Great Plan, Dumbass

"We played very poorly in every second game. In Tampa Bay, the second game -- not good. Yankee Stadium, second game -- not good. So, I'm trying something different."

--Ken Macha, July 5th

That "something different" was keeping all the players away from the clubhouse until 4:00 p.m. ET, three hours before first pitch.

Now if I knew that I didn't have to go to work until 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, I'd drink and drink and drink tonight. And I'm the same age as a lot of the A's players. Not that I'm suggesting that our boys went out and got liquored up on Molson last night. I'm just saying.

"Well, nobody was there and they didn't even take batting practice. Like you're saying, this is the first time we're seeing their players all afternoon."

--Pat Tabler, Toronto Colour Commentator

No batting practice, eh? Sure. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

............1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. R H E
OAK (41-42) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. 0 7 0

Oh.

Eric Byrnes and Mark Ellis hadn't played since July 3rd. I wonder if they could have used some BP. They were a combined 0-7 tonight. And considering that each of them have a good track record vs lefties (Eric Byrnes - 1.010 OPS , Mark Ellis - .851 OPS), I'm going to say yes.

Next time you want to try something different, try not being a douche-bagging moron.