The A’s are in Denver for a two-game series with the Rockies.
T: Manaea vs. Senzatela, 5:40 PM
W: Fiers vs. German Marquez, 12:10 PM
Fiers is not the ideal pitcher for Coors Field.
On the other side, those are the same two pitchers who beat us at the Coliseum at the end of July.
Blackmon is certainly dedicated to The Outfield for his walk-up music.
Lamby?!?
That’s our old friend Brian Fuentes on one of the cutouts behind the plate.
Now that’s some A-level trolling.
He’s not directly behind the plate, but when they have a shot of a LH hitter from their low-3rd camera you get a nice faceful of Fuuuuu.
It’s good to see Walt Weiss over there too. He’s over Fuuuuu’s right shoulder and about two seats away.
Best Tar Heel in A’s history (I assume).
Matt Kemp might be auditioning for a reboot of The Klumps.
https://tenor.com/view/jesse-pinkman-yellow-breaking-bad-inflate-gif-5320398
If you’re going from first to second on that fly ball you need to be 110% sure, and it looked like he was only at about 105%.
The Coors Field grass does not look like a natural shade of green.
Downtown Denver was an excellent weekend trip. The A’s are there June 4-6 (Fri-Sun) next season and that’s probably my first road trip post-COVID.
My brother-in-law lives in Denver and every time I visit I find more to like. Great transit, pleasant neighborhoods, excellent ballpark, abundant recreation choices.
I’m super bummed my parents are moving from Denver to Albuquerque.
Why does it always feel like Grossman takes forever to get the ball in. There’s been multiple instances where it seems like guys are taking an extra base on him.
I haven’t noticed that in general; on that play he was running hard laterally to cut off the ball to the deep Coors Field alley, I don’t think you can fault him.
I don’t pay much attention to California politics but I noticed a commercial there where Lyft and Uber (and Vox Media?) got some proposition on the ballot to change the laws about gig workers’ income.
Yes they want to overturn AB5, the notorious gig worker law which among other impacts sent SB Nation into terrified retrenchment.
Vote no on 22. Make uber/lyft pay unemployment
I have a few small business/non-profit clients who have bent over backwards to comply with AB5, if Uber/Lyft get a pass while they still have to stick with it…grrrrr
0/9 RISP
0/4 already today, two innings in.
Olson tried to stay on the bag while reaching for that throw. He needed to come off, and save the two bases.
Well saving two bases didn’t really matter, did it.
Semien looks really uncomfortable in the field since his IL return.
I wonder what happens with him this offseason. He was definitely in line for nine figures. Now he might be in a position where he accepts a QO, and then who knows with a likely CBA apocalypse after the 2021 season.
Sigh, I don’t know if folks feel differently, but I think I’m equally uncomfortable with every A’s starter in a playoff series (Fiers a little more than the other 5).
I’m probably more uncomfortable with the hitting in a playoff series.
This is where I am. If the bats are awake I dont care who starts. If they are asleep it doesn’t matter.
It’s an empty/full glass problem, right now I’m OK with any of our starting five in the playoffs, pending whoever looked best in his previous two starts. Last time we had an obvious elimination game starter it didn’t work out so great.
I would put a bit more of a positive spin on it. They have all pitched well at times, and poorly at times. There’s no one I’m thrilled about matching up with Cole or Bieber, but no one who makes me cringe either.
I was actually thinking earlier in the game about how I would want the rotation for the playoffs: probably Luzardo, Bassitt, and then … I really don’t know. Montas has the best stuff, obviously, but has been strangely terrible for a while now, while Manaea has been really good (3,1,3,1,1, and 2 (so far) runs allowed in his last 6 starts. Probably Fiers and Minor (despite yesterday) after the other 4.
Please take Manaea out so that last number doesn’t increase too much though.
I do think Bob needs a quicker hook come the playoffs and may need to let a hot reliever stay in an extra out or 2.
I think they’re set up better than most teams for the ALCS and WS if it comes to that since there’s no off days. Most teams in the race seem like they have a clear strong 1 or 2, but injuries/underperformance have sapped their rotation depth. The 3 game set and ALDS though…well hopefully someone pulls off a 2006 Frank Thomas/Barry Zito vs Johan Santana performance.
this is where I am, I’ll still grouse, though
hind sight, I didn’t mind manaea today. didnt see any of the innings
Do the Rockies do anything wrong when they play us? It’s hard to believe they’re 4 games under .500.
For real, after that first series I had them as an NLCS contender at least.
This fucking Hampson guy.
Rough game for Heim.
Team TOOTBLN!
rookie mistake for [checks box score] Kevin pilar
Stooge-like.
Bloop and a blast please
Drat.
Three doubleheaders in a week gonna take its toll. Now a day game after a night game after all that. They are going to enjoy that off day on Thursday.
Plus the delayed Seattle effect. I’m definitely still exhaling smoke, and I wasn’t outside in anything like the A’s were.
I am worried about Soria today for this reason.
Temporary changes tend to become permanent.
DH. Yes.
Extra-innings zombie runner. Maybe.
7-inning doubleheaders. No.
Sub-.500 teams in playoffs. FK no.
all these, with caveat I doin’t want to see a ghost runner until the 12th
I HATE the zombie runner.
I’d much prefer expanded playoffs to that (not least because one-gamers are stupid in baseball)
The only reason I like Ghost Runner is we are good at it.
7 inning DHs need to be the 1st to die.
On that we agree. But Ghost Runner is #2 for me.
I don’t like the old playoff structure, so on that front there’s nothing sacred to protect.
I wish we could keep around pitchers sitting in some exposed area so I can laugh at them BSing and eating seeds.
The 16-team postseason is OK when paired with a 60-game regular season. 162 games would be way, way, way too many to eliminate only half the teams. All games before about the middle of August would be nothing more than exhibition games. Zzzzzz.
Or looked at the other way around, by mid-August most good teams will be in the position we are now, almost 100% for the playoffs weeks before the season is over. All of the late-season drama will be between .500-ish teams fighting for the last couple of spots. Will the 73-74 Giants make the dance, or will the 74-76 Reds (actual records now, with an additional 100 games of .500 ball added) catch them? Tune in to find out! Horrible.
And then a 100-win team will lose a best-of-three series to a 79-win team, something that can easily happen in baseball, and be eliminated because of it. Also horrible.
The wild-card era playoffs (either 4 or 5 teams in each league, which in practice means about a 90-win cutoff) seems to me to have the right balance of making sure good teams don’t get screwed too much by being in the same division as a better one, without giving too many mediocre teams a chance at getting lucky.
It’s awful. Manfred is a blight on this sport.
Eliminating first round byes for the best teams at the same time would further exacerbate the meaninglessness of the regular season.
Yeah, if they are going to consider keeping this sort of monstrosity they need to have the division winners get byes in the 1st round so it means something.
Maybe it could end up the division winners get byes, the second place teams get all home games in round 1 or have to win less. Though I really think only division winners should get something for division-after that it should be best record period.
I have really felt the low stakes of the regular season this year (which I agree is basically fine for this year). Making 16 team playoffs permanent would really be a disaster.
I think it would be bad for business too, as it would really kill interest in the regular season.
I’m not sure what the right balance is, but I’m sure that one game series are dumb
I like top wildcard seed wins one of two they move on. Other team ha to win 2.
10 playoff teams
Yes, if they keep this 16 team format, then they should still do the top 4 seeds only needing to win 1 while the bottom 4 needs to win 2. Winning the division has to have a big incentive.
Opening all the doors and windows last night was such blessed relief.
Delightfully breathable air around the bay again this morning, but looking nasty up by the lake.
It’s like a foggy morning in the Bay Area. Over 300 AQI here with Kirkwood looking like the regional champion at 580.
When I was a kid living in Walnut Creek we would get that valley fog in the winter. It was before much of the clean air legislation, so pollutants would get trapped by that fog layer, for example the emissions from the refineries in Martinez and Benicia. Yuck, I remember the stink from that. Breathing smoke isn’t fun but it doesn’t quite have that chemical grossness to it.
The Angels got 8 runs off Bumgarner, coming all the way back from 8-1 down, and still lost.
It’s a little disappointing that the Giants didn’t keep one of their stars into his full-on suck years, for once.
Marcus has been turning things around a bit, but Ramon, Olson, and Canha have got to step the FK up.
Fortunately Jake Lamb is a stud.
we were all so stoked to get him, this is why
I always thought he was the missing piece.
Goes back and edits multiple comments in other threads.
Similarly, as you can see at the top of this game thread, I had the utmost confidence in Fiers today.
did he work on a new swing those 4 days he was unemployed?
I wondering if AZ had him hitting RH or something…
He said he was feeling the healthiest he’s been in a while (I chalked it up as BSOYL talk), but it does seem like his statcast exit velocity and hard hit % data is trending back towards his norms in 2016-17.
Runner on second, nothing can go wrong now!
set up the 4-6-3, her man is smart man
Thank you for not challenging that.
TOOTBLAN error in your favor, advance to home, collect run.
They should have about 3 runs, they have 1, and were about a half-inch from a 0.
Classic 7 pitch inning. Great of us to make sure this guy gets an extra inning later on by just swinging at everything.
This is like an exact replay of yesterday.
Phase 1: Lots of baserunners, few runs.
Phase 2: Avoid the RISP failures by just making quick outs instead.
I don’t really get how Fiers is getting these outs on his high 80s fastball. Dahl looked like he could not believe he struck out on that thing.
Dahl must have been looking for it again. Got the nasty change instead.
I’m going to harp on Bob not giving guys days off again. With so much of the team sleepwalking after the ridiculous schedule of games played, the Seattle AQ issues, and with such a substantial division lead, it really doesn’t make sense why Orf, KD, and even Seth Brown can’t get into a game.
Boy, nobody wants to play today the way the bases are being run
cool, three more chances to fail
Fiers has been better than I expected and is only at 67 pitches, but leaving him in much longer feels like playing with something dangerous.
New guy has been pretty good. And LaStella needs to be re-signed.
I am officially ready to subscribe to your newsletter after this take.
Fiers is about to start a streak of 2-3 great starts so we can pass him over for the 1st playoff game.
What about Hendriks? he is 31, he is gonna want 4 years. I say give it to him, or 3 with game finished option.
Bullpens are just so fickle. Every single one of those arms could go belly up next year. But I would like to keep him yes. Also I wonder what the market will be like for Doo. A comeback 1 year make good deal would be interesting.
I’ll put my prediction here: Wendelken for closer
Wendelken will be the closer, and it will be a disater
I see 0 reason that would work. Sequel to TARE.
Sedition?! What century does Barr think he is living in?
Meanwhile, on the day it comes out he is pushing for criminal charges against the Mayor of Seattle for “allowing some residents to establish a police-free protest zone”…
Wait, is Barr being cautionary or aspirational? Because I only know of one faction whose supporters are known for “Lock Her Up” chants.
How do you get so cartoonishly evil
Every quote I read from this speech is worse than the last. The man is a maniac.
steve miller thinks he’s right. he’s just dumb enough to. but it’s surface level dumbness that you can read and go, ok, he thinks this thing so he’s doing that thing.
barr tho. i can’t tell what the thing he thinks is. it’s obvious he’s working to maintain power for trump, but what’s his motivation? what’s the underlying mix of catholic 1-party let’s burn the republic down to build what exactly behind his moves?
—
and i’m so fucking pissed at the 4th estate when it comes to letting him give his non-answers without digging. or just without going, that was a non-answer (that you’re smiling about).
—
pissed at 4th estate part 2.
i don’t usually listen to NPR. today i was at my GF’s and she does. “the head of the CDC said X. but the president said Y which puts in X in question. lEt’S wOnDeR. hErE’s aNoThEr cLiP oF tHe PrEsIdEnT tAlKiNg ThAt We’Ll LeT rUn.”
NO IT FUCKING DOESN’T PUT X IN QUESTION. the head of the CDC said X and the president without a single underlying fact tried to contradict him with vague phrases about “very” that don’t carry any statistical value or overarching truth, and in view of both his pattern of speech and behavior, we don’t have to wonder very long about why the president is trying to contradict something he just heard for the first time about 15 minutes earlier.
——
i’m just saying: 2016 point 2.
and how the FUCK am i going to get ~3500 records shipped to uruguay or vietnam or thailand or costa rica or maybe if i find a high paying job spain? (cause those shits is heavy.)
—
i’ve had some wine. OK?
i said wine. i meant whisky.
NPR has this liberal reputation, but they are even worse than network news in terms of providing “balance” between small-d democrats and fascists.
There’s a reason “totebagger” is a particuarly apt slur. Opinions on the shape of the world ALWAYS differ on NPR, and “round” is never more than one of several options.
but guys, as long as the voices are calm and calming.
stab my eyes out
lights out
so… omnipotent moral busybodies (when it’s convenient).
His choice of quotation there is a perfect distillation of Trumpism. Yes, we’re stealing like crazy, but you have to put up with it lest those liberals (including the insolent prosecutors working under me) who think they are morally superior take over and signal their virtue all over you until you die.
Magic numbers 5 vs. Houston (down 1-0 to Texas in the 9th) for division, 4 vs. Seattle (down 2-0 to SF early) for clinching a playoff spot.
The bad news is it is looking more likely we will play Houston in the first round; they are not as good as the last few years, and we won 7 out of 8 in Oakland this year, but they still scare me.
We are currently #3, 1.5 games behind TB for #2.
Houston is #6. For them to be out, they would have to lose 2+ games to Seattle. To move up, they would have to gain 3 on the Yankees (also not a great team to draw).
Toronto and Cleveland are within 1/2 game of each other at #7/#8.
And on the subject of snapping and going on an insane destructive mayhem spree, Verlander threw a 75 pitch simulated game today.
they go greinke, mccullers, vasquez in the first series without him, I don’t know why they would trust him in a series like that
He’ll throw four scoreless extra innings after Hendriks blows the save in the deciding game. Or something along those lines.
Best case is pretty clearly drawing Toronto (might feel differently if a trip to Buffalo were part of the deal). Between Cleveland and Houston…Houston is probably the worse team but the Verlander agita is real for me.
Hidden benefit of top seed is DS and CS both in San Diego. May as well push for it.
The Blue Jays may have a pitching problem.
I was ready to scream at Chris Woodward.
double with a platoon disadvantage with the motherfucker kyle tucker up. That is gritty
I just tuned into the cleveland cubs game. Oliver perez? everything is right about him
eleven
Ad on the White Sox radio broadcast for a cardiac surgery practice saying “tell your cardiologist” you want your heart surgery done by them. Straight out of a Da Bears sketch.
Profar has 103 wRC+ and 1 WAR this year.
Just FYI
Looks like most of his value is coming from playing outfield, which was not a possibility in Oakland. And we spent his money on raises for Semien and such.
This is getting sad.
I will give you $5 if he knows who howard zinn is.
donaldson just got kicked out of a game as he was crossing the plate on his go ahead home run
That is pretty funny.
They ended up losing by 1, with his replacement striking out in his only at-bat.
Old friend Tyler Clippard took the loss.
The Mariners are only going to play 24/60 in Seattle. Two home games in SF, three in San Diego, one in Oakland.
Kendall Graveman sighting
In play, run(s)
Even after saying that it was hopeless to expect that sad-ass team to pass the Astros, I am still hoping for that sad-ass team to pass the Astros.
A’s magic number to clinch a postseason spot is now 2. I wouldn’t spray champagne for that, but clinching the division over the *s, hell yeah.
How about clinching the division and the Bay Bridge Trophy at the same time?
Yaz (.285/.390/.553) is “day-to-day” with a calf strain; it sounds like his participation this weekend will be limited, at best.
Jeff Mathis sliced a cutout’s head off with a foul ball in Houston.
Non-binary Satanist runs for Sherriff as a performance art/commentary on voter ignorance…and easily wins the Republican primary. Love the campaign logo.
THERE’S ANOTHER FK?!1?!11! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS
Oh hey, I’ve been to Keene. Quaintish little college town in the middle of nowhere. I think I saw a moose or two on the drive in.
Not unexpected, but, well, shit.
RIP to an absolute giant of the law. Going to celebrate her life now and worry about the inevitable bullshit to come later.
I will say that I am not up for hearing about how McConnell is obviously going to win this fight. FK that. This can be stopped.
I think pre nov 3 can be stopped, I think post nov 3 can be stopped in a different way if there is an unholy trouncing of trump and in a different way if there is a mere beating of trump.
There are ways this can be fucked up, there are many scenarios where something terrible is given up to save this, but I am not defeated.
he already issued a statement.
I think you’re wrong about that. The point of outrage now is to (a) win the senate and POTUS and (b) pave the way for court packing.
That’s a heavy lift, but the rank hypocrisy can’t hurt.
fuck
2020 really is the worst year in U.S. history.
2020 and 1968 are both “This sucks but we’ll get through it to the other side somehow”. 1861-1864 and 1941-1944, I would have had my doubts about that.
I don’t see the “other side” of this year very clearly.
COVID isn’t going to go away, and we are completely unable to deal with it properly.
The Government is in tatters, and I see no path to a cure.
The economy is a walking disaster that I don’t think we’ve yet fully felt, and don’t see recovering while everyone “works” from home.
The environment sure looks to be making its centuries of abuse felt in ways that are getting more and more irreparable.
Turns out being called a piece of shit and f****t for an hour and a half by the sea captain in jail was not the worst part of the day
to think i was having a decent day what with trump wearing glasses on a deposition and Q having been probably found out.
Fascism
Presumably Trump also lacks the intellectual rigor to understand the meaning of the fascist agenda.
The fact that 40% of the country either LOVES or doesn’t give a shit about this sure feels like the end of all of us.