Originally Posted by
stevenash
AMERICAN LEAGUE WILD CARD PLAY IN GAME
Oakland (Lester) at Kansas City (Shields)
OAKLAND -106 / KANSAS -104
TOTAL 6.5 (u -115)
Billy Beane's legacy is riding on this game.
He traded his clean up hitter (Cespedes) to the Red Sox for tonight's starter Jon Lester.
Beane had abandoned his 'money ball' style by going 'all in' to acquire Lester.
At the time of the trade, experts and non-experts alike pretty much conceded the AL crown to the Athletics.
Nobody expected Oakland to go into a free fall after that trade, Lester pitched well for Oakland, however the A's stopped hitting.
I've had several twitter debates with a couple of CBSSPORTS.com baseball writers that said "don't blame Lester".
Billy Beane disrupted the lineup, the chemistry, the continuity of the team.
When the trade was made, A's were 4.5 games up on the Angels in the division at 66-41.
They finished stumbling and 22 and 33.
Overall record of 88-74.
Oakland versus Kansas City this season are 2 and 5
Oakland on the road this season is 40 and 41.
Kansas City was 5 and 2 versus Oakland this year and 42 and 39 at home
Jon Lester was 6-4 with Oakland with a very sound 2.35 ERA and very sound WH/IP of 1.07 and a K ratio of 8 per 9.
Between the Red Sox and the A's Lester's numbers read 16-11 .2.46 ERA and 1.10
Big Game James Shields made every start (34) this season, he was 14-8 ERA of 3.21 and his WH/IP was 1.18 and a K ratio of 7 per 9
This Kansas City team had the funkiest season I've ever seen.
Royals were the only team not to have 100 team homers and finished dead last in the HR category in the American League.
Royals were the only team not to strike out 1000 times, and led the league in fewest strike outs.
Royals were dead last when it comes getting base on balls. 380, Seatlle was 398 and every other team walked over 400 times.
Royals also lead the American League in stolen bases.
Stop ! Re-read this last paragrah.
Dead last in homers hit, dead last in walks, lead the league in fewest strikeouts, lead the league in stolen bases.
Also had the American League's best bull pen too, and the best defense in the league, with the best defensive outfield the majors has seen in over 20 years, Defensive metrics show KC had the best defensive outfielder, the second best defensive outfileder and the fourth best.
This is how the Royals won all season.
They put the ball in play, they forced opposing teams into errors with disruptive speed, they were able to take 2-1 leads into the seventh and win with dominating late inning relief (Davis and Holland) They won with scrap, and hustle and lights out relief and beyond amazing defense.
If it was hit to the outfield, it was caught, it was caught coming in, it was caught in the gaps, it was caught at the wall,
It was caught.
They had a funky rotation, they had the hardest throwing velocity wise starter (Ventura 98mph) they had junk ballers, and they had that Big Game James guy,
But I digress big time.
One game, win and continue, lose and go home.
Lester had the better regular season numbers than Shields.
Lester also has better post season success with the Red Sox than Shields had with the Rays,
(Lester also had better run support though)
However, Shields has had much better success in getting this Oakland roster out than Lester getting this current Royals roster out.
Take a good look at what Jason Nix has done against Lester in the past.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/28487/jon-lester
Hosmer hits Lester, Aoki has hit Lester too.
Here's what Oakland has done to Shields in the past.
Not much
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/28474/james-shields
Both starters are horses, both can go 115 pitches into the ninth inning.
Even though Lester has had better post season success, and a slightly better season, his offense has a hard time against Shields.
KC has the much better defense, KC has the superior bullpen too,
Speed kills, and KC has it.
Home field is huge here tonight as well, the K will be rocking,
There is value, not a lot, but there is value in KC -104, as I feel this line should be KC -117 or so,
The total is tough at 6.5, tiny lean on the under,
I like KC -104, not heavy, 2* play,
Can't wait for this one, can't wait for all of them.
October baseball, it's as good as it gets.