A game thread for those of us who aren’t at the FK suite day.
Coco, Jaso, Ces, Moss, Donaldson, Vogt, Lowrie, Gentry, Sogard (getting one last chance to stick before Reddick comes back on Tues)
vs
Markakis, Pearce, Jones, Cruz, Davis, Hardy, Machado, Flaherty, Joseph
SP: Gray vs Gausman
slegnAwatch: M’s up 3-0 in the first.
Make that a very ethereal 3-1.
Related to the Slegna run, Calhoun had a wRC+ of 139 heading into today.
Yup, for all the talk of the slegnA’s poor farm system, they’ve gotten infuriatingly good performances from home grown guys like Shoemaker, Kalhoun, and Cron.
YAY for the us, the cool kids.
I’m cool???
As ice.
NRAF + FKers-too-lazy-to-go-to-the-game day
Also, yay, we got the leadoff guy out.
Did Vogt just check his pulse?
Wow they’re even shifting for Coco now.
Awesome!
JINGLEHEIMER
Catcher runs!
Jaso completely ignored the fan in the background telling him to slide.
OK, I’ll take a series win.
Internet is broken. Only about half the sites I normally go to are working. Guessing the ISP is having some sort of DNS issues.
Thanks, and go As.
Orioles have crappy catchers but great infielders. We have great catchers but crappy infielders. Vogt for Hardy?
How bout jingleheimer? I have a fondness for Vogt and I think he is the best defensive one of the 3.
Pass. I like the way three are being used. I kind of see that as a downgrade/wash.
A former co-worker of mine headed up to the game today. For some reason he is an O’s fan. I really don’t want to hear his rap so let’s repeat the first 8 more times, k?
I just apologized to him on FB and told him that at least its great weather, ballpark food, etc… :-)
Tell him we hope his team starts a 10-game winning streak tomorrow.
B2B homers. 3-3 in socal
BURN IN HELL
I don’t think LC had anything to do with it.
BringerOfBadNews is not a good twitter handle.
You see, Nick Punto? That’s what a base hit looks like.
Strike zone is abzurdly low.
Coco’s helmet has eyebrows.
I think its actually a mustache.
Poop stain. Trust me, I’m a professional.
Boy, we have a nasty storm moving in. Which is a particular concern because there are thousands of people out on the golf course a mile from here. I heard the horn but it’s going to take a while to get everybody to safety.
DirecTV has succumbed, which rarely happens. This is probably the ugliest weather situation I’ve seen (non-blizzard category) in 5 years of living at Tahoe.
Not good. I hope the golfers and boaters took cover.
Wow
My outdoor thermometer showed 82 about the time this game started. Right now it’s 54, with steady rain. Wherever the golf tournament was when they blew the horn, I’d guess that’s where it ends.
And I would also say that you really appreciate electricity when you have to live without it for 5 hours >:-(
Heh heh. 1…2…3.
LOL Jones
Goes great with your avatar.
Donaldson’s season is sadly becoming reminiscent of Reddick’s 2012 campaign.
Nah, Reddick waited until nearly September before falling off the cliff.
no…
Love that Buck’s teams keep their heads in the game, right?
With a dunk and a bleeder, Sogard just bought himself another two weeks.
Let’s just hope he also bought Nick Punto a ticket the fuck out of here.
With Johnson in his carry-on bag.
teehee
I want Punto gone way more than I want Johnson gone.
#faceoftheMendozaline
I think you mean: #faceoftheSogardline
I am more nervous than I should be with a 4 run lead.
WAGD!
Wildly Ardent God-fearing Dude?
Willing Army of Guard Dogs?
Wide Assed Gold Digger
Wives and girl dudes?
Waste of A Good D@ck?
I never waste a good duck.
It would help if the A’s could get Hardy out once in a while.
Mariners take 4-3 lead.
5-3. Skaggs exits.
If you are left handed and give up five runs to the Mariners with Cano out of the lineup, you might just suck.
Machado about nothing in that plate appearance.
Seems like after that home run he hit friday the crowd finally got into his head.
Carried over to his defense.
Right.
I was worrying that if Gray took a no-no into the late innings they would keep him in even if his pitch count went too high. At least that is over.
I was worrying that Vogt finally pumpkined out. At least that is over.
Now that I think about it, we should probably just keep all our catchers forever.
I BELIEVE IN STEPHEN VOGT
IBISV
LOLZ
OMG he pitches for the Yankees now!! He’s finally made it to a *real* team!! It must be so thrilling!! To don the pinstripes!! And earn a win!!
Damnit, poor Craig.
MI curse to strike again?
You just can’t fking get rid of em.
The Orioles have “Tom Clancy” stitched in their right arm sleeve?
He was part of the ownership group.
I learned something today.
We had a Bob Welch patch for a game.
I feel like he’s hurt.
He needs a nurse. How quick can you get out here?
don’t pack shirts, it’s faster.
Thanks, and go As.
You scare me.
♥
Thanks, and go As.
You turn me on.
That makes one of us.
lies.
Thanks, and go As.
Okay, possibly FSU.
now you’re just being mean.
Thanks, and go As.
:p
Be honest. You’re scaroused.
He looks like he has shin splints. Not bad enough that you can’t play, but hurts like hell whenever there’s sprinting involved.
I know that feeling. But when I get them I’m toast.
I call it anything other than a brisk walk.
Had em. Hate em. He needs to switch from metal spikes to turf style cleats.
Thanks, and go As.
Internet works again. You can all rest easy.
Thanks, and go As.
I have a feeling extra innings are coming in Anaheim.
Ken with a Whoops moment there.
This whole visit to the bases looks like a Whoops moment for Cespedes.
I was surprised he ran hard enough out of the box to get a double.
Me too. I hope the moment they cut away he immediately released his mistake and hauled ass. They didn’t actually show how he got there.
So Jaso: TOOTBLAN or TOOTBBOAN (Thrown out on the basepaths because of a nincompoop)? Should he have just been going?
With no outs you have to hold. Cespedes was the one who screwed up.
The infield was playing back, and it makes more sense to go with 2nd and 3rd than just 3rd. Reasonable for Cespedes to assume he would run on any ball to 2B, but he still should have looked. Jaso screwed up more I’d say.
Jaso should have been going, but Cespedes should have noticed that he wasn’t.
I wonder how much “playing the fame the right way” is involved. I would have said go on contact, but we were also up 6 in the 6th inning with good hitters up. End of day I guess we are fortunate to be abke to have an issue like this.
ALL OF THE RUNS
TOO MUCH FIBER
Thanks, and go As.
Kitten Face!
Whew…Kalhoun almost gave them the lead.
I thought that was out, he probably hit it 395.
Rodney just has to get Trout, Pujols, and Hamilton in the 9th. If he is successful, he deserves to do his FKing arrow thing.
No, no he doesn’t. Ever. Fuck that stupid ass “celebration”
and put your goddamn hat on straight
Thanks, and go As.
If I were to hit a home run off of him. I’d stop at home plate and shoot an arrow at him.
Out of a real bow?
Yes.
He’s a douche, but at least for today he can be our surrogate douche.
But yeah, FK him and his hat.
And now he failed, so fuck him with a cactus.
And the moment they mention the No Hitter, it’s gone. Thought at 117 pitches it wasn’t going to happen anyway.
I’m curious about the thread title. Are we picking NRAFs to FK, or is there a lottery drawing, or what?
Thanks, and go As.
Being it’s an auction for charity? And if so, what charity?
Yes.
Though honestly, it was just my lazy play on the “FKing suite day” thread title.
(grabs popcorn)
that ain’t popcorn
Thanks, and go As.
Sorry, similar size.
Print. Sandwich!
Someone tell Lowrie that was Cruz running and not someone who can actually run
Thanks, and go As.
Is this lead safe enough for an inning of TJJRCoC (the jim johnson roller coaster of crap)?
Billy seems unwilling to dump him, but sorry, it’s time to boo his ass out of town.
He was brought in during the 9th inning of Jesus’ Puppy’s last game, and could only get one out.
Melvin should have gotten Gray out earlier.
Trout walked to the start the Angels’ 9th.
Of course.
Pujols doubles. Tie game. Runner on second with nobody out.
And the Angels did the arrow thing. Which, imo, is a fair trade.
CAN WE PLEASE FUCKING GET RID OF SOGARD
Thanks, and go As.
He could have fallen on his ass and still thrown the runner out at first. Jesus
Sogard may not hit at all, but at least he brings the steady defensive play to the game.
Fuck the Mariners so much.
Pujols shot an arrow after tying the score.
According to Kuiper, Trout did it too.
After the walkoff, the entire team should’ve gathered at the plate and done a collective arrow shoot.
That would have been epic. And well deserved.
slegnA about to win.
Hmm. Double play helps.
LOL Freese is so terrible.
Damn it, M’s.
And the A’s get hurt by an ex A again.
Oh, well. Grant Green wins it.
Victory! Bring on the state of TX!
Keep winning series, A’s.
As unhappy as I am at the Angels winning, a part of me likes that Trout and Pujols gave that stupid bow and arrow right back to Rodney after he did it to them after the 8th inning.
From today’s I Am Just Saying department:
The Oakland Athletics’ team ERA stands at 3.14.
That’s right.
It’s Pi Ï€
The Marlins PxP guy calls Casey McGehee “Hits McGee.” That’s amusing.
Heh.
Good for him. He was HBP earlier in the game.
Thanks, and go As.
A fine day. low stress. Many Sogard and punto jokes.
i even got the hang of ingress and egress to that particular bank of suits. Thanks to nm for organizing and everyone handling my screaming stomping childrens.
Not as good as the pie outcome in FKing year 1, but this is my second favorite kind of game.
i was touched milo wanted me to run the bases with him. though probably i was merely the nearest adult when he chose to say that.
and thanks to FSU for bringing the sandwich printer.
the rest of you just got in the way of my 8th inning nap and then you let the angels win on TV, so phooey to you.
just kidding. i took my nap as soon as i got home and i ended up dreaming about all of us watching the game together anyway.
I managed to forget that yesterday was FK Suite Day until I read the title of this post. Even after running into all of you coming out of the suite entrance after the game.
I was wondering what happened. Glad to hear it was only that.
No takebacks.
Bummer
Im really questioning at this point if there is anyway to trade him-even if we pick up the contract.
The worst part is that the only way to increase his value is to pitch him and have him be successsful, but every time he pitches he does worse.
Set the contract on fire and collect the insurance money.
I know some people who know some people…
(calls sticky Steve)
Cant get to Twitter on work lappy, but we are targeting Nick Franklin. Besides the obvious not wanting to trade in division, do we want that? I dont feel like we do.
I’d rather have Utley’s awful contract and I don’t want his awful contract. Actually, I’d like the money from it to go into my personal bank account, but just not being paid for by the A’s.
I’d settle for the optional money from Utley’s contract. I’m not greedy.
Thanks, and go As.
Yes if it costs Jim Johnson, No if it costs Daniel Robertson, i.e. I don’t really know.
It’s an intriguing idea: rather than trying to fill the hole with a proven veteran like Zobrist or Utley, go after someone young. The downside is he may end up being no better this year than what we already have, the upside is he could be a longer term solution, partially making up for the loss of Russell. Also doesn’t add payroll which regardless of what management says is probably a consideration.
What about Milone/Hammel for Franklin?
We could add in Johnson too if theyd like. And Punto.
I like this. Franklin’s an A’s kind of player and the Mariners are probably passively aggressively trying to browbeat the plate discipline out of him.
It could be a win/win if the pieces fit and we don’t give up Robertson.
I’d do that.
Does your slash mean ‘and’ or ‘or’?
probably.
Franklin sets off all sorts of warning bells.
I don’t like players who get worse when repeating levels, and he certainly seems to be getting worse and worse. I’m sure a lot of it is the M’s dicking him around, but I’m concerned about how he became a guy with excellent plate discipline and contact skills in the minors last year to a guy who became more and more hacktastic as he struggled in the majors. I would not be surprised if the Mariners coaching staff tried to get him to swing at more pitches so he can hit for more power or if he simply can’t adapt to major league pitching. Whatever the reason, he’s not an obvious upgrade at 2nd this year (which is the most important thing IMO), and he’s not someone you’d want to pay a premium for.
I don’t see any of that. The sample sizes are not big enough for it to be meaningful to say he got worse repeating levels, or that he’s getting worse and worse. He doesn’t figure to make too big of an impact this year, but if we counted him as a prospect, I would rank him as easily the #1 prospect in our system.
Pretty much this. I’d be OK adding him as a potential Lowrie replacement or something, but I don’t think he’s the last piece of the puzzle in a Win Now season.
Thanks, and go As.
He can’t replace Lowrie because he can’t play shortstop.
Neither can Lowrie, really.
Thanks, and go As.
No. For his career, Lowrie has basically a 0 UZR/150 at short, which means he’s exactly average.
There’s a huge difference between someone who’s proven that he’s major league average at SS and a prospect who most people agree can’t stick at short in the big leagues.
Did Frankly recently switch to 2B full time? He’s got like 100 more games at SS than 2B in the minors.
Thanks, and go As.
Teams generally keep their prospects at the most valuable position possible until they absolutely have to move them. Kinda like how Michael Choice was mostly a centerfielder in the minors.
Well ok, the sample size is never going to be “meaningful” in any respect when judging minor league players because they spend so little time at each level if they’re remotely interesting. If we look at his entirety of AAA/MLB play, it’s still not a big sample (1.5 years of full season AAA, and <1 year of MLB play). More importantly, he's been bad enough in those samples to give reasonable doubt to his abilities.
As for whether he's getting worse, sure it's a judgment call like most things with prospects. Personally I just find myself tiring of prospects who fail spectacularly in the majors even if the sample is tiny. Striking out 21 times in 52 PAs in the majors this year is indeed failing spectacularly, especially if he's already had nearly 400 major league plate appearances the year before. After being sent down for the latest time, he's hit poorly while continuing to strike out a ton. He reminds me of Danny Espinosa without the defensive value.
In any case, my stance on Franklin is 1) no, if the cost is Milone/Pomeranz or Streich/Robertson/Nunez and 2) definite no, as the starting 2B for the rest of this season. Otherwise sure, acquire him.
Danny Espinosa without the defensive value and injury that could conceivably heal.
#EspinosaFanClub
this
9 games against the Texans followed be a 9-game homie against KC, TB, and Min. 14 wins too much to ask?
Let’s just keep winning series, hopefully with a sweep here and there.
That gets you to 14, so we’re in agreement.
I’m hoping for a 13 game winning streak by the O’s so 14-4 would be fine.
Meanwhile, the Angels get 6 against the O’s and 4 against the Tiggers.
THERE IS NO GAME TODAY?! [throws chair]
Thanks, and go As.
Exactly. You get me.
Seriously. WTF kind of scheduling is that? We just HAD 4 days off.
You need more time off in perfect weather so that you can play like 10 in a row in places like NY and FL with 300% humidity…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Thanks, and go As.
That guy’s going to look Uggla in a Giants uniform.
Do they DFA Marco? Do we take a flier on an old injured friend?
Scutaro is done. His back is wrecked.
Thanks, and go As.
Didn’t they just activate him? Anyway, speaking of wrecked backs, Angel Pagan seems like Mark Kotsay Part II.
They did and he started yesterday. But that of course doesn’t mean he should be the everyday starting 2B for a title contender. But it also doesnt mean he is or isnt better than Erck Pugard.
Some excellent .gifs in the comments at Grant’s place.
How did they get this and can one of us (Jenn?) sue for trademark infringement or something?
Which one?
It should have linked to it, but it was a reference to a unicorn. (Although it was Zito on it which is just silly)
My screen makes SBN sites look weird and the comment was down on the screen.
I believe that is an issue called SBN sucks. There is a cure but I believe you have already started that course of treatment-avoid SBN sites.
well this is fantastic.
Thanks, and go As.
LAWNDART (Revison 2):
I’ve looked at that so many times and I still can’t grasp how that happens.
can’t grasp how it happens? it happens because he can’t grasp it.
Do we think there is any chance it’s Sogard who’s out when Reddick comes back tomorrow? Parrino is obviously the safe bet.
I could see thheem playing the Kitten card if his legs are still bothering him.
I think Sogard has taken up voodoo witchcraft.
The break in at his house was actually the team lookingg for the dolls.
I’d believe it.
But that’s still pretty fucked that someone probably kept tabs on things to know when they’d be gone and just broke in during the day.
Its standard operating procedure for burglaries.
it would be scarier if they were home. Known in the parlance as a “hot prowl.”
The more I think about this the more surprised I am it doesn’t happen more often.
You know ballplayers have money. It is easy to know when they will be gone. Heck, most of them and their WAGs have Twitter so you can even tell if a spouse will be there.
But do you know where they live? And if so, can you tell me?
I dont, but then again I’m not a criminal trying to stalk out easy victims.
I do get the feeling Schlong is in the WC/Concord area based on the scavenger hunts he does while wasting away on the DL.
The “they have money” thing suggests they may be smart enough to have security.
They may, but I bet I could figure that out pretty quickly once I started checking them out. And I would bet many who live in temporary places for the season dont invest as much in their security as they do their weed and porn (thinking back to the Garfoose article about the Rays place being broken into in spring training a couple of years ago).
“Guest on A’s warm up get a free month with bay alarm”
Great tie in opportumity!
How great does it feel knowing that all of the hard work you put in to get to the big leagues has paid off to the point that someone could be breaking into your house right now?
Fosse is in on it! He talks so long to delay them from getting home.
Nah. None of the places the catchers live in have been broken into.
Yet.
He learned it from Rosales.
Parrino optioned.
stupid sorard base hit yesterday
(Milone)
no direct quote. So she may be right.
Thanks, and go As.
I would be pissed too. He was having a great run.
First, I can believe it. Who can blame him?
Second, the A’s would be foolish to trade him unless he’s part of a deal for a really good middle infielder. Milone is the fifth starter if anyone gets hurt or falls apart down the stretch. And the A’s have a lot of starters who fall in that category.
Yeah, I know. Pomerantz. He’s the other option. But Milone has a stronger track record.
Oh sure, not saying they should dump him. Just saying that I don’t blame him a bit.
Can’t say as I blame him, really.
I am sure he wants to be somewhere in the majors. and he is, after all league average. But he has to understand the business of baseball and that he is the one with options. So he is out.
I’m sure he understands why he’s out, but it’s still got to drive him nuts. Plus, he’s entering his arb years and needs to put up big league innings. He’s not likely to pitch much more if at all in the majors this year with the A’s, and next year he’ll probably end up being DFA’d or traded at the end of Spring Training when everybody’s rotations are already set. I can see why he is thinking that now is the time to establish himself somewhere else.
Tommy is not that bright, is he?
First he was shocked at being sent down, and now this?
Sorry tommy, you are a big piece of the playoff picture this year and next.
Sorry about the playoff check you are going to get at the end of the year. Good luck with that in Philadelphia.
He’ll get a playoff share, but he probably won’t be on the roster, just like last year. And it’s not looking all that good for 2015 either. That’s got to be frustrating, since he’s been effective (peripherals aside).
The difference between being on the 25-man roster and optioned to AAA is at least a couple thousand dollars a day.
And (as GM notes) it’s also delaying his possible arbitration and (further out) free agent years, which is where the real money is. He was at 2+ years of service at the beginning of this season, so depending on what happens for the rest of this season and where the super-2 cutoff is, that could already cost him several hundred thousand more next year. And given that pitchers are always one ligament away from a possible end to their careers, delaying the big paydays could mean they never come.
Even if he understands why he is being jerked around, it is not really any consolation.
Or we can trade Hammel because he sucks and put Pomilone in the 5 spot
Does he suck though? I’m trying not to jump to conclusions on that.
He’s a FA at the end of the year anyway. I’d rather move him and keep Milone until he’s no longer useful.
Thanks, and go As.
Gnats just put Cain on the DL.
QUICK BILLY SEND THEM HAMELL
Thanks, and go As.
That’s probably why SF is acquiring Uggla, to flip to us.
BRILLIANT
That’s one F’Uggla trade.
yeah it’s too bad that they don’t have a 2B worth trading for. Sabean is the type to make a knee jerk deal, too.
Thanks, and go As.
A Panik trade?
Meh. If the aim is Panik or Franklin, I’m not impressed. Long term it’s probably a good deal but I’d still like someone better than that for the stretch run.
Thanks, and go As.
3-way
There’s no A’s baseball AGAIN today? This blows.
ik,r?
They’re waiting for you to leave on vacation.
i made spaghetti.
Thanks, and go As.
Good sauce?
I realized I could make weiner wraps and not use regular hot dogs. I know this isnt rocket science but it took me 41 years to think of it. So I am about to have a bacon and cheese sausage wrap.
You had condoms for dinner?
Also, yay Mike!
They said ribbed..I thought that meant like ribs. It didn’t. :(
Ribs… for her pleasure.
I like my ribs like I like my souls, broken and black.
my foot is getting there
Thanks, and go As.
She said RIBS, Mike. RIBS, not feet.
Souls/soles – what’s the difference?
ok, here goes the embarrassing confession i don’t usually bring up but for an even more embarrassing reason behind it: i was in frat.
and for initiation weekend, one of the meals was hotdogs and soup. the hotdog was just a regular wienie, but it was served inside a blown up condom (nonlubricated), floating in a big bowl of tomato soup… which we had to eat with a tampon.
Yeah, that IS embarrassing. You were trying to get into a Frat???!!
what’s wrong with that?
Thanks, and go As.
Do people not get when I’m joking?
i got it. that’s what i was trying to shade toward too. didn’t come out clearly.
ate the goldfish. toga’d. did not elephant walk (was in first class after national chapter officially banned hazing). lineups were boring mostly. some of the guys were pretty genuine. some were absolute douches. i had fun. it was embarrassing then too. mostly did it because high school friend of mine was doing it and his older brother was in it. pledge semester was good. after that it was paying dues to hang out with guys. didn’t last. can’t remember the secret handshake.
Pretty much my story. Lasted a year before I realized that I liked hanging out with people from my dorm more than the ones in the frat. Got a lot of disappointed looks from ex-brothers after that. Still kept in touch with a couple of them afterwards, mostly because we were good tripping partners.
I joined a BUSINESS frat! I know you are all jealous. Figured I needed all the connections I could get. No hazing, no real rush-nothing.
Turns out that when you are like 10 years older than almost everyone else, with a kid and also working full time you dont get all the connections you hoped for (also add in you are just beginning to develop a social anxiety disorder at the time…)
oh i never took acid at the house.
We didn’t start tripping together (shrooms) until after I left the frat and it was always at my apartment.
my little brother earned the official frat nickname of zombie when he showed up to a party having eaten an 1/8 by himself and i had to baby sit his wall-staring ass all night long.
my nickname was dukie. (after dukie wookie huwt his wittle hand.)
What isn’t?
Um, stuff out of a jar. Nothing special.
Thanks, and go As.
I’d eat the southbound end out of a northbound cow right now. Effing hungry.
oh really.
Thanks, and go As.
Wasn’t an offer.
neither was mine.
Thanks, and go As.
Great. I made it weird.
breaking news.
Thanks, and go As.
Fuck you.
Is that suppose to make it LESS wierd?
I’m not wearing any pants.
trout with a routine bouncer to short that hardy throws into right.
1st and 2nd no out for the angels in bottom of 1st.
naturally Hamilton singles in the runner who should have been out
You guys really suck Controneo balls when you tell us what’s going on in Angel games. It makes it sound like they’ve won and/or opened up insurmountable leads when all that happened was the other team failed an opportunity or something equally meh.
freese lead off the bottom of the second with a hit.
Oh my god, the lead is going to be gone by the end of the night!
Thanks Future Vince.
Mike trout has the confidence that he will, by the end of the night fulfill his destiny as a game winner
Are they playing a triple header?
I am confused, there was no reaction to Machado being announced.
jim palmer just called Freese an upgrade at thirs “a really good thirdbaseman”
double play ball hits bud norris in the leg, goes for an infield single instead.
lucky
baseloaded for trout!
Siddown
that was a very pronounced argument.
it was a great pitch. Don’t know if it was a strike or not, but a great 2-2 pitch.
OK so, AJ Pierzknakmizniaoksksisieki made me laugh. Shit.
Thanks, and go As.
awesome
He know he’s an asshole, but at least he owns it. I don’t like him, but I can respect him. A little.
I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually write that.
Even the part about Podsednik’s balls?
Maybe that part was legit.
Reading things like this makes me think I actually like the guy:
That is some vintage Derek-Jeter-play-the-game-the-right-way-classy-classy-classy bullshit. It’s baseball. You heckle each other. Yeesh.
This “Red Sox Way” stuff is all BS anyway.
Yeah, maybe, and I’m sure the Red Sox self importance is as obnoxious as anywhere. But I’ve had loadmouthed oafs as teammates who embarrassed me, and I don’t doubt AJ is exactly that type.
No doubt, but anyone who makes an enemy of the sort of pompous douche that says “This wasn’t the Red Sox way” has to earn some okay-in-my-book points in my book of okay-points.
I’m confused? Isn’t that the way the game was meant to be played?
You would think, given that Ty Cobb was basically out there committing manslaughter every day and Babe Ruth was like a living cartoon of Babe Ruth, that the game was meant to be played in a way that might have allowed for a little heckling.
19th Century baseball swearing memo.
1) I subscribe to the view that this was a lengthy joke about whoever was trying to censor ballplayers.
2) Even if it was sincere…c’mon, this is like baseball’s early attempts at an anti-PED policy. It’s there, but, you know, no one was gonna follow it.
It’s really shameful that we haven’t come very far in terms of creativity. On the other hand, they are classics and the classics never die.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
another potential dp ball deflected by norris. this time they get the lead runner
still 2-2. Martakis with a one out double.
Yay Adam Jones I like your pretty homers now.
(4-2 Orioles now)
adam jones just hit a hanging breaking ball to Fullerton
He has a beautiful swing.
He has the be the best player with the worst plate discipline I’ve ever seen.
great swing at the pitch in the dirt
It’s crazy to be that good and walk that little.
Better than Vlad?
59 WAR in 16 seasons to Jones’ 22 in 9.
Let’s he how he holds up as he gets old.
59BB/Season against 22 though.
gp, but Vlad had pretty decent walk rates his entire career and had a career .380 OBP. I doubt Jones would sniff a .380 OBP in one season.
Sandoval and Cespedes both have similar numbers overall to Jones, but even they have 7% walk rates compared to his 4%. That really is impressive.
A lot of that was IBBs. In his career with LAA, he had 252 BBs, 109 were IBBs. Unintentional walk rate for that period was around 4%, pretty much the same as Jones. Jones has a shitty approach and could be a lot better, Vlad was just amazing…
Top 10 expansion era players with less than a walk every 5 games, ranked by offensive WAR:
Speaking of IBBs, I recently learned that the literal difference between Barry Bonds’ BB total and Rickey Henderson’s BB total was the insanely high number of IBBs Bonds received. The #2 recipient of IBBs, all time, was Hank Aaron, who received about 400 fewer than Bonds. And Bonds received about 400 more walks, total, than Rickey, the all-time #2 recipient of walks. So I don’t care what the record books say, Rickey’s still the walks champion.
Next year when the A’s and Giants play, they should invite both back and have a BB derby competition to decide the true champion.
Rickey is the walks EARNED champion. So what if Bonds has the most walks RECEIVED.
Rickey is also the champion because no one WANTED him on base. They preferred Bonds on base than in the batter’s box.
For much of–most of?–Bonds’ career, he was a Rickey type. No one wanted him on base before his 80-billion homer season.
Is Shoemaker related to Brian Wilson?
i don’t know what’s going on but i saw a sad angel and that makes me smile.
Their Punto is pretty shitty too.
mcdonald is still good at defense, yeah?
Maybe, but he’s Sogard bad at hitting.
Who’s scrappier though?
aren’t they BOTH white???
Thanks, and go As.
Shit, you’re right. Which one is shorter?
< age 30 = scrappy > age 30 = gritty, gamer
I have it on good authority that they both bring lunch pails to work. Every day.
Thanks, and go As.
I want to be the orioles hitting coach.
“when the guy in the pajamas on that little mountain throws the white thing, SWING!”
good job buck, let calhoun trout and pujols see norris a forth time.
at least he ran out of the dugout to get the lefty when Norris wakled hamilton
HE WACKLED HIM???? IN PUBLIC???
its not crime in california.
My God. The moral decline of this state.
Give me a break, Trout. It is possible to strike you out.
why wasn’t he ejected?
Once, fine, twice, dont’ care who you are
Yeah, I’m getting rather tired of it. That and umps doing a shitty job. Oh and umps failing to keep the pace of the game moving as they’re supposed to do, you know, those pesky rules.
wow. MASN had that as a strike. Trout argued again and again was not ejected
It was an excellent pitch.
Damn, Hamilton. That was…not good.
its like jerry blevins had just come in
the angels bullpen did get a lot better didn’t it?
2
Ah ha ha…
Never in doubt.
can somebody blogroll this link? with a descriptive name maybe? i have such a hard time remembering likely terms to search it by in the archives…
https://erikberg.com/mlb/charts
Done. I think.
thanks.
The animation for the 2012 AL West race is fun.
i hope we get to say say the same thing about 2014’s current parallelism up top.
I appreciate the Astros in the 2013 one.
There should be little bubbles as they go under.
Just disappears at one point.
celebrate good times
63 (I think)
Magic number?
Yes it is. It’s the magic number.
Actually 59 when you account for the games left against the Angels.
Not sure that works. What if they were to win all 10 of those?
Sure, but 59 is the fewest they have to win to be sure of the division.
Magic number is wins + 2d place team’s losses, so aren’t you double-counting here?
Only double-counting the games that have to be double-counted (A’s beat Angels) which a standard magic number doesn’t do.
A’s: 61-37 with 64 to play
Angels: 59-39 with 64 to play
10 games remaining between them
If the A’s win 59 then at least 5 of those have to be against the Angels, who then can’t win more than 59 themselves, and the A’s win the division by 2.
If the A’s win 58 then at least 4 of those have to be against the Angels, who then could win 60 themselves, and the division is tied.
All tracked on a daily basis by RIOT.
Thank you for this. I’ve been ticked off all year that the regular sites dont have some sort of magic number up on their site. This will go into the daily web check for me.
I’ve added it to the Blogroll.
i don’t think you understand the magic part of magic number. we just want one number. if it changes by 2 overnight, that’s fine. but we want it sweet and simple.
—
but seriously, i do think the spirit of a magic number is better represented by the number a team has to win to guarantee clinching. saying it’s 59 if they win certain games is not as magical as saying it’s 63 no matter what games they are. it’s about taking the chance out of that other team’s hands altogether.
No – 59 is exactly not conditional on the particular games they win.
Since 10 of their remaining 64 games are against the Angels, if the A’s win 59 more they can’t help but have at least 5 of those wins be against the Angels. It could be more but it can’t be fewer. So that is the number that guarantees clinching.
In other words, we need to win between 53 & 59 more games (depending on how many of those wins come against the Angels) to guarantee at this moment first place independent of the Angels winning out.
Right, but magic numbers eschew the dependency.
Sure.
i wasn’t thinking about the overlap until below.
Ah, got it. I was assuming you were counting all 10 as wins, not “it would have to be at least this many”
On board.
If we were to sweep the Angels all 10 of those games, for each of the wins, 2 points would come off our Magic Number. So if we’re at 63 now, that would be a -20 from that. So 10 Angel game wins plus an additional 43 non-Angel game wins (assuming the Angels won all of their non-A’s games. So 53 would be the fewest if we’re looking at that.
Sure, but the magic number is the fewest you need to win to be sure of clinching, regardless of what any other team does.
The point is that once you assume a certain number of A’s wins that necessitates a certain minimum number of Angels’ loses – certainly it could be more, but the magic number only counts the guaranteed loses.
now that i’m reading further, i’m not sure if you’re not saying the same thing i am, or just italicizing the same words.
Ooooh. Okay, I think I’m following now.
But is that really the definition of the magic number?
Yeah, Magic Number has always meant to me combo of our wins and their losses, by definition.
You just hurt 3’s feelings :(
I have the Blind Melon cover of that song on my phone!
Poorly worded on my part.
The magic number can be calculated by determining the smallest number of games team A needs to win to be sure of clinching, regardless of what team B does. Once you have that number it can be realized by many particular combinations of A wins and B loses.
I still don’t agree with that definition.
Care to expand?
Sure. The common definition I would use is what FSU said: the combined number of A’s wins or Angels losses needed for a clinch.
That number is currently 63.
In particular, this definition has the following property: it decreases with each A’s win or Angels loss. (It can of course decrease by two when the A’s beat the Angels, as this is both an A’s win and an Angels loss.)
Your definition does not have that property.
Though it’s not quite that, since the Angels could lose 63 and the A’s could win 0 (actually 9 since 10 are against the Angels) and the Mariners would win the division.
The wording is OK, the underlying idea is new to me. As most here, I took the magic number to be the combination of wins and opposing losses, not strictly own wins, as this is the number that more accurately describes the situation IMO.
Since the magic number decreases with both own wins and opposing losses, I find it more accurate to be a representation of both, that’s all.
I would think this number would also decrease with opposing losses, wouldn’t it?
All it really means to me is the combination of how many wins you need AND/OR losses by the other teams needed to knock them out of contention.
It’s probably more accurate to call it the “Real” Magic Number rather than the “Traditional” Magic Number.
I think this is the way to go. Also though, could this way of looking at it be impacted more by close divisions where say there are still 10 more games against the Angels but only 6 against the M’s if they were both tied (obviously just pulling #s out of my arse here)? The 63 would still work, where the 59 could change based on who is in second place.
And I guess the follow up would be thats why we typically dont start quoting magic numbers in the friggin middle of July.
The RIOT site calls it the clinch number, and takes account of all of the remaining inter-divisional games (which is what makes it an interesting problem).
That’ll do!
How cool would it have been if the A’s had traded Weeks for Britton?
or just released him.
I thought you said “Weeks for Barton” and couldn’t figure out what you meant.
If we trade Punto for Sogard, do they both vanish?
God willing.
Dolla Dolla Mills had his first appearance as a Blue Jay last night. Came in for long relief in the top of the third against the Red Sox: 2 IP, 8 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 3 HR (Ortiz, Ortiz, Napoli)
wasn’t his bad A’s game against the red sox as well? Except he walked like 5 in 2 innings? and only gave up 3-5 runs?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK201406200.shtml
A’sball tonight!
The recent dearth of A’sball is evidence that we are living in a fallen world.