in to face one or two of a team's best left-handed hitters at a crucial time in the game.

[Ommaculate]

I think I would've trusted Johnson's dead arm pitching at 15% more than Strop's near 100%.

I know Tony already posted that Matusz has done pretty well against right-handed hitters this year, but I didn't trust him against Cespedes and don't like him against any powerful righties.

Maybe the team would be wasting some of his ability, but I like him how Matusz was used at the end of last year, as pretty much a straight LOOGY, only brought in to face one or two of a team's best left-handed hitters at a crucial time in the game.

But you don't want to injure Johnson, there are 140 games left.

[DoubleStufOriole]

But you don't want to injure Johnson, there are 140 games left.

I understand that. I'm not saying Johnson should have been used, just illustrating how much more I trust him compared to Strop.

[orioles942]

Look we all know Buck's weakness in going to long with pitchers, he did it again. I usually see Buck as a culprit in lots of losses, but oddly not this one. His releivers just couldnt get guys out or keep it in the park. No releiver looked good today, nor Gonzo. My beef was with AJ taking a non chalant attitude with a runner on 3rd in the 9th, he was swinging at ants in the dirt in that at bat. At some point you have to trust Patton and Matusz and give credit where it was due to the A's for battling the whole game. Strop, well. He just isnt smart, take the easy out a 1st and try to get ahead of Crisp or just walk him with the open base. I had this feeling even up 5-0 they were going to let oakland back in it. This game was actually lost Saturday, by Strop not finishing off the inning and thus bring JJ in to close on Saturday. Strop is really worthless at this point, finished horribly last year and is worse this season, teams arent chasing his sinking fastball anymore and he cant throw it for strikes-he is Gregged for a long time and it's possible he might be dealt.

[Norfolk orioles]

You do when you have our starting rotation.

Then buck should have used them instead of going to a terribly inconsistent strop for not just a second day in a row, but trying to squeeze another inning out of him when we all know he shouldn't even be in a game like this to begin with!!!

Bringing him in during a tie game, with the way he is pitching this year, is just a flat out horrible managing decision. We had Hunter and McFarland both pitching on rest and ready to go multiple innings. Instead we got another "inning of strop" (although he faced 5 batters and only got 1 guy out, and lets face it, Reddick struck himself out swinging at a pitch that almost hit his foot) and it cost us the game.

You can't praise Buck as one of the best in baseball and say nothing but great things and then refuse to criticize the bad decisions when they occur. That just makes the praise people give him when he does well meaningless.

Also one other thing. I think the entire notion that we can't keep "protecting our starters" and "taxing our bullpen" is a lot of garbage quite frankly. We have guys at AAA like Arrieta, Garcia, Britton (who just got called up), Johnson, Jurrjens etc. who can be brought up towards the end of the year of when rosters expand should out bullpen get taxed.

We also could bring up Gausman and Bundy (provided he is healthy) to also pitch out of the pen at the end of the year.

We could also make traded for relievers from non competitive teams to shore up the pen.

We could also eventually start getting better performances from our starters as the season progresses and our guys get stretched out more and more and then the bullpen will begin to get its rest.

We could have any combination of the above. The point is, Buck can't keep playing the "long game" and costing us games to prove a point to our starters.

We have to try and win every game we can, especially games where we can close out a road series sweep against another potential playoff/wild card team and, oh yeah, we build a 5-0 lead.

By leaving Miguel in and not taking him out when he had clearly lost it at 5-2, it gave the A's hope.

By leaving Matusz in to face Coespedis when Hunter was down in the pen (although it could have been the same easily), Buck allowed them to tie it. I don't really blame him for this one that much though, this was a tough decision.

His use of Strop, however, has been egregious. Bringing him in yesterday in a 4 run game and forcing Johnson into the game, making him unavailable for today, was just flat out terrible.

But knowing how bad Strop is and sticking with him in a tie game with both Hunter and Macfarland available is again, just awful managing.

If you can't criticize Buck when he's bad, your praise when he's good carries no weight.

Showalter was bad yesterday and today. I don't like the idea we need to leave starters out there all season because it might "tax the pen". Then pen can be replaced, strengthened, saved etc. all season long.

We can't get missed wins back, they stay losses. Play to win every game, sending "messages" isn't worth the risk of having what happened today, happening again.

Just my opinion anyways.

[PaulFolk]

But knowing how bad Strop is and sticking with him in a tie game with both Hunter and Macfarland available is again, just awful managing.

Have you seen Tommy Hunter pitch this year? That's the guy you want pitching in a sudden-death, walkoff situation? A guy who gives up homeruns to every two batters?

The O's just didn't have any good options at that point. Calling it "awful managing" is ridiculous.

[Norfolk orioles]

If its between him and Strop????

Absolutely.

[Norfolk orioles]

Also I'm not sure what you are watching, but Tommy Hunter hasn't given up an ER since April 10th at Boston.

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/playergamelog?playerId=29198

So yes, it was a terrible decision given the way Strop pitched in the previous game and to the first two batters he faced in the game.

I said it before he even threw a pitch "looks like Buck is conceding this one". A blind man could have seen Strop giving that game up coming.

The crazy thing is, if they hadnt of tried to bunt guys over, he still probably would have blown it by walking the next couple guys anyways.

He was nowhere near the strike zone yet again.

Going back to yesterday, he's now retired one of the last 7 batters he's faced and that was Reddick who struck himself out on a terrible pitch.

Strop should not ever be in a high pressure situation again thiseason. Frankly, he shouldn't even be pitching at the major league level until he gets his act together.

[DrungoHazewood]

Also I'm not sure what you are watching, but Tommy Hunter hasn't given up an ER since April 10th at Boston.

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/playergamelog?playerId=29198

So yes, it was a terrible decision given the way Strop pitched in the previous game and to the first two batters he faced in the game.

I said it before he even threw a pitch "looks like Buck is conceding this one". A blind man could have seen Strop giving that game up coming.

The crazy thing is, if they hadnt of tried to bunt guys over, he still probably would have blown it by walking the next couple guys anyways.

He was nowhere near the strike zone yet again.

Going back to yesterday, he's now retired one of the last 7 batters he's faced and that was Reddick who struck himself out on a terrible pitch.

Strop should not ever be in a high pressure situation again thiseason. Frankly, he shouldn't even be pitching at the major league level until he gets his act together.

I agree that the Hunter criticism can sometimes be a little over-the-top. But I don't know what you do with Strop. Buck is clearly trying to get him enough work to get back on track, to try to recapture his release/mechanics/etc. He's got crazy good stuff, a high GB rate, but command that's always on the edge. He's frustrating, but he's also got about a year of being a dominant Oriole reliever under his belt.

[Tony-OH]

Then buck should have used them instead of going to a terribly inconsistent strop for not just a second day in a row, but trying to squeeze another inning out of him when we all know he shouldn't even be in a game like this to begin with!!!

Bringing him in during a tie game, with the way he is pitching this year, is just a flat out horrible managing decision. We had Hunter and McFarland both pitching on rest and ready to go multiple innings. Instead we got another "inning of strop" (although he faced 5 batters and only got 1 guy out, and lets face it, Reddick struck himself out swinging at a pitch that almost hit his foot) and it cost us the game.

I probably would have brought in Hunter to pitch the 10th, but it's not like a pitcher with the nickname "Home Run" is a good option in a tied affair late in the game.

You can't praise Buck as one of the best in baseball and say nothing but great things and then refuse to criticize the bad decisions when they occur. That just makes the praise people give him when he does well meaningless.

I think if you follow my posts you know I'm not afraid to criticize Buck. I just don't think in this instance this was his fault. He had two steady relievers (Patton and Matusz) give up two-run homers and he was without Johnson (you can argue that he should not have used JJ on Saturdeay though) so his options were limited. We made two throwing errors in the inning as well, so I'm not sure how that's on Buck.

Also one other thing. I think the entire notion that we can't keep "protecting our starters" and "taxing our bullpen" is a lot of garbage quite frankly. We have guys at AAA like Arrieta, Garcia, Britton (who just got called up), Johnson, Jurrjens etc. who can be brought up towards the end of the year of when rosters expand should out bullpen get taxed.

Buck can sometime stick with his starters too long, but let's face it, we have a lot of 90-100 pitch starters on this team. Yesterday, Gonzalez was cruising until losing his command. I don't know how Buck was supposed to have someone ready in the 6th inning when hi starter should have been able to get through that inning.

By leaving Miguel in and not taking him out when he had clearly lost it at 5-2, it gave the A's hope.

Have you ever thought for a second of giving the A's some credit. They had lost four straight and were about to get swept. they battled back all day against our starter, and then two of our top relievers. Going on a Buck rant really doesn't make things better when Buck's options were limited today. Remember, Buck didn't allow two game tying two-run homers.

By leaving Matusz in to face Coespedis when Hunter was down in the pen (although it could have been the same easily), Buck allowed them to tie it. I don't really blame him for this one that much though, this was a tough decision.

So who do you bring into that situation? Tommy "Home Run" Hunter or Pedro "I forgot where home plate is" Strop? Matusz was dominating righties all year. Cespedes went down and hit a low changeup over the fence. Cespedes is pretty good.

His use of Strop, however, has been egregious. Bringing him in yesterday in a 4 run game and forcing Johnson into the game, making him unavailable for today, was just flat out terrible.

But knowing how bad Strop is and sticking with him in a tie game with both Hunter and Macfarland available is again, just awful managing.

If you are not going to bring him into a 7-3 game then I'm not sure when you are ever going to use him. I would have stuck with him instead of going to Johnson at least for a few more batters, but either way, I don't see the issue.

If you can't criticize Buck when he's bad, your praise when he's good carries no weight.

Showalter was bad yesterday and today. I don't like the idea we need to leave starters out there all season because it might "tax the pen". Then pen can be replaced, strengthened, saved etc. all season long.

I criticize him when he needs to be criticized. I didn't find fault in Buck's management yesterday. I may have gone with hunter to start off the 10th, but had the first guy homered I probably would have been second guessing myself. I may not have any confidence in Strop right now, but I don't have much confidence in Tommy Hunter in close games either.

We can't get missed wins back, they stay losses. Play to win every game, sending "messages" isn't worth the risk of having what happened today, happening again.

The only message that was sent yesterday is that Patton and Matusz are human and didn't get the job done and that the A's never quit yesterday.