Bleacher Report - Articles by Raymond St. Martin

Big Hurt Will Be The Salve For What Bothers The A's

Raymond St. Martin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:05:12 -0400

Two seasons ago, The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, carried the Athletics offense and led the team to the ALCS.

His presence in the lineup made up for a slumping Eric Chavez and his home run off of Johan Santana in the ALDS began the A's march to a sweep of the Twins that ended when Marco Scutaro celebrated his bases clearing double while the entire stadium chanted his name.

There is no doubt, in this A's fan's mind, that Frank Thomas was not only the A's MVP, but he was the AL MVP.

His 39 homers and 114 RBI were good enough around the League for him to finish fourth in the MVP Race, not to mention 23rd in voting last season when he tallied 26 home runs and 95 RBI.

The 2008 A's, with 20 games in the rear view mirror, are projecting to hit a total of 56 home runs and the addition of Thomas will instantly add another 25 to that number.

The stats that sticks out the most to me are his numbers with runners on base.

As anyone who has followed the 2008 A's knows, they are leading the league with a .321 average with runners in scoring position.

Yet, without power, especially right handed power, the smoke and mirrors may soon disappear. They need a home run threat in the middle of the order, and the Big Hurt is exactly that guy.

Especially when he will make ONLY $300,000 this season.

In 2007, Frank hit .286 with 11 home runs with runners in scoring position, two of them were grand slams.

In 2006, The Hurt batted .288 with 11 home runs with RISP.

He was at his best with runners on first and third, second and third, and the bases loaded. Even with two outs, he hit .320 with only two strikeouts.

With the bases loaded, he posted a .333 average and had more RBI than AB (16-15).

This exactly what the A's need. It is also exactly what the fans need.

The fans will throng through the turn-styles to see the Hurt chase the all-time home run and RBI leaders.

I felt cheated when Frank hit No. 500 for Toronto last season and I hope that the chase picks right back up when I am at the game on Thursday.

Mike Sweeney and Jack Cust, as much as I like both men, are just not getting it done.

Big Frank will add the power punch that the A's are missing in the middle of the lineup.

Go A's!

NBA Western Conference: Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets in Epic Battle

Raymond St. Martin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:15:11 -0400

When I bent my brain this morning as I pondered the many twists and turns that the playoff race for the eighth seed in the West may take, I was left with a headache. After much time working it out with my buddy Marty, this is what I found:

The Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors are currently tied with five Conference games to play, including one in Oakland where the two will face off against each other.

If they end the season with the same record, then it would come down to the head-to-head record.

If Denver wins on Thursday, then they would win the head-to-head tie-breaker, 3-1. If the Warriors win then the season series would be tied at 2-2 and they would move to the second tie breaker, Conference record.

Currently the Nuggets have a 27-20 Conference record while the Warriors have a 26-21 Conference record.

Once again, Thursday's game is huge.

Even if, both, teams win tonight, the Warriors can tie up the second tiebreaker with a win on Thursday Night.

If they finish with the same Conference Record, the next tie breaker would be the team's record against Western Conference playoff teams—this includes teams that are tied for eighth, which, in this case would be the Nuggets and Warriors.

The Warriors currently have a 12-15 record against such team, while the Nuggets are 11-15.

Other than each other, the Warriors have one game against a playoff team (Phoenix) left and the Nuggets play two (Utah, Houston).

If the Nuggets win on Thursday and both teams lose their games to the remaining playoff teams, then it would go to the next tie breaker, the team's record against Eastern Conference playoff teams.

Here is where we finally find an easy winner. Denver only lost four games against the East's best, while the Warriors lost seven.

Is your head spinning yet?

Not only may this be the first time that a 50-win team misses the playoffs, it may also take four tiebreakers to decide who gets the eight-seed.

Now, none of this takes into account Dallas losing four in a row, but that is a migraine for another day!

Oakland Athletics: There Is No "O" in Oakland

Raymond St. Martin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:50:25 -0400

With the Athletics' dismal effort against the Red Sox in Oakland this week, perhaps we should take the "O" out of Oakland and just start calling our home "Aukland."

It is painful to watch a game in which the also-rans and never-will-bes that make up the lineup take their hacks against ANY average pitcher.

There is not one player on this team that makes the opposition even wonder where the A's are in the lineup.

Who cares if it's Crosby, Cust, Sweeney, Brown, or Suzuki coming to bat. It just doesn't matter.

When I left the Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon, I looked over at my buddy and said, "I bet you that this team will be no-hit at least four times this year." I know that would be a record, but don't laugh. In "Aukland," any form of offensive ineptitude is possible.

So, now I wonder how long it will be before Mark Ellis, Rich Harden, and Joe Blanton are shipped off for some more nobodies with "potential."

We all know that Billy Beane is more interested in his SJ Earthquakes, but he has let all of the fans down by not at least keeping a competitive team on the field.

I mean, at least give us hope that if Swish comes up with a couple of runners on in the ninth, we may win a 3-2 game.

For now, A's fans are stuck with a lineup of 7-9 hitters, and it just doesn't matter who's coming up, or who's hitting fifth in the ninth inning when we're down by two.

I guess that since the team has already replaced the OAKLAND on the tarps with the BBQ Section, we can go ahead and call them "Aukland" anyway.