Mail Call!

so its obvious how much you hate that piece of shit macha, and trust me i hate him just as much. but i was wondering if you give him any credit at all for our turn around at the end of may? i mean we played pretty damn bad, and then to completly turn it around. does that at least count for something? and what if by the grace of god he doesnt fuck us up and we win it all in the next three years, do you think you could ever give him any credit? but that would all be contengent on ginter and hatteberg never touching a baseball again, chavez growing some balls, harden nutting up and pitching through some pain, and macha taking a class on how to properly write line ups and use the bullpen. btw i love your blog, its perhaps one of the funniest things ive ever read. i check it multiple times a day hoping for updates. thanks for the time,
steve, loyal reader #5

Thanks, Steve, for for your loyal support and for your continued hatred of Ken Macha. I'll do the best I can to answer your questions.

So do I give Macha any credit at all for the turnaround at the end of May?

No.

First and foremost, I give credit to the players. They played A LOT better in June than they did in April and May. Here are some stats that I posted for the "June is my Bitch" entry that I wrote up in July.

........... Hitting....................... Pitching...
......Runs.. AVG.. OBP. SLG%.. OPS... WHIP.. BAA.. OPS.. ERA
April...89. .241. .314. .343. .657... 1.30. .244. .684. 3.65
May....112. .245. .325. .347. .672... 1.48. .263. .784. 5.43
June.. 148. .291. .356. .464. .820... 1.07. .219. .626. 2.86

The team just played better in June. And, as everyone knows, the improved play coincided with Bobby Crosby's return from the DL. Does Macha get some credit for batting Crosby third? Maybe a little. But Crosby was HOT. I don't think it would have mattered if he had batted in front of or behind Chavez. Chavy would have benefited from both. And I don't think it was because of Macha's critical thinking that Crosby was inserted into the three spot. It was his stupid insistence on a R-L-R-L line-up.

June was also the first month of the season that Dan Johnson took a significant number of ABs away from Scott Hatteberg. And I think Billy Beane deserves more credit for that than Ken Macha. Ken Macha would have continued to bat Hatteberg clean-up if Beane hadn't have stepped in.

"But Ken Macha is just Billy Beane's puppet. He's just following orders."

Blah, blah, blah...

That's why I hate him so damn much. Ken Macha is spineless idiot. For a black belt, he sure is a pussy.

"I said if he wants to move me out (of the No. 3 spot), to move me out. It would be good to shake things up."

--Eric Chavez, May 8th

Chavez made these comments following a 5-0 loss to the Yankees. Up to that point in the season, the A's had been shut out in five of their 30 games played. They had scored three or fewer runs in 18 of those games. Things couldn't POSSIBLY have gotten worse if Macha had decided to shake things up a bit. But, of course, he didn't and Kotsay, Kendall, Chavez and Hatteberg were once again at the top of the A's order the following night.

And our A's got shut out.

Again.

By Kevin Brown.

Because Macha's an idiot.

"I don't see where shuffling guys around will make a dramatic difference, but perhaps it would. I don't know."

--Ken Macha, May 9th

Of course you wouldn't know, Ken. So instead of doing anything that might actually contribute to the success of your team, you just stood there, enjoying all the free Juicy Fruit you could get your stupid hands on.

And our A's lost their next six games in a row.

Making it eight straight losses.

Because you're an idiot.

During that stretch of losses, I guess Macha DID make an attempt to get his team riled up. He got himself thrown out of a game for the first time in his managerial career to fire up the troops.

"I wish I'd said something that warranted getting thrown out, but I don't think I did. I thought the pitch was low and said something and (Carlson) said, 'I warned you.' I only complained once."

--Ken Macha, May 10th

Whoops. Guess not.

Recalling just how big of a pussy this idiot is is really starting to piss me off.

Serenity now.

But the worst was still to come. Here's what Greg wrote when he made his debut on FireMacha.com:

On May 26, our beloved Athletics had just finished being swept by the Devil Rays. Yes, the Devil Rays. Worse, it was the A's 14th loss in their last 17 games. At that point, they weren't even scoring four runs a game for the month of May. Nobody was hitting. Nobody was comfortable at the plate. Fans were screaming for the lineup to be tweaked. Nothing happened. Jason Kendall and Mark Kotsay, the team's leaders, begged Macha to change the lineup. They even inconspicuously handed him a piece of paper with a suggested lineup on it. They weren't looking to show Macha up and make him look stupid (as if that's hard to do), they just wanted the best possible lineup out there. Nothing happened.

Our team was in the midst of a month-long slump. A WHOLE MONTH! EVERYONE could see that something needed to be done.

Macha's analysis?

"We'll have to see when we get to the ballpark tomorrow. But I don't see how moving a guy from three to four [in the lineup] or from four to five is going to help us very much."

-- Ken Macha, May 26th

So, NO, I do not give Macha any credit for the turnaround. He was the same moron in June, July and August that he was in April, May and September.

Now, would I give credit to Ken Macha if we were to win a World Series Championships with him at the helm?

Probably, but not definitely.

It IS possible for the A's to win a title in spite of Macha. Not very probable, but possible.

This team almost made the playoffs with Ken Macha "leading" it. As a matter of fact, we probably would have make the playoffs if not for all the injuries. If the A's had a better manager, I believe that Oakland would have made the playoffs in '04 and '05, despite all the injuries.

Macha cost the team wins. When the Loss-O-Meter has tallied up all of Macha's fuck-ups, I'm pretty certain you're going to see a double-digit figure. And we lost the division by seven games.

That's another reason why I hate him so much. His bullpen decisions WHEN WE HAD THE LEAD cost the team wins.

Serenity now.

Anyway....a healthy Oakland A's club SHOULD be talented enough to make the playoffs for the foreseeable future. Over the course of a 162-game season, talent shows itself. Talent alone CAN get a team into the playoffs. Can a manager alone?

Hell no. Look at Lou Piniella.

So how much, if any, of the credit should a manager get?

It depends on the job he does.

As of right now, the Oakland A's owe Ken Macha over $2.5 million. He's going to get that money no matter what. Now's the perfect time for him to manage the club the way HE wants. He's gonna get paid either way. So if he showed some balls, SOME REAL BALLS, and stood up to Beane, I'd be the first to give him credit.

NO ONE would be happier than me if the 2006 Opening Day lineup had Ellis batting lead-off, Chavy batting anywhere but third, and Kendall batting ninth.

I WANT the team to win.

I WANT Macha to help the team win.

But if he can't put the team in the best position possible to win, I'm going to have to keep berating him because I'm going to have to assume that either:

1) he's too much of coward to set his own lineup,
2) he's too stupid to even see what the "best" lineup is, or
3) he's both.

So if Macha was 1), 2) or 3), I couldn't see myself giving Macha much credit for a World Series victory. If he was none of the above, I could.

Thanks again for the e-mail, Steve. I hope you got your answers.

Keep the letters coming, folks.