Oakland Athletics: The Micro-Moments That Added up to a Defeat
By Bill Felber
Davis’ failure to adapt his game to deliver what was needed at the game’s key moment was one such failure. The second occurred one inning later and involved the kind of fielding execution issues teams presumably spend hours drilling on during training.
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Dee Gordon opened the Mariners half of the inning with the kind of perfection Davis had failed to produce, a clean base hit. Oakland Athletics pitcher Ryan Buchter, probably distracted by the base stealing threat Gordon posed – he was, after all, carrying the lead run – walked Mitch Haniger, moving Gordon to second without the risk of a steal.
One out later, from the overly deep A’s bullpen, Fernando Rodney replaced Buchter to pitch to dangerous right-hander Edwin Encarnacion. But Rodney pitched too carefully and walked him to load the bases.
Rodney needed a double play ball and got one when Domingo Santana grounded to shortstop Marcus Semien. But Semien threw too cautiously to second baseman Jurickson Profar for the force, necessitating that Profar hurry his own throw to first for the inning-ending double play. He threw high, allowing Gordon to score the eventual winning run.
Had Semien and Profar handled their roles in converting the vital double play more efficiently, the A’s would have extended the game. Had Davis produced the 11th inning contact hit his team needed at that individual moment, the A’s would have won. None of those players, however, managed to adapt their own abilities to the situation at hand. As a result, the Athletics turned a victory into a defeat.
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It may only be March. But if Oakland fails to reach post-season play by the margin of one game, the Oakland Athletics can look back on these micro-execution failures to find the reason why. On a game-by-game basis, the difference between successful and unsuccessful teams is the ability to perform at the micro level.