Surely, I thought, one of those other FKers has an opening series gamethread in the works.
Appreciation for Dick Callahan capped with cheers rather than a moment of silence, just as he’d have wanted it, says new voice of the Coliseum Amelia Schimmel.
Astros facing scorn from live fans for the first time since the hammer dropped on their bullshit they got lightly frowned at. I would like Bregman to wear a fastball tonight. And don’t forget that asshole coach starting shit with Ramon last year.
2021 A’s baseball begins. I can be hopeful and bitter at the same time.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
The Hound neatly dispatches the bad guys in the first with just seven pitches thrown.
Oly battles Greinke for 11 pitches, mostly breaking stuff in or away, before missing a high fastball for strike 3.
Dusty may be dated as a manager but the mask works.
Did everyone defect to another blog and not tell me?
Hello!!
Site wasn’t loading for me. Whoever the admin is should be caned.
Real punishment is indefinite tenure.
Night time. Mid 60’s. That’s Hound weather.
That’s pretty good.
I’d hope that’s a 4/1 special.
Nope, still using it tonight. And he’s been pretty much a one-song-a-year guy
Canha is not the problem with the offense but I still think Melvin needs to tell him to stick this where the sun don’t shine. It’s not setting the right tone for the lineup.
If we’re going by results, maybe the rest of them should be using it as well.
I dont like thinking my Catcher may explode anytime anything touches him.
First unpopular opinion of the season: Ms. Schimmel, performing before fans for the first time, sounds too much like the kids who get an inning on PA on Sunday afternoon.
Just saying we haven’t one once…
national guys spent the whole time chapman was making dazzling plays talking about college
At the risk of jinxing something, this is a really great pitching matchup.
I’d sure say that was a jinx. You blew up the site and the game!
I’m not ready to revive the “Team Dynamite” name just yet. Check back on Sunday though.
That thought crossed my mind as well.
I think maybe GM is right about Kolerek. And I am not sure who pitched the 9th
His name is Goddamn, and they don’t have to worry about anybody putting in a waiver claim after the DFA.
Before it dies again: Kolarek is bad.
Something I dislike about the modern game much more than shifting: The starting pitcher has thrown only 68 pitches, but it’s the third time through the lineup. He’s given up a walk and a double so he’s done. We’ll get through the rest of the game with 5 relievers; of the ones who do belong in the majors, one of them is going to have a bad night, and there’s another one who does not belong in the major leagues at all but is there only because somebody else is hurt. If the starting pitcher’s pitch count is low, I’d like him to be given more of an opportunity to get hitters out a third time and sometimes a fourth.
You certainly can’t manage a whole season like that. Here’s hoping they don’t plan to try.
My attempt to lure Blake Snell out of FK lurkage with that comment does not appear to have succeeded.
Agreed. It feels like the 2nd half of every game is a series of coin flips-which arm is going to be on tonight. Now as the season goes on we can start to throw out the coins that always come up tails, but it still doesnt feel as good as I guy I have faith in.
And this season I think it is going to be worse. With the low innings last year teams are going to be more cautious and go tot he dart board earlier and earlier.
The runs petit gave up were kinda unlucky. Sure the ball was hit to the wall, but I am guessing it was low percentage hit probability.
The umpiring didn’t help. Added about 6 pitches at least to bassitt’s total and the olson AB. woof.
Still, a lack luster performance and the bullpen is
Bassitt getting squeezed was extra frustrating because Greinke was not getting the same treatment. Maybe that’s Maldonado >> Murphy when it comes to framing, with a bad ump being more susceptible to it.
{follows}
you just followed yourself
“…tonight’s accordion-like strike zone…” — Ken
It may be blasphemous, but is this the best day to throw Jesus out there?
And in his debut as an Athletic, Elvis has left the building, on a hop.
[this is the comment I was trying to post when the crash came]
I was happy to see that he is still doing bits, like running to first on ball 3. Somewhere, Adrian Beltre had a chuckle at that.
something went right in Texas, that’s for sure. Beltre, andrus and profar are delightful
Also last night I realized why Mitch Moreland looks familiar to me in the batter’s box. His body shape and lefty stance are reminiscent of Erubiel Durazo.
First time I’ve seen Ka’ai Tom bat and I thought, “that’s Matt Stairs”.
Meanwhile in the MMA
Is it possible bob is smart?
Murphy scratched. We made it all the way to a few hours before game 2!
I’m glad Tom is getting a start, but a little bummed it is at Pinder’s expense after the night he had last night. I hope Pinder gets in the mix at 2B/SS some, as I still think Andrus is going to be bad, and am not sure about Lowrie.
Also Murphy has been scratched with a sore wrist, because fk the astros.
I am sure Pinder would play catcher if asked.
Sore wrist. Heh heh.
Bassitt hit Correa earlier in the game. Vince started in with the “you hate to hear the fans cheering that and there was clearly no intent” but I was thinking, 94 mph, first pitch with first base open, hmmm.
Bassitt’s pitch was clearly deliberate, he hit his spot exactly.
HBP now 4 each, tied (also with Cincinnati) for the league lead.
Lots of appointments available at GGF for eligible Alameda county residents:
https://curative.com/sites/25054
Maybe it will still be this easy in two weeks.
Luzardo’s highlighter-yellow sleeves are a bit much even for me.
Some ump needs to nut up enough and tell Correa to cut out the stepping out at the last second BS.
I remember when I was young enough to stay up and watch a west coast game. Now I so old I can barely stay away for an east coast start.
Guriel is a batting chanp, yeah? I haven’t paid attention to that since george brett. I just assume he is
Well this is unpleasant.
drat
Jesus and the Angry Inning. Ugh.
I thought the 3rd was supposed to be really good for Jesus..
By tradition Good Friday was not such a good day.
Ive washed my hands of it for now.
Has anyone checked to see where we left the bats when we took off from AZ?
sign guriel. send him back to japan
I’m worried about our pitching. I’m worried about our hitting. If I could just learn to stop worrying and love the bomb.
yeah, that about sums it up
Hi!
Hi yourself! Been lurking forever. Ready to come up for air.
How excellent to see you, just a month from Derby Day.
Likewise. Looking forward to how it shapes up this year!
How about the baggage retrieval system they’ve got at Heathrow?
LOL
CLICK
I’m confused by the people lined up for concessions. I thought it was delivery to seat only.
Apparently the app failed completely last night.
It’s preorder, but then go pick it up. The only thing you can get delivered to your seat is beer, water, peanuts, and Cracker Jack.
I overheard a security person describing something he heard about last night – that MLB had told the A’s they had tested the system, but neglected to mention they had tested it with a crowd of 500.
You got national and local tv air time
Javier was perfect through three, can’t get out of the fourth.
Dusty is wearing batting gloves why?
Brooks raley hocked a big old lugie on his hand and rubbbed it in the baseball the umpire threw him after pinder’s HR.
That’s why
I’ll be happy if Elvis doesn’t GIDP.
Wait, there’s 2 outs. That should be easy.
Game 2 is early for my annual “would I agree to not watch any games if it meant a title” night…but here we are.
why didn’t corea check on matt? Because he is a dick
He wants another one in the ribs.
I have given up on the hit them with pitches strategy. I’m ready to loosen the lugnuts on the Astros team bus.
Oh, that must be how our new single-A team got their name.
That’s a new one.
Embarrassing.
ump missed the first pitch there
Boom! Pinder crushed that ball.
Missed this before, Jed’s hit was his first since September 2018.
Kemp is hitting for Laureano?!
Hitting might not have been the right word.
I stand by my Tony Kemp comments. He really took that last pitch?
What happened to Ramon???
jammed left finger sliding [into first? that’s what the twitter said. Don’t rememberthat slide]
Looks like that’s what it was. And he might have been safe had he run through the bag.
Canha reaching rarified air on the all time A’s HBP list. Will catch Rickey and Reggie this year, on the way to Sal Bando in the top spot.
oh my
75 mph in the ass doesn’t put him at much risk.
romo time
Relief pitchers get outs?
Solid single and double for Olson today
The luck has evened out some. We still might need a little more.
Starting with Diekman.
Do we have “a good one” Glen? I’m barely tolerating it.
Andrus has had more challenging defensive games, but this is not a good showing
My God, there seems to be a lot of pent-up screaming going on at this game.
The last year lent itself to keeping deep resentment on a long slow simmer.
A Semien :(
Seriously, though, just don’t dive into first unless there is a tag that you have to dive to avoid and it’s, like, the ninth inning of an elimination game. Just don’t.
Matt, just make him throw a damn strike!
chapman still need hip surgery?
I was looking forward to his big healthy bounce-back year.
That was not pretty.
The 3-1 swing was pathetic.
He looks totally lost against the breaking stuff
swung threw a fastball outside, hammered foul a missed location fastball inside
As I recall Chapman has started slow every year.
Remember when it used to be possible to get Altuve out? That was awesome.
The bottom the lineup today is very not good. Top and middle not exactly excellent either. Going to be tough.
Inexplicable strike two call to Pinder. FK this.
I would like irvin to get those
elvis ’21 comeback
that may have been a bad choice of pitch, but it wasn’t a terrible pitch. Tip your hat
Can we play the other Texas team?
Before I pronounced the Rangers “unwatchable” the other day I really should have looked in the mirror.
Some of this is the *s still being really good, as opposed to us being that bad.
Still, it’s as dispiriting a start to the season as I can remember.
Guduan’s comic relief has been the highlight. I’d assume this is his grand finale as an Athletic.
I hope so. No value in a guy who can’t even give you an inning in a blowout.
Not that it would solve the bigger problems, but I still think we should use that spot on one of the extra starters, to be used either in a scheduled tandem or as an on-demand long man.
I assume he gets swapped out today
But they dragged their feet on the 5th starter decision, didn’t actually option Jefferies or Puk until April 1, so they have to stay down until April 11, isn’t that still the rule?
Yeah, good point.
Jordan Weems, come on up?
Wait, was soaker day actually soaker day?
Houston has been able to make Oakland look bad quite a lot over last few years. We’re better than horrible.
I tuned into the white sox game until they score a run from first on a pop up that tim anderson was called off by luis robert when the ball passed his glove and hit him on the “SOX of hit cap. eaton fielded the ball and threw towards hime and it hit the pitching rubber to allow rendon, the batter to reach second. He later scored on a ground ball single to left where that defensively challenged cal kid andrew something was playing in fullerton and stood his ground as the ball dribbled to him
I just tuned in for about 2 minutes, with the Angels trailing 3-2. Single, triple, homer. 5-3.
That was one of the greatest Final Four games ever. What a finish!
didn’t watch. really too bad.
not gonna watch the interviews, but I wonder how Gonzaga is going to answer the questions. They can’t go with “no one believed in us” or “we just played our game”
Ed O’Bannon when they were bounced in 94 and was asked what he was going to do replied “We have finals”
Good luck Tyger!
You ever have breakfast at Tyger’s in Glen Park? Great stuff.
I have not. I rarely get out of the neighborhood. I will by going to McCoppin in a few minutes to pick up the boy
Absolutely insane. I thought Juzang was going to win it in regulation before that charge call (which looked like the right call). Then he was going to send it to double overtime. We were screaming in my house.
mostly alive
So the IL can’t be used to find a spot for another reliever, but a Guduan DFA would clear a spot on both the 40 and the 25 for anybody out there with a pulse.
I note that the line up 2-5 is Olson, Lowrie, Moreland, chapman
bob is begging dusty to use his inferior lefty since brooks raley has already pitched twice
Oh no, please don’t make us pinch hit for Mitch Moreland!
that mother fucker. Kyle tucker
Somebody in the outfield has taken money on the sly from the Astros, stolen the A’s signs and is sending drum messages to the hitters.
A Jed!
At least Pinder died doing something productive.
Braden isn’t really all that smart
It was a clean, hard hockey move from Straw
Not exactly off to a Blazing start with the bat.
I’m more annoyed at Piscotty’s predictable whiff with bases loaded and one out.
Mild forgiveness for him not expecting to bat this early today. But still.
Seems like a familiar pattern of not taking advantage of potential big innings early.
Fun fact – the A’s have now played 29 innings to start the season and have not led at any point during that period. That is only time in the Oakland A’s history to, em, achieve that?
1957 Kansas City A’s had a 27-inning no-lead streak to open the season
Straw and Castro are not supposed to be the guys that beat us.
The A’s are putting on a fungo pop up clinic!
Im sure I woukdnt say this if we were 3-0 but I hate the way they are loading the schedules. We are going to have like almost half of our games against these guys in a 2 week period.
The Kansas City A’s sucked relentlessly, but as to the three in Philadelphia:
1928: 98-55, 2nd place by 2.5 games behind the Yankees (and then the A’s went to three straight World Series)
1914: 99-53-6, lost World Series
1911: 101-50-1, won World Series
Good omen, then!
Indeed.
Now at 45, this must be the greatest omen of them all.
45 innings.
45 runs allowed.
Are the A’s great again yet?
This is the equivalent of Cal playing Alabama in a 4-game series in football.
it’s unfaathomable to me that Yuri Guriel’s career tOPS+ against the A’s is 89
As best I’ve been able to tell, Pat Boone bought nothing more than the 4-for-$4 Cactus League Special in spite of his killing in the silver market. Regular season ads may be dropping into his price range soon though.
Chapman not swinging is better than swinging.
Dangerzone? Bob, you can’t give piscotty any more at bats
wonder what canha is going to fetch at the deadline
I still have hope for the offense and the starting pitching, but this bullpen is just not going to be good. A lot of mehs and at least a couple of ughs.
The FK is going on with this team?
wait. Is it the 9th?
You all make what you can of the remaining 158. If I remember my password I’ll check in from the Cactus League next March.
Happy Easter Soaker!
Is Chapman really going to get the contract Boras thinks he is, when he’ll be heading into his age 31 season? (Yes, my mind is going to dark places already.)
I was actually starting to think he needs to get going so someone will think he is worth a haul when the fire sale starts.
Yep.
Tom pitching to Altuve looks like they let little leaguers onto the field in between innings.
The Hawaiian Blowout.
The 70-MPH fastball is surprisingly effective.
found new 9th inning guy
Hooray for the South Bay Batgirls! Glad that someone one the Bay Area gets to fly a championship flag.
well done
Yeeeeeessssssss!!!! So happy for Tara VanDerveer.
Problem with batting Ohtani as pitcher, and especially batting him second, is what happens when you have to pull him.
if he could get through 3 at bats, ok, but he is on a limited pitch count and was pretty wild in spring. I’ll be surprised if he gets 2
And he homers. OK then.
Effectively wild?
Robbie Grossman so far with Tigers: .000/.615/.000
what the hell is scioscia doing?
So stupid. Ohtani was clearly losing it fast. Crazy.
FTRL
Needless to say, I will not be doubling down on my bad game thread mojo tonight.
What a great weekend for Andrus!!
Kemp-Canha-Tom outfield tonight. Just like we drew it up.
dammit! so close to the five footer outfield!
mets get two runs and have the bases loaded for the top of the order after a wind agided pop up falls in and a deGrom bloop.
the top of the orger is kevin pilar forsome reason, though and he bouces harmlessly into a 6-4-3.
thanks for hitting elvis at the end, bob
I don’t think the cheating scandal is that big of a deal, but I think the players involved got away with something and i think there should have been some consequence, but I understand why there was none. (other than marginal players like reddick not getting contracts)
But I love the booing and this