at my desk anyway. with the fan pointed at my toes.
in texas it’s 98º, wind south at 10mph. 102º on sunday. they can’t time things right can they?
to the lineup!
DH Jaso, SS Lowrie, CF Cespedes, LF Moss, 3B Donaldson, 1B Vogt, C Norris, RF Reddick, 2B Sogard.
hammel v williams.
Stay successful, Jed.
green lowrie yellow lowrie.
Meanwhile, it will be a beautiful warm evening in the East Bay while OdotCo sits empty. #shame
Wouldn’t mind a good new guy start here.
C’mon Hammel. Show me something.
I flat out never saw that ball. I saw him jump and thought “Weird, he just jumped at a huge wall on a home run.”
me neither. my stream froze.
Fooled the camera operator, too.
The white ball into that yellow background. Horrible idea to put yellow on a wall.
The Rays just FKing gave us this guy. It’s crazy.
how do you explain it? just plain crazy
can someone explain to me why center gardener #3 in playing? and not center gardeners 1 or 2?
for that play.
what did it look like, KK sounded like it wa a tough chance especiully for someone that hasn’t been in center for a while.
I took that as, Crisp or gentry would have had it
KK’s middle name is “kind.”
doesn’t use it for obvious reasons.
that being said, that was JP anencibia you just gave a hit to
i wasnt in a position to post, but at 430 i was thinking, todays game is already pissing me off.
(sorry to be that way DMOAS)
Shin Soo Choo is 32 and batting 242.
the only significances i can find are that one nobody’s birthday and the other’s the most industrial number of them all.
you are just front en.
dammit
Cespedes has a great arm, but he really isn’t a very good outfielder.
He does seem likely for the Vladimir Guerrero defensive trajectory.
Maybe it’s me but he seems way too lackadaisical to me out there.
What, we’re losing? Who authorized this?
whoever gave crisp and gentry the day off
How can we expect to win against the mighty Jerome Williams?
He does seem to bounce around the struggling teams of the AL West, waiting to pop up and pitch quite well for a short period
just a run please?
Rosie!
that guy’s got a HOSE!!!!
How many guys did they have to put on the DL before they finally let him on the roster?
Our 2015 shortstop just had his option vest
Awful trade…
Hammel? this one is not on hammel yet. Its on Crisp and Gentry being made of glass and the A’s not being able to figure out Cy Jerome Williams
Walking arencibia and giving up a hit to him moves the needle a little though
But he picked him off!
He might be a useful ling man.
I think his inclusion was to A make up for the lopsidedness of russell for Samardzija and for teh A’s perspective to keep him off the market to the Angels or Mariners.
They can have him.
I’m sure his wife would appreciate that
only one thing that i could do was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long.
Definitely out
wohoo
It was only appropriate that Arencibia got picked off after actually drawing a walk.
AV WHERE ARE YOU????
Do you know anything about a midfielder named Matias Perez Garcia? He plays for Tigre in Argentina and apparently the Quakes are bringing him in on a $2M transfer.
Thanks, and go As.
don’t really know him. he plays enganche – attacking mid/playmaker. i’m reading racing club wanted him real bad till SJ snatched him up for .5 more. i am against racing wholeheartedly, so there’s that.
and barcelona wanted him last year for 900k?
it’s a good way for lew to get me interested though.
Huh, interesting.
I’m kinda annoyed because I wanted to bring Mix Diskerud back from Norway, and I’m pretty sure $2M and whatever the Designated Player salary is would have been enough.
Instead though we get a 29 year old nobody here has ever heard of, and not the 23 year old USMNT player. Stupid Quakes.
Thanks, and go As.
Sogard breaks up the stretch of 11 straight outs. Just like we drew it up
sogie is lukewarming up.
I was under the impression that losing to the Rangers was impossible.
Let alone Jerome Williams, for that matter.
Williams does have one MLB win this year and it was against the A’s. Not that he was any good that night; he was the beneficiary of a Doolittle implosion in April.
Inconceivable, perhaps.
here we go oakland, here we go!
Cespedes owes us a three run homerun.
single is acceptable
Now only a 2-run one.
WTF Jaso
Thanks, and go As.
Uhm…why?
And then with the way Cespedes took third due to the shift, you have to think Jaso gets to third anyway if he stays at second. Ugh.
A run has to come with a TOOTBLAN huh? One of those games?
gotta spend runs to make runs.
ha! when KK just said 2 to 1, i heard TOOTBLAN for half a sec.
Rumor has Pierzynski going to Cards, Kottaras maybe becoming available.
ALL THE CATCHERS
this is frustrating, isn’t it?
That bullpen though, ewww. I guess they’re hoping Neftali Feliz can stay healthy for more than a few weeks.
getting there.
oh yeah. there we go. red linin’.
OK, I am starting to lose faith in the notion that Jason Hammel will end up being worth what we paid.
Yes, he hasn’t had a good game yet. But this one is not really on him.
It’s not on him per se, but he certainly hasn’t been good.
I don’t think he pitched well tonight. But Cespedes in center really fucked him up and left him exposed.
You usually expect to give up a few runs in Arlington. If the A’s had unleashed some of their run differential on Jerome Williams, Hammel’s performance would look a lot better especially given Cespedes’ defensive play.
The rangers have a terrible offense that is especially bad against rhps. Hammel sucks and should not be starting games.
his two other games were shit
So I guess on the scale we can at least hope he’s improving.
His ERA for the A’s is now 7.82…which is actually somehow lower than it was coming into the game. By more than a full point.
one run was unearned, I imagine
I don’t think so. The only error was Cespedes’ offline throw that let Beltre take second base, and Beltre never scored.
That bad? I guess I’ve only seen one of his starts since I’ve been back
It was 9.00 before tonight.
he allowed the ginats to score 5 runs or something (Don’t remember the innings, it was short, and 5 is 5 more runs than they scored in the other 3 games) and 5 in 2 innings against the O’s
2 ER, 1 UER, 5.0 IP @ SFG
5 ER, 2.0 IP vs. BAL
4 ER, 5.2 IP @ TEX
so you are saying I was right.
I’m not amused.
Well FK. This game is getting all sweaty and stinky.
so all four runs scored because the centerfield redundancy was overmatched?
Dear A’s Offense, please remember you’re playing the Rangers. They suck. Their pitching sucks. You’re awesome. Play awesome. KICK. THEIR. ASSES.
yes
This game will end up being 18-12.
How long is this vogt guy gonna last?
Come on Josh.
oo. derek first
what the actual fuck.
Now hold on. Gentry is available. And we CHOSE TO HAVE CESPEDES IN CENTER??!!!!
Well, Bob did. The rest of us were not consulted.
Can we fire him for a couple of hours?
this is the third time this season his defensive choices have cost runs
THIRD?!? THAT ASSHOLE
that is super dumb
Christ, this Hammel part went south fast
garanimals.
Gerenanimals?
Gerenhammels
it started as a plain grrrrr and went its own way.
that was a pretty good call by vince, but it was a little too slow.
Out.
I don’t know that it’s conclusive enough to overturn.
I stand corrected.
Color me surprised.
That should be an out at first on the review.
wow 2-2
Great play on both ends by Sogard and Vogt.
I did like the Rangers’ playing the True Detective song as replay went on.
Just tuning in. Is the scoreboard reversed or am I missing a second digit in front of the A’s score? Because even though we were starting Hammel, I thought we were facing Jerome Williams…
The A’s offense tonight deserves your third digit.
don’t watch a replay
I don’t care how bad Jaso has been against LHP, Nick Punto? Really?
that was for Sorard, no?
It’s still sad.
You know how everyone always felt like Bob putting JJ in was waving the white flag? That’s how I feel about Nick Punto hitting. In any situation. He is infinitely more frustrating to me than JJ ever was.
He hit for Sogard. Which begs why Freiman didn’t hit for him and Coco for Jaso.
or why you bench 2 centerfielders on the same day
FYI – you can make a bouquet out of Hamburger Helper boxes. A patient sent us one today, and it was fucking amazing.
Lean into that shit Punto. it’s not like you can actually fucking hit.
I think Friman is gone when Callaspo comes back
Noooooooooooooo let it be Punto
Even though the A’s are smarter about this stuff than many clubs, Punto is a guy who Knows How To Win In October. He’s here to the glorious or bitter end.
(stomps feet)
But I don’t like him.
NO. I cannot believe that Billy thinks that way. I just cannot live in a world where Billy Beane buys into shit like that. And even if he did…Punto is a career .226/.329/.258 postseason hitter. If he knows how to win in October, why doesn’t he do anything to help his teams win in October? Surely Billy sees this.
well, Punto is better defensively than Callaspo, so he still has more value than frieman
Over the course of the last three seasons, Punto has been about four runs better, defensively, than Callaspo. Not really world-beating. He adds no value defensively that Sogard doesn’t add better.
The key for me is that Sogard, Callaspo, and Freiman all have actual uses. There are things they do well. And let me add Blanks in there, for that matter, since he’s sort of on the bubble as well.
Callaspo can play anywhere in the infield and, this season notwithstanding, hits LHP decently. Sogard is the only one of the group that plays defense and can theoretically hit RHP at a non-embarrassing level. Freiman hits LHP quite nicely. But Punto can’t do ANYTHING that someone else can’t do better.
Sure, Callaspo can play anywhere on the infield. He is a train wreck at 1st 2nd and third. I can’t imagine what he would be like at short.
Punto can play short.
Sogard has, what, 3 innings there in the past two years where he has been playing next to the statue of Jed Lowrie.
I agree that punto is not good at anything. but as a single roster spot, he is more useful than sogard and of course Sogard has an option.
Yeah, Punto sucks, but so do Sogard, Callaspo and Parrino, just in slightly different ways. (And there actually is something Punto is good at: he leads the team in P/PA, for whatever that’s worth, and has a decent walk rate.) It is maddening that it is almost the trade deadline and we still don’t have a good option, but until we do, worrying about which of the equally bad players we are using seems like a waste.
Whereas with JJ, it made sense to give him a couple months to try to figure shit out, but for at least the past month it has been obvious that there were better relievers wasting away at Sacramento.
JJ could really benefit from a stint in the minors to work on his shit away from much attention. All the vetness and expensive contract made that impossible though
It shouldn’t have. Billy should have straight-up asked him, “Look man, would you please accept a fake stint on the DL so we can put you in the minors and let you get it together?”
Wow. Our offense is just asleep out there. Holy suckitude.
This is the dumbest fucking game.
I feel like I’m repeating myself, but if we make it past the trade deadline with a 2B conglomerate of Sogard/Punto/Callaspo, I pin it as a MASSIVE fucking fail on Beane’s part.
A guy who is the executive of the year should be able to fucking convince Ruben Amaro that Jason Hammel and Shane Peterson is a good return for Jimmy Rollins, and to convince Rollins to waive his 10 and 5 rights.
Thanks, and go As.
All I really care about is that Punto goes. I feel like Sogard and Callaspo have their uses. I mean, we won in 1989 with Mike Gallego. Not every position player has to be great.
But Punto is just an evil stain on this team, and Bob just keeps insisting on using him. The option to do so must be taken away from him. It’s like he knows how to use every other player on the team (strange benching of both CFs tonight notwithstanding), but he has a blind spot with Punto that prevents him from realizing that the dude is just bad at everything, in every situation.
Sogard is a some glove no bat 2b. Punto is a some glove no bat ss/2b.
and sogard has an option.
I would rather see Sogard at literally any position on the diamond than Punto. And against RHP, I would rather see him at the plate than Punto. Against LHP, sure, Punto hits better, but there are better options for hitting against LHP. Such as Callaspo.
I mean, we are arguing about whether we should keep the cat turd or dog turd around.
The cat turd. It’s smaller and easier to clean up.
No way anyone makes that trade if they’re the Phillies. Hammel is a free agent after the season and the Phillies have no need for a temporary starter.
Pomeranz or Milone is more like it, but I don’t really know about these things.
Pomeranz then. Or Milone. Whatever. We are talking about guys that are like 7/8 on the SP depth chart when Parker and AJ are back next year.
Thanks, and go As.
I always forget about them.
But yeah, I don’t know how we can give a shit about anything beyond 2014 after giving up Russell.
Just, what do you want RAJ? OK, fine we will give you this then
I do think a move could be made with one of them.
Brett Anderson is broken again.
*still
Thanks, and go As.
I don’t mean his personality.
“Brett Anderson is pitching” would be more newsworthy at this point
from the replay it looks like a blister
It didn’t feel like 98° today.
more like N*Sync?
Thanks, and go As.
Wow.
you want it that way
Thanks, and go As.
Are you a secret boy band fan?
Are we going to braid each other’s hair later?
BFF!
Facials!
oh ya…
Thanks, and go As.
I’d prefer a Come Backstreet Boys.
Is this a tease?
All systems go
It is.
Now it’s a teAse.
I
Come on, you guys!
I BELIEVE
I BELIEVE IN oh, bugger.
Not a strike
x2
The Rangers’ bullpen is a pretty obvious place for Jim Johnson to throw 25 meaningless innings and get his shit together.
I’m on board with that.
yeah.
No because they will end up pitching him only against slegnA and let him give up 2-3 extra wins.
Please turn this teAse into a Whoopies!
Wait, who told the umpire to give Feliz a Verlander-sized strike zone?
I kinda want the game to end like that
Ugh
Wait. Why wouldn’t you review this regardless?
It’s the umpires’ call, but the way Melvin looked into the dugout and then turned back I think that was a concession.
Never concede!!! Angel Hernandez might be doing the reviewing!
I feel the same way, but the replay shows that Feliz got there first, so whatever.
nice to see the tigers not hitting
I haven’t seen utter hotness pitch since he left the A’s. I forgot about how asthetically pleasing his wind up is. stepping all the way down the first base side of the mound
(gives up a 2 out hit to JD martinez)
and its done.
sad face
I am sure the angels feel that if they make it to the middle of next month within 3 they are in a good spot
I’m sure if they make it to the middle of next month within 3 something went horribly, horribly wrong.
George Kottaras DFA’d by STL. Can he play 2B? 4-catcher lineup!
I would love to see him the next month in Sacramento if nobody wants him for the majors.
two catchers?
Cool…Punto and Sogard starting in the same game.
oh good god, I didn’t even see that.
Well, you are a stroke survivor.
Are we trying to get swept?
twitter is not giving me a middle infielder.
I want a middle infeilder
I can give you the middle finger…not sure if that helps?
you and what army?
The SALVATION ARMY, punk.
I was going to join the Salvation Army but I’m allergic to bells.
You should join the KISS army. They dont mind balding in the front and all the makeup you can wear.
I’m in as long as I get to play the bongos.
John Stamos beat you by 3 minutes. How about the pan flute?
Well, okay…I mean Zamphir is my personal hero in life so at least I’ll get to follow in his footsteps.
Sorry, all that’s left is the skin flute.
Not a problem…now, where did I put my knee pads?