June 15: Athletics 9, Cubs 5

Short Recap:

Painful, extensive WPA Recap:

Cubs' MVP: Chad Tracy, .105 WPA
Tracy walked to lead off the fifth inning, in which the Cubs scored two runs. He also doubled in a run in the sixth.

How exciting. I think I'll wet my pants.

A's MVP: Kevin Kouzmanoff, .312 WPA
Kouzmanoff compiled a whole lot of WPA without doing that much. He did reach base four times, but his two biggest contributions included an error by Tyler Colvin and a wild pitch by Jeff Stevens, both in the seventh inning.

For some reason I thought Kouzmanoff was having a great year, but his wOBA is only .324 and his OPS is an average .741. Defensively at third, he's been a vacuum though. In 63 games (small sample, yes) his UZR rating has him at 5.1 runs above average, trailing only Adrian Beltre for tops in the AL. So while his bat has been lackluster, he leads all Oakland position players with 1.6 WAR thus far, ahead of first baseman Daric Barton (1.5 WAR) and catcher Kurt Suzuki (1.2). Ugh.

The "emergence" of these three apparently has given the A's enough reason to DFA former 28 year old young prospect Jake Fox. The predictable cries from the short bus of Cubs nation have already emerged to bring the beloved Fox back. Fox has been almost three runs below average on fastballs this season in Oakland, which have traditionally been his bread and butter as a hitter. I will admit, if he were to come back, his .264 wOBA and .327 slugging would fit right in with the Cubs' corner infielders.

Cubs' LVP: Carlos Zambrano, Derrek Lee
Big Z technically did compile the worst WPA (-.240) last night, but Zambrano was penalized for Derrek Lee's bases loaded blunders (yes, plural) in the fourth inning. Hardly his fault.

So last coupled with his 0-4 at the plate, I'm just going to hand last night's LVP to D-Lee. Because I can.

Athletics' LVP: Ryan Sweeney, -.118 WPA
The former White Sox prospect and pride of Cedar Rapids, IA went 0-5 on the night. He was also robbed by Marlon Byrd with the bases loaded in the fourth.

Biggest Hit of the Game:
With two outs in the sixth, Koyie Hill's RBI single makes it a one run game. Hill also advanced to second on the throw. (.136 WPA)

Biggest Out of the Game:
With the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, Mark Ellis grounds into a 5-2-3 double play, and no runs score. (-.152 WPA) To keep things interesting though, Jeff Stevens wild pitched a run home the next batter, followed by Cliff Pennington's RBI triple on which he also scored on Tyler Colvin's throwing error. It's a way of life.

Biggest Out of the Game by the Cubs:
After Starlin Castro's RBI single cut the A's lead to two in the fourth, Ryan Theriot gets caught stealing third. (-.093)

For every day from here on out that Ryan Theriot is in the starting lineup, I will personally kick one puppy.