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We sent an email in repsonse to a Sacramento Bee article in today's edition.

Ailene Voisin has a lot of nerve...

What a waste of a press pass.

Voisin paid little attention to the contest and apparently doesn't realize that Dave Hudgens, the A's new and, yet, still temporary, batting coach has monkeyed with Byrnes' batting stance and overhauled his approach at the plate since coming on board. Instead of a no-stride approach, Byrnes now lifts his front foot as a loading/timing mechanism. Concurrently, Byrnes has gone into the toilet.

Further, how about the fact that Byrnes had not played in five games and was suddenly facing a knucklballer? Tim Wakefield's name isn't anywhere in the article. Maybe that has something to do with the fact Byrnes failed at the plate, as did most of his teammates, save Eric Chavez. Frank Menechino didn't produce in the at-bat before Byrnes during the 8th inning, nor did Billy McMillon after Byrnes. Not to mention Byrnes was surprised to even be batting in the
situation since A's manager Ken Macha has routinely pinch hit for Byrnes late in contests recently.

Why does she point out that Byrnes was a "former River Cats regular"? At some point and time every MLB player is a regular at AAA...aren't they?

The worst is that she blames Byrnes, the Centerfielder – you know, the guy in charge, for colliding with Terrence Long in the 10th. Byrnes called it, Long should not have been there as Byrnes was setting up to throw to the plate. Also, Byrnes most likely WOULD have nailed Kapler at the plate as even with the bump Kapler got in just a step in ahead of the throw.

Why not write an article on Terrence Long who dropped a ball in the outfield earlier in the game and who went 0 for 5 with 5 runners left on base? Oh, and cost the A's the lead when he ran into Byrnes in the outfield. Long's been playing everyday, can you blame the 'slump' on a guy who hasn't played in five games?

Does Voisin understand that pointing out batting averages does little when mentioning the A's? Their focus is on-base percentage and slugging, not batting average. Especially in yesterday's contest. The A's had 7 baserunners due to walks and errors, not base hits. Maybe because it was a great pitching matchup the A's didn't get a slue of hits?

If Ken Macha had managed the bullpen better yesterday, Keith Foulke would have came into the game in the 9th, not the 8th, closing out the game and there would be no anti-Byrnes story.

A lot of Byrnes' struggles can be blamed on luck. In April, Byrnes was lucky to get an at-bat and usually, like most rusty hitters, was swinging at anything close. Byrnes got a start in late April to give Jermaine Dye a day off in right, Byrnes made a great catch in the field. That earned him another start. That led to a few base hits getting through. His confidence swelled and he started hitting like a blond Paul Molitor. Previously, Byrnes was getting on base via everything from being hit with pitches to infield singles in addition to clean hits. Now, he's getting infrequent at-bats and advice from everyone including idiots writing responses to crummy articles in the Sacramento Bee.

Byrnes really took off after injuring his ribs just before the New York Yankees series during a game in Chicago trying to break up a double play at second. As a result, Byrnes’ swing stayed close to his body as it hurt to reach out. By keeping his hands in and he drove everything this side of Miss Daisy.

To sum up; Voisin article bad, lay off Byrnes, start having your correspondents pay attention to the game and try reading Moneyball - if nothing else.

Elephants in Oakland Staff