Lonesome gamethread… riding the prairie alone… lonesome gamethread… turning into its’ own clone
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
I thought Bakersfielders were more to be pitied than hated…
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
The problem with Bakersfielders is that the shift is always on…
…backwards.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
The reality is EM, you cant ask a person like Vince to just shut up. He has the consistency that, when he steps on the clutch, well things are just going to get clutchy.
You know, if Jeter had broken his leg yesterday that would have been terrible. There is a little kid who went to his first game today and he never would have known a player like jeets was there.
right before reddicks double yesterday, he said the a’s were waiting fo someone to step on the clutch. I was waiting for a bus and then the inning happened so it got lost.
A’s games now fall into categories, and a quick glance at the box score usually tells me even before I am watching the game. There’s the sloppy game, the bullpen cough-up, and the wasted start.
The latter usually involves a starter pitching really well. But at some point, he will give up a run or two. And the A’s will steadfastly refuse to score, unless it’s enough to make the loss doubly frustrating.
how is that a decent excuse? review didn’t go our way because “we can only ask for one aspect of the play to be looked at.” well, fine. so ask to review the aspect that’s in question. especially if donaldson comes up saying he didn’t feel getting taggeg.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Well technically it fly a few feet. It is like when Jake called his shot and ended up bunting to score Willie Mays Hays from second against the Yankees.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
all the eeyores in the house. the eeyores the eeyores.
lowrie in the corner with a base stealing runner
i dropped my jaw and said that there’s a bummer
we bunted for one run, they got it back actually hitting
well, i’m shitting, i begged them please stop.
hey eeyores! get funky.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
i’ve heard of tokyo being two different places day to night. same with my work hood.
daytime, quiet, everybody knows each other, we say hi on the way to coffee and back, parking is easy, you run 2-block errands on your bike on the sidewalk because there’s nobody around other than the 2 or 3 guys who’re there every day with the same story about how they need a buck for gas.
nighttime, every fucking yahoo shows up for the bars and thinks he invented going around the corner to smoke weed in the empty doorway (that’s not empty so you bump them opening the door), and honk because they’re all trying to park in the same spot and created an unnecessary traffic jam they can’t get out of, and vibe each other for a fight if there’s a second too much eye contact, even see some really awful drunken BJs between cars if you stick around till bars close. i don’t particularly care, other than i’m of the daytime set and when i come out at night i’m still in that mode and all of a sudden there’s some guy holding a 40 trying to fight me because of the way i’m standing in his eyepath, when, to my mind all i’m doing is waiting for a car to go by so i can cross the street. i just forget: act drunk or something, the jerkasses are here.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
not so much hiding, going around the corner to be away from the bar door, but sitting on the stoop in front of the door of a house or apartment building.
there’s a lot of taking BART to the pot club down the street and hitting the bars to make a day of it.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
here is the thing, this is maddening yes, but they are hitting home runs away from winning and winning big. If they remember how to do that. we’re fine.
Tomorrow: Kazmir. Not confident.
Saturday: Holland against the righties. Not confident.
Sunday: Gray. If it comes down to Sunday, I will not be confident.
The fly balls have been creeping further and further back. A couple of weeks ago they were to shallow CF. Last week the OFs stayed in position or took maybe a step back. Last night we had 2-3 get right to the friggin wall. We are 4-5 feet away from greatness.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
I keep thinking this: we are all continuing to say that a bunch of this is mental. That this team gets in their own head, that everyone is trying to hard, that they do stuff they shouldnt trying to hit 10 R HRs etc.
Winning 1 or 2 games isnt enough to reset that mentality. Especially when the narrative is “can they even make the playoffs?”. They are still putting pressure and mind games because they havent made them.
If they actually clinch at some point before the end of Sunday they can have an honest to goodness sigh of relief. From there they are almost as good as the past 2 years, and a lot of those expectations they have been buried under for the last few months are lightened. That could be the time they say “ok-go back to being me and not superman”.
I know I am reaching and I am looking for silver linings everywhere, but this logic train at least makes sense to me. A whole lot more than “they were sad because Tommy Milone got demoted so they shat the bed for 2 months…”
This is mostly due to injuries, but the rest of it’s due to inefficient attitude.
(pulls lid off of plastic container of salsa verde… notices lid says “FK” on it boldly)
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
Also, just assuming they do get into the wild card game, and then win it:
Starting with Game 117, the A’s have played 39 stretches of 5 games (1. Games 117-121, 2. Games 118-122 etc. thru 39. Games 155-159). How many times have they won 3 out of the 5? The answer is 7: the stretches starting with Games 124-128, 152 and 153. 29 of the 43 games have been against non-playoff teams.
WRONG! We took 2 out of 3 AFTER the all star break and looked really good. And I am sure that I have heard more than one person use the whole “they looked bad even before the all star game” lines to make sure we all have as little hope as possible.
Ok, but that is not what we were talking about. So you admit I am right that we looked good against Baltimore in the second half. Glad we cleared that up.
That’s not how I read it. Clearly we looked good in taking 2 out of 3. It was after the all star break. And really the second half started even earlier than that.
Are you sure you’re feeling ok? Did you eat some spicy food or something? I think you are really cheery this Friday and it is making you misread some of what you are saying. But thats ok, I am here to help.
I’m not willing to admit such a thing even in the case which I may or may not be wrong proven with factually informative information. Think of me like the GOP and *this* is Science.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
But-and yes I am reaching here like Barton doing the splits-we have also ran into a couple of teams as they were playing their best ball of the season. The Rangers have been terrible all year, until a few games before they met us for the first time. slegnA was playing their best ball of the year the first 2 series we played against them in August (? whenever those were).
Sure part of the they are playing better is because they got to play us, but it just was one more piece into the worst string of events in years.
To be fair, we did catch the Braves during their one brief period of competent play in the last two months. That sweep kicked off a 7-1 stretch for them.
and since the M# was 2 going into the series, then all they’re having to do is get 1 out of 4, giving tomorrow’s a 25% chance of that, instead of 33% from here out. 33% over 3 days = 11%. 25% over 4 days = 6 something%. 6 is about half of 11… that’s more than 50% better odds, right?
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
Well, in the last 20 games the pitching has been great, in the last week the A’s seem to at least be getting on base a little more, and if I squint hard maybe the epidemic of horrible defensive gaffes is almost over. So if we add home runs to those trends we might in fact be fine.
Obviously debunking any one or more of my dependent premises makes it less fine.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
If you had told me in July the team that was on pace for 105 wins or so wouldn’t even be winning 90 games, I would’ve assumed there was a terrible bus accident that wiped out half the team. Which is essentially what happened.
Our lineups now typically consist of guys like no neck, hipster, Son of a dozen small lower leg problems, Vogt for bad foot and ankle, D back is hurting, broken finger, and we have the concussion twins on the bench still. And why is it that the only ones who never seem to get hurt are the likes of Keebs and Collapso-those who you almost cant tell the difference if they were hurt?
Upside: Rangers are now 2.5 games ahead of the DBacks for the worst record. So in next year’s draft chances are they’ll likely pick 3rd or 4th (Rockies only .5 game ahead of them) instead of 1st.
Boy, did the Gnats ever look awkward celebrating the Wild Card victory that they’d already been handed earlier in the day. They have T-shirts that say “NL West Division” as if they’d won it.
ever since (and i don’t know when it was) mlb wrestled control of gear design from the teams, all these things have become generic and sad. might as well just have a blue stripe with just the words “mlbteam end of season celebratory shirt,” “mlb puntobershirt,” “mlbteamhoodie,” etc. these last ones make me maddest because the players and coaches have to wear them, prolly by contract even, to advertise for the mlb marketing dept.
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
(Part of the reason I hate seeing the hoodies in the dugout may be that my first memory of them is the 2003 Red Sox during Game 5. I have this memory of Derek Lowe wearing one seared into my brain.)
I would pay a few dollars to get a “Oakland Athletics end of season celebratory shirt”. I might pay more for that than what they actually put out.
The only ones I actually like are the ones that have the roster on them. I really wnated the one for 2012, but by the time I ever found any they just had the team name. I like the memories of seeing names like Brandon Allen and Jordan Noberto.
The best place to get roster shirts, both beginning and end of season, is the parking lot/BART bridge/Hegenberger median strip vendors; they always do them, but of course that doesn’t help NRAFs. Do you want me to keep an eye out for one at next week’s games?
That would be great-preferrably in a dark grey/black or a dark green if they have them. And extra extra extra fat.
If somehow you run into a time traveller that has 2012 shirts I would take whatever for any $$.
Is there a better time to find the folks on the BART bridge? whnever I walk over to the game all I see is the churro folks. Heading out I may see a couple but usually they dont seem to have much that I would like. Is Hegenberger better? I think I may drive up for the next game I am hopefully attending so I can have more flexibility on getting out at a time that works, fighting crowds, etc.
I’ll keep my eyes open. There’s some people who have a tent that they sometimes have set up so that you see it as you get off from NB 880 on Hegenberger, across from the Burger King; and sometimes in the parking lot of the upholstery store on 66th across the street from the north lot entrance. They also roam the Coliseum parking lots at big games, along with an increasing number of women who’ve made green-and-gold bead jewelry, and occasionally kids selling chocolate bars. The guys were offering 2 shirts for $10 on Wednesday, I didn’t ask to see any of their wares because I didn’t have $10.
I keep thinking “just as they werent the worst team in baseball, they really are not as good as they have been the past 2 weeks and have to be ready to cool off a bit”. So far that hasnt happened, although last night they didnt look great, just a little more lucky than us.
Damn-now you got me thinking; we hit the fly ball that goes right to the high wall and gets caught, they get the walkoff on the ball that goes about 18 inches over the wall. I thought football was the game of inches.
I’d expect Weaver to have a full 100-pitch outing since he’ll work Game 1 on 5 days rest, and Iwakuma’s last 6 starts have been dreadful. Beyond that, though, with the Angels’ magic number for best overall record down to 1, they figure to play Saturday and Sunday as exhibition games.
Absolutely. Although you could also say our true pitching talent has changed significantly for the better in the second half.
Also, wouldn’t the injury thing often be the case for teams that concentrate their suck into the end of the season? And if so, wouldn’t it show up in the playoff success numbers?
See-I’m telling you. Your positive outlook for the team is spreading. It’s damn near infectious!! You are making me believe we have enough of these next 3 games under control and then we are off to the races!
Thank you for the positive viewpoint man. We need more of those =)
he
he believes
he believes the A’s
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
*i’m* AV. alex vause. put this loon in psych before she hurts someone.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
According to the release notes on the latest update to the At Bat app, “for the first time we will be streaming live every World Series game and select other Postseason games to all authenticated MLB.TV Premium subscribers.” Sounds like maybe that’s only for the Fox games, because it also says there will be “companion coverage,” i.e. the alternate camera angles along with live audio, of the TBS games.
But do you really think it was a fix like people are trying to say? I mean the O’s still have something to play for. Hard to think Buck would go for that.
Or did the O’s pitcher just Wainwright the whole thing?
There were a LOT of Fister jerseys last year at Folsom Street Fair.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
Say, going into Sunday, the Mariners are one game behind the A’s for the second wild card spot. So they have to beat the Angels, hope the A’s lose to the Rangers and then beat the A’s on Monday to go any farther.
It sure would be tempting to try to beat the Angels with whatever pitching you can scrape together and have Felix pitch on Monday, at home against a team that psychs itself out against Jerome Williams and Colby Lewis.
It would never happen, because if the Mariners lost Sunday, Lloyd McClendon would never have another job in baseball.
Well and I keep wondering what role the slegnA play in this. Fatty is the type of manager who says he will keep playing out of respect for the game. But dont you have to start thinking about which team you would rather face? I mean they know they can’t control the Royals, but if they think they have a preference between us or the M’s dont you have to play accordingly?
FB just killed me. Saw I picture of Reggie. With #2. Ok, I dont like that but I get it.
And Franco Harris.
W!T!F! Hey, lets add Adam Viniteri and the 2002 Tampa Bucs while we’re at it. Maybe the random Bengal that pulled down Bo and made him rip his hip off of his leg. Could you hang out with Mike Davis and Gibby too? jesus H
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
A vs. B on Monday. Winner is first wild card.
A-B loser vs. C on Tuesday. Winner is second wild card.
Wild card game on Wednesday.
The Mariners would be A and would get both games (if they need the second)the first game at home. Not clear if the Royals would opt to be B or C. C does get an off day, but plays their game on the road.and plays their game at home.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
I had the notion right, but C plays its single game at home (will fix above).
Conceivably if the A’s are Team B, they would:
Play Sunday at Arlington.
Play Monday at Seattle.
Play Tuesday at Kansas City (with a Monday loss).
Play Wednesday at Seattle (with a Tuesday win).
Play Thursday at Anaheim (with a Wednesday win).
The Monday off-day is the appeal of C. If B wins on the road on Monday they get a Tuesday off-day, but if not B has that horrible travel schedule. I don’t think it’s clear-cut and probably depends on how a team’s pitching is set up.
I just can’t see a team opting into back-to-back elimination games just to give themselves an off day Monday, especially when winning on Monday gives them an off day Tuesday. I guess there’s the extreme scenario where the only starter you have available Monday is Gil Heredia.
Oh, right. My ranking above would still be the order of preference, but the strategy is different. A would host B in the first game, with the winner of that one hosting C in the next game for all the marbles.
So Seattle could choose to be A, in which case they would have to win two games to advance to the wild card game and would host both. I imagine they would choose to be C, in which case they only have to win one game, albeit a road game. Choosing to play three straight elimination games just to avoid travel seems like a terrible plan.
We would get second pick. If Seattle picked C, we would pick A. If Seattle picked A, then we would pick C.
I know that the A’s are so much better than every other team in baseball that they decided to tailspin the last two months just to play out an interesting WC scenario on their way to the inevitable World Series victory, but they should probably just go ahead and win a few of these games against the Rangers instead.
We realized that the time off between the end of the regular season and the playoffs messed with our rhythm. Playing the WC means fewer off days and guarantees the WS.
KC winning yesterday killed off that possibility. If it’s for one spot, I think you play a Final Four type of tournament with the matchups determined by drawing lots. If it’s four for two spots, I have no earthly idea.
Four for two spots, wouldn’t you just do the same thing except without the two winners needing to play an extra game against each other? (They still would play each other, but it would be the regular WC game, rather than part of an extra tiebreaker.)
The sensible (although arguably not fair) way would be to have a final four and the two winners advance. Lots could be drawn to choose your opinion/get home field.
It’s a draft, with the Mariners getting first choice with season series wins over both the Royals and A’s and the Royals second choice with the season series win over the A’s. Clearly A is preferred because they play the first game at home and then get a second chance if they lose.
My understanding is that Seattle would host KC on Monday to determine the first wild card, and we would host the loser of that game to decide the second wild card. That’s because Seattle has the best record in games involving the three teams, and we have the worst.
The wrinkle, however, is that I think KC could, if it wanted, choose to switch places with us to guarantee a home game. That would be stupid, but they could do it.
\"Weren\'t you already aware the Kay is already writing everyone\'s story? We\'re all just characters who believe we are real. Things make more sense now, don\'t they. Be honest.\"- DMOAS
seattle alrady won, KC’s already winning. let’s go A’s!
KC’s losing now, but it’s early….
Lonesome gamethread… riding the prairie alone… lonesome gamethread… turning into its’ own clone
Yup. You’ve nailed the vibe I was looking for.
:)
well, i’ll say this for the A’s broadcasters. they won’t slip into cliches about god when talking about what makes a hitter good.
what? Like “well the good lord put just a little bit of hitter in his mammas belly when he was born”?
god gave him the gift to hit a ball. repeated in various permutations, with a drawl.
Colby Lewis is from B-Field, as if there werent already enough reasons to hate him.
I thought Bakersfielders were more to be pitied than hated…
When youre from Fresno you have to hate someone…
The problem with Bakersfielders is that the shift is always on…
…backwards.
We don’t know him, but we don’t like him.
love that song.
That crossup pitch was pretty much exactly right down the middle.
SuSlu says Gentry feels better but to not expect to see him play again this year. Ray says Gentry is doing “outstanding”. Hmm.
Glen. A’s fans do NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT JETER.
Et tu, SuSlu?
this is funny
OMFG STOP. STOP RIGHT NOW.
I am going to have to go back and search for all of my old Hammel comments and change them to ‘content removed”.
Tagline!!!
You suck Kuiper.
SHUT UP, VINCE
The reality is EM, you cant ask a person like Vince to just shut up. He has the consistency that, when he steps on the clutch, well things are just going to get clutchy.
VC was giving a hypothetical weather report and what it coulda meant to NY fans had it gone that way.
EXCEPT IT DIDN’T GO THAT WAY SO TOTALLY IRRELEVANT BESIDES UNINTERESTING!
You know, if Jeter had broken his leg yesterday that would have been terrible. There is a little kid who went to his first game today and he never would have known a player like jeets was there.
right before reddicks double yesterday, he said the a’s were waiting fo someone to step on the clutch. I was waiting for a bus and then the inning happened so it got lost.
STOP PLAYING THIS CRAP CALIFORNIA DODGE COMMERCIAL!!! THE SONG WAS PLAYED OUT LAST YEAR!
Ok, seriously I dont think I could get up the stairs as fast as that 98 yr old guy did. I mean I could, but I would be winded for like 3 minutes.
Time to go to the gym-sigh.
it odor supposed to rhyme with o’doul?
Odor odor Odor odor
Has anyone tried Longitude in downtown Oakland?
not i.
If you do I hope you aren’t too harsh. Give them some latitude.
37.8031, -122.2686
Mapping nerd.
ok. that time? maybe if he’d been running instead of sliding up he gets tagged.
A’s games now fall into categories, and a quick glance at the box score usually tells me even before I am watching the game. There’s the sloppy game, the bullpen cough-up, and the wasted start.
The latter usually involves a starter pitching really well. But at some point, he will give up a run or two. And the A’s will steadfastly refuse to score, unless it’s enough to make the loss doubly frustrating.
Hope I’m wrong.
and #3 it is.
how is that a decent excuse? review didn’t go our way because “we can only ask for one aspect of the play to be looked at.” well, fine. so ask to review the aspect that’s in question. especially if donaldson comes up saying he didn’t feel getting taggeg.
I am going to not be me here.
Lowrie is due-here we go!
Dp or K and popup?
taht’s so last inning.
My original thought for Lowrie was 463 or 643?
I go pro Soto. He can hit a fly ball and get us the lead!
that’s OK. nobody expected an NL move in arlington.
Well technically it fly a few feet. It is like when Jake called his shot and ended up bunting to score Willie Mays Hays from second against the Yankees.
Ha, that is not a smart play… I like Soto though, he is the only offensive player to do useful things.
“Let’s keep this crazy run of hitting .050 with risp for a whole month alive”
Latish, tied, bottom of the order, he can evidently execute … I’m fine with that.
There are times I prefer results to process.
Larish?
Zombies are afoot, I tells ya!
didn’t he catch for teh tiger’s championship team?
A run! The A’s aren’t winning this one 1-0, though.
I am officially ready to drop Kaz from the ALDS roster barring something amazing tomorrow.
Normally I rail against the catcher on sb’s. but that sounded like it was off hammel and martin is fast
It was good to see a catcher who could throw the ball to second on a line.
And it was pretty darn close too. Don’t go at Soto no mo.
Guys. It still colby lewis
Two words: Jerome Williams.
Wade LeBlanc.
Hector noesi
Colby Lewis.
liam Hendricks
Hector Santiago
come on JD.
Lets try that other stuff again; Donaldson is ready to go yard right here.
Um, STFU JD, it was in there. Swing the fking bat.
remeber when it seemed like a mortal lock that Dunn would pass winfield as an A?
SCOUTING REPORT:
to beat the A’s, throw change ups
Any Eeyores in here?
Do I count? I think we can win this
all the eeyores in the house. the eeyores the eeyores.
lowrie in the corner with a base stealing runner
i dropped my jaw and said that there’s a bummer
we bunted for one run, they got it back actually hitting
well, i’m shitting, i begged them please stop.
hey eeyores! get funky.
bob. its hammel. You have to win 2 of 4. let’s be early with the hook.
uhg, stupid orioles
It’s even wearing on SuSlu
gomes swinging on a 3-1 count
BoMel tired of leaving all these runners on base. Gomes helping him with that.
I want to beat jonny gomes.
I just want him to have a hip problem.
so far every pitcher has, so your turn might be coming up soon.
Billy Burns will be tonight’s hero.
Coffee run?
I need a volunteer to ride out
And bring us back some extra men
And Billy’s hand was up in a moment
Forgettin’ all the words she said
don’t be a fool
After hitting .223/.300/.345 in August, the A’s are hitting .222/.298/.309 in September.
vince reads these numbers and thinks the A’s just need to find consistency
They are consistent. The lineup looks like this:
………
not sure if nine puntos or three ellipses.
Yes.
That’s basically a collective Callaspo in September.
i’ve heard of tokyo being two different places day to night. same with my work hood.
daytime, quiet, everybody knows each other, we say hi on the way to coffee and back, parking is easy, you run 2-block errands on your bike on the sidewalk because there’s nobody around other than the 2 or 3 guys who’re there every day with the same story about how they need a buck for gas.
nighttime, every fucking yahoo shows up for the bars and thinks he invented going around the corner to smoke weed in the empty doorway (that’s not empty so you bump them opening the door), and honk because they’re all trying to park in the same spot and created an unnecessary traffic jam they can’t get out of, and vibe each other for a fight if there’s a second too much eye contact, even see some really awful drunken BJs between cars if you stick around till bars close. i don’t particularly care, other than i’m of the daytime set and when i come out at night i’m still in that mode and all of a sudden there’s some guy holding a 40 trying to fight me because of the way i’m standing in his eyepath, when, to my mind all i’m doing is waiting for a car to go by so i can cross the street. i just forget: act drunk or something, the jerkasses are here.
people hide to smoke weed?
weird
not so much hiding, going around the corner to be away from the bar door, but sitting on the stoop in front of the door of a house or apartment building.
there’s a lot of taking BART to the pot club down the street and hitting the bars to make a day of it.
Hi-diddly-ho, Krauterinos! Whaddaya say we windiddlyin this game?
this is our inning. 6 run mojo
Stupid Flanderses.
LMAO. Classic.
No vince you can’t make the case they are 0-5. CJ Wilson.
Jonny. watch coco. three balls, take the next pitch
How is a team with a magic number of 2 so utterly dull.
William. I have been defending you and thinking you should have a bigger role.
Stop messing that up
Who?
reddick
fuck.
man.
Just put them out of their misery.
That looked like it hit the top of the wall.
Yeah
Oh no. They lost.
So bad.
here is the thing, this is maddening yes, but they are hitting home runs away from winning and winning big. If they remember how to do that. we’re fine.
Now win 2 of 3 and its fine.
also, the angles are going to beat the mariniers at least once.
But if they only beat them once, the A’s have to win twice to avoid a play-in. That seems rather unlikely, which is so fucking sad.
magic number 2. only need to win one and the angels win one
And what about the A’s of late has shown to you that they are capable of winning two out of the next three?
Tomorrow: Kazmir. Not confident.
Saturday: Holland against the righties. Not confident.
Sunday: Gray. If it comes down to Sunday, I will not be confident.
Today! Kazmir: 7 Shut out innings
Tomorrow: We got to him Had him on the hook for the loss lst week
Sunday: 12 Ks in 6 innings!
HOW WRONG I WAS!!!
TODAY GET HIM ON THE HOOK FOR THE LOSS!!!! DOOLITTLE DOES NOT BLOW IT!!!
I can see it in their eyes!
The fly balls have been creeping further and further back. A couple of weeks ago they were to shallow CF. Last week the OFs stayed in position or took maybe a step back. Last night we had 2-3 get right to the friggin wall. We are 4-5 feet away from greatness.
Sounds like the fruit is ripening just in time…
I keep thinking this: we are all continuing to say that a bunch of this is mental. That this team gets in their own head, that everyone is trying to hard, that they do stuff they shouldnt trying to hit 10 R HRs etc.
Winning 1 or 2 games isnt enough to reset that mentality. Especially when the narrative is “can they even make the playoffs?”. They are still putting pressure and mind games because they havent made them.
If they actually clinch at some point before the end of Sunday they can have an honest to goodness sigh of relief. From there they are almost as good as the past 2 years, and a lot of those expectations they have been buried under for the last few months are lightened. That could be the time they say “ok-go back to being me and not superman”.
I know I am reaching and I am looking for silver linings everywhere, but this logic train at least makes sense to me. A whole lot more than “they were sad because Tommy Milone got demoted so they shat the bed for 2 months…”
I don’t think you’re reaching too much.
This is mostly due to injuries, but the rest of it’s due to inefficient attitude.
(pulls lid off of plastic container of salsa verde… notices lid says “FK” on it boldly)
Also, just assuming they do get into the wild card game, and then win it:
Starting with Game 117, the A’s have played 39 stretches of 5 games (1. Games 117-121, 2. Games 118-122 etc. thru 39. Games 155-159). How many times have they won 3 out of the 5? The answer is 7: the stretches starting with Games 124-128, 152 and 153. 29 of the 43 games have been against non-playoff teams.
that is gonna be awesome when we face the twins in the ALDS
We did really well against B’More. I am going to be saying that for a week next month-if we are in it or not.
The first half A’s did.
WRONG! We took 2 out of 3 AFTER the all star break and looked really good. And I am sure that I have heard more than one person use the whole “they looked bad even before the all star game” lines to make sure we all have as little hope as possible.
They did look bad before the break. They just looked much worse afterward.
Ok, but that is not what we were talking about. So you admit I am right that we looked good against Baltimore in the second half. Glad we cleared that up.
I admit no such thing!!!
That’s not how I read it. Clearly we looked good in taking 2 out of 3. It was after the all star break. And really the second half started even earlier than that.
Are you sure you’re feeling ok? Did you eat some spicy food or something? I think you are really cheery this Friday and it is making you misread some of what you are saying. But thats ok, I am here to help.
I’m not willing to admit such a thing even in the case which I may or may not be wrong proven with factually informative information. Think of me like the GOP and *this* is Science.
Tagline!
But-and yes I am reaching here like Barton doing the splits-we have also ran into a couple of teams as they were playing their best ball of the season. The Rangers have been terrible all year, until a few games before they met us for the first time. slegnA was playing their best ball of the year the first 2 series we played against them in August (? whenever those were).
Sure part of the they are playing better is because they got to play us, but it just was one more piece into the worst string of events in years.
I would be all over that reed of hope if it weren’t for the fact that we also dropped 6 of 7 to the White Sox and Braves during this collapse.
Why you gotta bring up the past?
To be fair, we did catch the Braves during their one brief period of competent play in the last two months. That sweep kicked off a 7-1 stretch for them.
Glass half full: see, we are just hitting everyone at the wrong time.
Reality(?): teams start to feel good when they get to play us.
and since the M# was 2 going into the series, then all they’re having to do is get 1 out of 4, giving tomorrow’s a 25% chance of that, instead of 33% from here out. 33% over 3 days = 11%. 25% over 4 days = 6 something%. 6 is about half of 11… that’s more than 50% better odds, right?
I try to refrain from the pointless and incredibly tiresome comments, Ed, but I think you’re trying too hard to put lipstick on a pig here.
Well, in the last 20 games the pitching has been great, in the last week the A’s seem to at least be getting on base a little more, and if I squint hard maybe the epidemic of horrible defensive gaffes is almost over. So if we add home runs to those trends we might in fact be fine.
Obviously debunking any one or more of my dependent premises makes it less fine.
we will send him to retirement with a gift certificate from his local Missouri Mack store
Is it spiderpig? Because I here he does whatever a spiderpig does. He can’t swing from a web because he’s a pig though.
He’s not Spiderpig anymore, he’s Harry Plopper.
Only three more of these agonies left.
And then the 11 to 20 ones after that.
Just so you know, I’ve died and gone to Heaven. Nothing that happens with this game matters after that concert.
The Mariners are closer to catching the A’s than the A’s are to a home play-in game. And Seattle has been doing their best to help.
False. They’re equally close.
I want to hear this over and over at game 3 v. the angels
that was supposed to start at 1:06
Bow-wow-wow-yippee-yo-yippee-yay, bow-wow-yippee-yo-yippee-yay!
If you had told me in July the team that was on pace for 105 wins or so wouldn’t even be winning 90 games, I would’ve assumed there was a terrible bus accident that wiped out half the team. Which is essentially what happened.
Our lineups now typically consist of guys like no neck, hipster, Son of a dozen small lower leg problems, Vogt for bad foot and ankle, D back is hurting, broken finger, and we have the concussion twins on the bench still. And why is it that the only ones who never seem to get hurt are the likes of Keebs and Collapso-those who you almost cant tell the difference if they were hurt?
Upside: Rangers are now 2.5 games ahead of the DBacks for the worst record. So in next year’s draft chances are they’ll likely pick 3rd or 4th (Rockies only .5 game ahead of them) instead of 1st.
Is this a draft where not landing a top two pick is a huge downgrade?
Boy, did the Gnats ever look awkward celebrating the Wild Card victory that they’d already been handed earlier in the day. They have T-shirts that say “NL West Division” as if they’d won it.
didn’t see. But I was a little miffed that the shirts this year are way better than the “we own the XXX” from last year
no.
ever since (and i don’t know when it was) mlb wrestled control of gear design from the teams, all these things have become generic and sad. might as well just have a blue stripe with just the words “mlb team end of season celebratory shirt,” “mlb puntober shirt,” “mlb team hoodie,” etc. these last ones make me maddest because the players and coaches have to wear them, prolly by contract even, to advertise for the mlb marketing dept.
Could not agree more. Those hoodies are damn disgrace.
And it’s just a matter of (probably not much) time before they have a giant CHEVROLET logo on them.
Much like on Manchester United’s kits.
(Haha, acceptable usage!)
Wont happen. Pretty sure it would be presented by Dodge.
(Part of the reason I hate seeing the hoodies in the dugout may be that my first memory of them is the 2003 Red Sox during Game 5. I have this memory of Derek Lowe wearing one seared into my brain.)
Yep.
I would pay a few dollars to get a “Oakland Athletics end of season celebratory shirt”. I might pay more for that than what they actually put out.
The only ones I actually like are the ones that have the roster on them. I really wnated the one for 2012, but by the time I ever found any they just had the team name. I like the memories of seeing names like Brandon Allen and Jordan Noberto.
The best place to get roster shirts, both beginning and end of season, is the parking lot/BART bridge/Hegenberger median strip vendors; they always do them, but of course that doesn’t help NRAFs. Do you want me to keep an eye out for one at next week’s games?
That would be great-preferrably in a dark grey/black or a dark green if they have them. And extra extra extra fat.
If somehow you run into a time traveller that has 2012 shirts I would take whatever for any $$.
Is there a better time to find the folks on the BART bridge? whnever I walk over to the game all I see is the churro folks. Heading out I may see a couple but usually they dont seem to have much that I would like. Is Hegenberger better? I think I may drive up for the next game I am hopefully attending so I can have more flexibility on getting out at a time that works, fighting crowds, etc.
in before the game is usually more populated.
I’ll keep my eyes open. There’s some people who have a tent that they sometimes have set up so that you see it as you get off from NB 880 on Hegenberger, across from the Burger King; and sometimes in the parking lot of the upholstery store on 66th across the street from the north lot entrance. They also roam the Coliseum parking lots at big games, along with an increasing number of women who’ve made green-and-gold bead jewelry, and occasionally kids selling chocolate bars. The guys were offering 2 shirts for $10 on Wednesday, I didn’t ask to see any of their wares because I didn’t have $10.
I agree with this, I am saying the “we own teh XXX” was by far and away the stupidest shirt ever offered for sale
i know. was just venting. gotta find good places to put this angry time anger.
still, they’re not quite as stupid as the matching set,
we’re with owners
of the [division]
<----
The 93-loss Rangers have won 12 of 13. The A’s have won 12 games since August 13th.
So clearly the Rangers are tired out from all that jumping up and down, and due for three losses!
I keep thinking “just as they werent the worst team in baseball, they really are not as good as they have been the past 2 weeks and have to be ready to cool off a bit”. So far that hasnt happened, although last night they didnt look great, just a little more lucky than us.
Damn-now you got me thinking; we hit the fly ball that goes right to the high wall and gets caught, they get the walkoff on the ball that goes about 18 inches over the wall. I thought football was the game of inches.
bunt stolen base single. Hammel holds martin better, not run that inning.
Ball that bounced off the top of the wall.
Inches from a win.
-placeholder for Pacino’s “inches” video to be put in when I can get on youtube…
Well, Rosales hit one to the deepest part that was caught too. Lowrie hit one I thought was gone. Vogt’s I didn’t think had enough.
SA doesnt count because as a former A, any hit he has against us this year has 25 ft automatically added to it.
I think we’re clinching tonight.
I’d expect Weaver to have a full 100-pitch outing since he’ll work Game 1 on 5 days rest, and Iwakuma’s last 6 starts have been dreadful. Beyond that, though, with the Angels’ magic number for best overall record down to 1, they figure to play Saturday and Sunday as exhibition games.
Given how they’ve played the past 2 weeks, i think a traveling slegnA exhibition squad still has a good chance against the M’s.
Also, shouldnt CJ be getting one of those starts? I would expect them to try and have him get the taste of lawyerball out of his gagging throat.
And lefties are death on seattle
They’ve been clenching for 6 weeks.
Oh, you weren’t talking butt cheeks were you?
538 still believes.
The problem is that I don’t think we are playing with the same random-number generator.
Injuries (especially to Moss/Vogt/Jaso) make this a different true-talent team.
Absolutely. Although you could also say our true pitching talent has changed significantly for the better in the second half.
Also, wouldn’t the injury thing often be the case for teams that concentrate their suck into the end of the season? And if so, wouldn’t it show up in the playoff success numbers?
Honestly, no idea. But the 538 article sure wishes it away.
While that may be, it’s also true that what we’re seeing isn’t the true-talent of this team either. And it wouldn’t take much. So there is that.
See-I’m telling you. Your positive outlook for the team is spreading. It’s damn near infectious!! You are making me believe we have enough of these next 3 games under control and then we are off to the races!
Thank you for the positive viewpoint man. We need more of those =)
Oh, no. We’re getting swept in this four game set. The M’s are just going to lose two to the Angels.
Love the optimism. We are taking this All THE WAY
he
he believes
he believes the A’s
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost! he believes the A’s will be out-lost!
Book it-dmoas 100% confident the A’s make the postseason.
Actually, now that I re-read this, I think you are saying Cleveland will be the second WC.
Shit, dude. I think I see what you’re seeing…
Except… The Mariners only lose one to the Angels.
And Cleveland sweeps the Rays.
According to the release notes on the latest update to the At Bat app, “for the first time we will be streaming live every World Series game and select other Postseason games to all authenticated MLB.TV Premium subscribers.” Sounds like maybe that’s only for the Fox games, because it also says there will be “companion coverage,” i.e. the alternate camera angles along with live audio, of the TBS games.
was that 86mph 0-0 pitch with runner on 2nd in the bottom of the 9th in a tied game a little 2rooved maybe?
But do you really think it was a fix like people are trying to say? I mean the O’s still have something to play for. Hard to think Buck would go for that.
Or did the O’s pitcher just Wainwright the whole thing?
only slightly more obvious than serving one up to Ripkin in the ASG.
Thanks, and go As.
Or to Jeter in the ASG?
Current mlb.com headline: “Fister aims to pitch Nats’ tent at home”
New current headline: Nats grab top seed in NL on Fister’s gem (he should really take his jewelry off first)
There were a LOT of Fister jerseys last year at Folsom Street Fair.
Given the circumstances, it’s a guarantee that Felix pitches game 162 for the M’s. So at least there’s that.
FK YEAH!
Say, going into Sunday, the Mariners are one game behind the A’s for the second wild card spot. So they have to beat the Angels, hope the A’s lose to the Rangers and then beat the A’s on Monday to go any farther.
It sure would be tempting to try to beat the Angels with whatever pitching you can scrape together and have Felix pitch on Monday, at home against a team that psychs itself out against Jerome Williams and Colby Lewis.
It would never happen, because if the Mariners lost Sunday, Lloyd McClendon would never have another job in baseball.
Well and I keep wondering what role the slegnA play in this. Fatty is the type of manager who says he will keep playing out of respect for the game. But dont you have to start thinking about which team you would rather face? I mean they know they can’t control the Royals, but if they think they have a preference between us or the M’s dont you have to play accordingly?
FB just killed me. Saw I picture of Reggie. With #2. Ok, I dont like that but I get it.
And Franco Harris.
W!T!F! Hey, lets add Adam Viniteri and the 2002 Tampa Bucs while we’re at it. Maybe the random Bengal that pulled down Bo and made him rip his hip off of his leg. Could you hang out with Mike Davis and Gibby too? jesus H
Just for old-times’ sake, throw in Rob Lytle.
So what would happen if the Mariners win out, KC doesn’t win any, and the A’s win one? How is a three-way tie settled?
with a rocky erickson cover.
You win the day, good sir!
A vs. B on Monday. Winner is first wild card.
A-B loser vs. C on Tuesday. Winner is second wild card.
Wild card game on Wednesday.
The Mariners would be A and would get
both games (if they need the second)the first game at home. Not clear if the Royals would opt to be B or C. C does get an off day,but plays their game on the road.and plays their game at home.So, teams A and B both get two chances to be a wildcard team, while C gets one? And the A’s are team C in this scenario? Lovely.
If I were Fortune — which I’m not —
C should enjoy B’s happy lot,
And A should die in misery —
That is, assuming A’s are C.
ABACAB isn’t anywhere.
Bed may kill you when he sees that.
ASVD
I had the notion right, but C plays its single game at home (will fix above).
Conceivably if the A’s are Team B, they would:
Play Sunday at Arlington.
Play Monday at Seattle.
Play Tuesday at Kansas City (with a Monday loss).
Play Wednesday at Seattle (with a Tuesday win).
Play Thursday at Anaheim (with a Wednesday win).
How bout we make it easier and win the next 3? Would that be ok?
Even winning two would be fine
We can’t be B unless KC wants to trade places with us. I can’t imagine they would, since that would mean:
-only one bite at the apple instead of two
-no chance to host the wild card game
-no off-day between the tiebreaker and the wild card game
The Monday off-day is the appeal of C. If B wins on the road on Monday they get a Tuesday off-day, but if not B has that horrible travel schedule. I don’t think it’s clear-cut and probably depends on how a team’s pitching is set up.
I just can’t see a team opting into back-to-back elimination games just to give themselves an off day Monday, especially when winning on Monday gives them an off day Tuesday. I guess there’s the extreme scenario where the only starter you have available Monday is Gil Heredia.
Even in that scenario, you still take a shot with Gil and take that second shot with whoever.
I agree. And you still have your 40-man roster available for the tiebreakers (right?), so you can go full Joe Maddon if you want to.
Yep.
Incidentally, in a three-team tie involving Cleveland (A’s 0-3, Sea 2-1, Cle 3-0), the designations would be:
A: Seattle
B: Oakland
C: Cleveland
This would be a three team tie for one WC spot though right? So I assume that would work differently
Oh, right. My ranking above would still be the order of preference, but the strategy is different. A would host B in the first game, with the winner of that one hosting C in the next game for all the marbles.
So Seattle could choose to be A, in which case they would have to win two games to advance to the wild card game and would host both. I imagine they would choose to be C, in which case they only have to win one game, albeit a road game. Choosing to play three straight elimination games just to avoid travel seems like a terrible plan.
We would get second pick. If Seattle picked C, we would pick A. If Seattle picked A, then we would pick C.
Ah okay, that makes sense.
I know that the A’s are so much better than every other team in baseball that they decided to tailspin the last two months just to play out an interesting WC scenario on their way to the inevitable World Series victory, but they should probably just go ahead and win a few of these games against the Rangers instead.
We realized that the time off between the end of the regular season and the playoffs messed with our rhythm. Playing the WC means fewer off days and guarantees the WS.
Plus, if they’d clinched two or three weeks ago as they were on pace to do, think how boring these last few weeks would have been!
Could there be a 4 way tie and how the hell do you solve that?
KC winning yesterday killed off that possibility. If it’s for one spot, I think you play a Final Four type of tournament with the matchups determined by drawing lots. If it’s four for two spots, I have no earthly idea.
Four for two spots, wouldn’t you just do the same thing except without the two winners needing to play an extra game against each other? (They still would play each other, but it would be the regular WC game, rather than part of an extra tiebreaker.)
I guess that’s right. And determine WC 1/2 based on head-to-head or the lots?
The sensible (although arguably not fair) way would be to have a final four and the two winners advance. Lots could be drawn to choose your opinion/get home field.
No idea if that’s how it would work.
Pretty sure the Ms would be C since they have the highest win % within the three.
Pretty sure I’m wrong and that the Ms would get to choose their position.
It’s a draft, with the Mariners getting first choice with season series wins over both the Royals and A’s and the Royals second choice with the season series win over the A’s. Clearly A is preferred because they play the first game at home and then get a second chance if they lose.
Yep. I realized that after and edited.
My understanding is that Seattle would host KC on Monday to determine the first wild card, and we would host the loser of that game to decide the second wild card. That’s because Seattle has the best record in games involving the three teams, and we have the worst.
The wrinkle, however, is that I think KC could, if it wanted, choose to switch places with us to guarantee a home game. That would be stupid, but they could do it.
THANK YOU DAVE STEWART.
Thanks, and go As.
The pink slip said “payback’s a bitch”.
Although I suppose this means everyone will have to play That Clip another 200000 times.
I know what he did merely from your proclamation.
Hallefrickinlujah!
I like to think that LaRussa had Stew deliver most of the explanation and then sent Eck in to say “You’re Fired.”
And then limped around the office pumping his fist all the way.
he’ll be pumping his fist alright.
TWSS
Thanks, and go As.
This HAS to be tag-lined.
Worst record review ever?
This gamethread title reminds me that you can make any phrase sound dirty by simply adding “…M’ladies.”
The Home games are over…M’ladies…
I sure love me some Big Donkey in the Two Hole…M’ladies…
Tonight we’re putting Kaz on the barrelhead….M’ladies…
You can always toughen your phrases by adding “and shit”.
“Im taking my culottes to the dry cleaners…and shit.”
I’m taking my culottes to the dry cleaners and shit…m’ladies.
I’m scratching my balls and shit, M’ladies…
Order is important there. If you scratched your shit and balls you may risk infection.