I think we can get through four days without anyone in the A’s traveling party trying to assert his Second Amendment rights. The room service employees at the hotel in Toronto can breathe easy and go about their duties.
The schedule, including the network roulette:
Thursday at 4 p.m.: Triggs vs. Aaron Sanchez, MLB Network alternate channel*
Friday at 4 p.m.: Anderson vs. Marco Estrada, NBCS-CA
Saturday at 10 a.m.: Manaea vs. Joe Biagini Sam Gaviglio, FS1*
Sunday at 10 a.m.: Mengden vs. Jaime Garcia Joe Biagini, NBCS-CA
*Caution: Fosse on radio on Thursday and Saturday
Sanchez is the only one of those Jays starters off to even a moderately decent start statistically. Kendrys Morales is their regular DH but he has been dreadful and isn’t in the lineup every day. Justin Smoak, Yangervis Solarte and Kevin Pillar, plus Curtis Granderson as a platoon player, look to be hitting well and Josh Donaldson is picking it up a bit after a few weeks on the DL with a shoulder issue.
On the ex-A’s watch, besides Donaldson, Tyler Clippard and Canada’s own John Axford are both getting regular work in the Jays’ bullpen.
So I won’t be able to watch this game despite having both my local rsn network and an mlb.tv subscription. Way to go, baseball.
Same.
So interesting thing. I have the A’s only plan, but am allowed to watch the Blue Jays feed it looks like.
Can you usually choose the opponent’s broadcast over Glen and Ray?
I do not believe so. I could be wrong but I swear I tried once and couldnt. I also of course cant watch any of the slegnA or Dodger games even on either feed because MLB is da stoopid
I have both of those plus DirecTV at $$$. Still won’t be able to watch when the A’s are, eventually, on one of those Facebook games, because I don’t have and won’t get a Facebook account. I did watch tonight on about a 2-hour DVR delay. Buck Martinez is pretty good at dispensing Alternate Facts.
Khrushed (or so I hear)!
Triggs broke
RIP, Triggs
Graveman hasn’t pitched since being sent back to Nashville, and he doesn’t seem to be scheduled to start over the next couple of days.
I guess we won’t need another starter until the Arizona series, so they can time a Nashville start to get him back on turn.
What does that even mean?
It means an imminent appointment with Dr. Andrews.
Be sure to ask for the Jarrod Parker Repeat Customer discount.
Keep scoring, fellas. Who knows what the pen has in store for us.
Keep ’em coming
Not sure how much BoMel is planning to get out of Casilla here, but it is probably too much.
Having painful flashbacks to the Axford era.
K, HBP, K, HR sounds about right
I say we can hold a five run lead. Who says no?
May 17 and counting
9-17 (0.346) vs the AL West, 11-5 (0.688) vs everyone else
14-5
We’re back just in time! Anderson breaks in least surprising news of year. Josh Lucas is the best pitcher ever. Dustin Fowler hits his first HR. A’s now 5-3 on the road trip! W00t!
Oodles of doubles, and Blake Treinen is extremely nasty.
How great is it that FK and Brett Anderson died on the same day?
The surprising part is that he’s never hurt his shoulder before.
I knew I was being an asshole when they came back from commercial and I laughed when there was Nick Paparesta with Brett, but I couldn’t help it.
It’ll be like getting Kinja at the deadline.
Crazy live video of lava fountain right now.
Today’s new live feed link. Camera is half mile from Fissure 17.
amazing.
I have had it running full screen all day, mesmerizing
I know exactly what to do in the Preakness tomorrow, so early pick (plus I’ll be busy).
Justify opened at 1/2 and could go off as short as 1/5. The Preakness has a decent tradition of good Exacta pays but certainly not if Justify gets a piece. So I’m going the other way. A $2 Exacta keyed to Good Magic (5) to either Win or Place, with every other horse except Justify. 5 over 1,2,3,4,6,8 and 1,2,3,4,6,8 over 5, total $24. I like the risk-reward a lot.
10-man bullpen!
Font has done a lot of starting in the minor leagues…
Ooh, the beloved A.J. Pierzynski gets the television assignment.
It’s hard to loathe him as much without seeking that punk face.
pretty good at TV
ray thinks clippard or axford are good closing options for the Jays closer
There were three Experienced Veteran Closers in the bullpens in that game who aren’t closing now, and somehow we dialed up the correct two for a victory.
Hung one to Chad.
Pinder! Damn this team is fun on the road.
Blake for another day?
Ok then, trienan again?
ack!
ack!
Nice.
Turning out be quite a roadtrip.
May 23
Oh wow.
Hee hee hee!
A whole lot of slop at Pimlico. Posttime 3:47. Justify at 2/5, and the other prices all look juicy.
Justify now down to 1/5. I can live with not being on board at that thin price.
Close race, entertaining, plenty of reason to keep looking for other options at the Belmont in 3 weeks
Sergio Romo started for the Rays and struck out Cozart, Trout and Upton before giving way to the real starter, a rookie they didn’t want to face Trout three times I guess.
And he’s starting again today.
You just gonna sit there and take that, Scioscia? Bat Trout ninth.
It’s an interesting idea though … if you’re expecting to get 6-7 innings out of your starter is it better to use a reliever for the 1st rather than the 8th inning?
I wouldn’t want to use my best, or even second-best reliever in such a low-leverage situation. But in the specific situation where (1) I have a guy who is only effective against righties, (2) the other team heads its lineup with a bunch of good to all-time great righties, and (3) my scheduled starter is a lefty, it’s a strong move.
But what’s a “best” reliever? If your best reliever is a fireballer who’s only ever good for 20 pitches, what better 20 pitches for him to throw than the 20 he’ll throw to the top of the opposing order? If your best reliever is more of a finesse pitcher, that’s a different story, but that’s also a different year, isn’t it? Seems like relievers are all short-fuse fireballers now.
I think you can make the argument for it. Assume that, statistically speaking, all innings are of equal value and that, in a lineup of nine identical clones, no inning is more likely than any other to produce runs except for the pitcher getting tired. Now back to the real world where there aren’t nine identical clones in the lineup, and the first four or five guys are the most dangerous. If we know we have a pitcher who’s really good for about four or five batters, wouldn’t we like to guarantee that we use him for the best four or five batters? What better way to do so than in the first inning? This is even leaving aside the whole thing about how hitters start to do much better on the third time through the lineup.
I think there’s a legit point of view here that shouldn’t be dismissed. Especially because you can’t even blame it on Joe Maddon outsmarting himself, because he’s not there anymore. He’s outsmarting himself for the Cubs now.
That makes sense if you know for sure that you will use your best pitcher in a particular game. But the difference in leverage between (what turns out to be) a 5-4 game and (what turns out to be) a 9-0 game is far greater than the difference between different parts of the lineup.
Yeah, that’s a fair argument against it. Perhaps you use it against particularly dangerous lineups.
Rich Hill started for the Dodgers and threw two pitches before leaving with a busted blister.
The Coliseum gets a lot of shit, much of it deserved, but in terms of TV looks and actual playing surface it runs circles around the Rogers Centre.
I will maintain until the day I die that there are no bad seats in the Coliseum, and that for that reason it is the best park in baseball.
I’m obviously insanely biased, but I feel much more connected to the game at the Coliseum than I do at AT&T, even when I have good seats there. And that includes when the A’s are playing at AT&T. There’s just too much BS going on at places like that.
The Coliseum may not be a great place to entertain clients or have a bachelorette party, but is a pretty good place to watch a baseball game.
Are there good seats at ATT? I know there are traditionally good locations to sit, but their seat down face the mound/home plate, they face center field. And the result is it’s very easy to have your view blocked.
The bleachers and the second deck above them (well, and Mt Davis) are pretty bad at the Coliseum. Although, the standing room at the Treehouse has made it a little better.
I would certainly agree that the bleachers are the worst seats, but still a fine view in my opinion. I always feel like I can see the game at the Coliseum–not in the sense of there being distractions or people moving around a lot, but just in terms of what is physically within my field of view with enough proper points of reference for me to accurately process it–and I rarely feel that way at other parks. Some parts of Kauffman Stadium in KC are like that (and the K is undeniably a more beautiful park, although I liked it better before the remodel.)
The most annoying thing about the Coliseum’s seating arrangement is that if you are in the front of the second deck or the rear field level sections, there are constantly people walking by and blocking your view. That design flaw ruined a lot of what would otherwise be among the best seats in the house.
Then again, I sat in the front of the third deck of AT&T a couple of weeks ago, and, despite the officious ushers, there was a constant stream of people posing for pictures on the landing next to me during the damn game. One group of Brazilian girls even came back and did a reshoot during the same inning after deciding that the first batch wasn’t instaworthy.
Chapman > Donaldson
The haircuts clinch it.
Ken just dropped a “the reality is”…
“There’s not a lot Donaldson could do” except not look to the wrong base, not bobble the ball, and not a have a bad arm now.
A lot of tough chances for him today, but he hasn’t made a single play.
That’s what he was saying. Donaldson can’t do anything useful and the A’s have officially won the trade.
Two-run Semien!
That was killed.
When’s Khris’ wake scheduled for?
Is Barnes really as wild as Gameday suggests?
These fans have even worse fly ball judgment than Glen does.
Nashville facing Guillermo Moscoso today.
Kendrys Morales and Wilmer Font are the perfect blowout pitchers.
well, one of them is
LOL Font
Leafs blow a game seven, Michael Bradley kicks Toronto F.C.’s chance at a continental championship into Row Z, LeBron humiliates the Raptors, and now this. Tough month.
A’s are 4-0 when playing lunkhead-free baseball. Not even the unwritten rules require carrying a left-handed hitting catcher.
he has to stay down at least through the seattle series, yeah?
Nice having a defensive replacement too
I think he can come off the restricted list immediately. But I’m certainly in no hurry to see him again.
ah, thank
They put him on the
reserverestricted list, which I think means he can come back immediately.you, its been a busy weekend
Phegley optioned.
boo, meh
Yeah, I’ve never been thrilled with Phegley either.
I’m more excited about the upcoming thinning of the bullpen herd. They now have three starters and eleven relievers, counting Ramirez. That has to be down to five and eight by Thursday. I expect Hatcher and Font DFA and Dull optioned, but, sure, they could send Pagan and/or Lucas out again. If they option Trivino, Melvin will go up to the office and kick Billy in the nuts.
Maybe Morales is available?
I was looking forward to the bullpen because of the pre season hype, but its been as frustrating as the starters
The bullpen has been OK since some early hiccups. Treinen is fantastic, Petit solid. The Buchter injury and Pagan being horrible are problems, but Trivino and Lucas have been very nice surprises. Even Casilla has been useful.
Thanks, and go As.
Frickin’ fantastic.
Yea I found most of those phone call chick memes really stupid, but that one was absolutely hilarious.
Thanks, and go As.
When did Blondie start getting called punk? They were pop through and through.
i mean, sure. you can exclude her (and a lot of other mid-late 70s’ max’s and CBGB’s regulars) from punk, but only through the benefit of retrospection, when you can reach back through the modern expectation of hard, fast, 3-powerchords, minute-thirty musical stabs and knock out the people who experimented toward that eventual definition even if it left them out, strictly speaking. but she does figure in both please kill me and rip it up and start again as, if not architect of, at least accepted into the genre by the contemporaneous peers.
but if you’re still looking to get mad at gross musical mischaracterization in a headline from the guardian, i suggest last week’s glenn branca elegy, when they called sonic youth a new wave band.
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A’s sign YNoa.
Any of you people ever attend a game in the “BBQ Terrace”? Thoughts?
Is rajai davis on this blog?
If he is I could use a haircut.
Update: I recommend it. Food was good and plentiful, view was not bad. Gotta have a big group willing to show up early to eat though, as the grub goes away at first pitch.
He has a 43% K rate in AA. But sure, open lane.
Logan Shore promoted to AA Midland. After starting the year on the DL, he had 25 K, 2 BB, 1.21 ERA in 22 innings at Stockton.
I’m wondering about Jonah Heim, the catcher we got for Joey Wendle. He’s putting up solid numbers at Stockton, he’s only 22, he’s a switch hitter, and early scouting reports suggested he has good catching tools. I imagine he’s only in Stockton for as long as Sean Murphy is in Midland.
Murphy, btw, has a .390 wOBA on the season, which, coupled with his defensive reputation, is pretty, pretty interesting.
McDONALD’S conduct and practices…caused Plaintiffs…to pay for cheese that was not wanted or received.
“comprised of”
“been forced, and continue”
who proofreads these things??
even this was surprisingly cleaner (though 50 times as sickening), if you accept the word-echo as a rhetorical tactic.
noticing because of the latest revisionist history. asking for a job seeker with an english degree.
Many years ago I didn’t think McDonald’s was horrible. I liked the Quarter Pounder sans cheese. Then they quit offering that, and it was still when all the burgers were sitting in the stryofoam boxes in the warmer with the cheese congealing. If I wanted my Quarter Pounder without cheese it became a special order with a wait. I thank them for driving my business away, because their quality has been on a decades-long slide ever since.
Do those who have abandoned home landlines entirely for the cell phone have significant issues with junk calls on the cell? I’ve been using Ooma Premier for a few years as my primary number, only giving out the cell number when absolutely necessary, and using the blocking features of Ooma Premier to eliminate most of the crap. But now my Telo (the Ooma device that’s hardwired to the router) is deceased, as determined by 45 minutes on the cell phone with tech support this morning. I was thinking, rather than replace the Telo plus continue to pay the ongoing cost of Ooma Premier, I’ll just go with the single Google Fi line, but I’m concerned about that additional burden of junk.
I get junk calls on my cell at a rate of ~1-2 per day. I pretty much never pick up unless I know the number that is calling or am expecting a call (rare).
Same here, 1-2 junk calls fault which I decline, then block
Does blocking do anything? Spam calls I get on my cell phone are almost never from the same number twice. (These days, they are mostly forged numbers, usually showing the same area code and first three digits as my own number, I guess to make them look local.)
After a bunch of those I used the Ooma tools to block 775-410-*. 410 came out of Ymax’s (MagicJack’s) stack and was ported to Ooma; it’s not a number a local business would likely be using. Anybody wants to call me from a 410 number, tough. My Google Fi prefix traces to something called “Bandwidth.com” which apparently works with a bunch of wireless services so I may not want to blanket-block that one.
Yeah, >50% seem to be 510-260-XXXX numbers. Once I block one it doesn’t call back, i
Yeah, >50% seem to be 510-260-XXXX numbers. Once I block one it doesn’t call back, but I guess that’s just an artifice since if they can just spoof other #s.
Maybe 1 or so real junk calls a week.
Now the calls from LAUSD that I dont care about? Those are the true annoyance, but I think I have about 6 more years of them.
Couldn’t resist those Fosse Ooma reads in the warmup show, eh?
I was one of the last 100 or so people in America to get a smart phone. I was on MagicJack for a while and had a granny cell phone with prepaid plan from T-Mobile that required something like a $10 renewal every three months assuming it was rarely used. Ooma was definitely an upgrade from MagicJack for a landline, but it does cost $15/month for the premier service ($120/year plus ~$5 month in fees/taxes). Since I got the smart phone the Ooma line seems redundant; increased use would raise the Google Fi bill above the ~$23/month I’m paying now but not by the full $15.
As to colin’s point, who would actually pick up on their personal phone any more if they don’t recognize the number? That isn’t a problem; I just don’t want to have to plow through a ton of junk voicemails every day (since the phone is almost always off unless I’m using it).
Most of the junk calls don’t leave a message.
Ken Rosenthal has a nice piece in The Athletic on how the A’s decided to draft Chapman despite his iffy college numbers.
The A’s have had quietly good to great drafts since 2011. They deserve a lot of credit for revamping something that has been a major pain point in the mid-late 2000s.
Although 2015 looks pretty bad right now
That Russell, Robertson, Olson first round in 2012 is looking quite good.
Looks like no DL move for Khris yet, even though they say groin strains usually take several weeks to heal. Smolinski and Barreto are both in the lineup for Nashville (as are Phegley, Laureano, and Mateo, who are the other hitters on the 40-man roster). Are we really going to play multiple games with a 2-man bench?
They have Davis listed on the bench. Very weird. Also amusing that there aren’t enough bullpen lines.
It’s a nostalgic revisit to the old “day-to-day” thing which became nearly extinct with the 10-day DL.
It’s amazing that they didn’t get him into the MRI machine yesterday.
That would leave an open space on the 40-man as well.
And I was not correct about Ramirez. He had been optioned to Buffalo about a week before the Jays DFA’d him, so the A’s had to add him to the 40-man roster but not the 25.
I’m mildly intrigued by Caribbean Series MVP Anthony Garcia, an outfielder who would need to be put on the 40-man.
Fun fact: Previous Caribbean Series MVPs include Ramon Hernandez, Erubiel Durazo, and Geronimo Berroa.
Three of the greatest Roy Steele announced names.
Dee Gordon to the DL with a fractured toe … maybe they’ll just leave 2nd base undefended.
No Gordon or Cruz tonight. Someone else will have to step up to kill us.
I know they’re a division rival and all – as though we had such pretensions – but I’m looking forward to the Astros spanking the Giants (free game of the day, if you’re out of area).
The Astros didn’t even spank them. Just casually batted them out of their way without breaking stride.
Div rivals and all that, but the way the Stros just do that is irresistable.